Good idea? Going only to MK for 4 days in a row?

brent02139

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 13, 2017
So we have a DD3 who will turn 4 on next trip. On our previous trip, we had 5 days and we planned to go to all the parks, but usually the day at the park would end by 2pm, where we go back to the hotel to rest and chill. We probably would ride 4 or 5 rides (there's a lot of rides she won't do, like dark rides or scary rides), visit about a quarter of MK, and still feel we missed a lot. A thought came to me that we might be better off just focus on MK, that has the most 3 or 4 year olds attractions, be used to the MK and be comfortable, and fully explore the park. Anyone ever done this? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
 
By four my DS liked all the parks. There were things in every park he enjoyed. I think I would have gotten a bit burned out on 4 days at MK. I would recommend park hopper. With a child that age, well even now with no little ones, we love an early rope drop park, a mid afternoon nap/ break and then another park for dinner and evening.
 
Depends on you and your vacation habits. Could your kids stay longer? Last year I had my 4 yo daughter and 2 yo son. I rope dropped and stayed until the fireworks. I did two full MK days like that. I guess four half days is the same?

I personally would do two MK days and pick two other parks to go to and spend more time at the parks. Or if you have to go back and rest, go back at night. Seems like an awful waste of money if you're only going until 2pm each day.
 
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My kids love MK (7, 4, and 2). We were also able to stay the full day so we got a lot done in one day.
 
My kids would have bored to tears by the 3rd day, if not before. We have always done all 4 parks with them, from the time the oldest was 3 and the youngest was 15 months. I would do MK first and last (if you need 2 days there) and each of the other parks for a day. Epcot has always been my kids' favorite, followed by HS then MK and then AK.
 
So we have a DD3 who will turn 4 on next trip. On our previous trip, we had 5 days and we planned to go to all the parks, but usually the day at the park would end by 2pm, where we go back to the hotel to rest and chill. We probably would ride 4 or 5 rides (there's a lot of rides she won't do, like dark rides or scary rides), visit about a quarter of MK, and still feel we missed a lot. A thought came to me that we might be better off just focus on MK, that has the most 3 or 4 year olds attractions, be used to the MK and be comfortable, and fully explore the park. Anyone ever done this? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
All of the parks have rides appropriate for 4 year-olds. Get some variety.
 
On our first trip we did 4 MK days, 1 AK day and 2 rest days with 5.5 and 2.75 yr olds. We headed back to the resort in the afternoons and sometimes went back to the parks and sometimes just napped, swam and had dinner at the resort. For that trip I felt like we could have gotten by with just 3 MK days...but there is so much you can do if you want to slow it down and enjoy it. Listen to the Dapper Dans, catch a dance party, explore Tom Sawyer Island, do the pirate adventure scavenger hunt, etc.
 


It would be too much for my family. I would plan for 2 days in MK and 2 days in other parks. If you get down there and she really wants to keep doing MK you can switch it up. I think it's easier to pick up last minute fast passes at MK than at the other parks.
 
At 4 my DGD liked all of the parks. 4 days in the MK would be a nightmare for us.
 
Your daughter won't know what she's missing if you do the same park multiple days, so do what works for you. I'm surprised that you end your park days at 2pm though. We do parks from rope drop until about 1pm, head to the room for a nap, then return around 4-5pm until close. So for us, 2 days at MK is plenty to get everything in. We could do a third day, but there would be a lot of repeating (which would only bother me, my son loves to do the same things over and over).

If I were you, I'd work on getting back into the park after naptime. Even if you do 3 days at MK, you could try at least one other park for a day. Toy Story Land looks like fun, and we can generally get a full day out of Epcot or AK too. You really can't go wrong!
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. We have gone back to the park after nap but usually she would have a melt down by 6pm. She likes all the parks too (haven't been to HHS) but there's just more of what she likes at MK vs other parks. Some thinking and planning to do in the mean time.
 
I like the idea but how can you skip out on AK?

Personally I could do a whole week just between MK and AK. Two years ago we went to the AK 10 times over 14 days...
 
