Splitting MK Over 2 Days with Young Kids

[cosmicmommy]

What is YOUR ideal way to split up the Magic Kingdom? We have 2 days there. with young kids (so we'll want to hit the classic Disney stuff) and can rope drop both days. How would YOU split this up? I was thinking Fantasyland (minus the Storybook Circus area, so no Dumbo, Barnstormer, etc) and Tomorrowland the first day as those hold the attractions my kids are going to want to see most. Then doing Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland on the 2nd day, skipping back over to do Dumbo and Barnstormer near park closing. FWIW, we are looking at being in MK either on a Monday and Wednesday, or a Tuesday and Thursday, next February/March.

 

[georgina]

What is YOUR ideal way to split up the Magic Kingdom? We have 2 days there. with young kids (so we'll want to hit the classic Disney stuff) and can rope drop both days. How would YOU split this up? I was thinking Fantasyland (minus the Storybook Circus area, so no Dumbo, Barnstormer, etc) and Tomorrowland the first day as those hold the attractions my kids are going to want to see most. Then doing Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland on the 2nd day, skipping back over to do Dumbo and Barnstormer near park closing. FWIW, we are looking at being in MK either on a Monday and Wednesday, or a Tuesday and Thursday, next February/March.

That looks like a good way to do it, geographically. If you get more than planned done the first day you could hit Dumbo and Barnstormer at the end. The train station is right there and you could take the train back to the entrance.

 

[gap2368]

or you if you skip dumbo brain stormer you can take the train form fronterland back to that area. and if you are in the park at closing or late at night they stop the twins for the parade fireworks ( or I am almost sure)

I would do the lands that you feel your kids like the most or would be more interested in and please remember that it is very hard to do everything see every thing so I would really and maybe sit down with your kids closer to the time and ask them for there top 3 must dos whether rides meet and greets show and plane on doing those then what ever else you do is just icing on the cake. One of the things you might want to do is pin trade this can be a lot of fun to do

 

[cosmicmommy]

or you if you skip dumbo brain stormer you can take the train form fronterland back to that area. and if you are in the park at closing or late at night they stop the twins for the parade fireworks ( or I am almost sure)

I would do the lands that you feel your kids like the most or would be more interested in and please remember that it is very hard to do everything see every thing so I would really and maybe sit down with your kids closer to the time and ask them for there top 3 must dos whether rides meet and greets show and plane on doing those then what ever else you do is just icing on the cake. One of the things you might want to do is pin trade this can be a lot of fun to do

We have some pins... going to use them as a countdown to the trip once they find out about it, then elt them each choose 10 they would trade out of the pile.

Same thing with finding out their must-dos - closer to the trip. But I will still split the lands instead of running back and forth all over the place.

 

[gap2368]

how fun to use the pins as a count down that should really net

Yes I would not walk back and forth but if you are in the area them I would focus on what they really want to do you may also want to ask is there something you do not want to do.

one thing about disney is you can plain until you can not plane any more then you get there and it one out the window

 

[SnipsNSnails]

Will you be riding the rides with height restrictions? Planning your FP will be helpful as well. Choose one higher wait time attraction to RD. PP is a great choice on you Fantasyland RD day. Then FP for 3 others. I suggest 7DMT for sure. During that time of year you should have no trouble doing it in 2 days. Give yourself at least 2 hours before scheduling FP+ to take advantage of the lower lines.

 

[scrapquitler]

What is YOUR ideal way to split up the Magic Kingdom? We have 2 days there. with young kids (so we'll want to hit the classic Disney stuff) and can rope drop both days. How would YOU split this up? I was thinking Fantasyland (minus the Storybook Circus area, so no Dumbo, Barnstormer, etc) and Tomorrowland the first day as those hold the attractions my kids are going to want to see most. Then doing Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland on the 2nd day, skipping back over to do Dumbo and Barnstormer near park closing. FWIW, we are looking at being in MK either on a Monday and Wednesday, or a Tuesday and Thursday, next February/March.

Our strategy would be this: Day 1, start early (we never do rope drop, but we arrive shortly after) and start at Adventureland, and work our way around doing our main most important things (we'd get FP for BTMRR, Splash and 7DMT) and by mid afteroon, we'd head to the room for a break and then go to another park after our break. Day 2, we would have FP lined up for mid//late afternoon for Space Mountain, Peter Pan and whatever other thing the kids wanted most. We would start the day in another park (AK or HS), then after our lunch and break, head to MK, perhaps around 3 or 4 PM, and we'd start with our FP rides in Tomorrowland, and work our way around toward Adventureland, hitting anything that we didn't get to do on day 1, and repeating the things that were most wanted. We'd end the night with the fireworks and parade, and if we still had any energy, we'd repeat more rides as desired.

