Kids first trip: questioning park days & choices!

[DisneymomCT1123]

We are surprising our kids (9&7) with a trip to WDW 4/3-4/8, staying at AKL. We have single park per day passes and I have already booked our FP+ experiences. We are not morning people so I planned most of our FP+ for the afternoon. I'm not sure if two days at Epcot are too much? There are not many FP+ options there and I'm wondering if we would benefit from swapping our departure day at AK with one of our days at Epcot, or one of our Epcot days for another park? Has anyone done a park on departure day and is it overwhelming? Thanks in advance for any input!

I have the following planned:

4/3- arrive to AKL for check in at 3 PM, QS meal before heading to MK:
6:40 FP+ Peter Pan's Flight
7:50 FP+ Enchanted Tales with Belle
8:50 FP+ SDMT

4/4- HS
1:35 FP+ Indiana Jones
3:10 FP+ TSMM
4:25 FP+ Star Tours

4/5- EPCOT (Eve. EMH)
3:45 FP+ Spaceship Earth
4:45 FP+ Test Track
7:30 FP+ Nemo & Friends

4/6- MK (EMH 11PM-1AM)
12:50 FP+ Pirates
2:10 FP+ Splash Mtn
3:15 FP+ BTMRR

4/7- EPCOT
5:30 FP+ Character M&G
6:45 FP+ Turtle Talk
8:30 FP+ Illuminations

4/8- departure day AK
10:15 FP+ Kilimanjaro
12:20 FP+ EE
2:00 FP+ Dinosaur

Flight leaves 6:30 PM from MCO

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We do not find doing a departure day park overwhelming. We've done it a number of times.

If we have more than four park days, we first add extra MK, then extra Epcot. Except it is important to add there are a number of closures at Epcot right now. I also agree that there are few attractions to FP in that park, at least for right now.

 

[disBEAST]

EC depends on how much time you will spend in World Showcase doing M&Gs and exploring the pavilions. AK can be tough to do everything in one day with the shows much less a half day with departure so I would switch your last two days to give yourself a full day at AK. I'm not sure if you have park hoppers but you could fit in another park that evening or just go explore Disney Springs or your resort, which has a lot to it.

I do not know if you are taking DME but they will pick you up 3 hrs before domestic flights and 4 hrs before international flights so a 2pm FP+ is not leaving a ton of room, but doable with a domestic flight and staying at AKL.

Indiana Jones is not a necessary FP+ unless you really don't want Tower of Terror. Ditto with Illuminations although EC is short on FP+, but I would still use it on Living with the Land.

The Living Seas with Nemo won't need a FP+ either, but if you're hurting for options and want to keep it you should still group it with Turtle Talk, as TTWC is inside TLS.

Generally a good way to attack EC with two days is to bisect it into left and right sides, not Future World/World Showcase. So one day is the left side with TT, Mission:Space, Energy, maybe Sum of all Thrills, and left side of WS, then right side the next day.

 

[leebee]

I'd want a full day at AK, so I'd swap an Epcot day to the departure day and give AK a full day earlier in your trip.

 

[TXStormtrooper]

We always do a partial park day on our departure day. If it was me, I would swap the extra Epcot day for a 2nd full MK day. Alternatively, you could swap the extra Epcot day with a full AK day and do MK again as a partial day on your departure day. I think you will not need more time at Epcot, but you will want more time in MK. If you have a good zoo close by, you may or may not want/need more than a half day at AK. We have a world class zoo here that we visit on a monthly basis and volunteer at, so we skip a lot of the animal stuff at AK. However, if you want to enjoy that aspect of the park, you will need more than a half day.

You will not need a FP for Indiana Jones. I would swap that for Tower of Terror, unless you don't think you'll ride it.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

On arrival day, we are often excited to begin exploring right away. I should had, we have many trips under our belts! The only time we aren't eager to get started right away is if we have a very early or late flight, or have an exceptionally busy pre-vacation day. (i.e. you work a 16hour day or can't sleep the night before you leave) If we have to get up very early for our flight, we sometimes nap upon arrival. Travel also seems to make us more HUNGRY and thirsty than normal.

Last day's are a bit variable. It always takes time to pack. I find, the less I UNpack, the better. We've now taken to resort hopping. We split trips maybe between maybe Tampa/Daytona, WDW and Universal. With that much moving, I keep toiletries mostly in Ziploc bags and live right out of the suitcase. Dirty laundry goes into a plastic bag. Packing up is little more than the toothbrush, bathing suits, and my cell phone charger. (I let b suits dry as long as possible!)

If you prefer to fully unpack, it will take longer on your last day to re-pack. You also need to allow time if you check luggage and use ME.