We have done 3 days at MK and two elsewhere on a 5 day pass. My kids loved it and we felt in 3 days we really got see everything we wanted and do the attractions they really loved multiple times. 4 days may be a bit much, but my kids would probably still enjoy it! They just really love it there. As posted above, there is more for that age group at MK and it would probably keep her entertained longer/cut down on meltdowns. Utilize fastpass as best you can to keep her moving and distracted! If you are going to pick one other park, I would do Hollywood Studios and try to meet some Disney Junior characters.
 
I would add AK in there. My kids get a bit antsy after two days in a row in one park. I would probably have a melt down myself after 4 days in MK.

I know we all do things we don’t want for our kids but a Disney vacation is costly and i refuse to revolve the entire trip around my kids. Everyone deserves to have some fun too. I would do two MK days and then you and DH pick a park each.

If my kid was having that many meltdowns last trip, and you were barely utilizing park tickets, i would probably go elsewhere next trip and save Disney for a later date.
 
I like the idea but how can you skip out on AK?

Personally I could do a whole week just between MK and AK. Two years ago we went to the AK 10 times over 14 days...
She's a bit scared of Pandora land. She likes the Safari ride but that's about it. We can do the animal stuff but that's pretty much a zoo experience. where as usually we're trying to do uniquely Disney stuff.
 
We have done 3 days at MK and two elsewhere on a 5 day pass. My kids loved it and we felt in 3 days we really got see everything we wanted and do the attractions they really loved multiple times. 4 days may be a bit much, but my kids would probably still enjoy it! They just really love it there. As posted above, there is more for that age group at MK and it would probably keep her entertained longer/cut down on meltdowns. Utilize fastpass as best you can to keep her moving and distracted! If you are going to pick one other park, I would do Hollywood Studios and try to meet some Disney Junior characters.
Yes, exactly, we would do 3 FPs and maybe get a 4th one, but try to do some small rides/attractions along the way. I'll look at DHS again, since I didn't see any rides that would be a good fit for her then.
 
Just my 2 cents. (kids are older now). But when we go on family vacations we do things for the whole family. I would not plan an entire vacation around 1 child. I am paying for the vacation and want to be able to see and do stuff for all of us. I think kids are pretty flexible and kind of go with the flow. Wherever we went they were happy to be there. So much stuff at all the parks. I could never go to Disney and only see the MK.
 
Just my 2 cents. (kids are older now). But when we go on family vacations we do things for the whole family. I would not plan an entire vacation around 1 child. I am paying for the vacation and want to be able to see and do stuff for all of us. I think kids are pretty flexible and kind of go with the flow. Wherever we went they were happy to be there. So much stuff at all the parks. I could never go to Disney and only see the MK.

I totally agree with this!

Since my kids' first visit at 2 and 4, their favorite place was Epcot (we were staying 10 nights at the BWV).

We always, always get park hoppers. We also never go back to the room specifically to nap; when they were tired they'd fall asleep in the stroller. We'd find a nice shady spot, grab a beer, and just chill a bit. Of course that's not possible at the MK (and there are less places to sit quietly there).

We go with the attitude that we're all there to enjoy ourselves, so we pick and choose what each feels like doing. We didn't go just to please a toddler, as it's our vacation too! There is always something to see and do at each park.
 
So we have a DD3 who will turn 4 on next trip. On our previous trip, we had 5 days and we planned to go to all the parks, but usually the day at the park would end by 2pm, where we go back to the hotel to rest and chill. We probably would ride 4 or 5 rides (there's a lot of rides she won't do, like dark rides or scary rides), visit about a quarter of MK, and still feel we missed a lot. A thought came to me that we might be better off just focus on MK, that has the most 3 or 4 year olds attractions, be used to the MK and be comfortable, and fully explore the park. Anyone ever done this? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I haven't done it before, but why not? - It's your vacation, to do what you want to do. It sounds like you're a family that has gone/will go multiple times, so it's not as if you are forever missing out on the other parks. I think an MK-focused trip would be a ton of fun!

(And I also think there's nothing wrong with early park days and resort time! People say you're "not getting your money's worth" if you don't maximize park time, but you're spending a lot of money for the resort, too - why not enjoy it?)
 

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