Do you think I have enough down time at the resort?

[eglsmama]

This is my family's first trip to DW. (I went as a child.) It will be myself, DH, and DD6 in mid-October. We probably won't be back anytime soon, so I do want to fit in as much as possible. But I know DD will enjoy the resort as well (AofA), and since she is young I don't want to push her past her limit with park touring. Also, DH is a much more relaxed vacationer than I am.

So do you think this is a good balance of park and resort time? Oh - also, I am not planning on returning to the resort for midday breaks. With earlier park hours and MNSSHP which we're skipping, it just doesn't seem to make sense.

Arrival day: plane arrives at 1:30. We're taking the ME so I'm hoping to check in around 3:00. Enjoy the resort (explore, swim) until 6:00. Head to MK for a few rides - first FP at 6:45 - and evening entertainment.

Day 2: spend the morning at the resort and head to DHS for a 12:45 lunch ADR. Tour until dinner ADR at 6:30 and return to resort for a reasonable bedtime for DD.

Day 3: breakfast at Cinderella's castle at 8:30. Tour half of MK and return to resort after 3:00 parade.

Day 4: arrive at AK for breakfast ADR at 10:00. Tour most of the day - last FP at 5:30. Return to resort. (I wish we had more resort time either at the beginning or end of the day but instead it is sort of split up. At least we won't be rushed in the morning I suppose.)

Day 5: arrive at MK around 9:00. BOG lunch FP at 11:00. Tour other half of park for the remainder of the afternoon - last FP at 3:00. This is where I'm unsure what to do - we have an Ohana ADR at 7:00. Can't decide whether to stay in park (in which case we'd spend more time in Tomorrowland and/or revisit some favorites and catch Dream Along with Mickey) and just take monorail to the Poly, or leave the park right after our last FP and try to get a little down time in? It almost doesn't seem worth the time on the bus. But it will also be a long day - we'll stay at the Poly or walk to the TTC to watch the water pageant and HalloWishes. Thoughts?

Day 6: sleep in and enjoy resort for the first part of the day. Arrive at Epcot for our first FP at 2:30. Hit the highlights in Future World and then tour WS in the evening, staying for Illuminations.

Day 7: departure day. leave via ME at 10:30.

Thoughts?? Thanks!

 

[MommyMK]

It looks plenty balanced to me. As for your Ohana day, if your last FP is at 3 and you ride right at 3, it would take you until at least 3:30 to walk out of the park and get to the bus stop, you could have a wait for the bus, let's say 10 mins, could be less, could be more. So that gets you on a bus and back to your resort by 4pm then walk to your room, etc. You'd have to turn around and be getting back on a bus by 5:30 to guarantee getting back to the POLY on time - 20 min wait, 20 bus ride, wait for monorail, ride monorail, walk to restaurant, etc. I would suggest hanging at the park for as long as you feel like and then heading over to the Poly early and hang out on the beach. We love sitting by the beach there and letting the kids play in the sand, nice and relaxing for everyone.

Think about watching Hallowishes from the 4th floor on the Contemporary and then just walking to MK to catch a bus back to AOA.

 

[disney world dreamer]

honestly to me it would seem that you have too little park time especially if you're trying to be leisurely in the parks.
then again my family has always been the type to go from open to close at every park and then have a couple of full day relax days.

i would definitely not go back to the resort on the MK day that you are going to ohana.

 

[happymommy]

I think that sounds like plenty of down time! You may find one day that you're ready to head to a park earlier or stay later, but I do like that you're not trying to push yourselves. I often see quite the opposite, and think you're wise (especially when it comes to trying to maintain similar bed time). I always found my kids were ready for bed at fairly normal times when they were young (usually about 8:00pm on vacation but often earlier - all that fresh air wore them out).

One suggestion - if you have a stroller, bring it! I did until my DD was 6 or 7 and we totally needed it half the time! I'd rather have it and not need it, than have a worn out child.

 

[Happyjen27]

I'm a fan of afternoon breaks, so this schedule would def. not work for me. In addition to napping in the afternoon (yes, I'm a grown woman who naps, and yes, on vacation my 7 year olds napped when we were going to be out late) I also like getting showered and ready for dinner.

I think your schedule has plenty of flexibility in it, so you can always switch things up when you need to, sleep in later, come home earlier, etc. Pay attention to everyone's stamina, and adjust accordingly.

I can tell you that after 5 hours in any park, I'm pretty much heading toward the gate. The kids start getting tired and a little grouchy, and I start getting tired, too. My husband is a machine, and literally will never be tired ever.

 

[msmama]

The thing that troubles me about your plan, and wouldn't work for my family, is that you seem to have a lot of arbitrary "OK, time to change what we're doing." That said, transitions are not my son's strong point.

For instance, you have a resort morning, followed by lunch at HS. It'd be hard to drag my son away from whatever he was doing (pool for example) to go to a park.

