How long in the parks?

[Heidijs]

Okay I have noooo idea how long it would take the average family to move through the parks in a day. What is average? I mean can you do two parks split up in a day? We're taking our 4 year old DD with. It's not like we'll stop and see EVERYTHING in the parks...MK I will spend a lot of detailed time in and it looks like HS has a lot there that she likes...what would you suggest for time? We're there technically 6 days and might take a day to go see the ocean so let's just say 5 days for parks. Could we do Epcot and AK in one day if we do Epcot on a EMH day? Do we need a full day in HS? If anything, I want to backtrack to MK more than any of the parks...but that said, my daughter might say she wants to see the muppets AGAIN at HS instead so we'll play it by ear and see what she likes the most but I'd like to see all the parks first and then start backtracking to what she/we enjoyed the most. We're the type if we see something we might just walk on by, like Epcot, I can't see us stopping at all those countries...we'll probably stop at one or two and get bored with it and keep going...

 

[Legacy]

When I last went, in 1993 anyways...you could 'do' HS in a day, no problem. MK it seemed like took a day, and Epcot 2. Now when I say 'do', I mean hit the big stuff (space mountain, thunder mountain, haunted mansion, small world, tiki room, 20000 leagues, Mr Toad (RIP to those!)...HS was Tower, the muppets movie, the stunt deal, monster sound show (RIP), some TV show thing, movie ride, ariel's adventure, animation thing, beauty and the beast, etc...EPCOT we spend pretty much one day doing the front, and the 2nd day doing the world showcase.

Granted, things have changed since 93, and when we went, the longest line we ever had was 30min for thunder mountain. We also rode a lot of these rides several times....so I would say it is very possible to do a park in a day depending on crowds and how detailed you get in 'doing' a park.

 

[vicki_c]

For my family - 2 days for MK, maybe another evening
Epcot - many days - always 2, maybe more if we can squeeze it in
DHS - used to be 1, now we do 2
AK - 1, but we don't really like AK that much

We don't do Rope Drop to closing though - ever. I like my vacation to be more like vacation than a military assault.

But you could spend numerous days in every park and still not get everything in.

I don't think you could reasonably do Epcot and AK in one day total and see the highlights in both places.

 

[Heidijs]

When I last went, in 1993 anyways...you could 'do' HS in a day, no problem. MK it seemed like took a day, and Epcot 2. Now when I say 'do', I mean hit the big stuff (space mountain, thunder mountain, haunted mansion, small world, tiki room, 20000 leagues, Mr Toad (RIP to those!)...HS was Tower, the muppets movie, the stunt deal, monster sound show (RIP), some TV show thing, movie ride, ariel's adventure, animation thing, beauty and the beast, etc...EPCOT we spend pretty much one day doing the front, and the 2nd day doing the world showcase.

Granted, things have changed since 93, and when we went, the longest line we ever had was 30min for thunder mountain. We also rode a lot of these rides several times....so I would say it is very possible to do a park in a day depending on crowds and how detailed you get in 'doing' a park.

I think 20,000 leagues is gone And out of all the photos my mom took in 1982...that was one of them and I'm like, that's gone I think!!! Dang...

 

[CdnCarrie]

We always do 3 days at the MK, 1 day at AK, 2 days EP and 1 day HS. We have 2 young children.

I think you're really underestimating the size of Disney World.

 

[vicki_c]

I was just thinking more about your 5 days -- and with a 4 year old - I'd do:
2 MK
1 DHS
1 Epcot
1 AK

And keep in mind you will still be missing a lot most the places, and I wouldn't go early morning to late at night either -- too tiring.

 

[Heidijs]

That's why I'm asking, in other posts people make it sound like you can get through them in half a day, like AK for example.

 

[Mom2twinboys]

Do you have park hoppers? Depending on the park hours for your vacation, you could do AK from rope drop to early afternoon take a break and part of the park of your choice in the evening. It's always a good idea to get to the parks early take a break and then return for the evening. That way the little one is rested and you have missed the busiest part of the day at the parks. Rearrange the order of the parks for whatever suits your vacation best. We have to go to MK on the 1st day of our trip no matter what!

Day 1- MK
Day 2- HS
Day 3- EP
Day 4- AK/ park of your choice
Day 5- park or parks of your choice

No matter how many days you have you will never be able to do everything. Hit the highlights in the park and the main attractions that interest your family. If you don't have PH, you could move AK to day 3 since it typically is a shorter park day, get everyone to bed early and be ready to go the next morning.

 

[Heidijs]

Do you have park hoppers? Depending on the park hours for your vacation, you could do AK from rope drop to early afternoon take a break and part of the park of your choice in the evening. It's always a good idea to get to the parks early take a break and then return for the evening. That way the little one is rested and you have missed the busiest part of the day at the parks. Rearrange the order of the parks for whatever suits your vacation best. We have to go to MK on the 1st day of our trip no matter what!

Day 1- MK
Day 2- HS
Day 3- EP
Day 4- AK/ park of your choice
Day 5- park or parks of your choice

No matter how many days you have you will never be able to do everything. Hit the highlights in the park and the main attractions that interest your family. If you don't have PH, you could move AK to day 3 since it typically is a shorter park day, get everyone to bed early and be ready to go the next morning.

