Which park should be seen first?

[Mickey2003]

With three young kids who have never seen WDW which park should we visit first? And last?

 

[btmyank]

I always hit Magic Kingdom first than I mix the other parks than we hit MK on last day. Just my way since I feel MK is the most memorable.

 

[luvmy2prncss]

I agree w/ BTMYANK. MK first and last!
Especially with 3 kids!!

 

[jcemom]

Welcome to the DIS!
I was just asking this very same question myself not too long ago! lol DH and I disagreed on the answer, as did most everyone else...lol!

I think Magic Kingdom should be first, because I wouldn't feel like I was "there" until I walked up Main Street to the Castle.

DH, however, thinks MK should be last because the kids may be disappointed in the other parks and think they aren't as exciting.

For our upcoming trip, I planned around the best days for each park and it worked out like this: MK, Epcot, AK, MGM, MK.

How old are your children? How many days do you have? I'm sure the experts here will give you some great ideas!

 

[Mickey2003]

My kids are 8,6,4. We have 5 days in the park. We can not use EE. We do not plan to go to water parks. In addition to which order, Should we split up the days between parks?

 

[jcemom]

Disclaimer: I am NOT an expert...LOL

I would plan on one day for each park, with one day left over to go back to your favorite. In our case we are planning 5 park days: 2 MK, and one each Epcot, MGM, AK.

What are the days of the week? (Mon-Fri?)
touringplans.com has a "best days" calculator on their site to figure out which days of the week are least crowded for each park according to what time of year you will be going. I took that into consideration when planning. For example, Thursday is EE day a MK, so you would not want to go to the MK on Thursday. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday however, are less crowded. You get the idea, right? That may narrow down the choices of which parks in which order for you. Even if I wanted to go to, say, AK first, but my first day was AK's EE, then I would choose something else, for example.

 

[jdads2]

Welcome to the DIS!!

Before our first trip to WDW I made lots of plans and carefully made PS's and did research on what parks are busiest on what days. I was quite thorough. I made all of these plans knowing that they could change at any time if we decided to do something else instead of what was next on the list.

Since we were arriving on a Saturday I knew that Epcot would be a great place to start off. Crowds usually aren't that heavy and since we were staying at the Poly we could easily take the mono (our first WDW "ride") to the TTC and head right to the park.

Of course we went to MK first because it was the closest. I am so glad we did. The Magic Kingdom IS Disney. I don't think that MK is our favorite park, but it is where we go first. You walk through the gates and there it is, the castle that opened all those great Disney TV shows.

I don't think that anyone would be disappointed no matter where we started our vacation but MK makes us most feel like we are at WDW.

 

[MsLeFever]

I'm thinking just the opposite of the other posts. My kids will be 6 and 2. I'm planning to do Epcot, AK, MGM and then Magic Kingdom. I'm concerned that if we do MK first and then they will be disappointed with epcot since it is more educational.

Barbara

 

[4greatboys]

We always hit MGM first. Mainly because we normally arrive late Friday night and Im not hitting MK on a Saturday. Plus we love MGM and it gives us plenty of time to hit ToT and RnR.

 

[jcemom]

Originally posted by MsLeFever
I'm thinking just the opposite of the other posts. My kids will be 6 and 2. I'm planning to do Epcot, AK, MGM and then Magic Kingdom. I'm concerned that if we do MK first and then they will be disappointed with epcot since it is more educational.

Barbara

My DH feels the same way, Barbara. If we weren't planning on two days at MK, I would probably do the same as you.

 

[cinmell]

Welcome to the DIS! We always head to MK on our first and last days (and several times in between) .

 

[betterlatethannever]

Originally posted by MsLeFever
I'm thinking just the opposite of the other posts. My kids will be 6 and 2. I'm planning to do Epcot, AK, MGM and then Magic Kingdom. I'm concerned that if we do MK first and then they will be disappointed with epcot since it is more educational.

Barbara

That's how we did it the first time with our kids (6&4). I think it was the unofficial WDW guide that recommended NOT going to MK first.

We went to Epcot first. then MK on the second day. Once they saw MK, they sure wouldn't have been able to go through Epcot without complaining.

Ed

 

[WhispyPixie]

Originally posted by MsLeFever
I'm thinking just the opposite of the other posts. My kids will be 6 and 2. I'm planning to do Epcot, AK, MGM and then Magic Kingdom. I'm concerned that if we do MK first and then they will be disappointed with epcot since it is more educational.

Barbara

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We take the same approach Barbara! With 4 kids..it has ALWAYS worked for us!

We We do this.....usually start with MGM...it is fun, but not MK....but the kids love it. I highly recommend it! Good luck!

 

[swilphil]

Unless your first day in the park is a Saturday, I agree that MK should be the first park. MK is usually super crowded on Saturdays, and I would avoid it for that reason. I like going to Epcot after I have had at least two full days in other parks. Epcot's World Showcase is a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the other parks.

As far as splitting days between parks, it may depend on what time of year you go and the park hours. You can easily go back and forth between MGM and Epcot--hit the Boardwalk in between, too. AK is only a 1/2 day park, so you might want to head to MK or Epcot again after that. I would definitely spend at least one full day at MK. Make sure you work in the 3 firework shows during your trip, too.