First park to visit?

[mishel635]

Hi everyone!!! We are bringing our DS and DD to WDW for the first time in February. We have to make our ADR's in about 3 weeks so I am trying to get an idea of which parks we want to go to, on what days. We are staying at the Beach Club, so I was thinking of doing Epcot or DHS on our first day. But I REALLY am SO excited about taking them to MK for the first time. My son is going to be almost 6 and my daughter is going to be almost 4 when we go.
Where did you take your kids for the first time, or where would you go if you were taking your kids for the first time?
Thanks!!!!

 

[LizC]

We took ours to Epcot when we first arrived. Then MK for the first FULL day. Worked fine for us, although they were much younger than your children. I have heard many people say not to do MK first as it may ruin the kids for the other parks.

 

[stevehousse]

Definitely do not do MK first with little ones and especially first timers. Most of the time people will go there first and then be somewhat let down by what isn't at the other parks. Build up to it! We always do it in this order for our kids.

Epcot
Animal Kingdom
Hollywood Studios
Magic Kingdom

 

[SAV]

It's hard to say since you didn't tell us how many park days you'll be doing. Overall, I'm in the camp of not doing MK on the first day for first-timers. I'd start with Epcot. That way you'll be fresh for all of the walking that will be needed and will be able to take in Illuminations on day 1.

Then it all depends on your length of stay to determine the rest of the order of the parks. In general, I prefer to do Animal Kingdom in the middle of the trip since that is generally an earlier return to the resort since they close earlier than the other parks and we don't hop. But I also go at busier times so I base a lot on the crowd calendars.

 

[mishel635]

Sorry! Should have given more info!
We are going to get 8 day MYW tickets but not park hoppers. That way we can go as often as we want, especially since we will do some half days at the parks and some days where we go in the morning, go back to the resort and nap in the afternoon, and then back to the parks. I figure we will prob do 2 or 3 days at MK and then not sure about the other parks. We will just see which the kids like best but I figure probably 2 at DHS and 2 at Epcot.
Thanks for all the advice so far! I am learning so much since I found this site!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We planned out 3 days at MK on our girls' first trip. While it was only a partial day, I wanted their first park to be MK, so that's just what it was. Some might say it's not the best use of a ticket to show up at 1:30pm just to leave at 7pm, but it was right for us. I think some of this comes down to how strongly you feel about any particular park or park visiting orders. I really don't feel right unless I visit MK first...so it was the obvious choice for us. If you're good with waiting and having your first full day at MK- Epcot seems like the best choice since you can just walk right in.

 

[bsiev1977]

Hi everyone!!! We are bringing our DS and DD to WDW for the first time in February. We have to make our ADR's in about 3 weeks so I am trying to get an idea of which parks we want to go to, on what days. We are staying at the Beach Club, so I was thinking of doing Epcot or DHS on our first day. But I REALLY am SO excited about taking them to MK for the first time. My son is going to be almost 6 and my daughter is going to be almost 4 when we go.
Where did you take your kids for the first time, or where would you go if you were taking your kids for the first time?
Thanks!!!!

I'll agree with others and say don't do Magic Kingdom first. The other parks will pale by comparison for little ones if you do MK first. Animal Kingdom could be a good first park choice. Mix of good fun rides, and live animals to boot.

 

[Sphinx610]

Hi everyone!!! We are bringing our DS and DD to WDW for the first time in February. We have to make our ADR's in about 3 weeks so I am trying to get an idea of which parks we want to go to, on what days. We are staying at the Beach Club, so I was thinking of doing Epcot or DHS on our first day. But I REALLY am SO excited about taking them to MK for the first time. My son is going to be almost 6 and my daughter is going to be almost 4 when we go.
Where did you take your kids for the first time, or where would you go if you were taking your kids for the first time?
Thanks!!!!

Oh def MK!!! We took our kids to MK first the first time we took them there. They were 2&6. All my daughter wanted to do was touch the castle!!! Anything else would've been a total waste... I had to see the castle with them <3

As for what parks will be best on what days, I would suggest looking at a crowd calendar and making that decision... Easy WDW has a pretty accurate one

 

[mishel635]

Thanks for all the advice!

KatMaria- I hope to see you there! We are so excited that we were able to book the Beach Club! My best friend takes her family there every year and I have been dying to check it out myself. She only stays there and at AKL.

 

[GoofGoof]

EPCOT or DHS makes sense since they are close to the resort. We took our kids at 5 and 3 last year and stayed at BLT and did MK first since it was a close walk back. Its nice to not have to wait for a bus to leave on your first night when everyone is a little tired after a travel day. I'm not buying the whole MK ruins the other parks theory. I guess it depends on the kid. We did MK first and both kids loved every other park. No complaints at all from our crew. MK with little kids tends to be a long day so I would suggest splitting it into more than 1 day and early in the trip or after a rest day when the kids are fresh.

 

[von Slapschtick]

I've stayed at the Beach Club and loved it! For the biggest impact and ((WOW)) factor I would choose the Magic Kingdom first, the other parks don't come anywhere close to it in my opinion.

 

[Figgy1]

First I hope they have a magical first trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd save MK for day 4 as everybody else has stated. Funny thing when we took my youngest we went to EPCOT first as was suggested as it's the "least kid oriented", well even at 5 it was his favorite park. BUT and here's the big but he was really into science even at that age and quite the little foodie, wanting to try all the different cuisines around World Showcase. Don't get me wrong he LOVED and still LOVES MK for the magic. He's now one day short of 11 and is my main trip planning assistant! As I've posted before every child is different, so plan according to you children's likes and dislikes. Have them watch the planning DVDs to get a feel for what they like. Happy planning!

 

[pluto1976]

The Magic Kingdom has to be the 1st park.

 

[Joshua&CalebDad]

Sorry! Should have given more info!
We are going to get 8 day MYW tickets but not park hoppers. That way we can go as often as we want, especially since we will do some half days at the parks and some days where we go in the morning, go back to the resort and nap in the afternoon, and then back to the parks. I figure we will prob do 2 or 3 days at MK and then not sure about the other parks. We will just see which the kids like best but I figure probably 2 at DHS and 2 at Epcot.
Thanks for all the advice so far! I am learning so much since I found this site!

I may be misinterpreting this wrong but according to your post you plan on using using more than one days worth of tickets to possibly go into more than one park in a day. In other words using 2 tickets out of your 8 in one day to be able to do Epcot in the morning and then MK in the evening. If that is your plan it won't work. You will need to have a park hopper pass in order to do more than one park in a day. The only way getting a MYW ticket without a park hopper works is if you are only doing one park per day. The moment your want to do more than one park a day you will need the park hopper. The system won't let you around this.

Like I said, I could be misinterpreting and if I am I apologize. Just want to make sure you have all of your facts before you go so you won't be disappointed when you get there.

 

[tare]

Mk was the first for our dd at 1 and 1/2. And has pretty much been the first every time. She's 8 and has been there 8 times. Mk is our absolute fav

 

[mishel635]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Have decided we are going to do a half day at DHS on the day we arrive since we can just take the ferry and then do a full day at Magic Kingdom the next day. My kids LOVE the Disney Jr characters, Toy Story, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, so I think they will LOVE DHS. And then have our first full day be at MK. I don't know how I am going to keep this trip a secret until February!!!!!
Joshua&CalebDad- Thank you for the help! I actually meant to do a half day at a park and then half day at either our resort or the Boardwalk since we are at the Beach CLub. I really appreciate the feedback though! I've learned so much from these forums!