Double up on Magic Kingdom or Go to Hollywood Studios?

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I voted for 1 day at each park because I feel all of the parks have something to offer for everyone. Especially if you, or anyone in your traveling party have never been to Disney World before.

Every time we have a HS day planned we seem to go in with low expectations then we always have a great day.

Also (and this is totally unrelated to your question) in my opinion HS is the best park to visit if prolonged periods of rain are expected for that day. It's relatively small size and the fact that many of the attractions (and their lines) are indoors make it bearable on a rainy day. This is our backup plan whenever were there if the forecast throws us a curveball.

 

[BadRomance]

Hollywood studios was our favorite park on our recent visit! And I have little kids too. Ds2's favorite ride of the trip was midway mania AND he got to meet his heroes buzz and Woody. Dd4's favorite ride of the trip was TOT and her favorite experience of the entire trip was Jedi training academy. We also spent a huge chunk of time by rockin rollercoaster hoola hooping (of all things). Thanks to Kenny the pirate's website, we knew about character palooza and had all the characters all to ourselves. It was pure magic.

My (and dh's) favorite experience of the trip was sitting almost front row for fantasmic and our kids reaction to that show. I cried the happiest cry ever watching them and hearing them say "wow- how did Mickey do that?!"

We had toyed with the idea of skipping the park entirely too... but I am so thankful we didn't. It was the best day of our trip! So just do what you think will be best for your family overall.

(Full disclosure: we were there for 8 days and spent 4 of those at MK. So I understand wanting to spread MK out over multiple days as well- but there's really not a wrong answer to this.)

 

[BadRomance]

Hi all,

We're organizing a family trip to DisneyWorld at the end of August. We'll spend 4 days at the parks and 1 day at Universal while renting a house off site.

We will have a 9, 7, 6, and 3 year old with us and 6 adults. I'm thinking 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at Animal Kingdom, and 1 day at Epcot and not going to Hollywood Studios would be more enjoyable. Others in the family would like to do one day at each park. I think splitting Magic Kingdom over 2 days will be more fun for the kiddos who love all things Disney (the 3 year old buy isn't interested much in Princesses though). Our kids do like Star Wars and my husband loves Star Wars which might swing me in favor of Hollywood studios.

Any thoughts?

I also would like to add that Epcot was our least favorite park out of all of them. We found it overwhelming with its size and everything is so spread out that it made it hard to manuever and get things done efficiently with kids. When I reflect on our days we spent there, it's like we were moving in slow motion. We just had a rough time on both days we spent there for some reason. It seemed like we moved very slowly from one thing to the next and didn't get a whole lot done (and it wasn't even crowded at all). So I know this may sound blasmephous, but if I were to skip any of the parks (with kids in tow) it would be Epcot hands down. *ducks for cover*

 

[Parker Clan]

I voted for one day at each park, since you said there is some interest in Star Wars. The fireworks show is incredible

 

[Brandon B]

Right now, this year, with so much construction going on at Hollywood Studios and so many things closed......I say spend more time at Magic Kingdom, so I chose the first option. DHS as it is today is barely a half-day park (even more so than it was before simply because of all the work going on). The attraction offerings are down, the price just recently was jacked up, and you as the Disney guest aren't getting as much as you should be by spending an entire day at DHS. That's just my thought, although you may find DHS as your favorite park, in which case never mind. lol

 

[Ambehnke]

2 days MK

 

[texasgingerbread]

One thing to consider is that Hollywood Studios has several shows.
Shows allow you to take a break from walking and/or standing in attraction lines.
Plus the Fantasmic night show is in an amphitheater (compared to standing for the Magic Kingdom and Epcot night shows).

Hollywood Studios Shows (sit down):

• Fantasmic (25 min)
• Muppet Vision 3D (15 min)
• Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (25 min)
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration (30 min)
• Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage (25 min)
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid (17 min)
• Star Wars: Path of the Jedi (10 min)
• Disney Junior - Live on Stage (20 min)

This...dead on.

