One day at each park?

[minerva78]

I was just wondering if people felt one day at each park was enough to have an enjoyable time for a trip? I'm considering going for 5 nights with 4 park days in mid June, one day at each park, but I'm wondering if I should alter that. We'll have 7 and 8 year old girls, will 2 days at MK make more sense? And if so, would you add an extra day or keep the 4 day tickets and make them park hoppers so we could do two days at MK, 1 day at EP and half days at HS and AK?

 

[mom2rtk]

I always recommend 2 days in the MK. You should be able to add a day (unless you have some sort of promotional ticket that doesn't allow that).

 

[loves to dive]

I always get tickets for the number of days, not the number of nights then I can go to a park on departure or arrival day. I'm also a big fan of hoppers, have never not had them since there was more than one park. I'm one who believes you really don't know what your kids are going to do until the time comes, there have been times when mine was little that he was over MK in half a day and times when he wanted maybe a full day and another half. I would add the extra day and the hoppers if you can afford it. It would be sad if you planned say half day at AK and the girls end of having a great time and not wanting to leave at half day or vice versa.

 

[CarolynFH]

You can wait until you get there to make changes to your tickets - the cost will be the same. You might want just an extra day or two (arrival and/or departure) or just the hopper option or both.

 

[Love Tink]

I like to have at least one day at each park, each trip. So I would either keep your current plan or add a day, and do another day at MK. The price to add the 5th day to the ticket is really low, so even if you can only get there for a few hours on the day you arrive or the day you leave, it is worth it.

 

[minerva78]

Thanks for the advice! I didn't have tickets yet, but was on the verge of booking a package and trying to decide if I should add the extra ticket day to my planned package. I ended up adding a day and booked 6 nights with 5 day base tickets, so we could do 2 days at MK. I was getting such a good rate with this travel agency it was worth it. I don't think I'll need park hoppers but I forgot I could just add those later when we get there if we decide we need them.

 

[DrewJB]

If I had 5 days - I'd do a day in each park and two at MK. If I only had 2 days - I'd do 2 in MK.

 

[J'Adore Disney]

I agree with spending 2 days at Magic Kingdom; and 1 day for the other parks.

 

[DaisyLou2]

I do one day in each park (including arrival day) but I always get hoppers so we can go to a different park in the evening. Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom end up not being full day parks for us so we hop over to MK or Epcot in the evening.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We often do trips with 4 or 5 park days. This time, this is what we will do:
Day 1: MK
Day 2: DAK then EPCOT
Day 3: MK
Day 4: EPCOT then HS

For us, DAK and HS do not equal EPCOT and MK. We do not need a full day for DAK or HS.

If you are not doing Hoppers, I think you made a good decision to add an extra MK day!

 

[tlmadden73]

First trip? I wouldn't worry about hoppers .. you'll have plenty to do and explore without worrying (and wasting time) hopping. Not worth the cost for a first time visit and one that short in my opinion.

1 day in each park? Sounds good! You won't be able to get it "all" done in every park anyway, so don't stress over what you are missing, because you WILL miss things. (Part of the Magic of wanting to come back!) ... but if you can swing a 2nd day in MK, especially with the age of the girls. (Personally I would skip Epcot, but since the new Frozen ride will be open, may be a top attraction for your girls).

Besides .. MK has more attractions than several of the other parks COMBINED.

 

[serene56]

When I was planning our first trip everything i was reading told me AK was a half day park. We were there from opening til close. and didnt realize the time. PLUS we never even saw a trail. With the Wilderness explorers badge plus the shows. I would not think this is a half a day park. Also consider the age of the kids and when you are going-- they may need a break half way through Its a lot of walking. Also reconsider HOPPING as this also takes some time to do.

 

[minerva78]

First trip? I wouldn't worry about hoppers .. you'll have plenty to do and explore without worrying (and wasting time) hopping. Not worth the cost for a first time visit and one that short in my opinion.

1 day in each park? Sounds good! You won't be able to get it "all" done in every park anyway, so don't stress over what you are missing, because you WILL miss things. (Part of the Magic of wanting to come back!) ... but if you can swing a 2nd day in MK, especially with the age of the girls. (Personally I would skip Epcot, but since the new Frozen ride will be open, may be a top attraction for your girls).

Besides .. MK has more attractions than several of the other parks COMBINED.

Yeah that new Frozen ride is going to be a tough ride to get a FP+ for I'm sure! That's why I have no plans of even saying whether or not anything related to Anna or Elsa will be at Disney, no need to get hopes up if we have to skip it, lol. I feel fine with sticking to the base tickets because I don't expect to have to see everything, I'm hoping to come back if I can somehow get my husband into liking Disney. Or at least he'll want to come back once all the Star Wars stuff is done, however long that will take.

 

[larryz]

I was just wondering if people felt one day at each park was enough to have an enjoyable time for a trip?

That's our plan, except it's a four night stay, so we use one day at a half-day park the first day.

 

[kiford]

It really all depends on what you like to do. Everybody likes to do different things. We never do much more than about a day at MK - usually in conjunction with MVMCP. But then, we have no children and Epcot is our favourite park. Really, you have to feel out what you all prefer to do.

 

[epcotty]

We usually do one day at each park but then we sometimes skip parks and we usually do day trips anyway since we're close enough to drive. But we feel one day at each park is enough for us. The main question is if you can get all the attractions you want done

 

[TsLoveMickey]

We did something similar in April. Undercover Tourist usually has a 5 day for the price of a 4 day (base). We got that. Stayed five nights and went to MK two days, then on check out day we had a late flight and squeezed in half a day at Hollywood Studios. It was great! I will say if you go during swimming weather you should make sure to allocate some time to the resort ... Next time we might stay an extra night to do this. We love going to every park every trip and even plan to do so during our upcoming quick Christmas trip with two day hoppers!

 

[wareagle57]

If I had 5 days - I'd do a day in each park and two at MK. If I only had 2 days - I'd do 2 in MK.

Interesting. I'd do one MK day and 1 day doing the other 3, and then planning to where day 2 was at least an open til midnight night at MK and end there.

 

[kohlby]

We actually needed more time in Epcot than MK. But you can figure that out as you go! For someone who has never been - and may not come back very soon - I would recommend doing all four parks over four days. Since you have five days, then you can go to the favorite park. As for hoppers, I wouldn't buy those ahead if you aren't sure. You can always add them on while in the parks. We found AK was a flop every time we tried it, so it was great to be able to hop out easily. (Some like to spend an entire day there! And though we spend an entire day at HS now - there are people who doesn't think it takes a full day).

 

[cjparker0110]

For me I like 2 days in MK and 2 days in Epcot. The other parks had always been half day parks to me and were usually the days I would do activities around the resort or HDDR or the Luau show (can't remember the name). That said, with the ages of your girls I would definitely do the 2 MK. Epcot is a question. You'll want to do it for the frozen ride if it's open. If it's not, you may want to look at the park and see what your kids will and won't like. Some kids absolutely hate Epcot. Some really love it. It's not as "magical" as MK, but it is simply amazing in its own way.

One other thing to consider is mid June is also going to be the beginning of summer vacations for lots of families. It might be crazy busy (though you can use crowd calendars for some planning strategy here). You might want to do an extra day just because of the possibility of the bigger crowds making you do less.

Either way, the trip will be awesome! And your girls will LOVE it. Focus on the enjoyable parts and don't worry about things that might go wrong.