Hi! We are all booked to bring my almost 7 year old son for his first visit to Disney in mid March. Yay! We are staying at Pop Century 3/19-3/24. Due to flight times we are looking at likely 4 1/2 days for the parks. I am trying to prep for FPP selection next week but having trouble deciding how many days at each park. I stressing and have a few questions!
My son is not likely to want to ride the really “thrill” rides like space Mountain or RRC but does say he wants to try TSL. I doubt we will try FOP but definitely Navi River. Any suggestions on how many days we should try for each park? Is 1/2 day at Epcot enough and if we don’t do FOP is there enough at AK for a whole day? I know this depends on the person but any suggestions are appreciated!
Also, as of now CL have HS and AK at 5 at the beginning of our trip and MK is a 7 the whole time. I was thinking of doing HS and AK first then MK the last 2 days but I am sort of hesitant to keep MK for the end of the trip because it has the most to do! Is there a big difference between a 5 and 7 CL day ? How would you guys split up a 4 1/2 day trip.
And…My son doesn’t want to meet characters (he has sensory issues and doesn’t like most of them) although he asked for a reservation at garden grill to “see” chip and dale so I have one on our first night. Will that one 1/2 day at Epcot be enough for a 6 year old?
Thanks so much for any advice so I can give my boy the best first trip I can with limited time!!
If he’s not into thrill rides I’d personally do 1/2 day at DHS. When we took our first trip with kids we did 1/2 day (arrival) at DHS, day 2 at Epcot, day 3 at MK, day 4 at AK and last day at MK. The way we looked at it as 1.5 days and building up to MK, then AK, then closing the trip with MK.
DHS has the least to do IMO unless you are into thrill rides. Epcot has a lot to do besides rides - lots of interactive stuff, good food, the KidCot stations in World Showcase are a lot of fun, and the Agent P interactive game is great. You can spend a lot of time just doing that. AK also has a decent amount beyond thrills with all the animal exhibits, the playground, Safari, shows… I’d recommend the half day at DHS, full days at Epcot and AK, and two days at MK.
Also consider a mid day break each full day. Parks get crowded midday and kids get tired.
If you use the Touring plan software to make good plans, you won’t notice the difference between a 5 and a 7.
We will be there at Pop for some of those days too! I agree with @mikejs78, I think 2 days at MK, 1 at AK, 1 at Epcot, and 1/2 at HS is the way to go.
A partial day at Epcot is certainly doable though especially if you aren’t that into the WS part. My kids love Epcot though and always have but they may not be the norm (now my youngest is 7). Lots of shows at HS but overall not as much to do there without thrill rides IMO. Are you planning to PH? If so, lots of different ways to plan.
When we went in November we had 4 park days with park hopper. So we did MK/AK, then MK/HS, Epcot, MK. Our kids are 5 and 2 and they loved MK. AK got rained out so hard to tell, HS was fun but we didn’t spend a lot of time. I started on MK because my daughter didn’t really get she was at Disney until she saw the castle!
I think your plan sounds great! We did find hopping tiring as you can see Day 3 we were done hopping. It my kids are little.
Whatever you pick it will be a great time. Sounds like your son has done things picked out so I think your idea of starting where he is most excited is a good one!
Thanks! Yes we got the park hoppers but I started to worry that it will be too exhausting to go back and forth! But if anyone has any tips for making it a little easier I’ll take them! I’m expecting it to be a busy trip and my son is a trooper but I can picture my husband crashing out early with too much going on each day😀
When I went with my 3.5 y/o daughter and 13 month old son for 4 days, we did 2.5 days at MK, 1 days at AK and 1/2 day at Epcot. Next trip we will likely do the same except subbing 1 day at HS for the 1 day at AK.
If it were me, I would do the first day at MK for a couple reasons. First, I think MK is the park that is most fun for young kids and the most “Disney” of the parks. Second, MK has the most rides both in quantity, variety and thrill (or non-thrill) level so whatever your son likes, there will likely be rides for him. Also, I would not do your first day at HS if you want FP for Slinky Dog as that may be very tough to get at 60 days. If you want Slinky Dog FPs, I would schedule it later in the trip … your last day would give you the best odds for Slinky Dog FP availability.
In terms of figuring out which parks for how many days, the first thing I do is write down for each park which attractions are “must do” for your family and which are of interest but not “must dos”. I highly recommend 2 days at MK because there is so much there, and then figuring out the other parks based on the lists you make. After going through that exercise we picked AK over HS last trip because we thought our daughter would enjoy Navi River, Safari, Lion King Show, and meeting Mickey/Minnie at Adventurer’s Outpost over the best options for her at HS. Epcot was a “must” for us because she loves Frozen.
I’m siding with the 2 MK, 1 EP, 1 AK, 1/2 DHS crowd.
My guess would be that MK [FantasyLand,FrontierLand,AdventureLand & Circus] and HS [ToyStoryLand] will generate request for repeats. In addition I always plan for 2 days at MK and spread them out to leverage against bad weather. So … MK; 1/2 EP + 1/2 HS; AK; MK, 1/2 for repeats.