Question about Itinerary?

[ctag]

We have a 3 day Hopper Plus passes and tickets to MNSSHP and I need help deciding which park to do in the morning and which in the evening on OCT 17th. I was thinking that MK in the morning would be the best, because the kids will have only seen MK at night. But MK seems to have great parades and stay open later on the day. So I really need your opinions. What do you think? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Chris.

Oct 12th- EPCOT
Oct 13th-Blizzard Beach
Oct14th- An easy day visiting with friends from Florida and MNSSHP
Oct 15th- Animal Kingdom
Oct16th- SEA World
Oct17-MK & MGM

BTW- This is our first trip. And the kids are 6 & 8.

 

[Mermaid 3]

My suggestions: Don't spend a whole day on Animal Kingdom, the kids are going to enjoy MK much more, and you will need more time there. They have parades in the afternoon, the characters are in Toon Town, and the rides... Then at night, there is Specto-Magic, don't miss it if they have it on one of the nights you are there. Plan that night for MK definitely. You will love it.!! You can do Animal Kingdom in 1/2 day, from early morning till afternoon, they close really early anyway and other parks are open later. Epcot has Illuminations at night, that is the park that is open the latest, because of the show and it is spectacular. Another thing not to miss! And MGM has Fantasmic at night, which is also spectacular, but that starts earlier and the park closes right after. With the ages of your children, I would definitely say a whole day at MK. We've been there 6 times, and there is just so much to see. So plan to see the best stuff in the time you are there. Blizzard Beach is nice if you go for the high slides, we prefer Typhoon Lagoon. Been to both, and next time we're going back to the Lagoon! Where are you staying????

 

[ctag]

Mermaid 3, Thanks!

I appreciate your help. My gut has been telling me that it was not enough time in MK. I have PS scheduled at Crystal Palace for 8:05, I think we will just plan to spend the rest of the day there.
We are staying off site(renting a house with a pool) so maybe have lunch and a swim at the house and back to MK for the afternoon and evening.

I have been told that with kids 6 & 8, that you could do MGM in about 6 hrs. What do you think about AK in the morning and over to MGM at 1 to visit and see FANTASMIC?

Thanks again for your help.
Chris

 

[Mermaid 3]

Sounds good! Definitely AK in the morning, b/c as I said they close the earliest. MGM has some great attractions for the kids, The Little Mermaid, a great show (don't sit in the first row or you'll get sprinkled with water from the rainfall). With the kids, you can skip things like the Tower of Terror and The Rockin Roller Coaster. They are tooooo crazy for me. Don't miss:
The Muppets 3D, Beauty and the Beast, The Great Movie Ride, and Fantasmic!!!!! You should be able to get all those in from afternoon to evening. You'll be tired, but it's worth it 100%.

 

[swilphil]

We also had a 3 day park pass and two small children. I think it's a great idea to do AK in the a.m. and then MGM. We actually got to AK for PS before opening and left after 2 hours. You might even want to skip AK all together, if your kids are agreeable to this. I would recommend trying to spend a little more time at MGM. Maybe you could take a short trip to MGM during your Epcot trip. MGM has a lot of nice sit-down shows and cool indoor attractions.

FYI: We spent day one at MK; day two 1/2 Epcot, 1/2 MGM; day three: morning at AK, afternoon at MGM, evening at MK. My kids love MGM, and I had to go on RnR and ToT, even though the kids didn't. My son loved seeing the parade at MGM and meeting the Toy Story characters. If the 6 yo likes Disney Playhouse, that is a great show for the wee ones.

 

[DisneyJade]

we went in january last year and it was bliss! no lines for anything!!! seriously! but i will say, even on the "warmer" days, the weather wasn't suitable for swimming or water rides. though, i saw a couple of brave kids hit the pool. in my humble opinion, you can swim at any old hotel and ride water rides at any old amusement park. It's worth it to forgo the wet stuff in order to have WDW all to yourselves!

 

[ctag]

I really aprreciate your input.

I think I'm going to stick with the plan to do AK in the morning and MGM in the afternoon. I can't give up AK altogether, because the kids have been watching the "Stanley Animal Kingdom Marathon" on Playhouse disney this summer and are really looking forward to it. They are hoping to get geat pictures for their "Great big Book of Everything". We go to Zoo's often, so hopefully they will be fine with 1/2 a day.

Again Thanks!
Chris

 

[donna in Oz]

I second the idea of visiting AK early in the morning, then leaving and hopping over to MGM.

Spectromagic runs on October 17th at 7:30, so if you plan to see that, you'll want to start looking for parade viewing spots around 6:45 or so at the latest. So if you split the hours that day between MGM and MK, you'd only have about 5 hours at each park, not NEARLY enough!!

And even though the rides are operating during MNSSHP, there's so much other activity going on that you may find you haven't visited very many attractions at the MK when the evening ends.

Pick your must-see attractions at the AK, then hop to MGM as soon as you can. Most importantly, be at the AK at opening.

But the most important rule?? HAVE FUN !!!!!

(Afterthought: You may want to change your PS for Crystal Palace in order to see Spectromagic . . it's worth it!! Perhaps you could have an earlier meal that evening, around 5:30 or so ???)

 

[ctag]

This is such a great place. I'm so thankful that I found DIS.

I looks like we will be spending our three days, with one at MK, One at Epcot & one at AK in the morning & MGM afternoon & evening.

Thanks everyone for your help. We are getting so excited
about this trip.


Thanks again!

Chris