 

[cmsb]

We followed this same plan when we visited the parks a few years ago. We hit Tomorrowland/Fantasyland at rope drop on the first day and had fastpasses for the afternoon. The next day we started in Adventureland and rode for a few hours with no lines at all (July). I think most people start to the right to visit Fantasyland, so Adventureland and Frontierland were pretty empty in the morning. On that day, we fastpassed a few rides in the afternoon in Fantasyland/Tomorrowland that the kids wanted to do again. I think as long as you fastpass the attractions that your family really wants to do, you will have a great trip!

 

[starsweeper]

I have 4 young kids, so we always spend at least 2 full days at MK. They love Fantasyland, so we always arrive at rope drop and head there first. On the first day, we rotate to the Circus area and Tomorrowland. On the second day, we rotate to Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland.

 

[AJA]

Your plan sounds good. I do think you will get the Circus area in on the first day though. Then on the second day you could repeat a favorite after Adventure and Frontierland.

 

[belle1986]

We did this on the kids first trip and used day one for "must do" and day two for everything else and if we wanted to repeat something.

 

[cosmicmommy]

I think I am going to alter my original plan slightly. I think I am going to switch Day 1 and Day 3, which are my two MK days. I had originally planned to do Fantasyland/Tomorrowland the first day and the rest on Day 3, but I think I may do the "rest" on the first day. My reasoning is actually two-fold. First and foremost, I need to get a DAS for my middle son. If I do a Pre-RD ADR at BOG, we'll be in the back of the park and will miss out on valuable RD time traversing back up front to get his DAS. If we do our Pre-RD ADR at Crystal Palace on Day 1, we can then slip back down to Main Street, get his DAS, sign up for SOTMK and then head over to Frontierland and Adventureland where the crowds are usually thinner in the morning. The second reason this may work better is to ease the kids into it all. This is going to be their first trip to a major theme park and trying to do Fantasyland and Tomorrowland on Day 1 might overwhelm them a bit. Doing it on Day 3 will allow them to warm up to Disney and the way things work. Plus, since the DAS is valid for length of stay, we can continue with our BOG Pre-RD ADR on Day 3 and use the first two hours to our advantage and get several attractions done before the crowds hit, since Fantasyland and Tomorrowland have the most attractions in them that we want to see. I think combining Rope Drop, the DAS and FP+, we should be able to see them all since we can maybe see PhilHarMagic or do the Carrousel or even take PhotoPass pictures while waiting for the DAS.

 

[Ajsnana]

I think I am going to alter my original plan slightly. I think I am going to switch Day 1 and Day 3, which are my two MK days. I had originally planned to do Fantasyland/Tomorrowland the first day and the rest on Day 3, but I think I may do the "rest" on the first day. My reasoning is actually two-fold. First and foremost, I need to get a DAS for my middle son. If I do a Pre-RD ADR at BOG, we'll be in the back of the park and will miss out on valuable RD time traversing back up front to get his DAS. If we do our Pre-RD ADR at Crystal Palace on Day 1, we can then slip back down to Main Street, get his DAS, sign up for SOTMK and then head over to Frontierland and Adventureland where the crowds are usually thinner in the morning. The second reason this may work better is to ease the kids into it all. This is going to be their first trip to a major theme park and trying to do Fantasyland and Tomorrowland on Day 1 might overwhelm them a bit. Doing it on Day 3 will allow them to warm up to Disney and the way things work. Plus, since the DAS is valid for length of stay, we can continue with our BOG Pre-RD ADR on Day 3 and use the first two hours to our advantage and get several attractions done before the crowds hit, since Fantasyland and Tomorrowland have the most attractions in them that we want to see. I think combining Rope Drop, the DAS and FP+, we should be able to see them all since we can maybe see PhilHarMagic or do the Carrousel or even take PhotoPass pictures while waiting for the DAS.

 

[Ajsnana]

How did you plan above work out? We are going in April and grandson 5th birthday on Sunday and we will go to MK on Tuesday as well. Staying off site and daughter is pregnant so don't think we will do all day and not sure it's worth mid day break and go back so the two day plan works. Mainly rides for 5 and 7 yr old. Eating at Crystal Palace the first at 8:10am then heading into the park so I was thinking your plan on easier day first and work into fantasyland and tomorrow land the second day work well.