Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did three days / three parks. It was fun but left me with no desire to go back. FWIW we had a better time doing a long weekend at Universal with kids around that age. My kids didn’t have the same Disney identification I had as a kid and just enjoyed universal more.

For universal the kids loved volcano bay, the water park, especially.

In January, that won't really be relevant.

However, depending on the age of your kids, you might have more fun focusing on Epic Universe. It's pretty great.

Anonymous wrote:If we do 2 days at the parks should we get the park hopper?

You should really do four parks in four days even if one of them is a half day. Park hopping is really only necessary / fun for Disney fanatics.

Anonymous wrote:We did three days / three parks. It was fun but left me with no desire to go back. FWIW we had a better time doing a long weekend at Universal with kids around that age. My kids didn’t have the same Disney identification I had as a kid and just enjoyed universal more.

For universal the kids loved volcano bay, the water park, especially.

We did three days / three parks. It was fun but left me with no desire to go back. FWIW we had a better time doing a long weekend at Universal with kids around that age. My kids didn’t have the same Disney identification I had as a kid and just enjoyed universal more.

Epcot on the afternoon/evening you arrive, magic kingdom day 2, Hollywood studios day 3. No park hopper needed

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to do everything in that little amount of time sounds exhausting. Some thoughts:
Walt Disney World is significantly bigger than Disneyland and has much more to do.
Travel between the parks and resorts is a serious time suck. Be prepared and budget your time accordingly.

We’ve done Disney a few times as 3-4 night trips with little kids. Disney World is bigger than Disneyland, but there’s a ton of filler. We’ve done park hopping every time and have never felt rushed. The bus ride offers a good 20 minute break from walking.

The key for us has been picking 4 or so must do attractions from each park. If you can make that list without feeling like you’re sacrificing anything, then 2 parks a day should be fine. We usually end up doing additional things at each, but it’s good to level your expectations up front.

You're spending a lot of money to do 4 things at each park. That wouldn't work for us. You miss out on so much.

If this is your first trip to Disney, just do one park per day. You're going to spend a lot of time just getting the lay of the land, and having a goal of getting to a second park in a day will just be stressful and not fun for anyone.

I've been to Disney probably 15 times and was an annual passholder, and I've never felt the NEED to go to a second park in a day. It's just too rushed.

We've done a lot of 3 night trips to Disney, but I would not do more than 1 park/day.

Anonymous wrote:Trying to do everything in that little amount of time sounds exhausting. Some thoughts:
Walt Disney World is significantly bigger than Disneyland and has much more to do.
Travel between the parks and resorts is a serious time suck. Be prepared and budget your time accordingly.

We’ve done Disney a few times as 3-4 night trips with little kids. Disney World is bigger than Disneyland, but there’s a ton of filler. We’ve done park hopping every time and have never felt rushed. The bus ride offers a good 20 minute break from walking.

The key for us has been picking 4 or so must do attractions from each park. If you can make that list without feeling like you’re sacrificing anything, then 2 parks a day should be fine. We usually end up doing additional things at each, but it’s good to level your expectations up front.

Anonymous wrote:Trying to do everything in that little amount of time sounds exhausting. Some thoughts:
Walt Disney World is significantly bigger than Disneyland and has much more to do.
Travel between the parks and resorts is a serious time suck. Be prepared and budget your time accordingly.

I recently spoke with a travel agent, and this is what she said too. We decided against Park Hopper. We are going for five nights and doing three days , plus a day at epic universe, but I have an older child

Trying to do everything in that little amount of time sounds exhausting. Some thoughts:
Walt Disney World is significantly bigger than Disneyland and has much more to do.
Travel between the parks and resorts is a serious time suck. Be prepared and budget your time accordingly.

You may want to avoid the marathon race weekend Jan 7-11, 2026.

If you aren't on a budget, park hopper is fine. But if you want to do MK & Epcot, I think they each need a full day, so why pay more for hopping?

If you can fit in AK or HS on your arrival or departing day, then you saw 3 parks in 4 days and didn't need to pay for park hopper.

And find a discussion group that goes over all the new tricks and tips to get line passes and even ordering fast food lunch pickup. I've been to all 4 Disney World parks literally hundreds of times, but not in the last 8 years. I would have to take a course to learn all the new strategies.

I would stay on property to take advantage of the early morning times and I would do one park per day and skip whatever would be your 4th park. Since you haven't been to Disney World and your kids are young, I think you will have plenty to do.

Anonymous wrote:I would skip the Park Hopper passes. They just cost more and you spend more time in transit. You can fill your day in one park.

We went to a few parks recently with my kid and niece and nephew. My 10 year old and 8 year old niece loved Epcot the best, maybe because the lines were the shortest and we went on the most rides? My niece went to all 4 parks and AK was the least favorite. So I would just pick 2 parks.

Depends on if there are must-do rides for your kids. We did park hoppers because we had a bunch of rides we wanted to do and the lightening lane times were spread out.

There is some good advice here. Figure out what your priorities are and go from there.

On arrival day (we usually arrive late afternoon) we do Hoop de Doo Revue. Preferably the earlier showing if you can get it, it's a bit of a PITA to get to/from.