6 Days in Orlando: First-Timer Itinerary
Six days in Orlando covers both resorts with room to breathe: three days at Walt Disney World, two at Universal Orlando including Epic Universe, then a sixth day entirely out of the parks in downtown Orlando and Winter Park. Need less time, the 2-day , 3-day , 4-day , or 5-day itineraries skip the rest day and keep moving. Want one more, the 7-day itinerary adds Kennedy Space Center or LEGOLAND Florida on top of this same route.
Book these before you go
- Hotel near your first resort: check rates on Booking.com
- Walt Disney World tickets: compare dated options on GetYourGuide
- Universal Orlando tickets, including Epic Universe: compare dated options on Viator
- Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, your Day 6 highlight: check times on Viator
| Day | Focus | Rough one-day cost (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Magic Kingdom | $159-209 |
| Day 2 | EPCOT | $139-199 |
| Day 3 | Animal Kingdom, then Hollywood Studios | $119-184 and $149-204 |
| Day 4 | Universal Studios Florida | from $124 |
| Day 5 | Islands of Adventure plus Epic Universe | roughly $138-174 |
| Day 6 | Rest day: downtown Orlando and Winter Park | no ticket, boat tour $20 |
Day 1: Magic Kingdom Opens the Trip
Get to the gate before opening. Magic Kingdom’s six themed lands fill in fast, and headliners like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and TRON Lightcycle Run build long standby lines by mid-morning. A one-day, one-park ticket here runs roughly $159-209 depending on your date, the priciest of Disney’s four gates; confirm the exact figure at disneyworld.disney.go.com before you buy. FastPass and Genie+ are both gone, replaced in July 2024 by the paid Lightning Lane Multi Pass (roughly $17-45 per person per day) and Lightning Lane Single Pass for individual headliners. Stay through the evening fireworks before heading back to your hotel. You’ve got five more days, no need to close every park at a sprint.
Day 2: EPCOT, the Best Built-In Food Crawl
Spend the morning at World Celebration around Spaceship Earth, then move into World Showcase in the afternoon, eleven country pavilions circling a lagoon. Order small plates across several countries instead of locking in one big table-service reservation, it’s genuinely the best dinner crawl at either resort. Ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure while standby lines are still short. EPCOT’s one-day ticket runs roughly $139-199, usually Disney’s cheapest gate.
Day 3: Animal Kingdom, Then Hollywood Studios
A Park Hopper ticket makes two Disney gates possible in one day, and Day 3 is the day to use it. Animal Kingdom opens earliest and its animals are most active before midday, so start there for Kilimanjaro Safaris and Avatar Flight of Passage, then hop to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon and evening, where Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Rise of the Resistance hold up well under evening light. Animal Kingdom tickets run roughly $119-184, consistently Disney’s least expensive gate; Hollywood Studios runs roughly $149-204. Close the day at Disney Springs, free to enter and park, for dinner at The Polite Pig or a food truck instead of a fourth resort reservation.
Day 4: Switching Resorts, Universal Studios Florida
The second resort starts here, and it’s a genuine change of pace after three Disney days. Ride Harry Potter and Escape from Gringotts and Revenge of the Mummy before the standby line stretches past an hour. One-day Universal Studios Florida tickets run from roughly $124; confirm current pricing at universalorlando.com since it moves by date. Universal Express, the resort’s own paid skip-the-line pass, swings widely by demand, commonly $120-380 for a single park single day, so check the price before you commit. Close the day at CityWalk, free to enter, for dinner at The Cowfish or Toothsome Chocolate Emporium.
Day 5: Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe
Ride The Incredible Hulk Coaster and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure early, then spend the afternoon in Epic Universe, Universal’s new third gate that opened in May 2025 with five themed lands including Super Nintendo World and the Ministry of Magic. A park-to-park ticket covering both gates in one day runs roughly $138-174 depending on date. This closes out both resorts, tomorrow you’re out of the parks entirely.
