Seven days in WDW, how many days at parks

[DebMcDonald]

We heading to WDW in August, August 19-26 and staying off site, we have three girls ages, 2, 4, and 11. How many days should we plan on taking as park days. I'm thinking, 2 in MK, 1, AM, 1 MGM, and 1/2 day in Ecpot, 1/2 day elsewhere, I'm not even sure they are old enough for epcot - recommendations on that also? Any and all thoughts would be appreciated

There's a chance we might get free tickets to universal via my husbands work - worth it for our kids ages?

 

[crow11ad]

Lets see you have 7 days...hmmmm

Well here is we did in December as we had 7 days as well..

we went to Epcot Twice
MK twice (had MMVMCP tickets for both)
MGM once..( I had to go back as DW took a nap to ride TOT and RNR)
Went to TL on a morning for like 2 hours and left to change clothes then to AK

Now that leaves some time open..You are staying off site...the 1st day should not be a park day...trust me you will enjoy the non park day as the 1st day. Instead go down to DTD and get the kids to DQ. They will love it. Onther day, resort hop and go on the monorail. The time is yours so take it. Just remember....don't wish for it to be here too soon....then it will just be over just like that. Enjoy the time with your family and make plenty of memories.

 

[lucky978]

We usually plan on 5 days in the parks.

2 at MK (one early day, one mid-day through evening)
1 at Epcot (we don't usually spend the entire day)
1 at MGM
1 at AK

You may also want to plan on spending a day at Blizzard Beach. Since I don't know where you're staying, I don't know if you will have access to a pool but given that you are going in August, I hope you do!
My girls, niece and nephew loved Blizzard Beach.

Just take it easy. Try not to push the kids too much, especially with the young ones!

Enjoy!!

 

[TXTink]

Staying off site will defiantly be harder, so I would suggest a down day in the middle.

Your DD's ages 2 & 4 will love the MK the most for sure! But the 11 year old will like them all. I would probably switch the whole day to a 1/2 day at the AK, as it is the HOTTEST park! To us, it is unbearable in August! I would change that whole day to the Studios. I'll bet your 11 year old will love Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller coaster, the younger girls will love Muppet Vision 3D and The Little Mermaid!

Also, remember that it is going to rain! Make sure you plan on down time for that too!

As far as Epcot, you and your DH will LOVE it! The 11 year old will like most of it, and your 2 & 4 year olds will probably not like it....sorry.... It is just not as much fun for the younger ones.... (This is just my humble opinion!! Take it with a grain of salt!!)

If you get free tickets....take them! Wow! I would love free tickets to Universal!! We have never been, but I would love to go!! I just can't seem to pull myself from Disney long enough to get there!

Have fun!!

 

[WDW LOVR]

You might be surprised about Epcot. We took each one of our kids to Epcot for the first time when they were 2 yrs. and they had a great time.

I think the key to Epcot is to take your time and enjoy all the little things that make it so wonderful. And if you only plan on spending 1/2 day there you will definitely not get the experience. There are Kidspots at all the countries where they can do crafts, bands that play for short times so the kids don't get bored, street performers that are funny and lots of chances for character meets in the World Showcase. My kids always had more character contact at Epcot than at MK because there are fewer kids at Epcot so there's less competition.

I think the rest of your plan sounds good. I would second spending some time at DTD or relaxing by the pool at your hotel. We usually go to the parks the first 2 or 3 days, take a day break (sleep in and either pool or DTD or water park) and then do the parks the remainder of the trip (unless it's a prolonged trip which we then take another break 2 or 3 days later).

One other suggestion would be to visit MK last of the 4 parks (if you can). Once young children visit MK the other parks don't stand up where if you visit the others first they will enjoy them cause they don't know what they're missing!

Have fun!

 

[TSirgey]

Our dd (then 3) loved Epcot. We stopped at all the kidspots and she made a mask with stamps from all the different countries. She was on a mission to get them all and did! She really liked the rides in future world as well. Epcot is so big that you almost need a whole day to make your way around the whole thing.

AK is not a whole day. We did AK in the morning and then took a break in the afternoon and then saw Cirque at night.

MGM is a whole day if you want to visit all the attractions, see the parade, and then see Fantasmic. Rock and Roller coaster is one of our favorite rides by far.

Two days in MK are great. We spent two days on our last 5 day pass and still did not see everything!!!

 

[mommystieg]

We are all about the parks so our typical visit is: 2 days in Epcot, 3 days in MK and 1 each at MGM and AK. AK closes earlier than the rest so you could always hop over to one of the other parks that are open a little later. Our DD's love Epcot! They really enjoy making the mask and going from country to country collecting the stamps. DD#2 could spend hours and hours watching the fish at The Living Seas and I would love to spend more time in each of the WS countries. There is lots of live entertainment that your kids would enjoy. Epcot is best appreciated at a much slower pace than the other parks. The same thing could be said about AK but it is just so darn hot there that it's hard to stay an entire day during the summer...

 

[Dopey's Girl]

We're all about the parks too, though we do some other things. We usually break our 7 day visits down like this:
1/2 - 1 day Epcot
1 day MGM
1 day Animal Kingdom
2 days MK
Then the other days we don't plan anything. We leave some open days in the middle of all the time to do whatever popular consensus is. Sometimes, it's been go back to one of the parks. Other times it's hang at the pools, resort hop, whatever!

 

[newholidayx2]

this yr Im planning on buying annual passes so we'll go to the parks a little every day
we're going for our first 14night WDW vacation so thats 14days of the 4 parks!

 

[tidoublegger]

We're going for 7 days and here is our plan: ds 11, dd 6 (who loves epcot!)

Sat. afternoon: arrive in Orlando, PS for 5pm @ Chef Mickey's

Sun. morning: MK Sun. afternoon: Epcot (PS 4:30p Biergarten dinner)

Mon. morning: AK, Mon. afternoon: MGM

Tues: Universal Studios

Wed: NO PARKS. PS noon Whispering Canyon Cafe.

Thu: all day MK, PS LTT for dinner

Fri. morning: MGM, Fri afternoon Epcot...illuminations

Sat: home late afternoon

 

[DisDRw]

If you have seven full days I would recommend the following:

Two Park Heavy Days - MK and MGM - Arrive early for Full days but do not kill youself (You have a 2 year old!)

One Day Sleep in withTyphoon Lagoon when you get up with Epcot World Showcase Dinner in the Evening - take it easy

One Park Heavy Day - Animal Kingdom or Epcot - again arrive early for a full day but do not kill yourself

One extra day/morning at Magic Kingdom - to catch the things you wanted to see but missed from the first day. -

One Half Park Day (Your choice) - with either the remaider devoted to swimming, or if you don't like that then using Disney Transportation to see a couple of resorts - recommend visiting Wilderness Lodge and Grand Floridian.
Dinner on the Boardwalk

One Last Park Fling at What ever you want to do the most!

 

[justlikeeyore]

I think EPCO will be a real surprise Make sure you take you kids to see Talking with Crush in the Living Seas. Its gr8 for young ones

 

[Tricialiv]

We went in late July. It was hot but loved every park except Epcot. Kids were 6 and almost 3. They were very bored. We did the masks but even that wasn't getting their interest. I felt we wasted a day. I know some families really liked it though. Can you hop to another park if you don't enjoy it? Next trip my DH and I are going for an evening w/o kids. We loved MGM and were sorry we didn't have more time there. I had scheduled only 1/2 day. Live and Learn!