Is one day enough

[brymolmom]

I agree with pp's that 2 at MK and EP is a good idea. 1 day a tthe other 2 is fine.

And I've been wit a 4 and 5 year old and I would recommend skipping the water parks unless there is a huge interest there. At that age many kids are enthralled by the resort pools - and swimming for an afternoon and a couple of evenings is enough with the 'wet' stuff to keep them satisfied. Besides - the littler kid stuff at the water parks isn't too much different than you can get locally - with wave pools and sprinklers.

So I would skip the water parks and go to the main parks more.

 

[LovesTimone]

I love to plan, when my DD's were little would ask them what are you looking forward to doing, for us we did alot of princess things. I kinda have a list in my head of questions that helped me plan when they were little. Each time you visit the trip changes,

What are the park hours? EMH? Will you be planning on rope drop?

What type of dinning? Character Meals? Table service? ( at least a hour to hour 1/2)

Are you celebrating something?

Are your kids interested in pin trading? (my youngest could stand around all day trying to decide) autographs?( if you go throgh a character spot at least 30 mins if no line) parade veiwing?(getting a spot, waiting and then watching the parade at least 2 hours)

Will you be riding the buses? ( waiting for buses, do the buses share with other resorts, riding to parks, at least 45 mins if not more)

Each of these takes time to do and for us we wanted to enjoy what we were doing without rushing to the next ride.

I suggest MK 2 to 3 days
Epcot -2 days
DHS - 1 to 2 days - depending on if you enjoy the shows
AK - 1 day - not unless you really have a kiddo that loves animals, then maybe 2 days, our oldest DD would want to go see the animal everyday she was really into the lion king.

I would skip the water parks, the pool at the resorts are done so nicely, and most have a slide, and other things for them to do games and such with cast members.

Sea world is a nice day, for us not as exciting as disney parks, Universal is geared for older kids, IMO, I would check out to see what you would be doing at each of those parks, and is the cost to what your kids can do at each park in line with what you want to spend? When DD's were 4 and 5, Seaworld was a half day for us, mostly shows, now they are wonderful to see and are well done, so you have to weigh it out.

I am going to repeat what alot of poster have already said, you won;t wee everything in one visit. Let your kiddo's tell you what they really want to do or see, and then go from there.

Have a magical time

 

[pmaurer74]

My kid are 6 and 3. This will be our 5th time going and we are doing 3 days MK because of the new stuff. I suggest one day each park and 2 for MK with kids your age. I disagree with PP's about the DDP. We do that every time mainly so we have a place to sit down in A/C and do mainly character meals. I enjoy them as much as my kids. I create my ADRs based on wich park I plan to be on which day. I start and end vacation with MK and go to the other parks in between. I suggest not park hopping for the first trip and will the kids that age get much out of the water parks? I do not plan to to waterparks until my kids are much older. They love the resort pools. We went to Sea World on our 4th trip for something different but it can be tough to justify the extra expense. Good luck!

 

[mm1971]

I am looking into us going to WDW for the first time in May....i am at a lost when it comes to planning for this it is all so overwhelming.....what resort dining plan or not water parks or not etc etc......is one day in each park enough.....I was planning for a week but also wanted to do sea world and possibly the water parks so I am just trying to get help to decide what I need to do

For all the parks? One day each is definitely not enough.

I suggest at least two days for Magic Kingdom, a day for Animal Kingdom, two for Epcot and one for Hollywood Studios.

This would be my suggestion as well. Sea World would be one full day as well if you choose to go. How old are your children? That may make a difference. when my kids were younger and sometimes now, HS is a half day park or we may just skip it altogether. There are only a few key things the kids enjoy there. Epcot is definitely 2 days for us.

