How long does it take to do each park?

[masondoggy]

We're going the second week of Feb. and are hoping for low crowds, and planning to avoid EMH days at each park.

With that said....

I've heard MK & Epcot take two days. Is that two full days military style, or is it possible to see each park on maybe a day and a half taking our time?

How about AK or HS? How long does it take to get through each park if crowds are low? If we get there at opening, would we expect to be there 'til closing or be done earlier in the day?

I'm just trying to get an idea so we can plan our days out. We will have 6 full days to work with and at this point are planning two days for Epcot & MK, and one day each for the others. The kids really want to fit BB in there so I'm trying to figure out where we can squeeze it in.

TIA. :mickey:

[TheRustyScupper]

Out Thoughts:

Commando Style:
MK = 1 days
EP = 1 day, plus afternoon after AK
AK = ½ days
DHS = ½ days

Relaxed Style:
MK = 2 days
EP = 1½ days
AK = ½ days
DHS = 1 day

[ThanxForNoticin]

If you are going in early Feb (before Valentine's Day and before President's Day), the crowds are definitely lower. You can get through a lot of attractions in a shorter period of time. I would go with the following estimates: MK (1-2 days, depending what your kids enjoy doing), EPCOT, Future World (1 day), EPCOT, World Showcase (1/2 day to 1 day), AK (1 day, including time to enjoy the animals), and DHS (1 day). Since World Showcase is open later, even in Feb, you might think about doing BB during the day and WS from mid-afternoon through the evening - maybe even enjoy dinner in WS that night. Just remember to enjoy your time. Have fun!

[Through the looking Glass]

The one thing you need to mention is what you need to see. With small children you have to go through the park differently than as with adults. Adults don't need to go on Dumbo and such, leaving more time. Rides like Dumbo, Addlan,and Tea Cups are geared to the younger generation(six and under) and take up alot of time.
I have DS6 n DD12 and prettymuch have to see everything. It takes a full day at both parks for us and usally we still miss a few things at MK. We go back to MK the evening that we go to BB. The kids are good an can keep up with a hectic pace.
We also make it a point to see Wishes fireworks and Illuminatons show.
Ak usally takes us half a day, the hours there are short too.
Studios takes a full day seeing most of the shows and staying for the Fantasmic show.

[BigRedDad]

It depends on what you are trying to do. If you are just running around to hit rides and shows, it will be about a day or less in each park. If you are taking it easy, enjoying everything WDW has to offer, you cannot do it all in 2 weeks.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

For us each park takes at least one day and preferably 2 days for Epcot and MK...you could do them in less if you cut out some things

[bertasso59]

Two weeks ago we did the bulk of MK in one day,missing only a couple things.AK can be done in less than a day,hence it's early closing time.HS can be done in a day if you limit the number of shows you go to.We only had a day in EPCOT which is not enough,we did only half of Futureworld and a couple pavillions mostly because we had reservations for lunch and dinner in WS and we were stuck on the Nemo ride for 20 minutes before being sprung,we had to walk out.Plus not getting a fastpass for Soarin ate a lot of time.
My advice to beating crowds is do what we failed to do and avoid EMH,everyone tends to go to the EMH parks.

[sainter]

Fortunately we have never finished any park and have to go back every year to try :)
Seriously, everyone has already given good answers but I think that to miss the end of night shows/fireworks is missing a main event.

[acetate]

Epcot is our favorite and for us it takes 2 days. There is so much there and it's spread out pretty good. Plus if you like poking around in the various shops it eats up time. AK easily one day. I personally don't think there is a whole lot at that park. 3 or 4 rides including the safari. 2 shows and the 3-D bugs film and your done. Ditto for Hollywood Studios. A limited number of rides, a couple shows and some shopping. It's a pretty small park. MK a day and a half, possibly 2. There's alot for everyone at that park. Plus access to the monorail and you could have dinner at Poly or the hotel of your choice. And though you didn't mention it, Downtown Disney could be an all day thing if you like shopping.

[Insanity Clause]

When we went in 2001 we did it fairly relaxed since I was 5 months pregnant at time. So our day pretty much went like this:

MK - 1 day
Epcot - 1 1/2 days
Animal - 1 day if you do all the shows
Studios - 1 day

And then we usually try to throw in a catch up day where we go back and revisit our favorite things.

