Total Disney novice, not a lot of time. Suggestions?

[Peacock]

Help, please. We were planning to take dcs to the beach in mid-August, but it turns out that Disney is my 6 yo's dream vacation. We're thinking about the following plan: day 1: drive (9 hours), get a hotel room in Orlando. Day 2: Magic Kingdom. Day 3: beach/sleep/relax. day 4: Harry Potter World. Day 5: drive home.

Kids are 6.5 and almost 11. Budget is 1200-1500 including everything except the drive. Is this realistic? Does a day at MK and HPW work for these ages?

Any suggestions? And should we do it? Or wait until we can stay longer/spend more?

thanks!

[alleinesein]

WDW is miserable in August; the heat and humidity do not make for a pleasant experience. If you only have time for one day you might want to wait and go later when you have time to plan for a proper visit. Your kids are old enough that they would most likely enjoy all 4 parks.

$1200-$1500 would work b/c 1 day tickets are $100+ so you could easily spend $600-800 for 1 day tickets to the MK and Universal.

[tiffany81]

That works, except you'll spend almost your whole budget on tickets to the parks. Disney is about $150/person for one day.

If you do this, make sure you go super early in the AM, so you beat some heat and lines. Leave around noon to rest/eat, and then head back around 6 and stay until the park closes. Lines are shorter at night, it's cooler, and you'll see the fireworks.

[curbsideprophet]

I would skip Harry Potter and the beach and get three day park tickets. I would try to build in some pool time as a break. If you really want a break day then I would just drop HP.