How Many Days Do I Need At Walt Disney World?

It can be difficult to decide on the type of ticket package you should buy for Walt Disney World. It's easy to see how someone can be caught between wanting to spend the least amount possible and still wanting to fully experience what Disney has to offer. Ultimately, deciding which package you want is dependent on your family's pace, your interests, and the season you are visiting. Nonetheless, here is my breakdown of how much time is needed at each theme park, and my opinion of which ticket packages I consider to be the best options. Please note that my suggestions take into account rides that have height requirements because generally these rides have the longest wait times at all of the parks. When you remove these rides from your agenda, you add time back to your day and could potentially utilize less tickets. This article also assumes the utilization the Fastpass+ system for as many hot ticket attractions as you can.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park

Let me start by saying that Animal Kingdom is my favorite park. It has great shows, thrill rides, family rides, and of course amazing animals! Four years ago you could enter this park at open and complete all of the hot ticket attractions by noon. With the addition of nighttime entertainment and Pandora - The World of Avatar, this is no longer the case. Regardless of whether or not you have access to extra magic hours, this park can still be fully accomplished in one full day (this includes night time entertainment). Typically, Animal Kingdom has morning extra magic hours, though this can vary. My suggestion would be to take advantage of extra magic hours and get to the park as early as you can. If you don't have access to extra magic hours, I recommend going on a day where this is not available to other guests, so you can potentially be one of the first inside. The two new attractions in Pandora can get wait times as high as 4 hours and fastpasses for the two are hard to get a hold of. Unless you can afford to visit this park for more than one day, I would utilize a full day ticket, no park hopper necessary. I would recommend going at a moderate pace when tackling this park. You could still get a lot accomplished and have a leisurely break for a quick service meal and a drink from the bar.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Let's just say my opinion about this park is conflicted. At current state, this a park that you really could complete in an afternoon and evening. If any one asked me which park they could afford to skip I might say this one, depending on their interests. Over the last 5 years, attractions at Hollywood studios have been dropping like flies, leaving the park a shell of what it once was. The main reason I am conflicted about this park, is because it is home to my absolute favorite show, Fantasmic, and home to two of the most thrilling rides on the whole property, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. This park can be tackled at a medium pace, and there is plenty of time for a table service meal. Hollywood studios is slated to get one of the biggest enhancements in Walt Disney World history with the addition of Toy Story land and Galaxy's Edge. Until those projects are complete, this park can be done on a park hopper day that is shared with another park. Toy Story land is set to officially open on June 30th, and I don't know if the addition of this land is enough to make this a full day park. I won't be able to visit this park until later this year, and I will update this post once I can form a real opinion. I do, However, think the combination of this land and Galaxy's Edge could possibly make this a 2-day park in the future. 

EPCOT

I absolutely love EPCOT, and it's because of how leisurely I can be there! You can definitely take a slower pace at this park. There are no parades, but there is a fireworks show that you will want to find a good viewing spot for. EPCOT has few rides with long wait times and most of the rides are slow moving. If you are a family with younger children, you could probably tackle this park for a half day. Overall, it may not be as exciting or themed enough to interest some kids. If you are traveling with an older crowd, want to tackle a few rides in Future World, and you appreciate what the World Showcase has to offer, you could spend the entire day here. It looks like EPCOT might be the next park scheduled to undergo major enhancements, so this could change in the next 5 years. I think it is always best practice to utilize extra magic hours and Fastpass+ to maximize your purchase, but unless the park is extremely busy, this isn't absolutely necessary to move through EPCOT. If possible, I would recommend a Fastpass for at least Soarin, since wait times for this ride are always high. 

Magic Kingdom Park

When most people think of Walt Disney World, the image of Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom is the first thing that comes to mind. If you were only able to do one park during your whole trip, I would say that this one is nonnegotiable. At current state, Magic Kingdom is the only park that I would recommend to experience for 2 full days, if you have the chance. Typically, this park will have larger crowds than the others, and it has the most attractions. The Magic Kingdom has many parades and shows, so you may find that a large amount of time is spent claiming a spot to view those shows. Because of this, I think an additional day is needed for Magic Kingdom to get the most out of the park. I absolutely think it is a necessity to utilize both Fastpass+ and extra magic hours (if available to you) to maximize both days at this park. To get the most done, you will need to take a faster pace here, and I would only recommend table service dining if you have multiple days to visit this park or you are a frequenter of Disney Parks. 

If you are wanting to experience as much as you can, I would recommend a 5-day ticket no park hopper as the cheapest option. This would allow you to experience a full day at each of the 4 parks plus a bonus day for Magic Kingdom. If you want to experience all of the parks but don't have as much time, I would recommend a 3 day park hopper. As stated earlier, I will continue to make updates to this post as new experiences open at Walt Disney World. Also later this year, I will post a part II to this series about my recommendations on how many days should be spent at Disneyland Resort!