Two days at MK?

[4Hawks]

We're going this Fall for 5 nights. My kids are 2 and 5, this is their first time at the parks, but we plan to return next year. So far, we're only planning to visit the park on 2 days, both times going to Magic Kingdom. Does this sound like the best choice? Should we visit MK 1 day and AK 1 day, instead?

Thanks!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Sounds like a good choice to me.

 

[Klayfish]

Out of curiosity, if you're going to be there 5 nights, why only visit the parks twice?

If I were only going for two days, I would do one MK day and one at another park, perhaps AK at that age. Yes, MK is definitely a 2 day park to be able to explore all of it, but you can see a good amount in one day, and I'd let the kids see something else on the second day.

 

[Delirium]

At that age if you are only doing two park days, I would make them both at MK. MK is a two day park for us and we do not even have small children. You'll do well to see everything you want to in those two days with the young children. The fact that you are going back next year reinforces my position. You can introduce other parks when you return.

 

[4Hawks]

Thanks!!

We're driving down from Atlanta, so we only really have 4 days in Orlando and I'd rather not visit the park 2 days in a row. My 2 year old tends to get easily overwhelmed. We also like to visit Disney Springs and enjoy the pool at the resort

 

[shellyj]

Thanks!!

We're driving down from Atlanta, so we only really have 4 days in Orlando and I'd rather not visit the park 2 days in a row. My 2 year old tends to get easily overwhelmed. We also like to visit Disney Springs and enjoy the pool at the resort

I'd do MK twice. The park is definitely big enough to do twice and and it's nice to be able to repeat day 1 favorites.

 

[lynzi2004]

We went last April with our 4 and 2 year old for a surprise 1st trip. We arrived late on Thursday and stayed offsite. Woke up Friday morning and the kids had no idea where we were till we went under the Disney World sign! We went straight to a Chef Mickey's breakfast, followed by a loop on the monorail thru Epcot. We were camping at Fort Wilderness so we set up camp/swam and that evening drove to AoA and grabbed a pizza at the food court and let the kids run around looking at the statues (they loved it). Early to bed and went to MK on Saturday (PPO BOG). Sunday we went to church then spent the afternoon at Disney Springs and swimming. That night we did the Chip and Dale Sing'along and outdoor movie. Monday we spent another day at MK (CRT Dinner), redoing all of their favorites. Tuesday morning we spent a leisurely morning getting around and taking down camp before starting home.

I say all that to say that with small kids it was the perfect vacation! Just enough to make them love it, but not enough that we were all exhausted! We, too, are scheduling another trip back probably later this year to do more of the parks, but I would do a first visit the same way in a heartbeat. Our 2 year old turned 3 while there and is tall for his age, once he learned he loved Splash Mtn, that's all he wanted to do!

They loved the Mine Train and the character dining as well. FoF parade is not to be missed with kids that age either! Hope you have a great trip!

 

[starjazz]

Yup - with that age, 2 days at MK sounds great. But, you can't really go wrong here, just FYI.

 

[kmv]

Guess it may depend what your children are into. When my DD was 2 AK was almost as exciting as MK to her. Her favorite movie at the time was Nemo so the Nemo Musical was the thing she talked about most after our trip. She also loved animals and the Lion King Musical. If I only had 2 days with her as a 2 yr old I would do a day at each.
My second DD at 2, however, was a huge princess fan and would have loved MK for 2 days instead.
I personally would go with 2 different parks so your kids get to experience the differences. If you are only doing 2 park days I would assume you plan to make them full days and one full day at MK is enough time to get most of what young kids can do done.

 

[Klayfish]

Thanks!!

We're driving down from Atlanta, so we only really have 4 days in Orlando and I'd rather not visit the park 2 days in a row. My 2 year old tends to get easily overwhelmed. We also like to visit Disney Springs and enjoy the pool at the resort

Do whatever is best for your family, so please take my suggestion as just that, a suggestion. But I live in Atlanta also (northern suburbs), so I know what that 8 hour drive is like. You can do WDW without making it totally overwhelming. To me, it's a long way to drive for such a short trip only to spend a lot of it hanging out a hotel. Not in the least suggesting being in the parks every day from open to close, but just a friendly suggestion to consider spending more time in the parks. A hotel pool can certainly be relaxing, but it's your kids first time at WDW. I also don't know if they'd get much out of Disney Springs.

 

[Ben Pieper]

2 days at MK would be great if you only have 2 days to spend. Definitely a park that will take two days to do, and if it your kids' first time, MK is the way to go.

 

[4Hawks]

Do whatever is best for your family, so please take my suggestion as just that, a suggestion. But I live in Atlanta also (northern suburbs), so I know what that 8 hour drive is like. You can do WDW without making it totally overwhelming. To me, it's a long way to drive for such a short trip only to spend a lot of it hanging out a hotel. Not in the least suggesting being in the parks every day from open to close, but just a friendly suggestion to consider spending more time in the parks. A hotel pool can certainly be relaxing, but it's your kids first time at WDW. I also don't know if they'd get much out of Disney Springs.

I hear you and I truly appreciate your input!

 

[chad33el]

My kiddos were the same age and we did 2 days at MK. I didn't catch if you have a boy or a girl or both, but beware if you have princess fans, that will take up a majority of your time. We never even made it over to adventureland, most time was spent in Fantasyland/Pete's silly side show/Belle/Ariel's grotto, and tomorrowland...and a good hunk of time waiting for Elsa/Cinderella.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Personally I would do more days but less time each day than less days and more time each day but two days at Magic Kingdom is great for kids that age.

