If you had to skip one park ... which one?

[Mom from MA]

I have posted a few times before but in short ... DH and I booked a "spur of the moment" trip to Disney October 15-20. DD has finally reached 44 inches! (she is 8)

I have been trying to plan a schedule and the more I research I do the more confused I get (I remember my wedding planning being like this - OVERWHELMING!) DH and I have not been to WDW in ~15 years so I can see it is a completely different place than when we were kids.

SInce we can't do everything and will go back more often in the future ... what would you skip. We are staying at the Hilton (tried to change to the Dolphin but it is totally booked - other suggestions of closer hotels?)
We difinatley want to see MK and do a water park. We have tickets for MNSSHP on the 19th and a few PS (CP, LLT, & Shoula's).
Do you like MBM or AK better? DD loves disney.

Help!

 

[taylor1293]

Between MGM and AK, my vote is to skip AK.

My DD, who is 9, definitely prefers MGM to AK. MGM is her favorite park .

Teresa

 

[kandmwedding]

Of all the parks, I'd probably skip AK. There just isn't as much to do there, and the animals get sleepy halfway through the day. As it is, with my 7 day trip to WDW, I've only planned 1/2 day for AK.

 

[Prince Eric1]

I would also skip AK if necessary. What you could also do is do animal kingdom at opening if you have hoppers, leave around 1, and go to MGM which is usually open until at least 7. If not, AK will be a new park for a future visit.

 

[MrsMud]

Mom from MA:
I think your daughter would really like both of these parks (AK and MGM). Lots of shows at MGM, but AK has (besides the animals): FOTLK which is the best show at WDW, IMHO; Kali which is basically the only water ride except SM which generally doesn't get you very wet; Tarzan which is another high energy show; TTBAB which is a great 4D, and if she's brave enough Dinosaur.
BTW, what type of tickets are you buying? If you are thinking of two day tickets plus a water park, you may be better off with a 3 Day PH plus. They are currently offered through Alamo and also Ticketmania for a great price. This would give you your water park day and 3 days at the theme parks (enough time to do MK, AK AND MGM). Just a thought.

 

[disneysteve]

I would skip the waterpark and do both MGM and AK. Both are fantastic parks with lots to see and do. You can swim anytime but how often do you get to do Disney themeparks?

My DD will be 8 in 10 days and she loves both parks. At AK, the safari, Primevel Whirl, Conservation Station are great. And Festival of the Lion King is probably the finest show ever produced at WDW.

MGM also has lots to see and do, a fun parade, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, Great Movie Ride, Little Mermaid show, Beauty and the Beast and more.

Steve

 

[HopperFan]

I would either skip AK or a waterpark.

But seeing your number of days and the month of Oct I would skip the waterpark.

Now we love the waterparks and have a family reunion at TK or BB every single year, BUT they are exhausting. If you go for the fun and the slides, you will be tired. If you are going to relax you may as well use hotel pool.

The Animal Kingdom is a wonderful park (and I wasn't keen when they built it). My DH went kicking and he loved it. ESPECIALLY in a month where the heat factor has let up. The animals are so much more awake and animated as opposed to a summer trip.

Lots of animals - safari is great, good shows, wonderful character meetings and rides. Beautiful park to look at.

Have fun, we love Disney in October !

 

[Terk-1]

Hotel: Depending on what you want to spend, I would check on availability either at the Caribbean Beach (moderate) or Wilderness Lodge (deluxe) for your visit. To be able to stay inside the "magic" makes an incredible difference.

Parks: The Magic Kingdom & EPCOT are not to be missed parks. Why not do Animal Kingdom on its Early Entry day, do that park until around 1pm, then head for MGM. You won't be able to do everything in both parks, but you will be able to do quite a bit. Don't miss Fantasmic at MGM, SpectroMagic & Wishes fireworks at the MK, Illuminations at EPCOT & the Lion King show at AK. These shows are amazing!!!

