Which parks?

[kgmcmullin]

We have a trip planned in April with our 5.5 yo boy and 3.5 yo girl. We will be staying at GF, and have three days for the parks. My husband wants to do two days at MK, and we are thinking of one day at Hollywood Studios for the Disney Jr. and Toy Story attractions.

Is two days at MK too much - should we do one day at AK instead, even though it's not as easy to get there?

With preschoolers, would you pick AK or DHS if you could only pick one?

Thank you!!!

 

[RememberWhen]

I would do two days at MK and one ak AK. Or Epcot. My kiddo loves Epcot. There's a fair amount to do there. My son is 4 1/2 and we were just there in September. He would have been quite happy to stay at MK the whole time, except that he loves the rides at Epcot. Spaceship earth is his favorite ride, and has been since our first trip at 2 1/2. Plus tower of terror. But he's a speed fiend. If your older kid is tall enough Soarin and test track are a lot of fun too. I would definitely do 2 days at MK though. It's big and there are so many things to see and do.

 

[Tinkerbell397]

I agree with @RememberWhen ....2 days in The MK and 1 in The AK. There is so much at the AK for kids 1-5. Enjoy!

 

[DisneyDaver]

With 3 park days and kids that age, I would also do 2 days at MK and 1 day at AK. If I had a 4th day, I would do Epcot. DHS would be last on my list until the new Toy Story and Star Wars lands opened up.

 

[Weather_Lady]

2 days at MK will be perfect - and I concur that AK is a great second choice.

 

[RMichael21]

I (like others) agree 2 days at MK is perfect for kids that age. You can move at a slightly slower pace and visit any attractions you missed your first day (and repeat favorites) on your second day.

AK is a great option for your 3rd day. There's 2 fantastic shows, great animal trails, an awesome kids playground, a few flat rides.

Another option you could do is get the park hopper and spend the morning of your third day at DHS and the hop over to Epcot? I just don't think there's enough to do at DHS to warrant a whole day, especially with little kids who wouldn't be able to ride 3/5 (ToT, RnRC and Star Tours) rides that the park has.

 

[BigRedDad]

2 MK days and 1 at AK. Plan around their nap times too. Not sure if it is your first trip, but don't plan on doing everything. It simply is not possible. Go at your kids pace and not the pace you think you have to get everything in.

 

[21stamps]

I'm going to be opposite of everyone. I vote for 2 days MK and one HS. The kids will love the Disney Jr stuff, and I highly recommend the Disney Jr meal at Hollywood & Vine, it's a fun time, and they probably love most of the character who will be interacting with them. My 5.5 year old (at the time) preferred HS over AK, by a large margin. We were just getting out of the Disney Jr stage, but he still loved all of it. I think if we would have gone a year or 2 prior the characters would have been even more exciting...he was a HUGE Jake fan.
Now this year at age 6.5 he is even more excited for the Star Wars characters, Jawa trading, Stormtrooper March and Launch Bay.

Look thru the park offerings on the website. You know what your children would enjoy. Take all of our opinions with a grain of salt. Everyone enjoys different things

 

[21stamps]

Oh and I forgot- Jedi Training Academy! Frozen Sing -along show! Fantasmic! Star Wars Fireworks!

Maybe I'm an odd ball here.. I just don't understand why so many people think young kids should skip HS. For me and my son it was one of the highlights of our trip. I think it was/is because of his age.

Anyway, they're both great parks, so you'll have fun either way!

 

[carriebeth]

If I was only spending 3 days at parks I would only do 1 day at MK and then pick 2 other parks for the other 2 days. Now I love MK and my kids love MK and we do at least 3 full days at MK when we go for 11+ days....but if I was just going for a few days and might not be back real soon...I would want to experience as many of the different parks as possible.

Now my park picks may be a bit different than other suggestions as well!