 

[brockash]

We're going this Fall for 5 nights. My kids are 2 and 5, this is their first time at the parks, but we plan to return next year. So far, we're only planning to visit the park on 2 days, both times going to Magic Kingdom. Does this sound like the best choice? Should we visit MK 1 day and AK 1 day, instead?

Thanks!

With those ages and only doing parks twice, I'd do both at MK as well.

 

[Koogs]

I just came back from an 8 day trip with a 5 year old and a 7 month old. We ended up with 2.5 days in Magic Kingdom, 2 in animal kingdom (5 year old is a huge animal fan) and 1 in each of the others.

I personally think that's a long drive for only 2 park days. I think there is so much in Magic Kingdom and even trying to optimize a plan here and on touring plans, things go so much slower when dealing with kids this age and crowds. We didn't take it as easy as we would have liked to, staying up later than expected, and we always ended up getting less done than we thought we were going to, which is why we spilled over from 1.5 days in MK, to have 2.5.
If i were you I'd plan 2 days in MK. if you want to add another park, add more days. I think that MK is overwhelming to do at that age with 1 day, you miss too much. My son turned into being a daredevil and we did Space Mountain, 7 Dwarfs, Splash Mountain. I bet he would have done thunder mountain too, but we ran out of time. If you have daughters, it will be the princesses taking up lots of time.

Unfortunately from a cost perspective, you're still at the pricing point where an additional day or two added to each ticket is costly. Its much cheaper to go from a 5 day to a 6 day than from a 2 day to a 4 day.

 

[ktlm]

If you are only doing 2 days in the parks, I would say MK both days with those age kids. You won't get done everything you want to do at MK in one day, especially if your kids like the characters and want to do lots of meet and greets (at those ages meet and greets were more important to my DD than the rides or anything else). I don't know if you have a zoo at home, or how good it is, but we have a good zoo here and as a result my DD was not at all impressed with AK as a preschooler or kindergartner. She wanted rides and Princesses, and AK doesn't have much of either. She was not impressed by the Safari ride (she equated it to our zoo tram at home although Safari is definitely a lot better and a different experience), had no interest in walking around looking at animals she could see at home, and started begging to go back to MK or EPCOT after a couple of hours. I would probably opt for more days too, but you know their kids and how well they handle crowds and excitement. When my DD was 5 and under, the minute she discovered the parks she was no longer interested in the pool. I can recall her at age 2 and 3 standing at the door of the resort room with her stroller in the morning telling us to hurry up so she could get to a park. Disney Springs is just a shopping area. For us it definitely would not be a whole day thing, and it isn't even a must see or do.

 

[crazylady]

When my kids were that age, we did an every other day touring plan and it worked out great for us. I think 2 days is fine. I would plan on one day at MK and one at AK. You can always change your mind when you are there if you really want to do a second MK day.

 

[disneyvoice]

I would definitely do 2 days at MK if you are only going to be in the parks for 2 days. However, I agree with the PPs. It is a long drive and a lot of money to invest in just 2 days at the parks. My son is 15 now but we started taking him on week long vacations to WDW when he was 8 months old. At 2 and 3 he was up at the crack of dawn ready to head out to the parks EVERY day. By 4 and 5 he was telling US everything he wanted to do and it never involved a day off from the parks unless he wanted to go to one of the Water Parks. Obviously you know what would be best for your kids but after all our years of talking to people who have vacationed at WDW, I think people OVER-ESTIMATE how draining it is going to be on their kids. From our experience the best thing to do is to just monitor your kids' behavior in order to determine whether they have had a enough. My son was never one who wanted or needed to head back to the resort in the middle of the day for a nap or a swim - he always wanted to stay in the parks. From a very young age, however my husband figured out that our son didn't do as well if we got him snacks in the parks. We just assumed we should be getting him the typical WDW treats during the day since it was fun vacation time, but he did much better when he didn't eat any snacks and was HUNGRY for meals. He actually never missed the snacks and never asked for any when we stopped buying them. We also found that he did better WITHOUT a stroller. He seemed to get cranky if he couldn't walk around on his own and if he fell asleep during the day his sleep/wake cycle was all messed up. It worked better for him to just pass out at night. My husband used to joke that we purposely keep our kid hungry and tired at WDW. Although this worked for our son, MANY people swear by taking a nap/pool break in the afternoon. Do whatever is right for your family but you might want to just observe how they do the first day. You will have a great family vacation no matter how many days you are in the parks!

 

[coasternut22]

I’m going to dissent and say to not write-off going to AK for a day. You’ll get two completely different experiences. But it really is up to you.

I just took a 3 & 4yo and honestly, the AK day was far less structured and this was a good thing for my kids. Kids that age want and need to run around and explore things on their own. They like to walk around and play with things, and “be on their own” albeit within reason at a theme park. MK is all about rides, attractions, and lines. Sitting down and waiting. Standing up and waiting. My kids tired of that routine real quick. It was get in a stroller, get-out, get in line, sit down and ride or watch. There is a lot of cool stuff to see and do at MK, I just noticed there isn’t a lot of places where the kids can get out of the stroller or not stand in line and just “play” or run around or just be free to be kids. There are exceptions (i.e. Tom Sawyer, Storybook). In fact, my kids had so much fun in the playhouse under the train bridge next to Splash Mountain.

AK, on the other hand, has tons of places for this. The animal trails, The Dig, Rafiki’s planet watch. The kids were much happier playing, walking, and interacting with things on their own.

What I’ve learned over my trips to Disney is why am I there. Am I there to do what the kids want to do or what I want to do (which is see everything)? And I’ve learned to really watch what makes them happy. And my kids really did prefer The Dig over standing in line for some ride.