Skip HS?

[lily2521]

We have a 5 day pass, no hopper.

Current plans are 1 day at each park, with an extra day at MK.

I'm considering skipping HS to add another park day elsewhere (Epcot or AK?)?

DD will be 6. I know we'll get a lot out of AK because she absolutely loves animals. Loves them. Especially birds and sea life (which I know we'll see some sea life at Epcot). So we do already have a full day planned at both AK and Epcot as well.

We went to HS 2 years ago and there wasn't much there for her then. If we go, we'll do the A&E sing-along (which I find to be no big deal, we'll be meeting A&E with or without FP), and we'll do Toy Story ride. The Disney Jr. show won't interest her, little Mermaid show would, but just so/so. We saw the cars show last time, and left early. Definitely no ToT or RnR for us.

If we go, these are the things we'd do, I'm not sure if all of them would interest DD, but this is the list I came up with:
Toy Story (must)
A&E Sing-along (must)
Muppets show (would probably be so/so for DD)
Great Movie Ride (so-so)
We'd do the BATB show, but I read it might be ending by the time we go?
Fantasmic (this does look pretty neat!)
Little Mermaid show

I'm not sure if the Indiana Jones show would be of interest to us?

Now granted, my guesstimate rating of these is based on what I'm finding online - of these, the only one we've actually done is Toy Story and Little mermaid show (which last time she was scared of Ursula). I just don't know if we should spend our last day here at HS, or re-visit another one in this day's place?

For those of you with 6 year old girls, what's your experience here been?

 

[hookedonears]

We have a 5 day pass, no hopper.

Current plans are 1 day at each park, with an extra day at MK.

I'm considering skipping HS to add another park day elsewhere (Epcot or AK?)?

DD will be 6. I know we'll get a lot out of AK because she absolutely loves animals. Loves them. Especially birds and sea life (which I know we'll see some sea life at Epcot). So we do already have a full day planned at both AK and Epcot as well.

We went to HS 2 years ago and there wasn't much there for her then. If we go, we'll do the A&E sing-along (which I find to be no big deal, we'll be meeting A&E with or without FP), and we'll do Toy Story ride. The Disney Jr. show won't interest her, little Mermaid show would, but just so/so. We saw the cars show last time, and left early. Definitely no ToT or RnR for us.

If we go, these are the things we'd do, I'm not sure if all of them would interest DD, but this is the list I came up with:
Toy Story (must)
A&E Sing-along (must)
Muppets show (would probably be so/so for DD)
Great Movie Ride (so-so)
We'd do the BATB show, but I read it might be ending by the time we go?
Fantasmic (this does look pretty neat!)
Little Mermaid show

I'm not sure if the Indiana Jones show would be of interest to us?

Now granted, my guesstimate rating of these is based on what I'm finding online - of these, the only one we've actually done is Toy Story and Little mermaid show (which last time she was scared of Ursula). I just don't know if we should spend our last day here at HS, or re-visit another one in this day's place?

For those of you with 6 year old girls, what's your experience here been?

What about Tower of T, Rock'n Roller Coaster and the Beauty and the Beast show. These are all great attractions, for all ages tall enough to ride. Disney makes it's attractions for the entire family. RRC has no big drops and our daughter was tall enough at 4 (well she was turning 5 the next day and she was tall for her age) and loved it. AK is a half day park. Our daughter loves zoos too, though it would be a big, BIG mistake going back there twice.

 

[Mikie]

When my kids were all 6 and under, I was kind of bored at DHS. You can fill the day and have fun anywhere, but none of it was anyone's favorites. Not until at least some of our party was loving Rockin roller coaster, tower of terror, Lights/Motor and/or Indiana jones was it really a FUN day there. Again, I could fill our time with Little Mermaid and Muppets, etc, but we could have easily loved an extra MK day or Epcot instead.

Personally, if I were you I'd consider Epcot or even a third MK. Epcot is hit or miss among families with young kids, but we've always enjoyed 2 full days there at every age. I LOVE animal kingdom, but as long as the 1 day was a full day and not just a few hours, I don't need 2 days there.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Can't imagine needing 2 days at Animal Kingdom. For us, it is easily a half day park. If we try hard, we can stretch it to almost a full day, but there will be a lot of down time. Epcot can be a multiple day park if you are spending a lot of time in the countries. Most kids seem to get a little bored there and would rather spend their time in Future World. And, if I'm perfectly honest, Future World is pretty lacking on fun activities. So, if you are going to be spending a lot of time in World Showcase, you can do 2 days at Epcot pretty easily. However, if it is mostly going to be Future World, it can be a one-day park. If you are strapped for time (like only going for 4-5 days), I'd recommend doing Epcot in one day. I can't imagine skipping DHS. I really enjoy that park. Fantasmic is a "can't miss" for us. Love it! Honestly, our family enjoys all of the rides and shows, as well, except for LMA. I'd definitely recommend going. Definitely stick with 2 days at Magic Kingdom, though, no matter what you decide.