For us, our resort time is always in the afternoon/evening. We get up and go to parks and stay until...we are ready to leave. Rarely is it much past dinner (we do maybe one evening show/fireworks).

Obviously you know your family best, but just pointing out my experience would go, lol.

 

[MandiC]

I agree, it seems like too little park time if you want to see a lot. Epcot is a 2 day park for us, arriving there at 2:30 and only spending less than half the day there? You will not actually see anything in the World Showcase other than walking country to country without stopping and browsing and definitely not stopping at the random characters for pictures.
On you AK day there is no way I'd have a FP as late as 5:30 because you can easily get that park completely done by 3pm....maybe 4pm for you since you have the ADR.
The HS day only leaves 4 hours of touring time IF your lunch ADR only takes an hour (and if it is Hollywood & Vine character lunch...it will take more than an hour) Since Hollywood Studios is mostly shows...this won't get you much. Especially since it seems everything at HS other than the 3 big rides have a set time. (these change and likely won't be the same when you get there but just as an example, http://touringplans.com/hollywood-studios/showtimes# ) we rope dropped HS and spent 5 hours there other than our ADR time and we didn't even see half the shows.

For me, I'd spend arrival day exploring the resort, especially since you won't get there until 3pm...likely at the earliest and that is if nothing delays your flight. Your luggage does not arrive at the resort with you with MDE either, just a fyi...it will be a few hours later and if you plan on leaving for the park at 6 it will most likely be after you are gone at the park (which is fine, they will leave it in your room, but just so you know not to have anything you need in your checked luggage). For me, that little tiny bit of park time wouldn't be worth the extra cost, especially if I wanted to see around the resort. Plus traveling can be tiring, and we like getting to bed early that first night so we wake up refreshed the next day.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Everyone tours differently and thats ok, but here are my thoughts and what governs our trips. Our little guy is seven and we go about every other year and we travel other places as well.
WDW park tickets are expensive..very expensive. When we are at WDW, we are there to do the park. Anything we can do at the resort, we can do somewhere else, much cheaper. We always stay on site and we have stayed value to deluxe. They all have pools, some of them are very cool pools BUT....we can enjoy other vacations where swimming is a main focus and where we are not paying for park tickets. The resorts are beautiful and we try to at least get a few pictures there, but we are there to enjoy the parks. The best, least crowded time of the day is the morning. Rope drop is a given for us almost always. We do sometimes head back to the resort for a rest, but for my crazy active 7 year old, two hours in the pool makes him tired, not rested. It is perfectly fine to enjoy the resort, but just consider the best use of your expensive park tickets.

 

[pigletgirl]

I quickly learned from the trip we just returned from a few weeks back was that we liked to get up and go in the AM. It's really nice to tour the parks early and then have some down time in the afternoon so we could feel rested for the evening activities. The 2 days we didn't rest were so tiring. My DD LOVED the pool activities in the afternoon and I'm sure your kiddos would too!

 

[eglsmama]

Wow, that's a big variety of responses! Thanks to everyone for your input. I guess everybody really does do things differently.

I should probably have mentioned that none of us are interested in the more intense rides, so that takes a chunk of time out of DHS and AK for the headliners, though I do agree that the AK day could be better. I was just trying to be sensitive to the fact that DH is likely not going to want to jet out the door every morning. That doesn't jive with his idea of vacation, lol. I guess I'll leave our FPs as is, but we can certainly be flexible and hit the park before the breakfast ADR if everyone is game, and then we might not need the FP's anyway.

And I think y'all are right that we should stay in the park on the day we eat at Ohana.

I'm a planner, so it is hard for me to strike a good balance between structure and flexibility!

I'm getting super excited though! DD has no idea and we're going to surprise her that morning instead of taking her to school

Any other advice?

 

[Bamagirl43]

Don't underestimate Epcot. It is my DD15 and DS7's favorite park. I'm a MK girl, DH is AK, but when we went this summer the kids were all about Epcot. This was DS7's first trip and I never would have dreamed he would prefer it to MK. If I had known, we could have planned more time there.

 

[Happyjen27]

What you can do the first hour a park is open is the same as what you can do during 3 hours in the same park mid-day.

If it were me, I would take the kids at least one morning early and get some awesome stuff done at MK, and give DH the morning to relax and enjoy the room and some sleepy quiet time.

I would never stay in a park from 9AM through 7PM reservations at 'Ohana, I would be exhausted, grouchy and it would be unreasonable for me to require my kids to have a sit down dinner after spending 11 hours on the go (because you're leaving the room at 8 at the latest to get to MK.) Your family might prove to have more stamina, however, and each family is different.

EP is not a 2 day park for us. We skip world showcase unless we're eating there. Even then, we walk to the restaurant and that's it. I am a world traveler, and my kids are more interested in rides than learning about countries. I'm sure we COULD fill 2 days there, there's always a million wonderful things to do at Disney, we just choose not to.

