Which 2 parks each day

[Alicenwonderment]

If you had 2 day hopper passes which 2 parks and what order would you visit the parks? My sister and husbands first visit with my nieces 12 and 7. I also told them to look into a character breakfast if they are interested in characters. They really want to hit up the Star Wars stuff.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

If I was trying to do all 4 parks over two days I’d probably do the following (this is assuming the plan would be rope drop, and pretty much stay in the parks all day. I’d also recommend buying the LL if you could swing it).

Day 1: Rope drop MK - stay until 11 or so and then head over to AK. Stay for the afternoon and then head back to MK for evening. (Some will probably debate me on starting with MK but for your very first visit it seems strange to NOT start there).

Day 2: Rope drop HS and then head over to EPCOT late afternoon. Start in the front and work your way to the back and finish by walking around the World Showcase, dinner, fireworks, etc.

 

[scrappinginontario]

2 days is a really short amount of time to do all 4 parks for first visit. Possibly better to do MK one day and DHS the other day. Possibly hop to Epcot if they do all they want in DHS.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Unless you really want AK I’d drop it. You aren’t going to see everything so you need to prioritize what’s most important while balancing it with how much time it takes. AK is kinda a time suck due to its location.

 

[Upatnoon]

If you want to get a taste of all the parks, I would do this:

Day 1: I would start rope-dropping Hollywood, then leave for Epcot around 4 p.m. and finish the day there, wrapping it up with the fireworks. This saves the most time for your priority park and lets you walk through Epcot at least to get taste of it.

Day 2: I would rope-drop Animal Kingdom, then leave by 1 p.m. or so and finish the day at MK. MK is the park open the latest and you would cap off your Disney visit with the fireworks show there.

You could certainly save AK for a later trip and just do MK, however, this gets you a taste of all of all the parks.

 

[fatmanatee]

My proposed plan:

Day 1: start at MK, end at Epcot
Day 2: start at HS, end at MK (so they get MK at night, able to do repeats of anything they want to get back to, etc)

Flip the days if Star Wars is the highest priority, which it seems to be. I don't think doing all four parks in two days, particularly as someone's first experience, is a good idea, so unfortunately I would skip AK. I wouldn't do a character breakfast on either of two days either, it's just a lot to cram in. If you can stay around long enough to get a reservation on Day 3 maybe that would be good (would have to be non-park, obviously).

 

[HeiHei2018]

I agree with skipping AK. We did it for the first time (on our fifth trip), and we won’t go back for a while. LLMP is great with PH tickets, so I would prioritize that over a character breakfast unless the kids are really into characters. (And if LLMP is not in the budget, drop the PH and just do MK and HS.)

 

[_19disnA]

Clearly, someone who has never been to Disney before will have no idea of what shows/rides/parks they like best until they experience it. Everyone has their own ideas of what they like to do. Also matters if they are the go-go-go types who get up at dawn and race off to be one of the first tin line or are enjoy a more leisurely vacation. Disney is HUGE and even in the middle of the week when we were there a few years ago, AK was wall-to-wall people so just walking around was a challenge. We had park hopper passes, so we left to go to a different park.

How much they will be able to do depends on how crowded any one park might be and you have no idea of that ahead of time as well as their interest in various rides/shows.

 

[Miffy]

Are your sister and her family staying on-site? I hope so, since even attempting to do all 4 parks in just 2 days is enough of a challenge without being off-site.

Are they aware of how large WDW is and how much walking is involved?

Are they going to purchase LLMPs and/or LLSPs?

Are either of the 2 days their arrival or departure day? I hope not!

I have a kind of crazy idea for their trip: How about they do all 4 parks on the first day? That way they could tell which parks they like best, what they'd like to do that they didn't get done on day 1, and they'd be more familiar with the layout of everything. Then on day 2, they could go back to the parks they liked best and pick up the rides/attractions/etc. that they wanted to do most.

For the 4-parks-on-day-1 itinerary:

1: Start by rope-dropping DAK. Ride Na'vi standby. Get an early-as-possible LLSP for FoP. Then head to the safari. Afterwards (or between Pandora and KS), snack on something from Harambe and head to the bus stop.

