Which Parks/which days?

[StrawberryGirl]

Hi everyone, I'd love some advice! My husband, daughter (14 yo) and I are taking our first ever trip to Disney World (we're west coasters who have only ever done Disneyland). We have 4 day park hopper passes and will be at the parks October 12-15th. (Tuesday-Friday). We have tickets to the Halloween Party the night of the 12th. We would love minimize crowds as much as is possible (though we're realistic). With that in mind, I'd love suggestions about which parks to get reservations for on which days? Currently we have Tuesday at Hollywood Studios (going over to the Halloween party that night) Wednesday at Magic Kingdom, Thursday at Epcot and Friday at Animal Kingdom. I'm going back and forth with switching Epcot to Friday, but with the Food and Wine Festival, maybe that's a bad idea? If it makes a difference, we're staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so we should have early entry every day. Thanks so much for any help or advice! Disney World is a bit overwhelming!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Magic Kingdom first.

There are a lot of reasons NOT to do MK first, but none of them apply to you. If your first park day is Saturday/Sunday/Monday, skip MK first. If you're traveling with a little kid who might ONLY love MK, skip MK first. For two adults and a teen on their first WDW trip, you want to be at MK first thing for rope drop.

Epcot second day. Halloween Party will be a late night, so if you're going to need a morning to sleep in, you want that to be your Epcot morning.

Make your park pass for Hollywood Studios on both the 3rd and 4th day so you have two shots at Rise of the Resistance boarding passes. If you get a pass on day 3, switch day 4 to Animal Kingdom. If you don't get a pass on day 3, switch day 3 to Animal Kingdom and try again with Hollywood Studios on Day 4.

If you're only going for 4 days, you don't need park hoppers IMO. If you have any flexibility in your ticket type, I'd cancel the hopper for now to save a few bucks. You can always add it later if you decide you need it.

 

[JohnD]

Hi everyone, I'd love some advice! My husband, daughter (14 yo) and I are taking our first ever trip to Disney World (we're west coasters who have only ever done Disneyland). We have 4 day park hopper passes and will be at the parks October 12-15th. (Tuesday-Friday). We have tickets to the Halloween Party the night of the 12th. We would love minimize crowds as much as is possible (though we're realistic). With that in mind, I'd love suggestions about which parks to get reservations for on which days? Currently we have Tuesday at Hollywood Studios (going over to the Halloween party that night) Wednesday at Magic Kingdom, Thursday at Epcot and Friday at Animal Kingdom. I'm going back and forth with switching Epcot to Friday, but with the Food and Wine Festival, maybe that's a bad idea? If it makes a difference, we're staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so we should have early entry every day. Thanks so much for any help or advice! Disney World is a bit overwhelming!

Your hunch is correct. Weekends during the F&W festival are busier. You're better off going to Epcot in the middle of the week. The only reason you would pick Friday is if there is something scheduled (e.g. dinner food & wine pairing) that you really want to do. Otherwise, go during the week. With the Halloween Party Tuesday night, have you thought about switching things up and doing Animal Kingdom on Wednesday (so as not to do MK two days in a row) and MK on Friday?

 

[StrawberryGirl]

Thanks for the feedback! Since our # 1 priority is minimizing crowds, I thought earlier in the week might be the best time to do MK, since my impression is that it is the most crowded park? But maybe that's not true. I'm sure daily park hours will have a lot to do with which park is the most/least crowded on any given day and time, so we'll have to wait until we're closer to find out details on that.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Thanks for the feedback! Since our # 1 priority is minimizing crowds, I thought earlier in the week might be the best time to do MK, since my impression is that it is the most crowded park? But maybe that's not true. I'm sure daily park hours will have a lot to do with which park is the most/least crowded on any given day and time, so we'll have to wait until we're closer to find out details on that.

Party days tend to be lighter at the Magic Kingdom because people don't want to be there on a day when there are limited hours.