Hiya Kathleen - welcome to planDisney!
A Guest's first visit to see Mickey and his pals is a lifelong memory, so you're doing the right thing by planning ahead in a thoughtful way. The short answer to your question is, it depends! Personally, I would start my trip with a first-time Walt Disney World Resort Guest at the quintessential
Magic Kingdom Park. There's just something extra magical about walking down Main Street U.S.A. toward Cinderella Castle, soaking in all the glory of Walt's "Florida Project".
Beyond that suggestion, I think there are a couple of things that you should keep in mind when making decisions. For me, it mostly comes down to Theme Park Hours and dining or experience reservations.
Guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts and Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts (and other select Hotels) are eligible for
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours on select dates. These hours vary by Theme Park and date and can add extra magic to the end of a day, but only if your crew enjoys staying up late! During Extended Evening Theme Park Hours, you'll usually experience significantly shorter wait times for attractions, and lighter crowds - both great perks.
If Extended Evening Theme Park Hours are offered on a date you're visiting, and you'd take advantage of them, I recommend scheduling a rest or Resort day immediately after. I don't know about you, but if I'm spinning in teacups until 1 a.m. at Magic Kingdom Park, I'm certainly not going to be waking up at 7 a.m. to rope-drop
Animal Kingdom Theme Park the next day! I'd much rather sleep in, have a day at the pool, go shopping at
Disney Springs, or just relax and see where the day takes us!
I also often plan my Theme Park days around other reservations, especially if I'm able to snag one that's hard to get. For example, if dining at Cinderella's Royal Table or having your daughter pixie-dusted at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique are must-dos for your crew, you may only be able to secure a reservation on a particular date - that will now be your day to visit Magic Kingdom Park! If you already made other Park Pass Reservations, you can easily modify them (if reservations are available) to align with your exciting new reservation(s)!
Lastly, I always like to plan around anything that is absolutely required. Sometimes attractions can be temporarily unavailable, and other events like fireworks sometimes don't happen due to weather. If there is something that would
ruin your trip if you didn't experience it, I would visit that Theme Park earlier in your trip. If something unfortunate does happen and you aren't able to have that experience, you'd still have a few more days to make changes to your plans. For example, I have friends who have decided to add the
Park Hopper Option to their tickets in the middle of their visit so they could go back to a park they loved from earlier in their trip!
I hope this is a helpful start for you, Kathleen, but I'm sure more questions will come up.
Please stop by again and we'll be happy to help!
Ryan J.