How should we divide up 3 Disney park days?

[marcar12]

Hello!
I am in the beginning stages of planning a Disney World vacation for our family of 6. The vacation will be in the middle of October 2018.

We will be there for 5 full days. 1 day will be a relaxing resort day with a character breakfast at Chef Mickey's, swimming, and probably Disney Springs for dinner. Another full day will be spent at Universal Studios. That leave 3 Disney park days.

We have 4 kids. At the time of the vacation they will be 12 (girl), 9, (girl), 5 (boy), and 2.5 (girl). The last time we took a vacation to Disney World was when the 2 oldest kids were the current ages of the 2 youngest kids... and the 2 youngest have never been before.

When we went before we spent 5 days there. 3 were at MK, 1 was at AK, and 1 was at Epcot. We have never been to Hollywood Studios. MK was of course wonderful, but our fondest memories are actually of AK. It was my husband's favorite day of the whole trip.

So now we are trying to figure out what to do with these 3 days in Oct 2018. Originally I had been planning to do 2 full MK days and 1 full AK day, and skip Epcot/HS. But then I found out about Toy Story Land opening next summer, and I found out that Star Wars is a big theme in HS. Both of those things are my son's FAVORITES. I think he would love that. And the fact that we have never been to HS makes me want to give it a try.

But I can't imagine doing less than 2 full days at MK. And it makes me sad to think that we wouldn't have any time for AK If that's what ends up happening, that will be okay, but I don't want to regret it.

What do you think? Is it worth it to miss AK in order to do HS this time? (Our next trip won't be for another 5+ years.) Any other suggestions/thoughts to help me in this decision?

Thank you!

 

[Hope Soda]

Do you have hoppers? My personal preference would be a day in MK, split a day between Epcot and AK, and split the third between MK and HS.

I'd also probably choose AK as the expendable one, but I have not been to Pandora, so my opinion maybe doesn't count a ton on that. Two weeks from now, after our trip this year, I may change my feelings.

I actually really like HS the way it is, so I am sure I will love it when Toy Story Land comes along. I am SO excited for that!!

For me, Epcot has the least replay value. After doing all of the things that interest our family once, there aren't a ton of things we want to repeat... Just Soarin, Test Track, Living with the Land (may be alone there, but we do this every day we're in Epcot). The food's the best though, and I'm looking forward to seeing the new science show.

MK is MK. It deserves at least a day.

 

[Pooh2]

I would do MK, Epcot, Animal Kingdom.

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

I would choose MK, AK,HS. You have never seen HS & by the time you go, there will be that much more to see & do. Make the most of 1 day @ MK-it is awesome & “spoiler alert” ...it isn’t going anywhere, so in 5 years you can revisit all your favorites there. AK was a highlight for your husband last time, so that would make sense to keep that in the mix. Have a great time!

 

[marcar12]

All of your input has been very helpful.

We haven't ever done park hopper tickets before, so doing half-days didn't really occur to me as an option until now.

Maybe we could do 1 full day at MK, 1 full day at AK, and do a MK/HS split day. Or something like that. We are planning to go to MK on Halloween party days but NOT attend the party. So maybe leaving at 3ish on one of those days and finishing off the day at HS (until it closes) would make sense. Hmmm....

 

[srwarden1928]

I personally would do four days in the parks, one at each park. I would for sure skip the resort day. I understand the desire for more MK time, but I wouldn't do a second MK day and skip another park. Personally I would save money by skipping Universal for that second MK day. I have done it that way with all adults, with a teen along, and with a toddler along. If Universal is too important to your family to skip, I would just do one day in each park.

 

[MischaOz]

Another idea would be instead of park hoppers to do 4-day tickets. I’d rather don4 days spending less time in the parks versus 3 days hopping around with kids trying to jam too much in. HS is usually a shorter day for us, and one of your Mk days will also be shorter. So then you’d have 2 MK, 1HS and 1AK. You’ll still have pool time if you’re leaving the park early!

 

[Southernmiss]

I like the idea of not planning a resort day. We go to Disney for the parks. I think you could do pool time and Disney Springs at the end of a couple of your days.

