Need Disney advice

[Maxlee]

Traveling to Disney world next week for the first time with kids. DD's are 3 1/2 and 17 months. We will be in orlando for 3 1/2 days (arriving around 1pm the first day) and staying 3 additional days. I do not think we will purchase park hopper passes as I think the girls will be too tired to go to more than one park in a day. I am thinking we will go to magic kindgdom 2 full days. What do you think? Any suggestions on what other parks to visit (1 for a few hours the first day and the other for a full day).

Any other tips/suggestions/advice for visiting with small children appreciated!

I don't know who's more excited me or DD#1!! :)

[WatchingThemGrow]

We were there last week and didn't actually do any parks. We found plenty to do at the disney resorts and dowtown disney. We look fwd to doing parks in a year or so. have a great time! dd's favorite activity was fishing at Riverside. DS1 loved the waterslide at French Quarter.

[JTsMom]

I would definitely do MK for at least 2 of the days- maybe even 2 plus the 1/2. For the others, I'd probably do Epcot for the other full day, and Animal Kingdom for the 1/2.

[Maxlee]

do you think the girls will enjoy epcot or are they too little? DH and I think they will like it but we are traveling with my parents and my mom thinks epcot is not for little kids and doesn't want to go there. Any thoughts on epcot for little ones??

[egoldber]

I think Animal Kingdom is a good half day park. It closes early anyway and the park essentially shuts down after the parade. (The parade there is my kids favorite BTW.)

I do think that the MK requires at least 2 full days. I just wouldn't do them back to back because the MK is a very intense park. Lots of overhwhelming stimuli. I find it too overwhelming two days in a row LOL!!

I woudl not visit a park the first day. If you are staying at a WDW resort, just explore the resort. Maybe go to Downtown Disney or to a WDW hotel for dinner. The Boardwalk hotel area is another nice area to explore. You can walk around the lake, eat at a restaurant there, ride a boat from one side of the lake to the other, have an ice cream, and you can see some of the Epcot fireworks from there.

[JTsMom]

One of the other Loris (MomTo3Labs) says Epcot is her kids' favorite park, and has been for a while. Our DS was 3.5 last year when we went, and he enjoyed it quite a bit. He was able to ride Soarin, which he LOVED. There's also the Imagination pavillion, Nemo, the boat rides in Norway and Mexico, the entertainers in several of the countries, and Living with the Land's boat ride. DS loved Illuminations as well.

[egoldber]

My kids do love Epcot, and it is mine and DH's favorite. But it's a big park, much bigger than the MK. If you are willing to only do one MK day, I think you would enjoy Epcot. But you could also save it for another trip.

Some people love and can't get enough of the MK. I don't feel that way about it personally.