Mother/adult daughter trip advice

[MandiC]

So, my mom and I are doing a mother/daughter trip to Florida this month, just the two of us ❤ and last time we did a FL trip (2017?) we did Epcot, so she requested we do that again since we had fun. My mom isn’t a ride person, at all, but really enjoyed the theming, food/drinks and fireworks. Prior to that trip she hadn’t been to Disney since the early 80s and then it was just Magic Kingdom. We only have 1 day for Disney, but I was thinking of doing a park hopper so she could see more of the parks. My question is; do you think, without doing rides, we could see at least MK, HS and Epcot in one day? No kids. We will have our own vehicle but considering just doing Disney transport which will be pretty easy between HS and Epcot, MK not as much maybe. Any tips? Thoughts? If you were showing Disney to someone this time of year (the day we will be there looks low crowds, week after Thanksgiving) what would you prioritize? I paid for a reservation finder for the night before our Disney day to try and get a California Grill reservation, if we do that I figure we might be able to skip MK.

 

[MandiC]

For reference we are staying at Pop Century so we do have a Disney hotel reservation

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

What fun! I would try to visit MK in the evening as it looks so pretty at night with the Christmas decor, lights etc.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

We did a trip with HS, Epcot, and MK for my son's 4th birthday. Started at HS, Skylinered to Epcot, monorailed to MK. It was quite easy to use Disney transport (we bussed to HS since we were staying at Disney Springs). Because this was prepandemic, we did 3 parks in one day twice because of how Toy Story Land FastPasses were distributed. We skipped any ride that someone 38 inches tall couldn't ride. I felt like we shortchanged Epcot, and next trip did 1 day Epcot only. It is a lot easier to focus on just HS/Epcot or MK/Epcot. Star Wars Galaxy's Edge is amazing to see, but otherwise I feel like HS doesn't really offer much if you aren't a ride person. There's a few shows, not as many as there used to be and some (like Lightening McQueen Racing Academy and Disney Jr dance party) are targeted at kids. If your mom enjoys Star Wars, HS is a must see. Perhaps you could drive or bus to MK, hop from there to Epcot at 2, and Skyliner over to HS for a couple hrs if you really wanted to do all 3.

 

[RoseGold]

The Epcot fireworks show is incredible. It blew my expectations away.

 

[NavyDad]

My wife and I have done this a few times on our kid-free trips. We usually do a few rides but mostly spend the day taking in the atmosphere. This is usually how our day goes:

We start at DHS. We usually do a few rides but there are plenty of shows and other stuff to see there. There used to be a little bakery on the corner near Brown Derby that we would usually get a pastry and a coffee in the morning.

Not sure of the status of the boats right now but we always love the boat ride from DHS to international gateway at Epcot. Very relaxing, nice views and it's very easy to stop at any of the Boardwalk area resorts if you want. We much prefer the International Gateway entrance to Epcot because it brings us right to World Showcase and just has a less sterile feel than the Epcot main entrance. IIRC most things in World Showcase start opening up around 11. Sometime in the afternoon we make our way to the front of the park and doing the Seas and Land pavilions which we both really enjoy. I know you said she's not a ride person but maybe you could convince her to do Living with the Land as it's a very tame boat ride with lots of cool stuff to see. At this point you are close to the park and it's easy to hop on the monorail to MK.

Any of the monorail resorts are nice places to stop for a bite to eat and all of them have relaxing lobbies with nice atmospheres. The gift shop areas of these resorts are usually a great place to shop that is not as crowded as Main Street shops at MK. I agree with another poster who said MK is so much better at night, especially with any kind of decorations. We love to arrive at MK in the early evening as everything is lit up and just beautiful. Many families start to leave around this time so sometimes the park is way less crowded by this point as well.

 

[Mtraynom]

Park hopping does not start until 2:00, so keep that in mind. I was there a few weeks ago and did mange to hop to 3 parks one day. Animal Kingdom usually closes the earliest, so maybe hop there first. If Magic Kingdom is not having an after hours event they are usually open late, along with Epcot.