MK on MLK Day?

[Mollygirl21]

For a trip in Jan 2022 with 5 first-timers, would you rather visit MK on MLK day or the Friday after?

If you don't think MK on MLK Day is a good idea, which park would be best?

 

[e_yerger]

How long is your trip? Do you have Park Hoppers? What are your other plans? There is a big difference between doing MK on Monday and Friday, so would want to understand the scope of the trip before helping.

 

[Mollygirl21]

How long is your trip? Do you have Park Hoppers? What are your other plans? There is a big difference between doing MK on Monday and Friday, so would want to understand the scope of the trip before helping.

It's all those other details that is making this decision so hard for me!

- who's going: DH, DS9, me - DH and I have been a few times, DS was there once when he was 5
- who else is going: my BIL & SIL and their 3 boys 10, 10, and 12. This is the first visit for all of them.
- We arrive Sunday Jan 16 and leave Monday Jan 24. MLK Monday will be our first park day.
- We have 5 day park tickets, no hoppers but will have the option to add a 6th day if needed while we are there (I understand we risk not being able to get a park reservation)
- We plan a resort/pool/DS day mid-week and another on Saturday
- We are spending one day per park and then deciding which one we will visit twice when we are there.
- Our first night is as AKL and initially thought AK is the best choice because of proximity plus it closes earlier so we can unpack at our next resort
- On day 2, we move to BWV for the rest of the week

Option 1:
MK (Monday), Epcot, resort day, HS, AK, resort day, repeat park

Option 2:
AK (Monday), HS, Epcot, resort day, MK (Friday), resort day, repeat park

Option 3:
???

Thanks for taking a look!

 

[e_yerger]

The thing is, with first-timers, Magic Kingdom is the park to visit - it's the castle, has the most attractions, what they continuously see in advertising. Pushing that to the end of your trip may be hard for the kids (or child-like adults ).

Knowing what I do know about your trip I would do:
AK (Monday - makes sense since you're going to be AKL; definitely take advantage of that proximity. Also will probably have the lowest crowds of all parks on a holiday weekend), Magic Kingdom, resort day, HS, Epcot, resort day, Magic Kingdom

I know that you want to be flexible on your repeat park day, but I would highly suggest of booking a park reservation in case all parks sell out (we saw this happen for a few weeks during Spring Break crowds this year). I suggest Magic Kingdom because it has the most attractions, so in case you miss any on your first MK day you can catch them on your second day. On your second resort day you guys can discuss if you want to keep MK or change it to another park.

BUT, if you have big Star Wars fans in your group, I would suggest HS as your repeat resort day so you have more opportunities to get Rise of the Resistance boarding groups.

 

[Leigh L]

What @e_yerger said . I'd definitely start at AK but wouldn't leave MK towards the end. (My kids are not littles but are still particular about MK days lol.)

I definitely echo having a backup plan for a DHS day if Star Wars/Galaxy's Edge/Rise is a priority.

 

[auntlynne]

I think ^^ is pretty spot on.

I‘d check out the rides for HS and MK to see which ones you think the kids would enjoy the most. If it looks like HS is a possibility for a repeat, you may want to book it for repeat day. Those are the two parks where reservations fill up the fastest. The consensus continues to be that HS has a fairly consistent crowd level no matter what day of the week you attend.

 

[Brett Wyman]

A

 

[Mollygirl21]

The thing is, with first-timers, Magic Kingdom is the park to visit - it's the castle, has the most attractions, what they continuously see in advertising. Pushing that to the end of your trip may be hard for the kids (or child-like adults ).

Knowing what I do know about your trip I would do:
AK (Monday - makes sense since you're going to be AKL; definitely take advantage of that proximity. Also will probably have the lowest crowds of all parks on a holiday weekend), Magic Kingdom, resort day, HS, Epcot, resort day, Magic Kingdom

I know that you want to be flexible on your repeat park day, but I would highly suggest of booking a park reservation in case all parks sell out (we saw this happen for a few weeks during Spring Break crowds this year). I suggest Magic Kingdom because it has the most attractions, so in case you miss any on your first MK day you can catch them on your second day. On your second resort day you guys can discuss if you want to keep MK or change it to another park.

BUT, if you have big Star Wars fans in your group, I would suggest HS as your repeat resort day so you have more opportunities to get Rise of the Resistance boarding groups.

Thanks

Yes, I should have mentioned we are planning to book HS on our flex day because I think that one may be toughest to get on a Sunday plus we may need a second shot at ROTR. I think the 4 boys will be more interested in Star Wars than Cinderella Castle

Not wanting to leave MK to the end of the week is the whole reason I considered moving it to the first day. I don't want to leave Epcot to Friday because we made the mistake of being at Epcot on a weekend during a festival last trip and it got pretty crazy by the end of the night. We also want a resort day right after Epcot because it will be the latest night of all of them.

So maybe the right order for us is:
AK (Monday), MK, Epcot, resort day, HS (Friday), resort day, flex park day (most likely HS)

As usual when planning a trip, my mind is going in a million directions and I need to sort it out and this is the first trip with anyone other than my immediate family plus we've never been in such a large group either. So not only do I feel the usual need to plan the perfect trip, I need to figure out what that means for 5 newbies.

Only one of the five of the newbies says they will try rollercoasters but we are trying to convince them that WDW coasters are different than they think. So that's another argument to hit MK first because there is a big difference between SDMT as a first coaster experience vs Everest

See? Complicated. That's why I was hoping someone would say "you'd be crazy to go to MK on MLK Monday!" so I could eliminate that possibility

Just for me to consider all possibilities, how is MK on a Friday in Jan - the Friday after MLK day? I understand the downside of saving that park for the end but it might just work out that way.

 

[Mollygirl21]

oh and don't worry about my comment about planning the perfect trip - I plan like crazy up until we arrive and then all pressure goes out the window because I'm much more flexible once we arrive at the parks than when I plan the trip

 

[Mollygirl21]

I made our park pass reservations today and I think we made the best choice for our

Monday (MLK) = AK
Tuesday = MK
Wed = Epcot
Thurs = pool day
Fri = HS
Sat = pool day
Sun = HS is booked, may change to a different park

We were undecided about the Epcot day - we may swap that one with the pool day if the kids are worn out after 2 full days at AK and MK and could use the break the day before Epcot.

I'm secretly hoping everyone wants to go back to AK on the last park day, it's my favourite

 

[AngieInOH]

Good choice picking AK for Monday. MK will be packed but crowds start to leave on Tues.