I would plan 4 Disney park days. I get wanting to do Universal, especially if your older kids like Harry Potter. Maybe do Universal in the middle-2 days at Disney then Universal followed by 2 more Disney days.

I like all 4 parks for various reasons. I can spend a full day at any park. So I would try to get to all of the parks.

 

[Gehrig1B]

Five full days = No resort day and no Universal for me. I think you are trying to do too many things.

 

[marcar12]

I truly appreciate all of the input.

We know we want to do a resort day. #1 because last time we went we wished we had planned for one. We were way too exhausted on day 5. #2 because the day we have planned as our resort day is a level 7 on the crowd calendar which is not acceptable to us #3 We have lots of fun and special ideas of how we will spend that day that will make it still very much a part of our Disney vacation memories.

We know we want to do a Universal day because we are all very big Harry Potter fans and we have never been there before.

Epcot isn't one we feel we need to do this time. It was fun last time and I'm glad we did it, but I would much rather have 2 MK days this time than 1 MK and 1 EP, if I have to choose.

The biggest question for me is Animal Kingdom OR Hollywood Studios? We can't do it all, and we are okay with that. But choosing between these two is my big first world dilemma right now

 

[lynzi2004]

I would do Hollywood Studios over Animal Kingdom if I were in your shoes. If you were going right now I wouldn’t, but since Toy story land will be open by then AND being big Star Wars fans, it would be a must do. There will be stuff to easily consume a full day between the big and little kids. Fantastic is a great show to end the night or the Star Wars fireworks.

I realize your hubby’s favorite day was in AK but for this trip that might best be left as just a favorite memory! I would also not hesitate to do MK first, followed by HS and then choose which park to spend your last day in. You could always go to AK for your last day if you felt that you had done everything you wanted at MK.

The biggest downfall with your plan to me is not doing an evening at MK. If both your days are party days you will have to leave early and miss the fireworks. Would you consider a party ticket for your resort day? Then do another MK day, a HS, and an AK day....

 

[marcar12]

I would do Hollywood Studios over Animal Kingdom if I were in your shoes. If you were going right now I wouldn’t, but since Toy story land will be open by then AND being big Star Wars fans, it would be a must do. There will be stuff to easily consume a full day between the big and little kids. Fantastic is a great show to end the night or the Star Wars fireworks.

I realize your hubby’s favorite day was in AK but for this trip that might best be left as just a favorite memory! I would also not hesitate to do MK first, followed by HS and then choose which park to spend your last day in. You could always go to AK for your last day if you felt that you had done everything you wanted at MK.

The biggest downfall with your plan to me is not doing an evening at MK. If both your days are party days you will have to leave early and miss the fireworks. Would you consider a party ticket for your resort day? Then do another MK day, a HS, and an AK day....

Thank you so much for this advice. I am starting to lean toward agreeing that having my husband just remember AK fondly from our last trip would be fine, and he might REALLY enjoy HS and have it be a new favorite! He loves roller-coasters and Star Wars, so we probably can't go wrong there.

We are making this a splurge trip and we will be staying in a theme-park view room at the Bay Lake Tower, so we will see MK's fireworks every night we are there

I love your idea of doing MK, then HS, and then seeing what we want to do on our 3rd day... and maybe it will end up being AK! Thank you!

 

[Blue32]

I would have a hard time skipping AK. If I was in your shoes I would either get the hopper, or add some MK time to your resort day. Sleep in, get some pool time in and head to one of the parks.

 

[ZoZo]

I wouldn't waste the money on getting park hopper tickets if you're only going to hop one day. That's about $360 just to hop one day with your six people. Wouldn't be worth it to me.

My park choices for three days would be Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. I think you could easily skip Epcot, especially given the ages of your kids. But I will agree with some of the others, and would take your Resort day and perhaps go to a park for half a day. You could sleep in a little, have some pool time, then spend the late afternoon/evening at Magic Kingdom on your fourth day, to maximize your MK time. You still have the benefit of a relaxing day, and not have to cram everything into three days. To me, that makes more sense than buying park hopper tickets and trying to cram everything into three days.

