How many days at the Magic Kingdom?

[juneau]

We're going to Orlando next Oct with the IL's and we have five days. I've skimmed through my DK Florida guide and am thinking roughly:

2 days at the Magic Kingdom
1 day at Universal Islands of Adventure
1 day Kennedy Space Centre
1 day at the beach

Our kids will be nearly 8 and 4.5. Does anyone who's been have any insights about whether this is a reasonable itinerary? I don't think any of us can cope with five days straight at theme parks. Kids will get tired and so will ILs, who are in their 70s and FIL isn't a strong walker.

Are you not wanting to do the other disney parks or universal studios?

With dc that age is skip Kennedy and have an extra day at Epcot or animal kingdom.

Are you not wanting to do the other disney parks or universal studios?

I don't know, because this is just our first trip and our kids are still quite little. I've been to Universal Studios in California and I don't remember it as being for little kids at all, but other Disney parks - maybe. The animal one would definitely appeal. Are they really samey though? Five days straight of traipsing around parks and standing in queues for rides doesn't strike me as much fun - particularly with a 4-year-old. But I'm happy to be educated on this - I'm asking for advice because I've never been to Orlando before.

The parks are all pretty different tbh, and all the Disney parks have loads for the little ones, more so than Universal - though the two US parks have increased what they have on offer for younger visitors over the past 10 years.

Magic Kingdom - "the magic" its a must really
Animal Kingdom - you get to see all the animals which is great, and also the two main shows here - Nemo and Lion King - are amazing. Very few rides tbh.
Epcot - DD has always enjoyed going round all the different "countries" at all ages
Hollywood Studios - this is where all the Frozen stuff was this summer, so a must for fans! Also has a great Toy Story ride, and the Beauty and the Beast show is a classic.

Don't assume your children will tire. DD went at 2 and 4, and has been a few times since. Even at 2y she just kept going and didn't want to stop for breaks. She loved every second and she did it all for a fortnight with no breaks, other than a day at the space centre and a couple of water parks days.

With children that age i don't think id bother with Kennedy either, and assuming you're mainly going for them id also probably switch universal for another Disney park. Universal comes in to it's own when they're older when you go without children

If the main reason you're not doing more parks is because you think they'd tire then you can always rent a double buggy thing for them. But for just 5 days I reckon I want to do the parks over anything else.

Five days isn't a long time (we struggled to fit everything in staying for a couple of weeks (if you count the odd day off sitting by the pool - which you might need as the parks are huge).

But if there's no possibility of extending it, I would definitely do Magic Kingdom for 1-2 days (preferably not consecutive, maybe first and last day), Kennedy (only if you're wanting something interesting for grown ups and maybe the 8 year old), a day at the beach and maybe something else a bit different. I remember going to something called Gatorland a few years ago - basically an alligator farm - it was fascinating (and made for a shorter day out with all the rushing around).

Your children are not little for disney. I'd say they are perfect disney ages. I think you're making a big mistake doing kennedy space centre. Your youngest is definitely too young for that even if you planned it to coincide with a launch.

With five days I'd do

1 day magic kingdom
1 day animal kingdom
1 day hollywood studios (star wars, toy story, frozen - you can't miss it)
1 day epcot
1 day universal (plan this carefully since you'll need a park to park ticket to do harry potter world). Universal will have more for your older DC than your younger one.

We've just come back from our third florida holiday so its all very fresh for us.

I'd also recommend spending the mornings and early afternoon in the park and then coming back for afternoons around the pool relaxing. Otherwise it can feel a bit manic.

I too would ditch Kennedy and the beach.

The parks are all different, with your DCs ages I'd def do at least Magic Kingdom (and wishes fireworks)
Animal Kingdom
Hollywood studios
Epcots worth a visit or a disney water park

Are they into harry potter? Shame to go all that way and not visit?

We struggled to see everything in 2 weeks. Was a magical holiday

Its okay, I know we're going for a pathetically short time. We just want to check it out really and we'll go back another time when our kids are a bit bigger.

So is Animal Kingdom just basically a safari park? We live near Whipsnade and Woburn so I'm not sure that I'd spend a day doing that unless its significantly different to what we've got at home. Nemo and the Lion King - are they stage shows?

As for Hollywood Studios - I'm torn about this because I know DS1 would love the Star Wars bit, but I think he'd really like Islands of Adventure too and I don't think we can do both. Plus, I think DS2 will be too little to enjoy either of them particularly.

Thanks for all your thoughts anyway. So Kennedy is a no, but Epcot and Animal Kingdom get the thumbs up. Interesting!

Another question - so is Harry Potter World a separate park within the Universal Islands of Adventure? DS1 would love that, plus the Jurassic Park rides.

Okay - now I see why you're all recommending Hollywood Studios - its for younger kids. I think you're right - we need to do the Disney stuff this trip

its a part of universal, not separate.

make sure you get a fast pass for the toy story ride!! the queue is never less than an hour.

New itinerary then:

2 days Magic Kingdom
1 day Animal Kingdom
1 day Hollywood Studios
1 day St Augustine/beach

Is that better?

st augustine?? whats made you choose to go there?

Instead of going all the way to the seaside I'd suggest doing a day at a Disney water park - Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. You can still relax there, but there are slides, chutes etc and they are sooo much fun.

Its a Spanish colonial town - one of the oldest settlements in the USA. I've wanted to go there for ages: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida

Are the beaches in FL not very nice? I'm sensing some beach resistance here and I need to know why!

Well it's four hours in the car... I wouldn't want to waste that much time when you have only five days. Do a water park, my kids enjoyed those as much if not more than the theme parks!

I've been there juneau, its quite a drive from orlando, and I've got to say I found it a bit of a disappointment.

I think the resistance to beaches is just because there is so much to do in Orlando! Particularly when you are only there for a short time.

Really? Even a four-year-old? I think of water parks as being for tweens and teens.

the water parks are disney - they know their market

This is really great info - thank you all very much!

At 2 and 4 DD loved the water parks, but she has always loved water and isn't scared of the slides, etc. She adored the huge waves at Typhoon Lagoon.

If only gong for 5 days I'd just do the parks and skip the beach - there is so much to do in the parks themselves, and it seems a long drive for a day at the beach when you have so much more going on closer to you.

But then we are not really beach fans. DD prefers a water park to a beach - she really isn't keen on sand even now at 12y, and was the same when little.

Honestly, skip the beach, its really not worth the drive.

Have a look at the water parks on the website. Blizzard beach is a snow theme and the bit for the little kids is fantastic, there are also lots of other bits suitable for a 4.5 year old and lots of sandy areas for making sandcastles etc. Typhoon lagoon is very cool but you have to be careful of the big wave pool with little ones. All of disney is suitable for young children. It really is a magical place for them.

Animal kingdom is not a safari park at all although there is one ride which is a safari and there are animals to see. Mine adore it and would happily spend all day in the dinoland playground. The nemo and lion king shows are not to be missed. Your younger DC could go on it's tough to be a bug, the safari ride, Kali river rapids and two dinosaur rides (although "dinosaur" might be a little scary if your DC is sensitive). Mine was fine at age 4, he roared right back at the T Rex. There are lots of characters around at the animal kingdom and there's a great treasure hunt type thing where you collect different stickers as you go around.

If you're going to skip any disney park I'd say epcot since its more educational (although your eldest might not forgive you for making him/her miss Test Track, Soarin and Mission Space).

Universal is better for slightly older DCs (8 is perfect). The Harry Potter rides are just incredible but the area is quite small. The jurassic park ride is one I personally skip since I'm not keen on very big water drops and bashed my legs quite hard with the force of the drop but the DCs loved it.