Am I the only one???

[mommykds]

I have read through several DISer's plans here for our upcoming October trips & seems like alot of people do to one park in the am, go back to the room & nap or rest, then go back to another park in the pm.

We have always stay at the parks all day & usually stay in one park until it closes. If it closes too early (like 5 or 6pm) we head to EPCOT because that's always open late. I just figure once we are in the park I don't want to leave it! We start with a 8am or 9am character meal & a TS dinner then fireworks depending on where we are & head back to the resort by 9. We have 3 little kids & they have always napped in the stroller & the older one is used to the walking.

Ok am I the only one who comes back home thoroughly exhausted but had a great time?

 

[Darcy]

We are there for 9 days, heard it rains every afternoon in Aug, so we are going back to the room. We see no reason to kill ourselves


If I only had a few days i would probably open and close the parks

 

[sue1013]

You probably don't go for a long vacation, you're trying to jam everything in. We go for long enough and have been enough times we also like to enjoy the resort.

 

[Disneyrsh]

Yep, that's exactly what we do.

Do EMH at one park, come back, have lunch at resort, swim, nap, get up, have early dinner in second park, stay until it closes, have ice cream and watch fireworks.

We all do a lot better with some mental 'down time' to sort of process the vacation. Otherwise it all gets to be a blur for us-walk walk walk ride ride ride.

We usually go for 4-5 day vacations, and we're in our 30's with 5 & 6 yo daughters.

None of us nap normally, but man, we stop and drop for an hour down in Disney with no problem!

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We went back to our room everyday around 1-2 on our trip, and it was our first time to Disney. It was a great, while most days none of us napped, it was refreshing to change clothes and shoes before dinner and hitting the parks again.

 

[disneyaggie]

I have never gone back to the room in the middle of the day. I usually play in one park and then park hop to where ever the mood strikes me. Then I go back to the room at the end of the day and collapse!

 

[kiddisney]

hi - we're like you - we can't get enough of wdw - even if we went for 10 days we stayed in the park all day and night - and we started when our kids were 18 mos old (this next time our youngest will be only 6 months and we're going to do the same) - even though they need down time and we do to - we will take our break on benches in shady areas and in doing this we find true disney experiences - in MK we take a side path past the castle and usually meet really interesting people - and also get a great spot for parades - in epcot we love sitting in the united kingdom or canada - in the early days there used to be a bagpipe band in canada - which we got really cook pictures of the band members - and in the uk - there's always the british invasion - so making a long response long - keep on doing what you do - why spend the time in transit when you can get a down time in the kingdom and make it fun

 

[hauntedmansion]

We always head back to the Hotel to swim and sun in the afternoon. As some of the others, we have been there so many times and usually go for 7 days Disney and 7 days Universal (14 days on trip) no sense killing ourselves. then we also head back into the parks in the pm.

 

[kizmac]

I have read through several DISer's plans here for our upcoming October trips & seems like alot of people do to one park in the am, go back to the room & nap or rest, then go back to another park in the pm.

We have always stay at the parks all day & usually stay in one park until it closes. If it closes too early (like 5 or 6pm) we head to EPCOT because that's always open late. I just figure once we are in the park I don't want to leave it! We start with a 8am or 9am character meal & a TS dinner then fireworks depending on where we are & head back to the resort by 9. We have 3 little kids & they have always napped in the stroller & the older one is used to the walking.

Ok am I the only one who comes back home thoroughly exhausted but had a great time?

We do it comando style too. Actually I would find more stress in leaving and going back to the room and draggin everyone back to the park. Maybe if I was staying at a monorail resort, and maybe if it was just my DH and myself and a couple older kids, but not with all the little ones and strollers, diaperbags, backpacks,etc. Half the stress is just getting into the park.

Also, I think if we were there in a busy season, it would be different, but most of the parks close early in value season and then we may even head to Epcot if everyone is up for it! The way we've always done it and we have taken up to 2 week vacations so it's not like we were trying to squeeze everything in either.

 

[joanjett1976]

I must admit I am with you on this one Mommy!

Once i get into the park, I find it incredibly hard to leave for some rest. On this last trip, we park hopped more than usual and i found it detrimental to our overall touring. I just don't seem to get tired at WDW. But when I come back home...that's a whole other story!

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Same thing here. I find it takes a lot of time just going to the hotel and back again. However, if I were to stay in a MK or Epcot resort...I would do it because they are closer than the other hotels.

