One day only - which park should we go to?

[RamieGee]

My teenage son & I have a chance to go to 1 of the Disney parks for 1 day in late June. We’ve taken (3) 1-week trips to Disney in the past so have been to all parks multiple times. The last time we were there was November ‘21.

Neither of us have been on TRON, Guardians, or Moana’s Journey of Water, so we’re thinking either Magic Kingdom or Epcot. But we also know there’s no guarantee we’ll get on them because we need to snag virtual queue or ILL. (We are in the air at 7am when VQ opens so hopefully WiFi will cooperate, but who knows). We are also factoring in that Test Track is closed and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure won’t be open yet (2 family favorites).

Where would you go? Are there other considerations I’m not thinking of?

We can’t decide!

We always spend a week so 1 day in and out is new to us.

We probably can’t get there until 11:30am-12:00, but will probably stay until close.

 

[PollyannaMom]

My teenage son & I have a chance to go to 1 of the Disney parks for 1 day in late June. We’ve taken (3) 1-week trips to Disney in the past so have been to all parks multiple times. The last time we were there was November ‘21.

Neither of us have been on TRON, Guardians, or Moana’s Journey of Water, so we’re thinking either Magic Kingdom or Epcot. But we also know there’s no guarantee we’ll get on them because we need to snag virtual queue or ILL. (We are in the air at 7am when VQ opens so hopefully WiFi will cooperate, but who knows). We are also factoring in that Test Track is closed and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure won’t be open yet (2 family favorites).

Where would you go? Are there other considerations I’m not thinking of?

We can’t decide!

We always spend a week so 1 day in and out is new to us.

We probably can’t get there until 11:30am-12:00, but will probably stay until close.

I'd look at a few things based on the exact date you plan to go:

First, I'd check whether there was a special festival going on at Epcot (either a favorite or one I hadn't been to yet) and if so, I'd probably choose that.

If that doesn't apply, the next thing I would do is check the exact hours for your date (I think MK is usually open the latest, but also sometimes closes early for special events) and choose the one that's open later to maximize your available time.

If there's no difference, the next thing I'd look at is a crowd calendar to see if one park has a significantly lower prediction for that date than the other one.

All things being equal, I'd probably go with MK, as that's iconic Disney to me, but you really can't go wrong either way!

 

[GreatAuntie]

Since you haven't ridden Tron or Cosmic Rewind, I would suggest Epcot since I think the Cosmic Rewind ride is more fun than Tron.

 

[Hubalorian]

Since you are going Late June, there is a chance Tiana’s could be open. Nothing official either way but I wouldn’t dismiss it. Cosmic Rewind is my favorite ride, but I think Magic has the overall better attractions.

I would personally go Magic because one awesome ride that you can ride a maximum of two times isn’t a reason for me to go Epcot over Magic. You should also way which night time show you’d rather watch if that’s a factor

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I agree with @PollyannaMom - once you've ironed out those questions, I'd decide from there. If all else fails, my 2 cents.....I'd probably choose Ep for Guardians since I do really love that ride. As much as I love MK and Tron is great, it's just too short of a ride and not as fun to me as GoG. You really can't go wrong with either choice since there's new rides at both parks. We've done one days trips before and so long as you've accepted the fact that you can't get to everything, you'll love it. Any time at WDW is fun!

 

[Skippyboo]

Epcot isn’t going to have a festival going on. Trouble with a VQ at 7am is that you don’t when you are going to get called then you only have a limited time to get there. Probably easier to buy a LL.

 

[Genie+]

Since you haven't ridden Tron or Cosmic Rewind, I would suggest Epcot since I think the Cosmic Rewind ride is more fun than Tron.

^ This. If I could only do one park it’d be Epcot and I’d try the VQ drop(s), but also buy an ILL first thing in morning.

Cosmic Rewind is really that good. Plus you’ll get to see Luminous at park closing. Epcot has alot to fill in the rest of the day.

 

[georgina]

I'll pile on - GoTG is the best Disney ride right now. Go to Epcot, get a VQ and buy ILL also! ILL is available for a long time - we were offsite and at 9 AM I bought an ILL for 9:25-10:25.

Epcot isn’t going to have a festival going on. Trouble with a VQ at 7am is that you don’t when you are going to get called then you only have a limited time to get there. Probably easier to buy a LL.

The window has not been enforced for Guardians - you can go back any time after your group is called. No one has reported being turned away late. Just went a couple of hours late last week - no problem. This is NOT the case for Tron however.

 

[gottalovepluto]

EP. Tron is older tech and it shows. While cool for 2016 when it premiered in Shanghai, Imagineering went to the next level of ride technology for GOTG.

 

[WWhitehead]

Is there any chance you can park hop between the two? I agree with everyone about Guardians being the best ride. It is our favorite, and we are trying to prioritize how to ride it a few times on our trip in late June. However, you could go to Epcot and ride Guardians and spend a few hours there and then finish at Magic Kingdom. I know that adds an extra expense, but you could try for a VQ for Guardians and buy an ILL for Tron and then a second one for Guardians if you love it. Just an idea...

