To Skip DHS or Not?

[ghtx]

No question. Go to DHS.

 

[#1DopeyFan]

Definitely agree with the majority here...GO!!! There is SO much to do...you won't be disappointed.

There was nothing for my 2 and 4 year old to do and they wanted to leave to go swimming.

I always hate to hear things like that. What about Festival of the Lion King, Kilimanjaro Safari, The Boneyard, It's Tough to be a Bug, TriceraTop Spin, Finding Nemo, etc. There SO much to see and do there...even for that age, IMO of course. I just can't imagine skipping any of the parks...it would be awful!!

 

[adamsclan]

Our last trip, I decided to skip HS. My 7 year old found out the week before and I ended up having to change our entire plan. She was SO upset, and I didn't think any of the kids would mind. My older son insists that we go to AK every time, although I think everyone else would be willing to skip it. That's the magic of Disney...they give you so many choices and options that it would take you a multitude of trips to get everything seen/done. But there's always next time...

 

[ZoZo]

I'd recommend giving each park a try. DHS is my least favorite park but there are still some cool things to do there. Everyone likes different things. -- my favorites (MK and AK) might not be your faves, but you need to try them to find out.

And, despite some of these posts, please don't skip AK. It's tied with MK for my favorite park!

 

[jsgrand0]

I know I already weighed in with a vote FOR DHS. I noticed people talking about it being their least favorite park, but it is my second favorite, close to 1st! I love the shows and thrill rides there. Honestly, Epcot may be my least favorite, as we are not that into touring the countries, so that takes away half of it. Oh, we will walk around all the countries, but prefer to be on the rides! I've not heard great things about the new test track, so hopefully that will not disappoint this time around..oh and Soarin' is awesome! AK doesn't offer too much for us either...we will probably just do 1/2 day there, mostly for the safari, Dinosaur and It's Tough To Be a Bug!

 

[Nancyg56]

I would not skip a park, especially on a first visit. Unless you go and check out the park there is no way you can know if your family will enjoy it. DHS has a lot of things for kids and even if you cannot fill the entire day there is plenty to choose to entertain small boys.

We seldom chose to skip a park and when we do we skip AK> Not because we don't love it but we know we will be back again.

 

[Leona Fishback]

Another vote for going. I have three boys, older than yours now but we took them at the ages you listed, and they were then and remain now DHS fans. I know this is near-heresy, but I don't get the MK-mania. I do love the castle and need to walk up Main Street on every trip, but I have far more things I want to do at all three other parks. I've assumed MK works better if you have little girls. DHS is chock full of boy-pleasing options.

Also, I know, everyone disses the food, and I agree, it's not the greatest, but the Sci Fi Diner is much-loved by my kids (now 11, 10, & 7).

 

[mslhb]

I would definitely do HS especially with boys. We just went a few weeks ago. My original plan was to skip HS. We have one DD who is 4.5. Neither DH nor I had been to DW in 20+ years and I didn't have very fond memories of the MGM Studios. DH saw the Star Wars ride on the ME bus to the hotel and was like hey let's go on that. He had absolutely nothing to do with planning the trip up until that point. I don't think he even knew what hotel we were staying at! So we re-arranged plans and ended up doing 1/2 day at AK and 1/2 day at HS. I ended up not caring for AK but we did enjoy HS. We ate dinner at Sci-Fi Drive-In and really liked that. MK and Epcot were by far our favorite parks. My DH especially liked MK and used the phrase "it is so magical" several times un-prompted which shocked me. So I guess you just never know until you try it! I definitely recommend park hoppers and think they are worth the cost. We only used Disney transportation and our experience was it was very quick and efficient and easy to move around the parks and hotels. Have a good trip!

 

[aleksandr]

Two years ago was our first trip to WDW in about 8 years. It was the first for our DS7. We skipped DHS, primarily because it is my wife's least favorite park. We did 2 MK, 1 Epcot, 1 AK, plus Sea World and a few other small Orlando things.

Last year we skipped AK and did DHS instead. It quickly became DS8's favorite park. As everyone else has said, TSM and ST alone make it worth it for boys. My son also became fascinated with the Muppets because of MuppetVision 3D.

