Does it make sense to do 1 full day at each park or split them up?

[joejccva71]

I'm going 5/13-5/20 and this is my current plan:

5/13 Sunday: Arrival and Check-in. Disney Springs and ADR for dinner.
5/14 Monday: All day Hollywood Studios, ADR for lunch and dinner, Lunch voucher for Fantasmic at 9pm
5/15 Tuesday: Morning + Afternoon MK, ADR breakfast and counter service lunch, Evening Epcot (EMH 9-11pm), Illuminations at 9pm
5/16 Wednesday: Resort/Disney Springs Morning + Afternoon, Evening MK (EMH 9-11pm), ADR Cinderella Royal Table 8:45pm? <- is this a bad idea, i assume we'll miss fireworks
5/17 Thursday: All day Epcot (EMH 8-9am) <- Is this really a killer day? 20-30k steps day?
5/18 Friday: All day Animal Kingdom <- is this the worst day for Flight of Passage cause it's a Friday? More crowds? Even with a pre-planned FP?
5/19 Saturday: Unplanned
5/20 Sunday: Fly home

Looking for opinions and critiques. If I'm bad at planning, say so. Tell me what YOU would do. I'm very much a noob at this. Is it better to just do 1 a days at each park and then maybe go back to MK or Epcot for a second day?

FYI, we're staying at Pop Century but I've heard about going to breakfast at Kona Cafe. I've also heard people recommending that on an Epcot day, walk over to Beach Club and go to Beaches and Cream for just desserts.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

Last July we had FP for Flight of Passage on a Friday and Sunday and didn’t have any problems. We hardly ever spend the entire day at one park.
Your Epcot day will be good to take a walk over to Beach Club and Boardwalk. You can make reservations for Beaches & Cream or the also have a limited takeaway menu.

 

[JIMINYCR]

HS may not be worth a full day. You may run out of things to do while waiting for your Fantasmic show.
EP can be tiring because of the long distances walking but theres plenty of places to take breaks and rest. It is a more relaxing park to visit, doesnt have that panicky rush through atmosphere others do. Take your time visiting the pavilions and shops. A walk around the Boardwalk area will take time to do but its worth it. Beaches & Creme is good but drop into France's Boulangerie Patisserie. The desserts are so vast and decadent to try, youll have a hard time choosing only one.
Missing the fireworks for CRT is worth doing if youve never done it before. Its a unique experience. You can always catch MK fireworks another night but CRT is an extremely hard to get ADR so dont let it go.
FOP will be a big draw for a long time. Doesnt matter much that its a Fri, the crowds will come. Your FP will help but you may also want to get there early and try getting in before the massive crowds arrive and get a second ride. I find AK more tiring than EP because of the distances, the heat & humidity and the rougher pathways.
MK and EP are always good choices for a return day. We always do MK again on our last day.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

MK and EC are definitely full days (multiple, even). AK I might suggest a full day as well. HS you can spend a few hours at or bypass altogether, IMO. Might suggest the Park Hopper option; then you can maximize your time and go where you need to.

 

[dm11]

I assume you have already bought the tickets? You have to pay extra for park hopping and so far in your plan there is only one day you seem to plan to do so. I personally don't think it's worth it.

I believe (and it is really just my opinion, not a fact) that park hopper tickets (splitting day in two parks) are really useful only to repeat visitors who eliminate a lot of attractions in each park (personal dislike for some attractions, lack of re-rideability for others). For regular visitors who only come to WDW once in a while, you can easily spend a full day in each park. Depending on your tour group, even HS. Even if you decide to skip some of HS attractions in your plan and realize you will need only a half day, that could be the day with late start and spend the morning in the Disney Springs or at the resort.

 

[joejccva71]

Tickets are booked, just been working out the park and ADR details. I want to go to Animal Kingdom twice because I want to ride FoP twice, EE, Dinosaur, Navi River, and Safari and it would be really hard to do all that in one day with how crowded it is. So this is my plan:

1 full day MK
1 full day EP
1 full day HS
1 day off (Resorts / Disney Springs)

Then I'm going to do two day splits:

1st split: Animal Kingdom in morning, with EP for late afternoon/evening with the EP EMH 9-11pm
2nd split: Animal Kingdom in morning, with MK for late afternoon/evening with the AK EMH 8-9am


This way, I can go on FoP twice and also do the Navi' River, do EE twice or even more, and then Safari as well as Dinosaur. If I wait and do 1 entire day at AK, it might be very difficult to get all those in cause of the lines. So do two mornings and get them done.

See the image below for an Excel version of what I've done.

 

[monykalyn]

Keep in mind if you stay for a late EMH you may not want to get up for a breakfast adr or EMH. Late night with next day early mornings make for a cranky family (no matter the age or what you are used to at home)