How many days per park?

[tlcdoula]

Our first trip is in the works, we will be staying at POP August 29th - September 8. We will have 9 full days at the parks and am not sure how many days we need for each?

I am hoping to go with out getting park hoppers, so I am waiting patiently for the hours to come out.....

If we decide not to go with the hoppers I am thinking we should make sure we plan to spend the day at the parks with the longest hours..

So much to plan and not a clue where to start..

tlc

 

[wilde_oscar]

Hit the book store and start reading the guide books to WDW, take notes. Make a list of "must do" attractions and "would like to do" attractions. Sept. is lower crowds. A day in each park for rides and a day in each park for shows helps to balance things out.

 

[DaveStroem]

With 9 days, you do not have to kill yourself by hitting the park with the longest hours. It is nice some nights to have a nice relaxing dinner outside of the park or to just cruise at the pool.

I would much rather hit rope drops in the morning then to stay up late at night. While I enjoy the parks at night too, I just don't think you could survive on 9 nights going as late as possible.

 

[stacy2197]

We have 10 days and I think we are doing 3 days each MK, Epcot, and Ds and one day AK. The AK day we will be there rope drop till the end of EEMHs. With 9 days I think we would drop one of the Ds days. We would probably do that anyways but We're going during star wars weekends so that will eat up alot of time.

 

[mdoc]

I doubt that you'll end up wanting to spend 9 full days in the parks. That would be exhausting. We usually go for 7 days and end up taking 1.5 or 2 days to stay at the resort, go to Downtown Disney or be someplace other than in a theme park. Do you want to go to all of the parks (including water parks) or just the 4 theme parks? I also don't think you'll need park hoppers. In any event, you can wait until you actually want to hop to add the park hopper feature; you don't have to purchase it when you buy the ticket.

One day at AK would be plenty for me. I can do everything I want to do at AK (including all the shows and riding EE multiple times) in a single day. I'd probably want 2 days at DHS. Because of the shows there and the conflicting show times, it's difficult to get everything into one day, especially if you want multiple rides on the biggies. With 3 big FP-enabled attractions (TSM, RnR and ToT), I'd also like to have 2 rope drops here. I'd like to have 2 days at Epcot, one a rope drop day and the other a leisurely later start day in the World Showcase. MK is my favorite park, so I'd want 2 days there as well. That's 7 days, leaving 2 days for either water parks, resort pool, DTD or short days at the park you liked best. Don't underestimate how tiring it can be if you spend full days in the parks, especially in the heat of August/September. Mid-day breaks are your friend.

 

[g-dad66]

If it were me, I would plan 1 day at each of the 4 theme parks, 1 day at each of the 2 water parks, 1 day at Disney Quest (and the rest of DTD), and the last 2 days to return to the park which had the most that we missed the first time around and/or the most that we wanted to do again.

And I'd sprinkle the water parks and DQ in between each of the 4 theme park days to catch our breath and give our feet a rest. Of course, that would require the additional expense of the Water Parks & more option.

 

[tlcdoula]

Thanks everyone.... I do have one book that I am highlighting right now.. the unofficial guide....

Im happy to hear the park hoppers can prob be done without... and we can add the water park passes instead....

I just remember when we went to Disneyland for 5 days that it was none stop.... I think your all right to take a break... With the heat we will prob end up coming back to the hotel for a swim and break in the day..

My ds 14 and dd 12 are hard to get up in the mornings, so that is why i was planning on staying at the parks late... but once we are there they might be so excied that they will jump up in the mornings...

ok off to read some more of the book...

thnaks again
tlc

 

[puffkins]

I would absolutely build in some off time into your schedule. When we go for 7 days, we plan for 2 days to be completely non-park days so that we can relax at the resort, drive to a nearby coastal beach, dine, shop, etc.

If you try to go to the parks multiple days straight, you and your family will hit a wall on around day three and your enjoyment factor will be diminished.

I would also recommend breaking up each day into park and non-park segments. Go in the morning for several hours, leave to recharge and then go back in the evening. This works especially well with park hopper passes.

Enjoy your Disney experience. You will have an awesome time.

 

[siestakey]

You're lucky enough to be going for 9 days, so NO NO NO to park hoppers. Explore each park without feeling rushed, go back to your hotel for a rest, and then back to your park of the day for more exploring. I think the biggest mistake that visitors make is to try to cram too much into their stay and are so focused on seeing everything, they don't see the important things. You don't have to ride every ride, and see every show. That's the magic of Disney, you will still have a fabulous time. You can always come back someday, but you cannot redo your currant vacation. Why spend it rushing around like a crazy person, and getting in a stressed out mood, when it's unnecessary. The final goal is for every one to remember the great time they had, not the time mom or dad had a meltdown in Fantasy Land. Have a wonderful time.

 

[puffkins]

You're lucky enough to be going for 9 days, so NO NO NO to park hoppers. Explore each park without feeling rushed, go back to your hotel for a rest, and then back to your park of the day for more exploring. I think the biggest mistake that visitors make is to try to cram too much into their stay and are so focused on seeing everything, they don't see the important things. You don't have to ride every ride, and see every show. That's the magic of Disney, you will still have a fabulous time. You can always come back someday, but you cannot redo your currant vacation. Why spend it rushing around like a crazy person, and getting in a stressed out mood, when it's unnecessary. The final goal is for every one to remember the great time they had, not the time mom or dad had a meltdown in Fantasy Land. Have a wonderful time.

