If you had to skip a park?

[PollyannaMom]

MGM was our least favorite when DS was 5.

 

[maxtomsmom]

I haven't had time to read through all the posts so excuse me if I am repeating some info.

I think this would depend upon your son's interests. If he loves movies and shows then skip EPCOT. However, MGM does not offer a ton to do for little kids, but there are some great attractions. So if he can sit for a good amount of time he can see Indiana Jones, meet the Power Rangers, see the parade, stunt shows, ride on a few rides like TOT, great movie ride, Backstage, Star Wars, do the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, Playhouse Disney, Fantasia, etc...


If this is not his thing, then you can hit just the front part of EPCOT as there are a ton of rides and activities for kids. My kids love this part. There is so much for them to do and you can easily spend a good part of your day doing it all. There are shows, 3D and interactive, rides and experiments that would keep any kid interested. Also if he really likes the rides than bear to your left when heading towards the countries and head over to Mexico and Norway as they are the only two countries with rides.

If he enjoys trying different and new foods, then head over to the countries and have him do a pastry/dessert taste test for some of the countries. When we go we hit all the countries, stop at the Kidcot stations, do a project and try a sweet treat for only 3 countries. For the countries we don't eat at, we take a treat souvie for home. We keep a log of which countries we've eaten at for lunch and dinner and try to do other ones on next trips.


We prefer EPCOT, but TOT is one of our favorite rides so we usually do a 1/2 day at MGM and spend the other 1/2 at MK. Our son also loves Power Rangers so it is another reason to go, but they do not like sitting for all the shows so again it is a 1/2 day event for us. I like the thrill rides and Rockin Roller Coaster is great. I'm the only one who can ride it, so DH usually watches the parade with the kids and I fast pass it twice (I use his fast pass as well). It is the only time I get to do something alone

 

[Whosemom]

My freaky kids are in it for the atmosphere! Last summer we went with a PLAN so we could ride everything, and they just wanted to slow down, cruise, look at details. That being said, they love all the parks. As toddlers MGM was their handsdown favorite, each in turn and I have 3 of them, 2 girls and a boy! You just can never tell. I think your plan is great. Especially with the party, that way you can stay at AK as long as you want (I bet its more than a half day!)

 

[sherabby]

If you son doesn't sit well during shows then skip MGM. Epcot has a few more rides but all educational. You may want to skip that as well? My son is 7 and we only spent three am hours in Epcot. We never made it to the countries. We did MGM in about 7 hours.

 

[LadyShea]

It was our first time to visit MGM, as we had never been able to fit it into our short schedules on previous trips, and quite frankly 1/2 day would have been more than sufficient. Our DS is 20mos and doesn't like shows (hates cheering crowds for some reason), meeting the Cars characters-the main thing we wanted to do- was impossible as the lines were really long and formed an hour ahead of time. Tower of Terror made it worth the trip for us adults, but RnRC was closed and there wasn't much for a toddler.

Animal Kingdom was our fave park this trip. The character lines were unbelievably short, we walked on to every attraction even without the rider swap though we used them anyway, Expedition Everest was excellent, and DS loves animals.

Judging from the varying responses, I would say it really depends on your children and their interests and quirks etc. As I said, my DS has a weird thing about cheering crowds...but other kids love shows.

 

[DawnM]

The only park we never spend a whole day at is Animal Kingdom. My kids LOVE MGM and wouldn't want to miss it or Epcot. I like AK but visiting just every other trip is fine with them.

Dawn

I have 3 boys and they love the Car show, the Backlot tour, The Great Movie Ride and will go on TOT with me. They also really like the Indiana Jones show and Star Tours. They can spend hours at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. They would feel that we hadn't really been to Disney if we didn't do MGM.