Down Day Midweek

[Jamie77]

My down times end up just happening. I'll go to a park in the morning with plans to be in a park that evening. What will happen is that I go back to the room to rest for a bit, turn on the tv and get absorbed in a show. Then I will keep telling myself, "I'll get ready to go in 30 minutes." This goes on for a while and by the end of the night I haven't gone anywhere. I think I enjoy my hotel so much and get really comfortable. Years ago, this would have been unheard of for me because I can go, go, go! But my hotel experience is a big deal to me so I can no longer plan solo trips at a value resort because the hotel is a major part of my WDW experience and I tend to spend a good bit of time there. The room is not just a place for me to just sleep and shower anymore.

 

[mnamna]

We definitely need our down time away from the parks. Last trip, we were there 7 nights and did a day at Epcot, MNSSHP, a day at Discovery Cove, a day at Sea World, and a day at Universal. It was too much and we both regretted it. This time we will be there 9 nights, and have a day planned at Epcot, MK, Universal, and Discovery Cove. We might go to DisneyQuest before it closes for good, and might do mini golf, but we wanted plenty of time to relax, explore the resort and Disney Springs, and enjoy our resort ADRs without rushing to the parks.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Also, it has to do with where you're staying. When we stayed at POR we didn't have a down day. I would have been bored senseless hanging out at that resort. Staying at BC makes me want to hang around the pool and room.

Yes, I guess for us it's more aptly called a "non-park day." We sleep in, get a late breakfast, maybe go to DS and shop around/grab a movie/eat dinner and head back to the hotel for pool time. We're usually not at the resort all day.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I'm curious how many people who just hit a park for dinner or an hour or two have APs. That's how I'll do our zoo where we're members - we'll go and hang at the playground or go to see one show or animal. But back when we were paying admission, no playground for the kids. You can do that for free at home!

So I think in addition to people's touring styles and personalities that might play a role as well. We found this year that we don't like a mid day break because it is more hassle and being scheduled (gotta get out of pool by 4 to get showered to get on the bus to make our dinner ADR). So we prefer to go pretty hard in the parks for 3 days and then take a day off. It's also more cost effective. I have a hard time paying for tix for my family of 5 for anything less than 3-4 hours. But if we had APs our style might be different.

OP I think if you plan a non park day and change your mind you can add on a day to your tickets without paying a 1 day price. Someone correct me if I've got that wrong though.

 

[alex9179]

We have several non-park days planned. Arrival day we're exploring DS, eating, then exploring POR with dinner there. One day we're eating lunch in DS, swimming, then going to Yeeha Bob's show. Another we're resort hopping and grabbing snacks here and there before a wagon ride and dinner at FW. We might stay for the sing-a-long. Our last is a day at SAB then dinner at The Blue Zoo. Departure day is a big breakfast before heading home. All of us are keen on looking around the different resorts, so it works for our interests.

I'll be checking on the cost of adding a day. Since my tickets were purchased before the changes, no one is sure of the $ to upgrade. We may be enjoying a park instead of spending all day at SAB.

You absolutely don't need to include one, though. We didn't on our previous trips.

 

[agavegirl1]

My "down days" are actually just partial days. Sometimes it will be laundry by the pool with an Epcot evening. Or pool time and resort relaxing with a HS morning. It costs so little to add a park day and I can always find somewhere in a park I want to be for a while.

 

[Parker Clan]

We do one or two down days, but that's because we go in August and it's hotter than hot. Plus we do Universal first for three days so it's nice to have a rest at Disney for our week there. We'd be crazy not to have a rest day in the summer by the pool.

 

[gwbaierl]

We always do a non park day in the middle of our stay. We almost always go in Dec. and use the non park day to visit the deluxe resorts to see the impressive Christmas decorations.in a very lazy manner. For example the Grand Floridian has a life size gingerbread house, Wilderness Lodge has a 6 story tree, Yacht and Beach Club has a huge trail display made up of mostly chocolate and other displays in other resorts

 

[mom18]

We have always gone straight with no down days. The last time we went was our kids first time (3 and 8 at the time) and they were exhausted by the end of the trip (2 weeks). Mainly, they wanted more of the pool and the arcade, which they didnt get to do much of. Our next trip we planned a down day in the middle of our trip. Im actually looking forward to it, with only two reservations at resorts those days. I think its all in your preferences.

