Change in plans...need help deciding!

[ELG13]

We added 2 days to the front of our trip to get the fdd. We will probably take a day off the end but for now we are booked 9/30-10/7 (which will probably change to 10/6). This is what we had planned:
10/2 arrive and explore with dinner at chef mickeys
10/3 - breakfast 8 am CRT and MK for the day
10/4 animal kingdom, dinner ohana
10/5 disney springs (we habe 3 small kids so we want a day to take it slow and explore. Probably do the pool as well)and family bbq
10/6 magic kingdom for the last day and dinner in the park
10/7 depart

But now with these new dates I'm not sure what to do. Is Hollywood studios fun? Or should we work in am extra MK day?? I just don't want to kids to be burnt out and fussy so we are trying to decide if Hollywood studios would be a good, calm, shorter park day so they don't get too overwhelemed. This is what I've got now..
9/30 arrive - Chef Mickeys for dinner
10/1 MK
10/2 AK
10/3 MK
10/4 DISNEY SPRINGS
10/5 MK
10/6 DEPART
Is animal kingdom a full day?? Any good recomendations on where to eat (inside or close to the park). I really wanted the first and last day to be MK but now with our original days changed, our first MK day now falls in the middle of our stay. I want to keep it though be we have CRT reservations at 8 and don't want to lose them. We have two 6yr olds and a 3 yr old..would Hollywood studios be more fun for them than animal kingdom??
My biggest concern is the kids. I want them to have fun but I'm trying to spread it out so it's not burning them out making them tired. Oh we may also do MNSSHP on 10/3 as well. Sorry for the long post!! I had a perfect trip planned and the fdd dates threw me for a loop!

 

[correcaminos]

AK with Pandora will be closer to a full day now. I noticed no Epcot? Sorry but that's a not to be missed with my son. I'd pick that over DHS in a heartbeat. With the Halloween party I'd skip one of the MK days truthfully and do DS that morning instead. Switch DS to something else. But that's just us based on what we have liked taking my son at those ages.

 

[drwadadli]

I agree with @helenabear.....I think your kids would probably enjoy Epcot. If you opt to do MNSSHP, then I would do DS during the morning and afternoon and then head to MK for MNSSHP and let that all be one day. If your kids are Star Wars fan, then you have to do HS. You could even make that a half-day park if you wanted and hop over to another park for the afternoon/evening.

Other than that, I can't tell you what your kids might like to do since we opted not to have kids of our own but what I mentioned above is based on what I hear from my friends that have kids your age.

 

[correcaminos]

Oh just to add, remember for MNSSHP, you can get in at 4pm with your party ticket and not use a day of your park tickets with that.

 

[ELG13]

Yeah I know Pandora is something my cousin who is going with us wants to see. My husband does not want to do epcot lol...so it's definitely out. I was trying to do MNSSHP on Tuesday since its the slower of the nights but I could definitely switch it. No big star wars people here but it did seem hs is more disney Jr friendly which is the age of the kids. The CRT reservations are what's holding us up. We usually don't do park hoppers ( we upgrade when we get to the hotel to regualr, Florida resident tickets and we still keep our fdd) but maybe we should do park hoppers for a day or 2 just to give us flexibility? I'm just wondering if the kids will want to leave MK after we do breakfast or if they will want to stay. I guess it's something to consider...
As far as kids are concerned...Hollywood studios or animal kingdom???
My husband is in the "I pay for it, you plan it" mind set and my cousin had never been so he just want me to plan it bc he's not sure how any of it works.

 

[ELG13]

Oh just to add, remember for MNSSHP, you can get in at 4pm with your party ticket and not use a day of your park tickets with that.

Yeah I love this!!! You get practically a full 8 hrs for half the cost!

 

[drwadadli]

Yeah I know Pandora is something my cousin who is going with us wants to see. My husband does not want to do epcot lol...so it's definitely out. I was trying to do MNSSHP on Tuesday since its the slower of the nights but I could definitely switch it. No big star wars people here but it did seem hs is more disney Jr friendly which is the age of the kids. The CRT reservations are what's holding us up. We usually don't do park hoppers ( we upgrade when we get to the hotel to regualr, Florida resident tickets and we still keep our fdd) but maybe we should do park hoppers for a day or 2 just to give us flexibility? I'm just wondering if the kids will want to leave MK after we do breakfast or if they will want to stay. I guess it's something to consider...
As far as kids are concerned...Hollywood studios or animal kingdom???
My husband is in the "I pay for it, you plan it" mind set and my cousin had never been so he just want me to plan it bc he's not sure how any of it works.

Sorry to hear Epcot is out because of your husband. It is the park my wife and I love to most outside of MK. With the new Pandora opening at AK, I would have to pick AK over HS.

