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One full day at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. Then 1/2 day at Animal Kingdom and the second half of the day at your favorite park from the first 3.

I think the only one you absolutely need a full day for is Magic Kingdom. I would might even do 1.5-2 days for that park.

We are taking our 2.5 YO in March and our days look like:

Day 1 - arrive and pool day
Day 2 - MK
Day 3 - Epcot
Day 4 - Pool Day/Downtown Disney
Day 5 - Hollywood Studios (1/2 day), PM we might go off site to the outlets
Day 6 - Blizzard Beach
Day 7 - Pool Day/Chef Mickey's for dinner
Day 8 - Home

We probably like more Pool Days at our resort than the average person . If I was spending more time in the parks I would do an extra day at MK. We are skipping Animal Kingdom this trip, there's not as much to do IMO with a young toddler.

I think it depends so much on what you and your LO are into, but for me, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios aren't worth more than a half day each. (Unless you have an animal lover or a Star Wars/Pixar aficionado in your group.) Magic Kingdom and EPCOT are both two day parks, in my opinion, but again - you might not agree! I think MK probably has more for a toddler, but EPCOT is my jam and I'd selfishly want to spend two days there.

@Ra: We took D to DW in October, so he was about B's age. We only had 2 days, so we chose a full day at Magic Kingdom (left for a few hours for a nap) and a little over a half day at Animal Kingdom. If we'd had more time, I would have done 2 days at Magic Kingdom. I think one day at Animal Kingdom is plenty. I still probably would have skipped Epcot, because I don't think there's much there for toddlers. I might have done a day at Hollywood just to check it out and see the Pixar stuff.

I suggested these 2 websites in another post on Disney today becaus I found them really helpful when planning our trip. WDW Prep School has great touring plans for all the parks. And Kenny the Pirate has a lot of good "insider" info, especially about character meets.

@Ra: we just went with DS in October and he will be 3 in February. I think your plan sounds good. I'd say definitely 2 days MK to do everything. We skipped AK this time only bc we only had 4 full days. We were able to make a full day out of HS but we had a long lunch and some rain to wait out. Even tho there aren't many rides at HS we had a lot of fun in the Honey I shrunk the kids playground and there were a lot of characters there that he wanted to see. (Buzz, Woody, Cars, etc) He still talks about the playground with the big bug and the cookie. Have fun!

We just came back from our first trip to DW and are planning our next trip in late 2016. I am doing one day each at HS and AK and then Epcot and MK for 1-2 days. The past year, we went to each park once and did Epcot the fifth day because of weather. We also went during Food and Wine so Epcot was much more attractive. If you are going with a younger one and haven't been to Disneyland before, then I suggest the extra day or time at Magic Kingdom.

Epcot has the cheaper, more laid back and very tasty princess lunch at Askershus. There is a giant aquarium like exhibit and Finding Nemo, Turtle Crush, Living the Land, Spaceship Earth. There are coloring and crafts tables at many of the countries. There is a disaster prep game show activity inside Innovations and if your little one is not so little, they can ride Soaring and Test Track. All in all it is a great change of pace from the rest of the parks.

@808love: Since you were just there, can you comment about what's going on in the Innovations East and West areas in EPCOT? We used those as "cool off" points while in EPCOT and for some reason I thought they were being redone?

@mrsjazz: If you're only making decisions based on what's most enjoyable for the kids, I don't know that you'd want to spend two days at Epcot. There are definitely some things for school age kids - like crafting stations and a scavenger hunt in each of the countries, the Soaring ride, the Living with the Land ride - and some things that would probably appeal to toddlers, too, like the aquarium and Turtle Talk at the Seas pavilion, the character meals and the Image Works lab at the Imagination pavilion.

But really, I'd spend two days at Epcot because I love Epcot, and I'd like to teach my son the same things my parents taught me - sometimes we do what the kids want to do, sometimes we do what the grownups want to do. There's enough there to keep a kid from getting bored, for sure!

@looch:
There are a few interactive exhibits where kids can learn about a variety of things. There was a game show barker who invited preschoolers - big kids to challenge one another to put the foam batteries in the battery box or the water jug in the water hole. Kind of like a children's museum exhibit.
Here is an overview of the current Innovations offerings:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/epfw-innoventions.htm
Here is a peek at the StormStruck exhibit specifically:
https://innoventions.disney.com/exhibits/stormstruck/
And here is the entire Epcot overview:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/ep-overview.htm

@808love: Thanks!

Make sure to plan a rest day! When DH and I went a couple years ago we were too tired to fully enjoy Harry Potter world.