We’ve done this at least 10 times. (My oldest kid is 20.)
We fly in on day 1, evening after school. Stay on property. We do three days of parks without park hopper and fly home on evening of day 3. Which of the three parks depends on your family’s interests. My favorite parks are AK and HS now, but other people have different views. MK is actually the least renovated park now, and has the least decoder kids but it’s also the most iconic so if the kids want the famous Disney stuff, they might want Mk.
AK closes pretty early in winter (early sundown) so that ks good for day 3. We basically rope drop every day (get there before opening). Use in park buses unless you want to drive on last day to be able to go straight to airport. Do not do Epcot on departure day as half the park doesn’t open until 11.
I guess you could squeeze in four days by taking an early flight on day 1, in which case I’d do Epcot day 1, then MK and HS, then do AK on departure day.

If you’re going end of the month, keep an eye on the schedule. Disney usually schedules a cast party for the last Thursday of the month at MK. The park will close very early, like 4 pm. However, it will also be dead, so you can get a ton done in less time. That’s one case I would recommend a park hopper - do MK on Thursday, move to HS with everyone else at 4 pm, then the next day start at EPCOT and finish the day with the late parade and fireworks at MK.

You say "3 night," but do you know what time your flights will be arriving/departing? That can make a huge difference in how much time you will have.

Regardless, as another poster already mentioned, you will want to avoid January 8-11 (Marathon weekend) and MLK Jr weekend.

This might not be a popular opinion, but if you have to cut out a park, I would consider skipping Magic Kingdom in your situation. Many/most of the rides in Magic Kingdom are already at Disneyland, which you've already been to.

If your departing flight is late in the day, I would do Animal Kingdom on that day. It typically closes at 6 pm anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, this. I wouldn't skip Epcot. It has the least construction now and it's very immersive / fun for first timers.

Epcot was a surprise hit with my kids. They liked the rides and enjoyed exploring the shops. We spent a long time in Japan shopping and watching the oyster opening. AK was hot and boring and we didn't spend much time there. Maybe the littlest kids like it mine were teens/tweens.

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

I would reverse Day 1 & 3. Go to HS on the arrival afternoon & evening and leave a full Day 3 for Epcot.

Epcot is much larger and has the front half, then the back with all the countries. You would have to skip 75% of the front and back if you are only there starting at 3pm. HS is smaller and you could see much of it from 3pm to closing.

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.

Yes, this. I wouldn't skip Epcot. It has the least construction now and it's very immersive / fun for first timers.

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