Help me decide Animal Kingdom vs Blizzard Beach vs Resort Day

[AZMermaid]

Hi friends! My family (me, DH, DS 9 and DD 8) is coming to Florida to sail on the Dream for my 40th birthday over the 4th of July. We live in AZ so we are trying to squeeze some extra fun into our airfare purchase. We think we will have two full days before the cruise. One day we are going to DHS for sure as this is the park we skipped a few years back while it was under construction. I am trying to figure out the other day. I would LOVE to see the new Cirque show. So, if we did that at 5:30PM, what would you do in the morning? The later show isn't a great option for my early birds... but possible I guess, we would be headed to the port the next day so we could sleep in, although they rarely do!

Option A- Blizzard Beach. We have never been and this trip seems like a great time to try it. But would we be exhausted if we went opening- 3:00PMish and then to the show at 5:30? We are likely staying at Saratoga Springs if that factors in at all.

Option B- Animal Kingdom till lunch time or so, maybe some pool time and then head over to DS. Kids loved Pandora last time so that would be the focus.

Option C- Resort Pool day- obviously the cheapest option! The cruise is a double dip with no sea days, so it isn't like we will have tons of pool time on the cruise. I mean, we have a pool in our backyard, but the giant Disney pools are way better- haha!

Option D- Rope Drop AK, hit Pandora and Everest then go to BB till 3ish. This is DH's idea... which I think is nuts and a dumb use of money, but he says, eh- YOLO! Again, will we be falling asleep during the show?

Option E- AK in morning, BB in afternoon but no Cirque. This is probably the ideal family option... but it is my birthday, dangit!

 

[Dug720]

I vote F - Animal Kingdom all day! It makes me so sad when people think it is a half-day Park! It is beautiful and deserves at least a full day!

 

[Calee]

There is no way I would pay the price of a full day ticket and only go part of the day. So either all day AK, or resort pool day. We like blizzard beach a lot so I think that's a viable option too for something different.

 

[AZMermaid]

I vote F - Animal Kingdom all day! It makes me so sad when people think it is a half-day Park! It is beautiful and deserves at least a full day!

Ahhhhhh no more options, haha! I agree though. Our last trip in 2017 we did 2 days at AK and loved it! So I guess that is part of the question, is it worth going if we can only go for a bit?

 

[AZMermaid]

There is no way I would pay the price of a full day ticket and only go part of the day. So either all day AK, or resort pool day. We like blizzard beach a lot so I think that's a viable option too for something different.

That is what I told DH! We would be getting a 2 day ticket so it isn't like it'd be some cheap add on to a 8 day pass! I was like, dude. That is like $400 for three rides, you are nuts. But I think he thinks we have an Uncle Scrooge somewhere in our lineage!

 

[Dug720]

Ahhhhhh no more options, haha! I agree though. Our last trip in 2017 we did 2 days at AK and loved it! So I guess that is part of the question, is it worth going if we can only go for a bit?

If I HAD to split it, I would do resort - but only if “resort” meant something other than a pool. Pools skeeve me out - which eliminates Blizzard Beach from my consideration. And I would stay in AK until as late as I could push it.

 

[snoopy5386]

If you’ve never done Blizzard Beach I’d pick that. Cheaper than AK and you can “do” the whole park easily with those hours.

 

[SamanthaH]

We really enjoy Blizzard Beach. If you are there for rope drop, you can hit all the rides and the lazy river and be out by 2pm. If your family enjoys mini golf, the Winter Summerland mini golf course is right next door. Your kids are the perfect age for both Blizzard Beach and Winter Summerland.

I think AK is at its finest after dark. Pandora is beautiful at night. I would probably only do AK if I were nixing Cirque, but that is just my preference.

 

[cj.scribbles]

I would probably do Blizzard Beach but I am a little biased. As a Cast Member I generally don't find myself going over to Animal Kingdom very often. It's often very crowded, very hot and not the place I want to be if I'm supposed to be going somewhere later that evening.

Blizzard Beach is an extremely relaxed park in comparison to the others, even to its sibling park -Typhoon Lagoon. The lazy river can take 30 minutes or more to go around the entire park and it's my favorite thing of all time. I specifically go there just to take naps in it, I swear to god. Also the staff are super kind and helpful, likely because after the initial morning rush there aren't as many people to take care of as there are in the four main parks.

Usually Cast Members will be hanging around in their locations, just waiting to help or talk to someone. Meanwhile the wait times for the rides are pretty inconsequential. Just about everything can be done within two hours lol.

But that's me. I'm all about a chill, relaxing day. Now if your family is more of the get up and go type then you might be fine doing something like Animal Kingdom, even doing it at rope drop. But really it depends on how you think you and the family will feel.