For planning, choose your dates and hotel first. That should help you to plan the rest of your time. For example, if you are at a monorail hotel, it will be faster to get to MK and EPCOT than if you have to drive or take a bus. That is about all we plan. We kind of plan what park we will go to for a couple of days and then wing the rest. What determines the park is usually our restaurant reservations. We do two dinners at EPCOT, an early breakfast at MK (so we get in early and can head down Main Street without it being crowded) and maybe one other big dinner. The rest we like to go at our own pace and end up wherever we end up.

My biggest tip is...Don't stress trying to do EVERYTHING. Pick out the few must do's in each park. Plan those and then do as many of the secondary things with the time you have. Just a suggestion. When you try to get everything in there is a lot of stress and instead of enjoying your vacation, everyone is stressed out trying to get to everything. That's what we did our first time and the pressure made our trip less enjoyable. Anything you miss gives you a reason to go back.

 

[Naughtilus]

More time planning ahead = more free time at the parks.

I'd be lying if I said planning wasn't a whole lot of fun for me.

 

[RyMacJ]

I also have small children, and we are doing the water parks because they are DH's absolute favorite thing. We would love to do Universal and Sea World, but have opted to wait until they are older.

IMO, the dining plan is a great value for small kids, IF you plan on doing lots of character meals. We are doing 3, so we chose to purchase the plan, and I think we will come out ahead. If we weren't doing that, I would not have purchased it and would have let the girls share meals.

Here is our schedule. We are going to go at the girls' pace, just wanted to nail down park days for ADRS.

Oh, and we are also going in may.


May 4th: arrive at AoA, hit MK for a few hours

May 5th: Studios

May 6th: Typhoon Lagoon in the AM, walk the Boardwalk and eat at Beach Club in the PM

May 7th: MK

May 8th: Epcot

May 9th: AK

May 10th: Blizzard Beach in the AM, MK in the PM.

If we need to go back to the resort, we will. If we can't make it somewhere, we won't. We just want to experience it through our girls. I haven't built in any time for DTD, but I figure we may pop in there after AK, depending on how we all feel.

Have fun and remember to stop and smell the roses!!

 

[vcgirl925]

You will never see everything. Even if you spend two days at each park. Just pick your "must sees" and plan around them. Do i think one day in each park is enough? No, not really. I would do like the others have said, one day for each AK and HS and then two days for MK and Epcot.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We did our first "family" trip to DisneyWorld this past Summer. We did not see everything in every park, but we definitely were able to do everything WE wanted to do with the exception of some things at Epcot. We spent all of 1 day each at MK, AK, and Epcot, and split the other day between Epcot & DHS. For us, only Epcot felt like we got short-changed. And yes, we absolutely went commando from rope drop to close (or just before) every day. We also spent 3 days at the water parks which for us was a must as our family has a full-on waterpark addiction. But, my kids were 6 (almost 7) and 11. So, they were big enough to do all of the attractions there.

As much as we wanted to do Universal & Sea World on this trip, there's just no real way to fit it in with a Disney trip if you have but a week.

We had Y.E.S. premium tickets with hopper & WPF&M. Had we not purchased Y.E.S. tickets, we probably would have skipped the hopper portion, but after we had it, I'm glad we did.

If you're curious about our perspective as first-timers, there's a link to our trip report in my sig. Warning, I can get VERY wordy

 

[JimmyV]

Thanks for all the info...we went to DL our first time over Christmas...I am now in limbo about going back to DL or going to WDW...I had decided on WDW but now am leaning back towards DL because that's where the kids want to go back to and I know a little more about it

Don't give up so easily. First of all, you mention taking a full week. While a full week may not be enough to "do it all" at WDW, it is way too much time to allot to DL. Given the choice of being repetitive at DL, or leaving WDW with things undone, I would choose the latter every time. Going to DL is like going to an amusement park. You arrive. You park. You hit the rides. You leave. Going to WDW is like visitng another country. It is completely immersive. And that is where the real joy comes from. Just because you cannot see all of Italy in a week is no reason to cancel your trip to Rome. Just know that some day you are going to want to go back to Amalfi. And Florence. And Venice. And Tuscany. And.....you get the picture.

