How to Divide Up Our Trip

[Greg Zilligen]

We are heading to WDW Oct 24-30. It will be my wife, a three year old daughter, and me on the trip. We are trying to decide how many days to spend at each park. We are thinking 2 MK days, 1 Epcot day, 1 AK day, and a day relaxing at our resort (BLT). My only concern is missing out on anything at HS but I feel like we need at least one day to take a break at the resort mid-trip. We are arriving around noon on the 24 and were thinking of looking around at other resorts for fun that day but should we do HS instead? I appreciate the feedback. This will be our first Disney vacation!

 

[minnie mum]

If you've never been before then I definitely think you should include HS. And at least an extra half day at Epcot. Make your full rest day a half day. As to which park to do on arrival and on your rest day, I'd go with the park most recommended for that day by easywdw.com.. Oh, and have a look at easy's park cheat sheets for park touring and FP strategies.

 

[xlsm]

You know what's best for your family, but I can't imagine wanting to miss DHS on your first visit to the parks. Especially if your daughter has any interest in Disney Jr. Since she's 3, I figure that's prime age for that!

Even if you just make it a partial day.

Good luck with your planning, and have fun on your trip!

 

[nat8199]

We skip HS. We do 3 MK, 2 AK, and 1.5 EP. Works perfectly for us. I am not going to add in HS until the kids are all tall enough for RnR and ToT.

I think your plan sounds great.

 

[memakwed]

Perhaps HS on the first day is a good idea. Since there is the little mermaid show, beauty and the beast, Disney junior and muppets 3-D. Of course also depends on hours of the park and your childs napping pattern and if you need that down time after traveling.

 

[Jennytoon]

Only you can say what your family can do, and you might not even know 'til you get there. And you don't necessarily have to decide until you get there either. You can always do a couple of days, assess, and then add a day on to your tickets if you decide you want to do HS instead of a resort day.

There's a world of difference between "I didn't go somewhere that I might have had a good time because I was busy having a good time somewhere else" and "I didn't have a good time because I missed that". To see where you are on that range, try turning the question around and saying "I planned the day at HS, but now I'm concerned that we're staying at a really nice resort and we didn't leave enough time to really enjoy it because we have full park days planned every day." You might be surprised how much that clarifies your opinion. Or maybe not, but it's worth a thought.

ETA: I have no idea how I missed that you were asking about doing DHS instead of resort touring the first day. But I stand by what I said anyway -- you would have probably already planned to do DHS the first day if you didn't think touring the resorts would be fun. So you're really choosing between two fun things that you can only do where you are, not between, say, going to DHS and doing your laundry.

 

[momimouse27]

I agree you might want to go ahead with HS on your first day. Your daughters age is perfect for that. Also, TSM is a must!

 

[tulipgrl7]

We usually do 2 days at mk and 1 at each of the other parks. We too like to plan day off in the middle of our week long trips just to recoup. I would pick HS over resort hopping, but my kids are into the shows and rides.

 

[Dano13]

Your daughter may like Fantasmic too which is a great show. For my family DHS is a must. If we ever skip a park it is always AK.

 

[Greg Zilligen]

Thank you all for the advice. Think we may get enough tickets to do HS for our arrival day and seeing how our daughter is doing with the travel. May just skip nap that day.