Intinerary - need suggestions from the experienced on how to split up attractions

What advice are you specifically looking for when it comes to splitting up the attractions? Are you only asking if you should park hop or do you want suggestions about what order to do the attractions and parks you have listed above? I'd be happy to throw my 2 cents in

I always choose park hopping, it just makes more sense to me because if one park is really busy that day you can always go to a different park. Also are you staying on property and plan on using fp+ because if you are and set up your rides they kind of manage your times on the fp. The only rides you have on your list that are usually long waits are peter pan, space mountain for mk I would suggest getting there early and hit those first, soarin, and test track for epcot if your not there early it can be a ridiculous wait, and maybe mission space but I don't go anywhere near that silly thing, and the safari at akl get there early. AK and HS can both be done in the same day if done right.

Didn't I just read the other day that you've never been and hoping to go someday? Talk about a last minute trip!

I also prefer park hopping. It's nice being able to spend the morning at one park and then the evening at another.

I would be pro-park hop in this situation, but you could certainly do it without hopping and still accomplish everything, but you may end up sacrificing one or two days of nap time if you don't hop. Your EPCOT day would be super busy and your AK would be short if you don't hop and do exactly the listed attractions.

Monday
AM - TRAVEL
PM - MK - Tomorrowland (FP: Space Mtn, Speedway/ Standby: CoP, TTA), See Wishes if time

Tuesday
AM - AK - FP: Kilimanjaro Safaris, ITTBAB/ Standby: Flights of Wonder, Maharajah Jungle Trek
PM - DHS (mostly for Fantasmic) - Go a little early and hit One Man's Dream before Fantasmic! Make sure you stay for the movie and allow about 30-45 minutes to see the attraction with the movie. If you need more time, you can always go back on DHS day 2

Wednesday
AM - MK - Standby: Meet Tink, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, have a dole whip
PM - Epcot - FP: Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Mission Space/ Standby: Ellen's Energy Adventure, IllumiNations

Thursday
AM - AK - are you sure you want a second morning here? It seems like you don't have too many must do attractions at AK. Maybe take in Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo? Maybe do Safari again?
PM - Epcot - FP: Soarin', Journey Into Imagination, The Seas (Imagination & Seas FPs are useless, but everything else on that side of the park is tier 1)/ Standby: Living with the Land, Turtle Talk

Friday
AM - DHS - Standby: Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Magic of Disney Animation, Star Tours, GMR. If you want to do the drawing class at Magic of Animation, go to there first thing in the morning--the classes start filling to capacity late morning/early afternoon and since each class is about 30 minutes, you can wait for an hour of more here. It's totally worth it, but with some planning, you can walk right in. Classes are on the hour and the half hour.
PM - MK - FP: Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight, It's a Small World/ Standby: Hall of Presidents, Mickey's Philharmagic,

Saturday
AM - MK - FP: Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, Dumbo/ Standby: Mad Tea Party
PM - TRAVEL

I think all of my tiers are accurate. I know that Disney has been shifting them around a little bit. There are some omissions that seemed unusual to me based on some of the rides that you did choose and I would FP all of them: Toy Story Mania, Big Thunder Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

First, I vote for park hopping.

Second, the time of year you're planning to go will have a huge impact on how much you can do in one day. During off-peak seasons, even when park hours are shorter than they are during peak seasons, you'll probably be able to do nearly everything you want with minimal wait times. So that will have a huge impact on your touring plans. But if you go during an off-peak season, skip the nap. You'll miss half the park day if you take a nap. You can sleep at night.

We don't do hopping anymore. We looked at rescheduling the days and if we want to dine at a resort, we just leave early. We found that we spend a lot of time in the "hopping" that we could be using in the enjoying (of course the monorail between MK and EP is easy). We just feel our money is spent better by focusing on one park in one day (or two LOL). Totally personal preference here, but we also felt less rushed which made it easier on us "older folks". Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

Since you plan doing Epcot during the pm, I recommend pre-selecting fastpasses for Epcot since Test Track and Soarin' will be ages to wait for and out of fastpasses for the day. Although, Test Track does offer a single rider line if you wanted to do that way.

We always use hopping so we can keep the spontaneity going. It's not for everyone but it's our perfect style if touring. We aren't thrill ride people either shuck makes HS and AK half day parks for us. With the evening parties testing at AK that might make for something fun beyond the normal park hoping.

If you're going in October, you'll be there right in the middle of Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. IMO that is something that cannot be missed.

But don't do Epcot instead of DHS. You've got four MK days in there (two are partial travel days, but still). I'd cut one of the MK days, even if it's just one of the partial days, and give Epcot a chance.

I'd go one full day in MK and also stick with your two half/travel days (mostly because I also like starting and ending my trips at the Magic Kingdom!). The other MK day I'd make an EPCOT day. Spaceship Earth and IllumiNations are a MUST. Moreso than anything at Hollywood Studios, honestly, and Tower of Terror is my favorite attraction.

For your MK days, I'd say break down into lands. I'd probably go Adventureland/Frontierland/Liberty Square, then Fantasyland/Tomorrowland. I'd say for your first half day, do Tomorrowland and as much of Fantasyland as possible since that's what you seem most interested in. Then for your full day, I'd do Adventureland/Frontierland/Liberty Square, and you would maybe have time to finish up or repeat Fantasyland. Then your last day there, I'd do whatever you wanted to ride or see again or maybe do a few things you could have skipped.

For the other three parks, it's pretty straight forward if you only have one day. Especially if you don't care about thrill rides or rollercoasters. The only other park I feel like I'd need more than one day at is EPCOT, but considering you're not even sure you want to go at all, I'd say one day is probably plenty for you.

I would have to agree to drop one of the MK days and do Epcot. There are so many things to do in Epcot it is not something that you want to miss. I think 2 partial and 1 full day at MK is plenty and then you still have a full day at each of the other parks. Now it depends on your priorities, but with F&W going on plus just all the regular Epcot attractions it definitely deserves a visit.

We are a fan of Park Hopping. It gives us the freedom to have dinner anywhere we want (or can get an ADR).
Our usual day is: park at or shortly after open, lunch in the same park, back to the hotel for a swim-nap-shower around 2:00 or 3:00, then off to which ever park we are having dinner, followed by more fun. We have found that taking a mid day break to get off our feet is among the best ways to fight the Magic fatigue & make the most of our visit.