How many days in the parks?

[Bakerswife]

Hi all,

We have two adults and two children, ages 5 and 2, going to the parks November 3-10 (leaving on the 11th). We want to get park hopper passes and will be staying onsite - either WL or POR. Anyway, how many days in the parks would you choose? I was thinking that we could get a 7 day pass and take it easy going to all 4 parks part days, coming back and taking naps, etc. Is this what you would do? This would give us one full day at the resort and would give us the option of going to a park in the evening on the day we get there since we will probably get there at around noon. Thoughts?

BW

 

[marriedmarylander]

I'm not expert and ask many for advise myself... but many people wouldn't recommend going to all 4 parks each day especially with a 2 year old.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

I agree that trying to do four parks in a single day is difficult for anyone, child or adult. You will spend more time travelling than it is worth. Settle on one park for the morning. Take an afternoon break at your hotel....you WILL need a break. If you have not been to WDW before you will be surprised at how much walking there is. WDW is HUGE and unless you have been there before the amount of walking cannot be explained easily. After your afternoon break/lunch head over to another park for the evening.
Keep reading these boards for great advice.

 

[Bakerswife]

What I was trying to say was that we would take part days in the parks not all 4 in one day!!

 

[imfortune8]

We have taken our kids several times and they are the exact age of your kids. I don't really like the "go back to the hotel for an afternoon nap" thing. Mostly because if you are going in slow season, the parks close early and I feel like I wasted a lot of time going back and forth to the room. Being on the monorail, or at WL would be the only way I would do it. All that leaving the parks, getting the bus walking to the hotel room, etc, sounds like way too much hassle. Plus, convincing kids to nap when they know they could be seeing Mickey is nuts! So, what we do is choose one park every other day. We schedule a sit down lunch on park days, which we plan on using for our break. We also tend to go to shows, or free play (like Tom Sawyers Island) in the afternoon. On our "down day" we are not in the park, we take advantage of the hotel amenities, take naps, and get to bed early. This has been golden for us. We love it and I would recommend it to anyone!

Good luck!

 

[lucky978]

That is exactly what I would do. Everyone will be rested as opposed to running crazy from morning to night. Plus, with the new ticket structure, it's not much more to get 7 days vs. 5. Have fun!!!

 

[F1Julie]

I agree with the last poster. I'd do a park every other day. That's what DD4 and I do. We did a park everyday for 3 days on our first trip and she was just exhausted by the end. I'd still do the hopper option though and spend maybe a morning at AK and then an afternoon/evening at Epcot or MGM. I like to switch parks halfway through the day. I'd also skip the afternoon nap break. My DD was never much of a napper anyway and there's no way she would ever have taken one at the resort when she knew she could have been at the park. If she got tired enough, she'd nap in her stroller. On your non-park days, you can swim, go to DTD, and eat at fun resort restaurants. There's plenty to do outside of the parkds. To get the most bang for your buck, I'd still buy 7 day hopper, but add the no expiration option. That way it will last you for 2 trips.

 

[Got Quattro?]

here is our rutine for a 6night 7 day trip

day 1 arrive...see hotel pool ...eat dinner
day 2....mk all day...break in mid day
day 3....mgm morning....epcot pm
day 4....stay at resort pool, and resort hop
day 5 ....ak in the morning......MK at pm
day 6......mk and ??
day 7...dtd and go home