Does Everyone Go to Park Every Day???

[bom_noite]

Me and my family have a yearly ritual. We will go for 4 or 5 days and go to 1 park and maybe 1 water park. Any more then that would wipe me out - I need a few days of relaxation near the pool! And, our kids (10 and 13) would rather veg at the pool for a few days rather then tromp through the park.

Last year we bought 4 7-day PH+ tickets. I think it will take us 4 to 5 years to use them.

Based on our family's nature, I am surprised that WDW can sell the UPH's: How in the world can you go to a different park or water park every day for 5 days or a week? Then, do that year in an year out. Regardless, lots of people buy them!

I am curious. What do most folks do. Imagine a 5 day trip to your DVC Home. What would be the standard plan?

 

[Disney Doll]

We do spend at least part of every day in a park. Sometimes it's just for an evening show or dinner, but we tend to go to a park daily.

 

[jaysue]

We go to at least one park every day.

We go to the early entry park in the morning - leave for lunch, swim and a nap.

In mid to late afternoon we go to another park for some more attractions, dinner, a nice walk and then back to the room for some playtime and bedtime.

Our late afternoon/evening touring is fairly low key - dinner at Epcot WS, maybe a ride on TT, a ride on SSE, El Rio De Tiempo and Maelstorm, walk through one of the pavillions would be a sample park visit to Epcot from BCV or BWV

A sample morning visit would be to AK for KS, PFT, Train Ride to Conservation Station, Boneyard, KRR, FOTLK and if time permits a tour of the Oasis/Discovery Island

So we do visit the parks everyday in a somewhat low key kind of way

thanks
jaysue

 

[bom_noite]

Interesting - here is the deal: ME AND MY WIFE ARE JUST CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BWVDee]

We have APs so we generally go to a park everyday. We will also often just go to eat lunch or dinner or see the fireworks etc. or for a few hours in the AM before coming back to relax by the pool.

 

[kathyseb]

Well....my husband I am must be in the minority, but hey, we don't care.

This is the second year we have had APs. We check in at 3PM on day one, unpack and head over to the park that evening.
From that point on until we check out we are at MK, MGM or EPCOT from the time they open to the time it closes. Every day.
We drive down from Indiana three different times a year for a total of four weeks.
And we still have not seen it all.

 

[bom_noite]

Actually, based on posts you are in the majority! We are in the minority. I need to log off and find a second job to reward my family wiht UPH's or AP's every year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In reality, I just get bored with the crouds and the park. But, based off what you folks are saying, you take a relaxed approach to that days attack on the park.

 

[dsmith]

It depends on the length of the trip. If we'll only be there 4-5 days, then yes we visit a park every day. Not ALL day but every day we'll go and do at least a couple rids/attractions and maybe have dinner.

If we'll be there a week or more then we usually take a day or two to relax at our resort.

 

[Sammie]

Same as Disney Doll, we have annual passes and we go to one park for each part of every day if only to have dinner and see a few favorites. We stay for 2 weeks in the summer and shorter trips throughout the year.

 

[gopherit]

Ah bom noite, you are in good company, I assure you, and not a minority cheapskate!<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/13/13_4_1.gif' alt='Boys Night Out' border=0></a>

On a 5 day trip we would take at least 2 dyas off, at the very least, from the parks. We too buy the big park hopper passes and milk them for a few trips. And like you, I can't really fathom the purpose of a UPH pass. After all, a 7 day PHP pass has 4 plusses (that's makes for 11 possible days-o-fun) yet it is cheaper than a 7 day UPH pass (which is just that -- 7 days). Now granted, the UPH has DQ thrown in there too, and you can come and go from say, TL to MK and BB to MGM or wherever (unlike a PHP wherein if you use a plus, and park-hop at one of the "big 4", you use up a plus AND a day). But with kids in tow (we have 3 of the lil' nippers) <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_1_69v.gif' alt='Family 3' border=0></a>I'm always concerned about illness (at least with a PHP, if you're stuck in the room, your pass isn't expiring with you!)

I suppose if we were more frequent visitors to WDW an AP might be nice, and perhaps we could learn to casually stroll in and out of the parks. But it would be hard... dh just has this compulsion to get his "dollar's worth" from things, such as tickets! That's why the park day / non-park day strategy works for us -- we are guaranteeing that we won't allow ourselves to go commando! Perhaps it's not that we're cheap... maybe we just lack self-restraint?<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_6_2v.gif' alt='Hmm' border=0></a>

For our upcoming trip, we are going to be at WDW for about 2 weeks. During that time, I think we have 2 water parks and 4 park days scheduled. The rest of the time we will just lounge around, soak in the resorts, DTD, etc. I offered Paramount's 10 day World pass to dh last week as an option for this trip, and his response was, "Nah. It would make me feel like I needed to be in the park all day, for 10 days. I'd lose all my REAL vacation days!" So there ya have it for us!

