Which Parks for first time WDW trip?

[lp199]

Hi all,

We were supposed to go on our first family trip to WDW in June but have now rescheduled for March 2021. Our park days are Friday the 18th-25th. I’m looking to book a later flight out on the 25th so we can have some park time that day.

We are renting DVC points and staying at BLT so we have the option to walk to MK. We have already decided that the 20th will be a resort day so we have six other days to plan for park days and would love some help on which parks we should reserve for which days. I’m thinking four of the days will be for each park and then we would probably like to go back to MK and HS a second time.

Many thanks!

 

[kwdw]

If this is a first time WDW trip - then yes - you definitely need to plan two MK days.

In my mind - there are plusses and minuses for picking the 20th as a resort day. Not sure of YOUR reasons - but for a trip of that length - I'd want three park days before a break - BUT - the 20th is a Sunday and maybe a park would be busier there.

Right now - I think your traveling party's preference for when to get up in the morning ought to be something to think about for planning park days. We are early-birds and on Eastern Time already, so we'd leave EP until later in the trip because its more likely we would be tired and would sleep in - where if we planned EP on day two - we'd be ready to hit a park at 8 am and wonder what to do with ourselves until 11 am...... But all those park hours might change between now and then!

 

[lp199]

Thanks for the reply. It’s actually Saturday the 20th that we want as a resort day. So Sunday would be a park day.

Dining and ADR’s are not a factor for us as our main priority are the park attractions. We would definitely want to rope drop MK and will probably want to do the same for HS especially as we are hoping to go for ROtR.

Thanks again!

 

[lp199]

Thanks for the reply. It’s actually Saturday the 20th that we want as a resort day. So Sunday would be a park day.

Dining and ADR’s are not a factor for us as our main priority are the park attractions. We would definitely want to rope drop MK and will probably want to do the same for HS especially as we are hoping to go for ROtR.

Thanks again!

Forgot to mention our three kids will be 15, 12 and 9

 

[TinkerPan]

Thanks for the reply. It’s actually Saturday the 20th that we want as a resort day. So Sunday would be a park day.

Dining and ADR’s are not a factor for us as our main priority are the park attractions. We would definitely want to rope drop MK and will probably want to do the same for HS especially as we are hoping to go for ROtR.

Thanks again!

Don't overlook making dining ADRs. Eating in Disney World is unlike other dining experiences and can be an attraction of sorts; something the whole family can enjoy. Many, especially my husband, find dining in certain restaurants memorable, and part of their favorite Disney experience. My DD went with us as a teenager and later told me our dining at Disney was some of her favorite memories. Be Our Guest castle dining is special. We love the Crystal Palace. Sci-Fi theatre dining in HS is unique - like no other. You are transformed while eating. As a first time visitor I would encourage you to do some research on dining experiences. Otherwise you may be missing out. I think your family may end up thanking you. Mine did.

 

[kwdw]

Don't overlook making dining ADRs. Eating in Disney World is unlike other dining experiences and can be an attraction of sorts; something the whole family can enjoy. Many, especially my husband, find dining in certain restaurants memorable, and part of their favorite Disney experience. My DD went with us as a teenager and later told me our dining at Disney was some of her favorite memories. Be Our Guest castle dining is special. We love the Crystal Palace. Sci-Fi theatre dining in HS is unique - like no other. You are transformed while eating. As a first time visitor I would encourage you to do some research on dining experiences. Otherwise you may be missing out. I think your family may end up thanking you. Mine did.

I'll second this! Dining is definitely part of the Disney experience. Even if you opt out of eating "inside" restaurants - you do need to know your choices in advance - both TS and QS. It can make a big difference in how your day is re-energized - both your body and your phones! My partner (a 50+ yo adult) - was ten times happier after a meal he enjoyed at Cosmic Ray's after his despise of a fried food QS meal the prior day - and he really likes Satuli's but gets frustrated with seating at other QS places at AK. And if you are comfortable eating inside - some of TS meals are experiences themselves!! Took a trip with some teenagers just a tad older than your older two - and some of our TS meals were hits of experiences for them (and we had a notable big miss).

