Which park to skip?

[starousse]

Hi All,

Heading down in February and only plan on doing 3 or 4 park days, 2 of which will be MK. I'm going with my 12 year old son and 9 year old daughter. Which of the parks would you skip and not think twice?

 

[No.1000]

HS is our least favorite.

 

[need2travel]

We usually skip AK mostly because we (DH & I) aren't huge park people. It would be HS but we stay at BWI so with HS being within walking distance we'll pop over for an hour or two.

 

[kwdw]

And not think twice? You are kidding, right?

Really - just assess your kid's interests and decide based on that. With a 12 and 9 yo - any of the parks could be great for them. And it also depends on how often you go. I know a kid in that range that goes often enough that she would go for one day at MK - just to hit more parks. She hates skipping a park. But she can skip "some attractions" during a day.

In general - 3 or 4 is a short trip. My default would be 4 days - 4 parks. But - once we hit 5 days - the first park that gets a second day is always MK for us.

 

[Tksolomom]

I would skip Epcot, I like the park, but I don’t know how much interest your kids will have in the World Showcase. My kids like shopping but it is still their least favorite park.

HS has ToT, RnR and some good shows for kid land too. I haven’t been to Toystory land yet but am looking forward to it. AK is my favorite park, I love the animals and EE, the safari. Once again, I haven’t been to Pandora, but can’t wait. I love how you feel like you are somewhere completely different and can relax there.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

HS is my choice. On our last two visits we didn't even visit the park. My son has NEVER seen, or even thinks about The Studios.

 

[ktlm]

Having just returned from a trip less then 2 weeks ago I would say DHS. AK used to be our least favorite park, but Pandora has changed that. Pandora is very well done - FOP is absolutely amazing and we really liked Navi too.

DHS right now feels overly crowded even on a lower crowd day. The Great Movie Ride had an hourly capacity of over 2000. With it shut down, those people that would be in that building are all in other places in the parks. There are currently only 6 rides at DHS. I think SDD and Alien Saucers put together have an hourly ride capacity of less than the Great Movie Ride. The Disney Jr. show is also shut down which means that the people that would have been there are also out in the parks as well as those that might have been drawing at the Animation Studio which is closed. We really felt like there was a big impact to that park from what we have experienced there in the past. We typically really enjoy that park, but not this trip. Even though we did a Fantasmic Dining package lunch, none of us wanted to stay until Fantasmic. We just wanted to get out of there. Toy Story Land is a dead end bottleneck of wall to wall people. We did not find it fun (also while it will not affect you in February there is absolutely no shade in that area and it was miserably hot). TSM is great as always, and we really enjoyed Slinky Dog (weren't impressed with Aliens which is just the now closed Frances Ladybug ride from California Adventure on a different scale)-- but that area was a ride the rides and then get out of there as soon as possible area. I think DHS will be great once Star Wars Land and the Mickey and Minnie ride open (aside from the fact that the initial Star Wars land crowds will likely be insane)-- but we all decided that we don't really want to go back to DHS until that happens --- or at least we will just FP the favorites, have a meal and then hop to a different park. Are hoppers an option? You might not have to skip a park if you do hoppers.

 

[ArwenMarie]

If I had three days, I would do two MK and one DHS. If I had to skip one, it would be Epcot

 

[bwang123]

I would get park hoppers and not skip any.

 

[-_Stitch-Up-Scrump_-]

Definitely HS, maybe when Star Wars Land is added though, that will change. It just does not compare to any of the parks right now, even with all of the new changes.

 

[bigeyedfish]

We are likely skipping DHS. We aren’t Star Wars or Disney Jr fans, and I’m the only one that likes Toy Story! We have 5 Park days and are doing: AK, MK x2, Epcot. Our last day I’m thinking about just winging it and letting the kids choose which park to revisit. DHS gets pretty mixed reviews.

 

[CAQDaddy]

I would skip Epcot, I like the park, but I don’t know how much interest your kids will have in the World Showcase. My kids like shopping but it is still their least favorite park.

HS has ToT, RnR and some good shows for kid land too. I haven’t been to Toystory land yet but am looking forward to it. AK is my favorite park, I love the animals and EE, the safari. Once again, I haven’t been to Pandora, but can’t wait. I love how you feel like you are somewhere completely different and can relax there.

I so agree with your last sentence. Animal Kingdom is soooo immersive. You are escaping to other continents.

 

[SG131]

Well I would always think twice about skipping a park! I think it really depends on what your kids like. When I was their age tower of terror was my favorite ride and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. If they like something closer to a thrill ride HS is the place to go. I think I’d skip AK, but I’m not a big fan of animals and it may be tough for you to get a FOP FP on such a short trip.

On second thought, I’d do what the other poster suggested and get park hoppers and do a split Epcot/ak or Epcot/hs day!

 

[Happy2BMommy0812]

My kids LOVED the new slinky dog ride. If you are doing 2 days at magic, I would probably do a day at animal and then a day at HS. I’d skip EPCOT that time of year. (Now, if it was March/April or Fall food and wine time, no way would I skip EPCOT). You could also consider park hopping HS in the morning and EPCOT at night.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

Hi All,

Heading down in February and only plan on doing 3 or 4 park days, 2 of which will be MK. I'm going with my 12 year old son and 9 year old daughter. Which of the parks would you skip and not think twice?

For that age, probably DHS. My nephews were around that age during our last visit (their first Disney trip) and they were probably the most underwhelmed there.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would skip Epcot. FW can be done in a half day or less. My kids would much rather skip WS for DHS and AK.

At 12 and 9 my kids favorite rides were ToT and RnRC. No way would we skip DHS.

AK is such a unique park with some awesome rides. We wouldn't skip it. EE, Safari and now FOP.

 

[starousse]

Thanks for all of the responses. We've been going every year for the last 8 years or so. Just returned from a 10 night trip in August, so we've pretty much seen it all. As of now, it looks like the husband and kids are leaning more towards Epcot, but that will probably change.

 

[ang79]

We are going with 4 park days at the end of March and are having this problem too. Our last trip was 3 years ago for 6 days with park hopper. This time it is shorter and no park hopper. I'm thinking we will skip HS and do two days at either MK or AK.

 

[friedela]

This was exactly our plan for our last trip! We went in Feb as well and had 4 days in the parks, 2 also being MK. We did HS and AK and skipped Epcot. My kids were 6 and 8 and I didn't think they would enjoy Epcot.

Next time we would probably skip AK and probably still Epcot again. We loved the shows at AK (Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo were great!) but the rides were just ok for us (not a big fan of the Pandora stuff). We personally LOVED Hollywood Studios but I have a son who loves Star Wars I think with Toy Story Land now open Hollywood Studios is worth a visit.

 

[wilbret]

In that scenario, we'd park hop between AK and HS or Epcot, etc. Is that a possibility for you? I don't think I'd spend a full day in HS, for sure. You could wrap up the day there, and enjoy Fantasmic?