Magic Kingdom, full or half day?

[SCCNJ]

I'm just beginning to re-plan a trip to Disney after a March 2020 canceled trip. For background, we have never been to Disney. My kids are 17, 14, and 12 and this might be a one and only Disney trip as a family. We go to Florida every year but there is so many other things to do. I'm trying to decide how many days to buy and how to spilt it up between parks. Is MK worth a full day when you have older teen boys? From what I can gather online it looks like it's geared to smaller kids? They are not into Disney movies/characters anymore so I"m wondering if I should park-hop and only spend a half day? What do you think?

 

[SaraMc]

Yes I would still do a full day. There are lots of things for older kids. Space Mountain, big thunder mountain, mine train, pirates. If your only ever going to go once as a family do NGic Kingdom

 

[hdrolfe]

Magic Kingdom has the most rides, not sure when you are going? But if there is a chance Tron will be open when you go that would be a good one to plan on as well. My son loves the coasters, Space, Big Thunder, Mine Train. But we also love Pirates and Jungle Cruise. And Splash Mountain but that will likely be closed for it's big refurb unless you are going soon.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

The “best” park for older boys may be Hollywood Studios for Star Wars, Rockin Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror, with a hop to Epcot for Guardians at night. It’s also the hardest to manage on Genie+.

If you are only going to Disney for one day, MK is most iconic, but they may have more fun at HS. If you want to go for multiple days and are just trying to figure out how much time to allocate, at a bare minimum I think you need a full day at MK, a full day at HS, and park hop between AK and Epcot. If for some reason you feel ”done” somewhere just hop to a different park. But that won’t really give you time for signature dining or just wandering around/exploring the parks, which is important too if you truly are one and done with Disney.

 

[loves to dive]

As others have mentioned, it depends on how many days you will be there. MK has never been a full day park for us, even when my son was a toddler but we have always had park hopers and always hop in for a few hours a couple of times a trip. If you are only going one day, get hoppers and start at HS then move over to MK. I don't think any of the parks should be skipped but we always go for at least 4 days.

 

[SCCNJ]

Sorry, I should have said in my original post that I'm debating between a 4 day park hopper and a 5 day base. Our main focus is HS as my husband is a huge star wars fan as is my youngest. My 17 and 14 year old like coasters.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Personally we love the flexibility of a hopper, especially if they like coasters and you are willing to ILL guardians every night. It would be worth it just for that!

 

[SCCNJ]

Personally we love the flexibility of a hopper, especially if they like coasters and you are willing to ILL guardians every night. It would be worth it just for that!

I'm leaning this way, as my kids will get bored with smaller rides etc.

 

[loves to dive]

We are a hopper family, have been since there were only 2 parks. It gives you the freedom to hop over to a park for a few hours then hop out to somewhere else if it's too crowded for words or you just aren't feeling it.

 

[Mikey15]

Sorry, I should have said in my original post that I'm debating between a 4 day park hopper and a 5 day base. Our main focus is HS as my husband is a huge star wars fan as is my youngest. My 17 and 14 year old like coasters.

Disney definitely has good coasters, but they spread them thinly between the parks. Big Thunder & Space Mountain are good for teenagers, 7DMT being less intense with longer lines. Expedition Everest is the only coaster at AK, though they might enjoy Dinosaur and Flights of Passage too. HS again has an amazing coaster in R&R, and Slinky Dog is fun, but more kid-oriented / longer lines. Epcot now has a coaster for the first time ever in the form of Guardians, and it really is worth the ride (I'm sure they'd love it), with Test Track being the only other real "thrill ride" there.

The reason I could see you doing a 5 day base and letting MK be its own day is they might have one thing they want to go back to with a 5th day... you could even leave it open ended in your plans as to which park it'll be. You could also do an MK 2pm half day, with enough time to do Thunder, Space, and maybe Haunted Mansion and Pirates while still having time for fireworks, but that's a long day if it means you're trying to rope drop a park like HS that morning.

 

[mort1331]

So I might be the odd one out here but my vote is for 5 day base.We have been going since dd16 was 3. We have only ever go the hopper once. And we go at least once per year. We find enough for each park to spend the whole time there, instead of losing an hour or more switching parks.
If this is there 1st time,,some of the rides they might think are lame,,they might suprise you and say " I heard all about this I would like to do it." ie. small world, or peter pan.
Dont forget MK has some great shows, parades and interactions that can keep a family busy for the whole day.
Since you have fans of SW, then yes I would almost plan 2 days at HS, and maybe the end of the 2nd day there take off to Disney Springs.
Please check when you are going, there are some rides down for service next year and that might effect some of the days. ie. Everest I think is down early 2023. But then again Tron is supposed to be up late spring of 2023,,a coaster they should enjoy.
Happy planning,,ask all the questions you need

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Hopping totally takes time, but HS to Epcot definitely isn’t an hour. Also because we usually stay at least part of the trip at BC I love wandering around Epcot at night. Do we hop all the time? Absolutely not. But I like the freedom and flexibility to let the trip develop naturally. Eg this past trip DD and I rode guardians 5 times. I think I went into Epcot almost every day. We spent half a day at AK, went to Disney Springs, and then popped into Epcot on the way back to the hotel. Another day we went through Epcot, checked out the decorations at WL, and then took the boat to MK.

 

[Frozen2014]

My kids are 17 and 13 and we just did 2 full days at Magic Kingdom. They love Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain (lol...I see a theme). Also had fun on things like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, People Mover (slow ride but enjoyable), Speedway, Buzz Light and Monsters Inc is cute. I also dragged them on Winnie the Pooh (lol) and we enjoy It's a Small World/ Mickey PilharMagic is enjoyable too if you want to sit for a few minutes. So yeah, I think definitely 1 day. With lines, you won't get much done in half a day. Plus if you stay to the end, the fireworks show is not to be missed.