For those of you who take Disney Trips for 1 week or Longer...

[devotedchristian]

Say you are there for 6 nights and 7 days, how many Non Theme Park Days do you have or do you do have Theme Park days back to back?

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

We usually go to a park everyday. We are a "be at the park for opening" kind of family. On day three I let the kids sleep late, hang out at the resort and go to a park for the afternoon.

 

[mommyintn]

This is our first trip and our boys are 6 & 3. We will be there 7 nights and we are doing every other day at the parks, but on one of our off days we are going to the Hoop De Doo Revue for dinner so it will still be some Disney.

 

[mlg32]

On our first trip in 2004 we had 5 day hoppers and we arrived Sat afternoon and left the next Sat early am so we had one just resort day, however with the way magic your way passes the price difference from 6 to 7 day hoppers is insignificant and we so enjoyed being able to come and go as we please in the parks. We sleep in and go to the park for a few hours go back swim and usually head back at night. Some days we didn't go to the park until afternoons but we aren't commandos and don't feel the need to do everything, it works for us---So I guess the answer is we don't schedule a set resort day, we try to relax at the resort a little bit everyday----

 

[jonestavern]

We usually go to a park everyday. We are a "be at the park for opening" kind of family. On day three I let the kids sleep late, hang out at the resort and go to a park for the afternoon.

Ditto here--although no specific day planned
We've been going longer than 6 nights, so it is easier to take 'off' a day here & there. I usually take off more time than DH & DSjustturned17. On a day off we sightsee around Orlando, or hang out touring other resorts, time at the pools etc. We do tend to go back to the parks at night. We did have parkhoppers, & now APs, which we love, do like to park hop--

Jean

 

[DisneyPhD]

There is a lot to do around WDW with out going to the parks, but as mlg32 says it isn't much more to go for 8 days then it is for 4 days so we normally do at least a little time in the park every day. We often have AP and so we make sure we do a park the day we come and go too.

As others said we don't spend all day every day in the parks so we feel pretty rested. If we felt we wanted a day off we would do that.

We never seem to get to DTD much anymore, just go to the parks instead. I actually find it more busy then the parks the past few times we have been there because you don't need a ticket.

 

[rt2dz]

We get season passes since we go every year and take two trips of 10 days each on that pass.

How we do Disney though tends to be about the same. We go the eve to a park about 50% of the time on arrival day, 50% of the time we hang at the hotel all day. Day 2 we tend to sleep in and then hit a park 1/2 day. Day 3 & 4 is about all day out at the parks. Day 5 is an off day. Day 6 through 9 again are at the parks--full or half. Day 10 is leaving day and it is usually spent with a character meal and 1/2 day at the park.

However, we do follow our children's lead so sometimes we have more off days or do only half days. Frequently we switch parks throughout the day as the kids choose, but technically spend all day out.

 

[OceanAnnie]

We usually don't go to the park the first day. We get settled in the resort, rest a bit and walk about. Go for a swim. Tour the grounds maybe tour a nearby hotel. Sometimes go to DTD for an ice cream, putt-putt and/or take in something leisurely. Often times we do this the last day too. Though sometimes we've been known to hit a nearby park and stroll around on our last day. Depends on when we are set to leave.

During the week we take breaks in the afternoon. We haven't had a full days break or resort day, but if you add up the breaks we take it would probably be a full day (and then some) away from the parks.

 

[pezpam]

We go to the parks every day, with the exception of maybe doing DTD or just relaxing/packing/unpacking at the hotel if we only have an hour or two to play on an arrival/departure day due to airplane schedules. We tend to take it easy since we have 8-10 days on each vacation, so we don't go commando or stay long enough to burn out. With 7+ days, you can start to relax each day if you want and still have time to see a lot of WDW with time to go back and do your favorite things again.

Enjoy

 

[mickeyfan2]

We like 11 day / 10 night trips minimum. We go to the parks most but not all days. We always go to Sea World and sometime Busch Gardens. Since we have APs we will go in for a few hours and then spend the afternoon at DTD etc. We want our vacation to be relaxing so no commando mode for us.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

We did 8 nights/9 days with a 6 year old and a 10 year old. Here's what we did: lots of 1/2 days at the park, with 2 days when we didn't go at all. I think we paced it about right.

Day 1 -- arrived around 3 -- afternoon at MGM/Fantasmic Dinner Package

Day 2 -- M.K. opening (EMH a.m.) until about 1:30, then tea at the GF, then back to the hotel until Dinner at CG

Day 3 -- slept in, a.m. at the pool, 10 y.o. and her mom went to PS Lunch and did WS, 6 y.o. and his mom (that's me!) stayed at the pool longer, did Beaches and Cream, and then joined the others for an hour or so of WS and dinner at Marrakesh.