Also - be sure to catch up/stay up to date on the ROTR new virtual queue practices - you mentioned RD there and that might not be the needed plan for you all.

 

[lp199]

Ok will rethink dining options Does it really matter which days I reserve for the parks? I guess the real question should be, which park in the Sunday since it’s a weekend.

 

[loves to dive]

It's hard to say since no one knows what it's going to be like that far out. You mentioned the ages of your kids but not the sexes. I will say as my son got older MK held absolutely no appeal to him. Even when he was a toddler it was more of a half day park. We always have PHs but who knows if they will be back by the time you are going to be there. I mention that because it's a good way to leave a day or two unplanned. That way you can decide what park to do on the spur after already visiting all of them and maybe splitting a day between two parks if you feel like you've seen most of what you want to see at one of them but just need a little more time. You will know which one you want to revisit then. A little harder to do now with park reservations being required and no park hopping but from what I understand, you can almost always find a reservation day before even now.

As far as eating at WDW, it's probably #1 of our favorite things to do there. We are not ride centric (In all fairness we have been going since around 1983 at least once every other year early on and then once a year if not more in the last 7 or 8 years). Because we have been so often we are non-planners not making FPs or ADRs in advance, just day of. Again because we started going before any of that was possible it just worked for us to continue to wing it.

 

[philharmagic fan]

What is your relative concern about line lengths and rowdiness? AK and Epcot seem to be the least crowded these days, so I'd choose Friday or Sunday for those if you want on average shorter lines. On the other hand, lots of locals seem to go to Epcot on weekend evenings and the atmosphere is more alcohol-fueled (a bit lively and less compliance with mask rules), so if that's a concern you might want to choose a weekday. We were there for 8 days in late October and went to MK 2 Saturdays and a Wednesday. The difference in line lengths was night and day; if I had it to do over I'd do MK only on weekdays. Of course HS will be packed no matter what day you choose.

 

[KittyKitty]

Mar. 18, 2021 Thursday	All parks crowd level 2	MK 2 _ 9a-10p	Epcot 2 _ 8a/9a-9p	DS 2 _ 8a-8:30p	AK _ 9a-8p
Mar. 19, 2021 Friday	3	2 _ 8a/9a-10p	3 _ 9a-9p	3 _ 8a-8:30p	2 _ 9a-8p	$136	Park hours are estimates!
Mar. 20, 2021 Saturday	4	3 _ 9a-10p	5 _ 9a-9p	4 _ 8a-8:30p	2 _ 8a/9a-9p	$136	Park hours are estimates!
Mar. 21, 2021 Sunday	3 Track This Day	2 _ 9a-10p	5 _ 9a-9p	3 _ 8a-8:30p/10:30p	2 _ 9a-9p	$132	Park hours are estimates!
Mar. 22, 2021 Monday	2 Track This Day	2 _ 9a-10p	3 _ 9a-9p	3 _ 8a-8:30p	1 _ 8a/9a-9p	$132	Park hours are estimates!
Mar. 23, 2021 Tuesday	2 Track This Day	2 _ 9a-10p	2 _ 9a-9p/11p	2 _ 8a-8:30p	1 _ 9a-8p	$132	Park hours are estimates!
Mar. 24, 2021 Wednesday	2 Track This Day	2 _ 9a-10p/12a	2 _ 9a-9p	2 _ 8a-8:30p	1 _ 9a-8p	$132	Park hours are estimates!
Mar. 25, 2021 Thursday	2 Track This Day	2 _ 9a-10p	2 _ 8a/9a-9p	2 _ 8a-8:30p	1 _ 9a-8p	$132	Park hours are

This came from Touring Plans. But the park crowd numbers changed as the we got closer to our Dec. 2020 trip. So use this as an suggestion.

