Need help deciding what Park for what days - Expert Advice?

[nutsnbolts]

I apologize if this is the wrong forum but we are planning on arriving between Feb 9th through Feb 17th which leaves us, 7 days and 8 nights.

When we arrive on the 9th, it would approximately be around 9:30am in the morning and the plan for the 1st day is to relax, check in and explore the grounds, and even perhaps go to downtown disney as some folks have suggested. Originally, we were going to try and hit a park but I am assuming by the time we settle in and acquaint ourselves, it would be late afternoon and there is no need to waste a park ticket for that day. Besides there will be tons of other things to do.

So from Wednesday onwards...

Anyone can suggest how we should structure our parks? In other words, I need help to understand what days we should do the parks.

The parks we intend to see is the following:

Magic Kingdom
Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom
Epcot


No waterparks.

I would like to do two magic kingdom days and 1 day for each of the others. Some folks even suggested that Animal kingdom and Epcot can be done in one day, some even said that Animal Kingdom isn't all that great so I would like to perhaps tweak the Animal Kingdom day specifically to another park...I really don't know.

Either way with the days and what parks we want to see, anyone have any suggestion as to what days we should line up the parks...obviously depending on what goes on "special" on certain days (i.e. Fireworks or any other things).

I know I can look at what goes on in parks but I'm looking for expert advice from the folks that have been going there. I don't want leaving or missing something because we went to one park when we should have went to another park another day.

We do have a 5 day park hopper pass on hand.

[Strmchsr]

Are you staying on property? That can make a difference as you may want to take advantage of or avoid the parks with Extra Magic Hours each day. As for how much time in each park, it really depends on the individual. For my family, we go to Epcot pretty much every day because we love the culture and the dining options so we pick a different country to eat at each night. Some folks don't care about the culture which would make Epcot less attractive. We also love Animal Kingdom because we're big nature lovers and really enjoy the walks and shows. DAK is a full day park for us. If you're not, if you're more into just thrill rides then it's probably a half-day park. Hollywood Studios is just a shell of a park now. There used to be great stuff there, and there will be again in a couple of years, but for now it's pretty much a half day park. You could go to DAK first thing in the morning then hop over to DHS for the afternoon/early evening if you wanted to hit both in 1 day. That would leave you 2 days for MK and 2 days for Epcot. There are "touring plans" out there but for the most part it depends heavily on your preferences in terms of experiences. In 5 days you can't even come close to seeing everything so you'll need to pick what your family likes the most. Disney is a highly subjective experience and every family enjoys different things. So, let us know what interests you the most and I'm sure the folks in this thread can fine tune the suggestions for you.

[nutsnbolts]

Are you staying on property? That can make a difference as you may want to take advantage of or avoid the parks with Extra Magic Hours each day. As for how much time in each park, it really depends on the individual. For my family, we go to Epcot pretty much every day because we love the culture and the dining options so we pick a different country to eat at each night. Some folks don't care about the culture which would make Epcot less attractive. We also love Animal Kingdom because we're big nature lovers and really enjoy the walks and shows. DAK is a full day park for us. If you're not, if you're more into just thrill rides then it's probably a half-day park. Hollywood Studios is just a shell of a park now. There used to be great stuff there, and there will be again in a couple of years, but for now it's pretty much a half day park. You could go to DAK first thing in the morning then hop over to DHS for the afternoon/early evening if you wanted to hit both in 1 day. That would leave you 2 days for MK and 2 days for Epcot. There are "touring plans" out there but for the most part it depends heavily on your preferences in terms of experiences. In 5 days you can't even come close to seeing everything so you'll need to pick what your family likes the most. Disney is a highly subjective experience and every family enjoys different things. So, let us know what interests you the most and I'm sure the folks in this thread can fine tune the suggestions for you.

Good point, I did leave out some details.

I guess for starters, we are staying at Port Orleans - Riverside Garden View. I apologize if I'm not completely accurate with some references. Port Orleans is I guess on Property. We literally have our plane ticket and resort covered but the fine details is where my mind is all over.

I heard about the Magic hours which we will or would like to probably take advantage of. I am traveling with a family of five. (2x 4 yr old and a 9 yr old).

Just to note as well, I do plan to go to Universal Studios in one of the days. Probably the tail end of the week.

What do we want to do? I'll be honest, we are flexible and would like to see and enjoy as much as we can.

[cer]

In my experience, you will not have any problems seeing shows or fireworks or parades on any particular day as they are offered every day. There may be some instances where they have more than one firework show depending on the night, but I have never had to schedule a certain day because we might miss ______________ show at __________park. There was a time when they were alternating days showing Fantasmic, but I believe those days are long gone.

Are you familiar with the attractions? Like, do you know enough to know about what each attraction offers whether it be more thrilling or more tame? If you are, one thing I found helpful when we first started going to the parks, was to go to the front desk at our resort (if you are staying onsite) and get park maps. Take your time the night before you go to look at them and circle all the attractions you want to make sure you get to see/do. I found that to be very helpful in the early years when we were less familiar with the parks.

I am assuming this is a first trip, if it is not, and you know the attractions and their location, then you will be comfortable enough without having to look at a park map.

