Help! How do I do Disney in 2 days? Strategy and Advice Needed, Please.

[goeva]

How do I do Disney in 2 days?
MK will close at 7pm on the 1st day. 10/21 & 10/22.
Strategy and advice needed, please.
We'll be traveling with our two kids. 5 and 9 years old.

 

[shocker]

Keep it VERY simple, make a 'short list' of what you'd like to see, do, and / or eat. Then FOCUS on that short list making them a priority and to the death of EVERYTHING else that is on the chopping block. IF you get a chance to do anything else, it's gravy.

Be sure to arrive for RD and stay til they kick you out!

 

[SplashMo]

Will you have Park Hoppers and have you been to Disneyland (California) recently?

You could do two days in Magic Kingdom.

I think that would be my choice. Use the touring plan from easywdw or touring plans.

You could also HOP parks to EPCOT at 7 on the day it closes early.

Or you could do one day Magic Kingdom and one day Animal Kingdom and then Epcot.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Borrow "The Unofficial Guide..." from the library. Follow any/either of their two-day touring plans.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Follow the advice above about plans. Are you coming back in the foreseeable future? If so, don't try to do too much this time. do MK for 2 days and enjoy and don't even try other parks. If you do, pick one other park. Come back to do the others.

If you may not come back, research and pick what you most want to see in the parks, but I still wouldn't try to see all 4. You have to skip something. With your age kids I would focus on MK.

 

[johde]

If you have parkhoppers,and want to do a little bit of everything I would do 1 MK day and 1 non MK day. I would start with a short list of "most do" attraction like mentioned above.

I know it's the shorter day, but I'd do MK 10/21. The crowds should be lower most of the day because MNSSHP that night. Around 6:00-7:00 if you still have energy you could hop to Epcot and tour WS. 10/22 I would do 2 park AK, from there hop to DHS, and finally hop to EPCOT. How much time you take at each park would depend on your short list, if you're staying onsite or not, and if you got to EPCOT, on the 21st. Assuming you're staying onsite, and you did a quick tour around WS the night before, I'd probably do 9:00-12:00 or maybe 1:00 at AK. 2:00-closing at DHS (make FP's here and fill in with shows to give the kids some "rest time"). 8:00-11:00 EPCOT focusing on FW. With the EMH several of the attractions the normally close early at EPCOT will be open later.

 

[amym2]

More info would be helpful- have the kids been to WDW before? Do you plan to go back? Where are you staying? Will you have a car?

My first instinct would be to choose two parks and stick with them instead of hopping, unless you've been recently and know which highlights you want to hit. We've done 3 parks in a day with our kids because we've been every year or two, so it can be done. Just depends on your preference.

 

[goeva]

Keep it VERY simple, make a 'short list' of what you'd like to see, do, and / or eat. Then FOCUS on that short list making them a priority and to the death of EVERYTHING else that is on the chopping block. IF you get a chance to do anything else, it's gravy.

Be sure to arrive for RD and stay til they kick you out!

You're right. I'm gonna start working on a list.
Thank you so much, Shocker!

 

[goeva]

Kids have been to MK Disneyland once.
This is our kids 1st visit to WDW. Yes, 2 day park hopper.
We'll be staying in POP Century.
No rental cars, we'll solely rely on Disney's transportation.
And no, I don't have any plan to visit WDW again in near future.
Thanks, everyone!

 

[goeva]

Okay! Here it is. What do you all think?

MK
Peter Pan’s Flight
Under the sea mermaid
Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Pirate of Carribbean
Monsters, INC
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Wishes Fireworks

Hollywood Studio
The Great Movie Ride
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours
Jedi Traning Academy
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic!

EPCOT
Soarin’
Turtle Talk with Crush
Test Track
Maelstrom
Spaceship Earth

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris
DINOSAUR
Kali River Rapids

 

[mcconnellfam96]

Okay! Here it is. What do you all think?

MK
Peter Pan’s Flight
Under the sea mermaid
Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Pirate of Carribbean
Monsters, INC
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Wishes Fireworks

Hollywood Studio
The Great Movie Ride
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours
Jedi Traning Academy
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic!

