Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios for 2nd Day?

[Busterbailey]

So I'm looking for some advice for seasoned Disney travelers that may have experienced this decision before. We are planning a mid/late June, 9 night stay with a 6 day base ticket. Our daughter will be turning 3 during the trip. We are planning on visiting MK 2 days (first and last day) and the rest of the parks as well. Between Epcot, AK, and HS, which are worth going for a 2nd day and why? We are thinking Epcot might not be worth going a 2nd day with a basically 3yo. We were thinking of waiting to see which one she enjoys the most, but with FP and possibly a ADR we would rather plan.

Much appreciated!

 

[KrystenM93]

Hi there!

I have been taking my son since he was little as well. Celebrating her birthday at Disney will be a blast! There are a lot of freebies & upgrades you can get from her wearing her birthday button, so make sure she wears it during the whole trip. In my opinion, AK is so hot. They truly make it feel like a jungle in there. We spent one day in there and we were exhausted from the heat-my son felt sick. We love Hollywood Studios and with Toy Story Land opening this year, it would be worth visiting a second day. There are a lot of shows to watch and a lot to experience there as well. We usually do two days in MK, two days in HS and two days in Epcot and maybe a day or half a day in AK. Epcot, even though a lot of people think it's mainly for adults, it has a lot for the littles too. You just have to know where to go and when one you get in there.

 

[Kae]

Epcot.

 

[verleniahall]

Stuiods - but then, we LOVE studios, even though it has an "owie"

 

[srwarden1928]

Assuming I am already spending at least one day in each park, a second day at Epcot always comes in handy for me. It is such a big park, and time in World Showcase can so easily get away from you. For me I would do the second day at Epcot on a five day trip instead of the second day at MK, not that a second day at MK isn't a good idea. And it's not that I don't love HS and AK, I do, it's just that they are smaller, or at least seem that way. Yes I know AK is technically the largest due to the size of Safari, but that is one attraction--one of my favorites, but only one attraction.

 

[Crystal824]

Assuming you don't have PH, I would take option three. A third day at MK. With a three year old, there is lots to do there. If you are stuck on a second day at one of the other parks, I would do Epcot. It is so large, it is hard to do even the big things in one day unless Toy Story land is open at that time. Then I might change and do DHS.

 

[stsomewhere]

Epcot My kids cold spend hours playing in the jumping water fountain.

 

[ktlm]

When my DD was 3 it was absolutely EPCOT. Still would be today and she is 11 now. We only spent 1 day at EPCOT when she was 2 and were there open to close and quickly realized it was a 2 day park for her. So many areas to just explore and so many Princesses and other characters to meet! It really depends on your child though. My DD never liked AK at that age because we had a great zoo at home and AK didn't have a Princess presence and very few rides for that age. Some kids love it though. As a preschooler, she always wanted to leave there by noon to go back to MK or EPCOT.

 

[jessbee25]

I would say EPCOT. I didn't think my daughter would care for it but she actually had a lot of fun with the cardboard Duffy bears going around to each country and getting stamps and drawings. It was cool for the adults too, we would ask the different CM about their countries while the kids colored their bears. She also loves all the boat rides (we rode Gran Fiesta Tour about 5 times in one day!) and had a blast with the jumping fountains. HS would only be worth a second day if Toy Story Land was open by then, and even still I think we would have a hard time filling one day up there. The same with AK. Unless you plan on waiting for FoP and getting rider swap, I would just add another MK day instead if EPCOT doesn't seem like her thing.

 

[kboo]

Either Epcot for all the reasons above, or MK for a 3rd day. MK is sensory overload, loud and crowded, so if you want something a little more relaxed, I would go to Epcot. Epcot's such a spread out park, and I do think it's underrated for little kids. My kids loved the various rides, the shows around the World Showcase were fun too. My DD1 loved loved loved the Chinese acrobats in China when she was 3. I have video of her in an Elsa dress dancing around afterwards (thinking she's doing acrobatics, ha).

 

[AFwifelife]

Epcot or more MK. My kids don't like sitting for shows so that limits them to one ride at HS. Epcot has a ton of things to do and see and you find new stuff at every visit. If anything, my kids would actually choose Epcot over MK. MK is major sensory overload.

My kids are 4 and 2.5.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Epcot. Both my kids favorite park and had been since they were little.

 

[Owl X]

I recommend Hollywood Studios as it has 2 night shows: Fantasmic & Star Wars Galactic Spectacular.
Hollywood Studios has several shows that have specific times.

Toy Story Land may also be open by the time you visit in June.
Only 1 Tier 1 FastPass+ can be prebooked each day at DHS. 2 days would allow you a Tier 1 ride each day.

 

[Average Joes]

I would go where the adults want to go for the 2nd day. Kids can have fun at any of the parks.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I’m going to go against the grain and say AK. Some of the reasons being that since you are going in the summer and this park is the largest in size, has the least amount of indoor attractions, and feels the hottest out of all the parks it may be better to plan two half days there. I love AK and feel it has the most immersive theming out of any park at WDW and with Pandora, ROL, and two of the best shows at Disney (Lion King and Nemo), I feel there is plenty to do there. My kids love the live performances, Kilimanjaro Safari, and can spend hours in Dinoland because of the Boneyard playground there. There is also the train ride over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch where there is a Doc Mcstuffins meet and greet and a nice petting zoo area. There’s plenty of fun for young children at AK, so I would definitely be inclined to break it up into two days if possible considering the summer climate and the large size of the park. Have fun .

 

[nesser1981]

That's hard, I don't think you need two days for HS. For me as an Adult, I'd say Epcot hands down, but AK could be a two day park too because of it's size. And it get so HOT there, I know the other parks get hot too, but it just seems like the worst one to me for the heat, I don't know why.. You might want to take breaks.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I agree with those who said another MK day...best park by far for a toddler

 

[MrsSLF]

I know I’m pretty late chiming in here but we would have done another day at MK or AK at that age. My daughter loves animals and AK (this includes living close to and having a membership to the National Zoo) makes her so happy! Granted, now that she’s older and taller, she loves the park even more because she can ride Expedition Everest and FOP. Prior to our past trip last June, she loved the park for the safari and simply watching the animals (not to mention the shows available). Otherwise, our go-to is MK and we spend as much time there as possible and get the PH so we can visit a current half day park (like HS for now) and go to MK in the evening.

 

[friedela]

Not sure if you're still looking for advice but I can tell you how we planned our trip and why... first of all you should really look into undercover tourist crowd calendar for crowd numbers because I've heard that if you only visit the recommended park for that day it can make a huge difference in the crowds and your overall experience. I've never been! But that's what I've heard You can see it here:

https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/

So for us we are doing HS on a Monday (because crowds tend to be higher at MK on Monday's), then MK, rest day, AK, then ending with MK again. We aren't doing Epcot so I can't speak to that one. HTH