EPCOT before or after MK?

[SnugglyDucklings]

Hi everyone

I'm planning a couples trip for May 2025 and would love some advice! My boyfriend and I are both first-timers, and we’re doing a split stay—3 nights at AKL and 2 nights at Swan / Dolphin.

I’m currently deciding whether we should visit EPCOT before or after MK and I'd love some advice!

Here are the two options I’m considering:
Option 1:
Saturday: Arrive (AKL)
Sunday: AK (AKL)
Monday: Rest day (AKL)
Tuesday: EPCOT (S&D)
Wednesday: MK with EEH (S&D)
Thursday: Evening flight (optional extra EPCOT day)

Option 2:
Sunday: Arrive (AKL)
Monday: AK (AKL)
Tuesday: Rest day (AKL)
Wednesday MK with EEH (S&D)
Thursday: EPCOT (S&D)
Friday: Evening flight (optional extra EPCOT day)

I’m leaning towards visiting EPCOT first because I think it will be our favorite park, and doing it earlier means:

1. More energy: If we visit EPCOT before MK (and before staying up for EEH), we’ll be less tired and I'll (hopefully) be more likely to convince my boyfriend to wake up for RD.
2. Flexibility: If we love EPCOT as much as I think we will, we can add an extra park day for EPCOT on our departure day, which would be a Thursday (instead of a Friday) and thus likely have lower crowds

My only hesitation is that on the day we move from AKL to S&D (which would be EPCOT day in Option 1), we’d probably take a midday break to check-in. While EPCOT is closer to S&D, I'm thinking we might not even need/want a break as it won’t be an EEH night and we might not have an extra day. I’d love your input on whether that timing makes sense.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts on which plan would work better, especially regarding EPCOT’s placement in the schedule and balancing rest with park time. We're really excited and appreciate any advice you can give us! Thank you in advance

 

[JCornell]

For a hopping day, I'd personally start my day entering Epcot International Gateway, eventually ending up at the main entrance and taking the monorail to MK. Then, end of night bus back to your resort.

 

[Dug720]

Just curious if there's a reason you're opting to rest on Monday since that's EEH at Epcot. I'd do Epcot on Monday with EEH, rest Tuesday, MK Wednesday with EEH.

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

For a hopping day, I'd personally start my day entering Epcot International Gateway, eventually ending up at the main entrance and taking the monorail to MK. Then, end of night bus back to your resort.

This sounds great but we won't be hopping

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

Just curious if there's a reason you're opting to rest on Monday since that's EEH at Epcot. I'd do Epcot on Monday with EEH, rest Tuesday, MK Wednesday with EEH.

Good question! I've tried to work this into our plan in a hundred ways and haven't found a way yet. One of our biggest priorities is a full rest day at AKL so in order for us to do EPCOT EEH we'd have to add an extra night and I haven't been able to justify the cost. We're more interested in exploring the countries and because Remy/Frozen aren't our priority rides it doesn't quite seem worth it to me. The exception would be if we can't get a Guardians spot. Then I would regret everything haha

 

[Upatnoon]

Hi everyone

I'm planning a couples trip for May 2025 and would love some advice! My boyfriend and I are both first-timers, and we’re doing a split stay—3 nights at AKL and 2 nights at Swan / Dolphin.

I’m currently deciding whether we should visit EPCOT before or after MK and I'd love some advice!

Here are the two options I’m considering:
Option 1:
Saturday: Arrive (AKL)
Sunday: AK (AKL)
Monday: Rest day (AKL)
Tuesday: EPCOT (S&D)
Wednesday: MK with EEH (S&D)
Thursday: Evening flight (optional extra EPCOT day)

Option 2:
Sunday: Arrive (AKL)
Monday: AK (AKL)
Tuesday: Rest day (AKL)
Wednesday MK with EEH (S&D)
Thursday: EPCOT (S&D)
Friday: Evening flight (optional extra EPCOT day)

I’m leaning towards visiting EPCOT first because I think it will be our favorite park, and doing it earlier means:

1. More energy: If we visit EPCOT before MK (and before staying up for EEH), we’ll be less tired and I'll (hopefully) be more likely to convince my boyfriend to wake up for RD.
2. Flexibility: If we love EPCOT as much as I think we will, we can add an extra park day for EPCOT on our departure day, which would be a Thursday (instead of a Friday) and thus likely have lower crowds

My only hesitation is that on the day we move from AKL to S&D (which would be EPCOT day in Option 1), we’d probably take a midday break to check-in. While EPCOT is closer to S&D, I'm thinking we might not even need/want a break as it won’t be an EEH night and we might not have an extra day. I’d love your input on whether that timing makes sense.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts on which plan would work better, especially regarding EPCOT’s placement in the schedule and balancing rest with park time. We're really excited and appreciate any advice you can give us! Thank you in advance

I don't see Hollywood Studios on your list. Can you afford to add another park day instead of a rest day?