 

[buzzrelly]

I would never skip DHS. In fact, for our upcoming trip I asked my kids if they wanted to go to EPCOT twice and they said no, the want to go back to DHS. We love the theming there. And AK for us is a half day park. We leave by 3 or 4 and wouldn't do a second day there.

 

[lily2521]

What about Tower of T, Rock'n Roller Coaster and the Beauty and the Beast show. These are all great attractions, for all ages tall enough to ride. Disney makes it's attractions for the entire family. RRC has no big drops and our daughter was tall enough at 4 (well she was turning 5 the next day and she was tall for her age) and loved it. AK is a half day park. Our daughter loves zoos too, though it would be a big, BIG mistake going back there twice.

ToT is a maybe, I'd have to show DD videos and see if she would do it. I, personally don't know if I will, it looks really freaky to me and I hate drops like that.

DD is very petite and won't be tall enough for RnR.

I read the BATB show might be ending, maybe I'm wrong there?

 

[lily2521]

Thanks for your replies here, I think I do agree that although AK might not be a 1/2 day park for us, it definitely won't be one we need to see twice.

I do really want to do the Toy Story ride, and Fantasmic, so maybe that is enough to entice us to go. We really don't have any days where we'd go to a park, go back to the hotel, and then go back to the park, so maybe our HS day would be a good one to do that, so we can get some pool time in, etc.

 

[lily2521]

When my kids were all 6 and under, I was kind of bored at DHS. You can fill the day and have fun anywhere, but none of it was anyone's favorites. Not until at least some of our party was loving Rockin roller coaster, tower of terror, Lights/Motor and/or Indiana jones was it really a FUN day there. Again, I could fill our time with Little Mermaid and Muppets, etc, but we could have easily loved an extra MK day or Epcot instead.

Personally, if I were you I'd consider Epcot or even a third MK. Epcot is hit or miss among families with young kids, but we've always enjoyed 2 full days there at every age. I LOVE animal kingdom, but as long as the 1 day was a full day and not just a few hours, I don't need 2 days there.

I can see our day being like this, sure, we can find things to do to fill our time, but will any of it be our favorite things to do? Toy Story ride would be the highlight for us, maybe ToT if I can get DD (and myself!) on it. Like you said, Little Mermaid & Muppets would just be time-fillers

We could always do it as a play it by ear day too, since it's our last day there. If DD wants to go back to Epcot, or even MK, we could do that, or go to HS. I'll be sure to show her online before we travel each park, so she'll have an idea of what to expect

 

[tlmadden73]

Can't imagine needing 2 days at Animal Kingdom. For us, it is easily a half day park.

Ditto that ..

I always used AK as my hopper day .. (because it closes so early). This past October we did AK all day .. had a great dinner at Tusker House and then hopped over to HS just for Star Tours and the Frozen show. Totally worth it.

Personally I would suggest getting a hopper. Than there is no pressure. Don't find stuff to do at one park? Hop to another. Also makes it great for seeing the night shows you want.
I always find it fun to go to Hollywood Studios for the early part of the day and take the boat ride over to Epcot for the evening.

Hollywood Studios has always been my favorite .. but the difference is that the parked opened up when I was in my teens (and I went there when it was new) .. and of course had all the things I loved as a teenager .. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, movies!

The problem is for most people Hollywood Studios is a park full of shows and not interesting to the people looking for rides. Plus they are hard to schedule around and they take up a lot of time between the waiting and the show itself. You can't just walk on them whenever you want. I personally enjoy them all (and miss some of the ones like the Sound Stage).

So if you and your family like shows .. this park would be a great add.
And Fantasmic is worth it too.

 

[lily2521]

Too bad you don't have a hopper though, otherwise I would suggest it for sure. I always find it fun to go to Hollywood Studios for the early part of the day and take the boat ride over to Epcot for the evening.

