5 days long enough with 4-year-olds?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Please tell me I did the right thing...I'm starting to have regrets booking our trip for only 5 nights/5 days. It seems everyone around here goes 7-10 nights?! I just thought that would be enough with 3 4-year-olds..but now I wish we would have stayed one more night/6nights. I already checked the airline and it would cost $250 extra to extend our flight to the next day...we can't afford that on top of the other added costs of one more day in WDW.

Has anyone else ever taken a trip this short and still felt they experienced a good amount? We plan on doing a almost full day (the day we arrive) at Epcot..2 days at MK...one day at MGM and Animal Kingdom.

Karen

 

[nuzmom]

Do whatever fits your budget. Some disney is better than no disney!!!!

We take long trips, BUT I figure if I plan that way, the overall cost per day is lower than multiple short trips. We're paying for airfare, doesn't matter if it's 5 days apart or 10 days apart. Longer stay tickets are cheaper per day, too. That's just my way of thinking.

With going for 5 days, I'm sure you'll find that there were things you didn't get to do. Don't worry about it. There ALWAYS is. They'll be there next time.

Epcot only on arrival day may be tough. If your flight is delayed you may lose that day at WDW. Yes, we don't like to think about that, but it does happen.

You'll probably get to do a nice sampling of each park with your plan. You'll also find that there will be things you didn't get to do. That's what future trips are for

 

[all4fun]

I agree with the pp. You might also consider buying a planning book like the Passporter or the Unofficial Guide to WDW OR use TourGuideMike and use the itineraries. I have found those very helpful in the past in fitting everything in during past trips. Think of it this way - TGM or a good planning book is way cheaper than the added airfare you'd be adding on if you extended your trip a few more days.

hth

 

[Hoosier Mom]

We did 6 1/2 days (had 7 day park hopper tickets) last year with our 18 month old. By the end of the 5th day, we felt like we'd seen all our favorites. The 6th day we repeated some things. The 7th day we were so tired but we went back to the parks.

I second the suggestion about getting a Passporter. That will help you decide your favorite attractions.

We did find that on the days we went to MK, that we would go early and straight thru the castle to Fantasyland. We did all those attractions by 10:30 or so and that's when the crowds picked up.

Part of our tiredness was dealing with the heat, carrying a toddler around and lugging a stroller on and off buses. We are planning another trip Jan 2009. We will only be staying 5 days probably.

Have fun!!

I might add that our son was not particularly impressed with Epcot. I think next time, we might plan some of our dinners at the restaurants at Epcot and tour parts of Epcot in the evenings. We thought Epcot and AK were the two hottest parks. Be sure to get your kids a Kakigori (snow cone) in Epcot. Looking at Japan, it's just to the left. To me, they are much better than our local snow cones here.

Two things at Epcot that he did like were lunch at the Garden Grill and visiting the UK toy store. Pooh, Tigger & Euyore vist the toy store very often so take your camera in there.

 

[powellrj]

we always do 5 day trips. Back when we use to drive, we would always use the weekend as travel days and once we started flying, we keep the weekends as bookend days.

ATA use to have the most wonderful flight times. We would fly out at 8am on monday and arrive in MCO at 10am and have lunch at Disney. We would then fly out at 9pm and be back around 11pm on Friday and have the weekend to get the laundry done and the yard work done before we go back to work on monday.

I think that 5 days is perfect! We even have a 5 day routine that works well for us! We do lunch when we get there and then go to MGM and do the fantasmic dinner package and be there for fantasmic. We end the week with a character breakfast and then spend the rest of the last day shopping at DTD and the outlets!

 

[asktriplets]

Please tell me I did the right thing...I'm starting to have regrets booking our trip for only 5 nights/5 days. It seems everyone around here goes 7-10 nights?! I just thought that would be enough with 3 4-year-olds..but now I wish we would have stayed one more night/6nights. I already checked the airline and it would cost $250 extra to extend our flight to the next day...we can't afford that on top of the other added costs of one more day in WDW.

Has anyone else ever taken a trip this short and still felt they experienced a good amount? We plan on doing a almost full day (the day we arrive) at Epcot..2 days at MK...one day at MGM and Animal Kingdom.

Karen

you could stay for 2 weeks and still feel like you didn't see the things you want to see! 5 days is brief (especially with that 1st day being a travel day and hotel check-in), but you'll have plenty of time to see all the kiddie "sure bets".

i believe i remember you asking about strollers? if you want to try and do a partially full day at epcot, i'd really, really plan on having strollers (we were still using our runabout on this last trip and my kids are 4 1/2). my kids, who don't generally need naps at home, NEEDED a nap there. we tried to skip naps on the 1st 2 days on this last trip in may to do "quiet time" at the beach/pool instead, but my kids were just DRAGGING (and whiny). might your kids nap in a stroller, if needed? even if not, at least they can rest in their!

you might find you only need 1/2 day at MGM...depending on when you go, you might be able to get in playhouse, little mermaid (or skip this for star wars and/or indiana jones, if your kids are more adventurous, perhaps), lights motors action, and muppet vision, along with some sight seeing and some character greetings in 4-5hrs. (you could get in MORE, i'm sure, but trying to schedule more than that gets hectic and that's when you risk losing sight of just "enjoying the moment".

personally, i'd opt for a shortened day at AK or MGM over epcot. we have the advantage of all our little ones having, basically, the same interests and attention spans (as compared to someone with 3 diff. aged children), and this works so well in epcot for us...we've spent 3 or 4 nights on our last few trips in epcot. the kids LOVE wandering back in world showcase. i think the trick is to encourage them to wander and explore (we try to avoid kidcot stations as that just sucks up time while they color instead of getting out, going on "adventures"). it is hard to get out of that "hurry up and wait" mode that many of us get into in the rest of the parks. world showcse is such a treasure because there is really no advantage to hurrying---no rides to beat the crowds to! (actually, the rides, in mexico and norway, are great with little waiting and you can get a fastpass for maelstrom to make that quicker!)

AK is another park where you might not "need" a whole day in to hit the "big" attractions (although there is enough to see on the trails and walkways that you could certainly spend hours and hours exploring with your little ones).

when are you going? do you have parkhoppers?

 

[SnowWhite12]

You'll be there long enough. We stayed 6 days this time, and DD was worn out the last day. We got everything we wanted done really in the first 5 days. Just make a top 5 list for every day of must-do's, and then everything else you can do will be extra magic.

 

[TracyMags]

I just returned from a trip to Disney with two 4 yr old, a 2 yr old, 6,8,10 and 14 yr old total in our group. We stayed offsite 1 week but did 5 days in Disney parks and took two days to rest.

The three youngest were exhausted after a few days and getting them to the parks 5 days was a struggle as they were exhausted.

No we did not see everything- but now we have an excuse to return sooner rather than later. I am planning on going back in about 18 months.

Have fun!