I would take advantage of EEH and book one of those days at Epcot and the other MK, then fill in the rest.

 

[Dug720]

Good question! I've tried to work this into our plan in a hundred ways and haven't found a way yet. One of our biggest priorities is a full rest day at AKL so in order for us to do EPCOT EEH we'd have to add an extra night and I haven't been able to justify the cost. We're more interested in exploring the countries and because Remy/Frozen aren't our priority rides it doesn't quite seem worth it to me. The exception would be if we can't get a Guardians spot. Then I would regret everything haha

What time do you get in on Saturday? It just to me seems pointless to spend the money on a Deluxe if you're not using the advantages like EEH - especially since that theoretically allows you 3 rides on Guardians (7 or 1 VQ, SLL, EEH VQ).

I think this - besides the unpacking/packing/unpacking - is the largest reason I refuse to do split-stays. If you stay put and just accept you're dealing with transportation you don't have to plan around location.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Trying to follow along. A few questions…
1 Will you have a car?
2 It looks like you are changing resorts on a park day. What will you do with your luggage? I’m not familiar with how that is done when going between a Disney resort and S&D. Only asking because May can be quite hot so you need to consider luggage storage.

 

[Mousetopia]

What I did when moving to the Swan was early..like 7am caught an uber and dropped off my luggage at bell service and checked in. and headed for the parks. ..if your park was Epcot at start of day you are right there!

 

[bluezy]

I'm not sure either option is ideal (for me, anyway), but I'd probably go with option 2. Personally, with such a short trip, I wouldn't be doing a split stay (too much time wasted packing and unpacking) and I wouldn't be scheduling a full rest day -- especially not at the beginning of the trip -- unless you have some other important plans outside of the park that day.

Honestly, if it was me (and I know it's not! ), I would not do a full rest day and I would add another park day to my tickets so I could have the flexibility to go back to either MK or EP or use that day to go to DHS (because I like to go to all 4 parks every time we're at Disney). If you really want a full rest day at AKL, I would switch your resort reservations to have AKL be the last 3 days and do S&D first (and ideally, I wouldn't do a split stay and would just pick one resort and stay there the entire time). I don't think you're going to need a full rest day on day 2 of your trip -- especially since AK is your day 1 park and it's not usually as intense of a day (at least for us) as the other parks. If we do EE rope drop at AK, we're usually finished at that park and are back at the resort by mid to late afternoon. We consider that a "short" day and either just relax for the evening or head to a park to watch the fireworks. We gave up full rest days about 15 years ago because we realized that we really just wanted to be in the parks and on those full rest days, we were always thinking about all the things we *could* be doing in the parks instead of "resting". Now we just have 2 or 3 "sleep in" days (during a 7 or 8 day trip) and we don't go to the parks until afternoon or evening those days. We spend the mornings visiting other resorts or shopping at Disney Springs. With a 4 or 5 day trip, I would just have one "sleep in" day where I would go back to one of the parks I've already visited and spend some time there doing things we didn't get done the first day or doing some favorite things a second time.

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

I don't see Hollywood Studios on your list. Can you afford to add another park day instead of a rest day?

I would take advantage of EEH and book one of those days at Epcot and the other MK, then fill in the rest.

We honestly don't have a lot of interest in Hollywood Studios! I think our priorities might be a bit unconventional haha. Our idea for this trip is to do the things we really want to do, which includes a rest day at AKL. Unfortunately there's no way to do both EEH without losing that.

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

What time do you get in on Saturday? It just to me seems pointless to spend the money on a Deluxe if you're not using the advantages like EEH - especially since that theoretically allows you 3 rides on Guardians (7 or 1 VQ, SLL, EEH VQ).

I think this - besides the unpacking/packing/unpacking - is the largest reason I refuse to do split-stays. If you stay put and just accept you're dealing with transportation you don't have to plan around location.

We haven't booked anything yet! I'm waiting until we figure out which schedule makes more sense. I get that EEH is the main draw for most people with Deluxe Resorts but I think our priorities might be a bit unconventional. We really want to spend time at AKL and if that means not hitting all the major rides that's fine with us! As for the split stay, we're doing it because we really want to stay at AKL but we have 2 free nights at S&D. We're both travelers and will only be bringing one carry on sized backpack plus 2-day packs and we're used to living our of our backpacks so that's not a big consideration for us.

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

Trying to follow along. A few questions…
1 Will you have a car?
2 It looks like you are changing resorts on a park day. What will you do with your luggage? I’m not familiar with how that is done when going between a Disney resort and S&D. Only asking because May can be quite hot so you need to consider luggage storage.