Dining: I would recommend dining at Cindy's at the MK, 1900 Park Fare at the GF, Garden Grill at EPCOT, Spoodles at the BW & 50's Primetime at MGM. These are great!

 

[swilphil]

Skip AK. MGM is a great park. You might find that you want to skip the water park too and be able to do more of MK, MGM and/or Epcot.

I would try Swan/Dolphin again. With the conventions, they sometimes have a lot of cancellations. It really is worth it to stay in the Epcot area.

 

[dgaston]

As another person from New England, I would definitely tell you not to skip the water parks. We thoroughly enjoy our time there every visit, even on short ones. Last October the weather was in the 80's, humid, and certainly warm enough for us.

I think the choice between MGM and AK depends on your daughter's interests. If she is into answering questions, there are a lot of interactive "Look under this flap" or "feel this texture" things to do in AK, and especially Conservation Station. While I too think FOTLK is the best show at Disney, I really like MGM for the Muppet 3-D movie, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Star Tours, etc. And I think your daughter would like Fantasmic. If she is brave, she may love ToT and RnR. AK is a very hot park. Kali is short (especially if you've been on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rafts at Universal), and Dinosaur very intense. The Safari Ride is best early am or late in the day--sometimes you see lots of animals, and sometimes they're sleeping or far away.

HTH

 

[skiwee1]

Definitely skip AK. We go for 12 days at a time and could easily fit AK into our plans and we still skip it. We've been twice and found it boring and overrated. A big disappointment compared to other Disney ventures.

 

[meeko_33785]

If I had to skip a park, I would skip AK. I would prefer not to miss it since I love the Safari and the Maharajah trail, but if time prevented me from visiting one park, it would be AK. I also think picking what park to skip also depends on what your family is interested in. If you're DD is greatly interested in animals or her favorite movie is Lion King, Tarzan, Pocahontas, or a Bugs Life (all of which have attractions at AK), that maybe you should do AK insteed. Otherwise, MGM is a good bet. It's got Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, the Muppets, Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones, One Man's Dream exhibit about Walt Disney, a great and character-packed parade and, if she's a brave 44 inches, Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster, all of which should be real crowd-pleasers.

 

[Lesley]

Doesn't seem to me like it would be necessary to skip anything....I mean, you can't do everything everywhere....but you really can get a good idea of AK in half a day, and depending on what interests you, MGM can be done pretty quickly as well.

We almost never spend a full day in one park...usually mornings in one place and evenings in another. A lot of times we'll focus on MK, MGM or AK in the morning and then go to Epcot for the evening since in the off season its the only place open after 7pm. Future World is usually quite empty in the evenings (though you do need to catch some things before 7pm) and we've found that we tend to make the most of our time in the parks this way.

The water park question is totally personal choice....but we generally skip on them at this point because our kids are small and it can be difficult for us there....its not a good idea to leave one parent with 2 non-swimming kids while the other does water slides. I'm also not much of a waterslide fan.

Of course, after saying all this, I'll admit that we skipped AK during our trip in July of 2002.....we were focusing on relaxing at our resort more than usual and felt that we had been to AK enough during our previous trip...and would be back just a few months later. But if I'd never seen AK, it would be a top priority. I really like AK better than MGM, but there isn't quite as much to do, attraction-wise. AK is just a totally different experience than you get anywhere else. And if your dd is an animal lover, I'd say don't miss it (unless, of course, you live near a really good zoo and do that often.....but even then, skip the animals and see the other stuff!)

Oh, on the hotel....is that the Hilton at DTD? If so, you're really in a good location, especially if you have a car. IMO, that's a better location than the All Star Resorts (speaking from personal experience). If you won't have a car, or would prefer to take busses to the parks, I'd look into any of the moderate Disney resorts. We've stayed at all 3 that are currently open and have loved them all.

Have fun! We'll be missing you by just a few days!

 

[Jackie H.]

I agree with Leslie that there doesn't seem to be a reason to skip any park!

