We have five days. How many at each park?

[tazmad]

We have five days for Disney. How many days should we spend at each park? I was thinking two days for MK, one day for AK, one day for Epcot and one day for Hollywood Studios.

We are likely getting park hopper tickets, so that we can move around each day. But I want to make sure that we're alloting the right time for each. Perhaps HS or AK are only worth a half day each, for instance. What do you guys recommend?

It's myself, my husband, and our 10-year-old son on the trip.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Since you have a park hopper, consider it in terms of ten half days rather than five full days. I'd recommend:

4 half days at Magic Kingdom
3 half days at Epcot
2 half days at Animal Kingdom
1 half day at Hollywood Studios

Definitely not a half day at Animal Kingdom. It's the best park at Walt Disney World right now. Magic Kingdom has more, but Animal Kingdom is better.

 

[mousehockey37]

I don't like putting a time value on going to the parks, especially when you have hoppers. I'd set your morning location, but then wing it after that if you can. Yes, not the answer you're looking for, but... it's nice to have the freedom to change your mind depending on crowds, weather, etc.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I don't like putting a time value on going to the parks, especially when you have hoppers. I'd set your morning location, but then wing it after that if you can.

That's completely backwards.

If you're going to make dining reservations, you need to know where you'll be in the evenings. And it often makes the most sense to make your FastPass+ reservations at your afternoon park because using FastPasses in the early mornings when it's not crowded anyway is a waste. If you're going to plan just one park on a two-park day, it's more important to plan the afternoon park than the morning park.

 

[mousehockey37]

That's completely backwards.

If you're going to make dining reservations, you need to know where you'll be in the evenings. And it often makes the most sense to make your FastPass+ reservations at your afternoon park because using FastPasses in the early mornings when it's not crowded anyway is a waste. If you're going to plan just one park on a two-park day, it's more important to plan the afternoon park than the morning park.

OP makes no mentions of ADRs.

 

[tazmad]

OP makes no mentions of ADRs.

what is an ADR? I googled it. the best I could come up with was advanced dining reservations.

we will be staying at a disney resort, if it ties into that at all.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

what is an ADR? I googled it. the best I could come up with was advanced dining reservations.

we will be staying at a disney resort, if it ties into that at all.

That's correct. Dining reservations are available 180 days in advance, and they book quickly for the most popular restaurants. If you're going to want to eat at the most popular places, you'll need to do significant advance planning.

 

[tazmad]

That's correct. Dining reservations are available 180 days in advance, and they book quickly for the most popular restaurants. If you're going to want to eat at the most popular places, you'll need to do significant advance planning.

ah, we don't get that option on this trip. We are going in six weeks. I usually plan much farther in advance.

This was originally supposed to be a work trip for me, but then my son's dad (my ex) died a month ago. I thought the trip to Disney would be something to cheer him up. So my husband is coming along to hang out with him while I work at my conference, and they'll have some time to do stuff at Universal and Disney while I'm working, and we'll still have plenty of time to do things together.

I'm truly scrambling to figure things out with this short window of time, but no matter what, I know we'll have a fantastic experience.

 

[mousehockey37]

ah, we don't get that option on this trip. We are going in six weeks. I usually plan much farther in advance.

This was originally supposed to be a work trip for me, but then my son's dad (my ex) died a month ago. I thought the trip to Disney would be something to cheer him up. So my husband is coming along to hang out with him while I work at my conference, and they'll have some time to do stuff at Universal and Disney while I'm working, and we'll still have plenty of time to do things together.

I'm truly scrambling to figure things out with this short window of time, but no matter what, I know we'll have a fantastic experience.

You can still make reservations for restaurants. You just need to look at what is open and when your schedule allows. So, back to your original question then... figure out your mornings, then figure out where you want to end the day and make reservations for places that fits it.

It's really not as daunting a task as it seems. Overload? Yes, that can come with it, but it's really not all that tough.

