If you had to skip a park...

[LuLuO]

With two little ones, would you skip AK or Epcot?

I was disappointed in AK when I visited years ago but that may be because we have a fabulous zoo in our town that I have been visiting regularly since I was a child. We take the kids there several times a month during spring, summer and fall so I don't know if the animals would interest them very much.

I know the adults would love to see Epcot again, but I wonder if the little ones will get too bored for us to enjoy it. Maybe we could visit Epcot in the afternoon and evening on the day we arrive for something a bit slower paced to transition out of travel mode.

What do you think?

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

IMHO, skip DHS with anyone preschool and younger. We found lots to do with DS2.5 at AK and EP.

AK was the only place DS could really walk around and enjoy things. DS loved exploring WS at EP more than anything.

 

[DbleTheFun]

IMHO, skip DHS with anyone preschool and younger. We found lots to do with DS2.5 at AK and EP.

AK was the only place DS could really walk around and enjoy things. DS loved exploring WS at EP more than anything.

DHS is my kids FAVORITE PARK!!! With Playhouse Disney and ToyStory at DHS my kids are in heaven... I for one could miss this park, but there would be no way now that the kids are co-decision makers!

I think it totally depends on the age of your children.

 

[imortalcandy]

I would skip Epcot based on the kids, my kids sat in the stroller the whole time in Epcot,
they sat most of the time in AK also but they have that dino dig area they played in. I dont recommend the nemo show, my kids 15m and 2 1/2 were kicking ppl in the back of there heads cause they hated it and we had to sneek out 15mins into it

 

[sk!mom]

AK no question. We have skipped AK on a short trip and normally only visit it once on longer trips. We always do EpCot at least twice- three times on our last 10 day trip. DD preferred EpCot even when she was as young as 5. Now with Soarin' we love it even more. My DH and DS have skipped our AK day even on a long trip choosing that day as a rest day for them.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

DHS is my kids FAVORITE PARK!!! With Playhouse Disney and ToyStory at DHS my kids are in heaven... I for one could miss this park, but there would be no way now that the kids are co-decision makers!

I think it totally depends on the age of your children.

It's never more than a half day for us, hands down! I can't find enough to fill a day! We have TSM for the Wii, so other than actually riding the ride, we have access to it whenever we want. PD was a good 1 timer. Muppets is always a classic, but that was about it for us.

We were planning to skip DHS altogether this time around but recently added hoppers to our tickets and have allotted 3 hours to the park. We'll be able to get done what we need to and be finished with it. I kind of equate DHS to Cali Adventure in DL... you need to definately be a little older to really appreciate what DHS has to offer.

We'll dive in deep the next time we go (in 5 years following this upcoming trip), but not now.

 

[monorailsilver]

I skipped AK my last trip. I was planning on one morning there.

I wanted to take my oldest on EE but she freaked out on Space Mountain so that was a no go. We know that park is the hottest so we skipped it.

I will go next trip since I plan on doing parks for more then 5 days.

 

[macmom3]

My girls loved DS. When we went 2 yrs ago they were 4, 2 and 3 months. Our middle daughter wanted to see The Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney shows everyday. My hubby would take her to DS at rope drop and meet us in the other park when done. Granted it was a lot of running around, but we had no meltdowns, so we were good with that. It's hard to say with park to skip. Normally DS and AK takes us a 1/2 day, so we go at rope drop and leave when done. That way the girls get to spend the remainder of the day at the pool at the resort. Our girls liked EP but I would agree if you needed to skip a park that would be the one. They liked seeing all the different counties and seeing the princesses, The Nemo ride, The Figment ride, our 4 yr old was able to ride Sourin (her all time fav) but now with them being older, I think EP offers the most education of all the parks. But they like IllumiNations better than Wishes.

 

[doclegler]

I kinda have to agree with the above poster about skipping DHS. We never find enough to do there...and I have 3 boys!
That said though, EP is kind of slow for the younger set. Test Track is a blast, along with some of the other rides, but World Showcase is a little boring for my kids yet.
Good luck!

 

[2minny]

I would skip ak, but then again my girls have loved epcot from toddlers to teens, there's something for all ages.

