Would you agree to this advice?

[wildzootv]

Since we have small children (3 and 5 years old), we like to start
with a quieter theme park day at Epcot Center, followed by Animal Kingdom the next day; the Animal Kingdom closes early, so we can have that evening to go back to finish Epcot or go to one of the other parks (only with park hopper option). We leave Magic Kingdom until last of the theme parks as that is the most exciting day for the small ones. Yes, I know this is backward from everything you will read elsewhere, but this works much better, as children can feel less interested and more restless in the other parks after they’ve been to Magic Kingdom.


I'd think my 4 year old would know exactly where we are and would wonder why arent we at WDW seeing Mickey? lol......

 

[tjevans]

Mickey can be seen at all of the theme parks. With a young child, I would prefer to save the MK for last since that is the most "Disney" of the theme park. I think if you begin with that one, all others may be a let down for a child of that age.

 

[Tiggerbell05]

I would deffinitely agree. We started my DD (then 4) with EPCOT and at almost 14, it is her favorite park. I don't think I would try another park after AK though. Make that a quiet evening to go back and swim! With little ones you can't forget to swim! That was my kids' favorite thing, no matter where we were! Try not to be the parents with the kids screaming with exhaustion on the bus at the end of the day. It's much more relaxing and fun to get them back "home" before they melt! Especially if it's busy and the busses are crowded or the traffic is slow!
At 14, my DD can stay up half the night now, but I may never see another opening ceremony or eat breakfast anywhere but the hotel again!!
Have a great trip!

 

[Leota]

I disagree. We always did MK first thing, from the time my DS was 4. He was never less interested in Epcot because of it. In fact, Epcot was his favorite Park for years when he was young & is again now that he is a teen.

If you wait until the last day to do MK, how do you go back for kids favorites? At that age, they greatly appreciate repeating their favorites over & over again. We do MK almost daily with little ones (we hop) We'll be taking the same approach with our Grandsons in a couple weeks.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

We tried that when dd was 4, and it was exactly as you predicted. She didn't enjoy Epcot, MGM or AK much, and kept asking when we were going to see the castle, ride Dumbo and Splash, etc.

We saved the last two days for MK and both those days it poured down rain all day long. The previous 4 days had been beautiful.

So, for both reasons, I wouldn't try that again.

This last trip, even my 2.5yo said the same things. We went to dinner in Epcot on our arrival day (didn't get there till late afternoon), and after walking in, she immediately looked around and said in an annoyed voice, "I want to see princesses!" and she kept saying it all evening. We went to MK on our first full day, then after that she enjoyed the other parks.

 

[susy]

We have taken a much different strategy with our child who has been numerous times (see below) from age 3. When he was younger we always did Epcot in the evenings. He seemed to enjoy the slower pace and content to ride in his stroller. As he got a little older, he really enjoyed the kid-cot stations, so we tried a few times during the day. I would do your night at Epcot, but maybe spend two days at Mk, as there will be a lot there they will want to see.

Our son's first EVER time at WDW, we went to Epcot. It was late afternoon and we went right to dinner at the Garden grill. he saw the characters and then was very happy the rest of the evening.

We leave in two days (he's almost 8 now and LOVES all the parks, especially Epcot).