Mom and Daughter at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort Room
  • On Apr 4, 2009
    Michelle from CA Asked Note: This answer was provided prior to the change to planDisney and may still contain references to Disney Parks Moms Panel.

    Experiences, policies, pricing and other offerings are subject to change and may have changed since the date of this answer.

    Hi, love the panel. My family will be visiting in July and will staying for 8 days. What is the best order to visit the parks? I want to take advantage of pre-reservations for eating & would like to visit each park when we can get the most out of ea

    8 days -- how great!   

    I would first say there really isn't a best order to visit the park; it truly is different for each family.  Since it sounds like you are trying to work around dining reservations, I'll share with you how I plan our trip.  I first make a spreadsheet listing the park hours as well as Extra Magic Hours (EMH).  

    Our family's guidelines on what park to visit is this simple:  we take advantage of EMH in the morning and avoid them in the evening.  So, if Epcot has EMH, we begin our day there.  That would be a day I would consider lunch at one of the restaurants there (we like lunch for table service restaurants since we can save money that way, but some are only available for dinner) .  We have found that the parks that open early then often become quite crowded, so we park hop.  I'd then schedule us to move to a park that does NOT have evening EMH.  For example, the Animal Kingdom looks like it is open until 7 PM in July, so we'd move over there and spend the afternoon/early evening.  I'd then try to have dinner reservations nearby at Jiko or Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  By doing this, we always leave feeling like we have made the most out of our vacation, and we often have travelled at peak times.  

    We also try to have a totally non-planned day to either spend the day at the pool, have a chance to sleep in (and maybe splurge on room service!), and just let our hearts lead the way that day.  
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Meet the Panelist: Kara, Nebraska

I am a retired teacher with a family of 3 adult sons who have grown up through Disney. I am known by friends as the Star Wars loving Disney Nerd who always wants to serve up tips and ideas of how to make visits to Walt Disney World special and magical.  Learn More About Kara

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