 

[correcaminos]

Yeah I know Pandora is something my cousin who is going with us wants to see. My husband does not want to do epcot lol...so it's definitely out. I was trying to do MNSSHP on Tuesday since its the slower of the nights but I could definitely switch it. No big star wars people here but it did seem hs is more disney Jr friendly which is the age of the kids. The CRT reservations are what's holding us up. We usually don't do park hoppers ( we upgrade when we get to the hotel to regualr, Florida resident tickets and we still keep our fdd) but maybe we should do park hoppers for a day or 2 just to give us flexibility? I'm just wondering if the kids will want to leave MK after we do breakfast or if they will want to stay. I guess it's something to consider...
As far as kids are concerned...Hollywood studios or animal kingdom???
My husband is in the "I pay for it, you plan it" mind set and my cousin had never been so he just want me to plan it bc he's not sure how any of it works.

Well sorry that your husband says no to Epcot. I think the kids would love it and I would honestly 'fight' to go there. But if it is a definite no, I'd pick AK over DHS.

You also cannot do park hoppers for just a few days if you have multi-day tickets. Just tell the kids you'll be back that afternoon, but I would find it a waste to do CRT if you are going back that night after leaving right away. It will be a very very long day for the kids if you do stay.

 

[21stamps]

Hollywood Studios is great!
Do your kids like rides and shows?
Is the 3 year old a Disney Jr fan?
I don't think you need to be a big Star Wars fan to enjoy the storm troopers March.. or star tours
Plus- the Star Wars night time show is supposed to be fantastic.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney Springs is not a full day. Animal Kingdom is more than a full day. Epcot is not to be missed. Three full days plus the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom is excessive.

With five full park days and kids your kids' ages, I'd do two MK, one Epcot, one Studios, and one Animal Kingdom.

 

[ELG13]

Well sorry that your husband says no to Epcot. I think the kids would love it and I would honestly 'fight' to go there. But if it is a definite no, I'd pick AK over DHS.

You also cannot do park hoppers for just a few days if you have multi-day tickets. Just tell the kids you'll be back that afternoon, but I would find it a waste to do CRT if you are going back that night after leaving right away. It will be a very very long day for the kids if you do stay.

So if we have 2 day park hoppers we couldn't do 3 day regular tickets for the other days?

 

[21stamps]

Disney Springs is not a full day. Animal Kingdom is more than a full day. Epcot is not to be missed. Three full days plus the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom is excessive.

With five full park days and kids your kids' ages, I'd do two MK, one Epcot, one Studios, and one Animal Kingdom.

We did 3 MK days and MVMCP. But, our 3 MK days were-1. 8am-5:45pm. 2. 8pm-1am. 3. 10:30am-3:30pm. (Or something like that lol..don't quote me on exact times)

 

[ELG13]

Disney Springs is not a full day. Animal Kingdom is more than a full day. Epcot is not to be missed. Three full days plus the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom is excessive.

With five full park days and kids your kids' ages, I'd do two MK, one Epcot, one Studios, and one Animal Kingdom.

Yeah that's my feeling. I'm gonna push for epcot bc I think it would be a fun time for the kids without as much chaos. Hubs said no just because he remembers how boring it was for him when he was younger. He just wants it to be enjoyable

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We did 3 MK days and MVMCP. But, our 3 MK days were-1. 8am-5:45pm. 2. 8pm-1am. 3. 10:30am-3:30pm.

Sounds about right. We can usually do literally everything in the park in about 16 hours total. We usually do two days 9a - 1p and two days 5p - 9p.

 

[ELG13]

Hollywood Studios is great!
Do your kids like rides and shows?
Is the 3 year old a Disney Jr fan?
I don't think you need to be a big Star Wars fan to enjoy the storm troopers March.. or star tours
Plus- the Star Wars night time show is supposed to be fantastic.

Yes very much so! Plus Toy Story is a staple at our house

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yeah that's my feeling. I'm gonna push for epcot bc I think it would be a fun time for the kids without as much chaos. Hubs said no just because he remembers how boring it was for him when he was younger. He just wants it to be enjoyable

Variety is the spice of life and all that. Three full days at MK will have you doing some stuff over and over again.

 

[21stamps]

Sounds about right. We can usually do literally everything in the park in about 16 hours total. We usually do two days 9a - 1p and two days 5p - 9p.

We spent quite a bit of one of those days playing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, which is actually what we spent most of MVMCP doing.

 

[21stamps]

Yes very much so! Plus Toy Story is a staple at our house

I'm one of the few people on this site who actually loves Hollywood Studios, especially since all of the new Star Wars stuff has been added. I think it's better than ever. We ran out of time and couldn't fit everything in. I wish I would have scheduled two days for HS on our last trip.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We spent quite a bit of one of those days playing Sorcers of the Magic Kingdom, which is actually what we spent most of MVMCP doing.

We were local from 2011 to 2014 and I played a TON of Sorcerers, so thankfully that itch is scratched for me for the rest of my life. My wife worked nights and we didn't have kids yet so I'd go to Magic Kingdom on random Friday nights and get some exercise fighting villains. Once I completed my set, I'd give my packs away to well-behaved kids. They were always very appreciative.

 

[ELG13]

My feeling on 3 MK days is, aside from the repitition, the kids have their few rides they like and lord knows they cam do them 12 bazillion times before they are bored and also, it won't be a rush to get there in the morning, I can take the little one for a nap if need be, or we could leave early if everyone is fussy. I guess the perk I see in 3 days is not a rush to do it all and a feeling of missing out of we get in later, leaver early????