Do you always do all 4 parks?

[ncrohrs]

Hello!

Planning a trip Jan 31-Feb6 at the Poly for DH, myself and our four great kids! So excited, last trip was in 2008.

I was just wondering if you find in necessary to try to see all 4 parks during your stay. I wish our stay could be longer, but we are on a budget and I'll be taking the kids out of school.

We are going to get park hopper option, though usually we end up at one park for the majority of the day.

Our fave parks are epcot and MK. AK is cook, and our kids love animals, but...I just wonder if the day could be used differently. There was so much to do/see at MK/Epcot that we certainly can use more time there!

As for the studios I feel there is only a few select things we MUST do. I think a lot has to do with our kids ages, 2.5, 5, 7, and 9.

I guess I am having such mixed feelings about how we should spend our time! We can't park hop too much, its too stressful with such a large group. We are the type of family that does much better with less bus rides, etc. Again, appealing with the monorail for MK/Epcot.

I had thoughts of just splitting one day between AK and Studios.

What do you do? Do you always hit every park because you feel you have too? I love all the parks overall, but I almost wonder if we should concentrate on what we love most!

Thanks!

[Gator]

I would never go to WDW without hitting all 4 parks. If that was the case, I'd stay here in CA where Disneyland has 2 parks. I've even hit all 4 parks in one day plus a Blizzard Beach right in the middle (pre-kids of course). To me, the WDW expereince is based in all 4 parks. If you miss one, you'll get home and be wishing you had gone there.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We always do all four parks as they all have something special we enjoy....however if I felt I had to compromise on my Epcot and MK time, I would just split a day at DHS and AK.....

[ANG]

Well, I would have to visit HS, we love that much more than Epcot.

But if I had to limit the parks we went to, I'd probably skip AK that time. We live near the national zoo so going to see the animals is not too exciting for us. Although I do realize it' snot just the animals.

[BellesRose]

Since your kids are in school and will have to go right back after the vacation, and I'm assuming you and your husband will have to go to work, there's no need to stress yourselves out trying to get to all 4 parks with 4 children under 9. You don't want to wear yourselves out so much that you need a vacation from your vacation! :mickey:

[HMFan]

We only do MK and Epcot.

Everyone is different, but make it fun more than anything else. Don't hit everything for everything's sake.

Just keep reminding yourself that there will be a "next time"!

[Ms. Mode]

We always visit all 4 parks, I guess because they all just seem like one BIG park spread out over a large area to us. :)

I've tried to imagine that we have limited time in the parks....how would we do it.....and I think we would still visit all 4, just for favorites only though.

Hopping has never been a problem for us, we use that as "down" time to rest up for the next go-around. :thumbsup:

[PopPhan]

More than 4 days at WDW? Definitely hit all 4 parks, DTD, and possibly one or both of the Water Parks!!! :thumbsup:

Of course, our trips are almost always 10 nights, so we always have plenty of time to hit them all! :D

[SBETigg]

I love all of the parks and have made time to visit each of them, even on shorter trips. We always park hop and divide our days between two parks. A day combining AK and DHS could work out and be all you need, depending on your touring style and what you consider must-see in each park.

[Pop Centurion]

If you skip the shows at AK & DHS then you shouldn't have a problem doing them both the same day with a hopper. Your best bet is try to plan it on a day DHS has EMH so you will have some bonus time there.
BTW, we always do all the parks.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We don't always do all 4 parks.

AK is kinda "blah" for DD and me, so on our last trip, we finally admitted that we didn't like it, and sent DH there on his own, while we did other things.

The more we go to Disney, the pickier I get about how we spend our time. You shouldn't feel any pressure to "fit in" all of the parks, or all of the attractions within a park.

Do what feels best for your family. I bet you'll find you spend a lot of time at some things, and skip over others all together. The neat thing is, that as your family grows up and changes, so will their interests, so each trip will be a little different.

If you love MK/Epcot, then spend your time there. Do what you love in AK and DHS, but don't feel pressured to spend time there, just because there are there!

