How much time at each park?

[Li-sa]

I'm getting to the point of booking our ADRs, so trying to work which parks to visit each day and how much time to spend in each park.

We're there for 14 nights, so thinking of doing something like 2.5 days each at MK, AK, and Epcot, 2 days at the Studios, 4 half days between the 2 Disney waterparks and 1 day at WWHP.

Does that sound about right (or too much/not enough time at some of the parks)? That gives us a couple of half days to spend at the pool.

 

[buzz for boys]

personally we only need 1 day at AK !
But its a very personal thing. Have you allocated any rest days??

 

[Elise79]

Personally we try to have our ADRs in the evening so I plan them around fireworks/parades/shows/EMH.

In the mornings we just go where we want and just fit around the couple of breakfasts we book.

We never spend the whole day in the park - we always have some resort time in the afternoon for swim & nap.

 

[Rohais]

We don't tend to set the schedule out with so many days per park in mind, it all depends on what we want to get out of the trip

For example, we'll likely have less park days this trip as DF enjoys relaxing by the pool, we'll be eating at 18 restaurants and so enjoying the different resorts, going to MNSSHP hopefully and the Food and Wine festival. We also want to head to the Wedding Pavilion and the Boardwalk, to see Sea Breeze Point.

Saying that, however, we do have a minimum number of full days - usually 1 at DHS, 2 at MK and AK, with 3 at Epcot. We then bump that up with mornings/afternoons/EMHs

Maybe think about where you might like to see, what hours are like etc and try and build that around where you'd like to eat. For example, I won't be eating at Boma the night before a lunch at Tusker House.

So, Friday we're eating at Raglan Road, after spending our first full day at Downtown Disney. The Saturday we'll be heading for rope drop at MK, leaving approx 5:30pm as it'll be MNSSHP that night, and going over to the Wilderness Lodge for Whispering Canyon. We chose the day like that because we like our first park day to be MK and then we could enjoy an evening ADR at WCC. Part of the decision was helped by the fact that the following night its MK EMH from 9pm-12am..so we'll enjoy the MK evening there.

Good luck

 

[OrlandoMagic]

I'm getting to the point of booking our ADRs, so trying to work which parks to visit each day and how much time to spend in each park.

We're there for 14 nights, so thinking of doing something like 2.5 days each at MK, AK, and Epcot, 2 days at the Studios, 4 half days between the 2 Disney waterparks and 1 day at WWHP.

Does that sound about right (or too much/not enough time at some of the parks)? That gives us a couple of half days to spend at the pool.

You have 12.5 days packed with parks there, remember you only have 13 full days.

We normally spend less than a day at AK (Get there for about 9 and leave about 3-4). Really don't think there is enough for 2.5 days!

Both Epcot and MK at least two days each. HS maybe two days, defiantly 1 whole day.

Half days are about right for the water parks, we are normally out about 2 ish. How many days is up to you, we normally do a half day each for both parks but if my GF had her way we would probably go more!

Would say just one day for US and one day for IoA (WWHP). We normally leave these parks about 6-7 so we can get back for dinner.


So I would just do one day at AK and US then use the spare days as rest days (you will need them!!!).

Of course this is just my personal opinion! Have fun planning!

 

[Red-Snapper]

There is lots of stuff to do outside of Disney property you know



(just an idea dont shoot me)

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I think it also depends how the crowds are - also if you plan to get up and get there for when the parks open - as you can get a lot done in the first few hours.

Personally we like to do all the rides and then spend some time on other days enjoying different things - like the shows or characters or just people watching. If you go to AK for 2 days - you could park hop and spend a few hours in MK or Epcot to watch the fireworks.

 

[darthtatty]

most people tend to spend a day shopping too.
Do you have a car?
we dont so we usually go to downtown Disney.

Like others we tend to spend about a day at AK.
we can spend full days at a park but we go nice and slow and take our time.
Not sure how we'll do on our next trip as its in August.
we usually give universal 2 days, that way we can do Universal studios one day and IOA the next. we then use extra time doing stuff again

good luck, im sure youll have a great time

 

[skelfbsfb]

We generally fit our park times around late EMH as we like to spend time around our resort during the day, going shopping then go for our reservation within park then have fun without the stress of having to wait ages for the rides due to EMH.

 

[Chilly]

1.5 at AK and DHS is normally enough for me with 2 days at MK and Epcot. You can do US & IOA in 1 day if you don't want to do everything.

I normally do a whole day at the water parks as you can relax there the same as by the pool but have the option of a ride/slide whenever you want.

 

[Li-sa]

Thanks guys that's really helpful.