 

[tina.tina]

We tried our best to get our DS5 to nap in the afternoon and it did NOT work even though he napped every day at his preschool. So, I think it's a good idea to have some late mornings/early evenings.

The main thing that bothers me is that you only have one day where you will be able to take advantage of the low crowds first thing in the morning. It's amazing how much more crowded the parks get after about 11am.

I think you'll be fine in the park on your Ohana day because you can just chill and grab a Mickey ice cream bar or ride the train around and around! I think your DD is at the perfect age to enjoy the animal trails at AK. My family would be happy spending most of the day there. I think it's the most relaxing park. I would watch Wishes from the beach at the Poly.

We would want more time at Epcot, though. My DD10 loves to shop in each country and bought a little something in each country. To keep their interest we bought Duffy bears and they shopped for clothes and posed for pictures all around WS. In fact, DS5 insisted he have his and his Duffy's picture taken at all the picture spots. We have the cutest pictures of him posing!

I think you'll have a great time. You seem very willing to be flexible which is the most important thing!

 

[GWhitten98]

Looking at your schedule it seems your Epcot and HS days have very little actual park time. Both of these parks are full days plus for us and our kids are 2, 4 and 6. I would suggest looking at the show times at HS and planning at least one show pre ADR. Also Fantasmic is an amazing show, DD still talks about the boat full or princesses and DS about "fire" mickey. If I had to pick b/t Fantasmic and an ADR, I might drop the ADR. Same suggestions go for Epcot, I would suggest getting there earlier then 230....maybe around 12ish at least. Not sure what your FP is for, but Nemo, Crush and Aquarium alone could take an our or more...at least for us.

 

[pooh4evr]

For us that is WAY too much "resort time" but we are open to closers, even when our girls were little (2 and 4 the first trip) - I guess my question would be what are you going to do all that time? Swim, sleep, eat? I guess we aren't there to spend time in the room. Also you might be underestimating the crowds = we were there last mid October and were surprised how crowded it was. October is no longer a quiet slow time as it was a few years ago. Especially if you are going around Columbus Day weekend. Epcot is a 2 day park as is MK, AK is one day open to 5 and DHS is a full day.

 

[WantToGoNow]

For our family that would be too much downtime. We don't go on vacation wdw to veg in front of the TV which is what would happen. Even when my kids were infants we didn't spend that much time out of the parks. I think you are underestimating the size of the parks and the length of the lines. As long as you go in realizing there will be a lot you don't ride/see, you will be fine and shouldn't come home tired like we do.

 

[laughinplace199]

Everyone tours differently and thats ok, but here are my thoughts and what governs our trips. Our little guy is seven and we go about every other year and we travel other places as well.
WDW park tickets are expensive..very expensive. When we are at WDW, we are there to do the park. Anything we can do at the resort, we can do somewhere else, much cheaper. We always stay on site and we have stayed value to deluxe. They all have pools, some of them are very cool pools BUT....we can enjoy other vacations where swimming is a main focus and where we are not paying for park tickets. The resorts are beautiful and we try to at least get a few pictures there, but we are there to enjoy the parks. The best, least crowded time of the day is the morning. Rope drop is a given for us almost always. We do sometimes head back to the resort for a rest, but for my crazy active 7 year old, two hours in the pool makes him tired, not rested. It is perfectly fine to enjoy the resort, but just consider the best use of your expensive park tickets.

What she said.

 

[amygphillips]

That is way too much down time for my family! But we are there for the parks mostly. We have one day every trip that we have lunch or dinner at downtown Disney and swim! That's our rest/ resort day. The rest of the week we are open to close. And we've always done this even with little ones. We don't go back for naps. There just too much wasted time for us and things you miss out on. Disney Parks are huge and beautiful! Everyone does tour differently. We go every year to 18 months. This is my 5th trip! And magic kingdom is a 2 day park. Animal kingdom a full day. Epcot and Hollywood studios can be done in one day but know you won't do everything you want. Hope this helps!

 

[eglsmama]

So basically I asked the wrong question, lol!! The title of my post should have been "do I have too much down time at the resort?" Huh?

In answer to what would we do with the time, I suspect that weather permitting it will be swimming. DD loves the pool and we rarely go at home. And we dont take that many vacations. Plus I know she'll enjoy the theming at AofA and would hate to only sleep there. We passed on a room discount to stay there so I feel like we should make use of it... Also, a few meals would be there, too.

But I see y'all's point about how much time the parks can take. I'll just have to plan on being flexible and heading in earlier, especially on AK and EP days. Or rather, I'll hope that DH will be up for it

Thanks everyone!

 

[d's do disney]

But I see y'all's point about how much time the parks can take. I'll just have to plan on being flexible and heading in earlier, especially on AK and EP days. Or rather, I'll hope that DH will be up for it

I think you've got the right idea, be flexible! One day you may want MORE time at the resort and the next day you may want LESS. Don't be a slave to "the plan", sometimes you need to be ready to change plans on the fly. Have a great time!