Day 4 -- Epcot a.m., switched resorts in p.m. (BC to SSR), grocery shopping and then Chef Mickey's.

Day 5 -- Slept in a little, then drove to Cocoa Beach for the day, came back and went to DTD and shopped/ate at Fulton's.

Day 6 -- M.K. for opening until Lunch, then back to SSR. Friend and her daughter went to the spa for mani/pedi's. DS and I stayed in and watched a movie. Cooked in the villa and had a quiet evening.

Day 7 -- supposed to be BB but DS woke up and begged to go to the beach again (Please mommy, I don't want to stand in line today). Changed to AKL in the evening, and ate at Jiko's.

Day 8 -- slept in A.K. most of the day, dinner at Boma's

Day 9 -- checked out really early, morning at M.K. lunch at Crystal Palace and then flew home.

 

[budbeerlady]

We went to the parks each day. Night 1 was MK for couple of hours, day 2 was Epcot, Day 3 was Mgm, Day 4 was Mk and wonderland tea party and MVMCP, Day 5 was AK for untill 2 and then DTD for cirque, day 6 was Ak for 1/2 day and rest. Day 7 was Mk and Princess tea party. Day 7 was to be DD fave pic day and she chose Mk. Left around 4 to pack and rest for early plane flight home. We took a rest every after noon at the hotel except MGM as we had to see the stunt show.

 

[mommykds]

Last October, me, Dh & our 3 kids were at Disney for 10 days. We did the parks from opening til closing. Out of the room by 7am & not back til after 10pm. We had a blast but were pooped.

After visiting Disney 5 times we are no longer feel the need of going "commando"..for our next trip this August, I have planned days off to just stay at the resort & go for a nice dinner either at our resort, another resort, or EPCOT WS. Taking it very leisurely this time.

 

[DisneyGirl1991]

mommyintn, our first Disney trip is in 1 month, 3 weeks, and 4 days. Maybe we will see you there! Lol.

 

[PaulaSue]

We were there last week. We did non stop for 6 nights 7days, it was cheap doing another day and too cold to do the pools.

 

[lorli]

We are a "be at the park for opening" kind of family

This is the kind of famiy we are also. We like to go in everyday, It's the World. and we don't go often enough to skip days or take breaks.

 

[kparc]

If we go for one week or less we go to a park every day.( 1 day at MGM,
2 days at Epcot, 2 days at MK (We divide this park in half), 1 day at AK, and one day to hop to any park we want to see more of. We don't always go to the same park in the evening that we were at that morning) We usually arrive at park opening see all our top attractions by lunch and then return to the resort in the afternoon for a swim or a nap. ( I am a big advocate of getting to the parks at opening. It allows you lots of time to do the major attractions with little wait. I don't know why more people don't take advantage of an early arrival.And I am not usually a morning person! ) In the evening we head to dinner ( Usually at the parks but we sometime eat by the pool snack bar) and spend a leisurely evening at the parks shopping, or seeing attraction that we missed earlier or want to ride again. I try to plan to stay late for fantasmic, wishes or illuminations on a night when I don't plan to go to an early entry the next day. And I spread out the late evenings so they are not back to back. My girls were 9 and 10 the last time we went and since we went in the summer we had plenty of time in the evenings for extra time at the parks and even a few late night swims before being in bed ~ usually by 11 pm. We always plan to have a day to rest and do laundry when we return home!

 

[beattyfamily]

I never plan non-park days. I just can't bring myself to do it. We definitely have more laid back, late start days but we still head to a park at some point.

The only time we didn't go to a park was on arrival day once or twice.

I forgot to mention that I've never gone more then 7 days so maybe if I went on a longer vacation I might have an off day with no park, but I'm still not sure. I always feel like I might be missing something!

 

[polly p]

We usually go for 10-11 days and maybe plan one non park day in the middle to do DTD. We try to get to the parks all the other days. We may leave and come back, but we just love to see and do all we can.

Lori

 

[Showe]

we have gone every year for the past 5 or 6 years now and we always go for at least 9-11 days. Our first year we did back to back parks with a 2-yr and 5-yo and found that to be too much....

since that time we always alternated days...park one day, pool the next, park next day, something else the next day etc.... We like to have our down time and the kids just love to sit back and relax as well. We always find other things to do instead of parks...mini golf, DTD, movies, etc. we just find being together and not working all part of our magic..