How long for a first time trip?

[southlakejr]

So DH and I are planning our first WDW trip for the beginning of 2015.

Right now, we're trying to figure out how long our trip should be

The two options we're floating between:

# 1: Leave CA on a redeye Friday night, get to WDW Mid day Saturday. Spend half day Saturday, all day Sun, Mon, Tues, etc. leave mid day on Sunday. This would give us half day Sat, half day Sun, and seven full days in the parks.

#2: Same trip, except leave Friday morning to take a three day DCL Bahamas cruise. This would leave us with half day Saturday, and five full days in the parks.

We are Disney people, and have had DL passes for the last few years. When we visit, we tend to be ride people with just a few shows and parades. We do tend to ride our favorites a few times each. We are planning on visiting in the very end of January or beginning of February to hopefully hit some of the lowest crowds and skip out on the Florida humidiheat. Because park hours are more limited during that time, I doubt we'll be taking midday naps, and the weather will probably not be conducive to swimming. We do love Disney sightseeing, so on a longer stay we would probably enjoy seeing the resorts. Not sure how much we would miss it if we didn't do it.

Is five days enough to really see WDW? I'm not certain when or if we will be back, so this could be a once in a lifetime trip, or a once every five years+ trip. Which option would you recommend? Or is there an option 3 I should consider instead? TIA!

 

[PJ]

I think Option 2 sounds great - plenty of park time - especially when you're planning to go. And adding the Disney cruise adds another level of Disney experience. Just one question: Can I come too!!!

 

[FiggieFan]

Most Important - watch out for February 2015, Mardi Gras is early that year - February 9, 2015 and the parks will be way more crowded than they usually are at that time of year. We ran into that on our last trip and everyone was complaining about the crowds. The Land had over a 30 minute wait which was very surprising.

Besides that, Option 2 sounds great.

 

[minnie mum]

If you have never been to WDW before and are unlikely to return any time soon, then I'd opt for the one that gives you more park days. 5 days is unlikely to give you enough time to enjoy all of the attractions in the parks. And certainly not enough time to explore the resorts.

Given the cooler weather and shorter hours, afternoon breaks are certainly less necessary than in the warmer months of the year.

You can go on a cruise any time. I'd save that for a different vacation, and take a longer cruise to really enjoy the experience.

 

[AThrillingChase]

If you have never been to WDW before and are unlikely to return any time soon, then I'd opt for the one that gives you more park days. 5 days is unlikely to give you enough time to enjoy all of the attractions in the parks. And certainly not enough time to explore the resorts.

Given the cooler weather and shorter hours, afternoon breaks are certainly less necessary than in the warmer months of the year.

You can go on a cruise any time. I'd save that for a different vacation, and take a longer cruise to really enjoy the experience.

I agree a cruise adds a lot of travel time and there are many things unique to WDW that you will have a ton to keep you busy!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Five is ok, seven is better. WDW is massive, and it takes a lot of time just to get around it, on top of touring. There is so much to see and do. You'll get to see a lot of it in five days, but you'll get to see more in seven. Five is fine as long as you make your list of must-dos and realize you won't get to it all. You'll get a taste of each park in five days, seven will give you more time to go back to any parks that you want to spend more time in.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Whatever is physically and financially possible....

For us, even after 50+ trips....the resort, pool are a major part of WDW, let alone the 4 parks.... even monorail rides to the MK and EPCOT are attractions to us...We also enjoy taking the big ferry paddlewheeler from the TTC to the MK to mix up travel and experience a different mode of transportation...

Evening can be enjoyed at the resort campfire roasting marshmallows then catching the nightly movie....relaxing...not so much all that go go go....

All this comes a long stay....no commando I git to see and do it all..

 

[TeamSy]

I also would choose option 1. Go to Disney and just enjoy the parks, sans cruise. I feel like a cruise is a separate thing, and after experiencing many lines, I would research some other ones, not just Disney. However, there's only one Disney World (and DW is so different, and better IMO, than the "lands" in other parts of the world). Spend your time there.

 

[nansmama]

I would choose the extra park days over a cruise. Disney World is gigantic, especially if you are used to Disneyland. The rides are all well and good, but once you get there you may decide you want to do other things in addition to rides. And that will take time. We've been eight times and still haven't come close to doing everything. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[angboys3]

Yeah, I advise a day and half for both MK and HS if you want to also see fireworks and fantasmic. It's hard to see those parks in one day. AK is doable in one day and you can always park hop to one of the other parks at night.

