How long are your park days?

[;-)]

I’ve personally never rope dropped. That’s what fast passes are for. The idea of waiting outside the park gate with crowds of people waiting for the park to open is a waste of time/energy and added aggravation, for me. Plus it’s draining. I’d rather get there after I’ve woken up on my own, without and alarm, had my coffee, showered and got myself going in the morning. Leaving between 9-10am to get to the park between 10-11 works out great for us. We sit in the A/C for lunch around noon. We will either spend a few hours and take a pool break, then return at night, or Enjoy the afternoon in the park then sit down for dinner (again in the A/C). HS and AK nighttime shows are not appealing to us, and If we feel like staying for the Epcot show it starts early enough at 9pm. MK Starts a bit later so the preferable choice is to go to the top of the world at contemporary and sit nice and relaxed in the A/C with a nice cocktail to watch the show. Best thing to do is what you feel like when you feel like, I see to many people stressed out and agitated for no reason, take those breaks and get your sleep! You’ll enjoy so much more. Sometimes “getting your money’s worth” isn’t always worth it!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Back about 25 years ago, I could go from rope drop to closing-easily 12-14 hours. Now I do about half that. For me, it would be very interesting to see if there's an inverse correlation between the park-goer's age and the number of hours spent in the parks (yes, you can probably tell I used to teach statistics).

 

[Ellie Webbs]

Back about 25 years ago, I could go from rope drop to closing-easily 12-14 hours. Now I do about half that. For me, it would be very interesting to see if there's an inverse correlation between the park-goer's age and the number of hours spent in the parks (yes, you can probably tell I used to teach statistics).

I think you are right. My husband and I are in our 30s and rope drop to fireworks requires more breaks during the day than we did early twenties when we would literally charge from one rollercoaster to the next. My parents are close to retirement age and they average 4 hours in the parks. I'm sure there are many people of different ages who can outlast us in the parks but you have to actually enjoy your holiday, it's not a competition after all

 

[caylene44]

On previous trips, we would RD the water parks at opening (10 am) for a couple hours, come back to the hotel for a shower/nap, and then go to the parks around 3-4 pm and stay until closing.

We aren't doing water parks for our upcoming trip so the current plan is to RD for a few hours, come back to the hotel for a mid-day nap and/or pool time, then go back to the parks around 4-5 pm until closing.

 

[720L]

We are here now for 10 days. This heat is killing me. I was trying to make a point to my DH that its ok to take a break. We've been to WDW lots of times so I don't feel bad missing something but DH feels we need to do everything. We did leave earlier than normal today but I'm not even looking forward to tomorrow. I got the Disney rash & am just sick of the heat.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

take those breaks and get your sleep! You’ll enjoy so much more. Sometimes “getting your money’s worth” isn’t always worth it!

I have to remind myself of this! I want this next trip to be more leisurely, we’ve been before and we’ll go again.

 

[Unca’ Donald]

Usually rope drop to close, even with EMH.

 

[Rach3975]

Our typical day with the kids is probably rope drop to around 5 pm. DH and I are going for our first adults-only trip, and we're hoping to maximize time in the parks. On our two full days we're planning on RD to close at MK and 10/11 am to close at EP. (Our other 2 days will be travel days with as much park time as we can squeeze in.)

 

[poooh]

We do RD or close to it and usually stay until close. I don't like having to go back to the room or leave the park in the middle of the day. The only time I've taken a mid-day break was to go back and change for MNSSHP. We had planned for a few hours of rest time but when we got to the room, we just changed and headed right back out.

Last time we actually had a DAH ticket so we were at MK for 16 hours straight with no break and I wouldn't have it any other way. We don't have kids and we're still in our 20's so the priority of the entire trip is to get as much park time as we possibly can. I do sleep the entire day we get back though ahah.

 

[katiec786]

My last two trips were a bit different - in 2010 I went over Christmas with my sister and it was the first time we had been since we were little kids so we went full on park open to fireworks everyday - by the end of the week we were pretty fried, but it was worth it!
In August 2011 I went with 2 friends who definitely needed an afternoon break!! I could have gone all day but went back and chilled by the pool while they had a nap.
I'm going again this September and it's the first time I have to consider jetlag as now I'm based in the UK. My friend and I are both happy to go all day but I think the jetlag will definitely hit us, so we're factoring breaks into our plan - go early for EMH, get as much done by 2pm, then have a couple hours to chill before heading back for whatever evening entertainment is happening. We also have a couple of days where we have intentionally planned lazy mornings to give ourselves a break (eg MNSSHP tue night followed by late brunch at the Poly wednesday then AK for the rest of the day).

 

[BrianL]

Open to close, unless close is very late, then as long as I can make it. I usually hop, so there is a little downtime, but I must maximize value!

 

[mckennarose]

We always take a midday break. We usually get to a park at or close to rope drop and leave the park between 1 and 2 pm. Then we swim, rest and leave the resort between 5-6 pm. We may park hop if we have hoppers, or just head back to the same park if we have base tickets. We always drive, so it takes very little time to drive back and forth and we'll stay until park close or a little after..... when the mad rush to leave is over. It averages 8-9 park hours.

Our commando park-open-to-close days are long gone.

 

[Toolulu22]

Depends on the length of the trip- but never RD to FW straight through anymore. We like to get in and out of the parks as early as possible- riding as many things before the crowds and heat. We’ll have a nice meal earlier 4-ish, hop over to Epcot and walk around the world leisurely or hang out at the hotel.

We play golf some days and in summer do Typhoon Lagoon, both being a half day and very tiring, followed by a nice dinner and pool time, then a couple hours in a park maybe or if staying on the Boardwalk, we’ll walk around there and have ice cream or just soak in the atmosphere. Disney Springs is also an afternoon/evening activity- as was Cirque du Soleil (hopefully, will be again).

We don’t feel the need to do the rides over and over or do every single ride. Our strategy now is to spend some time in the parks, some time at our hotel, and some time doing other things around the grounds. On our upcoming trip, we’re going to do some EMM and DAH at AK, which will free up even more time during the day to do other things.

 

[Callist]

I will NEVER get my crowd to the parks before 10:30. If we're in line for the buses at 10 I'm happy. Last year we closed out MK, left EPCOT during the fireworks, and left AK around 6pm because of a huge storm that was coming.

My crew will NOT take a mid day break, but we are far from commandos. We take many, many, many breaks - lunch or snacks in the shade, shows in the AC, just sitting on a bench in the shade, stopping at playgrounds, etc.

 

[memakwed]

We do one park from 9/930 to 5pm. Next we go to dinner . If dinner isn’t in a park we are done for the day. If dinner is in another park we will stay a few hours until we want to leave

 

[Bismuth]

My days are usually about one hour after park open to a little after 1 hour before park close (unless I'm seeing a nighttime show) with a quick resort break in the middle of the day. The only exception is EPCOT, which I can and absolutely want to do rope drop to the end of nighttime EMH with no resort break since it's my favorite park! Late night EPCOT EMH is incredible However, if I'm not gonna go back to the resort, I need to take a really long dinner break to get my energy back to keep going for the rest of the night.