EPCOT
Soarin’
Turtle Talk with Crush
Test Track
Maelstrom
Spaceship Earth

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris
DINOSAUR
Kali River Rapids

This will be tough in two day. What parks have EMH (morning and/or evenings) the days you will be there?

 

[1 DISNEY FAN]

If you want to do Jedi training then rope drop at hs is a must for one of the two days. However while you sign up for Jedi training the tsmm queue will increase to prob 60 mins so a fp for that would be a good idea. You will have to hop to another park and come back for fantasmic at night.
I think it's going to be 2 very long days.

 

[PEC]

Okay! Here it is. What do you all think?

MK
Peter Pan’s Flight
Under the sea mermaid
Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Pirate of Carribbean
Monsters, INC
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Wishes Fireworks

Hollywood Studio
The Great Movie Ride
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours
Jedi Traning Academy
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic!

EPCOT
Soarin’
Turtle Talk with Crush
Test Track
Maelstrom
Spaceship Earth

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris
DINOSAUR
Kali River Rapids

If both children were around 9 it would be tough but you "might" could do this. With a 5 yo? You will have to slow down your movement. Either stroller or the fact they are walking slower.
If you really want to hit all 4 parks in 2 days I would group AK and MK for one day and HS and EPCOT the other. With MK closing early 1st day do it afternoon the 2nd day. EPCOT has morning EMH on your 1st day so you may want to do it 1st.
In both cases I would save the FP+s for 2nd park. IF you use your last one at MK at say 5 O'Clock you should still be able to get a couple more. Possibly true HS. Plus TSM is a must. I think you may need to prioritize within what you want to do.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Okay! Here it is. What do you all think?

MK
Peter Pan’s Flight
Under the sea mermaid
Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Pirate of Carribbean
Monsters, INC
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Wishes Fireworks

Hollywood Studio
The Great Movie Ride
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours
Jedi Traning Academy
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic!

EPCOT
Soarin’
Turtle Talk with Crush
Test Track
Maelstrom
Spaceship Earth

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris
DINOSAUR
Kali River Rapids

That looks about like our list for a full-week trip, lol! I would really stick to 2-3 parks. Maybe skip AK? Park hopping one day may not be a bad idea, but remember you will lose a bit of time in transit and having to go through bag check and entry again.

 

[BrianL]

It'd be super tough to do all that in 2 days. I recommend ditching Animal Kingdom as it has the least stuff you want to see and transportation to it is more difficult.

I have done 3 Parks in one day in october. It went like this:

Opening rope-drop at MK. Monorail to Epcot around noon. Friend Ship to HS around 4. I actually walked back to Epcot of Illuminations after Fantasmic! but I wouldn't try it with two young kids.

Do you have any interest in MNSSHP. That is why MK is closing at 7 that night. If you bought tickets you would have more time and very short waits for rides.

Disregarding that for now, I would:

First day: Epcot in the morning, at rope drop, then Friend Ship to DHS. Have your FP+ setup for DHS rides you want most (although JTA will be difficult if they want to participate. For that you need to do HS first, but F! isn't until night - Catch-22 there). Ride your DHS rides, then sit for Fantasmic!

Second day: MK, all day. You cold maybe squeeze in a morning at AK, but it'd be tough. Might be long days for a 5 year old. Plus, I don't recommend putting in that many hops as they take time away from your park time.

Good luck with it. I think you'll have a great time no matter what!

 

[shocker]

Okay! Here it is. What do you all think?

MK
Peter Pan’s Flight
Under the sea mermaid
Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Pirate of Carribbean
Monsters, INC
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Wishes Fireworks

Hollywood Studio
The Great Movie Ride
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours
Jedi Traning Academy
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic!

EPCOT
Soarin’
Turtle Talk with Crush
Test Track
Maelstrom
Spaceship Earth

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris
DINOSAUR
Kali River Rapids

Good to see you've put the list together! Now, from this put an asterisk next to 5-10 MUST-DO items, something along the order of 'I don't want to leave WDW until I've done...'