 

[kniquy]

With 3 days i would consider hoppers, but with the youngest one you might not get much out of them -- usually a 2.5 year old will be ok until 7-8pm with a mid day break. You could always plan to allow the older kids to stay with one parent and then the other parent return to the resort for bed time for the 2.5 year old. I would do a full day at MK (that could be doing rope drop until 1ish - back to the resort for afternoon pool time and then back to MK for evening time. Then 1/2 day epcot (just hitting rides and skipping countries) and 1/2 HS (you can take the boat from EP to HS, then you could do 1/2 AK (rope drop until 1pm) and 1/2 MK. So with this you would need park hoppers. I feel there is definitely more to do at MK and it usually needs to be divided into at least 2 days to see most things without running too crazy.

 

[Delirium]

One thing to factor in your plans is that you are going during party season. So, Magic Kingdom will be closing early on many nights. And, the days that are not party days will be extra-crowded because people not going to the party will want to take advantage of the nighttime activities. If you decide to do only one MK day and do it on a non-party day, be ready for some crowds.

 

[Shellyb84]

I truly appreciate all of the input.

We know we want to do a resort day. #1 because last time we went we wished we had planned for one. We were way too exhausted on day 5. #2 because the day we have planned as our resort day is a level 7 on the crowd calendar which is not acceptable to us #3 We have lots of fun and special ideas of how we will spend that day that will make it still very much a part of our Disney vacation memories.

We know we want to do a Universal day because we are all very big Harry Potter fans and we have never been there before.

Epcot isn't one we feel we need to do this time. It was fun last time and I'm glad we did it, but I would much rather have 2 MK days this time than 1 MK and 1 EP, if I have to choose.

The biggest question for me is Animal Kingdom OR Hollywood Studios? We can't do it all, and we are okay with that. But choosing between these two is my big first world dilemma right now

With 3 days and no hoppers, based on the fact that you're not interested in EP - I would say 1 MK, 1 AK and 1 HS.

But, if it were me, for such a short trip I would skip the entire resort day and do 1 day in each park, but take a nice long afternoon break each day. On the MK, Ep and HS days, return to the parks in the evening to see the shows, and do the Disney Springs dinner on the AK day.

 

[otten]

I truly appreciate all of the input.

We know we want to do a resort day. #1 because last time we went we wished we had planned for one. We were way too exhausted on day 5. #2 because the day we have planned as our resort day is a level 7 on the crowd calendar which is not acceptable to us #3 We have lots of fun and special ideas of how we will spend that day that will make it still very much a part of our Disney vacation memories.

We know we want to do a Universal day because we are all very big Harry Potter fans and we have never been there before.

Epcot isn't one we feel we need to do this time. It was fun last time and I'm glad we did it, but I would much rather have 2 MK days this time than 1 MK and 1 EP, if I have to choose.

The biggest question for me is Animal Kingdom OR Hollywood Studios? We can't do it all, and we are okay with that. But choosing between these two is my big first world dilemma right now

Word of caution, there is a very good chance that those crowd predictions will go way up. October is a busy time now. It’s quite possible your other days will end up being ‘7s’ or more.

 

[mco65]

I always dream of that mid week down day where we spend the day swimming at the resort pool.. never happens. A day at Universal is another one of those 'want to' but have yet to do things...

I wouldn't do 2 days at MK.. you can certainly fill 2 days but if it meant giving up either AK or HS.. i wouldn't do it... WE typically go for 6 days.. 2 at MK, 2 at either HS, EP and 1 at the other and 1 at AK...

I like your plan though but since AK typically closes earlier than the other parks maybe you could squeeze in AK either via a hopper or arrival day/departure day. If not, then I would simply make MK a single day park and visit AK.

 

[marcar12]

Lots of good options to consider.

Is it possible to buy regular park tickets for 2 days and a park hopper ticket for 1 of the days, so we could just park hop 1 day? Or is it still less expensive to just buy 3 park hopper tickets?