 

[nkereina]

I agree with PP that resort days are generally best mid-trip to allow you to recover, but given that weekend days are significantly busier in the current environment, I think Saturday is the best choice for a resort day. We did Epcot on a Sunday two weeks ago and found it very manageable, so that would be my choice for Sunday. As far as weekdays, IMO it doesn't really matter which you do when. I would select park days based on your other plans such as pool time, Disney Springs, dinners or other dining reservations, etc.

We would definitely want to rope drop MK and will probably want to do the same for HS especially as we are hoping to go for ROtR.

Just an FYI that the boarding group process for ROTR has changed as of this week. You now can try to obtain a boarding group beginning at 7am from anywhere as long as you have park reservations for the day. This makes the need to be at DHS for rope drop less important and hopefully will make it less busy/crazy at opening, but opening is still the best time to try and ride Runaway Railway or Slinky Dog with shorter waits.

 

[YesterDark]

18 - Travel Day
19 - MK
20 - DHS
21 - Resort Day
22 - AK
23 - Epcot
24 - MK
25 - Travel Day/Some Park (DHS if you didn't get Rise if you have a late flight, MK if you don't)

Depends on the age of the kiddos, and how you guys feel about doing theme parks. If everything is "normal-ish" in march, I'd rope drop the first two days, spend a day relaxing at the resort. Then AK/Epcot can be more relaxing days and finish up your vacation with a full day at MK.

Depending on interest swap out parks, but I always advise that you start your vacation at MK and end it there.

Park tickets are inexpensive if you're thinking about 6 tickets already. I'd buy one more for your resort day and head into the MK at night for dinner or whatever is available at that time.

 

[nkereina]

18 - Travel Day
19 - MK
20 - DHS
21 - Resort Day
22 - AK
23 - Epcot
24 - MK
25 - Travel Day/Some Park (DHS if you didn't get Rise if you have a late flight, MK if you don't)

Depends on the age of the kiddos, and how you guys feel about doing theme parks. If everything is "normal-ish" in march, I'd rope drop the first two days, spend a day relaxing at the resort. Then AK/Epcot can be more relaxing days and finish up your vacation with a full day at MK.

Depending on interest swap out parks, but I always advise that you start your vacation at MK and end it there.

Park tickets are inexpensive if you're thinking about 6 tickets already. I'd buy one more for your resort day and head into the MK at night for dinner or whatever is available at that time.

The 20th would be a Saturday, and I'm not sure if DHS on a Saturday is advisable. It's been the busiest park since re-opening and weekend days have typically been the busiest. Because of this, I think a resort day on the 20th is still the best option even though rest won't necessarily be needed at that point. Sunday may be slightly better than Saturday, so Epcot or AK on Sunday would get my vote.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Our family plans 2 days in the MK and 2 Epcot days. While RotR is nice to ride twice if we can, there is more for us to do at Epcot so we plan 2 days there.

 

[Blondie58]

Just a thought to add to some other great suggestions: If you are paying for six park days the price of day seven will be very small as the more days the cheaper each additional day's ticket is. Since you are at Bay Lake Tower you could have two light days planned with swimming and rest but still walk over to the Magic Kingdom for a portion of each of those days. If you have teens they may wish to walk over to MK on the resort day. If your children are young, I realize they will be with you 24/7 but you could go to the park in the morning and then come back and hang out at the pool etc. Just another way to look at planning and maybe two slower days with resort time in the middle of the day and then maybe a stroll at MK in the evening. I am thinking positive that maybe by spring park-hopper will be back and the world will be returning to more of the way it used to be. Yeah!! If that is the case you won't necessarily have to be at one park each day. Have a great first trip to WDW. You will most surely enjoy every minute!!!

