Which park to skip?

[smitch425]

Keep in mind you may even be able to check in at that point. We arrived early at all three of our split stay resorts on our last trip and got in our rooms right away. We checked in as early as 9am at one.

You can check in as soon as their computers roll over to the current day, which is around 6am.

 

[MamaCrystal]

AK closes about 6pm in the fall.
Id probably do 1 full day at MK, 1 full day at EPCOT (with an entertaining ADR such as Teppan Edo), do AK before MNSSHP (still a lot of MK time) and if you can hit MK a little on "rest day" if they want.

If the 4's are boys, then DHS is definitely a full day park, with girls, it might not be.

Our older 2 are boys, younger 2 are girls

I'll definitely be moving things around. I like the idea of AK the morning before MNSSHP, although we were going to have a late start to the day and maybe do BBB and Pirate's League for their Halloween costumes. Back to the drawing board!

 

[maryj11]

Hmmm if it were me I would skip HS. Animal Kingdom is definitely a great park for kids , I wouldnt skip it.

 

[MamaCrystal]

Hmmm if it were me I would skip HS. Animal Kingdom is definitely a great park for kids , I wouldnt skip it.

I'm re-thinking the planned full day at HS. Our kids are pretty outgoing and energetic so HS seemed like a good fit for them, but now I'm thinking a half day might be enough there.

 

[PrincessP]

When our children were in that age range, I REALLY liked having the rest day. I'm not sure they needed it as much as I did....but I don't recommend giving up your rest day. We gave up our rest day last trip, and I said "never again". We are rope droppers, but we don't stay until park close.

We have been 3x since having children and AK is the one we have not done yet. I'm waiting until the kids are old enough to want to do the big coasters there. That has been my logic in leaving it out.

Good luck in your planning. Have a fabulous trip.

 

[smitch425]

I'm re-thinking the planned full day at HS. Our kids are pretty outgoing and energetic so HS seemed like a good fit for them, but now I'm thinking a half day might be enough there.

DHS should be a good fit for them, both age wise and gender wise. There are also amazing meet and greets there. I would keep the full day, especially if you plan to catch all of the shows and DHS exclusive characters.

 

[aVASTGrl]

Skipping a Park is so subjective, it's hard to say what your kids will/won't like, but for me, AK is always a full-day park, I love it! Whenever I'm there, it's the one Park that I see kids really engaging...asking questions, and really excited about all of the animals. I wish it had been around when I was growing up.

HS is always a half day at most for me. I can never find enough to do to fill up an entire day

 

[mickeynut1]

Every time someone posts that there is not much for kids to do at EPCOT, I wonder if there is a different EPCOT somewhere that I don't know about. They couldn't possibly be talking about the one at Disney World.

I know.....we must be missing something .

 

[ktlm]

Every time someone posts that there is not much for kids to do at EPCOT, I wonder if there is a different EPCOT somewhere that I don't know about. They couldn't possibly be talking about the one at Disney World.

I'm right there with you. I don't get it either. Are they walking by buildings without realizing there are things inside them? My DD could probably spend an entire WS day just doing the Phineas and Ferb missions- DH too- he loves them as much as she does (I've had to pry the communicator out of his hand and make him give it back to her).

DD has never liked AK. Ever since she was 2, she has always begged to go back to MK or EPCOT by noon, and that is with spending an hour or more having a character meal at Tusker House. I think it would be different if we did not have a really good zoo at home though. She has zero interest in seeing animals she can see at home at WDW and generally complains about me standing there wanting to watch them too long. I will say though that our last trip was after they started the Wilderness Explorer booklets last year, and that really made a difference. She really liked trying to fill the book with badges, and made it to mid-afternoon for the first time. I really enjoy AK personally. It just didn't really have anything she was interested in other than riding Safari once, seeing the Lion King show and seeing a couple of characters.

 

[Cadets74]

Hi again all We're taking our kids (will be 8,6,4,4) for their first trip in October. We have 5 full days there. We were planning 2 days in MK, 1 in HS, 1 in EPCOT, (and MNSSHP) and were debating whether to skip AK or squeeze in a half day on what is planned to be a rest day. Given our kids' ages, would you recommend skipping EPCOT instead and replacing that day with AK? Hubby and I are also considering having the kids hang out in Cub's Den and we could go to EPCOT one evening just the two of us. WDYT? Thanks in advance!