You don't say what type tickets you have or if the 15th & 20th are travel only days...... knowing this would help with the advice.

But here goes the advice anyway: My first inclination was to say skip AK. That is what I would do, but my son absolutely LOVES AK! It is his favorite park by far. He loves animals and he has always loved AK. But even so, it is not an all day park. It simply isn't big enough and doesn't have enough to do to spend all day there. So if you have tickets that will allow this, go to AK early one day and then switch over to another park. I would suggest switching to EPCOT. Why? Because EPCOT is too large to do in one day and that would give you another 1/2 day and it is open later because of Illuminations.

Of course, I am also a big proponent of not running your kids to death at WDW! I highly believe in mid-day breaks for younger kids - so you can mix that into my advice.

I can't recommend skipping a water park either, because although I do not like them at all, my kids think they are wonderful. But that is another thing you probably won't do all day. They don't open until mid-morning and would you really stay there all day long? (By the way, going there at mid-morning would be good to plan after a night where you stayed out a little later.)

But here is the wonderful thing: don't try to do everything in every park. Save some for future visits! It will give you an excuse to go back.

 

[Pooh67_68]

If you can't get S/D then try for POR, we stay there a lot, and it is a very nice resort.
As for skipping a park, I would skip the water park since all resorts have a pool. But if a water park is a must then skip AK its nice but just not that interesting.

 

[ashlet]

Another option is to do both parks in one day - AK in the morning, have a lunch break, and then hit MGM. You won't be able to see everything, but you can have the chance to do what you want.

 

[C.Ann]

If I HAD to skip one it would be AK.. However, on our last trip there were didn't get to see Asia - or the parade - so on this trip we'll go there again..

I have no doubt in my mind that we could easily do all of AK (minus the parade) in a half day.. Our plans right now are morning at Epcot - afternoon at AK - and then a few hours at Epcot in the evening - if it's open..

MGM is VERY appealing to kids so I don't think you would want to skip that........

 

[il-gander]

I'm going to buck the trend here, and say that if forced to make choice between AK & MGM, we would skip MGM without a second thought. None of our family (myself, DH, DD9 & DD6) were that impressed with it in comparison to the other 3 parks. We went on one of the Star Wars weekends this summer, and if it hadn't been for that (my DDs are Star Wars nuts), we would have spent maybe half a day there, tops. The girls had no interest yet in TOT or RNRC, loved Star Tours and the playground, thought the Indiana Jones show & Backlot Tour were OK. Now having said all of that, we loved Fantasmic and it is worth a visit in the evening just for that. On our next trip, we will likely spend an afternoon/evening only at MGM to hit some of the shows we missed (and give the park another chance to impress us as it obviously has others) and see Fantasmic again. I highly recommend doing the dinner package.

We really liked AK a lot. We were there from opening until they kicked us out at the end of the day, and didn't get to nearly everything we wanted to see (not due to crowds, they were manageable). The atmosphere is wonderful, we did not find it to be as hot as many do, and we really enjoyed the pace of the park. We're planning 1 1/2 days for AK next trip, minimum. AK does seem to inspire a curious reaction - people either really like it as we do or it's a " can take or leave it" kind of experience for them.

As others have posted, if you're willing to have a long day, it looks like you could do parts of both parks by starting at AK and finishing the day at MGM. Whatever you do, it will be fun!

Carla

 

[Kallison]

We were just there for 9 days and my kids - 13, 10, 9 -- refused to do AK. I'll go it alone in a few weeks when DH has a convention.

 

[ead79]

I'm also going to go against the trend--I would definitely skip Disney-MGM Studios. I really enjoy my time at Animal Kingdom--it's such a unique park, and the Kilimanjaro Safari is GREAT.

That being said, I usually do both AK and MGM in one day. I start the day at AK and stay there until the early afternoon, then go on over to MGM for the remainder of the day. I have found that splitting the day works great for me.