Two- or three-day visit

[Pilsy]

My parents bought a place 20 minutes from WDW a few years ago, and we're finally going down to see it and visit them for April vacation. Yay! 

I'm sure I'll be back for more advice, but at this point, I have few preliminary questions: 

• We can do two or three days in the parks. Given the info below, which would you advise?
• I think MK and Hollywood Studios will be good for us. Would you recommend another plan? 
• If we opt for three days instead of two, should we do a second day at MK or try a third park?

Here's some of what's already been decided or is factoring into our decisions: 

• My parents will likely do some short excursions with us, but they aren't interested in going to Disney and will be seeing my girls for the first time since Christmas, so we need some non-park days with them. 
• The house is plenty big for all of us and has a pool, so no concerns with staying there. We all get along great and often spend weeks together (at their primary home) in the summer. 
• Especially since we have a free place to stay, my H and I don't want to pay for more than a night or two on Disney property, but we realize it will be a fun experience and make getting to the park in the morning much easier!
• We'll definitely do Disney again next year and/or the year after that. Beyond that, I'm unsure. Nothing against Disney (we like it!) but we're not superfans. 
• We've booked a room at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista for Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and we can change up the days, but I don't think my H will consider another hotel since he likes the price and is able to use Hilton points here. 
• The girls will be turning 9 and 6 right after the trip. 
• The crowd calendar suggests we should do Hollywood Studios Wednesday and Magic Kingdom Thursday. If we add Tuesday, we'll do MK or...?  

Thank you!! 

[Pilsy]

Any advice?

[redhead610]

Jan 12, 2023 10:19:21 GMT -5 Pilsy said:

My parents bought a place 20 minutes from WDW a few years ago, and we're finally going down to see it and visit them for April vacation. Yay! 

I'm sure I'll be back for more advice, but at this point, I have few preliminary questions: 

• We can do two or three days in the parks. Given the info below, which would you advise?
• I think MK and Hollywood Studios will be good for us. Would you recommend another plan? 
• If we opt for three days instead of two, should we do a second day at MK or try a third park?

Here's some of what's already been decided or is factoring into our decisions: 

• My parents will likely do some short excursions with us, but they aren't interested in going to Disney and will be seeing my girls for the first time since Christmas, so we need some non-park days with them. 
• The house is plenty big for all of us and has a pool, so no concerns with staying there. We all get along great and often spend weeks together (at their primary home) in the summer. 
• Especially since we have a free place to stay, my H and I don't want to pay for more than a night or two on Disney property, but we realize it will be a fun experience and make getting to the park in the morning much easier!
• We'll definitely do Disney again next year and/or the year after that. Beyond that, I'm unsure. Nothing against Disney (we like it!) but we're not superfans. 
• We've booked a room at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista for Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and we can change up the days, but I don't think my H will consider another hotel since he likes the price and is able to use Hilton points here. 
• The girls will be turning 9 and 6 right after the trip. 
• The crowd calendar suggests we should do Hollywood Studios Wednesday and Magic Kingdom Thursday. If we add Tuesday, we'll do MK or...?  

Thank you!! 

As far as an extra day, I think it depends on their likes. I'd skip Animal Kingdom. There is SO much to do at MK, so that's probably where you'd want the extra day. HS rides lean toward an older age group, so if you plan to go back in the next year or 2 you could plan to spend more time there then.

[Pilsy]

Thank you, redhead610!!

[CrazyLucky]

We just got back from Disney. We stayed offsite this time, about 15 minutes away, and honestly, it wasn't more difficult to get to the parks. We had to pay for parking, but that's cheaper than staying at the hotel. Also, getting on the shuttle bus with a stroller is a pain in the neck. Last time we went, DD was 5 and DS was 7. We brought the stroller and thank God because it would have been too much without it. Plus it was nice to throw all our water bottles and assorted crap in the bottom of it.
My kids are 10 and 12 now, and they were mostly bored at MK. They are past the age of waiting in line for autographs (yay!). We did MK one day, Epcot one day, and Hollywood Studios two days, mostly because DS and DH are major Star Wars fans. The new ride at Epcot, Guardians of the Galaxy was pretty awesome. If your kids are still interested in meeting characters, MK is the place to be. (Although you can knock out a lot of characters at certain dining experiences. Hollywood and Vine in HS has Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto. The Disney princess breakfast in Epcot had allll the princesses.)
Also, your plan to take down days is excellent. When we went last week, we had tickets for four days and were there for five, so we had one down day. I probably could have used a second down day. Interesting side note, our down day was January 8 and Bolsonaro was staying at the same resort we were.

[Patsy Baloney]

I would throw out that Epcot is great for meeting characters, too, and a lot more low-key. We stumbled into Daisy, belle, Snow White, goofy, Donald, and minnie in low key places all around the park. I’m an adult, but I love a pic and a hug from the characters. All in good fun, and done within 10 minutes.

