How many days in each park?

[southernprincess1]

We are planning our Disney trip for this September. It will be the first trip for our twins, they will be almost 4. We are planning 7 days in the parks. I'm confused about how to break up the week and how many days to spend in each park. I was thinking 3 days at MK, 2 at Epcot, and one each at AK and DHS. Is this a good plan or should we do 2 days at DHS? We only want to know ahead of time for ADR.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Amyhoff]

We just got back and found that two days was plenty for MK, one day was plenty for Epcot and I wish we had two days in AK, but we only had one day. We skipped HS because it rained the day we were supposed to go and it was one of those nasty cold and rainy days that I just felt like relaxing.

My daughter loves animals, so AK was such a hit for her. We got there a little before 10am and left at closing and only did half the park. Things like meals seem to take a lot of time with a toddler. She could have gone back there at least another day, but like I said, she really loves animals, so I'm not sure if all kids are like her.

We did the princess breakfast at Epcot, which was nice, but she didn't really like most of the World Showcase, except meeting some of the other characters. She did enjoy Nemo and the aquarium especially... but honestly, Epcot was not her favorite. Many of the exhibits in the front were over her head.

Magic Kingdom was wonderful and we did everything we wanted to do there except the parades in two days. She happened to fall asleep in time for each of the parades, so we didn't end up getting to do them.

HTH!

 

[TinkerbelleAbbysMom]

My DD is 3 turning 4 while we are there. Last year she was nearly 3. We spent one day each in epcot and HS. We had 3 days in MK. We skipped AK. This yr we have 7 days. We are planning:
1st day- epcot
2nd-MK
3rd-HS or AK
4th-MK
5thHS or AK- whichever not done above
6th- repeat whichever above we want to catch
7th-MK
I know we may do MNSSHP which may allow for one ticket for am and then that ticket gets another "trip" to the MK without the park hopper.
I figuretrying to leave a day or two towards the end of the week will let us go back to get done what we missed. Anticipating a second day at AK...

 

[RachelsMommie]

Considering your kiddos' ages, I think that's a good plan. If I may suggest, however, you could plan a "down" day where you'll do the MK nighttime activities...we're doing that this time and are having a morning at the resort where we will hit the pool, then go to DTD for the afternoon, followed by dinner at 1900 PF and then the MK for the nighttime parade and Wishes.

We only saw Wishes one night from the Poly beach last time...it's hard for little ones to do the parks' evening activities. It's also a good thing to plan a rest/sanity day in the middle of a week of park touring.

 

[starsweeper]

We visited last Feb when our two were 2.5 years old. We did everything they could do at AK in a 1/2 day, and found very little at HS to do (about a 1/2 day). We're returning in May for 5 days when they are 3.75 years old. I'm planning a 1/2 day for AK and 1/2 day for HS again, 1 day at Epcot, and 3 days at MK. We are doing park hoppers to mix it up most days.

 

[billybobblockhead]

I echo a down or an "easy" day that you spend at the pool (down day) or sleeping in, taking a swim, and hitting a park that has something specific that you want to see/do (easy day).

 

[Rylee]

Hi,

I think your plan sounds great but if you are trying to figure it out so you can make ADR's, here's some other things to consider...

If you won't have Hoppers, or if you don't plan to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours, (EMH) avoid the parks offering EMH on those days, as those parks will be more crowded.

Consider making a couple of resort restaurant reservations towards the end of your trip. This way, after your family has had a chance to visit all the parks, you can discuss their favorites and visit that park again if you are not tied to an "in park" reservation.

Check the calendar for park hours, EMH, and show schedules... like Fantasmic, if interested.

 

[Tiggs14]

I think your plan is good we were there for 10 days and spent most of our days at Magic Kingdom, followed by Epcot then Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

We are going back for 12 nights this year with a 10 day park pass. We're planning

4 days at Magic Kingdom
3 days at Epcot
2 days at Hollywood Studios
1 day at Animal Kingdom

We have a resort/downtown Disney day midtrip as well as our first and last days at Disney.

 

[monorailsilver]

I would also suggest planning a down day or two. Your 4yo's will be pooped if you don't as will you.

This is what we did for our previous trips with kids:

2001-one kid 15 months old, 8 days-

We did one off day in the middle, 2 travel days with no park just the pool on the arrival day. And 5 park days. We get a park hopper so we did one am at the Studios, one am at AK & then the rest of the time was split between Epcot & MK.

2005-2 kids-4½ & an almost 2 yo plus one cooking in the oven, 8 days-

We did the same as above

2008-3 kids-7½, almost 5 yo & 2½-9 days (yes my dh granted me one more day in the world)

We took 2 days off, 2 travel days & 5 park days. We did one am at the Studios & we were planning one am at AK but after my oldest freaked out on Space Mountain I had no desire to go to AK just to be hot (it is the hottest park IMO) to see animals we could see at our local zoos so we skipped it. The rest of the days were split between MK & Epcot (they are our 2 favorite parks).

We also take mid-day breaks since we are up at the crack of dawn for EMH plus with the heat of the mid day sun it is important for us. And in 2008 even my 7 yo crashed as soon as we got back to our room she was that tired.

But when she woke up she was good to go as were the other 2 kids.