My children of all ages (I have 8 so I have a pretty good survey of various ages etc!) love Hollywood. If your boy, or even your girl for that matter (my one became obsessed with chewie and darth vader at 2!) like Star Wars then they will be amazed with the Star Wars offerings. Meeting chewie, seeing real storm troopers, getting to fight Darth Vader for real! There may not be a lot of actual rides for that age range the shows are really enjoyed by my children. The frozen show will surely thrill any little girl (and its hilarious for adults too!!) as will Beauty and the Beast. Action loving boys will like the firey explosion type action in Indiana Jones. Then you have all the Disney Jr options. Meeting Buzz and Woody has been a fabulously fun experience. You can also meet characters like pluto, minnie, daisy, mickey etc usually with shorter lines than at MK. There are some great table service dining options at Hollywood too.

Now I would say all my children would agree that Epcot was their least favorite of the parks. Now they like it and enjoy it while we are there...but it would rank as least favorite because something has to be least fave! To us the whole world showcase doesn't offer children that much. There are a few entertainment options in the countries that they enjoy...many don't really interest them or are something they would prefer to only watch a few short minutes of. The younger ones enjoy things like the coloring stations around...but being they are in Disney they know there could be more exciting things they could be doing. You can meet Princesses and other characters but plan ahead and pick a few favorites because their locations are very spread out and they meet at limited time and with wait times and the fact that they are out for short spells and take longer breaks...its a bit tough to get many in during a day.

Animal Kingdom would be my 3rd park choice. The dinosaur themed area is well liked by my children. The few shows that are there are quite thrilling for children too. Even the "zoo" like areas are very well done and we have viewed animals moving around and interacting with one another much more so than that we generally see at zoos. For my children to go on the safari and see various animals near close enough to touch...it amazes them. There are some very unique to this park characters you can meet. Its just a very good choice with children!

If you choose to do MK in just one day, as I would, just go well armed with a good plan. Pick beforehand exactly what you think will most interest your children and figure out the best times to do them so that you hit them at low wait times. Research the best use of your fast passes too. Plan on being there at rope drop...and if at all possible I would vote for the stroller naps for the children so you don't waste time traveling back and forth to the resort and anyone not napping can continue to maximize their MK day. You may even want to skip doing a table service meal this day since those can take quite a long spell of time and do counter services or even do a "hot dog as you wander to your next destination" type lunch. No you won't be able to do it all in one day but with planning you can really make the most of your one day

 

[md0u80a2]

as with all my posts, it depends

Will you be heading to Disney again in next few years?

how adventurous is your older one? Tower of terror / start tours / test track territory?

Finally, is GF a special item, one off stretch type deal - or can you afford to go back?

If one off, relax and enjoy the ease of MK with little ones. I would just definitely do MK twice in that case - once early am breakfast so you get empty castle pictures, etc and then once for night for the fireworks. As for last day, you are right, there is a nice age window with Disney junior, star wars characters, little mermaid, beauty and the beast, meeting olaf. The park otherwise is dead with the building works, but it is a nice little age window. And the small size is very easy with little ones.

FYI, from my perspective, when you leave the monorail MK / epcot circuit, studios or AK there is no difference, except a few minutes on the bus. It is the wait for the bus that matters and that is the same for both!

Hope this helps

PS - don't forget to book pirate league for both or BBB for little one

 

[PrincessL]

For those ages I would rank:
1.MK 2. Epcot 3.HS 4. AK

I have boys around the same age and they would tell you there favorite park other than MK is Epcot. Test track is their favorite ride in all of WDW and the World Wide Showcase is mine and DH's favorite part! So I would suggest 2 days MK and one at Epcot. OR I would look into the park hopper. Being on the monorail it would be convenient to do a morning at MK and an evening at Epcot and fit in the rest of the parks.

 

[Goofs Gal]

I don't have kids, but a few of my friends do have young kids and they love animals. I would definitely stick with 2 days at the MK as there is. Ton to do with little kids and the adults will also love it too. Then I would add a day at AK.

 

[Tk0021]

We have 2 girls 5 and 3 and we are planning at September 2017 trip and we might do all four days at MK. We did a six day trip in June 2016 and we skipped HS because of the construction.

My girls did not like EPCOT and wanted to leave by noon. Because of their size they could not ride everything and the Frozen ride was not yet open. We did the few rides we could, met some characters and they were done. We stayed the whole day and really just kind of hung out inside a building till our dinner reservations because it was so hot.