Day 6: The Rest Day, Downtown Orlando and Winter Park
Six straight days at two resorts is a real pace, and Day 6 is built to break it, not add a third gate. Spend the morning at Lake Eola Park downtown, renting a swan paddleboat and walking the loop, then drive 15 minutes north to Winter Park for the afternoon. Walk Park Avenue’s oak-lined shopping strip, spend an hour in the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (the world’s largest collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s work, open Tuesday through Saturday 9:30am-4pm and Sunday 1-4pm, closed Mondays), then take the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, a roughly one-hour narrated ride through the 12-lake Winter Park Chain that’s been running continuously since 1938 (adult $20, child $10, dock a five-minute walk from Park Avenue). No park ticket, no ride line, no Lightning Lane math, just a genuinely different half of Orlando.
Is 6 Days Enough for Both Resorts Plus a Rest Day?
Yes, and it’s a more honest pace than most week-long trips attempt. Three Disney days cover all four gates, one doubled up with a Park Hopper ticket; two Universal days cover Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, and Epic Universe; the sixth day gets you out of theme parks entirely. Skipping the rest day to squeeze in a seventh park day is exactly the burnout pattern worth avoiding on a trip this long.
Do You Need a Rental Car for All 6 Days?
Yes, more so than on a shorter trip. Disney and Universal each run free internal transport within their own property, but nothing connects the two resorts, downtown Orlando, and Winter Park to each other, they sit 20-30 minutes apart in different directions. Day 6 specifically requires a car or rideshare since neither Lake Eola nor Winter Park sits anywhere near a resort shuttle route.
Should You Buy Lightning Lane or Universal Express for This Trip?
It depends on your travel dates, not a blanket yes. During summer, holidays, or spring break, Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Universal Express genuinely save hours at the busiest parks, Magic Kingdom and Islands of Adventure especially. During quieter stretches, roughly mid-January through mid-February or September into early October, standby lines run short enough that the extra cost buys little. Save Single Pass or Express spending for one true headliner per park rather than buying it across all five park days.
Where to Stay for a Two-Resort Trip With a Rest Day
Splitting hotels, one near Disney for the first three nights and one near Universal or International Drive for the next two, cuts drive time but means packing up mid-trip. Basing yourself centrally along International Drive instead adds a consistent 20-30 minute drive to both resorts and to downtown for Day 6, but skips the move entirely. Our Orlando guide and Orlando areas breakdown cover Lake Buena Vista, International Drive, and the budget-friendly Kissimmee corridor in more depth.
Getting to Orlando: MCO, Drive Times, and Why You Need Wheels
Land at Orlando International Airport (MCO), Florida’s busiest, and rent a car or set up rideshare immediately. Walt Disney World sits in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, roughly 25 miles and 30-45 minutes southwest of downtown; Universal’s International Drive corridor is closer, roughly 13-14 miles and 19-30 minutes out; downtown Orlando and Winter Park sit north of both, a further 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. Self-parking runs $35 a day at Disney and $30 at Universal’s main complex, waived if you’re staying at that resort’s own on-site hotel. Check current transportation options at visitorlando.com .
Tips and Essentials for a 6-Day Trip
Currency is the US dollar throughout. International visitors from one of the 42 Visa Waiver countries need an ESTA, not a full visa, for stays under 90 days; the fee rose to $40.27 as of January 2026, so apply only at esta.cbp.dhs.gov and skip any third-party site charging more. US domestic flyers should confirm their ID is REAL ID-compliant, standard licenses without that marking face extra screening time and a $45 fee at TSA checkpoints. Pack sunscreen, a refillable water bottle, and a rain layer regardless of season, afternoon thunderstorms are a near-daily fact of Florida summer, not a rare inconvenience.
Buy every park ticket online before you fly, and book the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour a day or two ahead since the small boats sell out on busy weekends. Across six days and two resorts, skipping even one gate-price walk-up ticket covers a full day of Lightning Lane or the boat tour twice over.