How should we divide up 3 Disney park days?

[marcar12]

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.

Yeah, we know we want a relaxing day. It will just make the whole trip, each day of it, so much more enjoyable for us if we know we have a break in the middle to relax and sleep (especially with a 2.5-year-old in the mix!) And since we only make it to Florida once every 5 years or so and we have a couple kids at the perfect ages for both Disney magic AND Harry Potter magic, we can't pass up the opportunity to do Universal this time. We love Disney, but aren't so devoted to it that we can't branch out and enjoy other parks just as much! But Disney will definitely get the majority of our days

 

[marcar12]

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.

I have been picking up on that possibility while reading these boards the last few weeks. But we will be strategic about it... visiting MK on Halloween party days (but not attending the party), buying Express tickets for Universal if we have to, and getting to bed at decent times so we can get to parks early. I am hoping that if most of our days are currently listed as 4's/5's then we should be okay. And imagine if the crowd levels do go up up what that day that is currently listed as a 7 would turn into! Yikes!!! No thanks.

 

[Praying Colonel]

If I were only going to have 3 park days 2 of them would have to be at MK, with the other one going wherever (I'd do EP, but YMMV). IMHO there's just too much to do at MK for it to be a 1-day park.

 

[mco65]

Yeah, we know we want a relaxing day. It will just make the whole trip, each day of it, so much more enjoyable for us if we know we have a break in the middle to relax and sleep (especially with a 2.5-year-old in the mix!) And since we only make it to Florida once every 5 years or so and we have a couple kids at the perfect ages for both Disney magic AND Harry Potter magic, we can't pass up the opportunity to do Universal this time. We love Disney, but aren't so devoted to it that we can't branch out and enjoy other parks just as much! But Disney will definitely get the majority of our days

I have yet to be able to convince my wife that by taking a mid week break, you wouldn't be so tired on the 3rd of 4th day that you decide to leave the park early... and by early i mean dusk. We are typically rope drop to close park commandos.. at least she is..

 

[RustManFan]

I would do AK, Epcot and MK.

 

[Delirium]

People recommending Epcot should read the original post. Epcot is not being considered an option. The OP is asking for advice to choose between her husband's enjoyment of AK and her son's enjoyment of Toy Story & Star Wars. The wildcards here are a non-park day and Universal, so advice about them is reasonable. But, the original post effectively eliminates Epcot as an option, so why are others even suggesting it?

 

[GusGusTheMouse]

I think you need to weigh your options. If a break day is really necessary, then I would consider dropping the extra Magic Kingdom day. With the new Toy Story Land, HS should be added to the list, and EPCOT is an easy trip over after that for a better meal and fireworks (plus FEA for the little ones). We just recently did a shorter trip with four days and it was very manageable, but sacrifices were made. I would definitely recommend park hoppers on such a short trip. Personally, if it is just three days I'd do:

Day 1 - MK
Day 2 - HS in the morning and afternoon / EPCOT in the evening (better fireworks and just a more leisurely experience to wind down the day) - its always easy to pair these two together since they are so close to one another. You can take a fun boat ride between the two!
Day 3 - AK (its just too large of a park to do in a half day) and possibly MK again at night if the kids can stay up later since AK usually closes early

 

[csjordan]

You know your family, so if you need the resort day then take that for sure! Personally, in your case, I wouldn't miss Animal Kingdom, it is a must do!!

If you're insistent on a second MK day, I'd probably take the resort day.

 

[wishuponastar1984]

I know you are Harry Potter fans, but you have two pretty young kids still so you are going to have to entertain those two while the others ride the Harry Potter rides. Universal is an AWESOME park for teens and tweens since there are so many bigger rides. In order to experience all the HP stuff you will need a 1 day park to park day ticket that starts at $165 per adult. Universal splits the Harry Potter attractions across the parks. If you do your current plan you are looking at a lot of money in ticket

3 adult/1 child MYW for 3 days and 3 adult/1child P2P = $1,781 for tickets

3 adult/1 child MYW for 4 days = $1,380

3 adult/1 child MYW for 5 days = $1460

That is a big premium for HP. Your kids are only young once and may not be as excited about Disney in future years. Secondly, if you are willing to pay for a deluxe disney resort with themem park view I would seriously consider shortening your Disney stay and make a one night reservation at a Universal Deluxe hotel that comes with a lot of in park amenities that would greatly increase your enjoyment of Universal. You may even want to make your resort day at USO as the deluxe pools are quite spectacular.

 

[marcar12]

We know we can't do everything, and we are fine with that. There just isn't enough time/energy/money for that! But we want to have the most enjoyable vacation we can considering the time we do have and the ages of our children.
(Our Universal day will be spent only at Islands of Adventure. That is fine with us.)

As for the question I had.... which was basically how to possibly fit in AK AND HS or choose between them... I have come to realize that it is 4 main things that are making AK something we really want to try to do:
1- experiencing the Pandora area for the first time,
2- Expedition Everest,
3- Lion King show,
And 4- the parade.

I found out today that AK no longer has a parade Sad. I love parades.

So that makes it actually just 3 main things we would want to do there... so maybe it really would be possible to fit in what we want into a half-day (either starting at 3ish on our "resort day" or on our second MK day). But on the other hand, is the hassle of park-hopping with 4 kids and the expense of park-hopper tickets really worth it when we are super excited about only 3 things there??? OR giving up naptime/pool time/relaxation on the busiest crowd day of our trip? I don't know yet. I guess that's my new question.

(As of this moment, doing a full day at HS is in the plans for sure due to your advice! Thank you!)