We just got back from disney with 7 kids (13,12,8,6,4,2, 11 months)... They are loved epcot... test track was the favorite ride for our 6 years old and the rest liked it to... soarin is really cool as well... We had breakfast at Akershus which although really expensive was really nice and the girls loved the interaction with different princesses... I guess it all depends though on what the kids like, my kids weren't as much into the rides as they were the meet and greets... We toured the worlds slowly splitting a snack or drink in each country... We went only expecting to do one day, but ended up adding a day to our trip and going another 1/2 day at Epcot, although that mostly to to Figment which closed early the day we want and we didn't get on it (it was a must do for my wife and she has fond childhood memories of that ride)... Piece of advice... Avoid Captain EO... Biggest waste of time my entire trip (including the plane delay and being stuck on Tarmac for 40 minutes$

 

[smitch425]

We just got back from disney with 7 kids (13,12,8,6,4,2, 11 months)... They are loved epcot... test track was the favorite ride for our 6 years old and the rest liked it to... soarin is really cool as well... We had breakfast at Akershus which although really expensive was really nice and the girls loved the interaction with different princesses... I guess it all depends though on what the kids like, my kids weren't as much into the rides as they were the meet and greets... We toured the worlds slowly splitting a snack or drink in each country... We went only expecting to do one day, but ended up adding a day to our trip and going another 1/2 day at Epcot, although that mostly to to Figment which closed early the day we want and we didn't get on it (it was a must do for my wife and she has fond childhood memories of that ride)... Piece of advice... Avoid Captain EO... Biggest waste of time my entire trip (including the plane delay and being stuck on Tarmac for 40 minutes$

Captain EO was the first 3d movie I ever saw. Back then, it was the most amazing thing ever. We still see it every trip. It's cheesy, but I love it anyway. It's a great place to cool off, too.

 

[MamaCrystal]

When our children were in that age range, I REALLY liked having the rest day. I'm not sure they needed it as much as I did....but I don't recommend giving up your rest day. We gave up our rest day last trip, and I said "never again". We are rope droppers, but we don't stay until park close.

YES. Even if the kids can handle missing a rest day, I'm thinking I'll need one!!

 

[MamaCrystal]

We just got back from disney with 7 kids (13,12,8,6,4,2, 11 months)... They are loved epcot... test track was the favorite ride for our 6 years old and the rest liked it to... soarin is really cool as well... We had breakfast at Akershus which although really expensive was really nice and the girls loved the interaction with different princesses... I guess it all depends though on what the kids like, my kids weren't as much into the rides as they were the meet and greets... We toured the worlds slowly splitting a snack or drink in each country... We went only expecting to do one day, but ended up adding a day to our trip and going another 1/2 day at Epcot, although that mostly to to Figment which closed early the day we want and we didn't get on it (it was a must do for my wife and she has fond childhood memories of that ride)... Piece of advice... Avoid Captain EO... Biggest waste of time my entire trip (including the plane delay and being stuck on Tarmac for 40 minutes$

Thanks for the tip! I'm glad to be hearing about kids loving so much about EPCOT. My hubby is convinced the whole park sounds boring... even though he's never been to WDW at all! I'll be showing him this thread

 

[rteetz]

I've never skipped a park I've always made sure I get to all of them whether it spend a whole day there or not is another story. I would try to squeeze AK in there is definitely enough there for a half day or so. I often find AK underrated there is a lot to do there people just don't see it. Everyone looks at rides rides rides. They have abundant of shows, rides, jungle treks, animal exhibits, restaurants, etc. I know travel days can be rough but I would recommend to try and squeeze AK in.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I know I am a minority but I think Animal Kingdom is great. With the ages of the OPs kids I would skip Studios first. Kids that age love animals but can't do lots of things at the studios. (Me, I skip Magic Kingdom lots of trips I never see it)

 

[smitch425]

Don't get me wrong, AK is lovely, but nothing has changed in several years, and as I mentioned, their animal interaction isn't comparable to what we are used to locally. I definitely wouldn't skip it on a first trip, if possible. It's just not necessary for us to do it every year. Even though Avatar was not my cup of tea, I'm sure we will check out the new area at some point when it is completed, but probably not in the first year or two.

 

[Crystal824]

I wouldn't skip any park if possible especially since this is your first family trip. AK has a lot to offer especially kids of those ages as does all the other parks.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My first choice would be to skip the rest day.

My second choice would be to skip the 2nd MK day.

For a first trip, I would never return to any park for a 2nd day until I had seen all 4 at least once each.

 

[Cadets74]

I wouldn't skip the rest day... We had jammed packed park days everyday of our trip... We had stayed at POP at all my kids wanted to do was swim in the pool, so i was fortunate enough to extend our trip by 1 day to add in a pool day, which they absolutely loved...

 

[busymommy2pink]

I have two daughters, age 5 and 8. We've been going since our oldest was 4. Epcot, they will both tell you, is their favorite park. Even over magic kingdom. They love world showcase, the street entertainment, princesses, shops with things from those countries, doing their Epcot passports and the food! Plus test track, soarin, nemo and friend, turtle talk with crush etc. we actually spend 2 full days, plus most evenings at Epcot and stay at beach club just to be in walking distance.

Hollywood studios we skip most trips. We went, rode toy story mania, saw mike and sulley, phineas and ferb and lightning and mater. All in an hour. Then they were bored and asked to leave (this past August). We've skipped it all other trips, and likely will next time too. September we will go as my nephew is coming, he is 4 and obsessed with all things Pixar and Star Wars.

I would never skip animal kingdom personally. We have a great zoo here as well, but the park is gorgeous!!! My kids love the lion king show, safari, looking for the walking vine, takin in the tree of life while eating a cold treat, dinosaur and of course kali river rapids!