We are leaving for Disney World in 13 days! My question is, which parks would you recommend? We are definitely going to Magic Kingdom.We were planning on going to Epcot, but then someone told my dh that Epcot isn't very exciting for little ones. I've been there and loved it, but then i was a teenager, not a little one. This lady told him that Animal Kingdom would be better and more exciting for them. My kids are 5 and 3 1/2.

I read in the Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld that Animal Kingdom isn't all that great. IT's beautiful and all, but it's not layed out really good .

I just wanted some feedback from those who have been to the parks with kids my kids' ages. What do you suggest we do?

I believe we are only going to the parks for 2 days. One whole day at Magic Kingdom and the rest is undecided.

By Beth on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 08:26 am:

Honestly you will be lucky to see everything in one day at Magic Kingdom with kids your age. We went in May for for 4 days. My dk's were 3 and 5 also. We did Animal Kingdom one day, Magic Kingdom 2 days and MGM one day. We had orginally planned to do each park one day. But we just felt like our dk's would enjoy seeing the rest Magic Kingdom before going to Epcot. I would choose Animal Kingdom or MGM for small dk's. I think that at the time of year you are going you don't have to worry as much about the poor layout. It shouldn't be so crowded. I will let you know though they were right on the money about the trails where you see the animals. Crowded and not worth the time. The safari, Lion King show, Bug Show and the dinosaur area were nice. We did not see nearly all of MGM or Animal Kingdom because we breaked every afternoon. The dis board is another place to visit for lots of expert advice. One more thing I will warn you about it. My five year old loved every minute of it. My three year old took a day or two to warm up to the crowds and the hectic schedule. I saw a lot of family with kids that age going through the same thing. I think they really enjoy it when they are a little older. I would definately do it again though don't get me wrong.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 08:53 am:

Animal Kingdom has a lot to offer kids! DH and I were there last November, and there were TONS of kids there. The shows are totally geared towards kids, but we loved it!!! There's a LOT to do at Animal Kingdom. I'd choose Magic Kingdom first and Animal Kingdom second for kids your kids' ages. MGM was a lot of fun too, but if I were taking Madison, who is almost 4, those are the 2 parks I'd choose if I only had 2 days.

By Fraggle on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 09:11 am:

I guess it really depends on how crowded the parks are when you go. Are you going to be there Sat and Sun? If so, Magic Kingdom will probably be crowded and you might just want to spend two whole days there. When we went 2 yrs. ago in Sept. it was so quiet there so we didn't have to wait for any rides, but it still took us two whole days to get through Magic Kingdom. My girls also wanted to stand in line in get autographs from the characters which took some time. Plus we let the girls ride anything they loved two times (or more ). We went to Epcot for a late afternoon and we visited most of Future World-they were not very interested in seeing the countries. We also went to MGM-but that is just shows, I don't think spending a whole day here would be as much fun as riding the rides at MK. We skipped Animal Kingdom, at the time my then 3 yr. old had no patience for stopping to look at animals, but we will probably do it instead of MGM this year if we go in December.

One other thing is you may want to check the time MK is open while you are there and when events are scheduled -parades, Wishes (fireworks)and Spectromagic. If it is going to be crowded you will need to stake out a space early for the parades. Are you planning on heading back to your hotel for a break during the day? We headed out of the park around 2:00 sometimes so that my 3 yr. old could take a nap. She wouldn't normally nap at home but all the excitement of Disney World really tired her out in the afternoon. Sometimes we just did a nap in her stroller.

Hope you have a great time!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 09:14 am:

We liked Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom best. We just went this past November. My kids were 5 & 7 at the time.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 09:18 am:

You can check the park hours on the Disney website. Wherever you go, definitely take advantage of Fastpass - it will save you lots of time waiting in lines.

By Feona on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 09:18 am:

Ds like epcot at 3 and a half. We had a lovely walk there. There was lots of street shows to see. He seemed to really enjoy it. The food at the living seas is pretty good.

Food at the italy is horrible.

Paris horrible food.

Morocan food was alright.

Animal kingdom was very very nice.

MGM we could have skipped. But it was still nice.

Sometimes we would go to one park in the day. And epcot to eat at night.

By Vicki on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 09:24 am:

We just booked a Disney cruise for the beginning of June as soon as dd gets out of school. This will be our first time there, so I am going to start paying attention to these threads!!