Although we do stay in the parks all day, we tend to take it really easy in the PM. Shopping, shows and parades until dinner and after that we try to take in a couple of attractions before the night shows. Besides if the kids go for a dip in the pool, they don't want to come out. The water really tires them and I find they don't have any energy left for the evenings.

I prefer taking a whole day off from the parks in order to recuperate. No water parks just sleeping in hotel lunch, pool, and an evening at DTD. That really helps.

 

[twinz]

My theory is that we pay to go to the parks, not sit in a hotel room. If we want to swim, we swim when we are done for the day at the parks. We never hae left to go back to our room, and then went back to the parks. Keep in mind that we do not have young children with us (or any for that matter!), BUT when we did go with a friend and her kids we were there all day as well.

 

[Sheaboys]

I have 3 boys, ages 7, 5 and 3. When the boys were younger ranging in ages 6 months - 15 months old, they have always slept in the stroller. The time we went I had a 3 yr old and 15 month old and had no problem staying at 1 park all day, the baby napped, the 3 yr old, let him lay on him most of the time. This year the newest addition (3) will be going, and really does not nap, so we shall see. I would rather stay eat dinner at a table service to sit and recoup and relax, then head out again. I have set a tentative schedule and some people say I have not left enough time to go back to the resort and relax. I just find that packing 3 kids up to get to a park then pack 3 kids up to leave a park then pack 3 kids up to head out again if desired is alot more work. But we shall see, I will go with their que's and dh's of course.

 

[DisneyFanatic]

We like to spend all day at the parks as well and soak up that Disney magic. We're going for two weeks in October and we're spending at least two days in each park so we don't have to rush to see everything. At the end of the day we swim and relax in the resort pool. The room is just a place to sleep at night.

 

[luv2nascar]

we go commando when in the parks. We have a plan when to get there what to ride in what order etc. We go early and get more done than most people. We were there from June 18 -25 and the heat was punishing. We have two children 10 & 2 and there was no reason to make everyone miserable. When I could sense everyone getting cranky we headed back. We all needed to rest our feet. Sore feet plagued us throughout our trip. To each his own. Some like relaxed vacations some don't. We all move at our own pace. I have a 2 yr old who was way to excited to sleep in her stroller most of the time.

 

[nemomama]

We stay at the parks all day too. My DD age 2 naps great in her stroller. We prefer to enjoy the daytime and then get a good solid nights sleep, ready to hit the parks again the next day! If we're especially exhausted then we hit a water park or take a day off.
There's no way anyone can convince me to leave the parks midday for a nap...I'd probably be too tired to come back!

 

[lbgraves]

Our first two trips to WDW were for a couple days before our cruise so we did MK one day...all day from 8-close...then we spent time at the resort & DTD the next day. Our trip last month was the first all WDW vacation. We went to MK for an entire day & MGM for an entire day. We didn't leave the park that day. The other days we went to DTD & spent time at the pool. One reason is we do not get hoppers. The kids both sleep in their strollers if they need to. They both fell asleep after Spectro this trip & slept thru Wishes so DH & I hit more rides before we left. We take our time going thru the parks & always have at least one set of FPs.

 

[vettechick99]

My very first WDW trip as an adult I went with my ex and his family during the weekend after Christmas and it was packed! We didn't have a choice but to stay in the park and go commando (this was also before fast-pass...talk about lines!! )

Well that was 20 trips ago so now I don't feel the need to go commando since I feel like I've done it all and know I'll come back. So DH and I always go back to our resort in the afternoon for naps -- mostly because my DH is a big lazy bones but also because it's just easy for us. It's just us two and we stay on property so getting back isn't hard.

I think when we have kids we'll still nap in the afternoon because there is lots to be said about some downtime when you're at the world. Sometimes an afternoon at the pool is just as fun as stomping the parks. It is a vacation afterall.

Have fun!

 

[lillygator]

Knowing that we go often and will hopefully make it back soon we definitely don't go commando...it just isn't our style...last year my mom came with us - she stayed in another resort but she was calling us at 6:50am ready to go...I was like huh? We are on vacation here!! We leisurely get up (except on CRT days!)- eat breakfast after the commandos have cleared out, head to the park for a few hours, come back and relax at the pool, nap and the get ready and go out to dinner somewhere.....

 

[disneymom225]

I personally would stay in the parks until they drag me out. BUT- DH does not have my endurance. Since he agrees to my every other whim, I feel like I have to allow him some breaks. THis trip we are bringing DD (16 months) so we wil need to stop to let her take naps or it will get ugly. But I completely agree with you and plan on training the Princess to join me in the parks for entire days--DH can go back to the room and rest!!!