Planning for 3 days?

[JustinS30]

Looking for any tips as I’m used to planning longer stays. My DW and I are taking her Aunt to WDW during December for her first time in nearly 30years. So we’re not talking first trip status, but similar. Our itinerary is allowing for 3 full park days, and I’m organizing the plan within the parks. We have APs and she has a hopper so hopping isn’t a problem.

Her highest interest is Epcot so I know I need to plan an entire day there, and potentially an additional evening if time permits. I also feel like Animal Kingdom will peak her interest and wasn’t even a park last time she went. Leaving MK and DHS as split for the third day. Although I do have a concern hopping to DHS with how crowded i

She’s not huge on thrill rides but will likely enjoy attractions such as Soarin’, FOP, Pirates, Toy Story Mania, etc…

Any tips for planning 4 parks in 3 days? Is hopping DHS a mistake? Just looking for ideas.TIA!

 

[FinallyFL]

Since Epcot opens late, consider doing each of the other parks in the morning and hop to Epcot each day.

 

[gharter]

Since Epcot opens late, consider doing each of the other parks in the morning and hop to Epcot each day.

This approach makes the most sense. Especially with AK closing earlier than other parks.
I would do the other parks in the morning/afternoon. Then hop when you wish to EPCOT for the rest of the day.
HS gets very crowded quickly. I would rope drop that park. Hopping to it later in the day probably won't work well.

 

[JustinS30]

I do like the idea of hopping each day to Epcot. The thought had crossed my mind but I hadn’t sold myself on it.

I guess my only concern would be making sure we get on Remy’s Ratatouille with it open by then. But I suppose that could be an end of the night approach as opposed to rope drop

 

[Son of Gadsden]

I normally clump AK and DHS together, as I see MK and EPCOT as more than full day parks. However, the skyliner now being present does make EPCOT and DHS easy to do a split day for. We normally go light on AK just because our zoo is pretty great where we are, so if we're gonna skip one its that one. At the same time AK is so much more than a zoo and since she hasn't been before, you definitely should go. I just recommend maybe using that park as your split day.

AK is pretty easy to knock out in half a day if you arent doing thrill rides, same for DHS. Hit the safari, the walking safari, do a proper loop around the park, enjoy the food, head somewhere else. It's also worth mentioning if you use that as the second half of a split day you get to see Pandora at night. The crowds at DHS can sometimes chalk the day there, as there are no shows and the attraction lines can just about all exceed an hour. Still two great parks I recommend full days for, but when it comes down to 3 day trips we always pick those two to split.

 

[MomOTwins]

No matter how much you enjoy AK, it is simply not a full day park. And Epcot is incapable of being a full day park because it opens so late. I would do an AK morning/EP afternoon and a full day each in MK and HS. There are so many attractions at MK you really need a full day, plus you'll to be there in the evening for fireworks. And at HS, the ride waits are long so you need a good chunk of time there, and the Rise of Resistance boarding group really makes it hard to do a half day, because if you plan on just morning, you might not get a BG and will have to try again at 1pm for an afternoon/evening return time.