order of parks for trip?

[TracyIdaho]

Hi, All

I'm wondering about the "best" (I know that's a relative thing!) order to go to the parks. I have two girls, 7 and 5, and I'm afraid if we do MK first, they won't want to go to any other park, kwim?

We are actually doing our off site stuff first--Kennedy Space Center/beach the first day, SeaWorld the second day. After that, I was thinking of doing AK for the third day. Then I get stuck. I know by the fourth day of vacation they will be itching to see MK. What do you think? Should I hold off MK until later or should we do AK, Epcot, MGM, and then MK last? It just seems too long to make them wait.

Thanks for any input,
Tracy in Idaho

 

[cindy_k]

I usually allow Extra Magic Hour dictate which parks I do on what days. Are you staying on site?

Especially for MK, where EMH is the most useful.

Here's the schedule for EMH
Sunday - Magic Kingdom
Monday - Disney's Animal Kingdom
Tuesday - Disney-MGM Studios
Wednesday - Epcot®
Thursday - Magic Kingdom
Friday - Disney's Animal Kingdom
Saturday - Disney-MGM Studios

Cindy in NY

 

[TracyIdaho]

We are staying at the Courtyard by Marriott in DTD, so I don't think we get Early Magic Hour. That would certainly help in the planning---almost by default!

Thanks,
Tracy

 

[cindy_k]

I have never stayed offsite, but most people recommend avoiding the park that has early entry if you aren't going to do it.

That park will be more crowded because of the extra people doing Early Entry.

So on Sunday, don't go to MK.
on Monday, don't go to AK.
and so on....

Other than that, the general rule is avoid MK on Sat and Sun if you can. It is more crowded on those days.

Have a good trip.
Cindy in NY

 

[Baloo]

Hi Tracey!

I know a couple years ago Courtyard by Marriott in DTD was offering the Early Entries just like on property resorts.Since they revamped and are calling it EMH I'm not sure, but I'll find out FOR SURE for you by tomorrow!

AK has always been a half day park for us,so you could scoot on over to the MK and enjoy some time there that day too.We usually end up park hopping and spending more than just one day in MK.Sometimes we start there and end our day with dinner at EPCOT then Illuminations which is one of our all time faves.But I DO agree with Cindy ,we try to avoid the parks later in the day that have been EE parks.For some reason they ARE more crowded all day long.

If you do get EE try to use it on a MK day for sure...it can save LOTS of time especially in Fantasyland.

 

[crisi]

I'd do MK first - and I'd do it almost every day, but that's might be just me.

We do MK or AK in the mornings, then move to Epcot for the evening. Epcot WS doesn't even open until noon and stays open later. I'm not an MGM fan, but we usually take a day to do that as well (every trip I hope it gets better and it doesn't - a lot of people have the same feeling about AK - which we love - we managed to spend two nearly full days there). If your kids like one park over another, what is the problem with spending most your time there? Last time, we were there seven days, spent every day in the parks, and still didn't see everything we wanted to.

I guess what my recommendation boils down to is - ignoring EE and guest trends (which you shouldn't) MK first morning/afternoon, Epcot for the afternoon/evening. AK second morning, Epcot for the afternoon/evening. MGM for the third morning/afternoon - Epcot for the evening (or back to MK if its open late, or back to the hotel for a swim), fourth day, revisit your favorite park.

 

[Bella2000]

If they have never been to WDW I would not do MK first as I think it's a difficult transition to the other parks. With first timers on our trips we typically did MGM first since we'd get in late morning and don't consider it a "full day park" and then we do Epcot, then MK. This was before AK. Now with DD we do MK first OR we do a character meal. Last trip we did Epcot first and did the Garden Grill character lunch to get the "character" thing out of the way and take off that edge. That seems to work well for us.

 

[BevS97]

I think you are getting lots of advice, and will probably end up confused.
But I have to say - I would do MK lots of times - it's our favorite park, and I couldn't just go once. It's very easy to get from MK to Epcot on the monorail, so we will sometimes spend the morning in MK, and then hop on the monorail over to Epcot around 2 and spend the afternoon and evening in Epcot. For some reason, Epcot really works for me as an evening park.

You can do the opposite as well - if you want ot see SpectroMagic for example, it's likely to be on a busy Saturday night, so maybe start the day at Epcot, and then move on over to MK later in the day and enjoy the evening there.

If you have a car with you, then you can do this with all the parks, but if you are relying on the buses then changing between the other parks can take a while, and you may not want to take that time out of your day.

Bev

 

[perpetualplanner]

Our situation is a little different since our first parks day will be the day we fly in (1/2 day at most). I figured we'd do MK so the kids can get a taste and do some favorites they've picked out. BUT my son can't wait for AK and we're not planning that until later in the week (on his b-day). I'd say plan on doing MK a couple of times - we're also doing MK 2 more days later in the week. Also then you can tell the kids - we'll be back here another day and they won't be upset when it's time to leave. You never know until you're there how the crowds etc will effect things and you might want to switch parks mid-day.

 

[TracyIdaho]

Thanks for all the great advice. Yep, I think park-hopping is definitely the way to approach this. We will have a rental minivan so we'll have that flexibility. I think the girls will be more adventurous to other parks when they know we can always come back to MK. We do have one whole day with NOTHING planned so that we can do a water park or go back to favorite attractions.

Someone asked how long we'll be onsite. Not including arrival and departure days (those are pretty much completely gone because we're coming in from the Northwest), 8 days.

Thanks for all the input--I'm printing everything out to refer to later.

Blessings,
Tracy

 

[Baloo]

Hi there!
I found out from the experts (my buds at DUT ) Courtyard by Marriott in DTD doesn't have EE days anymore.

Park hopping is the best bet!

Y'all have a great time!

 

[TracyIdaho]

Thanks so much, Baloo!

Have a great day,
Tracy