5 day trip advice?

[ShirleyBelle]

So we're going for a quick trip Jan 2-6 my husband and I with our two kids aged 5, and baby will be 10 months old by then. So I'm currently looking for ideas on what we should focus on. We're planning 3 main park days and maybe half days on the 2nd and 5th (our flight arrives early and leaves late). I'm planning on skipping Animal Kingdom since we were just there in July. My previous trips have always been longer ones. How should I plan a relaxed 5 days? Thoughts?

 

[grossmansr]

Good question. I'm going for a 5 day trip in April with DD8 and DS4. We're staying in POFQ and I'd like to enjoy the resort a bit so I think we're only going to do 2 park days, but it's so hard picking which ones to do! Where are you staying? I find that it's so nice to take time away from the parks, even though it's tempting to want to cram everything in.

We're definitely going to MK for Day 1, and we'll either rope drop and call it an early night, or take our time in the morning and stay till closing. Either way I'll pick our FPs for after noon so we can have some flexibility.

I'm really partial to EPCOT because it is so open and never feels crowded to me. The kids can explore a lot and we are not big "ride people" anyway. But, with all the construction, I may just have to skip it this time. I find DHS to be the least "relaxing" park, but it may be our best choice because of Toy Story land for my kids. Again, we won't do a full park day here either. We max out around the 8-10 hour mark.

I think the best way to have a relaxing trip is to plan for plenty of down time. We like to hang out by the pool, walk around the resort, ride the monorail, and leave time for spontaneous moments. I don't find the parks particularly relaxing, so to speak, but attitude is definitely everything. As long as you're not rushing from ride to ride and don't feel like you need to get a certain number of things "done", you're bound to have a lovely time wherever you go.

 

[starearedkid]

We are doing that this week. We arrive early on Monday-around 11am or so. Right now, I think we will be relaxing that day-maybe the pool, we have reservations at Disney springs for dinner---and we always go there the first day to get the shopping out of the way.

Tuesday we are at Hollywood all day. We have reservations for dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Our kids are 8 and 1, so after dinner-as of NOW-I am going to take the baby back to the hotel and DH and the 8 year old will go to Epcot (they have extra magic hours at night until 11).

Wednesday is MK--we have reservations for breakfast and the park is open until 10. So we may do a bit, go back to the hotel to regroup/relax and then go back later for more time there.

Thursday is Epcot. We have reservations for dinner

Friday we have reservations for breakfast at the Contemporary. Our flight doesn't leave until 7:30, so we may do MK again since it is so nearby for a bit. Or try to go to someplace else that we need more time to do.

 

[yorkieteacher]

We don't try to park hop-too complicated with fast passes! We do one park a day, get there and rope drop what we can't get fast passes for in the mornings. Then we get a fourth FP for that park in late afternoon. We budget a four hour break from the park after lunch, allowing an hour trip each way to the resort/back to the parks. There have been days we didn't go back to the parks because we were enjoying the resort. There have also been days, depending on crowds, temperatures, etc, we just stayed on in the resort until about 2 and called it a day. I think you just have to be flexible with afternoons and kids-sometimes we just see the shows or play areas in the parks and don't ride anything. My main suggestion is get the "must do's" over with in the mornings-

 

[ShirleyBelle]

That’s kind of my plan! Glad to hear people have similar thoughts. I’m excited that there’s no pressure to “do everything” since we’re going back next October and we’re just there in July!

 

[bakerworld]

My optimal trip is 5 or 6 days - less is very short and more is a personal issue as after the 4th night I'm really missing my own mattress. We vacation frequently enough that we try and only do the parks we can walk along with DS. Depending on the ticket we have and our arrival time decides whether the first night has FPs.