Skip a park

[Kaewin]

Out of our last 4 trips we have hit AK twice and HS 3 times. We love Epcot and MK. Our two MK days are actually a day and a half. Going to do half a day and hit a couple big rides and then DTD. What I was really fishing for was DS or Ak. For our family Epcot is a must hit spot and I am doing a day there with tow days left and my kids were trying to figure out if a half day at Epcot for thew Agent P thing and Test Track and Captain Eo and skip a park or do both of the others. We loved Lion King when we did it but last year we skipped it. I think the only real reason to do it would be to see the animals but DC is about 45 minutes away and they have Pandas. Everest is nice but Kali is a miss (I was so soaked I will not go back on it). So it is not high on us. We are not real thrill ride people, if I want those rides Hershey Park is about an hour north and kings Dominion is about an hour towards Richmond.


I liked seeing your opinions about where to go. Our plans are not solid, except MK days. But I would love to see more ideas and thoughts. I still have a few months away.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

DH and I always skip AK. It's not our thing. We will go for over a week and will end up skipping AK. He's really into Epcot and I'm crazy about DHS. Of course, there is no skipping of Magic Kingdom. We find that AK just doesn't have enough of a pull factor to ever justify going there over one of the other three parks. With park hoppers, we have been known to go there first, ride EE and the safari, and then head out, though.

 

[J&J]

ak because dont do they wide rides.

 

[OKW Lover]

Don't skip AK. There is so much to see there. Its so much more than just a few rides and seeing some animals. There are lots of details that people just rush on by without noticing in their haste to get to the next attraction.

 

[mirage0306]

DHS. We do enjoy some things in this park, but it's my least favorite out of the four.

We love Animal Kingdom. Actually it's probably a tie between that and Epcot for my favorite. So I would never skip it.

 

[minnie mum]

I wouldn't skip any of the parks. If I only had 4 days (can't imagine doing it, but....) this would probably be the only situation where I would pony up the extra cash for park hoppers. I'd schedule a RD morning at AK and DHS from mid-afternoon till closing, preferably when DHS has late EMH. I know that would mean a crowded park at DHS, but you could hit the highlights at the very minimum in both parks. And still ride TSM late in the evening while Fantasmic is playing.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Actually, looking at your kids' ages, you may not want to spend two days at MK, for we have kids that age and we find, although it's our favorite park, there isn't as much to do for older ones as younger ones.

P.S. My kids (15 and 13) love Animal Kingdom

Disagree!!! My older kids, younger kids, and all the adults in our family have a BLAST at MK!! We do not care for AK that much, and have never made it out of there without my mom and I fighting b/c it is just too darn hot!!! I think it is so deceptive b/c it seems all shady and nice when you walk in, and then you get out from under the trees, and it is hot, hot, hot!!! My mom seems to not be able to handle it, and then I can't handle her mouth, so well.... I hated that whole area where conservation station is. It was awful. If I wanted to go to a petting zoo, I can go to our local zoo for much less money. I won't ever do that part again. Lesson learned. We do like DINOSAUR, Kali, ITTBAB, EE, and I hope to see the shows this time around. We never spend more than a day in AK on every trip. We like to go for 11-12 days, and usually allot 3 days for MK, 3 days for EP, 3 days for HS, 1 day for AK, and 1-2 days as open schedule days where we can hit whatever parks we feel like visiting again.

It is just my opinion of course that MK is great for all ages, but how can a grown up and teens not love POC, HM, SM, BTMR, Peter Pan, IASW, etc...??? WE LOVE MK!!! I will be honest though. On our first trip we only spent a day at MK, and we had reservations too, so our day wasn't a very long one. I didn't appreciate it until doing late night EMH and really getting to experience it. We love it now, and that goes for 12 people with ages of: 6, 6, 9, 9, 12, 13, 15, 31, 34, 36, 53, and 58.

 

[BlovesC]

DHS. Its original attractions are outdated, and not in that "loveable classic" way, just the "embarrassingly boring" way. Some of the attractions are amazingly detailed, like ToT, but the overall 'streetmosphere' has so much less character than MK or AK, especially with the neutering of the stores on hollywood blvd (Villains=Vinylmation). And for us, LMA, Indy, and AIE are just not shows that lend themselves well to repeat visits. The food in the park is terrible, it's so small it always feels cramped, there's very little shade, and it's a very unpleasant park to RD.