[wmdaddy]

Last trip we spent 14 days at Disney, and literally just 3 hours at Hollywood Studios. We did Toy Story and One Man's Dream. My kids are too small for ToT or RNRoller Coaster. We'll do Playhouse Disney and Little Mermaid.

[BluewaterBrad]

Not always. On our upcoming 6 night trip it will be EPCOT only. (F&W) I will sneak away for an hour or to to get my Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster fix though!!:mickey:

[the other micki]

If you're going to split a day between DS and AK, might I suggest picking the day that AK has PM EMH. You could spend a nice morning at DS, perhaps even go back to your resort for a dip in the pool, then visit AK during EMH that evening. I've heard AK in the evenings is very nice.

[BrerGnat]

Nope. My last trip (spring break) was our first FAMILY trip, with our kids. Me and the kids did not visit DHS. DH visited with his brother one afternoon. I had no desire to go there. My kids (4 and 6) would find nothing of interest there either. We have DCA here at home, and stuff like Toy Story Mania, we do here alot, and they are not into shows at all, or thrill rides. So, I never even ventured over there, even though we were staying at BC.

I'd say do what "feels right" at the time. Since you will have park hoppers, you can decide when you are there how you want to split up your time. I would tend to think that DHS would be the LEAST enjoyable park for your kids, at this time. My kids really loved AK, which surprised me, so I'm glad we went there. Epcot was their favorite park overall. We spent about 75% of our park time at Epcot over a week.

[eeyorepoohfan]

:mickey:My DH and I will always hit all 4 parks. We don't have kids though. I would say that's up to your family and what their must see/do attractions are. For us, we don't need to do much at HS: Toy Story, TofT, Rockin Rollercoaster are pretty much it for us. So if it were us, we would go to HS for early EMH and get on all of those at least once and then head over to Animal Kingdom. Since AK usually closes early, we would probably then go to whichever remaining park that is opened latest. Since you have little ones, you might not want to do that much hopping. However, HS and EPCOT are pretty easy to hop between as are MK and EPCOT. You could even do a day where AK has early EMH and do all that you want there and then hop over to any of the other parks for the day. I would personally feel that I was missing something if we didn't step into all 4 parks for at least some amount of time. But that's just us! Ask your kids what's really important for them and see if you can come up with a family agreement that may or may not involve all 4 parks. I'm sure I didn't help too much but I hope you have a great trip no matter how many parks you visit! :thumbsup:

[W24toISMdirect]

I think you can easily split a day between DHS and AK if your only looking the do the MUST SEE E-ticket attractions, you won't have time for a lot of shows/walk-through attractions, I.E. look at animals at Animal Kingdom.

[EJS-Houston]

Hello!

Planning a trip Jan 31-Feb6 at the Poly for DH, myself and our four great kids! So excited, last trip was in 2008.

I was just wondering if you find in necessary to try to see all 4 parks during your stay. I wish our stay could be longer, but we are on a budget and I'll be taking the kids out of school.

We are going to get park hopper option, though usually we end up at one park for the majority of the day.

Our fave parks are epcot and MK. AK is cook, and our kids love animals, but...I just wonder if the day could be used differently. There was so much to do/see at MK/Epcot that we certainly can use more time there!

As for the studios I feel there is only a few select things we MUST do. I think a lot has to do with our kids ages, 2.5, 5, 7, and 9.

I guess I am having such mixed feelings about how we should spend our time! We can't park hop too much, its too stressful with such a large group. We are the type of family that does much better with less bus rides, etc. Again, appealing with the monorail for MK/Epcot.

I had thoughts of just splitting one day between AK and Studios.

What do you do? Do you always hit every park because you feel you have too? I love all the parks overall, but I almost wonder if we should concentrate on what we love most!

Thanks!

Yeah, I always hit all four parks, but if under time constraints I'll just devote a 1/2-day to a park in order to have more time at, say, EPCOT.

[PETE FROM NYC]

We do all 4 parks. Just DW and me. We will be there on 9/12 with 7 days worth of admissions: one day in AK, two days each in the others.

