What parks....

[brayner]

We have a tripped planned for Sept 4-10. My kids will be 7 and 4. I planned on doing Epcot, 3 days at MK and 1 day at HS. I was going to skip AK all together because we have a safari place close to home that we have been to before and I figured 3 days at MK will give us plenty of time to experience everything that they would want. But now I'm thinking I might regret not doing AK...thoughts??
Also, one night MK closes at 7...I think it's Labor Day Monday. Any ideas why?? It's not a MNSSHP?? Just curious.. I have reservations for Whispering Canyon that night.

 

[ModernArtist]

MK is not closing at 7pm on Labor Day. It has been changed. It will close at 10pm.

 

[shpooey]

Will you have park hoppers? AK isn't a park that will take the whole day (it can if you want, but usually doesn't, if you're just doing rides and shows), so you could do AK one morning and head to MK for the evening. You can pretty easily tour AK without FP+ as well, so if you schedule your FP+ for the evening in MK, it could be a pretty efficient day

 

[Karin1984]

Skipping AK would not be an option for me, with shows like Finding Nemo and Festival of the Lion King... no way. If you have hoppers I go with PP, AK in the morning and MK in the evening. Even if you spend all day in AK, that still leaves 4 - 5 hours in MK.

Do you have time on your arrival/departure day for more MK?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My kids both like AK better than MK. Plus, for the length of trip you have planned, 2 days at MK is plenty, IMO.

 

[avic77]

I think 2 days in MK is plenty. AK is an excellent park and I wouldn't dream of skipping it.
I usually do:
2 days MK
1-2 days Epcot
1 day AK with dinner Reservation on AK day.
1 Day HS

 

[CAS239]

Like others have said, 2 days at MK is fine. I definitely wouldn't skip AK. The park is far more than a safari or zoo. Cut a day out of MK and add at to AK, you guys won't regret it

 

[brayner]

Thanks everyone! I've cancelled the reservation at Whispering Canyon and added an early dinner at Tusker House on Labor Day. Right now I don't have park hopper tickets...the costs just didn't appeal to me as I don't see my family doing a lot of park hopping. My kids require several rests throughout the day. Since AK closes at 5, any suggestion on what to do after that? I think my kids will be happy with just swimming at the resort...just looking for other ideas though.

 

[uccats97]

Swimming at the resort sounds perfect. You can also watch the movie under the stars that shows every night at your resort too.

 

[Trinity88]

We love AK! Glad you decided to spend some time there.

 

[Shmily01]

We will be there the same week! We always do AK. My son LOVES Everest and likes to see how many times in a row he can ride. We usually do AK once, and the other 3 twice (only because my family loves TOT and RNRC do we do HS twice). When we do our AK day, we usually either have a ADR for dinner somewhere else. This year we are doing O'hana. It's a first for us and are soooo excited. Sometimes we do DTD or stay at the resort and swim and relax. Hope you have fun!!!!

 

[sullyfam]

Definitely don't skip AK! So much to do and see!

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Glad you decided not to skip AK!!!! It's SOOOO much more than just a safari or zoo. Festival of the Lion King, Nemo, and Flights of Wonder are all great shows. There's fun rides and trails to relax and stroll at your own pace. Easily spend a whole day there. Yes, it does close early, so that's the perfect evening for hanging out at the resort or going to DTD. When my boys were little, they could spend the longest time just playing outside the Lego store at DTD. But I always found having an early evening with just some pool time was great to sort of recharge and be ready to go early the next morning.

 

[Shells9]

If you could afford it, I would reconsider skipping the Hopper option. It gives so much flexibility. You mentioned frequent breaks -- you could break back at the hotel and do something different for the evening rather than make the same tip back and forth to the same park. It might be disappointing if something happens (weather, illness) and you are not able to adjust your plan for the day, and you miss out on something.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Honestly, we've never used hoppers either and been just fine. If you break, you go back to the same park after. No big deal. For our family it saves us $250 that we can use somewhere else.

If you DO decide to reconsider, don't do it until you're down there! It costs no more to add on while at the park. But you can't get a refund if you buy it now and don't use it. No sense in wasting money now if you're not sure. And I know about that--that's what we did on our first trip. Was reading here how I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO HAVE park hoppers, I'd never see anything without them, it's too restricted without, blah, blah, blah. Never used them once. Biggest waste of Disney money ever!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

If you have never been to AK I don't recommend skipping it. Its 1 of those parks that you should at least experience. We have been a couple times and AK just isn't for our family so we are skipping it this time around. If you are looking for something to do after AK there is always DTD. Or you could always resort hop. Its fun to go to different resorts and look around and check out their gift shops and things. Maybe since you will be over there check out AKL. I have 1 evening that I am not sure what we are going to do. We are doing DTD in the beginning of our week so I don't want to do that again. We will be at HS and I am not sure if my son is going to want to see Fantasmic. We saw it last year and it kind of freaked him out, so I figured after dinner we could do some resort hopping and let him see different resorts and their gift shops or their arcades bc he LOVES arcades. You could also head to Disney's Boardwalk. They have a lot of cool nighttime performers that are there. Theres also an arcade as well and some cute little shops. Could be fun to do as well.

 

[brayner]

We've done park hopper before and we never used it! I see the benefits of it but knowing my kids, they will be fine with 1 park a day and they love the resort...almost as much as the parks!! I'm trying no to over plan this vacation but I am such a planner!! I've made our ADR and I'm hoping the times I've booked aren't during a meltdown or when the kids are overly exhausted! Thanks for the suggestions!