How many days per park?

[DonaldTDuck]

Nine days! I'd do 2 at each, have never gotten to do 2 days at AK, plus a third at MK. We did 3 at MK in January, and spent part of one doing KTTK tour. We left parks early a couple of times, but hit rope drop most days. There are other things at WDW besides the parks. I don't care at all about the water parks, but I love minigolf and the Hoop de doo Revue. I've been to DTD once- enough for me. Best advice, make your own plan according to what your family likes and how long they can go. And, since they don't have it at DL, plan on doing Mickey's Philharmagic at least twice.

 

[wahoostampingirl]

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 think the important thing to remember is that your first trip to Disney World is magical, whether it's planned to the last minute or not. With 9 days there, you'll have plenty of time to revisit favorites and see a lot, but you still won't see everything that you want too. There's just too much to see. Our family has been 4 times and there is still a lot that we haven't seen and done.

If I had my first trip to do over again, and 9 days to do it, I would probably plan for 2 days at each park, going at rope drop and either staying until early evening or taking a break and coming back later. I'd throw in at least one break day. Until you get there, there is no way to know which park will be your family's favorite, so stay flexible. Plans are good, but going with the flow a little is good too.

 

[mill4023]

Another option to think about is doing all the parks twice(except AK maybe), but not always doing a full open to close day each time. You could plan one rope drop morning at each park and one day where you sleep in (giving you some extra rest) and stay until closing.
This way, you get the benefit of at least one day at each park with low crowds in the morning and at least one day where you get to see the evening fireworks/shows.

 

[shmedly123]

With 9 days you should have plenty of time to relax and do what you want...

However, I will say try to get there at rope drop for each of the parks once that way you can hit the major attractions without huge lines. For example, if you are hitting rope drop for Epcot 1 day try to get Test Track and Soarin done early (Mission space too if that's your thing) then relax (take your time or go back for a nap or swim) the rest of the day.

At DHS try to get Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster done on the rope drop day then relax.

At the Magic Kingdom where space mountain will be closed I would head left and do Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Pirates early especially since your kids are older so fantasyland might not appeal to them as much.

And at Animal Kingdom do Expedition Everest then Kilimanjaro Safaris early.

On the non early days you can take it easier. There are very specific touring plans you can look at which personally aren't for me. Just doing the above alone will save you at least an hour to 90 mins in each park.

 

[thorphin]

If you're like me, you like to plan the heck out of things without actually planning things. I've spent 2-3 hours a day for the past 30 days just figuring out which park/DTD/Resort we're going to for each third of the day (morn/mid/PM) and also getting ADRs set.

morn mid night
epcot 2 2 2
mk 2 3 4
dhs 2 3 1
dak 1 1 1

This is rough, but a close estimate. We also have a night segment attributed to DTD, and a couple morning segments attributed to hanging out at our resort and doing a tour at Fort Wilderness.

I haven't spent any time at all figuring out what order we're going to tour the attractions, though, because we'll have plenty of time in the parks to see what we need to see.

What I've found helpful, though, is working on a schedule, and then tweaking it in major ways a couple times. Going to WDW with 3 complete schedules that work well and give us time to see the fireworks/parades/EMHs/Rope drops we want allow us to be really flexible once there.

This way, if we decide to do something different on day 2, we have a couple other schedules that we can use to make adjustments to our plan without having to spend much energy on it once we are there. Do the research / planning /scheduling ahead of time so that you can be flexible.

Perhaps, for most, though, this might be too much?

 

[tlenzendorf]

We are going for 8 full days. This is our plan for days. Also no park hoppers or water park passes...

Saturday
Cocoa Beach
Dinner at DTD at T-Rex

Sunday
Magic Kingdom

Monday
Typhoon Lagoon

Tuesday
Hollywood Studios

Wednesday
Animal Kingdom

Thursday
Epcot

Friday
Magic Kingdom

Saturday
OPEN
Whatever park kids want to do…

 

[tlenzendorf]

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

Just an fyi from our travel agent, if you are only going to do a waterpark for 1 day only, don't do the waterpark option. It costs less to pay at the gate for your ticket for 1 day. It can always be added on when you are there, too.

 

[eeyoreforever]

Seems like I'm about the only one that doesn't take days off. We went for 21 days in 2007 and never took a day off to do nothing. Our upcoming trip, we will have 15 full days and have no days off planned. My dd's are 16 and 14 and love going full force every day. We will go to a waterpark one day (that is what we call our rest day). If I had 9 full days as the OP does, we would probably do:

MK 3 days
EP 3 days
DHS 2 days
AK 1 day

If you wanted to throw in a water park, I would take off one day of Epcot or MK.

Like I said, we go full force when we are at Disney - I can rest or swim at home. When I'm at Disney, I want to do things that I can't do at home.

Have fun on your trip!!

 

[cesariofamily]

I was in Disney from Aug 29-Sept 7 in 2009. We had very light crowds and great weather. I woul recommend like everyone else that you try not to go from morning till night. I would spend some afternoons at your hotel pool. I personally would not add waterparks unless you are waterpark crazy people. The pace of the hotel pool is relaxing and will give you a great break plus you already paid for it so it will save you some $. Since the tickets are very cheap to add onto past day 5 it doesn't feel like a waste of money. Mornings are very important and you want to be there early when the lines are short. I would give 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 2 days at Epcot, 1 at animal kingdom and 1 at Hollywood studios. If you need longer afternoon naps perhaps take another day to revisit your favorite two parks. I would also encourage you to make your dinning reservations. I love to make reservations at the resorts because they are so lovely and you feel like you are part of the magic. I always go to Downtown Disney on our travel day before we have to catch our flight. It is a fun thing to do and you know how much space you have left to pack! Enjoy!

 

[MarinaAndCharlie]

DBF and I went for 9 days in June of 2007 and it was the first time to WDW for the both of us. We're college aged.

We did:

2 days for MK, EP, and HS, and one day for AK, then we had two days which were supposed to be rest days but we bought tickets anyway (because theyre only a few dollars more at that point) and would just go to the parks for a parade or to walk around world showcase. We took breaks around noon or one every day and only went back to the parks twice after our break. You seriously get so worn out, and not just physically, but after a while, you start to notice less and less magic when youre going full speed ahead. Definitely slow it down and make it worth while. We got SO much done but we were too set on rushing to get everything done on time that we were too tired to go back. We didn't even see Wishes!

Also, make your plan according to your family. Sit down and talk with your family about what they'd like to do and you may end up needing four days for MK and not doing Epcot at all, which is fine (although WS is amazing!). I had a pretty strict gameplan for our trip but after going to Epcot WS, which we allocated an afternoon for, we ended up spending a total of 3 days there, just walking around and taking pictures and eating weird food and having fun. Its not all about the rides, just enjoy Disney for what it is: an experience unlike any other.

 

[MarinaAndCharlie]

Oh also, try getting there when the park opens in the morning. If your kids argue with you about it, say you'll try it your way one day and they can sleep in the next. Thats what I did with DBF, and once he saw the wait time for rides we did the day before he about had a fit and was very eager to get there early for the rest of the trip.

 

[NuttyDisneyMom]

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.

This is exactly what we do, but we still park hop since we are night owls and like to close the parks We are there for 10 days, but only do 5 days in the parks so we have PLENTY of time to relax, swim, and enjoy the resort and DINING!!!