 

[Uncleromulus]

Since we've been to WDW 26 times, this governs how much time we now spend in the parks.
Most trips (which are 7 days) we'll do MK twice--but only for 3-4 hours or so each day. We'll do MGM, EPCOT and AK once each--again, for about 3 hours each. Rest of our trip is spent relaxing at the pools, having breakfasts and dinners, shopping, playing miniature golf. We used to do the water parks , but they just got too crowded for us to enjoy ourselves. River Country became pretty relaxing when TL and BB opened, but TL and BB are just mob scenes these days.
Most trips to the parks are first thing in the morning. If we want to see Illuminations, etc (or have dinner at an Epcot restaurant or the Brown Derby), we'll go later.

 

[Pa@okw95]

We never spend more than 2 hours at any of the WDW parks and we usually have AP's that I find more and more difficult to justify buying because our interest in the parks has really fallen off especially with the change over to thrill rides from the family type park that Walt Disney wanted. I really miss the old EPCOT.

 

[WDWLVR]

We buy AP's because it makes the most $$$ sense for us. We usually try to get at least 2 trips out of them and yes we do go to the parks every day. Not from dawn until closing.

Like others we'll do one park in the morning, then a mid-day break, then maybe another park in the evening. I'm not one to spend lots of time by the pools. I may go in the evening when the pools aren't crowded for a quick dip but that is about it.

Everyone should do what is best for them and their family. Glad you found a plan that works for you.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Normally we visit WDW for (on average) 10 nights a year (some years we visit 12-14 nights). We used to get AP's but when the renewal policy changed, we switched to PH's (with PLUS options). I usually try and get the 6 or 7 day PH's "PLUS", but sometimes I like to take advantage of the 5 day PH's with the 4 plus options that you can find on Ticketmania from time to time.
Of those 10/11 days, I'd say about 7 are spent in the parks/waterparks. Usually the majority of these days are spent in the park, though we may break up the day with a midday break. We usually factor in a day just spent at the pool or playing mini-golf etc. We also set aside a day or two to visit with nearby relatives in Sebastian and Flagler Beach.
This year will be an exception for us as we only have 4 days to do the parks----and I can bet every day will be spent in the four main parks (might squeeze in a water park too). After about 20 trips to WDW, this is the shortest time we've had to play in the parks. We only have 4 days because we tacked a 7 night Magic cruise on to our vacation. So, even though we'll miss the extra days in the park this year, we sure do get a nice consolation prize

 

[Lexxiefern]

We're in the group that goes to a park every morning, then naps, pool, etc in the afternoon, then a park (usually Epcot) in the evening. We also have AP's, so I like to get my money's worth out of them - even if we just pop in a park for an hour

I did just do a no park trip (3 nights at AKL) and that was lots of fun. I didn't mind because I knew we would be back in September.

 

[WolfpackFan]

There is something I wish that WDW made available - that is a length of stay pass (or a multi-day pass) just for Epcot World Showcase in the evenings. We love going to WS and just strolling country to country and then seeing Illuminations. If they had that kind of multi-day single park pass, it's probably all we would get for some trips. We've been to the other parks so many times, I cold see us going down for a DVC stay and not visiting them, but I would really hate to miss out on Epcot. Hey I have an idea DVC - what not work that out as a special "perk" for DVC members.

 

[carone0318]

Not only do we go to a park everyday, but we go to MK everyday of our trip too. We normally park hop, but include MK every day of our trip. Our trips usually average about 8-9 nights and we go once a yr. Our kids are young dd (7.5) and ds (3), I figure that our touring plan will change as they get older, but until then it is MK everyday .

 

[DrTomorrow]

Sign us up next to Lexxiefern: Park in the AM, PM break, then a park at night - particularly in the hotter summer months.

We do anticipate that changing a little bit, now that we're SSR owners. With two trips a year, we don't think we'll feel the urge to hit a park everyday; sometimes you just need to _rest_ on your vacation!

 

[Pootle]

We travel all the way from the UK a couple of times a year and often do not set foot in the parks!

Depends on who I'm with - if it's DH, he's really not bothered so we quite often give them a miss (but have APs to PI and go there most nights), but if I'm with my friend, we always visit each of the parks at least once for a couple of hours each (using only 2 days admissions total).

My friend and I currently have APs (because we were making 2 visits in the year) but even then, when I was there last month with DH, I still didn't go into the parks - and I was staying at BWV, and I have a stockpile of tickets for said DH to use.

For me, the 'magic' is at OKW rather than at the parks these days, but next year I'll be back with 2 young nephews so I guess the parks will be the focus once again.

 

[goofy4tink]

On our previous visits, we have gone to a park every day. But, now that we own at BWV we don't seem to 'sense the urgency' anymore. We know we'll be back really soon. This year I bought AP's for all of us since we'll be there 3 times...8/04, 11/04 and then again 7/05. So we will be there a total of 20 days. Will we do a park every day? Probably not. But maybe just Epcot and World SHowcase, especially at dinnertime!! But after the July 2005 trip, we will most likely buy PHP passes.