Yeah, we just couldn't justify the hopper cost for our family. That's why I was thinking to HS in the morning, go back to our resort for some pool time, and maybe go back, try to do Toy Story again, see the Fantasmic show

 

[IBLarsen]

We are using our HS as a sleep in day and mid day break. I've scheduled Toy Story FP for mid morning, thinking we could sleep in. Do a few things at HS, head back to hotel mid day and then head back for dinner and Fantasmic that night. I don't want to completely miss it, but agree it's not a full day park for my family.
By the end of your trip you may be ready for a break! But if I gave my kids a choice, they would choose another day at MK, hands down.

 

[lily2521]

We are using our HS as a sleep in day and mid day break. I've scheduled Toy Story FP for mid morning, thinking we could sleep in. Do a few things at HS, head back to hotel mid day and then head back for dinner and Fantasmic that night. I don't want to completely miss it, but agree it's not a full day park for my family.
By the end of your trip you may be ready for a break! But if I gave my kids a choice, they would choose another day at MK, hands down.

You just gave me an Aha moment!

Original plan for our 5 days:
MK
Epcot
AK
MK
HS

I'm going to switch it up to:
MK
Epcot
HS
MK
AK

That way, we can have a relaxing type of day right in the middle of our vacation - I was worried about getting pool time, and having a more down-day - so if I rearrange our schedule this way, to put HS right in the middle, that can be our down day, and it won't be so go-go-go for us up until we leave!

 

[Newsies]

Honestly... I might also skip a full DHS day on my next trip, too. At this point I have no clue what they're doing as far as construction is concerned and a lot of attractions are closing. Also, dining at DHS is a mess. There's 50PT, SFDI and HAV- the rest of the park is full of QS locations that a lot of people just complain about. I'll return to it in a couple of years when the construction is all sorted out and the hat is completely gone.

 

[driftin' by]

As one of our favorite parks for it's size, shows, rides and general feel, with the comments here about it being a half day park and that some attractions closed or closing (none of which I'm sad to see go) I'm hoping for less crowds this April. Though I will say, that while my DD9 loves rides such as Space Mountain, BTMRR, EE, CS and RNR, she has never enjoyed ToT. We're hoping to see a change in that respect this April also.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Maybe do 1/2 a day at HS? and then head to another park for the night, maybe EPCOT?

 

[RustManFan]

I almost always skip DHS but probably will include in 2016 since my DS hasn't been to WDW since 2000

Each has his own opinion about AK but my sister and I did spend 2 full days there on our last trip. See some shows, watch the animals.... rides other than the safari aren't worth anything to us

 

[lily2521]

Maybe do 1/2 a day at HS? and then head to another park for the night, maybe EPCOT?

We don't have a hopper, so this won't work for us. But, we may do 1/2 day, go back to swim, etc. and then come back in the evening for Fantasmic

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I meant to add this as well! Yes, taking a mid day break is perfect if you do not want to spend the whole day at the park!

 

[Elisa84]

I just came here to see about this same question! I'm in the process of planning our upcoming 10-day trip, and honestly I feel like skipping HS entirely(it's not even on my spreadsheet at this point). Sure RnR is fun, but I get motion sickness on ToT and the new Star Tours. All of my kids are too short for RnR, and only one child will willingly ride ToT and Star Tours. The other rides/shows are okay, but I wouldn't be heartbroken to miss them; Especially since we just went last June during Star Wars Weekends. The eating choices are nothing exciting, and some are just awful(I'm looking at you Hollywood & Vine). Maybe we would do a half day just to go and appease DH, but definitely not devoting a full day. I'd rather spend that extra time at the World Showcase visiting the countries because we always seem to skip over that, every single trip.

 

[DisneyFive]

You just gave me an Aha moment!

Original plan for our 5 days:
MK
Epcot
AK
MK
HS

I'm going to switch it up to:
MK
Epcot
HS
MK
AK

That way, we can have a relaxing type of day right in the middle of our vacation - I was worried about getting pool time, and having a more down-day - so if I rearrange our schedule this way, to put HS right in the middle, that can be our down day, and it won't be so go-go-go for us up until we leave!

Looks like a great plan. We would have a hard time not finishing with MK though. We would probably swap the AK and MK day. That would also give you an earlier evening towards the middle of the trip since AK closes earlier than the other parks.

I totally agree that HS has a lot more than it seems. The animation academy is also a must do for us. So fun to draw with a real Disney artist. ...and you leave with a great memento.

Dan