Do you do Half Days or Full Days at the Parks?

[devotedchristian]

Especially if you have young children. I know how expensive the parks are but if you have babies/toddlers do you "plan on" half days or do you plan on full days at the parks.

I am taking DS (3 when we go) to Epcot and I have read how large it is, twice the size of MK. I plan on half day, because I will only do the PreSchooler Attractions and a couple of Kid Masks in the Countries. We might leave the parks by 1pm (depending on his fatigue) and we can spend the rest of the time at the resort (Beach Club Villas I'm told is an attraction in itself).

I wouldn't consider it a waste of money though.

So what do you do?

 

[anabelle]

I like the first half of the day touring, rest, then just enjoy the parks at night with no stress of rides.

 

[swilshire]

My kids do fine. It's my husband who won't stay all day. We always leave early afternoon intending to come back. Sometimes the family settles in to their own thing at the resort and it's hard to get them motivated to go back. Sometimes only part of us return for the evening shows, parades and fireworks.

Sheila

 

[cheyennemama]

We do plan to do whole days. My 20 mo ds naps in the stroller fine and my 3.5 dd will nap if necessary. If a major meltdown occurs (likely to be DS), we will obviously split the park and try later in the day.

 

[rt2dz]

Last time the kiddos were 3.5 & 7 months. We did whole days, but took breaks at the park (train ride, shows, sit down meals, etc) which did just fine. DS#2 is going to be 15 months this time though & he can be quite a handful, couple that with the fact I'll be 5.5 almost 6 months pregnant, so we have breaks planned for mid days and an off day mid-week.

 

[newholidayx2]

DS13 & I will be at WDW for 2wks this Aug - we're not planning on entering the parks until our 3rd full day
then we'll take 4morns and be at ea park once at their regular openings
the 2nd wk we're planning on the pools in the mornings, parks late afternoons/nights

 

[pixelpixie]

My daughter was 4 when we took her last year. We would get up early and have breakfast and get to the parks when they opened. We would have a late morning snack that I packed in our backpack while at the park and not head back to the hotel for a late lunch and naptime until 1:30-2:30. Then we would either have dinner and head back in for nighttime shows or come back to the park for rides in the late afternoon, work in a quick dinner and watch the nighttime show. After that it was straight back to the hotel and into bed for the little one. This worked GREAT for us! She was a real trooper as long as we kept this kind of schedule. And everyone was happy. The one day that we did a full day and some park-hopping, my daughter was absolutely delirious by the end of the evening. My husband and I weren't great either. We decided we wouldn't try that again.
Have a magical trip.

 

[oogieboogie]

My boys are 4 and 7. We do 2 parks per day usually. One park in the morning until lunch, then lunch and back to the resort for swim/nap/relax, then one park in the evening.

I think it kept them more relaxed and kept the excitement level up since they have something new to look forward to every day.

 

[ladyelle]

We last went to Disney went my kids were 4 (BBG) and 6(BB) and we did parks for only a few hours at a time. The kids would eat breakfast in the room and we would head to the parks usually by 10. I would have PS for a late lunch around 1-2. After lunch we would watch the parade or do a couple of other rides. We stayed at the Polynesian so we would take the boat back to the resort and hang out at the volcano pool for a few hours.
One night we went back to the Magic Kingdom around 7 to close. We usually had a late PS seating for dinner and then enjoyed the resort. This was our first big family trip and it worked out great. We are going again next month and probably will keep the same routine.
Basically, we went with expectation that we weren't going to see everything at the parks and weren't going to be there all day. It was relaxing, fun and it worked for us.

 

[NJDisneymom]

we plan on half days, till 1 or 2pm probably but we will extend it based on how the kids are doing. If my 2 year old sleeps in the stroller we will stay longer, but if not than we will get him back to the resort for a nap and then we usually head back to the parks for/after dinner.

 

[powellrj]

we usually do 1/2 days. When we go early, we will leave after the parades and be done for the day. If we want to go in the evenings, we will usually wait and go around 4 and stay later. We would rather go several 1/2 days so we don't come back from vacation more tired than when we left!

 

[justcantwait]

Another vote for half days here. When we went last year, DS was 5.5 and DD was 2. We would head to one park in the morning, then either go back to the resort for lunch and a rest, or to another spot for lunch and then off to a different park. I agree with oogieboogie that it keeps their interest up. And if they know we're coming back to finish the park on another day, they leave a lot easier!

 

[waltk]

With the new ticket prices, adding a day to the pass seems pretty cheap. We have not done many half days in the past, but next month we are doing 3 half days (two due to business meetings, one so that we can do Cinderella breakfast on a non-park day).

 

[Laurajean1014]

We do mostly long 1/2 days - go to the parks early and leave around 2 or go to the parks around 2 and leave at closing.

 

[MomofKatie]

We are going for a week in the fall, and we have 1/2 days planned for the most part:

Sat- arrival day, Epcot evening
Sun- TL morning, break, MGM evening EMH
Mon- Epcot morning and afternoon, free evening
Tues- MK morning til 3, AK 3 til evening EMH
Wed- Free morning and afternoon, MK evening EMH
Thur- MK morning til 4, Epcot 4 til evening EMH
Fri- AK morning, then departure

We built in some time away from the parks- DD will be 7, so we won't have to worry about naps. We plan on more late evenings than early mornings.

 

[F1Julie]

DD5 has been going since she was 3. I have found the best way for us is to go to the parks every other day. We stay the whole day. She's never been a napper, but occasionally would nap in her stroller at WDW either just before dinner or around fireworks time. I think it's too much of a hassle to go back to the resort for an afternoon break, plus DD would never have napped in a hotel room anyway.

 

[bubba73]

I took my 2 kids when they were 5 and 3. We all had a blast and stayed at the parks all day. The kids were in strollers so if they wanted to take a nap, they could. My parents werer there with us so my DW and I could ride while the kids slept because my parents don't do much riding at all anymore. But that worked for us.

 

[skiwee1]

Half days here. We spend the morning and early afternoon enjoying the Poly pool most days. We then shower and head for the parks. Some days we head out early, around 10am, and come back for a nice sit down dinner and relax by the pool.

 

[patrenoe]

Half days for us. I can't think of anything worse than exhausted children on a WDW trip. Often times we get tired and enjoy resort days while staying at the Polynesian or Grand Floridian. We try to make sure we enjoy the resorts as much as the parks.

 

[Princess Mommy]

We generally do 1/2 day aswell. The girls have been goign for years now & are used to it, we almost always go during off season- but it is still so overwhelming for them. To expect them to enjoy it- and you- from park open to close is unrealistic, at least with my daughters.