You also don't mention any character meets, or meals? What are your plans here?

 

[Fratthouse]

I actually had a very similar experience my first trip to WDW. It was for 2 days, I had been to Disneyland once, and had no plans to return to WDW in the near future. You can see from my signature that ended up not being the case!

Anyways - we had a BLAST those two days!! It's still one of my favorite trips

I'm not sure what time of year you will be going. We went in September and lines were very short, which allowed us to fit in quite a bit. But busier seasons also mean longer hours at the parks, so it might cancel each other out. I think if you plan on seeing just the highlights and aren't trying to fit in character M&Gs, you can have a great experience.

I agree with others that you need to have just a few must-do's in each park and focus on hitting the highlights and experiencing the overall ambiance of each park. A few specific tips from our trip would be:

1 - Epcot World Showcase is not very impressive when you are just rushing through it. If you can't allocate at least a few hours for walking around it, either choose a couple of your top countries and explore those or skip it all together.

2 - Contrary to popular opinion on here, we chose to only spend half a day at MK. We had recently been to Disneyland and there was a lot of overlap. It was more important to us to experience the new / different things in WDW rather than repeats of things we had already done. This is entirely a matter of personal preference, so you will have to choose what's best for you.

3 - If you will be getting in to Disneyworld the night before, you could try to watch Wishes from somewhere outside the parks (the dock at the TTC or from the Contemporary resort). This would allow you some additional park time on your days in the parks.

4 - Maximize FP+! You don't have time to wait in line for more than 15 - 20 minutes. However, you can hit most of the headliners if you smartly choose 3 FP+ and hit other headliners in the first or last two hours of operation each day. Make sure you have a good idea about which attractions will have the longest waits and schedule your days accordingly.

5 - HAVE FUN! Make sure to soak up the ambiance and enjoy every moment. Try to keep it from being about completing a checklist of to-do's, but rather enjoying each moment you are there. If something has too long of a line, skip it and don't look back. If you don't get it all in, don't be frustrated or have regret. Enjoy what you get to experience and make fun memories with your family.

I hope you have a really great time!

 

[goeva]

I didn't plan for any character meets. We're going to the cruise right after. So they'll have chances to meet the characters.
No dining plans. I'm thinking quick services.
I have narrowed down my list. Think this will work for 2 days?
If it doesn't, I guess we'll have to skip AK.
So...
Day 1 MK in the morning and HS in the afternoon.
Day 2 EPCOT and AK if time permitted. MK for electrical parade and wishes fireworks.
And should I use FASTPASS+ for MK or HS in the afternoon?

MK
Peter Pan’s Flight
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Wishes Fireworks*

Hollywood Studio
The Great Movie Ride
Toy Story Mania
Jedi Traning Academy
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic!*

EPCOT
Soarin’
Test Track

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris

Suggestion and advice greatly appreciated!

 

[goeva]

Thanks, Hannah.
Our trip is in October.

 

[amym2]

We'll be there over the same time, so I have studied the crowd calendars. Oct 21 you should be ok with MK in the morning and HS in the afternoon. You'll want to be there before rope drop at MK and hit as many rides as you can early (no Seven Dwarfs Mine Train?). I'd use your FP+ for HS because otherwise you risk not getting a FP for Toy Story (HS in a not-recommended park that day so expect it to be busy). Both MK and HS close at 7pm that night.

Oct 22 EP has EMH in the evening, so it is the least recommended park (it isn't recommended 10/21 either so you'll just have to deal with it). I'd skip AK this trip and focus on EP. Food & Wine is going on, so plan to munch around the World Showcase. You can only FP+ Test Track or Soarin, not both, so plan to hit one right at rope drop. If you are planning to go back to MK that evening to see the Electrical Parade and Wishes, I'd try to hit a few MK rides that evening as well. Use up your EP passes earlier in the day so you can get more when you arrive at MK.

Since you're doing the cruise, I agree that I wouldn't take time for TS meals or character greetings. Just be aware that you'll be limited and that transportation between parks will eat into your time, and you'll be fine.