Now, you say that you are on a budget, then why are you booked in one of the most expensive hotels? I am pretty sure you could get one of the family suites in a value resort, and save a substantial amount of money, or get two connecting rooms at a value.
I think that the two connecting rooms at a value will still cost $50-100 less per night than the Poly. Or if you want to spend that extra cash, try a DVC villa. A one bedroom villa will sleep five or maybe six. At least ther you will have kitchen and laundry facilities right in your room.

[JPL]

Depending on the length of my trip I some times will skip a park. I usually go about 2 times a year so I am never that far away from my next trip so to me missing a park or attraction isn't usually a big deal. In June & August my time was limited and I was travelling with friends who had their 2 year old along in June and only had 2 days in August so I skipped DHS. I will hit the Studios during my December trip.

[disneymom2000]

I was going to skip a couple this next trip, but then my friend decided she would go with me and it is her first time so I will do all four parks. If your other kids (not the 2.5 - probably won't remember anyway) have already done the other parks at a previous visit, then go with just the ones you really want to do this trip. It is a vacation afterall, so you should do what you want not what you feel you have to do.

[Polynesian Dweller]

We go to all 4 everytime but we are selective at each. We don't try to do all attractions in any park, just our favorites and any new rides. Sometimes we'll do a ride we've skipped for a few years.

[Mousemates]

nope don't do all four parks every trip....have rotated out AK, Epcot and the Studios on various trips...the only must do each time for us is MK. We know that anything we miss this trip will be there when we come back the next time.

[DisneyMelissa]

We always hit all 4 parks. Sometimes, if we are pressed for time, we will do a 1/2 day at AK to quick hit our favorite attractions, but otherwise we try to do at least one full day at each park.

[grumpyguy]

Thankfully yes-
Our pre-trip planning always includes spending multiple days in each park,including one day at each water park and the park hopper option is no option but a must.
For our upcoming trip starting sept 17th we've got one day where we are going to attempt to start our day at AK,be at epcot for an early (or late)liner..that's a combo of lunch and dinner.
Then finish the day at MK for the MNSSHP at night!!
HAVE A GREAT TIME:thumbsup:

[RAIDER]

We used to do in our younger days but now we tend to do at least 2 now 3 at the most and go to the other parks more now, like Busch ( always a must now for us ) , Seaworld or Universal now :thumbsup:

[Mogie]

Definitely need to hit all 4, but that doesn't mean you have to hit every attraction. Hit all the thrill rides, or all the shows or whatever floats your boat, then get out of the park to the water parks or seaworld or the pool if that's what you're into. But I can't imagine not hitting all parks at least once in the amount of time you will be there!

[finaldynasty]

This year was our 5th trip in 6 years and only our trip when our DKs were 1 and 2 years old did we only go to 1 or 2 parks. Our last three trips we have gone to all four parks plus DTD. I can't forsee us not going to all three parks because each one of our three DKs likes something different at each park. I think it would be difficult to visit WDW without riding the big rides or visiting the key attractions at each park.

[VWL Mom]

I'm not a super planner nor are we park commandos so IMO it's not necessary to do all 4 parks this trip.

When my boys were younger we played a lot by ear, we still do. Happy kids made for a happy mom. Stress caused by telling them to stop having fun at place A because we had to go to place B did not make a happy mom.

If your gut is telling you that your little group will be happy with the ease of MK & Epcot, then do it.
If DH wants to take the 2 older kids to the thrill rides at DHS or AK, then let him. You can all meet up afterwards. Divide and conquer!

[Tinker Fan]

We always do all 4 parks, i guess i can't imagine not going to one of them. We also stay longer since we are coming from further away so always have enough time to hit all the parks twice. If we had a shorter stay i can see skipping one of the parks. Not sure which one but probably AK or HS for us.

[klb]

We've always done all four parks, and we also try to limit the times we have to use the busses. We usually are only able to spend four full days in WDW but can fit in all the parks and Downtown Disney during that time. It's completely doable with a little planning. We split our Sunday between AK and the Studios.

