How many days are you actually in the parks?

[bweagle]

Not counting your down days,water park days, etc....how many days do you actually spend in the 4 major theme parks?

 

[Muffy]

We just came back on 1/13 and spent 13 days in the parks. We usually only visit once a year and try to make it count!

 

[susy]

To see everything you would need about two days per theme park-definitely two for MK and Epcot. If it is during a very busy time, you would need more. I would also use magic mornings (if staying onsite)and get there 30 minutes beore the park opens to resort guests. Take breaks between 1 and 4 (when the parks are busiest and hottest!) and come back in the evening- you can walk on to many rides after 5pm! Ideally I woudl have a break day after every 2 or 3 park days.

We only get to do weekend trips and we get to see quite a bit in just a few days. Naturally, we hit our favorites early in the day. When we return in the evening , we go at a slower pace, but still get to see a lot!

 

[GenePA]

We normally visit 6 or 7 days at a time and go to at least 1 major theme park a day...some days we'll visit as many as 3 parks in a single day but that is rare. We generally spend about 2 to 4 hours in any single park at a time. This way we maintain a good variety of events and rides. It also helps us avoid crowds and to stay fresh so we can enjoy the rest of WDW.

We usually go to WDW twice a year so we can afford to maintain this type of pace. It really keeps the parks from getting stagnant for us by doing it this way.

 

[mickeysaver]

We did 5 out of the 6 days back in September. We have plans for 6 of 7 full days being spent at least in some part in a park for the December trip. We are looking to do MVMCP on the day we will primarily spend shopping at DTD and being a bit more laid back. I can't wait to see WDW in Christmas mode! Mickey

 

[berger50]

Everyday that we are there - that's what we go for! Even the day that we visit the water park we will go to the park in the evening. Thought that we might just hang out the day we arrive but we couldn't wait until the next day - will try whatever park has fireworks on that first day.

12 more days

 

[disneyjunkie]

Originally posted by berger50
Everyday that we are there - that's what we go for! Even the day that we visit the water park we will go to the park in the evening. Thought that we might just hang out the day we arrive but we couldn't wait until the next day - will try whatever park has fireworks on that first day.

12 more days

I plan to do this on our next trip.

When we were there in 2001, we had 5 day park hoppers for our 7 night stay.

It drove me crazy not to be able to enter a major theme park on our rest/water park days.

From now on I'll make sure to get passes that allow us to enter a major park each day that we are there.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Our first trip (totally spur of the moment and immensely naive about all that is Disney World LOL) we were there 9 nights... we spent 7 full days in parks.. (one day not- only because Dh let me oversleep bigtime -so we decided to blow that day doing other things) but only 4 of those days were WDW parks. (3 were the "other" non-disney parks. LOL)

This was the busiest time of the year- and we totally did NOT even come close to seeing all of any of the parks.

This trip we are planning on being there 9 days... with 7 day park hoppers and 1 day left on our other 5 day park hoppers. But I'm PLANNING (we'll see how this goes) going to the parks 6 days and 2-3 days at the water parks (if 2 days- the other day will be "relaxing without going into a park of any kind" but doing other things at the resorts and DTD/Disneyquest/LaNouba.

However, this is a slower time of the year, we've been there before this time (plus a trip by myself also) and not quite so "lost" on what we want to do, would enjoy, etc. Even with shorter hours the fact that it won't be as busy as before (hope hope hope) should mean that 6 days should be enough.... for now. (ofcourse! Not forever!!)

I think it really depends on what time of year you go. On my last trip I was there 10 days and was in the parks (with AP- which makes things WAY more relaxed because you don't feel like you need to stay there the entire day to get your "money's worth") 8 of those days and even then I was really just hopping from park to park the last few days redoing my favorites, trying new restaurants, etc.

If I was going during Christmas week again I think I'd need to be in the parks every day (minus midday because that was a waste of time anyway then LOL) for 2 full weeks to do as much!

 

[doitagain]

bweagle

Hey, first trip we gave MK and Epcot each 2 days and made the mistake of trying to divide one day between AK and MGM ( mainly beause our youngest DS was not able to ride RnR and ToT yet). On all our subsequent trips we devote a full day to AK and MGM and 1 1/2 day(s) for MK and Epcot. This will be our first year with APs so we will probably give each park a full day each visit and then re"hit" our favorites. We have also come to appreciate the little things and not just the rides. We enjoy making a scavenger hunt out of hidden Mickeys, etc...

Take into consideration the age of your group and how many times you have visited and make every bit of it count!!!


Doing It Again in 13 days!!!

 

[TreeOfLife]

Every day we're there we go to the parks. We take advantage of ee mornings but having been tehre several times it is easier to pick and choose.

Next time we are visiting both Disney and US. We are staying onsite when we visit Universal. It will help so much that we need fewer days in that park, but the FOTL privilege is well worth a strong incentive to stay onsite again!

 

[Uncleromulus]

Since we've been so often and seen most everything a # of times- it's 1/2 day each at Epcot, MGM, and the AK. Then 1/2 day at MK, and sometimes another 1/2 day later on. Rest of the week is swimming, miniature golf, shopping, and eating at all the fine WDW restaurants!

 

[CuteKatCar]

Our 4 trips have all been in May, so the parks are open til 9:00. We usually do 2 parks in one day with the break in between.

We always go to Epcot on our first day and we always go to MK on our last day (our last 2 trips we stayed at Cont. so we walked to MK in 10 min.). This trip is the first week of June and our last day is Gay Day at MK, so we won't be able to go there - it will be jam packed.

