Which park would you repeat with 5 year olds?

[Happyjen27]

I have the amazing blessing of an added day onto my trip thanks to Free Dining!! (I needed to arrive one day early to catch it).

This is our first trip to the World. I'll have 8 nights, staying at the Poly with my DH and DD5 and DS5.

Right now we will have:

3 MK days
1 DHS day
1 EP day
1 AK day
1 day reserved for "favorites day"

which leaves 1 day to fill up!! What park would you repeat with 5 year olds?

I would like our touring style to be very relaxed. Probably no more than 4 or 5 hours at a park until we return to the Poly for a rest/nap/pool.

The day I have empty is our second day there, and all I have so far is 5:35 ADRs at Chef Mickey.

 

[disprincessatheart]

I would add another day at epcot. The park is huge and if you're only going to spend a few hours there I don't think you'll see much of it at all. If it were me I'd split it into one day for for future world and one for world showcase. At five your kids will likely enjoy the seas with nemo, living with the land, soarin, figment, spaceship earth and if your ds is into dinos possibly ellens energy adventure, plus some of the things in the two innoventions buildings and the character connection in future world. I know a lot of people say world showcase isn't for kids, but there are two rides and a lot of movies and shows (music, silly shows,etc) that are a lot of fun. And I know you said you only do short days but illuminations, the nighttime show in epcot, is amazing!

 

[wishing4PA]

I agree with the PP. EPCOT!
My own DD wouldn't have enjoyed Illuminations at that age, due to the noise and proximity of the fireworks. On our last trip, at 7, she wanted to hurry away from Illuminations!
But she loves the park. When we let her pick the park for our last day at age 4, she picked EPCOT.
The Seas building took hours. (Don't miss Turtle Talk.)
I'm trying to remember if she was tall enough for Soarin' on that trip, but at any rate, it was a favorite from her first "flight".
We met Mary Poppins, who was awesome, in WS.
And that's not the half of it. Innoventions could have been a full day for her. And Club Cool -- to a 4 year old, "cool" was certainly the word that applied to a place where mom let her try out every soft drink she wanted to try.
She pretty much loved everything at the park other than Maelstrom, which terrified her, and Illuminations.
On our trips back we have had to make sure to hit FW after dark for the lights in the sidewalk.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I assume you do not have hoppers? If not...I agree Epcot though my DS5 loved HS more. We love hoppers and that would allow a different evening park and splitting days as interest and crowds dictate.

 

[Ariel on Land]

I'd vote DHS-- my boys loved TSM and all the toy story stuff. The shrunk the kids playground is a ton of fun too. My boys also really enjoyed the shows there- from B&B, Lights, Motors, Action, Little Mermaid, Disney Junior, etc...

 

[twinboysmom]

If your child is a thrill ride fan and meets the height requirements, then HS. If not, Epcot.

 

[Greenfield1984]

We always do 2 days at Epcot. We love Epcot and there's a lot to see and do there. One day wouldn't be enough for us.

 

[Happyjen27]

Good news: we do have hoppers!! I don't plan to hop much, because from what I've read, it can be a time suck, and it can be draining on the littles. But, in this case, it might be smartest to.

So, I'm considering doing this:

Start at RD at Epcot, hit Soarin and Under the Seas. Then, dork around world showcase until it's time to hit DHS to catch the 1:30 show of Lights, Motors, Action. This show is of supreme importance to DS, and I don't want to miss it. If we can get it out of the way on the bonus day, then we can just ride the rides on the second day we hit DHS.

Then either we'll keep going around DHS or go back to the resort and get ready for dinner at 5:30 at Chef Mickey.

Both of these parks will be hit later in the week on their own day. Monday is another Epcot day, Wednesday will be the DHS day for RD to do TSMM and all of the rides.

This will give us some guidance about how they are feeling about WS so we know whether to do that or not on Epcot's second day.

 

[Emteach]

Would say Epcot as well. We are doing World Showcase first and then Future World the other day.

 

[alyssa810]

Wow, no one's saying AK?!! My almost 5 year old LOVES AK; but he's an animal and dinosaur junkie. If you have hoppers you could always spend your morning in one park, go back to the resort for a break, and then head on over to another park for the evening festivities too.

 

[Julie711]

I would say MK but since you already have 3 days for this park, then HS. Also since you have the park hoppers check out EMH and go to one park in the morning, take a break, then hit up for the evening the park with EMH!

 

[msmama]

I say leave it empty and decide later! Once you've been to all the parks you will know better which YOUR child liked!

We'd do Epcot. Of course there is no way we'd do 3 MK days, either, so....

 

[starsweeper]

We also do 2-3 days at MK, 1 at DHS, and 1 at Epcot. We are skipping AK because we have two zoo memberships and my 5-year-olds only like the Safari and Dino area (doing T-Rex for lunch one day instead).

My ODS is really into Star Wars now, so I would plan a morning at DHS and leave the afternoon open for Epcot or MK. My kids love MK best and never get enough.

 

[GoldieLocks5]

how about a day at the pools and boardwalk or downtown disney? We're planning that for one of our days... hang at the pools weather permitting, during the am, lunch, etc- then late afternoon go to Downtown Disney and Disney Quest.

 

[tina.tina]

If you're planning RD most of the other days, be sure to sleep in & rest at least one day. We hit a wall on our 5th day & had to have a break. Our touring style was definitely not commando either.

 

[AmyFarrahFowler]

Since you have hoppers I would start at DHS. Do TSM and whatever other attractions you would like to do then head over to Epcot for the rest of the day. The parks are close and you can just ride the boat from park to park.

 

[meggiebeth]

We find we need 2 days for Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Epcot is definately the most adult feeling Disney park, so your 5 year old may not appreciate certain aspects of it, such as touring World Showcase, which is a huge part of Epcot. However I really do think you need a day to see
Future World and a day to see World Showcase in a more unstressful pace.

DHS is great, it is our second favourite behind MK, although a big part of that is Tower of Tower which your 5 year old may not be able to ride, or may find scary. My 6 year old brother LOVED it and I absolutely hated it- so I guess it's all down to whether you can cope with thrill rides. Star Tours is wonderful and there are some great shows and attractions to see.

It's all down to a matter of preference I guess. Before we went for the first time I thought Epcot would be my favourite and MK my least favourite. However MK was by far my favourite, and Epcot only scored 3rd in my family's books.

I might be tempted to go for a half day to each. That way you would get to enjoy things a little more and have a bit more time in each park.

 

[LazyDaisy]

Be careful - I'm not sure if it's the rule or not, but WS always tended to open at 11 or so (vs. 9 ish for Future World) so you might not have a lot of time to do WS if you want to head to DHS for LCA at 1:30.

I would reverse it - go to DHS in the morning, stay until LCA, and then head over to WS for the afternoon. Just a thought.

 

[Hannathy]

Whichever one they like the best! Just ask them. Then go back to that one.

 

[lindsmom]

We make a point of leaving a bonus day (although we do it at the end of the week) for DD10 to choose what she'd like to revisit. This year we'll be going with DS3, but we'll take his request with a grain of salt

Last time we went, DD requested to revisit SeaWorld and Epcot, so we did a half a day at each on our "bonus day". And it gave her some sense of involvement in the family vacation.