 

[Southernmiss]

We know we can't do everything, and we are fine with that. There just isn't enough time/energy/money for that! But we want to have the most enjoyable vacation we can considering the time we do have and the ages of our children.
(Our Universal day will be spent only at Islands of Adventure. That is fine with us.)

As for the question I had.... which was basically how to possibly fit in AK AND HS or choose between them... I have come to realize that it is 4 main things that are making AK something we really want to try to do:
1- experiencing the Pandora area for the first time,
2- Expedition Everest,
3- Lion King show,
And 4- the parade.

I found out today that AK no longer has a parade Sad. I love parades.

So that makes it actually just 3 main things we would want to do there... so maybe it really would be possible to fit in what we want into a half-day (either starting at 3ish on our "resort day" or on our second MK day). But on the other hand, is the hassle of park-hopping with 4 kids and the expense of park-hopper tickets really worth it when we are super excited about only 3 things there??? OR giving up naptime/pool time/relaxation on the busiest crowd day of our trip? I don't know yet. I guess that's my new question.

(As of this moment, doing a full day at HS is in the plans for sure due to your advice! Thank you!)

You know your kids and their stamina. We have 4 also. Our youngest was 5 when we first went for 8 (2 universal days) days to Disney/Universal.

She did not use a stroller and went from early morning/not rope drop to late EMH hours in the evening with no issues.

We took mid day breaks and did park hoppers.

And did everything we wanted.

Disney Springs was a late evening activity. We don't spend much time at the resort-parks are our priority.

 

[bryanb]

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?

Definitely less expensive to buy the park hopper option for your entire trip. Plus, you'll enjoy the added flexibility for the whole time.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I support protecting your rest day!

I would personally give up the second MK day for HS, and keep AK and Universal.

Buuuut...would splitting up for a day be acceptable to your group? If so, one parent could take the two older kids to Universal, while the other takes the two younger ones for a second MK day. - In my mind, it kind of hinges on whether both adults are Harry potter fans or not.

 

[ilovebassets]

We are going in July 2018 for 3 park days with a 7 year old, 5 year old, and 7 month old. We have been many times so have a good handle on what we like and what there is to do. We will have hoppers (for the first time ever) to do this trip which we are getting mostly to go to the water parks the other days. But since we have the hopper, we will use it! Our plan is:

1 full day MK (maybe evening at Epcot?)
1 full day AK (maybe evening at Epcot?)
1 morning of HS and 1 evening of MK

With kids, I don't think you can realistically do MK in one day. There's just too much to see and do. AK definitely deserves a full day and is our second favorite park, especially now that Pandora is there. There is a lot to see and do and experience (and eat!) that can't be squeezed into a half day. HS doesn't have a ton of stuff, but it's compact and easy to cover a lot of ground in a short time. It has a few favorite rides (Toy Story, Star Wars), and if the new land will be open next summer, it's worth the trip.

Why not Epcot? It's SO BIG. With three kids, walking around Epcot in July does not seem appealing. It's hard to do a lot in a short time because of it's sheer size. I figure that if we get worn out and want to leave early on our dedicated full days at MK and AK, we can rest at the resort and maybe spend a couple of hours at Epcot in the evening one day.

Hope that helps!

 

[Happy_2_B]

What do you think?

Based on your post- looks like you are onsite. Do one MK day- and pick the one with morning EMH (if offered during your stay). If you can get through the turnstiles before RD, you could easily experience most of the major attractions the MK has to offer by early afternoon. Then head back to your room for a long break with a swim/nap- and return if you want to for evening stuff. We love AK- no way I would go to WDW and not do that park- it ranks as one of our faves. By the time you get there, DHS will be a full day- that would be my choice for a third day- with a break in the middle of the day. When our kids were little- we took them 7 times. We almost always made RD, then took a long break after getting the 'must do' stuff out of the way. We would go back to the resort to relax- get in a swim and a nap- then go back to the parks refreshed (on the days we wanted to do nighttime stuff). The RD/break 'strategy' gives the best of both worlds- time in the parks without long lines, and time at the resort by the pool. With that short of a visit, we personally would not do a full day off. If you 'have' to do two days at the MK- just go at RD on your 'resort day', do a bunch of stuff- leave late morning/lunchtime then take the rest of the day off. 'Full' days in a park are WAY overrated IMHO. The midday break makes all the difference in the quality of our park time, and we still do it most of the time- even though it is now just my wife and I. Opinions vary on this, however, but we look at it as a vacation- and for us spending endless hours trudging through a park and waiting in lines is the antithesis of what a vacation should be.

 

[neverlandsky]

With Oct. you’ll have party days with shorter hours at MK and extended closing hours at AK. MK did roll back openings from 9 am to 8 am on almost all days except Tuesday. They also rolled back MK emh from 8 am to 7 am on Fridays for the month. At least that how it was when we went this past Oct. When we went we did get a lot done at MK on Tuesday morning and Friday emh. We were done by noon both days. We also enjoyed EP during the evening on a Wednesday. Crowds were light during these times. Crowds were insane at DHS. Enjoyed an entire day at AK.

Next time we want to do both water parks and Universal with a rest day. AK was all our favorite. 5 days total.
Our future plan looks like this
Day 1 Universal
Day 2 Blizzard Beach / MK
Day 3 Rest maybe EP for dinner and frozen ride
Day 4 AK
Day 5 Typhoon / DHS

 

[NashvilleMama]

We're doing a similar trip in late March - 3 park days with a resort day built in as a break, and then another day for Kennedy Space Center. Our girls are 7 and 9, both into Star Wars, and so we chose HS over Epcot. So 1 day MK, break, AK day, break (space center), HS day. I'm really excited about this as we always jam in multiple days in a row and it's EXHAUSTING for everyone.