 

[georgina]

Is there any chance you can park hop between the two? I agree with everyone about Guardians being the best ride. It is our favorite, and we are trying to prioritize how to ride it a few times on our trip in late June. However, you could go to Epcot and ride Guardians and spend a few hours there and then finish at Magic Kingdom. I know that adds an extra expense, but you could try for a VQ for Guardians and buy an ILL for Tron and then a second one for Guardians if you love it. Just an idea...

It's tough to know if your BG for GotG will be called early though. I got group 88 last week at 7 AM and it wasn't called until 3 PM. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to actually get on the ride. Makes a park hop difficult to plan. Maybe go the opposite way and start at MK?

 

[Genie+]

Hopping might be hard if they are not arriving until noon. Hard on the wallet that is, lol.

 

[WWhitehead]

Hopping might be hard if they are not arriving until noon. Hard on the wallet that is, lol.

I've been known to go to 3 parks in a day, so I guess I am the wrong person to ask. I was just thinking if their main priority is Tron and Guardians, why not suggest a plan to ride both and not have to just pick one.

 

[Marthasor]

If you like each park equally, I would pick the one that is open latest to maximize your park time especially since you aren't arriving until late morning/early afternoon.

 

[RamieGee]

Is there any chance you can park hop between the two? I agree with everyone about Guardians being the best ride. It is our favorite, and we are trying to prioritize how to ride it a few times on our trip in late June. However, you could go to Epcot and ride Guardians and spend a few hours there and then finish at Magic Kingdom. I know that adds an extra expense, but you could try for a VQ for Guardians and buy an ILL for Tron and then a second one for Guardians if you love it. Just an idea...

I thought about hopping, but I was worried it might eat away at our day and also it’s so darn expensive. A 1 day ticket with park hopper $520 for 2, BEFORE I’ve even added in Genie+ and ILLs, which I think will bring it to $600. It just seems crazy (we always buy multi day packages so I never had to face the cost of a single day before). Ugh.

 

[Genie+]

I thought about hopping, but I was worried it might eat away at our day and also it’s so darn expensive. A 1 day ticket with park hopper $520 for 2, BEFORE I’ve even added in Genie+ and ILLs, which I think will bring it to $600. It just seems crazy (we always buy multi day packages so I never had to face the cost of a single day before). Ugh.

Oof I knew it would be expensive but Wow! One park will be much better cost per hour of fun.

We ended up buying 2 day tickets over a year ago and they were $320 each. I just couldn’t add the hopper.

 

[RamieGee]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I’m still undecided - LOL - but probably leaning towards Epcot, but the nostalgia for MK might get me when I go to buy the tix soon.

Epcot is open until 9pm, MK until 10pm.

No events at either.

Last time we were there it was Disney Enchantment at MK & Harmonious at Epcot so either the current shows would be an improvement versus last time!

I think I really want to get in Guardians though!

 

[Djm_in_buffalo]

My $0.02: by the time of your visit, it will have been nearly 3 years since your last WDW visit. If it was me, I would make sure to hit the family favorites from the last visit(s), as opposed to trying to plan the entire day around 1 or 2 hot commodity rides - that collectively might last all of 5 total minutes - that you haven’t done yet, but that you may or may not love.

To me, I’d rather crank out a half-dozen or so, tried and true B+ rides, as opposed to trying to score 2 rides that might generally be an A, but to me, might be a C. Would save those for the next week-long visit.

 

[RamieGee]

My $0.02: by the time of your visit, it will have been nearly 3 years since your last WDW visit. If it was me, I would make sure to hit the family favorites from the last visit(s), as opposed to trying to plan the entire day around 1 or 2 hot commodity rides - that collectively might last all of 5 total minutes - that you haven’t done yet, but that you may or may not love.

To me, I’d rather crank out a half-dozen or so, tried and true B+ rides, as opposed to trying to score 2 rides that might generally be an A, but to me, might be a C. Would save those for the next week-long visit.

I can see your point, which I think is why my son & I are struggling with the decision. We feel pretty good about the fact we’ve done a lot since we stay for a week and hit our favorite parks more than one day each, but only being there for 9-10 hours is a new experience for us. But we also know we’ll be way more nimble than when we travel with our usual group of 10 comprised of all ages. We’re also thinking we’ll be able to slow down in world showcase a bit since we’re usually running to rides and don’t really get to wander around there. BUT…MK is quintessential! I wish 1 day hoppers weren’t so ridiculously expensive.

But there’s a PLOT TWIST I didn’t mention - we’re actually headed to DisneyLAND in August for the first time ever so that will be Disney newness for us. So we’re sort of laid back in the fact that we’ve got Disney part II coming later (fully aware it’s very different than the World).

We’re also visiting Universal for the first time ever (both in FL and CA).

Feeling grateful we get to enjoy Disney on both coasts this year - it was unexpected but things sort of fell into place, and here we are.

 

[Nimbus]

Do you know the exact date you are going? Is it a Monday or Wednesday by chance? Are you planning on staying at a Deluxe or Swan or Dolphin that night? If so, that might open up some options to you as then you'd be able to do the extended evening hours, and possibly do both Epcot AND MK