If you do any skips at this age - skip Epcot (unless you're heavy character people). Your little kids feet will thank you. We love the shows at HS and it also gives "downtime" if you will rather than standing in line or walking. Also Fantasmic is our second FAVORITE show in the entire parks except Wishes. If you are doing Epcot for Anna and Elsa - don't worry the singalong will suffice and it's so fun with all the "snow". We LOVE HS. And if you have little boys (don't know gender) then add in Jedi Training. So fab!!

 

[senadler]

I would definitely do two days at the MK. If you have Star Wars fans in the group, plus what everyone else has mentioned on shows, I think Epcot might be the park to skip. I personally love Epcot, but I find the kids have less interest every year.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I'd do one day at each park since they all have a lot to offer. Epcot is our favorite park now that our kids are older -- we will ride some of the rides when the mood strikes us but enjoy walking around the various countries and experiencing food and drinks. That said, the rides at Epcot aren't all that great to me, although we haven't had a chance to ride Frozen. I enjoy Living with the Land but not sure that young kids would. Hollywood Studios is the place to go for Star Wars fans, and the Star Wars ride is pretty fun. Tower of Terror is our favorite ride at Disney, other than perhaps Expedition Everest. Toy Story is also a great ride. Our daughter really enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast show. You can get a lot done at MK in a day but it might be tough to do everything, and if you do it is going to be a long day.

 

[Nancyg56]

Skip Universal, take the money you would spend on that and add another day plus park hoppers to your Disney tickets (and still come out ahead money wise).

This was my first thought. I think that it is a mistake to do too much in one trip unless you have been before and are just looking for highlights.

 

[lynch34]

Disney is adding to HS and basically telling you the answer. They know its not a park that is good enough as of yet. Magic Kingdom X 2 - clearly.

 

[Elsaalltheway]

Disney is adding to HS and basically telling you the answer. They know its not a park that is good enough as of yet. Magic Kingdom X 2 - clearly.

I thought HS was a good park until they closed the back lot tour. They keep making changes, but the problem i see is they keep taking things away before they have replaced the one that they already removed.

 

[Mrsultraill11]

I'm so thankful to have found this thread! We are going in June and are having the same issues with choosing parks for our 4 day trip. It will be me, DH and 4 y/o twin daughters. We are planning 2 days at MK, 1 at Epcot and still trying to decide on the other day. We will have the afternoon/evening of the day we check-in and are thinking of doing HS to see Fantasmic. It will be my girls 1st trip. Can't wait!!

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I'm so thankful to have found this thread! We are going in June and are having the same issues with choosing parks for our 4 day trip. It will be me, DH and 4 y/o twin daughters. We are planning 2 days at MK, 1 at Epcot and still trying to decide on the other day. We will have the afternoon/evening of the day we check-in and are thinking of doing HS to see Fantasmic. It will be my girls 1st trip. Can't wait!!

The Toy Story ride at HS is really fun and good for younger kids so if you can get FPs it is worth doing. My daughter loved the Beauty and the Beast show at HS and she was in her teens when she went. Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster are 2 of the better rides at Disney but may not be good fits for the age of your daughters.

I think Epcot is a really fun parks for adults but there's not near as much to do for kids as the other parks. Frozen might be fun (we haven't rode, will this fall) but you need FPs. I actually like the Seas with Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush but they would rate pretty low on the list of good rides at Disney World.

I think Animal Kingdom is a must-do. It's probably my favorite park (my wife's too I'd say) from a theming perspective and has my favorite ride, Expedition Everest (though again might not be a good fit for your girls). My wife's favorite ride at Disney might be Safari. The two trails at Animal Kingdom are awesome if you are an animal person (and perhaps even if you aren't), and Flights of Wonder is my favorite show at Disney. Of course, Pandora will be open when you visit as well.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I'm so thankful to have found this thread! We are going in June and are having the same issues with choosing parks for our 4 day trip. It will be me, DH and 4 y/o twin daughters. We are planning 2 days at MK, 1 at Epcot and still trying to decide on the other day. We will have the afternoon/evening of the day we check-in and are thinking of doing HS to see Fantasmic. It will be my girls 1st trip. Can't wait!!