2: Hop to DHS. Have LLSP for RotR for maybe midafternoon. Have lunch at a QS, probably in SWGE. Do standby for MMRR. Try to do one other ride, if possible.

3: Hop to Epcot, maybe via the Skyliner, which is a ride in itself. Do maybe 2 rides--Soarin' and FEA or Remy. You could also probably get in LwtL and/or Nemo as well. Walk around, see the sights, leave by the main entrance.

4: Hop to MK via the monorail. Jam in as much as possible and stay until close.

I know this is a kind of nutty idea, but if I had only 2 days and I'd never been before, I'd love to do this. On day 2, I'd go back and pick up as many of the rides and attractions as I either missed or wanted to do again.

I think that a character breakfast is a complete waste of time for a family who's never been before. That's two hours they could've spent in a park, even in line, if necessary.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

My proposed plan:

Day 1: start at MK, end at Epcot
Day 2: start at HS, end at MK (so they get MK at night, able to do repeats of anything they want to get back to, etc)

Flip the days if Star Wars is the highest priority, which it seems to be. I don't think doing all four parks in two days, particularly as someone's first experience, is a good idea, so unfortunately I would skip AK. I wouldn't do a character breakfast on either of two days either, it's just a lot to cram in. If you can stay around long enough to get a reservation on Day 3 maybe that would be good (would have to be non-park, obviously).

The thing with the character breakfast was I figured it was easier than waiting in lines for autographs. They both received autograph books for Christmas. I figured waiting in lines for characters is a time waister. I thought maybe Garden Grill would be good but if Epcot is the later park what would be another good character breakfast spot?

 

[Alicenwonderment]

Clearly, someone who has never been to Disney before will have no idea of what shows/rides/parks they like best until they experience it. Everyone has their own ideas of what they like to do. Also matters if they are the go-go-go types who get up at dawn and race off to be one of the first tin line or are enjoy a more leisurely vacation. Disney is HUGE and even in the middle of the week when we were there a few years ago, AK was wall-to-wall people so just walking around was a challenge. We had park hopper passes, so we left to go to a different park.

How much they will be able to do depends on how crowded any one park might be and you have no idea of that ahead of time as well as their interest in various rides/shows.

I know that 2 days really isn't enough but they were just saying we'll do Disney for a day. (Ha!) I'm trying to convince them that at least 2 days is better. I bought them the 2025 guide book and keep making suggestions. (I worked there 90s and 2000.) They are also driving from Fort Myers (I know that's a drive.) and doing the gymnastics competition and then their plan is Disney. I know they won't even touch the surface as to what they can do. They will be going February vacation.

 

[fatmanatee]

The thing with the character breakfast was I figured it was easier than waiting in lines for autographs. They both received autograph books for Christmas. I figured waiting in lines for characters is a time waister. I thought maybe Garden Grill would be good but if Epcot is the later park what would be another good character breakfast spot?

You can flip Epcot and MK, I mainly put it in that order because you could see the park and show at night. Other parks have character breakfasts/meals but with different characters so it depends on what/who you want.

 

[cjlong88]

We have done quite a few 2-day trips. Honestly, for us they are more fun than the longer trips. It's like a whirlwind of rides and eats. We go-go-go and then suddenly it's over.

If it were me, Day 1 I would start with AK, as they will be open earliest. Then take an early afternoon break before heading to MK. If you can spring for the Premier Pass for MK, that will allow to ride lots of attractions and not stress about booking LL's.

Day 2 I would start with EPCOT. Rope drop a few rides, then enjoy World Showcase. Take the skyliner to HS. Again, if you can spring for Premier Pass, you will be able to hit a lot of the big rides and end the trip with Galaxy's Edge since you mentioned the Star Wars stuff.

We have a 2.5 day trip next weekend. We always have to remind ourselves that we won't be able to do everything we want to do. We just pick our favorites and focus on having fun. No ride or snack or meal can be "make or break" - as long as we live by that rule we always leave super satisfied with our visit. After all, 2 days at Disney is better than 0.

AND, because we don't do every single ride or eat every single snack we love, it helps us look forward to going back again and again.