How to divide days?

[rubysapphire]

We are going to DW in October. Our princess loving DD will be five and DS will be three. We are staying at BLT, we arrive midday Sunday and depart around 2 the following Saturday. My kids are early risers. I've looked at some of the blogs and stuff, but I still can't decide how to spend our time in the parks. I think, we want to spend two days in MK, but I can't decide about the other parks. Should we skip HS completely and either have a rest day or a third day in MK? We will have park hoppers but no car.

[zarapipe]

If they are into disney junior I would define go to hs.

How many days of tickets do you have ?

[lala]

I'd do 2 mornings in mk and a morning each in the rest of them. Then 2 evenings/afternoons in the mk, 1 in ak for rol, 1 in Epcot. The 5th night is a toss up. We don't love Fantasmic, so we'd probably do Epcot again. Or you could do Disney springs.

If you have a 6th day I'd squeeze in a few more favorites at the mk before you leave.

[rubysapphire]

Mar 20, 2016 11:18:07 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

If they are into disney junior I would define go to hs.

How many days of tickets do you have ?

Right now we have five days of tickets but we'd be open to adding our arrival and departure days.

[ilikedonuts]

Hollywood studios has the Disney Jr show, frozen singalong and toy story midway mania ride. Plus all the Disney Junior characters. I wouldn't skip it if your kids would enjoy any of that. You could probably just do a half day there.

[bronxgirl]

With 5 days of tickets I would do 2 days at Magic Kingdom and one at each of the other parks. I would probably use the other days to go to the pool/ hang out at the resort/ check out Disney Springs.

[ilikedonuts]

Since you are at BLT, you could easily pop over to MK on arrival and departure days and just use 3 FPs and grab a snack. Its not that much more to add the extra days cost wise in the scheme of things. And that way you don't have to give up 3 regular full days for MK.

[ilikedonuts]

We own at BLT and we basically are at MK every day of our trips even if its just for an hour or two.

[mslhb]

Mar 20, 2016 12:42:03 GMT -5 ilikedonuts said:

Since you are at BLT, you could easily pop over to MK on arrival and departure days and just use 3 FPs and grab a snack. Its not that much more to add the extra days cost wise in the scheme of things. And that way you don't have to give up 3 regular full days for MK.

This. We typically stay at the WL which is even less convenient than BLT but it is still soooo easy to pop over to MK and do a few rides. One of the reasons I will always do park hoppers. 

[curbsideprophet]

I think HS can be a half day park at that age.

We did a full day at AK but the parked closed at 6. With the new show I would want to try and be there for the evening.

I think you could easily spend two full days at MK.

Are you planning to go to the Halloween party? If so it is an additional ticket. If not MK closes at 7 on party days. Just something to think about as you plan your park days.

[rubysapphire]

Mar 20, 2016 18:23:58 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

I think HS can be a half day park at that age.

We did a full day at AK but the parked closed at 6. With the new show I would want to try and be there for the evening.

I think you could easily spend two full days at MK.

Are you planning to go to the Halloween party? If so it is an additional ticket. If not MK closes at 7 on party days. Just something to think about as you plan your park days.

We will definitely go to the Halloween party one night, and we may buy tickets for a second night because I've heard it's a great time to do other things in the park and avoid crowds.

[curbsideprophet]

If you plan to go to the party one night not sure you need to add to your ticket. I would consider using one of your five days on arrival day and not use one of the five on party day. I would just relax, have pool time in the morning then head over to the party.

[lala]

Honestly, I don't think the party ticket is worth getting twice with kids those ages. Unless your kids can hang until late at night and still be functional the next day.

I agree, the night of the party, don't use a park ticket if you can - take it easy, swim, character breakfast, etc.

[ilikedonuts]

We love the Halloween party!

[rubysapphire]

Mar 21, 2016 6:55:42 GMT -5 @mrsbecky said:

Mar 20, 2016 12:42:03 GMT -5 ilikedonuts said:

Since you are at BLT, you could easily pop over to MK on arrival and departure days and just use 3 FPs and grab a snack. Its not that much more to add the extra days cost wise in the scheme of things. And that way you don't have to give up 3 regular full days for MK.

This was going to be my suggestion too - to add at least one more day to your tickets. I think when you arrive its going to be hard to avoid going to a park, especially since you'll be able to see MK from your hotel. We went to Epcot on our arrival day - just for a few hours - and it was perfect because it kind of got the initial "OMG WE ARE AT DISNEY" reaction out of the way.

I would do at least a morning at HS - we did about 3 hours there or so and it was plenty (with a 3 year old and 1 year old), so I think you would be good with one solid morning there. 

Then I would do two full days at MK (we did 2.5 days there and still didn't see whole sections, there was just so much for DS to see and do), one full day at Epcot, and another day at AK (even if you don't do the full day at AK, at least get Fast Passes for the safari and some of the other neat stuff there.)  We did two half days at Epcot and that was plenty for the boys but there was a lot that H and I weren't able to do.  

Here's my issue. We arrive on Sunday of Columbus Day weekend, which is supposed to be a very crowded time. I'm wondering if it's worth even attempting the park on such a crowded day, or if it would be better to just swim and do a fun character meal that night.

[gardengal]

FWIW, after 3 action-packed park days, we needed a slow day. I'm not sure I'd have a ticket for every day you are there.

Also, I've found that if you go to the park that--in the evening--has a special event, it's less crowded during the day. Most people don't get park hoppers so they don't want to "waste" a ticket when the park will close early.

[ilikedonuts]

Mar 21, 2016 13:09:34 GMT -5 rubysapphire said:

Mar 21, 2016 6:55:42 GMT -5 @mrsbecky said:

This was going to be my suggestion too - to add at least one more day to your tickets. I think when you arrive its going to be hard to avoid going to a park, especially since you'll be able to see MK from your hotel. We went to Epcot on our arrival day - just for a few hours - and it was perfect because it kind of got the initial "OMG WE ARE AT DISNEY" reaction out of the way.

I would do at least a morning at HS - we did about 3 hours there or so and it was plenty (with a 3 year old and 1 year old), so I think you would be good with one solid morning there. 

Then I would do two full days at MK (we did 2.5 days there and still didn't see whole sections, there was just so much for DS to see and do), one full day at Epcot, and another day at AK (even if you don't do the full day at AK, at least get Fast Passes for the safari and some of the other neat stuff there.)  We did two half days at Epcot and that was plenty for the boys but there was a lot that H and I weren't able to do.  

Here's my issue. We arrive on Sunday of Columbus Day weekend, which is supposed to be a very crowded time. I'm wondering if it's worth even attempting the park on such a crowded day, or if it would be better to just swim and do a fun character meal that night.

Whatever you think your family would enjoy the most

My kids wouldn't be able to be AT Disney without going to MK basically immediately, but we're a crazy Disney family lol We'd probably do 3 FPs at MK for stuff like meeting mickey, buzz lightyear, and space mountain (depending on heights) and then head out for pool time/dinner. 

There isn't a Halloween party at MK the Sunday of Columbus Day so the park is open later, but definitely will be busy because its one of the few nights that there will be Wishes and the MSEP.

ETA: I picked those FPs because they are closer to the front of MK plus 2 of the 3 are in the same area so you wouldn't have to walk all over or spend tons of time at the park if you were just using the 3 fastpasses.