Just One Day at the Parks

[Tardisblue]

Has anyone vacationed at WDW and spent only one single day at the parks (other than for business travel perhaps)? I ask this because a good friend of mine and his nuclear family spent 2 nights at Pop and only one day at MK, no other parks. They are doing other things in Florida, including spending time with family. It almost seems like a waste/tease to spend only one day there.

I realize the group here may be different from the average family in their love for Disney and all of the planning that is involved. Could you do it? Would you do it?

 

[Elle23]

It is one more day than I'll get for a while!

 

[mom2rtk]

I've stopped for one day in the MK on our way to or from a beach vacation a number of times. It's a nice little dose of Disney!

 

[glassslippergirl]

There's a lot of really great things to do in Central Florida. Twice now, we've spent an entire week in Orlando; on one week, we only spent two days at WDW parks; the other week we spent no days in Disney parks, though we did go to Disney Springs.

 

[lynzi2004]

We have done something similar to this last year and now again this year. We spend 4-5 nights in Orlando but only do 2 park days. Its hard for me, but my hubby and kids don't seem to mind. We camp at Fort Wilderness so its a different vacation than most people all the way around. Our kids are (5 and 3) and they love the swimming pool and slide there. We typically do a character meal on one of our off days, spend a day at Disney Springs or other shopping in the area, and on our last visit we went to Art of Animation and got a pizza at the food court and walked around looking at all the decor/statues. In between that we did 2 long days at MK, like 16 hours worth each day. Our entire week long visit cost about $1200. This one will probably come in at around $1500 and we are doing MK and EP. We get a solid week, a good dose of Disney, and everyone leaves with a good tan and smiles so its a win-win for us! Once the kids are older, I'm sure we will do more park days but for right now, we feel we are getting a good bang for our buck!

 

[Christinecinti]

One day would be hard, but I guess it is indeed one more day than none, LOL! We used to stay for a week and go to parks 3/4 days when my DD was younger. It was back when we could buy the non-expiring tickets, and we got 3"ish" vacations (at least the park admission) out of it.... Now we tend to do parks every day since it's obviously so much cheaper to add days after the first few on the ticket.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Has anyone vacationed at WDW and spent only one single day at the parks (other than for business travel perhaps)? I ask this because a good friend of mine and his nuclear family spent 2 nights at Pop and only one day at MK, no other parks. They are doing other things in Florida, including spending time with family. It almost seems like a waste/tease to spend only one day there.

I realize the group here may be different from the average family in their love for Disney and all of the planning that is involved. Could you do it? Would you do it?

DW took the kids when they were little and went on a Florida vacation with her parents. (I had to work and couldn't get away. Somehow she chose to go, anyway. )

They had 1 day and they went to MK. This was in pre-FP days, so they showed up early and did all they could and left early evening.

(DS has a distinct recollection of riding Space and the ride vehicles having 2 seats side-by-side. I don't think they ever had them that way at WDW but maybe someone can verify this?)

So for them it was a Florida vacation with a WDW side trip, not a WDW vacation with a little Florida on the side. They had fun.

 

[mom2rtk]

(DS has a distinct recollection of riding Space and the ride vehicles having 2 seats side-by-side. I don't think they ever had them that way at WDW but maybe someone can verify this?)

Has he been to DL? Because they are side by side there.

 

[sweetmama17]

Growing up in Florida my parents only took us to Disney a handful of times. They were always day trips. I think I only hit Epcot, MGM and AK (right when it opened) once each with my parents....a few time to MK. (and honestly my memory is only of the big rides and waiting hours to ride so I think FP+ is amazing). I've only recently succumbed to the Disney vacation experience (now that I have my own kids). I still have to plan for family or friends sometimes who just want 1 day at a park and I'm pretty good at planning to get through most of there "must dos". With APs we've taken more "vacations" but when the kids are older and can go all day we will probably go back and do the 3/4 day deals that Disney has for Florida residents and then it will be more like 1 park day and some resort time.

 

[gatorlisa]

I have done it many times. But I'm originally from FL, went to college in FL, and have always had friends who live in or near Orlando. For quite a few years after I finished school, I would go down to central FL on Labor Day weekend. I would go to the UF football game on Saturday, go to Disney on Sunday, then return home on Sunday. Back then, I never stayed on site, I stayed with friends. At least a couple of times, I had the great fortune to have a good friend who worked at DTD and was happy to allow me to use one of her free passes. It was a way to get my Disney fix in a way that I could afford. These days, I do go for more than one day, but up 'til now, I don't think I've ever done more than 3 park days at a time. My next trip, in September, will be the first time I have ever done a week-long Disney trip with plans to hit the parks for at least part of every day. Think it will be strange for me, to be there for so long.

 

[angierae]

In 2013 Dd and I flew in on Friday morning for a music festival. Sunday afternoon we checked out of our hotel and into pop, went to the halloween party that night, spent Monday doing MK->DHS-MK and then hung out at downtown Disney on Tuesday before our flight.

Yes, it was worth it.