If you want to go to Sea World and a water park or two, then simply cross one of the parks off your list. (Epcot)? Since Epcot is really a two or three day park, if you skip it this time around, you can do two days at the MK, one each at AK and DHS, one at Sea World, one at a water park, and still have a seventh day to play with. That would be just fine. Once you go, you will want to return as soon as you exit the turnstile for the last time. In a year or two, or three or four, plan to go back, and put Epcot at the top of your list of things to do.

 

[bopper]

I would suggest 2 days of park, then one day of resort, then two days of park.

 

[P00H1010]

I am looking into us going to WDW for the first time in May....i am at a lost when it comes to planning for this it is all so overwhelming.....what resort dining plan or not water parks or not etc etc......is one day in each park enough.....I was planning for a week but also wanted to do sea world and possibly the water parks so I am just trying to get help to decide what I need to do

WDW is very overwhelming to a first timer, there is lots to do and see and quite frankly you don't realize just how big it really is until you get there. I guess it really all depends on how much you are looking to do in each park.

My first WDW trip was an 8 day trip. We stayed on property the whole trip, had park hoppers, and did not do the waterparks. I wanted to do as much as humanly possible as I was so excited to be there. We accomplished most main attractions and shows in each park as well as a lot of others. Of course there was more I wanted to do, but the main things I wanted to see I was able to.

It is practically impossible to accomplish everything in just one trip. So keeping that in mind....Could you spend 1 day in each park?...Sure....Would it be more beneficial to spend more time than just 1 day...Yes it would. As long as you realize that you can't do everything (maybe make a list of your "most important attractions"). Make sure to utilize FP and park hoppers as you can save yourself some time. You can have a wonderful vacation with any length of stay at WDW as long as you are flexible in plans and have realistic expectations.

 

[Tara D]

For your kids ages, I would plan on two days at Magic Kingdom, two days at Epcot, a day at Animal Kingdom and a day at Hollywood Studios. HS is not our favorite so we usually leave by 3 PM and spend that evening at Downtown Disney or our resort pool. We don't do the waterparks and more ticket option. My oldest is almost six, so maybe when she is older. I've been to the water parks. They are awesome, but IMO better for an older age range.

Sea World, we have only ever done one day there. So if you stayed a week for example, here's what I would do (of course based on crowd calendars and other info)

1 Magic Kingdom
2 Epcot
3 Animal Kingdom
4 Hollywood Studios
5 Epcot
6 Magic Kingdom

with Sea World thrown in there if you decide on that. I like to spread out my MK and Epcot days too and see other stuff in between.

 

[theworldneedscolor]

I haven't been yet, so of course, I can't tell you based on experience. However, I am in the same situation as you; we are making our very first trip to Disneyworld. And it will probably we our last, since it is so expensive and we live on the West Coast. We will definitely be doing two days at Universal. I would like to do a day per park at WDW, but depending on cost, we may only do three days at WDW total!

So, the point is, do what you think will work best for your family. I definitely wouldn't skip SeaWorld and the other things you mentioned if those are something you want to try.

 

[GenevieveRaqs]

So, the point is, do what you think will work best for your family. I definitely wouldn't skip SeaWorld and the other things you mentioned if those are something you want to try.

THIS is the best advice you'll get. Don't skip Sea World if it's a priority for YOUR family. This is a Disney fan site, and there are many who would never consider going off property. But if it's something YOU'D like to do, don't let that deter you.

There is a ton of great info here on the Dis, but I think sometimes it can be more overwhelming than necessary here for a first timer. And I personally disagree with some of the standard advice you'll get from some of the Disney vets here. It's just that different things work for different people.

You can have a great time with one day in each park. No, you won't see everything. You should decide what your top priorities are, make sure you see those, then consider anything else to be icing on the cake.