I will say that BEFORE you go, make a list and keep it close by of the things you want to make sure you get to experience. As many times that we have gone, I still have things when I get home that I say, "Oh! We did not __________________" (This last time trip was "get a cinnamon roll from Gaston's" and "ride the monorail into EPCOT at night.")

I would recommend getting to the parks at rope drop, you get a slight jump on the ones who sleep in.

If you have dining reservations in or near certain parks, that also can help you decide which park on which day. You definitely do not want to be chasing after dining, so plan your park days with your dining in mind so that it makes the most sense and you do not lose a lot of time travelling.

You will be there for a holiday weekend, so you can expect an increase in crowds over the weekend and Monday. Keep that in mind as you plan. Knowing this, if it were me, I would make sure I did Magic Kingdom on either Wednesday or Thursday for sure. That way I could get there and get as many attractions done as I could before the people arrive for the long weekend. I think Magic Kingdom would be less crowded on those days. You can always go back again with the park-hopper, but I would select one of them as my main "Magic Kingdom" day.

As Chris mentioned, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are in such disarray with construction, you shouldn't have much problem doing the things you want there - simply because there are less attractions. Now that I think about it, even with the construction walls in Animal Kingdom, I don't know if they have any current attractions closed for refurbishment, so you may have plenty to do there. If you finish up early, you can park hop. As far as Epcot goes, it is such a large park, it can handle the crowds so there again, pick your day and get there at rope drop, you should be fine.

These are just some thoughts I have based on your dates, and things to consider. There is no right way to do Disney. You will have a great time no matter what.

Have a great trip!

[nutsnbolts]

First off, thanks for clearing up the fireworks portion of the week. I thought it was certain days but I wasn't sure when it was so now at least we don't have to worry about that portion.

As far as the attractions. I can't really remember anymore. The last time I was there was when I was a kid so everything is going to be a new experience. Furthermore I don't even recall Disney to be that complicated when I was younger. Then again, that was when we lived in Tampa and it used to be day trips so to speak. :) So your advice of looking at the map and planning the night before definitely a good advice. I am trying to get a jump on things based on what this forum may reveal after I go through and read more here.

As far as dining is concerned. I'm trying to plan the dining as well and I will try my best to plan around the park for dining as opposed to plan around the dining with the park. I think all the highly suggested dining will be booked by now considering when we are leaving in the next few weeks (about 3 weeks out). Either way I will try my best.

Good point also on the Magic Kingdom for Wednesday and/or Thursday. Maybe I can do the following:

Wednesday - Magic Kingdom
Thursday - Magic Kingdom
Friday - Hollywood
Saturday - Epcot
Sunday - Universal
Monday - Animal Kingdom

Are there any days that are considered "special" days that they may have specifically happening at any given park?

[Strmchsr]

First off, I should have said initially, :welcome: to Intercot!! We're glad you're on the boards with us.

As for your plan, you will have some EMH to deal with. Magic Kingdom has evening EMH on Wednesday, Epcot is the morning on Thursday, MK has morning and DHS has evening on Friday, DAK has morning on Saturday, DHS has morning on Sunday and DAK has morning on Monday. Not sure if that changes what you want to do or not, but if you want to take advantage of, or avoid, the EMH days that gives you the schedule. The other special events will mostly be taking place at the Wide World of Sports and shouldn't impact your trip. Since that's President's Day weekend there's national gymnastics and dance team championships, and a soccer tournament, going on that weekend. You may see a lot of those kids around POR as that's the moderate they usually stay at but it shouldn't be a huge impact on your park attendance. All of the parks are crowded on Saturday and Epcot handles the big crowds the best.

The best dining places aren't necessarily booked up. Just get on the Disney Website and see what's available. A lot of times cancellations at the last minute provide good opportunities.

[j2k]

Good point also on the Magic Kingdom for Wednesday and/or Thursday. Maybe I can do the following:

Wednesday - Magic Kingdom
Thursday - Magic Kingdom
Friday - Hollywood
Saturday - Epcot
Sunday - Universal
Monday - Animal Kingdom


I'm no expert but I did make an observation with this possible plan. You have park hoppers so you can plan to hop over to another park if you finish up early at a park. Personally, I never can have enough time at MK so if you finish up at any of the other parks and want to hop to MK there's always that possibility. Otherwise, you can save the cost of the hopper add-on if you won't hop. Just my 2 cents.

Have a fun trip!!

[nutsnbolts]

Yeah the deal I have right now is buy 3 and get two days so it's a saving already through my work deal.

[Mendelson]

Should we also assume you have not made any fastpass reservations yet?

[LVT]

Welcome
When our family was younger we started to have a daily nap/swim. Lunch just seemed like a natural time for a change. Parks were awesome but very fatiguing: noise, strangers, strange everything. A a break of 3 to 4 hours allowed us to recharge and enjoy evenings. We used the park hoppers to do 2 parks per day, before nap and after. I enjoyed the parks more half day increments.

[nutsnbolts]

Should we also assume you have not made any fastpass reservations yet?

I have made the fast pass reservations based on the days I chose above. I think it will work out. Cross my fingers.