To follow up, I think with 2 four year old girls that 2 days at MK is the right call, especially if they haven't been before. Almost all of the rides at MK are good for that age group, except perhaps Space Mountain, and there are probably some that we would want to ride multiple times, such as Splash Mountain, Pirates, 7 Dwarfs (tough to do this one more than once though), Pooh, Big Thunder, etc. We'd also ride the Haunted Mansion multiple times, but that's a tough call for 4 year old's -- our daughter was terrified the first time she rode and she was about that age. And don't miss Mickey's Philharmagic or Laugh Floor.

On edit, you'll probably want to take a midday break too. I'd get to the parks before they open, stay until around noon, then go back to your resort and rest for a few hours before heading back to the parks for the evening.

 

[RJstanis]

I'm also in the boat of skipping Epcot. I have two sons 4 and 6 and we've gone every year for the past 4 years for an avg of 4-5 days. We have yet to go to Epcot. I'm waiting for both of them to be older to appreciate it. I remember going in my young teens (a looooong time ago)and loving it, but when researching it, there's just not a ton to do for the little ones to justify going or even hopping to with the amount of days we go. AK is my wife and I's favorite park but our kids both love MK and HS. Granted they have taken alot from HS but none of it was what we were interested in anyway. It has all the things we still like there, and Jedi Training is a must for the kids who like Star Wars. If you don't have any downtime built into your trip (which I highly recommend) then some of the other posters are correct that HS could be a more semi relaxing day. We usually do the main things we like in HS in the morning and then hop to AK after a break (or vice versa). With Pandora opening, it will be hard to make that a half day park anymore (which I'm happy bc we really love it so much). My DS6 loves EE there, and between that and maybe SM, it's his favorite ride. We have yet to go to Universal Orlando with our kids bc DS4 just hit 40in last summer, and it's limited what the kids can do there under 40in IMO, but we went to Universal Hollywood last July (before our fall Disney world trip) and absolutely lovvved Universal. We're trying to either skip Disney altogether this year minus a Party night or something and just do Universal or maybe incorporate universal in our Disney trip. Universal is fabulous so I wouldn't skip it either, especially if your kids are super hero, Potter, or even minion fans. If youre only going one day at Universal though, I would highly recommend the express passes if you can swing it or stay at a resort where they're included. We loved the non planning laid back approach to Universal in Cali.
Hope this helps at all. My vote is to skip Epcot and do HS.

 

[Storminion]

Two days for MK.
Half day for EPCOT (Future World only)
Half day for AK (Rivers of Light if you can)
One day for HS and cram in all of the Star Wars stuff that you can!! Don't miss the March of the First Order, Stormtroopers on patrol and the Star Wars fireworks.

 

[Ambehnke]

I'm so thankful to have found this thread! We are going in June and are having the same issues with choosing parks for our 4 day trip. It will be me, DH and 4 y/o twin daughters. We are planning 2 days at MK, 1 at Epcot and still trying to decide on the other day. We will have the afternoon/evening of the day we check-in and are thinking of doing HS to see Fantasmic. It will be my girls 1st trip. Can't wait!!

Animal kingdom is seriously an amazing park. I wouldn't leave it out! We left Epcot out our first trip because of the ages of my kids but if I could do it over I probably would have left HS out instead. There just wasn't enough for them to enjoy and that was before everything started closing. And they didn't make it awake through Fantasmic on day 1. Too tired from traveling I guess.

 

[Mrsultraill11]

WOW!! Thanks for all of your suggestions. It's been 8 long years since we have been to Disney! I am definately going to re-evaluate my plans.