 

[RMichael21]

We have five days for Disney. How many days should we spend at each park? I was thinking two days for MK, one day for AK, one day for Epcot and one day for Hollywood Studios.

We are likely getting park hopper tickets, so that we can move around each day. But I want to make sure that we're alloting the right time for each. Perhaps HS or AK are only worth a half day each, for instance. What do you guys recommend?

It's myself, my husband, and our 10-year-old son on the trip.

I'd say this sounds like a great plan.

I'd recommend spending a full day at MK without hopping, just for the ease of trying to get must-dos done without the pain of hopping due to MK's remote location.

Then, with the other four days, lay it out however you want! This is what I'd do if I was planning with five days (each bullet point is a day in no particular order):
- MK All Day
- HS Morning // Epcot Evening (w/ Dinner ADR in World Showcase)
- AK Morning + Afternoon // Dinner somewhere on property and no park hopping
- MK Morning // AK Evening (With an early dinner somewhere on property in between)
- Epcot Morning // MK Evening

Personally, I wouldn't feel the need to always park hop to another park in the afternoon. If you'd rather stay at the park your in a little longer (until say 3 or 4), do that and book an ADR for 6 or 7 somewhere. Do this in the middle of the trip for a nice, relaxing evening to give you a little breather. For example, here's how my June Trip is laid out:

- Arrive // Epcot Evening
- Universal
- AK Morning + Afternoon // California Grill + Fireworks ADR Evening
- MK All Day
- HS Morning // MK Evening

 

[WDWMPrincess]

This is probably just me, but I wouldn't start out planning to park hop much due to the amount of time it entails. Not saying I wouldn't park hop, just saying I'd aim not to in the interest of not wasting time. I'd start out planning a day each in MK, Epcot, HS, and AK and go with booking any restaurants and FP with that in mind. We did this on our last trip. I picked our top must do character meal for each park and tried to book that first. Then I tried to get my FP most wanted for each park on the day we had a meal there. Some things have changed like less parades now. We ended up using our fifth day park hopping to see parades, pick up a few rides we felt we'd missed out on, and grab that elusive snack we hadn't yet tried. We did not go home feeling like we'd really missed out on anything even though of course we didn't get to do everything, so I'd say it worked well.

 

[KaliSplash]

If' you are going to have parkhoppers, the above suggestion is not a bad one. If you are doing a series of 1-day tickets, MK is best for the extra day. or Epcot.

 

[tazmad]

Thanks for all the advice. I just bought my tickets and got the park hoppers.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Thanks for all the advice. I just bought my tickets and got the park hoppers.

Hi Tazmad,
We love the hoppers and rarely go without them. For us we simply love the flexibility. For example we love the night time shows at Epcot and MK. Rivers of light, we think it's just "meh". no matter what park we start off with, we love the ability to see Illuminations 2 or more times. Also we think MK is the weak link as far as eating goes. so rarely will we have dinner there. park hoppers allow us to make an adr in any park.

So adr's. don't stress too much about these as generally I find that unless you want to eat at a specific restaurant, there will still be plenty to chose from.
Now six weeks in the early/middle of June, do I have this correct? are you guys on site. If so this is what my family and I did when my kids where younger (lol, they are evil young adults now).
Morning park
afternoon when it's Africa hot outside, pool time at resort
evening park.

Don't forget Disney springs. nice restaurants there also. Check out allears.net. I like their restaurant and menu pages. get a feel of some places you htink you may like to eat and come back here for some opinions.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I think plan one day at each park, and leave the last day for your son’s favorites or things you didn’t get to. Or maybe things he got to do without you while you were working, and would like to do again together.

Re: park hopping: I consider it day splitting. Rather than go from park to park, which can take considerable time (other than Epcot to HS) we do one park in the morning, take a break in the afternoon, and a different park in the evening. He may need a break in the afternoon if you are going to try to hang out a little later after work.

 

[DarthVader]

We have five days for Disney.

Here's my suggstions
2 days for MK
1 day for Epcot
1 day for AK
1 day for HS