Sorry if my post was confusing! I think it's all clear in my head but maybe a bit more convoluted when written down.
1. No we will not
2. We really won't have luggage. One bigish backpack and 2 small ones. I saw that you can (sometimes) have luggage transferred to S&D but if not I think we'll be able to store it. Worst comes to worst we'll drop it off at the hotel in the morning.

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

What I did when moving to the Swan was early..like 7am caught an uber and dropped off my luggage at bell service and checked in. and headed for the parks. ..if your park was Epcot at start of day you are right there!

This sounds great!!! That would be awesome and not crazy difficult

 

[Mousetopia]

They actually had my room ready so I was able to go right up. Dont count on that though!

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

I'm not sure either option is ideal (for me, anyway), but I'd probably go with option 2. Personally, with such a short trip, I wouldn't be doing a split stay (too much time wasted packing and unpacking) and I wouldn't be scheduling a full rest day -- especially not at the beginning of the trip -- unless you have some other important plans outside of the park that day.

Honestly, if it was me (and I know it's not! ), I would not do a full rest day and I would add another park day to my tickets so I could have the flexibility to go back to either MK or EP or use that day to go to DHS (because I like to go to all 4 parks every time we're at Disney). If you really want a full rest day at AKL, I would switch your resort reservations to have AKL be the last 3 days and do S&D first (and ideally, I wouldn't do a split stay and would just pick one resort and stay there the entire time). I don't think you're going to need a full rest day on day 2 of your trip -- especially since AK is your day 1 park and it's not usually as intense of a day (at least for us) as the other parks. If we do EE rope drop at AK, we're usually finished at that park and are back at the resort by mid to late afternoon. We consider that a "short" day and either just relax for the evening or head to a park to watch the fireworks. We gave up full rest days about 15 years ago because we realized that we really just wanted to be in the parks and on those full rest days, we were always thinking about all the things we *could* be doing in the parks instead of "resting". Now we just have 2 or 3 "sleep in" days (during a 7 or 8 day trip) and we don't go to the parks until afternoon or evening those days. We spend the mornings visiting other resorts or shopping at Disney Springs. With a 4 or 5 day trip, I would just have one "sleep in" day where I would go back to one of the parks I've already visited and spend some time there doing things we didn't get done the first day or doing some favorite things a second time.

I'm slowly realizing I should've mentioned the unusual and specific priorities and factors that led to these options in my post haha

Thanks for the thorough response The sleeping in idea is definitely something we might think about but a bit hard as we're on a time crunch!

I'm not sure if this will help make the plan make more sense but I hope so!

1. The split stay is because we have 2 free nights at Swan or Dolphin, which is part of the reasons we can afford AKL, and we really really want to stay at AKL. Also packing and unpacking isn't a big deal to us as we're both usually traveling and living out of backpacks.
2. We are definitely considering adding a park day! It would be on our departure day, which is part of the reason we wanted to end at S&D. I'm pretty sure if we did an extra day it would be EPCOT and it would be more convenient to have our bag there than at at AKL because getting there to grab our bags before leaving could take a pretty big chunk of time out of our park time.
3. The reason we put the rest day after AK (which was another one of our priorities) is because we will be coming from Peru. I think it makes more sense to start off with the more relaxing part of the vacation as we'll be tired. We're only be back in the US for 2 weeks so we're trying to make the most of it by resting and doing the things we really want to do at WDW (which are sometimes not the things that most people want to do).

 

[Genie+]

I haven’t read through the answers yet but my first reaction is go with Plan #1.

Doing EP before the MK EEH is better because doing EP after would be rough getting there early with the late before at MK EEH.

Also it seems like EP on Tues is a little bit slower than other weekdays and that’s likely because a large number of Deluxe guests hit the EP EEH on Monday night and are in no hurry to go right back to EP the next morning/day.

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

I haven’t read through the answers yet but my first reaction is go with Plan #1.

Doing EP before the MK EEH is better because doing EP after would be rough getting there early with the late before at MK EEH.

Also it seems like EP on Tues is a little bit slower than other weekdays and that’s likely because a large number of Deluxe guests hit the EP EEH on Monday night and are in no hurry to go right back to EP the next morning/day.

I agree about the late night/early morning timing! And great to know that EP might be slower on Tuesday. That would be great. Fantastic advice thanks

 

[Paranurse]

Just curious if there's a reason you're opting to rest on Monday since that's EEH at Epcot. I'd do Epcot on Monday with EEH, rest Tuesday, MK Wednesday with EEH.

We agree with Dug720. You should do EEH at Epcot.

 

[kwdw]

I’d do Option 2 based on your priorities. I think MK after the break day so you can do a super long day is good. I’d Uber to S&D super early in the morning and drop off your stuff at Bell Services and head to MK. Then when your room is ready, go back and take a break before heading back to MK for EEH. By super early, I mean early enough you can still make early entry at MK.