Epcot or 2nd day at MK?

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

My kids will be 2 and almost 4 when we go in September for a 4 day trip. Right now we're planning to do two days in MK and one each in DHS and AK. My two year old son is a huge frozen fan so with Anna and Elsa probably moving to Epcot I am second guessing our decision to skip Epcot. What do you guys think?

 

[DopeyDame]

Epcot was my kids favorite at those ages! If you have to skip something, I'd skip DHS. If it's between DHS and a 2nd day at MK, I'd chose the second day at MK. If it's between Epcot and a 2nd day at MK, I'd chose Epcot in a heart-beat.

Things they loved in Epcot:
Finding Nemo Ride
The rest of the Seas Pavilion (fish tanks, manatees, talking Crush)
Living with the Land boat ride (yes, really!)
Spaceship Earth
Imagination and the play place after imagination
The jumping waterfountains outside of Imagination
Everything about the Mexico pavilion and the boat ride there
Most of Innovations, especially the fire-putter-outer-game (forget the name)
The trains in Germany
Most of the Kidcot stations
The gardens in England
Character meet and greets in France and England

Things they loved in DHS:
The Honey I Shrunk the Kid playground. That's it.
Enjoyed Toy Story Mania, but nothing too over-the-top-favorite.
Walked out of Disney Junior show
Walked out of Muppets 3D

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Epcot has always been DS8's favorite park! There really is so much to do there with little kids. DS could spend 2 hours just in Living Seas. I would go to EP especially if Frozen is open.

 

[kboo]

Epcot was my kids favorite at those ages! If you have to skip something, I'd skip DHS. If it's between DHS and a 2nd day at MK, I'd chose the second day at MK. If it's between Epcot and a 2nd day at MK, I'd chose Epcot in a heart-beat.

Things they loved in Epcot:
Finding Nemo Ride
The rest of the Seas Pavilion (fish tanks, manatees, talking Crush)
Living with the Land boat ride (yes, really!)
Spaceship Earth
Imagination and the play place after imagination
The jumping waterfountains outside of Imagination
Everything about the Mexico pavilion and the boat ride there
Most of Innovations, especially the fire-putter-outer-game (forget the name)
The trains in Germany
Most of the Kidcot stations
The gardens in England
Character meet and greets in France and England

Things they loved in DHS:
The Honey I Shrunk the Kid playground. That's it.
Enjoyed Toy Story Mania, but nothing too over-the-top-favorite.
Walked out of Disney Junior show
Walked out of Muppets 3D

This. We have only started going to DHS this year because ODD (4) is tall enough for Star Tours and loves it. And TSMM and the shows, she liked but wasn't in love with. Past years we'd do multiple days at EP and MK instead of DHS at all.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

My kids LOVE Star Wars and Disney Jr so there's no way we can skip DHS. Thanks for the info on Epcot. It's definitely something to think about.

 

[DopeyDame]

My kids LOVE Star Wars and Disney Jr so there's no way we can skip DHS. Thanks for the info on Epcot. It's definitely something to think about.

My kids are short, so this may not be an issue for you, but the Star Tours height requirement is 40 inches. Neither of mine would have been able to ride at 4 years old. And seeing it and not being able to ride wasn't an especially pleasant experience...

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

My kids are short, so this may not be an issue for you, but the Star Tours height requirement is 40 inches. Neither of mine would have been able to ride at 4 years old. And seeing it and not being able to ride wasn't an especially pleasant experience...

We're not planning to do Star Tours with them. We're planning on spending some time in Launch Bay, Disney Jr show, Frozen Sing Along, TSMM, maybe Muppets...that will probably be enough for us before heading back to the hotel for pool time.

 

[DopeyDame]

Sounds like a great day! Just wanted to make sure you knew about the height requirement so didn't inadvertently oversell it to the 4 year old. DS is generally a pretty easy going kid, but he was pretty crushed at age 4 to not get to ride Star Tours.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Sounds like a great day! Just wanted to make sure you knew about the height requirement so didn't inadvertently oversell it to the 4 year old. DS is generally a pretty easy going kid, but he was pretty crushed at age 4 to not get to ride Star Tours.

Definitely. We're not sure if DD will be ok on the typical kid rides so we're not taking chances on anything with a height requirement ;-)

 

[epsmith921]

We actually skip animal kingdom, though I wish I had an extra day our next trip to go there since my oldest loves animals, but my husband doesn't like the entire park really, and our younger child is only 18 months, so we're opting for the rides at Epcot that all of us can go on. We are park hopping so we will be in MK at some point during each of our 3 park days. I know park hopping doesn't suit everyone's budget or family/touring style though.

Basically what I'm having to remind myself is that we can't do everything in one trip, even if ours was longer. We will be back, so animal kingdom will have to wait for us.

I think you're fine no matter what, since you are obviously taking the strategy of trying to get your kids to as much that they'll love. I usually feel like as long as they don't know about it, we're good, but of course Disney junior has animal kingdom ads all the time!

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Well, you guys convinced us. We're going to Epcot! Thanks for the tips, if anyone has advice for toddlers in Epcot, let's hear it!

 

[Cgwmobile]

I would choose Epcot over DHS, or if you really want to go to DHS, consider a half day there. We just returned from a trip with a 2 yo and 4 yo. We did morning at MK, quick nap and then hopped to DHS to catch the 4:00 Disney Jr show. We enjoyed that show, TSMM and the Jake character meet but that was about all that the kids really liked. The Woody/Buzz character meet line is crazy long. My kids liked the Disney Jr show, but it is a one and done thing for us.
They loved Epcot and smiled much more throughout the time there. Nemo, Turtle Talk show, see the acquarium stuff there, do a rider switch for Soarin, jumping fountains, loved loved the Mickey character meet (classic costumes and was our favorite of all character meets), Mexico pavilion and boat ride, Donald Duck is near Mexico, new Frozen ride if it's open..