 

[kiford]

Our downtime isn't so much a day of downtime. It's getting up at 8 am, breakfast at 9-9:30 am, maybe coming back to the room during the day if we get tired or it's hot. Maybe an early night if we're tired. Even just ensuring that we take time out to sit down and have a drink in the parks. It's really more about not getting yourself to the point of exhaustion, getting cranky, not appreciating what's happening around you. Take the time to enjoy and if that means a day off, take a day off. If it means a couple of hours in the pool, do that. If it means frequent stops to sit and snack, make sure you don't let "I have to see everything" overtake that. It's all about your energy levels. If you reach a point where you don't think you're enjoying yourself, it's time to take a break of some sort.

 

[bluezy]

We don't do any "non-park" days, but we do have "down days" -- they're simply a much more relaxed day than our full park days. I will mention that we usually visit Disney in late June which means long park hours and hot afternoons. Our typical routine is:

Day 1 (arrive at Disney World resort around noon). Have lunch & unpack. Spend a few hours in a park (usually Epcot). Get to bed at a decent time.
Day 2: Rope drop at MK. Afternoon break (3-4 hours) return to MK in the evening. Stay until we're tired (usually 9-10:00)
Day 3: Rope drop at EP. Depending on what we got accomplished on day 1, we either just push through and stay at Epcot until late afternoon and then return to the resort for the rest of the day OR we take an afternoon break and return to Epcot in the evening OR if there is an EMH night at MK, we might go there.
Day 4: Sleep in. No plans until after lunch. Morning spent swimming, hanging out at resort, etc. Go to DHS or AK for a few hours. Possibly hop to Epcot or MK depending on what we feel like doing. Or we might return to the resort for some swimming.
Day 5: Rope drop at DHS. Afternoon break. Return to DHS that evening.
Day 6: Rope drop at AK. Either stay straight through the day until dinner and then return to the resort OR take afternoon break and return to AK in the evening.
Day 7: Sleep in. Head to DTD for late breakfast/early lunch. Shop. Return to resort to pack and possibly swim. Hit a park in the evening -- usually MK but could be one of the other parks depending on what we feel like doing.
Day 8: Leave for home early in the morning.

We try not to do more than 2 "long" days in a row. And if we know we're going to have a very late night (like MK EMH), we always follow it with a sleep-in day. We used to do a "no park" day in the middle of our stay, but we felt like we were wasting our vacation time just sitting at the resort watching TV and doing a little swimming. When we realized that it was only going to cost us $10/person (at that time) to add another day to our tickets, we changed our ways. Unless we're going to be at Disney more than 9 days, we will always have park tickets for every day of our stay even if we only spend a few hours in a park some of those days.

 

[SaraVee]

We also don't schedule "no park" days, but rather some days are just lighter than others. While a typical day has us up early, then pool/relax in the afternoon and back to a park at night, our lighter days normally consist of just hitting up a park for maybe a half day or so, and then more relaxed pool time and Disney Springs the rest of the day. I think downtime is typically most important when you're traveling with kids. If the trip is just adults, I think touring is much easier and therefore less exhausting, and adult-only trips tend to include more sit-down leisurely meals or stops at lounges and such, so scheduling down-time maybe isn't as vital as when you're with kids who are constantly on the move and need an enforced relax/quiet time to avoid meltdowns.

We like to have park tickets for all the days of our trip, that way the option is there to pop into a park even for a short time if we want to.

 

[mamamelody2]

We have been on 2 8-day trips so far, and are going on another one in November. No "down days" planned in any of them. Of course, we can't go full steam ahead the entire time. We'll probably rope drop the first 2 days, then sleep in one day, then see how we're doing/what we feel like doing. If we're there, though, we're going to a park at least for part of the day.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I have decided we will not do any full down day but about 4 part/relaxed days. We have two party days and one of those days is just the party so we will do lunch at wc over at wilderness lodge then we will take a boat to MK park and be ready to enter for the party. This happens to be our last day too.

Before that, we will have 3 days that we will go slow. RD fp+ and something in the evening. Many days we will go relax at the resort and rest before the evening.

 

[DisneyObsessed14]

We don't typically "plan" a down day, but rather wake up (later than usual) and decide it's a good day to hang at the resort, eat lunch there, swim, etc. Most often I will move out the day fast passes to evening or change parks altogether. MK is so fun at night, so our down day usually entails an evening jaunt to MK with lower crowds and more opportunity to pack in a lot of rides. The other thing I keep in mind is that weekends are busier, so if possible, I try to get that "day off" on a Saturday or Sunday.