They liked AK better because of the animals and shows, but same thing with them being to small for some rides.

So, I would do all three days at MK or the third day at HS.

 

[jlsHouston]

I'd do HS over AK but that's personal preference for me. At 5 both grandkids could do ToT and were forced on by their park ninja mom. Anyways at HS if your kids handle dark rides and shows, you can stay pretty busy with Frozen show, Great Movie Ride, TSMM, Disney Jr maybe do the Jedi Training if timing works out. Maybe also use that day for pool and splash pad at GF. Definitely 2 days for MK though. Honestly the first time we went which was 4th of July for 4 days and 3 nights all we did was MK and character dining. We would do MK at night til close. Sleep til 9 or 10, have character breakfast at 10 or 11, sleep more, then hit then get a qs somewhere and hit MK again around 6. Grandkids were 4 and 6 and still ranks as a perfect trip in all our memories. Since your trip is April you will most likely be blessed with perfect park and decent pool weather. GF has a great splash pad area for the little ones.

 

[SarahBella82]

I echo this sentiment. I have a 5.5 year old who's a big MK and Epcot fan. She likes to start and one and switch halfway through. If you want to choose between HS and AK, I vote AK.

I would do two days at MK and one ak AK. Or Epcot. My kiddo loves Epcot. There's a fair amount to do there. My son is 4 1/2 and we were just there in September. He would have been quite happy to stay at MK the whole time, except that he loves the rides at Epcot. Spaceship earth is his favorite ride, and has been since our first trip at 2 1/2. Plus tower of terror. But he's a speed fiend. If your older kid is tall enough Soarin and test track are a lot of fun too. I would definitely do 2 days at MK though. It's big and there are so many things to see and do.

 

[ElleJay1119]

This is what I'm trying to decide. We have 4 park days with 2 kids, ages 2 & 4 (almost 3 & 5 at time of trip). We were planning 2 MK days, and I was thinking 1 morning at HS, with time at resort after, and then splitting a day between Epcot/AK. I made a list of attractions and Epcot and AK seemed liked they had the least kids would want to do. I guess it's just personal opinion? I just thought my kids would be bored with all the slow rides at Epcot, and there's only safari & rapids at AK.

 

[nickys]

This is what I'm trying to decide. We have 4 park days with 2 kids, ages 2 & 4 (almost 3 & 5 at time of trip). We were planning 2 MK days, and I was thinking 1 morning at HS, with time at resort after, and then splitting a day between Epcot/AK. I made a list of attractions and Epcot and AK seemed liked they had the least kids would want to do. I guess it's just personal opinion? I just thought my kids would be bored with all the slow rides at Epcot, and there's only safari & rapids at AK.

I'm another HS fan. Especially if they like Disney junior &/or Star Wars. Even without the new lands, if you were trying to include the characters, Jedi Training, march of the storm troopers, toy story and one show (frozen, beauty and the beast or little mermaid), you might not be finished until late afternoon. AK has the Safari, shows and animals. I'd save it for later.

 

[Ekohlby]

My kids always liked EP better than MK at that age! I know many prefer MK but don't underestimate EP. AK was a flop for my kids. We tried it three times with preschoolers until we finally gave up. (We did go back recently and were successful with a half day - but my youngest was 7). So, I vote two MK and one EP. Epcot has so much more for kids than a lot of people realize.

 

[contrariwise]

We always do 2 days at MK and 2 days at EP. We fill in the other days with DHS or AK depending on how we're feeling, what's going on at those parks, what we did last trip, etc. Epcot has been my daughter's favorite park since she was little, but MK is a very close 2nd. When she was little, she was not very interested in AK. We have a very good zoo in our city, and without the thrill rides, I think it feels very zoo-like. She liked DHS better, but it's a shadow of its former self.

With your kids' ages, though, I would definitely do 2 days at MK. There's just so many more rides suitable for little ones there than at any other park. It's not even close. As far as deciding between AK and DHS for preschoolers, it would depend on the kids in question, and what they enjoy.