This year either I'm going to add extra days or cut MK down to 1 day. Yes, MK is iconic, but we can do nearly everything we want to in 1 day. And while AK isn't as engaging to us as the rest of the parks, the Safari and EE are pretty major attractions and I'd rather not miss them 2 years in a row.

Bottom line, as almost everyone else has said, try to fit in DHS!

 

[SondraD11]

When my sons were younger and before Animal Kingdom had Expedition Everest, it was a optional park but the Studios was always a must do park for us. They didn't really enjoy much of Animal Kingdom except for the Lion King show and were terrified of It's Tough to be a Bug and Dinosaur. The Studios offered so much more for young boys such as Indiana Jones, Star Tours, etc. If you can, keep your original plan and do the Studios. However, no matter what you choose, have a great trip!

Sondra

 

[itsmeamanda]

Ya'll are awesome! Thank you for taking the time to reply. I think that I will go with my original plan and just make it a short day (if we're done with DHS early), and have pool time in the evening.

Thanks again!

 

[summermac]

Another option would be to choose DHS the day they have EMH evening and sleep in/enjoy the pool during mid-afternoon.

 

[Melissabo]

We took our boys 6 and 3 last month I just asked my six year old again what his fave parks were and he said MK and DHS. We actually spent one day there rope drop to close there and then another day from about 10 am until 3:00 p.m.

3 year old loved TSMM, little mermaid, meeting Wreck it Ralph, Lights Motor Action, the parade, muppets show.

6 year old loved all of the above plus Indiana Jones show, Beauty and the Beast, star tours (he rode it at least 5 times) tower or terror. He was an inch too small for RnR so he was bummed about that but know he'll be able to ride next time.

Fantastmic was both of their fave shows.

If we only had two parks to visit with our boys MK and DHS would be our top two. Dh and I love Epcot but the boys could so a 1/2 day there and be happy.

I'd go at rope drop and get on TSMM without the wait.

 

[Momloveshockey]

Yup...DHS was my Dh and DS's favourite park and we will be spending more than one day on this next trip. TSM, stunt show, star wars, Indiana Jones...DS (6years at the time) even loved Fantasmic. But, the favourites were RRC and ToT. Since Splash will be closed when we are there my reason to go to MK is downgraded by one. Go to DHS and I think they have a Disney Junior things with characters from the little kids cartoons???

 

[tinkerbell1984]

There was nothing for my 2 and 4 year old to do and they wanted to leave to go swimming.

I always hate to hear things like that. What about Festival of the Lion King, Kilimanjaro Safari, The Boneyard, It's Tough to be a Bug, TriceraTop Spin, Finding Nemo, etc. There SO much to see and do there...even for that age, IMO of course. I just can't imagine skipping any of the parks...it would be awful!!

Maybe they don't like animals? LoL, I dunno. We did all those things except boneyard and nemo. They didn't really know nemo and won't sit through a show. They didn't pay attention on the safari, tough to be a bug scared them the time before last so we skipped it last time, for the triceatop spin we waited half an hour and rode and my son said "that's it???" it was super short, the lion king we left during as they had to pee. LoL So we just decided next time, it's not worth the extra day, so we are staying one less night. Every family has different parks that are their fav, but I def would chose HS or Ak for a recommendation.

 

[dsanner106]

absolutely don't skip dhs, there is so much there for kids that they would miss out on. You already have 2 days for mk, and frankly that is about right. I would not know what to do with a 3rd full day there. I think your original plan is perfect time wise, enjoy!!

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

I am going against what most people are saying. We just came back and this was our first trip incorporating DHS. Our two boys (6 & 4) did NOT like it except for the Toy Story ride which we got FP for at 9:45 and the return was 6:00 pm. Our kids are not into movies and do not like loud noises (I had to leave the Lights camera action b/c the 4 yo was miserable). We typically spend 2 days of a 4 day trip at MK and could easily do another. My boys just don't like movies and are not into Star Wars. My one friend with boys the same ages loves the park, so think about what your kids are like and plan accordingly. Maybe go just for toy story/few hours and send a lot of time at the pool.

 

[sammons70]

If your boys like Toy Story and /or Star Wars, I would not recommend skipping the studios. Food is really good there as well.

 

[deuceswild10]

I would not skip it since you already have two days at MK anyway.

Have fun!

 

[buzzrelly]

We LOVE DHS and would never skip it! If we were going to skip anything, we'd skip smelly, hot AK!