While I disagree about the park hoppers, I say a big "Amen" to everything else in this post. Disney is like fine wine. Enjoy it slowly and drink it in sips.

 

[tlcdoula]

You're lucky enough to be going for 9 days, so NO NO NO to park hoppers. Explore each park without feeling rushed, go back to your hotel for a rest, and then back to your park of the day for more exploring. I think the biggest mistake that visitors make is to try to cram too much into their stay and are so focused on seeing everything, they don't see the important things. You don't have to ride every ride, and see every show. That's the magic of Disney, you will still have a fabulous time. You can always come back someday, but you cannot redo your currant vacation. Why spend it rushing around like a crazy person, and getting in a stressed out mood, when it's unnecessary. The final goal is for every one to remember the great time they had, not the time mom or dad had a meltdown in Fantasy Land. Have a wonderful time.

I am actually relived to read this post... LOL...

When we did disneyland I didn't really have any plans for the parks when we got there (which isnt really like me I am a planning fanatic and it stresses me out LOL, but it is so much smaller.... What I did was grabbed a map when we went into each park including universal and circled each thing as we did it... I let the kids look them over and chose when they wanted to do and made sure we did it and just enjoyed the rest of the time...

but with having to make the dining reservations and what park to do what day... we will prob never make it back to disneyworld as it is such a long trip for us so I just want to make it perfect...

I do plan on heading back to the hotel in the mid of the day to relax or go have lunch inside with ac somewhere... ahhhhhh help me

 

[neonurse]

2 days MK
2 days EP
1 day DHS
1 day AK

The first year we went we got park hoppers and didn't use them. Now we go without!
Read, read, read, and plan, plan, plan!!
Have a great trip.

 

[OB1]

Your biggest concern is not the parks, but where you will be dining. This is during Free dining (and you may have that also). I would suggest getting any dining ressies (ADRs) that you want, then plan your parks around your dining.

9 days - WOW - very jealous.

 

[mill4023]

Not necessarily in this order (although I like to start and finish with MK), but maybe something like this:

Day 1 - MK
Day 2 - AK
Day 3 - Epcot
Day 4 - rest/water park/DTD/resort pool/whatever
Day 5 - DHS
Day 6 - Epcot
Day 7 - rest/water park/DTD/resort pool/whatever
Day 8 - DHS
Day 9 - MK

Of course, we prefer to spend full days in the parks and take rest days rather than spend every day in the park and afternoon breaks.

If you've got the time,
MK is definitely worth 2 or 3 days.
Epcot could use 2 days.
DHS can be done in 1, but if you want to see all the shows and do all the attractions, 2 days makes it easier.
AK can be done in 1 day.

 

[MelanieC]

I say 2 at each and one day to repeat. Heck 5 days at MK and Epcot isn't enough in my opinion, lol.

 

[andrews_dad]

IMO .. should have done 7 in WDW and 2 at SeaWorld (2nd day free at SeaWorld).

In 9 days of all Diz .. I'd say 2 each plus the extra 3rd at either MK or Epcot.

 

[teach22180]

I'm spending 6 full and 2 travel days there in June. My plan is for most days to be half of one park and half of another. Right now I have 3 half-day visits to each park, plus the last day to go wherever I want to go. (And one day with a sleep in morning and EMH evening at AK, in case you did the math and noticed I was a half day short.) It depends on the park. I like nights at MK, rope drops at HS, and am really looking forward to that late night at AK. I know that doesn't help a lot, but what I'm trying to say is to think about each park differently and what you will be trying to accomplish there. Have fun! The planning is a big part of the fun!!

 

[mdinme]

I always disagree with the "go back to room for rest idea." We take our time in the morning instead, no alarm clock on vacation, get into the park before noon and close it.

Have to do 15 hours at Epcot (see illuminations twice so you close the place twice, rides are open until 8) and MK for sure, 8 at AK should do it but people that love it may do two full days. DHS is a tough one at least 12 I'd say.

That's only five days. Add day 6 for stuff "we have to do again" (e.g Sorin, M. Space, Test Track, Bass Ale in England lol) and you can still hit Sea World...

No need to hop of course.

Enjoy

 

[srwarden1928]

We will have eight park days, including arrival and departure days. We are going to each park two days. We could do only one day at AK, but we love that park. Each of the others will have some attractions that we will do for the first time (for this trip) on the second day at the park. If I had one more day, the park with the third day would likely be Epcot. That one seems to be the busiest for us.

 

[vcgirl925]

With 9 days to tour you can relax!!!


I think you should to 2 days for MK, 1 day for AK, 2 days for Epcot (1 for WS and 1 for FW), and 1 day for HS.

Honestly i'd do half days at the park and 1/2 days at the hotel/pool and then maybe someplace else at night, like dinner at a resort, or to a park just for the parade and fireworks. 9 days is plenty of time to just relax about touring.