Yep, we did park hoppers! I'm thinking after dinner, we'll skip around if we feel like it. I'm planning on booking later dinners, like 7:00ish so we have time to go back to the resort and relax a bit after the park and then hit EMH at whatever park that evening after dinner if we're up to it.

 

[Anglefan]

There is not one park you can do every single thing in one day. It might be possible in AK. We were just there last week and did the parks from rope drop until at least 10PM every night for eight days. But we are both in our mid 20s. You having a young kid, probably not. I would not waste one of six days away from WDW though. The ocean can be seen from many states and :SPOILER ALERT: it looks like a big thing of water. Not as interesting as Disney.

 

[Heidijs]

There is not one park you can do every single thing in one day. It might be possible in AK. We were just there last week and did the parks from rope drop until at least 10PM every night for eight days. But we are both in our mid 20s. You having a young kid, probably not. I would not waste one of six days away from WDW though. The ocean can be seen from many states and :SPOILER ALERT: it looks like a big thing of water. Not as interesting as Disney.

Yeah I know, my daughter wouldn't know the difference from that or the river we live 2 blocks from...I think next time I book a trip it'll be longer. We're there 7 nights and 8 days but the day we arrive and leave we won't have time to do parks...

 

[Mom2twinboys]

Yeah I know, my daughter wouldn't know the difference from that or the river we live 2 blocks from...I think next time I book a trip it'll be longer. We're there 7 nights and 8 days but the day we arrive and leave we won't have time to do parks...

That's the great thing about disney, you can never see and do everything so you always have a reason to plan the next vacation!!

 

[khgreen]

We went 2 years ago with a (just about to turn) 3 year old and a 4 year old. We got to each park at RD and spent 3 days at MK, one day at AK, and 1 day at DHS. This year we are replacing a MK day with a day at Epcot. I wish we could stay longer because I would love to have 3 days at MK. Anyway two years ago we never stayed later than 3:00pm. We spent the afternoons at the pool and put the kids to be @ 7:00 so we could have grown-up time. This year we might do the same thing but return to the parks for some fireworks/parades. I prefer to be in the parks early-I can’t go all day for 5 days in a row.

 

[djp0630]

I just went with DD3 and DS1 in Sept. We spent 2 1/2 days in MK, 1 day at Epcot, 1 day at AK (until 4) and a partial day at DHS (until 3PM). We also spent a half day at Blizzard Beach before MNSSHP. We spent a lot of time in MK and rode some of the rides more than once (DD's favorite ride was Snow White's scary adventure and we rode that 3 times.) Definitely spend your most time in MK. We are going back in May and only have 6 days and plan on 3 days at MK, 1 day at Epcot, 1 day at AK and 1/2 day at DHS.

 

[kpgriswold]

I was just thinking more about your 5 days -- and with a 4 year old - I'd do:
2 MK
1 DHS
1 Epcot
1 AK

And keep in mind you will still be missing a lot most the places, and I wouldn't go early morning to late at night either -- too tiring.

This sounds about right with a little one. Just resign yourself to the fact that you won't be able to see everything on this trip. It gives you an excuse to come back when she is older!

Go at her pace, see what she wants to see (sneaking in a roller coaster or two by using the baby swap option!) and focus on really enjoying whatever you DO get to see.

 

[lemondog]

We always split up our days with a 3-4 hour rest back at the hotel. Even in the busiest times of year we are able to do everything we want. We usually do...

MK - 2 mornings and 2 evenings
EP - 1 morning (FW) and 1 evening (WS)
DHS - 1 morning, afternoon and evening (we don't take a break this day but we always plan for the next morning to be off from the parks)
AK - 1 morning and early afternoon

We are always at rope drop and go to bed fairly early too. Most nights by 10pm, although our last night we do Wishes and go to bed late, since we are just getting up to drive home the next morning and the kids can sleep in the car.

 

[caroline1851]

Our dd was almost 3 and ds was 6 when we went last year. We spent about 17-18 hours at MK (3 days, including MNSSHP), 11 hours at DHS (split in 2 days), 8 hours at EPC (needed double that AT LEAST) and 5 hrs at AK (could've used more hours but we were all tired and just didn't care). I think you can do all the parks in a day each but you won't see nearly enough. Well, i think you could see everything at AK in a day.

 

[ShannonMB]

I don't think it's possible to see/do everything in day at any park (including AK, especially if you head over to Rafiki's Planet Watch), but it's possible to see MOST of what you WANT at each park in a day. 1/2 day at any park, forget it with a little one, unless you really just don't like it there. I would plan 1 day at each park, except 2 at MK, and the last day, whatever else was your fave (your DD might decide to go BACK to MK for a 3rd time). I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the beach, but we are too immersed in Disney to leave. We save the beach for another trip. JMO

 

[mdinme]

We logged 50 park hours over seven days last trip with ds 10 and dd 7. We didn't have hoppers so we didnt leave and return, plus we were offsite.

Since you have a tot you may not need to hit the crazy rides (ToT, RRC, MS, TT, whatever) but you'll still leave lots undone.

Yup, skip the beach

 

[CLR4321]

I think 20,000 leagues is gone And out of all the photos my mom took in 1982...that was one of them and I'm like, that's gone I think!!! Dang...

I think that is why the PP said "RIP to those", as 20,000 Leagues and Mr Toad are both no longer with us.