Having trouble wrapping my mind around touring plans

[Shelly888]

I need some help, lol. So, the very basic itinerary is a 10 night trip end of January-begining of February. We plan on getting 8 day PH(at least). It has been highly suggested to get to the parks for RD and leave by 1pm and head back to our resort. Then after a 3-4 hour break, get dinner.

Is this how most people tour the parks? Do you head back to the parks to get diner? What about eating dinner at a resort? I'm trying to keep things a bit low key and to decrease the amount of running around etc.
Thoughts and ideas are welcomed.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's just a matter of personal preference.

During times of year (like January) when we don't need to escape the heat, we stay in the park all day until we are done. We might eat in the park before leaving, or at a resort on the way back. It's a lot easier to us not to spend so much of our time coming and going.

 

[GWhitten98]

Everyone tours differently, we are morning people so we tend to get to the parks at rope from and stick it out till around 5-7pm and then call it a day. If there are evening things we want to do then we will leave mid day and come back. We normally eat breakfast at the resorts and lunch a dinner are a mix or TS and QS both at the resort or at the park. For us each day is different.

 

[loves to dive]

Really depends on your preference but you have plenty of time on the trip so you might try different ways. We were there last week and my son and DIL usually slept in until around 9:30 and met me at a park. We would ride what we wanted (every day used only 1 FP and still rode everything we wanted) and then around mid-afternoon early evening went back to the resort to rest. My son is disabled military and for the first time just couldn't go,go, go. After resting we usually went back out until around 9 or so and back to the resort for the night. It was nice and restful and no one felt they needed a vacation when we got home.

 

[Lucius Best]

No one touring plan is best for everyone. Getting to the parks before rope drop is great advice, because there will be no lines, and you can get so much done that first hour. You can eat dinner in the parks, or at the resorts, plenty of options.

For January, crowds are pretty low, and park hours aren't very late either, and it's not super hot. You certainly don't need to take a break if you don't want to. Breaks are a good idea when it is hot, or when the park is crowded, or when you are planning to be at the park late until closing, or the kids are young and won't make it. On our last trip with a 7yo, our MK days were full days, with early dinner at MK or at one of the monorail resorts. On non-MK days, we would wing it, stay at park for a while, then back to resort for pool time.

 

[tlmadden73]

For that long of a trip you'll have time for everything .. you can always just "play it by ear" .. I would suggest just planning a FULL day at each park for your first four days .. just so you can experience them to their full extent (doesn't mean you have to do everything).. then spend the rest of your time leisurely hopping or breaking .. etc.

I think a big mistake a lot of people make is trying to hop around a lot. (Theme park in morning .. resort in the afternoon .. dinner reservation later .. etc. etc.) Disney transportation is convenient, but it still takes time and you'll feel like you are always looking at your watch.

Stay at the park .. enjoy it .. there is a lot of fun things to do at the parks besides rides and shows . .just "being there" is fun for a lot of people. Take your time and enjoy the ambience .. especially since you have a lot of days to hit all the parks again ..

What most people do is decide what restaurants and dinner shows to hit first .. make reservations for those 180 days out . .then plan on going to that park that day and plan around that.

 

[threeboysmom]

I always mix it up. I do like to have some resort/pool/relaxation time in every day if possible.

1 - Some days I'll plan a leisurely morning at the resort with breakfast on the balcony or poolside. If I could sleep in, I would... but that never happens on a Disney vacation for me. Head to the parks around 11ish and stay through evening

2 - Some days I'll do rope drop and then head back to the resort in early afternoon for a few hours before heading back out for dinner & a couple more hours of park time.

3 - Some days I'll rope drop and stay straight through until dinner and then head out for a quiet evening back at the resort.

I try to arrange my itinerary with a good mix of all 3 options.

 

[JennyDrake]

As others have noted, you are going during a usually slower time of year and there is no plan taht is right for everyone. With that said, There are no *SLOW* times as we once knew them at WDW; but it is a "rule" that you will get more done at RD regardless of when you go. The midday break is less physically critical when it sin't 95 degrees, but it is hard to overstate the fatigue and "overwhelm" factors while at WDW.

I am a veteran of 50 or so triups over 10 years and I can tell you that midday breaks with naps make everyone nicer to each other.

Since you are stying 10 days I would suggest planning t least one day to sleep in and maybe not do parks at all, but play miniature golf, tour resorts, maybe visit DTD.

 

[Cando86]

Like others noted, it really is a matter of personal preference. I know that's not super helpful haha but it's true. If you're trying to take it easy, a break might be nice but remember that you have to factor in walking to the bus stops, waiting, bus transportation (if you're using Disney transportation that is!). That all adds up but might be worth it for an hour or two back at the resort.

There is also the option of taking a break at a nearby resort. We don't really like to take afternoon breaks for the reasons mentioned above (just takes too long to get back to the resort and then back to the parks for an hour or so of a break at the room) so what we're doing in September is having an early dinner at the resorts and that will constitute our break. For example, on our MK day we'll hit rope drop and leave the park around 4 for our Ohana ADR and relax during dinner in the A/C and that will be our break. Then we'll come back to the parks after for the evening.

I will say I think the single most important thing in a touring plan, in my opinion and many others, is arriving at rope drop. We've gotten SO much done in those first couple hours. Then during the afternoon we do some of the attractions where there is typically never a wait (People Mover, Philharmagic, Carousel of Progress at MK, Imagination Pavillion, Spaceship Earth and Nemo at Epcot etc).

It really depends on what your preference is and how you like to tour

 

[bigherosix]

If your children's ages are accurate in your signature, then I would recommend the breaks, especially for the 5 year old. It's a lot of excitement and walking for kids and they get pretty exhausted by the afternoon. Going back for a nap/swim really worked wonders for us, saved money for lunch by eating back at our rental home, and let us stay later at night when lines are shorter because we weren't exhausted. We did a day without an afternoon break because of a later afternoon BBB reservation and we were all tired and cranky later that day.

 

[awalker1015]

In the warmer months, during daylight savings, we do RD then head back to resort around 1-2 to swim and relax. We will wither go to another resort for dinner or hit a park for late afternoon touring. When we went in October we didn't do the midday break. We powered through until dinner then on non-firework nights went back to the resort after dinner.

 

[librarymom2007]

We do not tour that way, especially in January/February. When we go that time of year the weather is so nice and enjoyable we stay until 5 or so. We eat dinner at our resort. Lunch we eat in whatever park we are at, usually a TS. Now in the summer it is hotter and we leave around 3 or 4, go back to the resort and swim and have dinner. We do not take a break to go back to the parks at night.

 

[MissDisneyDora]

The mornings are best to plow through the attractions. Having an early morning dining reservation in your park of choice for that day makes it even easier. I'm a single mum travelling with my 5 year old so we usually do a combination of early mornings at the park where we are done by about 4pm in the afternoon and then days where we show up at the parks a bit later and maybe don't nail as many rides but stay on for the fireworks. With a five year old its difficult to get them to stay through a whole day into the evening. I know lots of people are huge advocates for hitting the parks first thing, heading back to the hotels for the afternoon and coming back out in the evenings but try as I might I just can't make that work, for me its good in theory but a lot of hassle in reality and once I'm back at my lovely resort both of us feel incredibly unmotivated. Also with a 5 year old consider a stroller, you may feel like they are too old but trust me they are a godsend.

x
Dora