More questions from a Newbie

[diarmuid]

Hi,

OK, so I have been to Disneyland...and when booking this trip I thought it would be sort of like disneyland but bigger. After reading these boards I realize its way way way bigger.

We are not early risers (some people call us lazy, I prefer to think of us as descendents of the sloths) I am a little worried that unless we are up at 6:00am every morning we will not be able to fit in

WL to Park

Park to WL

WL to a different Park

If I believe everything I have read it looks as though if you would like to do 2 parks a day with a stop back at your hotel (WL) in between that means you could be on transit for a better part of 2 hours.


My question is two fold...

Do you have to get up really early to fit in a 2 park day?

Are you so happy to be in Disneyworld that you don't notice you are on a bus for 2 hours a day?

4 more sleeps...

 

[elwise1966]

You didn't say how long you were going for, but for the most part, you can't really do 2 parks in a day. If you try, you will miss a lot.
You can plan on 1 day for Animal Kingdom and 1 day for Disney MGM, but for the Magic Kingdom and Epcot you will need at least a couple of days each.
You can use EMH (Extra Magic Hours) to help extend park time, but since you're not early risers you'll miss the morning ones.
I would not plan on visiting more than 1 park per day unless you finish AK or Disney MGM early and have time to visit another park. You end up wasting too much time on the bus. You can be on the bus travelling between parks for anywhere between 15 to 45 minutes or so and that doesn't include the wait for the bus to arrive.

Have fun and don't worry if you miss a few things.....trust me, you'll be back!

 

[Debi]

There are also evening Extra Magical Hours that you could take advantage of. At this time of year, parks are open until around 9PM (Animal Kingdom is earlier). If you plan on entering a park around noon and tour until park closing, you should do well. Make sure to take advantage of Fastpass, as parks do tend to get more crowded around lunch time.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[The Sweetness]

If you and yours like to sleep in a bit, but can stay up late, I would go with the EMH evening hours (3 hours past closing). I would still try really hard to get to a park for the first part of the day by 11 at the latest, then go to the other park at 5 or 6 maybe?

 

[brightspark]

Hi there,
Travelling back to you hotel and onto another park does take quite a bit of time... how long it feels to you will partly depend on your travel companions, the temperature, how many people are on the bus and whether you've had to wait a long time for the bus.

Personally i wouldn't try and fit in too many parks in one day. Try and do everything that you want to do in a park in one go, maybe doing a second park in an evening if you want a change.

If you are only there for one week then you need to prioritise what you want to do, in order not to miss out on the things you really want to do / see.

Make the most you can of fast passes (there a limited numbers given out each day, so get them as early as you can) that will help you to fit things in too.

Hope you have a truly magical time
Love and Mickey Ears

 

[f7prez]

As others have said, there are a lot of variables. What time of year are you going? How long is your vacation? Which resort are you staying at, and how old is the youngest in your party? during the winter months the parks close earlier. If you are late risers because you stay up later at night, take advantage of evening EMH. We usually have no desire to go back to the resort for an afternoon break. However when our kids were young and needed some down time to rest, we would take time in the afternoon to enjoy a nice table service lunch such as Cinderellas Royal Table or Rainforest Cafe. The kids would get to rest and refuel, and we would save money by having a big meal at lunch rather than dinner. In the summer months when the parks are open later, the temperatures and humidity level are both real high, it makes sense to retreat to the resort for a swim. Your resort choice will also play a big role in transit times. Epcot resorts (YC, BC, BW, Swan & Dolphin) are very close to, of course Epcot, but also MGM. Making it quick and easy to return to your resort from either park. Magic Kingdom is a quick monorail ride from GF, Poly or CR. While WL is a short boat ride from MK. When you start relying on the Disney bus system, that is when time really starts to add up. If some down time in the afternoon is what you want to do, do it. The best advice I can give is to take your time, don't rush it. There is way too much to see in one vacation unless you are there for ten days or more. You will probably be back. See the things you really want to see first. Make great use of fastpass. Take one day off from running around the theme parks to enjoy a Disney waterpark, if the weather allows it. That is a fun and relaxing day spent at Disney. We prefer Blizzard Beach, when it is not closed for refurbishing.

 

[perdidochas]

Hi,

OK, so I have been to Disneyland...and when booking this trip I thought it would be sort of like disneyland but bigger. After reading these boards I realize its way way way bigger.

We are not early risers (some people call us lazy, I prefer to think of us as descendents of the sloths) I am a little worried that unless we are up at 6:00am every morning we will not be able to fit in

WL to Park

Park to WL

WL to a different Park

If I believe everything I have read it looks as though if you would like to do 2 parks a day with a stop back at your hotel (WL) in between that means you could be on transit for a better part of 2 hours.


My question is two fold...

Do you have to get up really early to fit in a 2 park day?

Are you so happy to be in Disneyworld that you don't notice you are on a bus for 2 hours a day?

4 more sleeps...

There are only so many hours in a day. Personally, I would try to minimize the bus rides. They take time.

 

[hniki234]

You can do two parks in a day. You just can do two entire parks in one day! We never take breaks at the hotel, though. And you're not on a bus for 2 hours. Most of that is time waiting at a bus stop. If you're going for several days, don't worry about it too much. You'll have time to fit everything in. If you're only going for a few days, just remember there's always next time!

 

[Amyg]

Me, DH and DS-9 went on our first trip to WDW in early July. We used tips from TourGuideMike.com for our 8 day trip. I am NOT a morning person at all but I didn't mind waking at 7 a.m. We took afternoon breaks as you mentioned and went back to the park. We did two parks each day plus we were able to go to Downtown Disney on two separate evenings and one morning we were able to sleep in late and go to a park in the late afternoon after a relaxing day at our resort.

Because of the tips from TGM we were able to do all the attractions that each of us wanted and some we did 2-3 times because of no standing in long lines! We loved the touring plan suggestions and wouldn't have done it any other way because it allowed us for down time to recoup a bit from the crowd and heat.

This is how much time we spent in each park in total during our 7 1/2 day stay:

Epcot = 2 mornings and 2 evenings
MK = 1 morning and 2 evenings
MGM = 1 morning and 2 evenings
AK = 2 mornings
DTD = 2 evenings
Sleep in one day

As far as spending time on transportation, we didn't mind since it was broken up (resort to park, FUN; park to resort, REST; resort to park, MORE FUN; park to resort, SLEEP) and it allowed us time to rest and recouperate!

As stated earlier, it does depend on when you plan to be in WDW. I would recommend subscribing to TGM since it's only around $18 with the discount and it does have a money back guarantee! You do need time to do the research at the site, I did my research several month in advance of our trip.

Another suggestion for determining transportation time is http://www.ourlaughingplace.com/asp/twiz.asp You can put in points of travel and it will give you a pretty good estimate of travel time. Our waits were not bad but that may be because of the "magic" we felt being there! We did take a cab to three resort dinners for efficiency, that can be a bit pricy but we did plan for that in advance.

In any case, it's all personal choice and what you will be comfortable doing for your family. Have fun!

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

I would not try to do 2 parks in a day. To do that, you really do need to be up super early, and you're on vacation... sleep in if you want to! The buses do take up a lot of time, so unless it's absolutely necessary, just do a park a day.