To your plans, I thought Magic Kingdom was an easier 1-day park, especially if you utilize Genie+. On our last visit, we got to the park by 9am and were done with all the rides we wanted to do by the second parade time at 3pm. We truly just smashed MK. Tons of snacks, pics, rides, etc., to the point where we ended up switching our second MK park day to Epcot.

Hollywood Studios is another beast. I felt like this park was a lot harder to “do it all” or even get most of what you wanted done in 1 day. The lines just get so long so quickly for everything. We divided it into 2 days, one focused on Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land, the other focused on ToT, RnR, MMRR, repeat rides, and the shows. If you can stay for Fantasmic, do it! So great!

All that is to say, I’d go 3 days, put a hopper on if you don’t mind parting with a few more bucks, purchase Genie+ and be aggressive each day with your selections, and if you intend to hop, stack your genie selections late in the day for your second park to walk in like you own the place. Start 2 days at HS and 1 at MK, and hop out to Epcot, MK or AK if you want something new at 2pm when HS wait times stack up.

[nicolewi]

I don't know, this is hard and I was only there with my kids in 2019. They were just turned 4, 6, 8, and 10.

if your kids care about characters, I'd do a character meal. Otherwise, I'd pretty much not worry about them, personally. Unless someone loves a particular princess, and then I'd look into opportunities at Epcot or MK to meet that one.

I'm super torn on whether you should do Epcot, or 2 days in MK. I could see it both ways. If anyone really loves Frozen, I'd do Epcot. But if not, maybe stick to MK and have two more relaxed days instead of a huge rush. Or, like someone else suggested, pay for the park hoppers and decide later.

My kids LOVED the parade in MK at those ages. I was totally amazed by the evening fireworks show. All of my kids had a ton of fun in HS and that was before Galaxy's Edge.

[Pilsy]

Thank you all!

[gardengal]

Personally, if you visit your family each year, I’d just do 2 days. And I’d only stay on property if you get a good perk. If you don’t stay on property, I’d fuel some money into what will make your time extra special, whether that’s a character meal (my kids never cared about characters) or pass for shorter lines (it’s been a few years for me, I’m not current on options).

I grew up near-Ish by so went every few years when family would come to visit. We only did daytrips & it was still awesome even though we weren’t enrobed in the “Disney Bubble.”

Trust, you’ll have an awesome time & with having easy access & free lodging you can hone each trip to see additional things/explore new interests

[aprilsails]

We just visited my Mom at a rental house 20 minutes from Disney. I don’t think staying on site would be worth the extra 30 minutes in the morning. I would just stay with family. Parking was a breeze and well managed. Granted, I’ve never stayed on site so I have no frame of reference for how awesome that might be.

We only did one day at Disney with a 3 and 7 year old. We did AK then MK with a Genie+. Somehow we managed to fit in 7 lightning lane rides (without paying extra) so we barely waited in line. However, we skipped all the rollercoasters since my DD was not interested. Obviously it’s not as busy right now. We felt our kids were too young for HS and DH and I love AK so we started there.

Unless it is crazy busy when you go I would think a whole day at MK and HS would be enough. If you want to do a third day then I would personally get a hopper and do AK in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon/evening since it is open late.

[Pilsy]

Jan 27, 2023 12:04:41 GMT -5 gardengal said:

Personally, if you visit your family each year, I’d just do 2 days. And I’d only stay on property if you get a good perk. If you don’t stay on property, I’d fuel some money into what will make your time extra special, whether that’s a character meal (my kids never cared about characters) or pass for shorter lines (it’s been a few years for me, I’m not current on options).

I grew up near-Ish by so went every few years when family would come to visit. We only did daytrips & it was still awesome even though we weren’t enrobed in the “Disney Bubble.”

Trust, you’ll have an awesome time & with having easy access & free lodging you can hone each trip to see additional things/explore new interests

This is super helpful! I feel like everyone I speak with IRL is all, "MORE DAYS!!!!" but I think they underestimate how exciting just going to FL will be for my children.  

Jan 29, 2023 5:23:38 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

We just visited my Mom at a rental house 20 minutes from Disney. I don’t think staying on site would be worth the extra 30 minutes in the morning. I would just stay with family. Parking was a breeze and well managed. Granted, I’ve never stayed on site so I have no frame of reference for how awesome that might be.

We only did one day at Disney with a 3 and 7 year old. We did AK then MK with a Genie+. Somehow we managed to fit in 7 lightning lane rides (without paying extra) so we barely waited in line. However, we skipped all the rollercoasters since my DD was not interested. Obviously it’s not as busy right now. We felt our kids were too young for HS and DH and I love AK so we started there.

Unless it is crazy busy when you go I would think a whole day at MK and HS would be enough. If you want to do a third day then I would personally get a hopper and do AK in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon/evening since it is open late.

This is so helpful, too! Thank you so much. We will be there over a school vacation, so I expect it will be busy, but especially given the advice above, I will invest in the Genie+ and trust it will be great. My mom is planning some nonDisney excursions for the days we are with her and my dad, so I don't think we'll be hurting for entertainment!