Keep in mind that things like weather may affect your stay. Disney Waterparks will temporarily close rides if there are lightning strikes within 6 miles and go '101' (temp close). If it's just raining that's a non-issue, but if there's lightning then it becomes a safety hazard and we can't reopen until the lightning passes.

Sometimes this happens within a few minutes, sometimes it goes for hours and sometimes the park closes early because of the storms. It all depends on the season and the weather but as I said, so long as you're there early you'll be able to do literally everything within two hours. The rains don't usually come until the afternoon anyways.

I hope this was helpful. I admit I don't know much about AK or the resorts but I do know that BB will top resort pools ANY DAY.

 

[SG131]

I do think all day at the water parks would be pretty tiring. Option J you could do the water park or animal kingdom most of the day and then consider getting kids night out so you and your husband could do the later cirque show. It would be silly to get tickets when they will be too tired to watch, but it’s your birthday so you should do the show to treat yourself.

 

[Hi Pluto]

If you really want cirque then that's your priority, but let me throw out that AK has some really great shows as well. I'm sure not at the same level, but really wonderful. Personally, I'd do a full AK day without the cirque, but I have no interest in that show anyway, lol.

 

[MrsDuck]

A or E!

 

[Klayfish]

Another vote for spend the day at Blizzard Beach. The park usually opens at 10am during summer. You only need to arrive at 9:55am for "rope drop", no need to be 30 minutes early. In the first hour, you can hit ALL the big slides, multiple times if you wish. Then do the smaller ones, float around the lazy river and relax. Even without rushing, you can be done by 1pm or 2pm. That'll leave enough time for a quick nap, get ready for the show and enjoy the evening.

 

[BarlowFamily]

We love Blizzard Beach! I agree with the above that you can Rope Drop the big slides and hang out in the lazy river and wave pool later in the morning/early afternoon as the crowds come in. We went July 4th week this summer, and did just that!

The Budget-er in me, says to save some $$$ and just do a resort pool day.

A day at AK sounds fantastic! But not for the price jump for just a half day. Has your family explored Animal Kingdom Lodge? I could spend a full day here! I've attached an older resort recreation guide to give you an idea of some of the awesome activities they have. I know transportation might be an issue though...

And I definitely say splurge on your Cirque show!

 

[RunningGamer]

If you have never been definitely recommend Option A. Blizzard Beach has a great play area for kids that you will want to take advantage of while yours are still small enough. Great fun with 'icebergs' they can walk across and the little zipline to do and jump into the water. Exhaustion definitely might be a factor though as it is a lot of stair climbing at Blizzard Beach so you might want to plan at least a short nap between Blizzard Beach and Cirque. Could definitely do everything by 1-2pm if you do rope drop and have time for a nap since the bus ride is very short from Saratoga to Blizzard Beach. Depending where you end up staying in Saratoga don't forget it could be faster to walk rather than taking the bus to Disney Springs, especially since the bus only stops at The Springs at Saratoga (The stop by concierge, confusing I know. Too many 'Springs' ).

 

[disneycountrygirl]

Another vote for Blizzard Beach. This seems like an eclectic Disney trip from the start - not the "standard" Disney trip where you go for a week and hit all the parks, and the parks are pretty much the singular focus of the trip. Those trips always prevent a Blizzard trip (at least for us!). This trip feels like a perfect opportunity to finally fit in Blizzard Beach - and it's a perfect fit since you already have Cirque that night. Even if you are all tired during show, I don't think it will diminish your Cirque experience. As they say, you only live once and you can sleep when you're dead. lol.

 

[DisneyFive]

I wouldn't do a Blizzard Beach or a Resort Day simply because they are the most similar options to the cruise IMO. (relaxing, laid back, chill). You are going to get enough of that on the cruise.

Personally I would do two full park days. That's enough to be meaningful. For us, Cirque is something that we would use to fill in an evening on a long visit (8-10 nights) and I can see Cirque (not the exact same show, but still Cirque) in many locations . There is only one Disney World.

(Truth be told, I would choose Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, but that's just personal preference)

Dan

 

[CynBeth]

I vote F - Animal Kingdom all day! It makes me so sad when people think it is a half-day Park! It is beautiful and deserves at least a full day!

I agree.

 

[AZMermaid]

MK was our original plan... and that is true about being able to see Cirque lots of places, including Vegas which is about 5 hours from us. I keep saying we should go do a long weekend there one of these days.

And I agree this isn’t a normal trip. We plan to come back during the 50th celebration for a more parks focused trip.

We stayed at AKL last time and loved it! That’s is a good idea to stay there instead if we plan on a resort day. I was Thinking SSR due to the proximity to DS. But that’s a good idea too!

Thanks everyone for the input! I think we are leaning towards BB!

 

[maryj11]

My vote is do go to AK at rope drop then leave about 2:00 or 3:00. Then go to the show at Disney Springs. Blizzard beach is just exhausting to me lol.