I would also advise in the middle of the week when you are getting tired to plan a lighter day where you sleep in.

We just did 2 days at Universal and 3 days at MK and still didn't get to see Epcot. We were all dragging by the last day which fortunately was AK. So a day off in the middle would have been great. We had to sleep in a couple of days and miss RD but MK was open till 1am on those nights so it ended up working out well in our case. If you want to go to Downtown Disney allow a lot of time, even in our car, it took a long time to drive park, shop etc. Our bus driver told us on new year's eve it took him over 2 hours alone to just drive to downtown Disney.

 

[supergoofy]

I'd do neither.

After looking at coming from Oregon to Orlando a red eye just doesn't seem to work. Maybe yours is different but for us its 2 flights so sleeping may/may not happen and I feel we may be grumpy when we land.

I would take the earliest flight as in plan #2 and spend the first day at the hotel/pool/relaxing. Depending on the time you land find a nice restaurant out of the parks.

Start your first full park day the day after you land and spend whole vacation at the World and skip the cruise.

 

[OatsZoo]

I would skip the Disney cruise also, taking that another time out of Texas or California, Disney cruise line isn't just run out of Florida.

I have recently been to Disneyland and it by far does not compare to the sheer size of WDW. I was shocked at how small and close together everything was at Disneyland. I always suggest to first timers at least 2 days in all parks, with the exception of Animal kingdom which you can mostly complete in one day.

The red eye could be dangerous, you may not enough sleep and be grumpy and tired your first day there. I would suggest also to take an early morning flight and go to a late closing park or just hanging out at the resort or Downtown Disney that night. There is a ton of walking in WDW compared to DL and you may regret the lack of sleep.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I agree with supergoofy about saving the parks for your first full day. I find I'm too tired after traveling to muster the energy needed to tour the parks, and my flight is only about two hours and definitely not a red-eye. The waiting at the airport, the flight itself, waiting for ME, travel time to the resort while potentially having to stop at other resorts first, the check-in process... It adds up and wears you down a bit. If we arrive early in the day we'll hit DTD for a few hours and then dinner, if we arrive late we'll just do dinner. Either way we're getting to bed early so we can be rested and energized for the parks the next day.

As far as how many days you need: For my first trip back after nearly 15 years, and treating it like it was "new", I allowed two days per park plus a flex day. We were more than able to fill up that time. The days were long (up to 14 hours at MK) and exhausting. We were able to do just about all the rides, excluding the "kiddie" rides like Dumbo that we weren't interested in, and we were able to catch all the fireworks shows and the MSEP once each. On subsequent trips I've adjusted the number of days up or down depending on which parks we enjoy more or less, but I think two days per park is a good starting point for a first trip. You'll also feel less pressure about wait times, transportation delays, etc. if you know you have a second day to come back and try again. If you get there and find yourself bored/done with one of the parks after the first day there are plenty of other ways to fill the spare day -- Jellyrolls, mini-golf, the Boardwalk, resort-hopping, or the ever-elusive "relax and enjoy your resort" which I have yet to manage to do.

As for your last half-day before departure, don't bank on getting much done. Our flights usually depart around 3pm which means ME departure time is 12-1. Prior to that is packing up and checking out. If you aren't within walking distance of a park, transportation to and from will eat up even more time. The most we've ever managed on departure day is a couple of hours at the park closest to our resort.

Either trip you choose will be great because, hey, being on vacation is always better than being at home but, if I were you, I'd go with option 1 or something similar.

 

[southlakejr]

You guys are great!

It seems like most of you are in favor of skipping the cruise and going for more park days, which I wasn't quite expecting. Really valid points, and I might be leaning that way a little more. How many days do you suggest for each park?

Even though DCL operates out of CA as well, the itineraries are rather meh. Since airfare is so expensive, it seems less likely that we will get back out to FL soon. (Though I guess we could always finagle free flight through credit card offers or something of the like)

As for the flights- if we take a red eye out of SFO, we can get to Orlando between 9-11 AM the next day. If we fly same day, we won't get in until 7:30 or 8:30 at night, after getting to the resort, etc, it feels like we will have enough time to change clothes and go to bed.

If we get in at 9-11 AM, would you still suggest skipping the parks that day? My thought was to get in, wander DTD and have lunch until we could check in, nap, and get up to have dinner and maybe see the fireworks and a ride or two. (DH LOVES night time Disney) Is this worth a park day?