The last three years, we've used our own car, and limit ourselves to carry-on. On our last day, we just toss our stuff in the car on our way to the park. Except food. Chocolate and perishable foods must be kept cool. We leave food with luggage services; they have a fridge.

You allocation of days looks good. The only thing I would do perhaps differently is to make sure I spend lots of time at the Lodge. I love AKL! It is the most beautiful WDW hotel! We also love the relatively compact layout of the hotel, and especially the location of the pool.

DISers tend to be early risers who love mornings in the parks. There is a big advantage in arriving near rope drop, but you can manage without it. You should know though, that 11am to about 4pm is the MOST crowed time of day to be in the parks. If you aren't arriving until 11am, you'll be smacked with the longest lines right away. When we don't get up early, we absolutely stay until PARK CLOSING. But it also depends who many rides you want to ride, and how willing you are to stand in long lines.

 

[gap2368]

We are surprising our kids (9&7) with a trip to WDW 4/3-4/8, staying at AKL. We have single park per day passes and I have already booked our FP+ experiences. We are not morning people so I planned most of our FP+ for the afternoon. I'm not sure if two days at Epcot are too much? There are not many FP+ options there and I'm wondering if we would benefit from swapping our departure day at AK with one of our days at Epcot, or one of our Epcot days for another park? Has anyone done a park on departure day and is it overwhelming? Thanks in advance for any input!

I have the following planned:

4/3- arrive to AKL for check in at 3 PM, QS meal before heading to MK:
6:40 FP+ Peter Pan's Flight
7:50 FP+ Enchanted Tales with Belle
8:50 FP+ SDMT

4/4- HS
1:35 FP+ Indiana Jones
3:10 FP+ TSMM
4:25 FP+ Star Tours

4/5- EPCOT (Eve. EMH)
3:45 FP+ Spaceship Earth
4:45 FP+ Test Track
7:30 FP+ Nemo & Friends

4/6- MK (EMH 11PM-1AM)
12:50 FP+ Pirates
2:10 FP+ Splash Mtn
3:15 FP+ BTMRR

4/7- EPCOT
5:30 FP+ Character M&G
6:45 FP+ Turtle Talk
8:30 FP+ Illuminations

4/8- departure day AK
10:15 FP+ Kilimanjaro
12:20 FP+ EE
2:00 FP+ Dinosaur

Flight leaves 6:30 PM from MCO

I would change your EPCOT and AK on your last days

I have never had a problem finding a good view of illumination with out a FP just walk around world show case and find a place to sit there are some benches if you do not want to sit on the ground ( I have found a spot about 5 minutes before with no problem) the night time show is great and is a must see even if you give up your FP for Nemo and friends. you can easel go after as the line will not be that long.

If you do trade the last day I would try and find a spot maybe 30 to 45 minute before illumination and have some one go into one of the stores and get some snacks to try from one of the counties and just sit for a while and relax and eat some thing, I hope you have a great trip

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Since you list the PM EMH, it sounds like you plan to be out that late. We usually manage quite a bit late at night.

If you are using ME (no car) and find the timing tight on your last day (AK back to AKL), you should just grab a taxi. The drive from AK to AKL is short (about 5min), but the timing of buses is uneven.

I agree you don't need a FP for Indy, but if you don't want ToT, I'm not sure any other options are much better.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

I would be a little worried about your 2:00 FP and getting back to the resort on time. Assuming you are using DME, they will probably pick you up at 3-3:30. That means after you ride Dinosaur, you will need to catch a bus and sometimes they can be later than you need them to be. Since you will be at AK that day and staying at AKL there might be other travel possibilities. We've not stayed there, so not sure.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ibela]

I'd switch the 2nd Epcot to a full AK day and leave the last day for the pool. My kids are the same ages as yours and have never met a pool they don't like, especially such a great one like at AKL! I like using the last day as packing, one last good, meal and reviewing the highlights of our trip.

 

[Lynzer4]

While I have done a park on departure... I don't really enjoy it and frankly after 5 days in the park I fine with not hitting the parks our last day.

Unless you have a car then getting back to your resort for DME will be difficult. If me I would do what others suggested and just do a pool day giving you time to pack up and get everything ready to go home. The pool at AKL is a lot of fun and I know your kids will be asking for pool time.

I would make my 2nd Epcot day an Animal Kingdom day with maybe a ADR at DisneySprings (Kids love TREX - you can call directly and get a reservation as Disney doesn't often have many time available). There are some great stores at Disney Springs and a neat place to walk around. I would change the Indy fast pass to Tower of Terror like everyone else said if you think their is even the smallest chance your kids will ride (... its my favorite and I wasn't sure if my 8 yr old would do it and he loved it. We rode it 5 times).

If your kids want to meet characters (again my 8 yr old loved meeting characters) I would make sure one of your FP at Epcot is Character Spot.