[CaptSmee]

I absolutely hit all 4 parks. I would try to even if I were only there for 1 day :blush:

[TheVBs]

If we had a limited number of days we would still want to hit all four parks, because there are things in all of them we really enjoy. But, I would opt to skip a park (DHS) if it made for a more relaxing, enjoyable vacation for us and if it meant we got to see other things that were more important to us. Since you're opting for the park hopper, you're pretty well covered. Just do what works for your family.

[Mousemates]

I absolutely hit all 4 parks. I would try to even if I were only there for 1 day :blush:

while I don't recommend it for the faint of heart :faint: ...i have done all four parks in one day :thumbsup:

[Gator]

We don't always do all 4 parks.

AK is kinda "blah" for DD and me, so on our last trip, we finally admitted that we didn't like it, and sent DH there on his own, while we did other things.



Blasphemy! :mickey:

[ncrohrs]

:thumbsup:VWLMom, you and me both! We must play a lot by ear with our little ones too. Happy kids= happy parents for sure!!!!

Last time we went it was the same amount of time. WE hit all 4 parks. I am glad we did as there were things we enjoyed at each. Its just that we felt we could have used more Epcot/MK time becasue we love so much at both of those.

I think we will hit all 4. I think I will leave it open to leave AK or DHS and do something else if we feel we've seen what we want. Get there in the morning and plan on spending morning and part of afternoon, and then...go from there! For instance, I thought Dino Land in AK was such a waste! Yet the safari, characters, Kali River Rapids were all awesome for us.

As for staying at the Poly...well it is one of the most expensive, but for us worth it. This is why we go only every 3 years or so. Knowing we'll spend most time at Epcot and MK and knowing we can hope on the monorail and back to the room if need be is a godsend for us.

Thanks for all the great advice!

[darthmacho]

I can't imagine missing one of the parks, unless, I suppose, I was only going for a day or two, and that would probably be a unique circumstance. As long as there are four full days available, i'd hit all four parks. :mickey:

[CanadaLovesDisney]

If you decide to skip one park, I would say skip hollywood studios. That's just speaking from experience. Depending on how your tickets work you might want to go to AK unless its super hot out. Animal Kingdom can be a drag in the extreme heat! =)

[crazygoalie39]

Although I wouldn't say it's necessary to go to all four parks, I think that there's no reason not to. You could just really dig deep into a few of the parks and do some things that are off the beaten path, but you definitely have the time to go to all of the parks.

[crltkcagle]

I do. Hubby feels like we should leave out AK but I couldn't go to Disney and not see Bugs Life or ride Dinosaur. I think its all a matter of personal opnion though.

[Snickerdoodle]

Yes, we do all 4 parks, plus we throw in a DTD day. :thumbsup:

[GrmGrninGost]

We sometimes leave out AK. For my family it is a half day park at best. WDW is a great place, so why waste time being somewhere you don't want to be? :confused:

[EpcotFan182]

We've always hit all four parks, but more time has been devoted to MK and Epcot. On this last trip we spent one day each in AK and DHS, it was sufficient for us because we got everything we wanted to out of them. We enjoy MK and Epcot a little more, so we went back to those parks multiple times.

[PirateLover]

AK hasn't even been a thought on our past two trips. We have been at WDW the past two times in the heat of the summer and remembered that we were uncomfortable with the heat in AK on our December trips, and down right dripping in sweat on our May trips, so it's not on the top of our list if we are going in the summer. The only thing we truly enjoy is Kilimanjaro and unless you are there first thing, in summer the line gets too long too fast and even if you FP it a lot of the animals are relaxing in the shade somewhere and not very visible. Not a fan of Nemo, hate Kali River Rapids.... so not braving the humidity over there for 2 or 3 rides. On the other hand we could never skip DHS because Tower of Terror, Rock N Roller Coaster, and now Toy Story Mania are some our favorite rides in the whole world. However we only spent a 1/2 day there our last trip. Majority of our time is spent in MK and Epcot, especially World Showcase now that we are adults :cool::marg: But I know we are lucky to be able to go often enough to justify skipping anything and taking things at a relaxed pace sometimes. To anyone new I would definitely say try to get to all parks and see for yourself:twocents:

[WDWgoofy]

So far, I have always visited all parks. One reason is there was never any way I could decide what not to do.

