Best order of visiting parks/Best day of week for MK?

[erwinalber4]

A lot of great opinions in here. I agree that MK especially if it's your first time would be the best for your first day. I can assure you that it'll be very hard to see everything and can not urge you enough to take time and enjoy your surroundings and not rush and stress as a lot of guests do at times. You'll find the experience to be much more relaxed and magical that way. Now as for skipping parks, I wouldn't unless it is absolutely necessary. Which in that case of course make it the one that appeals the least to you and your family. For me, that is Hollywood Studios. Since you're traveling with younger children keep in mind the 4 year old will most likely miss out on Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster and possibly Star Tours as well due to height requirements. Not sure how the 8 yr old is with thrills so that'd be another thing to consider. This mainly leaves shows during your day there. At Epcot, even though you're worried about them not being as interested, they may surprise you the little ones in my family actually rank Epcot as one of their favorites. Also you may find more to do attraction wise as only Test Track, Soarin, and Mission Space have height requirements. They may also enjoy the Agent P World Showcase Adventure if they're Phineas and Ferb fans. So again talk with everyone and decide which is best for your family.

I'd also recommend since you're there for 5 nights to reconsider the possibility of adding a 5th day because it only costs around $10 or so per ticket so even if you use just a few hours in a park it allows you to see more in the end and is often great for arrival day dinner and fireworks at a park.
Another recommendation I have is to look at Park Hopper as an option especially for parks such as AK that typically close earlier than the rest and in a case where you find yourself at a park that you may not enjoy as much as you thought. It adds great flexibility to move freely and really maximize extra magic hours and general park time to see the most.

Wow I ended up writing way more than I thought I would. To answer your original question I've always done the order of opening: MK, Epcot, DHS, DAK. Hope all this helps and you have a magical visit to WDW! And welcome to WDWmagic!

 

[Laura Kelly]

Don't forget about relaxing at your resort - kids love their pool time. Are you staying on site? We have stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and loved it.

Yes, we'll be staying at wilderness lodge. On most vacations, my kids would be perfectly happy staying at the pool so I figured on arrival day and after animal kingdom we could get some swim time in!

I understand skipping Epcot since there isn't going to be a lot there for the 4 year old even with an Arendelle attraction next year.

The deal with AK on why people say that to you is because some people compare it to a zoo and it currently has an amount of attractions issue that is being worked besides the height required attractions. Dinosaur! isn't likely to be a good attraction for at least one your 2 kids at least due to Meat Eating dinosaurs roaring at guests.

Since you mentioned you will be going over a year out, there is going to be a couple things that might be open when you go. The things that is going to be ready for Spring of 2016 is a Nightime show called Rivers of Light and there is supposed to be a nighttime Kilimanjaro Safaris ride ready by then also.

Great to know!! And I didn't know they were putting Arendelle in epcot!
I was wondering if Dinosaur would be too scary, even my 3 yr old (will be almost 5 by trip time) loves jurassic park so I was hoping she'd ride it if she's talk enough by then.
Maybe we can take turns riding with my 8 year old.

There is a good website that has "easy" and "WDW" in the URL. (It's a WDWMagic competitor so I can't link to it.) The one thing this website does well is it's crowd calendar for each day in each month. Lots of good info on which parks are "recommended"/"not recommended" each day.

Love WDWMagic but not afraid to point out another site's strength that would provide value to a WDW guest.

Thank you so much! I can use as much help as possible

 

[Susan Savia]

I would avoid MK on the weekends. It's always so much more crowded then mid week. My kids when small, loved Epcot, especially the Future World attractions.

 

[Laura Kelly]

I would avoid MK on the weekends. It's always so much more crowded then mid week. My kids when small, loved Epcot, especially the Future World attractions.

Is that including Friday? We arrive on a Thursday, so we'd be going to MK on Friday and Monday.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

My method simply states the order as "those with EMH that particular day." I maximize my time possible in parks as much as I can. Granted, I have park hopping tied to my card either way... From a purely park perspective, they're all identical, regardless of the day of the week (entertainment, etc.). I also generally go (as much as possible) when crowds are lower, so that's also of little concern. Either way, I can't do anything about it and it's not like it fluctuates that much anyway. Weekends, yes - that can be a little tricky. Comes down to when you go too.

 

[DisneyJunkie]

There used to be plenty of recommendations on which day of the week to hit each park. But by and large, that's all out the window now.....as it really depends on the time of year you're there. The only one that would make sense would be to avoid Magic Kingdom on Monday - typically people come in to start their trip on a weekend and the first park hit is the most popular of the four, MK. There's sound logic there, so you may want to hit AK or DHS first for the lighter crowds.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Great to know!! And I didn't know they were putting Arendelle in epcot!
I was wondering if Dinosaur would be too scary, even my 3 yr old (will be almost 5 by trip time) loves jurassic park so I was hoping she'd ride it if she's talk enough by then.
Maybe we can take turns riding with my 8 year old.

With Dinosaur, there is a height restriction besides how scary the attraction can be. I will be giving a link to a youtube video of the attraction for you to judge since the Carnotaurus around the end of the ride the potential issue since I don't know your kid. The Carnotaurus screams louder than the youtube video will pick up. There also is a Carnotaurus one of the sides the car that roars very load also besides being scary looking.

In terms of Arendelle, it is going to be in World Showcase in Epcot. It is replacing an existing attraction in Norway and there is now way to know if the Arendelle attraction is going to educational or not at this time for next year. Epcot also is building a new building for a Frozen Meet and Greet. I don't know if it means MK still will have Anna and Elsa over a year from now for a meet and greet.

 

[Laura Kelly]

Whether Anna and Elsa stay in MK or completely move to Epcot will really make a difference for us. Frozen is, of course, my daughters favorite.
Thanks for letting me know that!!