 

[scrapquitler]

Has anyone vacationed at WDW and spent only one single day at the parks (other than for business travel perhaps)? I ask this because a good friend of mine and his nuclear family spent 2 nights at Pop and only one day at MK, no other parks. They are doing other things in Florida, including spending time with family. It almost seems like a waste/tease to spend only one day there.

I realize the group here may be different from the average family in their love for Disney and all of the planning that is involved. Could you do it? Would you do it?

If the option was one day or none, I'd be thrilled with one day! My brother and his family did one day only (at MK) as part of one of their Florida vacations to visit his in-laws a few days ago. They had never been to WDW and decided to check it out -- with zero planning and having no idea about anything. THey never asked me for advice since they decided on the spur of the moment. They had fun, but later said they wish they had more time/prep/planning because they knew they missed a lot.

I think for most families, they don't know the scope of a Disney visit, and for many, it's fine to do one day. It's those crazy people like most of us here o the DIS that think it's a waste to just visit for one day.

 

[crazylady]

DW took the kids when they were little and went on a Florida vacation with her parents. (I had to work and couldn't get away. Somehow she chose to go, anyway. )

They had 1 day and they went to MK. This was in pre-FP days, so they showed up early and did all they could and left early evening.

(DS has a distinct recollection of riding Space and the ride vehicles having 2 seats side-by-side. I don't think they ever had them that way at WDW but maybe someone can verify this?)

So for them it was a Florida vacation with a WDW side trip, not a WDW vacation with a little Florida on the side. They had fun.

Florida vacation vacations with a dose of Disney are my favorite way to do Disney.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Has he been to DL? Because they are side by side there.

No he's never been to DLR, and I've asked him if maybe he's confusing it with what he's read about the DLR version of Space. He said he distinctly remembers it--but he was only 5 at the time, so I assume he's mis-remembering it.

 

[dlavender]

A 1 day open to close MK day is the way to go sometimes. Nothing like it!

 

[ohiotodds12]

So we actually just did this. Normally when we go it is for 10-15 days. I took our DD20 during spring break to see her grandparents who are snowbirds. We spent the week with them and then decided to do the nonstop flight out of Orlando at 9:45 pm on that Friday night and spend the day at one of the parks. She has not been to Disney for 3 years so she was happy with any time she could get. It was a long day (because we had a 3 hour ride to get there and wanted to be there for rope drop) but we had a GREAT day. The park was crowded but we had purchased tickets and did FP on our 30 days. Our last ride of the day was our FP for 7DMT. We planned our day well and it was an extra magic hours day so we were not the first ones in. The ONLY thing that we didn't get to do was Peter Pan in the terms of rides (and of course flying carpets/dumbo). I will say, it was extremely hard not parkhopping and knowing we could not be back the next day but any time I can spend a few hours/day in the park, is a good day!

 

[Tardisblue]

If the option was one day or none, I'd be thrilled with one day! My brother and his family did one day only (at MK) as part of one of their Florida vacations to visit his in-laws a few days ago. They had never been to WDW and decided to check it out -- with zero planning and having no idea about anything. THey never asked me for advice since they decided on the spur of the moment. They had fun, but later said they wish they had more time/prep/planning because they knew they missed a lot.

I think for most families, they don't know the scope of a Disney visit, and for many, it's fine to do one day. It's those crazy people like most of us here o the DIS that think it's a waste to just visit for one day.

That was the impression that I got - they did it with zero planning. Here's the text conversation I had with him yesterday:

Me: "How's it going?"
Him: "Just spent an hour and a half waiting in line for a 3 minute ride."
Me: "Seven Dwarfs Mine Train?"
Him: "Yep"
Me: "Yep"

We're over here with plans for dinner and FP+ for our trip in April/May and it sounds like they just showed up to the park and winged it, which is both refreshing and annoying. I get it. Not everyone vacations the same way. What works for my family doesn't work for theirs and vice versa.

 

[scrapquitler]

That was the impression that I got - they did it with zero planning. Here's the text conversation I had with him yesterday:

Me: "How's it going?"
Him: "Just spent an hour and a half waiting in line for a 3 minute ride."
Me: "Seven Dwarfs Mine Train?"
Him: "Yep"
Me: "Yep"

We're over here with plans for dinner and FP+ for our trip in April/May and it sounds like they just showed up to the park and winged it, which is both refreshing and annoying. I get it. Not everyone vacations the same way. What works for my family doesn't work for theirs and vice versa.

The same thing happened with my brother. "The lines were so ridiculously long" Me: "Did you get fast passes?" (Before FP+) him: "I'm not paying for that extra stuff" me: "Its not like at Six Flags". I wish he had called me even as he was driving into the parking lot, I could have given him a five minute super condensed prep course.

 

[ministrychick77]

Currently planning a 1 day trip to MK. We only have time to go to the park for 1 day before our cruise, so we take what we can get. Going to make full use of FP and staying open to close.

 

[uccats97]

DH and I have flown in for 2 nights/1 park day for date night a few times. It's a blast! My mom and I have also done 2 nights/1 park day for special events like the 24 hour party at MK, or Keys to the Kingdom tour. I don't mind only 1 park day a few times a year because we visit often. I can't imagine doing 1 park day for a first visit though.