We really aren't planning on seeing much on departure day. Probably a good brunch, possibly not even in the parks unless we feel like getting up early.

 

[Son of Gadsden]

Option 1 is what we normally do. Replace the redeye with a 10 hour drive from VA. We use that first half day to see Downtown Disney. The nightlife there is a bit better than anywhere else and it's free so you don't feel like you're losing money.

we like having 7 days in the parks. You absolutely can't do everything in 5 days. I would argue you can't do everything in 10 days. Our last trip was 8 and that was like our fifth trip in three years and we haven't done everything. It's just a huge place. We like spending at least a full day at each park, then a few get two days. MK has to have two days, and we usually end up spending more than that when you combine the hopper days. AK is a multiple day thing for us, and DHS even kept us entertained for a while last trip. Epcot is definitely another full day or multiple day park.

Lots of people like resort days as well. I'm not one of them, but DW is.

 

[ArwenMarie]

You guys are great!

It seems like most of you are in favor of skipping the cruise and going for more park days, which I wasn't quite expecting. Really valid points, and I might be leaning that way a little more. How many days do you suggest for each park?

Even though DCL operates out of CA as well, the itineraries are rather meh. Since airfare is so expensive, it seems less likely that we will get back out to FL soon. (Though I guess we could always finagle free flight through credit card offers or something of the like)

As for the flights- if we take a red eye out of SFO, we can get to Orlando between 9-11 AM the next day. If we fly same day, we won't get in until 7:30 or 8:30 at night, after getting to the resort, etc, it feels like we will have enough time to change clothes and go to bed.

If we get in at 9-11 AM, would you still suggest skipping the parks that day? My thought was to get in, wander DTD and have lunch until we could check in, nap, and get up to have dinner and maybe see the fireworks and a ride or two. (DH LOVES night time Disney) Is this worth a park day?

We really aren't planning on seeing much on departure day. Probably a good brunch, possibly not even in the parks unless we feel like getting up early.

I think it's always worth getting to a park on arrival day. If you can fit in a nap and then head out and have dinner and fireworks at a park, that is a great way to start out.

 

[AThrillingChase]

You guys are great!

It seems like most of you are in favor of skipping the cruise and going for more park days, which I wasn't quite expecting. Really valid points, and I might be leaning that way a little more. How many days do you suggest for each park?

Even though DCL operates out of CA as well, the itineraries are rather meh. Since airfare is so expensive, it seems less likely that we will get back out to FL soon. (Though I guess we could always finagle free flight through credit card offers or something of the like)

As for the flights- if we take a red eye out of SFO, we can get to Orlando between 9-11 AM the next day. If we fly same day, we won't get in until 7:30 or 8:30 at night, after getting to the resort, etc, it feels like we will have enough time to change clothes and go to bed.

If we get in at 9-11 AM, would you still suggest skipping the parks that day? My thought was to get in, wander DTD and have lunch until we could check in, nap, and get up to have dinner and maybe see the fireworks and a ride or two. (DH LOVES night time Disney) Is this worth a park day?

We really aren't planning on seeing much on departure day. Probably a good brunch, possibly not even in the parks unless we feel like getting up early.

When you buy more than 3 or 4 days, adding a day to tickets is only $10 more. So I would definitely stop into a park for fireworks and maybe some rides at night as the crowds start leaving. I can usually hop on space mountain a few times in a row near closing

Also for check-in, your room may not be ready, but you can check in anytime after about 6am they told me. They will give you your tickets and hold your luggage at bell service and text when your room is ready. So really, you could get in, check-in, drop off luggage and go right to a park. Then when your room is ready, come back, nap, hang out at the pool, etc. until later in the evening when you are refreshed enough to go back out. I would maybe not make it a super late night though so you get enough sleep for the next day.

I would plan to spend the most days at MK, then at EP, then a little less for HS and AK. I usually only do one half day at AK, I eat at EP probably half the nights, and then I go back to HS a lot, usually half days, to re-ride my favorites (RNRC, TOT). This works nicely with dinner at EP, since you can walk between the parks. And with MK, there is just so much to do and the fireworks are the best.

My mother and I are also the type to do mostly rides and we like to do them a few times. I will recommend watching some shows though, they are a great break to rest your feet and they actually end up being pretty good

 

[AThrillingChase]

I will also note that since it is two adults, you would probably have a lot of fun at EP at night, sampling drinks and food and walking around the countries. They are beautiful all lit up. So maybe factor that in as well.