Is it worth doing 3 park days for WDW?

[shosh1530]

Considering a fairly last minute trip to WDW during my son's spring break (just me and him). We are frequent Disneyland visitors but have never been to WDW.

Looking at March 21-25 and found a really good deal on airfare. This would only leave us 3 full park days and I'm on the fence about whether it is worth going all that way for such a short trip (we are in Arizona).

We would stay at CBR and have access to the Skyliner. Epcot and Animal Kingdom are probably must dos so we can try for Cosmic Rewind and Flight of Passage, plus those parks seem to have the most unique things from Disneyland.

If we did park hoppers could we fit all 4 parks in? What would be the best strategy for starting parks? If we had to drop a park I'd probably pick HS since we've already done Galaxy's Edge a few times now in California.

I know it will be crowded, but pretty much anytime we can go will also be crowded (limited to school breaks). We've done Disneyland twice in October so we know how to deal with crowds. I imagine we would likely do a longer trip to WDW and possibly Universal Orlando later down the line, so this won't be our only chance to visit.

Thoughts?

 

[Notreallyaustralian]

I think it can be done and would be worth it!

My only advice...which you seem to already have in mind...is to prioritize rides not in Disneyland...such as Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, Everest, Test Track, etc.

 

[scrappinginontario]

For us it would be very much worth it!! Have you been to WDW in the past? A very different, wonderful experience. We’ve been to WDW many times and last summer visited DL for the first time and loved it!! WDW will always be home (as DL will be for you) but, experiencing both parks is amazing!! Enjoy!!

 

[RoseGold]

Yes, three full days is enough to do it. You need to prioritize what you want, and make a plan.

I would not get hoppers and would skip a park, maybe AK if he is over kindergarten age? I thought FOP was OK, but the rest of the park is sparse on rides or actually animal focused. Dropping HS also makes sense to me as it has the fewest rides. ToT is constantly broken, RnR is down for maintenance, the rest is in CA.

Prioritize park time and you can do it.

If you need to book something, like a princess makeover or light sabers or Be Our Guest, you need to pay and sign up for a tracker app. This kind of stuff does pop up as people cancel.

 

[jo-jo]

How old is your child? I like the idea of hopper to get just those few super rides in without spending whole day in same park. But of course there is the cost.......

If I only had three days , I don't think I'd do table service. They are a nice break, but can eat up a big chunk of time.

 

[_19disnA]

The answer depends of the age of your child and how much of the go-go-go types you are. Disney parks are huge and can involve MILES of walking. To go non-stop for 3 park days can be exhausting. Part of the issue with how crowded the parks are is it takes longer to get from one place to another in addition to ride lines being longer. No amount of advance planning will make the parks any less crowded. The most popular rides will tend to have the longest lines. If you use some of those new paid Genie options, you might be able to do more, but depends on your budget.

 

[shosh1530]

Thanks for the input. My son is 11, so tall enough for all rides, but is too scared for some of the biggest drops. He has rode everything at Disneyland except Guardians Mission Break Out and he doesn't want to ride Incredicoaster ever again. He also really loves small rides like the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

He has qualified for DAS on our Disneyland visits so we would try for that and would likely also consider Genie+ or paid ILL if needed. I suppose my biggest hesitation is that he is not a go-go-go kid. He is often happier people watching and looking in the shops than doing ride after ride. So often we may only ride 5-6 things in a day.

The goal would definitely be to prioritize things they don't have at DL. We'd probably have to take hotel breaks in the afternoons and I think we are both ok if we don't do everything. We kind of just want to get a taste for what WDW is like. He is also very interested in the 50th anniversary hence the timing before that ends. I've tried to explain that there isn't much too that, but he is a bit fixated on the idea he would only go for that. He also seems to like the idea of a shorter trip as it is hard from him to be out of routine and away for home for too long.

I do worry about over-exhausting myself as I'd be solo with him. We've done DL/DCA though just the two of us for 3 days and had the best time ever.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

I may be biased because I'd go for just one day if I could, but absolutely it's worth going for 3 park days. As others have suggested, I would make a plan and not park hop. Plan to do the things that appeal to you and your son the most and every attraction beyond that is a bonus- you really will be able to do plenty. It sounds like he'd be happy to just *be* there and that's the best mindset to have so you've already got that covered.

Unless he is super into animals/ nature/ Avatar I would probably drop AK. I would even consider skipping HS, spending 2 days at MK and one at Epcot.

I would also plan on either arriving later at the park or leaving early-ish, depending on whether you/ your son are late sleepers or early risers, at least for 2/3 of the park days. I know it's tempting to try and maximize park time by being the first one in and the last one out but sometimes one day of that can leave you dragging by lunch the next day (and everyone is different- you know your audience best). Mid-day rest/ pool breaks help but I've also had my kiddos beg to not leave the pool or go back to a park (and again, every kid/ vacation is different so YMMV).

 

[sheilafri]

I am a FL AP holder but need to drive in and stay. My preferred length of stay is three days. Long enough to get immersed, but not too long to be exhausted.

