very early day planning, but busy later in year so want to get on top of things now. Going next July 10 days WDW in OKW and then 4 nights universal HRH. on dining plan at disney. Kids will be 16,13 and 9. We want to fit in water parks and also day trip to kennedy and a shopping afternoon or 2. which parks do you think need more than 1 day? DO you think it is good idea to split some into 1/2 days so can do evenings with dinner in park and then fireworks etc and spend morning in water park/ hotel/ shopping. Previously have always done 2 days in MK but not sure necessary now, may want 2 in epcot or even AK wiht pandora etc
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Normally we do full days in each park but last year we did split them up a bit, we had a pool morning one day and a shopping afternoon. We also had 4 days at Universal so we must have had 10 Disney days.
We did 2 full days at EP, HS 1 afternoon, 1 morning, 1 full day and then a couple of hours on departure day, MK 1 evening, 1 full day, 1 morning, 1 full day at AK, 1 WP day (though left about 2). This was before Pandora opened though obviously. The rest of the time was DS, pool, or mall. It was me, DH and DS11. We had afternoon breaks every day except the AK day.
I would say AK depends on the FP selections you are able to get. If you get one for FOP you’re golden. We did one day (9-2ish) and one evening (3-8). And we were able to do everything we wanted. Some rides more than once.
You may not need 2 full days at MK since your kids are older, I would maybe do 2 half days with one being an evening. The HEA fireworks are the best nighttime show imo.
With 10 days you should be able to cover a lot without over doing it. Just make FP selections for your priority rides and plan midday breaks at the pool/hotel.
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The rule is generally 2 days each at EPCOT and MK with one day each at HS and AK. I will tell you that on my last visitwith my 10 and 9 year old sons, we did MK in a short day because we skipped a lot of flat rides like Dumbo and Magic Carpets because they are just well themed carnival rides.
I think a well developed touring plan (Like the ones on this site or in the Unofficial Guide) are essential to maximizing time in the parks, and using them you’ll discovery that you may not need all the time you think you might need.
Are you at universal with on site hotel universal express pass?
Yes, universal is not really an issue as will have early access and universal express entry as staying at hard rock hotel. so the 4 nights we have there will be plenty. We have park hopper tickets for 14 days for both disney and universal as from UK that is usually the best value tickets. Staying at Old Key West but will have a car so may use that at disney rather than transport for some of the days, especially if going to water park in morning but somewhere else in evening.
My “usual” trip is 5 park days; 1.5 at MK and EP, and one day at the other two. But with the additions to AK and the closures at DHS, it might turn into 1.5 at AK and 0.5 at DHS.
Well if you are at HRH for four days I really think the best thing to do is get up early for your early entry every morning and spend the morning till about 12pm doing the rides each day then chill out and recover around the pool
That’s what we do when we are at a Universal Hotel
You will get to ride all your favourite rides at least twice during 4 mornings and see plenty of Harry Potter world
I think for dining then City Walk is better than any of the restaurants in the park in the evenings
Sometimes you could do a couple of rides rides the evenings as well
There’s a great steak and lobster restaurant in HRH (forget it’s name now)
You could also do a water park day if you fancy that whilst at Universal Hotel to break things up or even one of your visits to animal kingdom?
Maybe look to get fast passes for FOP on any of those days in the afternoon that you are at universal in the morning and just head to AK to get that done with a fast pass
Because that’s the ride that means you need longer at AK.
Our family would happily have gone To AK in the afternoon just to ride FOP with a fastpass after doing Universal in the morning
The rest of the rides you could easily do in a full day alongside FOP with a fastpass for FOP or Navi River
But FOP you will want to ride twice
Two Fastpasses for it would be ideal!!!
And Tiffins in the evening for dinner at AK is brilliant and you could maybe tag that on to an afternoon in the park?
It’s worth the visit just for the meal
Not sure if Toy Story Land is something which will appeal to your family, but it’s worth bearing in mind that it may be open when you go - so far they’ve just said it opens “summer 2018” so who knows… That could well push DHS from a 1 day park to 2 since I suspect they’ll tier the Fastpasses in the new area too, and it’s likely to be pretty busy to say the least…
We always start and end with MK. I think because it is the most “magical”. We tried to do 2 days at epcot instead but it just wasn’t the same. So for us, our extra days go through MK.
I hear a lot of people say the HS is a half day park. We have never found it to be just a half day, but we really enjoy the Star Wars stuff…if you aren’t into that, it may really only be a half day. AK for us is a half day park though. We used to go in the AM and then go somewhere else later on. We have found though, that arriving in the afternoon and staying for the evening is a better experience. Crowds don’t seem to be any different and we have always had a much better experience with seeing the animals in the evening. The safari ride between 5:30 and 6:30 is the absolute best! Plus we really enjoy rivers of light, and we’re looking forward to pandora at night for our next trip also!
I think it really just depends on what your family is really into.