However, based on the experiences of my last trip, I am considering that during my next short trip I might skip visiting the Magic Kingdom (gasp!)

I say that now but when next year gets here it will probably be impossible to not see all parks.:mickey:

[kemps@wdw]

We always hit all 4 parks. MK and Epcot usually twice. DHS and AK is pretty much a 1/2 day park for us. So, if you're a little crunched for time, hop DHS and AK the same day, then you'll have more time for the others. :thumbsup:

[mainemajor]

We always hit all 4 parks and Downtown Disney because there are things we must see/do on each trip. On some trips we might only spend a couple of hours in the Studios, but we still go.
we spend the majority of our time at Epcot.
Staying at the Poly it will be easier to get back and forth between your favorite parks.
Have fun, enjoy and don't worry:mickey:

[johnO]

You dont have to always do all four parks. We just recently went for a weekend and did MK one day and Epcot the other. But you're going to have enough time, especially with park hopper, to at least split a day btw DHS and AK.

[Bellerella]

We have to hit 3 of the 4 parks for sure, and DTD. We are not huge fans of HWS, so we might spend 1/2 day there or less. Our past trip (Aug '10) we got a late start getting there, and only spent maybe 2 hours there?? But it depends on what parks you enjoy. For us, Epcot and AK are MUST do's!! We actually went to Epcot probably everyday, at least to eat because WS has the most amazing food! But it was very rush-rush. So if you are on a tight schedule, I say plan to hit your favorite parks/attractions, and if there is time leftover to see the other parks and attractions, then you could plan accordingly. :mickey:

[In my dreams]

"on a budget"
going in Jan31/Feb
"stressful to hop" "most days in one park anyway"

let me put my 2 cents in and advise:
** NO HOPPING save $$$$$ on 5 tickets( assuming youngest is FREE ):thumbsup:
** reduced Park hrs during that season so how much would you really miss out on??:confused:
** look at the park hours/parades/fireworks NOW and plan the days accordingly:thumbsup:

[Jared]

I have taken some weekend trips in which I skipped a park, but I don't see why you would use that strategy. Your visit is long enough to easily tour every park!

May I ask the cause for your concern? You seem to have a long vacation planned!

[Suz36]

On our week long vacations, we've always done all 4 parks, and I couldn't imagine it any other way. On our upcoming trip (just DH and I) we're only there for 3 days, so current planning has us sacrificing AK. But I'm still leaving the possibility for a few hours there if we feel we've gotten enough of Epcot and F&W. With the amount of time you have and PH option, there's no reason you couldn't do all 4 and still feel like you've had plenty of time at your favorites. I'd plan to hit your lower priority parks first thing in the morning, hit the highlights that you've chosen, then head over to one of your favorites for the remainder of the day.

[JerseyDad]

....for trips of 7 or more days...we definitely do all 4 parks. We usually arrive between 10 and 11 am on a Saturday...so the first day we usually chill out at the resort...do some swimming and then I do some napping (long drive to WDW from NJ). Then 1st night we do dinner at DTD...and then get 90% of the "mandatory" shopping out of the way.

Then...we usuallly (wife actually) has an itinerary to hit the parks on the following days. Since we usually have dinner reservations in Epcot for most of the nights...we do the other parks in the day...then head to Epcot (unless EMH are scheduled for MK). We get a good mix of the park days that way...and if the wife has her way (like she always does)...SHE only hits AK once...while I may do it twice with the youngest daughter.

...it's just not a "real" vacation if I don't see all the parks at least once....variety is a good thing at WDW!!

[iluvdumbo]

We usually try to do MK, Epcot and HS, mostly because we don't enjoy AK. If we don't have time for HS, we at least do Epcot and MK. AK is okay, but it's not my mom and I's favorite park, and we usually only have time for three parks in our short trip.

[beksy]

We always do all four parks but on shorter trips we don't necessarily spend a full day at each. We Love MK so we plan a few days there and then at least one at Epcot. If there's time, we do a day at AK and a day at DHS, but sometimes we just hit our favorites in those park, only spending a half day in each. It depends on our moods and we tend to play it by ear a lot.