 

[StuckInKS]

We would probably skip DHS. We have never been to AK and the last time I went to DHS was in the mid-90s when it was still MGM. They may have added more kid-friendly stuff, but it just seems like the least small kid friendly to me. My kids would probably love the shows, but I doubt I could get them to sit through more than one. AK/Epcot seem a bit more educational and a place were they can "explore" (which they love.) We don't have a great zoo and there is a decent amount of crime in the area, so I have never taken them there. I plan on 3 days MK, 2 days EP, 1 day AK and 1 day DHS, but if we have to cut the WDW part of our trip shorter or if my kids want to go back to AK, then DHS will probably be the one to go. Now, this is also assuming it is just my family and DM, but we might also have 2-4 other kids ages 9-13 with us and they would probably like a day at DHS.

 

[brockash]

We'd absolutely skip AK. We only spend about 3/4 of a day here as it is, and we spend a full day at Epcot, and would really prefer to spend 2 full days at Epcot. We also wouldn't skip DHS. My kiddos love that park. My dd loves the shows and TSM and my ds loves the thrill rides.

 

[mindyd]

I would skip Animal Kingdom. It is our least favorite park and when we go we are only there for a half of day.

 

[2shortpeopleruleme]

Last year we skipped AK and DHS, I regret DHS. My ODD asks to make sure everyday that we are indeed going to see Handy Manny this year!! AK is on our open day this time. We may or may not make it there again. My girls LOVED MK and Epcot.

Have a great trip!

 

[frtchr]

My 3 year old asked me this morning if we could go to "Holly Studios!" LOL We usually skip AK with DD3 and DS 18 months. They like the safari, but that's about it. We plan to go again when they're older.

 

[Emma's Dad]

We would skip AK as this is our least favorite park. We love EPCOT!

 

[LWatson]

Another vote for AK. We ARE skipping it this time. We wouldnt miss DHS for the world. My DH loves DHS more than MK...LOL, and my son LOVES star tours. We never spend more than like 4hrs in AK, and neither time were we impressed. We will be doing DHS & Epcot 1x each (my kids LOVE epcot), and MK 2x.

 

[purplepixiedust]

My kids (boys 8 & 6) loved Epcot. We spent A LOT of time there. They also liked AK. I wasn't super impressed with Ak, but we also go to zoos all of the time. My kids really didn't want to stay at HS after we rode the RRC and Toy Story Mania a few times they wanted to leave. We rode a Star Wars ride(they loved it) and they hated the Great Movie ride, LOL! DH and I wanted to do the Muppets Movie and a few other things and the kids just didn't. A lot of things there I thought they would want to do and it really surprised me that they didn't love this park. They liked the rides at AK (my 6 year old didn't want to ride Dinosaur and my DH and 8 yr old did so I waited with him and DH said it would have really scared him) including Expedition Everest. My 6 year old wanted to go to Epcot and MK every day. So it is different for everyone, you get a different experience I think and it is hard to take advice from others on what parks to skip. My best friend and her family said they didn't like Epcot, so If we had skipped Epcot, we never would have had those great experiences.

 

[LuLuO]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone!

I wouldn't mind skipping DHS because when I lived in FL I spent a ton of time there but my DH hasn't seen the Star Wars attraction and he is a fanatic so we can't skip. I'm almost certain that we won't spend an entire day there but DH and I might be able to sneak away that evening to the Boardwalk and leave the kids with Grandma.

I think we'll probably end up skipping AK. I've built in a rest day in the middle of the week but if the kids are doing fine and don't seem to need a rest day we can always head over there for a bit.

Thanks again for the input. I'm sure I'll have more questions the closer we get to our trip.

 

[EKW]

Animal Kingdom, no question! Epcot is my kids' favorite park! We spent 2 1/2 days there on our last trip.

Animal Kingdom is horribly hot...miserably hot. The displays and shows interest my kids, but there aren't a lot of rides there that they want to do.

Last trip we did 3/4 of a day there. I have a feeling that next time we'll have breakfast at Tusker House, do the Safari, see Lion King and Nemo, and head to another park!