Itinerary

[quesyrah]

We have a trip booked for mid January.

We have 2 MK days, 2 Epcot, 1 HS and 1 AK. We have 3 “down” days where we plan to swim, see other hotels and check out Disney Springs.

We have 1 other day to plan and I’m debating a second day at HS? A third at MK or Epcot?

Kids are 8 and 11 and while we’re Disneyland locals, DH and I haven’t been to WDW in 14 years and the kids have never been. They are most excited for Epcot.

Note: we have no interest in Universal or anything other than Disney.

[daisyduck]

I really enjoy the rides and ambiance of HS (especially at night) and definitely prefer it over Epcot. So I would do 3 MK, 2 HS, 1 Epcot, and 1 AK. If you are open to close people, you could squeeze in another half day at Epcot after AK.

ETA: Even with your kids being excited for Epcot, I really doubt you'll need more than a day there. You can easily ride every ride and explore the world showcase in one day. That park is also pretty torn up right now for construction, so it's not as pleasant to be in.

[jaycee]

I would price out the tickets for adding additional days. Once you're up to 6 or 7 day tickets, it can sometimes it is just $50 more for the whole family to add one more park day. If your budget allows, I would just buy the tickets for the extra days. Maybe the weather will be bad and you'll be glad you have extra days to go, or maybe you will just love MK AND Epcot and be happy you can go more. Also, once you are there for almost a week, you won't feel like you have to spend 10+ hours at a park. On one of your down days, just go to the parks for lunch and two rides, for example. This is especially the case since it's your first trip and won't be a three times a year thing.

To answer your direct question, I'd add a third day at MK, but that's a personal preference. It is such a huge park and it has something for everyone.

[midwestmama]

We love Epcot too, but there just isn't enough to do (IMO) for a third day, unless you want more time to eat/drink around the World Showcase. My vote would be to add a day at HS. Two of our all-time favorite rides - Slinky Dog Dash and Toy Story Mania - are at HS. Plus, if you have any Star Wars fans in your family, a second day at HS will give you another opportunity to try to ride Rise of the Resistance and to walk around Galaxy's Edge.

[quesyrah]

I didn’t know Epcot was under construction, that’s good to know.

We are not rope drop people, nor do we usually close the park down. We are planning on seeing the nighttime show at Epcot so that might we’ll obviously be there late.

I wish we could just play it by ear once we get there but I want to make all our park reservations at once.

[Wines Not Whines]

I haven’t been to WDW in a few years, but IMO the “future world” part of Epcot isn’t very exciting. I like some of the food and drinks at World Showcase, but there aren’t a lot of other things to do there. In the old days, we used to get park hoppers and hop to Epcot in the evening for dinner and to walk around WS. I don’t know if that’s possible now.

I haven’t been to HS since before TS Land and SW Land, but I think there’s enough to do there now to go for 2 days.

[ksun]

I'd do 2 MK 2 Epcot 2 HS and 1 AK.

There's plenty to do in future world, Soarin', Test Track, Mission Space, Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth. Festival of the Arts should be going on then also in WS.

With TS Land and Galaxy's Edge, 2 days is helpful since both places have popular rides.

[stephm0188]

Epcot tends to be a park that we parkhop. We'll either rope drop it for the rides, or visit it in the evening for dinner or snacking around World Showcase. I'd add a second HS day over a 3rd Epcot day.

There are two mini golf locations that are fun for a down day. The water parks are also fun, but that's hit or miss in January.

[curbsideprophet]

Where are you staying? I would price out adding days to your ticket or adding the park hopper option to give you some flexibility. You can always add the hopper once you are there but the price is the same no matter when you add it, so no benefit to waiting to add it.

I agree that with a long trip half days in the park can be good.

Do you plan to use Genie+ or paid individual attractions?

[quesyrah]

Oct 27, 2021 9:21:22 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Where are you staying? I would price out adding days to your ticket or adding the park hopper option to give you some flexibility. You can always add the hopper once you are there but the price is the same no matter when you add it, so no benefit to waiting to add it.

I agree that with a long trip half days in the park can be good.

Do you plan to use Genie+ or paid individual attractions?

We are staying at Caribbean Beach. We’re there a total of 10 days and planning on 7 park days so I don’t really think we need to add any more days. We are not a fan of park hopping but I guess we can consider it.

We are planning on both Genie+ and the individual LL options.

[curbsideprophet]

I would add another day at HS. I know you said you are not rope drop people, but I would consider doing it a couple of times to take advantage of the early morning entry for resort guests. Maybe on one of your EP days since that is a little later start.

[quesyrah]

Oct 27, 2021 11:03:05 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

I would add another day at HS. I know you said you are not rope drop people, but I would consider doing it a couple of times to take advantage of the early morning entry for resort guests. Maybe on one of your EP days since that is a little later start.

Yeah, we watched a few YouTube videos last night and decided we are probably going to need to rope drop at least a couple of days even with using Genie+ and LL.

We are for sure going to rope drop Hollywood studios.

What about the others- should we rope drop all of them?

[curbsideprophet]

If you are willing to pay for the individual attraction selections you may not need to rope drop every park.

You could plan to rope drop the day after your off days. Try it once and see what you think. If you don’t like it, adjust.

I also think the whole Genie+ system is so new it is hard to say how it will be working in a few months. I know I am still trying to figure out how best to use it.

[quesyrah]

Oct 28, 2021 20:51:46 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

If you are willing to pay for the individual attraction selections you may not need to rope drop every park.

You could plan to rope drop the day after your off days. Try it once and see what you think. If you don’t like it, adjust.

I also think the whole Genie+ system is so new it is hard to say how it will be working in a few months. I know I am still trying to figure out how best to use it.

Agree about Genie+!

I’m in a Disney World FB group and there are countless posts a day. It seems either people love it and it increases the amount of rides they were able to do and some people felt it was worthless because standby lines were so short.

We’ll do it regardless. I have an autoimmune disease and will be taking my walker so I’d like to tae advantage of being able to shorten my wait times.