 

[SplashMo]

If you have park hoppers:

AK until 2PM - DS until close

or without parkhopper on the day you leave go to AK from 9-12:00

We usally do both...

 

[MoonFaerie]

Well MK is our least favorite park, so we would only spend one day there.

We'd get park hoppers. You have older kids, so you could more easily take advantage of EMH.

 

[Artoo]

If I had to skip one park, it'd be DHS. It never really did anything for me. The only ride I really enjoy there is TOT.

 

[Eoywin]

If it were up to me, I'd skip AK. But we are skipping Epcot for our next trip since our DD is small and we think she'll like AK better than Epcot.

 

[andyman8]

Disagree!!! My older kids, younger kids, and all the adults in our family have a BLAST at MK!! We do not care for AK that much, and have never made it out of there without my mom and I fighting b/c it is just too darn hot!!! I think it is so deceptive b/c it seems all shady and nice when you walk in, and then you get out from under the trees, and it is hot, hot, hot!!! My mom seems to not be able to handle it, and then I can't handle her mouth, so well.... I hated that whole area where conservation station is. It was awful. If I wanted to go to a petting zoo, I can go to our local zoo for much less money. I won't ever do that part again. Lesson learned. We do like DINOSAUR, Kali, ITTBAB, EE, and I hope to see the shows this time around. We never spend more than a day in AK on every trip. We like to go for 11-12 days, and usually allot 3 days for MK, 3 days for EP, 3 days for HS, 1 day for AK, and 1-2 days as open schedule days where we can hit whatever parks we feel like visiting again.

It is just my opinion of course that MK is great for all ages, but how can a grown up and teens not love POC, HM, SM, BTMR, Peter Pan, IASW, etc...??? WE LOVE MK!!! I will be honest though. On our first trip we only spent a day at MK, and we had reservations too, so our day wasn't a very long one. I didn't appreciate it until doing late night EMH and really getting to experience it. We love it now, and that goes for 12 people with ages of: 6, 6, 9, 9, 12, 13, 15, 31, 34, 36, 53, and 58.

Oh, there's no doubt in my mind that MK is great for ALL ages. I'm just saying that I would not skip another park for it. We always do 4 day/4 night trips and rather spend a day at each park than skip one for two days at MK. Trust me, we would love two day (or even three) at MK, but, to us, its not worth giving up AK.

OP, you could always go for the park hopper!

P.S. MK is our favorite park!

 

[sarahkate60120]

We've skipped DAK on our last two visits. DD #1 just doesn't enjoy it...she's absolutely an animal lover, but says she'd much rather spend the afternoon at the local zoo where she can really be hands on. And I don't get too excited about it, either. We don't do any of the rides there except the safari and even that is sort of boring in our opinion.

We are the same here. My daughter loves animals, but we have a really great local zoo, so Animal Kingdom just didn't cut it for her.

So I vote for skipping AK.

 

[Pixiedust34]

I'd do

2 days at Epcot
1 day at MK
1 day at AK

Everyone has different favorites. Do what works for you.

 

[Kaewin]

We are driving from VA overnight. We leave at 6pm and should be there for about 7am. We are going to hit the pool, catch a bite at the Riverside Mill and then were are hitting a Magic Kingdom for our half day. We are spending four nights with four days in leaving on the 5th day. I have to be back in VA the next day because my daughter has a choir event at school the next day. I would leave a day before but on election day she has district try outs. She missed it last year.

 

[coozieman]

Skip Amimal Kingdom. This park is a mistake as far as I'm concerened

A mistake? Seriously??

It may not be THE fan favorite - but using the word "mistake" is quite harsh. Choose your words wisely grasshoppa.....

 

[KatieKat]

For your situation with teens, I would skip AK probably. Little to do there for teens.

For me, I would probably skip DHS but only because the last few trips we have explored that to the very last corner and have only been to AK once over the last 3 trips.

 

[bcrook]

With your particular situation, I would like to say I would split one day between DHS an DAK, because I really the animal kingdom, but with this exact same scenario for me in 2010, I never made it to DAK. For practical reasons, it is the most logical park to skip.

 

[canopynut66]

Let say you are going on a four day trip and want to do two days in MK, which park would you skip and why?

AK it is beautiful the food places are good but it is just to hot over there for us for long anyhow