which park to skip

[MOMOFMNM]

If I have to...I have 4 day non hop passes and we are at Poly...should we see all parks or skip one?? Which one?? Should we reserve 2 days for a park? I originally wanted an extra day to lounge around but $$$ said NO...I would rather stay at the Poly for a shorter time and make some tough choices then get in a resort I did not love. Thanks everyone. I need to make my PS soon!!


I will need to know which park to go to on which days for that of course since we have non hoppers

 

[whithouston]

Try to see all of them if possible. If you had to skip one, I would skip Animal Kingdom!!

 

[Zoemakes5]

How old are your children?
Generally, if I had to skip one, I'd skip MGM. DH and I have been there multiple times, but have never liked it, left early. Everything is a separate experience (unlike the Universal Studios tours I went to in LA) and lines are long. There are a few fun "big kids" rides there but overall a snoozer for me.

Don't know if it's possible, but I might recommend trying to upgrade into a hopper. Particularly if you have younger children and/or have a wider age range.

 

[MOMOFMNM]

How old are your children?
Generally, if I had to skip one, I'd skip MGM. DH and I have been there multiple times, but have never liked it, left early. Everything is a separate experience (unlike the Universal Studios tours I went to in LA) and lines are long. There are a few fun "big kids" rides there but overall a snoozer for me.

Don't know if it's possible, but I might recommend trying to upgrade into a hopper. Particularly if you have younger children and/or have a wider age range.

My girls are 5 7 and 9 and I know they want to go to MGM because they want to see the stage shows like Ariel and Belle, we are big theater/music junkies, love live entertainment!! I don't know if I want to shell out more $$ for hoppers if we are not going to use them 35 times 5 is an extra 100 bucks, if I get there and we need them I will just pay to upgrade while at the resort. I want to make sure we will use it. I am concerned that park hopping will not be easy to do with the little time we are going to be there and having never been before (only me to MK) I just don't think we will be hopping from park to park esp with a sit down meal each day, our time will be up before we know it!! PLUS we want to be at that spectacular POLY pool!! any advice is welcomed!!

 

[Disney29]

Try to see all of them if possible. If you had to skip one, I would skip Animal Kingdom!!

I TOTALLY agree. 1 reason is that they close early.

 

[TLC371]

If I had to skip one, I would skip Animal Kingdom...we just liked the other parks better than AK.

 

[Minnie824]

I would skip MGM, although you said that wasn't an option. With the hoppers it would be nice because you could do 1/2 day at Animal Kingdom, 1/2 day at MGM, 1 day Epcot, 2 days MK.

 

[MOMOFMNM]

I would skip MGM, although you said that wasn't an option. With the hoppers it would be nice because you could do 1/2 day at Animal Kingdom, 1/2 day at MGM, 1 day Epcot, 2 days MK.

really only 1/2 day???? can you really even see anything for 1/2 day at any park? Right now I am leaning towards all 4 and just relaxing or doing night EMH at the park of choice...thanks everyone any one else???

 

[meeko_33785]

If your girls love musical theater, then I would recommend going to AK. The Festival of the Lion King show there is one of the best Disney World has ever had IMO, and Tarzan Rocks is also a wonderful live stage show there. There's also a Pocahontas show that's not on the same scale as those, but nice for kids.

I hate to say it, but if you do choose to skip a park, I would recommend skipping EPCOT (I hate to say it mostly because I never skip EPCOT), but I think that your girls might like AK better. If you do decide to skip AK and see EPCOT, I think you still will be happy though. There aren't really any live shows that compare to the ones at MGM or AK, but there's plenty of great street musicians and street theater that they will enjoy too. Either way, you will not be disappointed. They are both great parks.

 

[Zoemakes5]

When we went last spring break, my kids' ages were 7,9 and 13months. AK was a hit! They loved it! From a purely time-constraints analysis, that's the one that closes earliest, so I'd say that would be the one to skip if you're not able to do all of them.
With your DD's age range, I'd suggest an additional day (or half-day) at MK.
You're right $100 extra for the hoppers is a chunk. With our three it was a god send, as we were able to "break up" the days a bit. And, one morning, I took my little one to MK while the boys went to EPCOT early and then met back up with us. One morning we went to AK and rode the safari and then went over to MK for the rest of the day. For me, it made it so I didn't feel like I was forced to rush through a particular park in a day just so I got to see everything. And with the different closing times, there was more than one day that we could leave one park at or near their closing and go to another park--it alieviated the "rush" for us rather than adding to it! One night we went into MK just in time to catch a seat for the late parade and fireworks!