[WDWCrazyKaren]

We do hit all four parks, but in a week long stay, we max out with about 3 hours in AK. It's just not as interesting for us to make it longer. One trip on EE, one stop at Dinosaur and the safari. If we can see the Lion King show on the way out the door, fine, if not, no big deal. That's it.

We do love DHS and go there a few times, but we do see a lot of things twice there, and that probably isn't necessary. Most of our time is spent at Epcot. If we could end every day of our trip there, we'd be happy!

[SandmanGStefani24]

not for a while. The studios doesn't really have much appeal to me these days. I do love Animal kingdom but aside from the Safari and Dinosaur there isn't much else to do. Next trip I might split a day between the two, but I'd be ok without it.

[joonyer]

If we are staying for a week (our usual), we hit all 4 parks, usually several times each (we use hoppers). We have been for a long weekend though, where we only visited MK and Epcot.

[Tinkerbella16]

Out of all of my 18 trips to WDW, I don't think I have ever skipped a park during any trip. It just wouldnt be the same. We usually go for a whole week and we are always able to hit each park more than once while we are there. We always have the park hopping on our tickets. I love splitting the day up with two parks and being able to go where I want and not be limited to just one a day. :mickey:

[dixielandings]

Yes yes and YES! I cannot stand the idea of being there and not at least walking into every Park at least once.

IMO a week is plenty of time. But then I only have one kid. And one husband. :mickey:

[kemps@wdw]

We always do all 4 parks. That's why we get the hopper option. But now that our DD is older, there are some attractions that we simply do not do anymore. Which leaves us extra time for others. AK and HS are usually a 1/2 day park for us. Not a huge fan of the safaris or the shows. MK and Epcot are almost always double visits. Your kids ages makes it difficult for you to really plan to avoid anything. Maybe the planning video and, of course, Youtube can help them (and you) decide if there is an attraction you or they don't like and can miss, and save a little time.

[Laughin' place]

I sympathize with your decision. We go less often than Id like, because I cant imagine skipping much of anything when we go. Even on our long stays (12 days or so), we never get to do all that we had hoped for. Right now, Im struggling with whether Id rather take a short and limited trip sooner, or wait longer for a longer trip... I cant see skipping one of the 4 and TL when we go. Good luck with your decision.:thumbsup:

[brownie]

Yes, there are things we want to do in each park. It would be tough to make a decision as to what park not to go to if we couldn't get to all 4 parks.

[ncrohrs]

This is our plan

First day, full MK day
Second day, full Epcot day
Third day, 1/2 DHS day, other half swim if weather permits, or back to MK or Epcot
Fourth day, 1/2 AK day, then half to Downtown Disney which we did not do last time for dinner and shopping
Fifth day, combo of MK and Epcot and whatever else
Sixth day, sadly, checkout.:(

[brivers222]

I know we can usually knock out AK in about 1/2 day depending on if we can hit the correct showtimes.

HS is usually a day and a 1/2 but who knows now as my fiancee is not a fan of roller coaster (RnRC) and hates the feeling of dropping (ToT)
and with my favorite ride closed (StarTours) it wont take that long i hope

MK is where we are spending a lot of time, but we also have booked two days of MNSSHP so that will allow us an extra 5 hours at MK (our version of extra magic hours as the price for two is the same price as an onsite disney hotel ;))

Epcot is slatted to be the place we spend a majority of the time... mainly because of the F&W festival. However, in the past I never really spent the times to go around to the different nations. This trip i think I will take the time to visit ... and maybe :beer: around them.

Items that might be missed are the Water Parks, but being a pooh sized person i am not a fan of really getting down and wet lol.

[PinkTink]

I've been to WDW 12 times and gone to AK maybe 4. So no, we don't feel pressured to go to every park every trip. We aren't really fans of AK though so that helps. For us, DHS and AK are both about 1/2 day parks, so they don't take up a lot of time.

For our trip in December, we're only going to be in the parks for 3 1/2 days. We are managing to hit all 4 parks. It's a rather chaotic schedule, trying to fit all the Christmas shows/parades and dining ressies together. That's why we love the park hoppers!