Currently, GotG at Epcot is by virtual queue. Chances at 7 am and 1 pm if in the park. That leaves you free to park hop if you are done. I love the Ratatouille ride at Epcot, too. HS is an easy hop from Epcot.

 

[SEAGULL59]

I have taken three trips in the past 2 years and all of them have only had 3 park days. We don’t get everything done but we enjoy our trips for sure!

 

[RoseGold]

I suppose my biggest hesitation is that he is not a go-go-go kid. He is often happier people watching and looking in the shops than doing ride after ride. So often we may only ride 5-6 things in a day.

That's still a lot of things!

You need to look at the attractions and prioritize. At AK, maybe that's the bird show or the Lion King musical or the safari. This will require some research on what's in the parks. Once you have that plan, you can execute it and have down time.

 

[Nabas]

Looking at March 21-25 and found a really good deal on airfare. This would only leave us 3 full park days and I'm on the fence about whether it is worth going all that way for such a short trip (we are in Arizona).

Thoughts?

As you already acknowledge, please keep in mind that that you're going during one of the busiest weeks of the year. The WDW theme parks can get painfully crowded in March. In fact, the week before in 2019 was the only time we've seen a long wait for Swiss Family Treehouse. (And we've been there on December 25.) You've got a lot of people from northern states looking for a break from the cold.

On the plus side, you should not have to deal with the humidity or afternoon showers that occur pretty much every day during the summer.

Since you are from, I assume your child finishes the school year in May. I suggest heading to WDW as soon as the school year finishes. Weather is hot but humidity is better than the summer months, while crowds will be a bit less.

If you still are intent on late March and only doing 3 theme park days, then just stay at the least expensive WDW hotel you can find (usually one of the All Stars). On such a short trip when you've never been to WDW before, my guess is you're going to spend nearly all of your day at the theme parks. In this case, the hotel is just a place to sleep. We are not fans of the Skyliner, having been left in a lurch by it 4 times, including one horror story when it took over 3 hours to get back to our room at the Riviera. We've stayed at all WDW hotels and CBR is our least-favorite Moderate Resort. As the original Moderate Resort (it opened in 1988), its resort and room layout suffer. Many rooms are far from the Skyliner, while the physical room isn't much better than the recently remodeled All Stars. In fact, the remodeled All Stars are a step up over what they were before the remodel.

 

[DonTheDuck]

I am going 3/1 to 3/5

3/1 - arrival day - magic kingdom evening
3/2 - Hollywood studios/epcot
3/3 - animal kingdom/epcot
3/4 - magic kingdom
3/5 - depart

I love this schedule and have followed it before. It is perfect for us.

So - very doable.

 

[glocon]

Agree with everyone that 3 days is worth it.

Also agree not to get park hoppers. Since it’s your first trip to The World, so many things will be new to you and you can easily submerge yourselves in the ambiance of one park for a day. Save hoppers for your next trip if you want to, once you’ve gotten an idea of what’s in the parks and just how far they are from one another.

Maybe look at maps and see which rides you and your son would enjoy and decide which park to skip that way.
It does seem like HS would be a good option to skip since one of the biggest draws is SWGE and you have that at DL.
And since your son doesn’t like GotG he most likely won’t want to do Tower of Terror and probably not Rock N Rollercoaster either.
The things that are different are Toy Story Land and maybe the Indians Jones Stunt Spectacular.
You could do that on another future trip if you want (I love both of those things). The theming is great at HS and there are some fun restaurants to try, but you can see/try those on a future trip.

DL doesn’t have anything like Epcot so that would be a must do.

And AK is also very different from anything DL has. It is definitely not just for kindergartners.
FoP is amazing and even though Navi doesn’t get a lot of love, it is a pretty and unique ride (just so very short). It has an amazing animatronic it it too!
Expedition Everest might be too much for your son, but it doesn’t have any loops or upside down parts so he may want to try it (and the queue is so interesting!).
Of course you have the Safari and the Lion King show (it is a bit different from the DL version from what I can tell).
You can also try Dinosaur which is supposed to be like your Indiana Jones ride but with a dinosaur theme.
And It’s Tough to be a Bug.
Besides, AK is a beautiful park with the Tree of Life (and Awakenings on the ToL).

I say do it!

Me and my son will have our first trip to DL this June so I’ve been doing research for visiting your neck of the woods .

I’m so excited for you- I hope you have the best time!

 

[unrequited23]

I say go for it. I would at least budget for ILLs for your must do rides. What time does your flight land on your first day? With the time difference in your favor for a late night, you might be able to hit a park, if you stack G+ reservations

My oldest is 11, too. He's already talking about getting a job, driving and college. It makes me want to take advantage of the time I have with him, while he still wants to hang out.