I've already started planning the days for our upcoming trip:

8 nights, 9 days.

1 day will be at Seaworld
6 half days at MK
1 day at AK - another park at night
2 half days at MGM
3 half days at Epcot
1 half day at TL


My family really wants to go to Seaworld, but I'd be happy just to stay at MK - by myself!!

Anna

 

[opal]

When we are there during summer months, we usually get the 7-day par hopper plus or annual pass if we are there longer than 7 days. The last few years, we have gone in January. This year we just got a 5 day park hopper. We didn't go into the parks on the day we arrived or the day we left. We arrived late in the day, so we got some dinner and watched the fireworks from the Boardwalk bridge and then on the last day, we went to Marketplace and played miniature golf.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

We usually stay on site for 9 nites. Last time we spent 2 days in the parks (that's what we had left from previous years) and, really did not feel deprived because of all the other things there is to do.

This year - again 9 nites on-site - we have the 3 day hoppers.

We usually take a day for off-site attractions, 2 days at TL waterpark and the rest relaxing at our resort pool.

Really, a very, very relaxing time.

 

[patsal]

We have stayed for as many as 14 days at a time and we hit a park every day of our trip. We like a nice relaxed pace and plan in accordance. We have AP's so it is no big deal to "use the day" This year we will have gone to the parks a total of thirty times, and maybe a few more if I can sneak in a few extra!

 

[tonysgal34]

we can only go for one week and will only be able to afford to do this once(and that's if we can save enough-been saving for awhile).......was hoping that if we go at a "value" time, then we could do one day per kingdom/park. Was going to get the 4-day hopper for Mon-Thurs, using Fri as a flex day to go to a park if we haven't used all the days yet, or to enjoy a water park if it's warm enough(going in early Nov, probably). After reading all these posts, I get the feeling that we need to go for a month to see everything. We have two children that will be 12 and 10 years old at the time of our trip and thought that if we plan well and use Fastpasses, we might be able to see MK in one day, but if we only used about 1/2 day in AK, we could go to MK for the rest of the day if we didn't see everything. I mean, the map shows only 20-something rides at MK-this just can't be done in one day?? Also, does anyone know a link to the actual hours of operation at the parks depending when you go? The Unofficial Guide says that they aren't open as much in the off-season and also that and everyone please read this.............the guide says that (and it's the 2003 edition)there is no longer Early Magic Hours to enter the parks early!!! Is this correct????

 

[Matty_Disfan]

They got rid of early entry privs for about 4 months, but the uproar made them reinstate them. They are back and working.

Word of caution: Don't blow yourself up trying to see everything, rest and relax, if you are just going and going all the time you will get very cranky (the unofficial guide also say that the average guests walks 13 miles per day.... if that is normal for you, then go ahead, but I suspect it isn't and you will be exceptionally run down by the second day). I would just keep in mind that this is a vacation. Commando style rarely elicits good results.

 

[tonysgal34]

I hear what you are saying, but does that mean that we just won't see it all in a day per park or what??

 

[The Duchess]

We do 8 nights, 7 days and hit at least one park per day. Our ritual is FWCabins first night for the Outdoor movie, a couple beers and Smores.
I like to park hop, so we usually do one park in the morning then a different park in the afternoon. I love Epcot and we stay at YC, so we do Epcot the most. Would love to go every year, but I'm definately "The Duchess" at heart and I need my pampering while I'm at the YC!!
We also do a lot of "extra" stuff like Bass Fishing, golf lessons, fireworks cruise, MNSSHP, Mickey Boats, tours (last trip we did Family Magic Tour...lots of fun, and Dolphins in Depth...amazing!) and lots of great eating (Yachtsman Steak House...yummy!)

 

[disneyjunkie]

I don't think you'll be able to see everything in 4 days.

DS son and I went in August 2001 for a week. We had a 5 day park hopper plus, used EE, fastpass, and did an E night. We still were not able to see everything.

We went to AK on 2 afternoons. We were able to do
Tarzan
FOTLK
ITTBAB
Safari
Kali River Rapids
Bone Yard
That's it! (The heat played a major part in this)

MK, we spent lots of time here, still didn't see everything. We missed:
Timekeeper
Hall of Presidents
All of Towntoon
Swiss Family Tree House
Diamond Horseshoe Revue
The Lion King Show
Train that runs around the park(can't think of the name)
Riverboats
Main Street Vehicles
Exposition Hall
Frontierland Arcade

Epcot, we were here for 1 1\2 days. We missed:
Innoventions
Living Seas
Canada
United Kingdom (did get a change to try the fish n chips, just didn't tour the pavilion)
Morocco
Japan
Italy
Germany

MGM, we missed:
Animation Tour
Bear Show (son was 9 )
Backstage Pass

We did Blizzard Beach one morning;didn't get to do everything there, and Pleasure Island one night.

We didn't get to go to DisneyQuest or Typhoon Lagoon.

I have a huge list of restaurant I want try. We only made it to a few:
Pizza Planet
Ohanas(breakfast)
Bongos
Beaches N Cream
Pecos Bills
Casey's
UK Fish N Chips Stand
Mexico's counter service
Dole Whip stand (yuck)


We were able to see Fantasmic, Illuminations, Spectromagic, Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks, TON, and the 3:00 parade in MK.


Make a list of all your must dos. Be sure these are done first. If you have time, repeat your favorites and see a few that aren't on your list.


Have you checked ticket prices at ticketmania, paramount, connections....? Some of these places have prices that are better than disney, or include a breakfast voucher.