How many days are needed?

[drdesigns]

This is our first trip. Me, hubby, son -19, daughter-12. We will be booking two connecting rooms at Caribbean Beach resort. We are gong mid March 2005.

Now we are trying to figure out how many days to we need there?

Right now we are tentatively booked to arrive late Monday night where we will share one room at CB, then move to the connecting rooms the next day. So we will have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and part of the day Saturday.

Saturday we check out of the hotel and do not catch our flight until 8:30 that night. Any suggestions on what to do this day would be appreciated!

Hubby is wondering if we could cut the trip short by one day. He is afraid we will be ready to come home and tired of "the Disney experience" by Friday.

Considering our kids ages what is your opinion? Do we need this much time inside of WWW? Does it take a whole day for each park?

We are thinking for example Animal Kingdom will take a 1/2 day at the most.

Any thoughts and opinions are most appreciated!

 

[crisi]

WDW is 55 square miles. 99 holes of golf. Bass fishing and horseback riding. Four theme parks. A hundred or so restaurants. Two waterparks. A nighclub complex.

I've been half a dozen times or more and haven't seen everything.

We happen to love AK and hate the thought that so many people are told its a half day park. I can easily spend two days of my vacation there. I can spend an hour watching gorillas or tigers, though.

We spend two in MK. Two in Epcot. MGM is our least favorite park - we have only spent one day there in two trips. We park hop a lot - so we spend almost every evening in Epcot, and two or three full mornings (until one or two in the afternoon) at AK or MK Another day at a waterpark.

There is a ton I've never seen. In six trips, I've never made time for the Astro Orbiter. Haven't ridden a roller coaster there in two trips (traveling now with small kids) or made time for Country Bear Jamboree. Never done Hoop Dee Doo review. Its been ten years since I've been to Pleasure Island.

You won't see everything, you have to decide for yourself what things interest you, and plan your time accordingly. The time of year and if you are willing to be up early will make a huge difference in your day. When I went as a teen, we did the "whole Disney experience" riding Small World and Dumbo even though we were far too old for those attractions. Which will be a different trip than a family who just does the "age appropriate" things.

 

[WDWFAN9]

gosh, my trips are always 8 nights long and we never get to do everything that we had hoped. There is just so much to see and do that it is physically impossible to do it all on a single trip.

 

[stacy6552]

Ok first of all tell your husband to get over the leaving early thing. There's no way you will do and see everything your first time out. Just promise to pace yourselves.

We usually do the AK the last day, because it closes early enough to catch the later flights. If you dont do it the last day than at least plan it for later in your trip. That way if you finish early you can hop back to someplace you wanted to see more of like the MK.

Or use your departure day to hop around and hit the want to do agains....

Dont forget to hit a water park. Alot of people say they're the suprise highlight and return again later in the trip.

 

[drdesigns]

Thanks for the replys!

AK the last day might be a good idea. Leave early?!?! I DON'T THINK SO!!

 

[BevS97]

we just got back from a 14 night trip and on the way to the airport had a huge list of things we hadn't managed to do - I can't tellyou what to do, but don't worry you won't run out of options!

 

[NJtoATL]

Been to Disney- many, many, many, many, many times. You can't do it all in one trip. Be prepared to send a lot of time planning your next trip for all of the things you didn't do and wish to do again.

Have a great trip!!

 

[crazelion]

You will need every bit of that time to see everything in WDW and Downtown Disney. Once the 19 year old see Planet Hollywood and Pleasure Island it's over. He will won't go to DD every night.

Plus you is going at busy time in March it will take two days to see MK alone.

 

[swilshire]

My family has 34 days scheduled at WDW this year to maximize the use of annual passes (24 already gone). Believe me, you won't run out of things to do.

We don't do the commando style touring and don't go to the parks if the weather is bad, but we still leave every trip with a list of things we meant to do and just didn't have time for.

We also have a few more days in Orlando after our passes run out at the end of December. I started a list of fun things to do that didn't require a Disney pass, and there is no way we'll squeeze it all in.

JMHO.

Sheila

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

I would budget a day for each park. When we go, AK & MGM never take up a full day. On one of those days, check out Downtown Disney. Whatever you do, don't cut the trip short!

 

[crisi]

BTW, I thought I'd play devils advocate.

You wouldn't be the first person to arrive at WDW and not like it. You may find the MK unmagical (obviously, few people here have that opinion, but I've met people....), AK boring, MGM not nearly enough thrill rides, and Epcot preachy and full of shops. You will be going at a fairly crowded time, and if you don't enjoy crowds, you may want to head off to the beach or spend more time by the pool. If this is the case, half days in all the parks will be more than enough time to convince yourselves you are not WDW people.

 

[ErinInCT]

2 days MK, 2 days EPCOT imho. You have discovered DIS so now you can start planning yourself with the involvement of dh & kids. Get the planning dvd/video, watch the Travel Channel specials, get planning books from the library, etc. Then you'll know what you want to do & then you can plan your time more efficiently. There is a thread on this board for teens if you want your kids to get in on the DIS action too. If you know what you want to do it'll make your planning much easier.