 

[shosh1530]

I say go for it. I would at least budget for ILLs for your must do rides. What time does your flight land on your first day? With the time difference in your favor for a late night, you might be able to hit a park, if you stack G+ reservations

Unfortunately the flight I found arrives at 10 pm, so no chance of hitting the parks. But it is reward travel on Delta so I can keep checking to see if the miles price keeps going down and if I can move it earlier.

I'm liking the idea of forgoing the park hopper and putting that savings to the ILL budget.

My oldest is 11, too. He's already talking about getting a job, driving and college. It makes me want to take advantage of the time I have with him, while he still wants to hang out.

This is exactly what is motivating this last minute trip! We saw some friends yesterday with a kid who is one year older. His voice had already changed and he had this little mustache! It made me realize that I want to do WDW when I still feel like my kid is a kid. He still loves characters and all things Disney and who knows how long it will last.

 

[shosh1530]

Since you are from, I assume your child finishes the school year in May. I suggest heading to WDW as soon as the school year finishes. Weather is hot but humidity is better than the summer months, while crowds will be a bit less.

He does get out of school right around Memorial Day, but we already have other travel booked for June already (our first Disney Cruise). So if we don't do it now our next opportunity would probably be Christmas break.

If you still are intent on late March and only doing 3 theme park days, then just stay at the least expensive WDW hotel you can find (usually one of the All Stars). On such a short trip when you've never been to WDW before, my guess is you're going to spend nearly all of your day at the theme parks. In this case, the hotel is just a place to sleep. We are not fans of the Skyliner, having been left in a lurch by it 4 times, including one horror story went it took over 3 hours to get back to our room at the Riviera. We've stayed at all WDW hotels and CBR is our least-favorite Moderate Resort. As the original Moderate Resort (it opened in 1988), it's resort and room layout suffer. Many rooms are far from the Skyliner, while the physical room isn't much better than the recently remodeled All Stars. In fact, the remodeled All Stars are a step up over what they were before the remodel.

I can take a look at what is available. I had made a reservation at CBR with a discocunt months ago just in case I could find good airfare and one of the reasons I picked it was for the third sleeper option in case we had another adult with us. Now that I'm thinking just the two of us I can pretty much stay anywhere.

Time for more research.

 

[Nabas]

I can take a look at what is available. I had made a reservation at CBR with a discocunt months ago just in case I could find good airfare and one of the reasons I picked it was for the third sleeper option in case we had another adult with us. Now that I'm thinking just the two of us I can pretty much stay anywhere.

Our last Value Resort stay was May 2022 at All Star Movies in a remodeled room, and this worked fine for us. (There's a 2nd wall bed that's more comfortable than the sofa beds the Deluxe Resorts are moving away from.)

 

[loves to dive]

Yep, I say go for it and easily doable. I'm going to go against most of the other people and also yes to PHs. We always get them, always have, always will. We feel like it actually makes it easier and more restful. We go back to our room at some point mid-day for a pool/nap/break and then go to a different park that night. Over 3 days, especially if you aren't interested in doing most of the rides at MK since a lot are like the ones at DL, it's easy enough.

CBR wouldn't be my first choice, but only because I'm not a huge fan of the sky liner and actually prefer the buses. I'm not sure but it may be one of the few resorts that has not been renovated in a while. If you must do the sky liner, I'd go for Pop since it is less money and has been renovated.

My example of a 3 day in your case might be.

Day 1 - morning AK since it's totally unique to WDW and not DL. Spend the morning there then go back to the resort at some point and rest. Afternoon/evening hop over to MK and maybe hit some of the rides there that are not at DL.
Day 2 - morning HS do the things that you can't do at DL since he doesn't like the drops ToT would be out and RNRC is shutting down for refurb. You have Rise in DL but maybe hit Toy Story Land. Again leave at some point for some resort time, hop to Epcot that evening. You can reverse that if you want to try for a Virtual Que to Guardians and do Epcot in the morning and hop to HS in the afternoon. Now you have already done 4 parks in two days. Aren't exhausted since you have skipped a lot of rides at both MK and HS and maybe even some at AK.
Day 3 - this is your repeat day for whatever park you think might have more in it then you think you could hit in one day.

Hopping allows you leave a park if it's too crowded for comfort and move on to another park.

 

[woodys_girl]

Can I just say your son sounds like mine? He's 10 and won't do Incredicoaster and refuses to go on Guardians/ToT again. He loves Cosmic Rewind and FOP though.
Since it will be crowded I recommend including some no line activities in your itinerary. My kids liked collecting the country postcards from Kidcot in the world showcase and the pirate adventures in the MK. Since you said he's excited about the 50th, maybe trying to find as many of the character statues as you can. There is also Wilderness Explorers at AK.
On a 3 day trip you certainly could skip AK, but because you normally do DL, I'd skip HS. If you do AK I probably wouldn't bother with Kali unless you happen upon a very short line. Grizzly River Run puts it to shame.
My son's favorite park is Epcot because he loves trying different foods (but only at Epcot. Not at home). He also loves test Track and Cosmic Rewind. I would consider Epcot to be your must-do park.