What park would you do first?

[Bakerswife]

We are arriving on November 2 (probably late so won't do a park the first day other than maybe heading for a firework show or something maybe) at POP. We are staying at POP for two nights and then heading to WLV for 7 nights. I am thinking that since WL is closer to easy transportation to Epcot and MK that we would be wise to head to AK or MGM on the first day (which would be a Thursday if that matters). What would you do? We have two children - almost 6 and almost 3 at the time.

TIA

BW

 

[robyn323]

There is no way my ds 7 would let us go anywhere but the MK first. He is so excited just thinking about it he gets all jittery. We got like 58 days to go and he is marking them off everyday.

 

[krystyana]

We're going to MGM on our first day...we figure there is enough magic there to gear our little guy up slowly...and give us an idea of how he's going to react to mk....plus playhouse disney is there...the incredibles...jojo and goliath...we're saving ak for the day after mk as sort of a calmer day...looking at animals...taking our time....but we've also been there numerous times so we don't have to see everything...this trip is more about ds (he's 3 by the way)...Happy planning!

 

[Bakerswife]

There is no way my ds 7 would let us go anywhere but the MK first. He is so excited just thinking about it he gets all jittery. We got like 58 days to go and he is marking them off everyday.

Thanks for that thought. My son has only been to MK once that he remembers so I don't even know that he would know the difference by being at a different park other than MK. I have told him that there are 4 different parts of disney and we are going to see them all. With WL being a boat ride to MK it just makes more sense to wait and not do that the first day. We can do that the second or third day and have easier access.

Of course he may decide that MK is where he wants to go with the "castle park", so who knows. We will be flexible.

BW

 

[Bakerswife]

We're going to MGM on our first day...we figure there is enough magic there to gear our little guy up slowly...and give us an idea of how he's going to react to mk....plus playhouse disney is there...the incredibles...jojo and goliath...we're saving ak for the day after mk as sort of a calmer day...looking at animals...taking our time....but we've also been there numerous times so we don't have to see everything...this trip is more about ds (he's 3 by the way)...Happy planning!

That might be a good plan for us. THanks for the advice.

BW

 

[SqueakyMouse]

OK, I admit that I am the difficult one in my family. No matter how large the crowds are, I HAVE to go to MK the first day. It goes back to my childhood - when there was only the one park. It's not WDW until I walk down Main Street and see the castle. On the other hand, the kids would go anywhere; and my dh probably would prefer Epcot, but he's pretty flexible, like the kids.

 

[Disney Planner Mama]

We just came back from a trip with our two girls (2 1/2 and 6). Both had been to disney numerous times, but this was really the first time the younger was aware that we we actually AT disney world. We didn't do a park the first day and then did epcot the second -- and she kept asking "when are we going to disneyworld?"

I think for the littlest ones, until they see that castle, it just isn't disney world.

My suggestion -- get to Magic Kingdom early, get out of there by lunchtime when it really starts to get crowded. That's always worked well for us.

 

[SeeDisney]

I would do Magic Kingdom to start and end my trip with.

 

[*Fantasia*]

It seems for the past few trips, if we arrive in Disney in the afternoon, we usually ends up at Epcot in the World Showcase. And if we arrive to Disney early in the morning, we head to MK. And usually when we do splits, its MK in the morning and Epcot at night. Unless MK EMH-night, then we do Epcot first and then MK last.

 

[BigOnDis]

I guess it depends on the child, but if you start out at MK then the other parks might be a bit of a letdown for them, especially Epcot.

That said we always start at MK, it just seems like the right way to start our Disney vacation.

 

[flynnmnstr]

and didn't do MK until the third day. We based our touring plans on the crowd levels at certain parks. We knew that we weren't going to take advantage of Early Entry mornings so we didn't go to MK the first full day we were there. Now this was our 3.5DS 5th trip and it was the first time he started telling us things were scary. Basically anything in the dark was scary so we ended up spending the majority of the trip at Epcot and Animal Kingdom. One thing about starting your trip at MGM is that aside from Playhouse Disney and Mermaid and Honey I shrunk Kids playground, there isn't alot for preschoolers to do there. We normally are done with that park by lunch time unless DH and I choose to baby swap for RrR and ToT.