Remember: it's a vacation. This is supposed to be fun! Don't stress about planning. Pick a hotel, just like you would for any other vacation. If you want to do sit down restaurants, you'll do best with making reservations. But, no, you don't have to get those reservations six months in advance. Some places fill up quickly, but there are still TONS of reservations available even when you arrive at the parks for the day if you're willing to be flexible (assuming you're not there on a major holiday like Christmas Day). DON'T feel like you have to plan every minute of your day or never take a break in order to "get the most out of your trip." Go at your family's pace. You'll have an awesome time! We took my DS4 on his first trip in October, and we all had the best time.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

THIS is the best advice you'll get. Don't skip Sea World if it's a priority for YOUR family. This is a Disney fan site, and there are many who would never consider going off property. But if it's something YOU'D like to do, don't let that deter you.

I'd agree you could work in a day at Sea World, but I think the instinct for a lot of first-timers (mine included) was that you could do a Disney/SW/Universal vacation in about a week or so. I'd been to SW, Universal, MK, and AK before and figured doing all those in one trip with the whole family would be great and we'd just skip DHS and Epcot. Problem is, a trip like that is REALLY expensive. Disney tickets get cheaper the more days you add, so the per day charge is much worse with a 2-day ticket than a longer one. So, it was like we were getting socked with the worst prices for everything. So, we quickly scrubbed that idea. If time is more of bottleneck for you than money, it could change your thoughts. For us, both are a bottleneck with $$ being the top factor. So, ultimately we decided SW and Universal will have to wait for another day as far as our kids are concerned. But again, you've gotta do what's best for you

 

[Peachkins]

As others have said, one day is enough for AK and DHS. We usually go for a week as well, and always spend at least 2 days in MK. On our last trip we only spent one day in Epcot due to our own time constraints, but would have preferred two- we just couldn't see everything there in one day. We also tend to take a day "off" and just go to Downtown Disney and look around and spend some time at the resort's pool.

The water parks look neat, but we've never made it to them. We did go to Sea World one trip, and that was fun. They've added a lot more in the way of attractions and rides the last few years, so there is more to do there than there used to be. It would still be a one day park.

Don't know if you're getting park hoppers, but that could be another way to get some extra time at the bigger parks. If you get done early in one place, you could head to another to spend some more time.

 

[dlove28]

Asking us our opinions is a good way to start, but if you want the right answer for your family you need to put in the time to research and plan so you can figure out what's best for your family.

I approach planning by deciding how many days we want in each park, what character meals/restaurants we want and crowd calendars.

My family likes the regular dining plan. I have young kids and we like to do a lot of character meals. It helps eliminate a lot of M&Gs in the park and gets the kids a little more interaction with the characters. I think the general consensus on the deluxe plan is that it is too much food. Many people like QS so they are not tied into reservations. This helps with park hopping and flexible plans.

I wouldn't recommend park hopping as a newbie. It complicates things. My family is not old enough to do the water parks. Even when they are, we have great water parks near us, so ill have to do research on WDW's to see if it is worth it for us.

What works really well for us is using our arrival day. We like to go to MK and just enjoy our arrival and soak it in, catch some shows, see the parade. Really have no set plan, ride what we can that doesn't have long waits. Then the next day is early MK with a good plan in place.

I can't comment on going off site as we haven't done it yet. We will eventually, but not yet.

Good luck.

 

[kris4360]

You will not see everything even if you have 2 days in each park. Especially on a first visit. Just don't do what we did and go commando and about kill yourself trying to do and see everything because it is not possible. I think one day at each park is 'enough' to figure out how many days you will want in the park the next time you go... because there will most likely be a next time.

Just go in with the intention of enjoying what you do see.

You took the words out of my mouth!

 

[kaligal]

It is nearly impossible to do everything in a park in one day. People who say they do everything generally mean they did everything they felt like doing. They don't mean they did every single thing the park had to offer.

But one day per park will still be fun.

And Sea World is my very favorite park in Orlando. I would never skip it! No, you couldn't do everything at Sea World in one day, but you could get a lot done.