 

[QuickGold]

Skip AK

 

[MOMOFMNM]

ok well I will get the hoppers!!! I may even up my trip one day!!! You guys are feeding my frenzy!!!!! I want to see all of them!! I know dh will like epcot and I think kids will like ak so we will just do them all. We went from 3 day non hopping, staying at POR no dining for 5 nights to Poly, dining plan, now 6 nights and hoppers....AHHHHH dh will love this bill...

 

[califred]

The Unoffical Guide has a touring plan specifically for 1/2 day at AK and 1/2 day at MGM, you might want to glance at it at the library or bookstore.

 

[lainie25]

have you stayed at the poly before. maybe you should downgrade the resort and stay some extra days for the money. You said that you will not even have time to hang out at the poly if you only go for four days anyway.

 

[DaisyLou2]

I would definitely upgrade to the hoppers. I would also say skip Animal Kingom but considering the age of your kids I would do a half day at Epcot and the other half at AK. Most kids I know seem to find the World Showcase to be a little boring. So you could do AK in the morning go to the hotel,take a dip in the pool and have some lunch then head over to Epcot for the afternoon. If the kids decide to check out the World Showcase then you can....maybe even stay for fireworks.

 

[disneyfanfamily]

My kids were bored with Epcot, (8, 6, 2) but since your DH wants to go, then by all means go. My kids, however, loved AK, and so did DH and I. We are leaving in 7 days...My kids do no like Epcot, but we are going to go so I can ride Soarin. Then we can just hop over to another park. You gotta love those park hoppers. Have never been to MGM. We will try it this year. But in my opinion, MK is at least a 2 dayer. LOVE MK! I would agree with the other poster about possibly going to a mod to save $$. But some people like the hotel experience as much as the parks. So if that is you, stay at Poly. I could care less where I sleep, so the cheapest is the best for us. Have fun!

 

[msr709]

It will really depend on the kids, but we skipped AK last year and boy did we regret it. Not because we wanted to but because of the hurricane Frances! Our kids love the zoo so they were really looking forward to AK and unlike other posters I do not think it is a park to be skipped, at least not with children that enjoy animals. I don't think it should be done in 1/2 day either. It gets very hot at AK and we tend to take it very slowly. I always try to get on Kali, then go see the shows and dry out. But that's just me. I would skip EPCOt before I skip AK but again, that's only my opinion. You'll enjoy it no matter what you skip! I would also recommend changing resorts if you're not going to be able to enjoy the Poly why pay so much $ to just sleep and shower there, you can do that anywhere, but again its your family and you know them better than anyone, you'll make the right choice. Even though if you're going to WDW, anywhere you stay is good! Good luck with your decision. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[tar heel]

Since your children like live performances, make sure to spend an afternoon/evening in Epcot's World Showcase seeing the country performers. You can pick up a performance schedule at the park entrance.

When we skip a park, we skip AK b/c it is the least favorite of everyone in my family. We have a real mix of opinions on favorite, though -- 2 MK, 1 Epcot and 2 MGM.

 

[CarolA]

have you stayed at the poly before. maybe you should downgrade the resort and stay some extra days for the money. You said that you will not even have time to hang out at the poly if you only go for four days anyway.

I was going to suggest this....

Also, I would skip MGM. AK is one of my two favorites. (On my trips I routinely skip MK! )

However, I think one of the reasons folks don't like AK is they try to do it like MK.... race from ride to ride. You need to take the time to do the walks and look at the animals here so a half day is really not enough (unless you do the race from ride to ride and then you miss half the point of the park)

 

[grimley1968]

I agree with the advice to get the park hopping option put on your tix. I also agree with the advice that you can easily see everything worth seeing at AK in half a day. In fact, I'd do AK in one morning, maybe eat lunch there, see what else you may have missed in the morning, then head to MGM for the rest of the day. Both MGM and AK are really half day parks, IMHO. MK and EPCOT you could split among the other 3 days pretty easily.

Poly is a great place to stay when you don't have much time, since you can walk to the TTC and get direct monorail rides to MK AND EPCOT, which you can't do from anywhere else.

However, if you want to more than offset the cost of adding park hopping to your tickets, might I recommend checking out staying at WL? It's MUCH less expensive than the Poly, but is still a deluxe. It has no monorail stop, but there is a boat to MK, which is pretty nice. Just a thought.