Can you hit the highlights in 5 days?

[forgetyourtroubles!]

I'm trying to decide if we can squeeze in "everything" in 5 days. Now, I know that to do EVERYTHING you need several weeks, but...we have the opportunity to go in October and would want to see Spectro, hit the "best of" at the parks, go to a waterpark (or two??) and go to a MNSSHP. We could possibly add on a 6th day but that would mean the kids would miss 1.5 days of school. 2 grandparents, 2 parents and 3 kids. Do you think 5 days is reasonable if you are being fairly selective?

 

[mickeymule]

With the use of fast passes, a touring plan, the ability to get up before opening. I personally do not see a problem with this. We were there in December, did not do the Christmas parties and were a little lazy on some mornings, but got everything we wanted in. I was there for 6 days with the water park being the first, but we went to MK twice.

I think you should be fine.

 

[dizagain]

Hi! We had five days last May on our first family trip. Me, DH, and two DD's. Plus the occasional visiting local relative or two! Anyway, I planned and planned, and everything went great! This is what we did with the parks closing by 7 except Epcot and MGM.
Arrival Day - swim in pool, DTD and dinner at Rainforest

Monday - Magic Kingdom open to close (Despite warnings of busy Mondays, it was our least crowded day anywhere!) We did everything numerous times we wanted to do

Tuesday - Breakfast at Cindy's at 8 and on to Epcot for the day. We crashed and burned before Illuminations, however, and look forward to that on next trip!

Wednesday - Typhoon Lagoon all day and a nice dinner out of the parks

Thursday - Animal Kingdom all morning (enough time for us to do the biggies - plenty for us) and back to Magic Kingdom until close.

Friday - MGM all day with a hotel break and back for Fantasmic

Spectro was not running on the right night for us - had ressies for dinner at Epcot. I would say that and Wishes and a few parades are all I really feel we missed out on that we wished we had seen. Here we come in 2005!!!

Have a blast...with a little attention to these boards, you'll have lots of tricks up your sleeve!

 

[dcmbshafe]

We went in October 2 years ago - the great news is that the crowds are among the lightest of the year - the bad news is that the parks close a lot earlier than during peak times. What this means from a practical perspective is that MK may or may not have spectro. & wishes during your stay...most likely if your stay will encompass a weekend, the park will be open late enough one of the nights that they'll have the night parade & fireworks.

Another important consideration will be whether you staying on Disney or offsite. If you're on-site, you can take advantage of EMH and get in one of the parks an hour early each day. This increases the likelihood that you'll be able to see most of what you'd like to see.

The weather should be good enough to do the water parks, but at that time of year they may only have one of the two (BB or TL) open. If you are staying on-site, you would get yourself the maximum flexibility by getting the Ultimate Park Hopper pass for the length of your stay - this way, you won't hesitate to do a water park for a portion of the day and a theme park as well. This would also increase the odds that you'll be able to do most of the stuff you want.

Another consideration for you is that you have a fairly diverse group that could split up from time to time. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of the Unofficial Guide and spend some time planning what everyone wants to do. Develop a list of "must see" attractions for each person. With a crew such as you describe, there is likely to be a lot of conflicting opinions and it would be much better to sort those out ahead of time and have a plan than arguing trying to figure it out after you get inside the gate.

Ultimately, it is a great time to go and you'll have a great time no matter what. With a little advanced planning, you can maximize the amount of things you experience.

 

[antmaril]

We were there last week and in three days we did both Universal parks, Downtown Disney, the Magic Kingdom, MGM Studios and EPCOT. In addition, we had dinner a the Cheesecake Factory at the Mall at Millenia.

Of course, we have been to WDW many times before and just hit the highlights. However, I feel pretty good because we had breakfast at the Crystal Palace at MK and were able to ride the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mickey's Philharmagic, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Carousel of Progress and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

At MGM we rode the Rockin Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Great Movie Ride, Muppets in 3-D and had lunch at 50's Primetime Cafe. We then went over to EPCOT and rode Spaceship Earth, Mission Space (my son did this), Test Track, Universerse of Energy and took a walk around the World Showcase.

If we can do this in two days during Presidents' Week, five days in October is a piece of cake!!

You can do it!

 

[Micca]

I think you could hit the high points and then some. Have a great trip

 

[Pixie glitter]

If this is your first trip to WDW, I would recommend spending the five days in the four theme parks (Disney, I mean) and skip the water parks this time, unless that's really important to you. Then, yes, you could definitely hit all the high points in five days without running everyone absolutely ragged. You will still be tired at the end of your vacation, but if you plan ahead of time (read The Unofficial Guide and use those touring plans!), you can definitely do the four parks in five days with a few repeats of your special favorites.

 

[forgetyourtroubles!]

Thanks for all the input. We just went last May for an 8 day trip and I have been 7 times before, but we've never made such a "short" trip. My thinking is that this time we can skip over some of our less-than-favorite things that we've already seen once and focus on the things that we think are the best and see the new things. Our list of favorites is long, but I think we can plan it well and make it work. We are taking my parents who have not been since 1979, so they won't have seen anything that's come along in the last 25 yrs. I'm still toying with adding a day, but I think its a short trip or no trip. Most of us probably agree that a 5 day trip is better than nothing. I'll get some help from the unofficial guide.

 

[ChairborneRangr]

I am going to dissent here a little...

Are the kids going to get brain damage if they miss another day of school? That early in the year? Is it their junior or senior year?

If that is the ONLY reason for limiting yourself to 5 days... I say take an extra day!

5 days for the 4 parks is great. Go to the waterpark on day in the middle somewhere to give everyone a breather. Ayway, my 2 cents...

 

[Armadillo4]

Our last trip was a 4-day trip only. We hit all the highlights without a problem. Yes, there were some things we didn't get to, but we were also realistic in our planning, e.g. no water parks. 5 days should be plenty to get to all the "must sees". I would have loved to make it a longer trip, but my mom gets upset when I use up all my vacation days for trips to Orlando instead of visiting her.

 

[lentesta]

I'll get some help from the unofficial guide.

I'm so proud of you all. Recommending the Guide to folks in need. My work here is done.

Forgetyourtroubles!, the 2005 edition of the Guide should be out around the time of your trip. If you need pre-trip help with touring plans, drop me a line: testa@ncat.edu.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

forgetyourtroubles, short trips are the only way my family has ever done Disney. We have made three prior trips and have never stayed more than 4 days. Our upcoming trip will be 5 days . We like WDW in short trips like that, especially now that we have realized that we will be going back frequently. We will have UPHs for the first time on this trip and even at this late date I am debating whether it is worth sacrificing some of our park time for a half day at TL or BB.

 

[10drum]

The first year we went for 5 days, 2nd year we went for 6 days, 3rd year went went for 7 days (ahhh! just right).

The 3rd year was the first year we felt like we didn't have to rush. Last year we went for 5 days(6th year) and just did what we liked, would've liked to stay the 7 days, but it was still enjoyable.

Don't kill yourself, it can't all be done in 10 days, and you can always go back. Take your time and enjoy what you can do. If you say "lets hurry and get to Test track" from say, France, you might miss something great in Canada or Germany.

 

[karylrocks]

My experience has been that you can do more in a half day when it is not crowded than you can in a whole day when it is. 10-15 min. wait vs. 30-60 min. wait makes all the difference. October is a great time to go; you should have no problems. We are going for a short trip in a couple of months and are planning to do everything we want in all four parks in three days, plus Blizzard Beach (my son's favorite "park") on arrival day and Disneyquest on the day we leave. I think the water parks only close in the winter (Dec-Feb). You just have to know what you want to do and plan carefully.