which park to leave out

[kitkat4622]

so this is our first wdw trip, myself and my 15 year old grandson. We will only be there 4 full days and one half day. I am thinking of leaving off Epcot but am looking for feedback. the only rides we would be interested in are:
Soarin
Test Track
Malestrom(?)

I am planning the arrival day at AK, 2 days at MK and 1 at HS....

 

[BrerNashville]

Epcot is probably one of the better parks for a 15 year old boy. I'd plan a morning at Epcot rather than your second MK day, and then you can decide if you want to go to MK for the second half of the day or stay at EPCOT.

That would require parkhoppers, which you could add on the day you decide to hop if you really want to go back to the MK.

It's hard to pick one park to skip -- each one has its pros and cons.

 

[BrerNashville]

As far as what else to do in Epcot -- my sons love mission:space -- you could wait for him if you didn't want to the spinning version of it. The innoventions area has a roller coaster simuilator (Sum of All Thrills) plus a lot of cool stuff to explore. There's video game type entertainment after mission:space, innoventions and Spaceship earth. The latter ride is pretty neat and relaxing. There's also the Perry scavenger hut through the world showcase -- not sure if the world showcase holds much interest, but for some, it's a really incredible area to explore and the country specific movies are interesting.

 

[mcconnellfam96]

If possible, I would also second the idea of a park hopper. Then you could hit all the parks, even if you just focused on the rides as each you REALLY wanted to ride. Our personally least favorite park is AK, but we LOVE EE. For that reason we never leave out going. Over the course of a ten day park hopper we will hit AK one 1/2 day and use FP+s there then go back one other day for morning EMHs to hit EE, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl one more time.

 

[TooExcitedCantSleep]

I believe your 15 year old might like Epcot!! Mission Space...Spaceship Earth...Figment...the stuff inside of Innovention like Sum of all thrills....the Living Seas with Nemo----- and the Living with the Land boat ride !! World Showcase and Illuminations at night is very nice too!! I would make this my first or second park to knock out and get out of the way though!!

 

[itchin2go]

I would never advocate anyone skipping Epcot.

Of the 4 parks, only MK can really be considered a completely ride-centric place. The other parks are much more a mixture of rides, shows and experiences.

I think a 15 yr old would really like Sum of All Thrills in Epcot. You design your own rollercoaster and then board a giant mechanical arm that simulates what your ride would feel like. It even does inversions.

Epcot is so much more than the rides it has.

Not to mention, Test Track and Soarin are some of my family's top rides in any park.

Our first park to skip would be AK. It's hot, and it feels very spread out, with not very many things that we found particularly interesting.

Just my opinion - to each their own.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

As a former 15 year old boy, I would skip MK.

And I would definitely not repeat MK at the expense of any of the other parks.

 

[kitkat4622]

As a former 15 year old boy, I would skip MK.

And I would definitely not repeat MK at the expense of any of the other parks.

Seriously?

Okay you have convinced me to do Epcot one day thank you for all your feedback.

 

[Frozen2014]

so this is our first wdw trip, myself and my 15 year old grandson. We will only be there 4 full days and one half day. I am thinking of leaving off Epcot but am looking for feedback. the only rides we would be interested in are:
Soarin
Test Track
Malestrom(?)

I am planning the arrival day at AK, 2 days at MK and 1 at HS....

This is our first trip, but we have similar as you but Epcot in place of AK. It's a personal opinion, but we liked the attractions better at Epcot compared with AK (including the ones you listed above). So we have 2 days at MK, 1 at HS and 1 at Epcot

 

[Disfan1968]

Another BIG vote for Mission Space. For thrill seekers (like 15 year old boys) this may be the very favorite ride in all of Disney. It's a seriously intense simulator.

Everyone has a different opinion. I am in the minority. If I HAD to leave a park out, it would be Hollywood Studios. Not that I don't like HS. Plenty to do there. It's just I like the other ones better.

 

[mcconnellfam96]

Another BIG vote for Mission Space. For thrill seekers (like 15 year old boys) this may be the very favorite ride in all of Disney. It's a seriously intense simulator.

Everyone has a different opinion. I am in the minority. If I HAD to leave a park out, it would be Hollywood Studios. Not that I don't like HS. Plenty to do there. It's just I like the other ones better.

I would second this! It is the ONLY ride that has ever made me sick. LOL

 

[tsme]

I'd drop HS. There just isn't enough there, imo.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

I strongly advise hoppers if you can swing the increase in price. We always have hoppers because we go off season so shorter park hours and find AK & HS to be 1/2 day parks for us - we may hit both 2x in a trip but like AK in the early morning and HS in the afternoon.

If MK closes at 7pm we hop to Epcot which is generally open to 9pm (I know some of the fall EMH go till 11pm). Extends our day at least a little longer.

I'm thinking your going in September judging by your ticker so crowds should be somewhat lower than say summer crowds, you may find you get more accomplished in your time frame than you think.

MK - 1 day

Epcot - 1 day - my two LOVE Epcot (12g/13b)

AK & HS - (if you had a hopper) I would start at AK and hop at lunch time to HS for the afternoon/evening.

Day 4 - leave it up to your grandson as to which park you go back to.

Given your choice of omitting a park, we would skip HS - ToT, RnR, and fantasmic are our highlights and we "like" a couple of the shows - Muppets and Backlot tour but overall park experience we would rather the other 3

 

[kitkat4622]

I am going in October and I do have park hopper passes. thank you again for all the feedback.

Mission Space I won't be doing due to motion sickness and not sure Aaron will ride it alone. he is 15 but intellectually delayed so really about 11 mentally.

 

[amym2]

Food and Wine Festival is all of Oct at EP, so definitely plan to go there on a weekday. EP has always been our favorite (DS12 and DD10). I actually agree that with a 15yo, one day at MK may be enough. We're going in Oct for 6 days and are doing one full MK day and two half MK days, but one of those is really just for BOG.

 

[PrincessNelly]

I agree with everyone else. Definitely don't skip EPCOT. It happens to be the favorite park of all the men/boys in our family.
You don't need two days at MK. Even though it has the most rides... some are small and cater to the younger crowd.

 

[lustergirl]

If you absolutely have to: skip DHS

 

[XtraEdGe]

Had this conversation with both DS. Both said they would take out AKL than not go to MK twice.

 

[ZoZo]

OP, since you have hoppers, I'd plan at least a half-day for each park, so you don't have to skip anything. Actually, I'd recommend a full day at each park, then your extra half-day at the park you like the best. You'll find lots of people say "XXX is a half-day park" but what they really mean is, "XXX is a half-day park FOR ME". If it's your first time, I'd really recommend planning a full day for each park - if you have hoppers, you can always leave and go to another park if you run out of things to do! But you might be surprised which one is your favorite!

Regarding Mission Space, you can go on the non-spinning "green" version if you have motion sickness issues.

 

[barbmouse]

If you must skip, I would skip Ak in your situation.