By Sunny on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 09:39 am:

All the parks have something to offer kids of all ages. I think traditionally Epcot is geared more toward older kids, but my little ones found a lot of exibihits they enjoyed. Animal Kingdom is the largest in area of all the parks and gets a bad rap because it isn't as "exciting" as the others, but that's subjective. I've taken my kids over the years when the youngest was 15 months all the way up to the oldest at 13 (and ages in between) and we have always found something for everyone to enjoy at each park.
I'm not helping you much, am I? LOL I'm going to give a very non-commital answer and say that IMO, I don't think you can go wrong with either park!

By Bellajoe on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 09:45 am:

We have the four day park hopper pass, but are planning on saving a few days for when we go with my sister and her family in a few years...yes we already have plans to go with them in 2008 when her twins are 4 and her son is 6.


I do plan to go back to the hotel midday, so we can all rest and we definitely plan to go back to the parks for the fireworks and parades in the evening. I do think my kids may enjoy Epcot, they like seeing differnt things. I plan on going to Epcot (or whatever we decide) first then going to Magic Kingdom. If we go to Magic Kingdom first, they may be disappointed that hte second park isn't quite as exciting, does that make sense??

By Debbie on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 10:52 am:

We just got back from a 3 day trip to Disney. My boys (4 & 6) are about the same age as yours. It really depends on what your children like as to what parks they will like. If your dks like rides then you may actually want to spend both days at MK. This is the only park that really has lots of rides for younger kids. Also, it will probably take you more then 1 day to do the whole park. If they like shows, then Disney Studios has lots of shows that they will like. There are not many rides though for them to do here. My boys really didn't like AK that much. We go to the zoo at home a lot and they felt it was a lot like the zoo.

When we went on our trip in Aug. we had 3 days in the parks. We ended up spending 2-1/2 days at MK and 1/2 a day at Disney Studios. Since you have a hopper pass you can always go to MK one day and then go to Animal Kingdom or Disney Studios one morning and then after your break go back to MK and do what you missed.

Have a great time. My family just loves Disney.

By Bellajoe on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 03:33 pm:

Thanks Debbie. I have a feeling my kids would feel the same way about AK. They like the zoo and the animals but get bored with it quick "hey, cool polar bear!...let's go, whats next?"

By Kaye on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 03:52 pm:

We went when my kids were 5,3 and 1. Magic Kingdom held the most interest. But we love AK, it is so much more than just animals, there are lots of shows (the lion king being one of THE best). But to see the animals you can go on a safari ride. Skip the bug show if you have the least bit squiish children, it is a "live senses" shows, so you feel the bugs crawling on you etc. It freaked my little guy out and he was on my lap. That being said we only spent about 3/4 of the day there. We really did get it done quickly. The park you want to go to first is the one that opens first, each day of the week there is a different early open park. Also another thought is, we slept until we woke up and then went, so we could stay all day. When the kids got tired, we either hopped the monorail to a new park, they got a quick siesta that way. Or picked a show that we just hung out in. To go back to the hotel to nap will take you 30-45 minutes to get there, plus up to an hour to get back to the park, so an hour-2 hour nap can take up to 4 hours out of your day. Also rent the double stroller and it really saves energy for the kids. Disney is so kid friendly the rides are just full action packed stuff, there are things of all sizes and speeds, so you can just mix it all up.

By Conni on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 04:29 pm:

I sure am glad ya'll post all this info because we I still have never been nor have we taken our kids. We want to wait until our baby (4yo) is a little bit older...

Have a blast on your trip!! Dh and I really liked the Orlando area when we visited in August. I cant wait to go back with the kids and do all the Disney parks one of these years.

How does Universal tie in?? Do you ladies take your kids to Universal Studios?

By Debbie on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 05:12 pm:

Conni, we haven't taken the dks to Universal yet because I think they are still too little. When my entire family went to Orlando last year, I went over there with my brother for 1/2 a day. If you like thrill rides, it is great. I really enjoyed myself. There just weren't too many rides for little ones, so we decided to wait until they got older to take them. If you do go to Universal, you definitely want to stay at one of their 3 properties. If you stay on site, you get front of the line access on the rides that offer it.

By Conni on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 06:16 pm:

Thanks Debbie. I am guessing Blake (4) is still too little for that then. The older boys I have a feeling would love it tho. That is drawback to the age difference in them and Blake.

By Imamommyx4 on Monday, October 4, 2004 - 12:03 am:

My dd was 3 1/2 when we went this spring. Her favorite places were SeaWorld, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom in that order. Universal Studios was least favorite of the places we went. We really wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon but the temp was too cool.