need help figuring out which parks to do which days.... Help a newbie!

[nfowife]

I haven't been on here boards in a long time, since our amazing Northern Europe Disney cruise in 2010. Well, we have now decided to bring the family to Disney in November and I need to figure out what parks I'm doing when so I can reserve fastpasses and figure out dining. I know it's kind of late in the game but we have only recently decided to go so we are going to just do the best we can.
We are staying at the Dolphin (can switch to Swan? We are using SPG points for hotel because my husband has a lot of them from work travel).

Kids are 5, 9, 11 and this is their first time at Disney World (not ours, my husband and I grew up in FL and went frequently as kids, but have not been since the year 2000 celebration!).
Kids do not care about characters, not planning on any character meals.
Kids are not roller coaster fiends, though my oldest 2 will likely go on Space Mountain with DH (I won't).

Dates are November 16-19 at the parks, and we have 4 day park hopper passes. We do not plan to attend the Mickey Christmas event the night of the 18th.

Here's what I have planned so far.... I am open to any/all suggestions! Trying to use crowd calendars to take advantage of low crowd times at each place. I assume we will spend the most time at MK and then Epcot, fitting in AK and HS as well. I need help figuring out this puzzle!

16th- AK early opening, head to HS later in day and fantsamic show
17th-MK until closing for Xmas party, head to Epcot after MK closes and for Illuminations
18th- Should I do another Epcot/MK day here?
19th- the most crowded day/last day of our trip. What should I do here? Go back to AK or HS? I see wishes is at MK at 10 in the evening. But it looks to be a super crowded day because it's a weekend and the start of Thanksgiving week??

I don't have any dining reservations and I will work on that once I have my park plan and fastpasses reserved. Dining is not a priority for my family and I might try and get into Hoop De Doo on the 17th at the 45 day mark if there is a cancellation but honestly we will be fine with counter service and random snacks here and there- I want to be sure we minimize lines and do rides and see the fun stuff more than eating amazing meals.

Thanks so much!

 

[Accident]

I assume you've never been to WDW? I would go MK, AK, HS, EPCOT. Food and wine ends just before you arrive so epcot that weekend will not be as crowded and why I put it last. If you get done earlier in the day or bored at a park then decide what you want to do while your standing there. Many people call some of the parks a half day but in reality, if you haven't seen it there is a full day of stuff to do at every park. If your bored or run out of things to do, then you can hop over to another park or decide what to do then..

Hoop de doo might be good to do on the AK day as it can take some time to get to and from it instead of hopping to another park. If you can't get in, whispering canyon reminds me of hoop de doo without the show part of it.. Honestly, I would skip trying to schedule meals at a resort with only 4 days and pick a place to eat in the parks. WDW is huge and it can take a couple hours to get around property and to do that just to eat and take away from your time in the parks on a 4 day trip doesn't make sense to me.. Table service also takes about 90 minutes to eat (at least). I do counter service a lot but I still like to have 1 or 2 table service places per trip to sit and relax. Many of my park memories are actually things that happened while eating and the family time.

 

[sharonabe]

16th- AK early opening, head to HS later in day and fantsamic show
17th-MK until closing for Xmas party, head to Epcot after MK closes and for Illuminations
18th- Should I do another Epcot/MK day here?
19th- the most crowded day/last day of our trip. What should I do here? Go back to AK or HS? I see wishes is at MK at 10 in the evening. But it looks to be a super crowded day because it's a weekend and the start of Thanksgiving week??

You have your dates mixed up here. There isn't a party on the 17th. That early closure is for a special event. There is a party on the 18th.
It looks like you're okay with early EMH, so here's what I'd probably do:

16th AK for EMH and stay long enough to do dusk safari and see Tree of Life come alive (they will probably extend the hours here). Then hop to MK just for Wishes. You'll want to be there by 8:00 or so to find your spot.
17th EP for early EMH and hop to HS for Fantasmic. You'll need to watch the park happenings here, because they will probably add a Star Wars Spectacular some time this week, and you'll need to adjust your plans. You could just stay at EP all day, but it may start to feel crowded in the afternoon.
18th MK until 4:00 or so then hop to EP for Illuminations or HS for F! or Star Wars if it happens if you stayed in EP on the 17th
19th HS for EMH then hop to wherever you want to end up last