[PlanningMom]

We just got back. We had a group of 9, 5 adults and 3 boys ages 5-10. None of us had ever been to WDW, but I had done a tremendous amount of research and knew what we wanted to do and what we didn't need to do.

I would say a full day for both DHS and AK. We missed all of Rafiki's Planet Watch and some of Dinoland in AK and were there a full day. It is nice to really enjoy your surroundings there. DHS has so many shows, that you really have to coordinate the day around them if you want to see them. Full day here and Fantasmic was one of my favorite things in all of WDW--a must see!! (Really great park if they are forecasting rain bc of the shows)

I say plan 2 days for MK and Epcot. We actually needed 2 1/2 days, but we rode Soarin and Test Track twice. It is just so huge. Just getting to each place takes awhile.

Good luck!:mickey:

[JPL]

This is definately an answer relevant to individual tastes and what you really want to accomplish during your trip. I would allow at least 1 full day for each park especially if have never been there before. I think people tend to label parks as 1/2 day or 2 day parks and it's not one size fits all. I know I can do 4 attractions at the Studios and then be bored out of my mind but spend hours and hours wandering around AK taking it all in.

[fysh]

Well, so far its taken me 38 years for the Magic Kingdom alone and I'm still not finished yet.

When you bite your own ears off you're pretty close to being done.

[#1donaldfan]

........at least 2 days per park, then maybe a third day, back-track, to catch some last second things to do.......:mickey:

[Tink#64]

We usually visit in early May so it's not a REALLY crowded time, but not slow either. Six days of our touring the parks would like like this! And mind you, we are those people that believe in doing everything in the parks and trying to have a little down time & some time for exploring too!
Arrival day - DTD for 4-5 hours for shopping & dinner
Park day 1 - MK opening til around 3 - back to resort for a break at the pool, grab dinner from the food court & head back to park for evening parade/fireworks.
Park day 2 - Epcot FW - basically the same as day 1 - except when we get back to hotel we stay for the evening & get a little extra sleep!
Park day 3 - DHS - open til close! Not a big park, we do most everything & stay for Fantasmic!
Park Day 4 - Sleep IN! Hang out at pool for a few hours, hit the arcade, walk around & explore at the resort etc. Then around 3 we head over to Epcot WS & visit all the countries, shop, see shows, eat & stay for IllumiNations.
Somewhere in between - if we are staying 7 or 8 days, we like to take a day off, maybe go play putt putt, take a boat ride over to the boardwalk & eat & shop, & visit a different resort for a new dining experience!
Park Day 5 - AK - open til around 2, then back to resort for a break, maybe dinner by the pool & then head back out to park of choice!
Park Day 6 - MK - arrive at opening & stay as late as possible - as this is always our departure day! Usually we don't cover FL, & AL in MK on day one & we usually by pass some of the other attractions that we catch on day 2! We finish our shopping & head for home!

We don't do commando style, but we begin most park days at park opening time! You can get so much done when it's not as crowded as it always is by noon! :thumbsup: We always have an itenerary & move very quickly in the morning before the crowds! We tend to slow down after lunch, and we try not to shop until the afternoon! :blush: Sorry so long, I get started & can't stop! :blush:

[masondoggy]

Thanks guys, y'all rock! :mickey:

[TheWizofDiz]

It really depends on what you want to see and how long the park opens AND whether you willing to get to the parks when they open...I have found after going many years now that IF you go when the parks open, and it is the slower season, and the parks close a bit earlier, being MK & DS, I would say this:

MK - 1-2 days (1day for seasoned WDW veteran & 2 days for the newbie)

Epcot - 1-2 days (same rules apply)

HS-1-1-1/2 days

AK - 1 full day

We have gone to the MK and have attended every attraction that was currently open in 1 day last year. My DD and I always wanted to hit EVERYTHING just to know we could do it! We went in at 9:00 am and left at 7:00 pm (park close on that day) It was still not easy to do, but with the FP system and knowing how to work the park, we pulled it off.:thumbsup:

[jwallace378]

We usually go for 6-7 nights and do the following:
MK- 2 days +back at night for Wishes and parade
Epcot- 2 days +back at night for Illum.
AK-1/2 day
HS- 1/2 day - 3/4 day
1 or 2 days for misc activities and pool

[Imagineer1981]

Out Thoughts:

Commando Style:
MK = 1 days
EP = 1 day, plus afternoon after AK
AK = ½ days
DHS = ½ days

Relaxed Style:
MK = 2 days
EP = 1½ days
AK = ½ days
DHS = 1 day

My take: you can do 1 park in 1 day if you go pretty commando style and skip ceratin shows/shops, hitting main attractions only. If you take your time, then see below in relaxed. I personally can do Epcot in 1 day even at relaxed pace, but I don't go into every country and look at every shop, I skip like Morraco and usually only browse the others if we are taking it easy.

