Magic Kingdom first?

[Max Rebo]

The "which park first" question has long been debated on this board and others.

Some sources, including the UG, suggest that if traveling with young children, you should NOT visit MK first, because if you do, the rest of your trip will be a letdown.

I can see the logic in that approach, but I'm wondering if any DISers out there can relate specific experience with this problem — kids being disappointed or bored by Epcot, AK and MGM after having first visited MK.

Anyone with some experience with this?

 

[Sleeping Becca]

On my DD's first trip to Disney she was 3 or 4 years old, she enjoyed and had fun at all of the parks and was not bored or dissappointed with any of them. MK was her favorite and still is, she is 8 now. We always start our trip with MK, it doesn't feel like we have arrived untill we see Main Street and the Castle. Even though she likes all of the parks we end almost everynight at MK except if we see Fantasmic or a Dinner show, or Cirque.

I know it is recommended that MK be visited last, I don't think that is possible or realistic. Most children associate MK with Disney World, so to me, when you tell your kid "We're going to Disneyworld!!!!!" and then you spend your first 3 days at AK, Epcot, and MGM they're going to be dissapointed regardless.

 

[outlander]

On my DD's first trip to Disney she was 3 or 4 years old, she enjoyed and had fun at all of the parks and was not bored or dissappointed with any of them. MK was her favorite and still is, she is 8 now. We always start our trip with MK, it doesn't feel like we have arrived untill we see Main Street and the Castle. Even though she likes all of the parks we end almost everynight at MK except if we see Fantasmic or a Dinner show, or Cirque.

I know it is recommended that MK be visited last, I don't think that is possible or realistic. Most children associate MK with Disney World, so to me, when you tell your kid "We're going to Disneyworld!!!!!" and then you spend your first 3 days at AK, Epcot, and MGM they're going to be dissapointed regardless.

i totally agree with this. while it's great in theory, there is no way we could go to disneyworld and not visit mk within the first 24 hours. it *is* disneyworld. all of the kingdoms are different and are fun for different reasons but in my family, it would be just plain cruel to wait to go to mk until the end.

 

[cleo]

We visit MK on its slowest days, which may not be our 'first day'. When we take new people, none of them have ever felt bored or let down by Epcot, including the children we've taken.

Maybe our friends and family are funny, but Epcot usually turns out to be their favorite park. Weird, I know, but we all like it best, especially World Showcase at night.

 

[goofy4tink]

When my dd was 5, we made our first 'pilgrimage' to WDW. First park? MK!!! We had no issues with her when we visited the other parks. I really think that sometimes we overthink things....I simply told dd that we were staying in Epcot for a bit longer because that's what Mommy and Meme wanted to do...we would go back to MK on a different day...that simple.

 

[novdisneydreams]

There are so many wonderful attractions for children in all of the parks --- my kids were not at all let down after visiting MK first. We did spend the most time in MK and went back a few times during our week. But my kids (4 & 7 ) enjoyed the other parks too. There are lots of characters and kid-friendly shows at MGM. And their parade (the car one) was fantastic for little ones. Epcot is just so, well, COOL! Don't miss the London double-decker bus full of characters that shows up at WS (a huge hit w/ my kids). And AK -- has animals! AND Disney Magic! I think I was actually more MK crazed than my kids were - I wanted to make sure that we spent as much time as possible there "while they were small" because I didn't know when we'd get back. But they loved the other parks as well. Enjoy your trip!

 

[grumpymakesmehappy]

On my DD's first trip to Disney she was 3 or 4 years old, she enjoyed and had fun at all of the parks and was not bored or dissappointed with any of them. MK was her favorite and still is, she is 8 now. We always start our trip with MK, it doesn't feel like we have arrived untill we see Main Street and the Castle. Even though she likes all of the parks we end almost everynight at MK except if we see Fantasmic or a Dinner show, or Cirque.

I know it is recommended that MK be visited last, I don't think that is possible or realistic. Most children associate MK with Disney World, so to me, when you tell your kid "We're going to Disneyworld!!!!!" and then you spend your first 3 days at AK, Epcot, and MGM they're going to be dissapointed regardless.

Well said. It's your perogitive whether or not you want to visit MK first or last. My family throws logic out the door and makes a mad dash for the castle.

 

[Kirby]

On our first trip to WDW ten years ago (has it been that long already?), our DD was five and our DS was seven. We went to the MK first and didn't have a problem with the kids being bored at the other parks. We were just to excited to be at DW!

On the two visits since then, we tried to visit the parks on the slowest days for that park. We didn't know any better our first time around.

 

[ainmama2001]

On my DD's first trip to Disney she was 3 or 4 years old, she enjoyed and had fun at all of the parks and was not bored or dissappointed with any of them. MK was her favorite and still is, she is 8 now. We always start our trip with MK, it doesn't feel like we have arrived untill we see Main Street and the Castle. Even though she likes all of the parks we end almost everynight at MK except if we see Fantasmic or a Dinner show, or Cirque.

I know it is recommended that MK be visited last, I don't think that is possible or realistic. Most children associate MK with Disney World, so to me, when you tell your kid "We're going to Disneyworld!!!!!" and then you spend your first 3 days at AK, Epcot, and MGM they're going to be dissapointed regardless.

I absolutely agree. My dd is 5 and we've been going since before she was a year old. She HAS to see the castle first. It's the exclamation point on the end of her sentence...so to speak. We follow the same plan as the quoted poster and follow that plan. IMHO, MK is the essence of Disney to our family.