I don’t know about a specific order, but since we like AK the least, I refuse to do it our last day. The last trip, we did MK first and will be doing that again in May. We’ve changed up our last day. In May it is HS, but we are finishing up at MK so we can ride BTMRR near park closing (we have hoppers). It’s on refurb until the day before the last day of our trip.
We plan park days as it fits with our schedule and the best way to obtain the most difficult fastpasses.
MK first!!! What I’m most excited about! And MK last! atleast last night For one last look and shopping.
I always like to do AK last; mainly because Flight of Passage is so wonderful and when I save that for the last day of my trip then I am more likely to get a FP for it! Also, it is the hottest park and we always visit over the summer or in September. The heat wears you out and I would rather not get worn out earlier in my trip but just pack weary on top of weary! 
I also follow ISUamanda’s strategy and do my least-favorite park first. This is currently Epcot for us since we like rides more than anything and Epcot has some good ones but not as many as other parks. Even my least-favorite park is still amazing and it really helps draw out the fun of the trip that way!
Finally, I always try to book an “Early Morning Magic” or “After Hours” event on each trip. It just makes the trip more magical. Then on the day of that event I feel like I can relax a bit more and move at a slower pace because I will have less FOMO!
Normally the order of the parks hasn’t mattered to me on previous trips but my next one in March (4 nights) I purposely put Hollywood Studios on our last park day so that I could get a FP for Slinky Dog earlier in the day. Today was my 60 days and I got SDD FP for lunch time (earliest time available) at 60+4. It wasn’t available at all when I looked at earlier days in our trip. So if it’s important to you to get a fast pass for SDD or FOP at AK, you may want to visit those parks later in your trip.
I did not expect this answer but it makes sense. EPCOT has always been a favorite (along with AK) but it looks to be a mess right now.
We have also tried to hit MK on the last day. It was a mistake last trip as we had a breakfast at 1900 PF after resort checkout and didn’t hit MK until mid-day and it turned out to be a CL10 day. Not a great way to end the trip.
You are just so sensible LOL
There’s something to be said though for immersing yourself in a park for 2 straight days. You really get the vibe. Last fall, we hopped between parks sometimes to 3 in a day and while awesome for some reasons, you don’t get that park vibe if you are in and out for just a few attractions IMO.
Good point re FPP.
And definitely for a first timer! Disney is seeing that castle in forced perspective!!
Ahh the good old days. Although I really like a plan–maybe it’s to manage kid expectations though
I was thinking that this strategy might be a good way to eat dinners several days at Epcot and get a few attractions done there each evening without having to RD. Why did you change your strategy?.
I try to start with MK and end with MK.
For years we’d do a week at a Disney resort with length of stay park admission and go to Epcot every evening for supper - doing a Future World pavilion and a couple of country pavilions each night. We did this with kids as young as 2.
Then we started exchanging into a DVC villa for a week and using the Armed Forces Salute tickets for 4 days. We’ve enjoyed having more resort time. I think we’re getting older and slower.
(I KNOW we’re getting older and slower. 
)
Epcot is still our hands down favorite park. On our next trip we’ll have 4 evenings and two mornings for touring. We’ll be at Epcot twice (both evenings), AK twice and MK and HS once.
Hope you enjoy more evenings at Epcot!
My only real preference is to visit MK last. It’s just the nostalgia. And the last 2 trips (We have only taken 2 trips with my kids) we have ended at MK. We also got to end this last trip with a kitchen sink. Yum!
The other is that we space out the other days. No back to back days at the same park.
We bookend with MK. The other parks we visit typically based on the CL. This year, we are doing 2 days of HS and only a half day at EP.
Our last trip we had AK as bookend. And plan to take the same method this time around. Then base the rest of the parks on lowest CL’s. We drive, usually leaving around 10-11pm drive until we hit a point of 4-5 hours away and spend a day at the beach. It lets the kids sleep almost the entire way. The next morning we are up early and reach WDW around 12-1pm and after check-in, refresh our car-selves, grab a drink, we are in AK by 2. We have the rest of the parks just mixed up, I think HS is further into our stay. But AK seems to be a 1/2 day each time for us. The kids look forward to 4 things and then want to hit the resort pool. So breaking it up gives us FPP for each day and the kids get pool time, too.
Primarily based on FPs and ADRs, but I try to book those based on CLs and park hours. I look at what rides are down or special events are planned. Look at EMH and EMM. With younger kids I also try not to book two back-to-back full park days (i.e. for us that means not MK and HS, but MK followed by AK or EP is fine).
Ideally, in the time before planning for WDW was necessary, I would go with MK first, followed by AK, HS, and end with Epcot.
Ideally, MK on both the first and last day. But, I change things up if (a) there is a large difference in CL, (b) there is a difficult ADR (like CRT) that I can only get on certain days, or © I want a FOP or SDD FP and need to move HS or AK to the end of my trip to get one.
I may adopt your Epcot dinner and pavilion evening strategy. I struggle with Epcot, I think because it’s just so large and hard to focus.
As for the original question - if I’m with the kids, we start and end in MK. Walking down Main Street and seeing the castle is arriving at Disney. We ended with HS in 2018 and it felt a bit off. In 2019 we ended with MK and our last thing as a family was meeting Mickey (thanked him for a wonderful stay at the parks) and then the Festival of Fantasy parade. We did some other attractions afterwards but not all together.
Hmmmmm…We ended our trip with a mid-day visit to MK before a late DME pickup last trip. We didn’t arrive at MK until peak crowd time (about 1 pm) on a CL9 day bc of a character brunch elsewhere, and it was honestly less than magical! So many people everywhere! For our next trip, MK has a party and closes at 6 on our last park day so I was thinking we should maybe do MK the day before our last day (and then do HS RD and Epcot the final afternoon evening), but now this has me thinking we will have regrets. But I don’t know that going to MK the last morning and then hopping to Epcot the last afternoon is really “ending the trip at MK” anyway. Perhaps this is the universe’s way of telling me to get party tix?
Yes, that is absolutely the message from the universe. And party days usually have low crowd levels so you can knock out so much! Our first day was a party day and then we hopped to GF for the 1900 PF dinner.
Our last MK day this trip was nuts. Felt like a 10 (which I knew was the projected level going in). It was packed with people and tried my patience a bit. However I mitigated the CL some with a 10:15 ADR at BOG and then 12ish ADR at Tony’s or the FOF package. Normally I can’t eat back to back like that but by the time we were eating enough time had passed - and really, I was focusing on the wine (our waiter was a trip. I ordered the chianti and he just said “No, I’ll bring you something nicer.”). The package gave us access to the reserved section for FOF too. So we had lots of breaks from the crowds.
Since we’d already knocked out the headliners on Day 1, we focused on things like - seeing the Main Street vehicles, trying to pull out the sword, Mickey’s Philharmagic, etc. It wasn’t a FP 7DMT type of day (although I was able to grab 2 for 5pm, right after snagging 2 for Pooh).
I normally do not care-however- there is one MUST on my list. Whichever part is our most important park I never schedule on our last day. If it is a washout we wouldn’t have a day to make it up if it is a one park a day trip. I always have a plan B for whichever park is #1