 

[Shellyred8]

18 - Travel Day
19 - MK
20 - DHS
21 - Resort Day
22 - AK
23 - Epcot
24 - MK
25 - Travel Day/Some Park (DHS if you didn't get Rise if you have a late flight, MK if you don't)

Depends on the age of the kiddos, and how you guys feel about doing theme parks. If everything is "normal-ish" in march, I'd rope drop the first two days, spend a day relaxing at the resort. Then AK/Epcot can be more relaxing days and finish up your vacation with a full day at MK.

Depending on interest swap out parks, but I always advise that you start your vacation at MK and end it there.

Park tickets are inexpensive if you're thinking about 6 tickets already. I'd buy one more for your resort day and head into the MK at night for dinner or whatever is available at that time.

Since you said you wanted the 20th as a resort day, I would flip @YesterDark 's schedule so DHS is on the 21st and the resort day is on the 20th.

I, personally, would adjust the last two days so DHS is on the 24th and MK is on the 25th. Since you will be within walking distance to MK, it will be a more efficient use of your time to do MK on that last day.

I also agree with his recommendation to get an extra day on your tickets. It's probably less than $20 per day per ticket to add an extra day.

Have a great trip!

 

[YesterDark]

The 20th would be a Saturday, and I'm not sure if DHS on a Saturday is advisable. It's been the busiest park since re-opening and weekend days have typically been the busiest. Because of this, I think a resort day on the 20th is still the best option even though rest won't necessarily be needed at that point. Sunday may be slightly better than Saturday, so Epcot or AK on Sunday would get my vote.

I have a personal rule about never letting crowd calendars effect my decision on which park to go to unless A) you're going back to WDW relatively soon or B) you're a veteran and you're up for whatever.

Taking a resort day so "early" in the vacation kind gives you a long haul to the end where you'll get really tired if you're going full days.

 

[nkereina]

I have a personal rule about never letting crowd calendars effect my decision on which park to go to unless A) you're going back to WDW relatively soon or B) you're a veteran and you're up for whatever.

Taking a resort day so "early" in the vacation kind gives you a long haul to the end where you'll get really tired if you're going full days.

I don't disagree, and I normally would not take a rest day that early either. But given that the OP has already planned for that and given that crowds are significantly busier on weekends in the current environment, I still think avoiding Saturday in the parks is their best bet. JMO, everyone will have a different view. If they do decide on a park on Saturday, I would at least choose one of the less busy ones right now which would be Epcot or AK.

FWIW, I'm not aware of what crowd calendars are saying right now. I'm just speaking from my own experience and the many reports I've read here. Plus, it would make sense that current park visitors are largely locals or those in driving distance and those people would be most likely to visit on weekends.

 

[YesterDark]

March is going to be drastically different imo.

Also, WDW plans are meant to be re-arranged 100x before you go.

 

[Eastern]

I know Saturday is a 'busy' day but I would not put the resort day so early in the trip. You will be walking 5-10 miles every day and people just get tired.

We've been to Disney many times and my best advice is not to overdo it the first couple of days. We've had various injuries over the years when we have overdone it and it impacts the rest of the trip. Also, excitement will be high those first days and the kids will want to get to the parks. I don't think you will truly appreciate a relaxing resort day so early. If you schedule it after a few park days it will seem like a luxury and the kids will appreciate the pool and downtime.

I would schedule the departure day park to be the most easily accessible so you don't waste time with travel.

18 MK (Just to walk around and not do too much since you traveled this day; it's close by. Ride what's available.)
19 Epcot
20 MK
21 DHS (not a weekend day)
22 Resort day
23 AK (early park after your resort day)
24 Epcot (if you're not sure, book MK because it would be easier to switch to Epcot than the other way around)
25 MK or whatever you want

I would also add a day for the minimal cost involved unless you really don't want to go to a park the first night. I would also be changing things around over the weeks after thinking what my family plans on doing logistically (early pool days, special dinners, etc.)