We won't have a car and won't be doing much shopping (honest!). We won't be going anywhere else apart from Disney and one day at Universal due to the extra cost. I know it sounds terrible, but we're not going to see the US, we're going for the whole Disney experience and we want to get as much out of it as possible, even if it takes us a week to recover afterwards!

We plan on getting up early and then doing some full days in the parks (until around 5-6 pm) and some split days, coming back to OKW for a few hours and then going back to a park for the evening.

I know the kids will love the water parks, and the big rides in the parks. We'll be avoiding most of the 'baby rides' except small world, as we love that annoying song!

So it looks like we can drop one day at AK and swap that for a rest day.

Any further tips appreciated.

 

[blodders]

I'm getting to the point of booking our ADRs, so trying to work which parks to visit each day and how much time to spend in each park.

We're there for 14 nights, so thinking of doing something like 2.5 days each at MK, AK, and Epcot, 2 days at the Studios, 4 half days between the 2 Disney waterparks and 1 day at WWHP.

Does that sound about right (or too much/not enough time at some of the parks)? That gives us a couple of half days to spend at the pool.

I would struggle to spend more than a day at AK. 2 days is more than enough at MK although I could easily spend 2-3 days at Epcot. A day at the studios would be enough I reckon. Depends when you are going as much as anything else, queues etc. I tend to plan it so I arrive at the parks at opening to get ahead of the crowds. And I usually plan 2-3 days on, one day off. The day off could include a waterpark, Downtown Disney, shopping, lazing by the pool etc. Everyone is different so I would just say read and plan as much as you can so you do what is of interest to you and skip what isn't!

 

[dixonsontour]

2 days each at AK, HS and Epcot and 3 days MK.

When I say days we don't do full days in a park.

For adr's I plan my park days using touring plans then fit the restaurants in based on the park we will be at or nearby resort.

I prefer a mix of breakfast and dinner adr's, although the dinner are the best value on ddp.

 

[torsie24]

We tour very differently to you so it's hard to tell how long we're in each park...

Last trip we were never really in a park for more than 4 hours or so. But we'd go to 2 parks most days and split it with some pool time etc.

So we probably ended up going to each park 6 or 7 times.

Worked nicely for us as you never get that "urgh" feeling I get if I know I've been somewhere 6 hours already and still gave 2 more to go until something like an ADR or show.

 

[torsie24]

Also....I could spend at least double the time in AK that I could in EPCOT.

We were 2 hours exploring the tree of life. And we had one morning just in the trails. We really really love animals though.

(Only iPhone users will see the following. But it'll make them happy!)

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[ben1993]

If you want to do Disney/Universal for 14 nights, IMO, I would do:

2 days MK, 2 days Epcot, 1.5 Days DHS, 1.5 Days DAK, 2 half days at Typhoon & Blizzard, 2 days Islands of Adventure, 1 day Universal Studios. Have a few days off in between to explore the resorts/DTD or relax by the pool.

If your'e going to be doing WWOHP then you might as well get the 14 day Universal ticket which will give you access to IOA and US, so why not explore both parks to there full potential

 

[Goofyish]

I see you are going in August, so you need to factor in the weather. It will be very hot and vergy humid with probably an afternoon thunderstorm nearly every day. This will effect the times you can go to the waterparks (not allowed in pools during thunderstorms).
Some rides also stop during thunderstorms.

You may find it too much to spend a whole day in a park without at least a short break back at your resort or by the pool during the hottest part of the day.

 

[disney_princess_85]

The Saturday we'll be heading for rope drop at MK, leaving approx 5:30pm as it'll be MNSSHP that night, and going over to the Wilderness Lodge for Whispering Canyon. We chose the day like that because we like our first park day to be MK and then we could enjoy an evening ADR at WCC. Part of the decision was helped by the fact that the following night its MK EMH from 9pm-12am..so we'll enjoy the MK evening there.

Just wondering, how do you know what the hours are or when MNSSHP is on? The hours for September haven't been released yet, nor have the dates for MNSSHP.

 

[Elise79]

Just wondering, how do you know what the hours are or when MNSSHP is on? The hours for September haven't been released yet, nor have the dates for MNSSHP.

Some sites have guessed dates for MNSSHP but the ones i have seen look wrong the parties are usually (at least since 2007) are Friday nights then Saturday's the park is open a bit later with Wishes plus parade. I would expect that to continue this year.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Some sites have guessed dates for MNSSHP but the ones i have seen look wrong the parties are usually (at least since 2007) are Friday nights then Saturday's the park is open a bit later with Wishes plus parade. I would expect that to continue this year.

Thanks.