Just have fun and remember you won't get to everything so don't think you have to push hard to do it all... it just won't happen.

 

[sdomino11]

We have a good zoo nearby, so our AK days never involve much of the animal watching. We catch both shows, play at the Boneyard, ride EE, Dinosaur, and Safari. AK is my second favorite park and I'm still comfortable going to it on our departure day if our flight isn't until evening. So, I'd leave your AK day alone and switch out one of your EP days for another MK day. I think you'd find plenty to do to fill two EP days, but adding another day at MK would be of higher priority to me due to its size and the fact that the attractions there are usually everyone's favorites and worth repeating. Ideally, we do 2.5-3 days just at MK.

 

[DisneymomCT1123]

Thank you everyone for your input, you do not know how helpful you all are! I ended up switching our last Epcot day and making it a MK day. I kept the departure day as AK and figure we will do what we can. We will most likely miss the 2:00 Dinosaur, but at this age I think the kids will appreciate MK more than Epcot or AK. We live close to the Bronx Zoo and Central Park Zoo and spend a lot of time there over the summer. I'm hoping the animals at AK will satisfy their need to see wildlife

 

[DisneymomCT1123]

We have a good zoo nearby, so our AK days never involve much of the animal watching. We catch both shows, play at the Boneyard, ride EE, Dinosaur, and Safari. AK is my second favorite park and I'm still comfortable going to it on our departure day if our flight isn't until evening. So, I'd leave your AK day alone and switch out one of your EP days for another MK day. I think you'd find plenty to do to fill two EP days, but adding another day at MK would be of higher priority to me due to its size and the fact that the attractions there are usually everyone's favorites and worth repeating. Ideally, we do 2.5-3 days just at MK.

This is exactly what I did! Makes sense as we live close to zoos and spend a lot of time at them, and the ages of our kids, I think they would appreciate another MK day

 

[Tara1988]

I like to do a repeat park on departure day. Usually to redo a few favorite rides. I wouldn't use a departure day as the only day at a park if it could be avoided.

 

[Dis703]

We find plenty to do at Epcot for a full 2 days, but that said I'd also want a full day for AK so I'd probably swap. As someone else pointed out a 2pm FP for Dinosaur is really pushing it with getting back to your resort for pickup. I know for us at least we have to pick up bags from Bell Services and try to hit the bathroom maybe grab a snack before we are on the bus and even if we got to Dinosaur exactly at 2pm I'm not sure that would work out. We've missed DME twice now showing up only a few minutes late as well so I'd try and be there early for pickup.

 

[mrzrich]

i think as a first timer you are limiting yourself by making AK your departure day park. AK has NOTHING to do with whether or not you have a zoo near your house. 2 of the best, SHOULD NOT MISS shows are at AK. Between getting in and getting seated, FOTLK and Nemo will take up about an hour of your time each.

I really recommend swapping AK with your second Epcot day.

 

[DisneymomCT1123]

i think as a first timer you are limiting yourself by making AK your departure day park. AK has NOTHING to do with whether or not you have a zoo near your house. 2 of the best, SHOULD NOT MISS shows are at AK. Between getting in and getting seated, FOTLK and Nemo will take up about an hour of your time each.

I really recommend swapping AK with your second Epcot day.

We have a full day at MK with evening EMH on Wednesday. I'm just wondering if 1 1/2 days is enough at MK with kids that are 9&7.

 

[BlueFairy]

Don't underestimate how tired these late nights are going to make your kids. Good that you are not changing time zones. But staying til close on those EMH evenings might be trickier than you think. After 2-3 days of all day touring, my 10 and 7 year olds are beat. Take the time to enjoy your AKL pool in the mornings if you are getting a super late start. They will need some down time somewhere.

We like late evenings but find it works best when we are not in the park during those peak lines hours between lunch and 5pm.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Don't underestimate how tired these late nights are going to make your kids. Good that you are not changing time zones. But staying til close on those EMH evenings might be trickier than you think. After 2-3 days of all day touring, my 10 and 7 year olds are beat. Take the time to enjoy your AKL pool in the mornings if you are getting a super late start. They will need some down time somewhere.

We like late evenings but find it works best when we are not in the park during those peak lines hours between lunch and 5pm.

I agree with most of your post. WDW is a lot of walking, and we don't mind having a non-park evening on our AK day to eat dinner.

That said, we don't often manage much down time. We often linger in the parks longer than we plan, and it takes us longer to get back to the hotel/park than we think/plan.

In addition to the parks, if we go to dinner, there also always seems to be something interesting to see at all the resorts.

Then again, vacation also don't go as smoothly as we plan either. There's always some (usually little) concern that distracts us for a bit.