Commando Style:
MK = 1 days
EP = 1 day
AK = ½ days
DHS = ½ days

Relaxed Style:
MK = 2 days
EP = 1½ days
AK = 1 day
DHS = 1 day

[SAHDad]

As others have said, it depends entirely on style, the crowd levels, the people in your group, etc. On our trips, this is how we do it, a group of DW, DS (4), DD (1) and myself:

Commando:
MK - 1 day
Epcot - 1 day
AK - about 3/4 day
DHS - 1/2 day

But, this is the more normal schedule:

MK - 1 1/2 days
Epcot 1 1/2 days
AK 1/2 day
DHS 1/2 day

We don't see everything, but with two kids, we skip more of the thrill rides and go at a more relaxed pace. The next trip is just DW and me, so we may do more time at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and less at DHS and AK.

(And, FWIW - we have ridden Dumbo, etc as adults. Sometimes it's fun just to be a kid again.)

[FlaTinkRAMESAM]

Emmy and I have it down to where we can do exactly what we want at DHS, MK, and EP all in one day.

YAY for us. lol So I am no help.

[iDisney]

Emmy and I have it down to where we can do exactly what we want at DHS, MK, and EP all in one day.

YAY for us. lol So I am no help.

That doesn't make for very long or relaxing vacation does it?

We usually figure 1 day for each park, plus one extra (to park hop, catch anything we missed)minimum. We do go in the off seasons, so it is easy to hit everything we want. I'm not opposed to staying longer however! :mickey:

[Nurse Kim]

When my kids and I went (DDs 13, 13 and DS 15) this past March for our first trip we sat down and marked what we wanted to do. Our schedule was

MK 1 1/2 days
HS 1/2 day (we didn't get to do everything here because we had dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare)
AK 1/2 day (missed a couple shows we wanted to see)
Epcot 1 day (we weren't that interested in going in all the pavillions)

Our trip in March 2009 my DH will be joining us and he hasn't been in over 25 years and we missed things we wanted to see and do so we are staying 11 nights and we have 2 days scheduled for each park plus a day at DTD and one at BB. Of course we will change things if we see we don't need that many days in a certain park. We plan to take it slow and relax this trip. I want to take it all in and do more shopping this trip; even sit and people watch. You know your family best and how they will do if you choose commando style.

[Sinewiz]

I won't even speak to commando style because I don't think that anyway to see the World. In early February which is historically a slow time of which I've gone many times I spend...
2 Days in Epcot
1 1/2 days at the Magic Kingdom
and 1 day each at AK and the studios. That allows me time to take in the majority of things at a somewhat relaxed pace.
You can spend much more time than that if you take the time to smell the roses and enjoy the little things though. ;)

[kemps@wdw]

We are a 2-park-a-day family. This way we can hit each park more than once, allowing us plenty of time to do everything we want to do. Our DD is older now, so there are some things we no longer do. We take mid-day breaks @ our resort for some "down-time" for pool and/or naps. And still have time to do a water park if we choose (or even both if we want). Our next trip, we plan to take a day to do some resort "hopping" to visit. shop, and see if we might want to stay there on our NEXT magical journey! We do some minor planning for
ADRs, and do have a plan of action to guarantee we do all that we want to do! But, you do need to be somewhat flexible, because the best laid plans can be involuntarily changed. So just remember, you can't do it all in 6 days. Relax, and enjoy w/the knowledge that anything you miss, you'll do on your NEXT trip!:D

[Greenlawler]

I'll add my two cents:

We go twice a year so seeing everything is not a priority we focus on the things we enjoy or missed last time...On our typical 7 day trip:

We park hop alot rarely spending a full day anywhere. And it really depends on the park hours for the week.

We will spend:
MK: Roughly 2 and a half days.
DHS: 2 days (we have 3 boys)
Epcot: 1 and 1/2 days
AK: 1 day