Need strategy opinions, please!

[Local_Girl]

We are planning on taking my MIL to WDW for her 1st trip (1st time to Florida too!). I need some opinions from those of you with experience taking a senior...well, a young senior, but she has some health issues. She's quite mobile, and gets around just fine under normal circumstances...but I'm kind of concerned about her overdoing it at WDW. We are going in early April, when it should be warm, but not as hot and humid as during the summer months. We are planning to be there for 9 full days.

My question: would it be better to do a park every day, but for a shorter period of time each day, or 2 full park days, a day off, 2 more park days, etc? We are planning to stay off site but should be close enough that we could cut out for a couple of hours in the afternoons to rest if necessary. We have older kids and have toured both ways and done well.

Thanks in advance for any experience/opinion you have!

 

[goofy4tink]

I would think that part time days would work best. If you get there first thing in the morning, tour and then have lunch someplace and then take a break your mil would stay refreshed and not get over tired. If you would rather not leave the parks then plan a nice sit-down meal at lunchtime and linger over that and then change parks afterward. Then make it an early evening.

 

[Local_Girl]

Thanks goofy4tink, I like the relaxing lunch idea. And we also like to park hop in the late afternoon/early evening for a change of pace. Perhaps we need to just do a couple of days and see how she does...but the way we plan to tour will affect the type of passes we get, so we'll need to make some decisions before we go.

Any other thoughts?

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I am sure I'm a little younger than your MIL, 36, but I also have health problems, so my experience may help. Since my health has declined, I always have to take a break in the middle of the day. I actually go back and lay down for awhile, while my DH entertains my DS. We normally go to MK, MGM, or AK during the day, eat lunch, then come back to the RV for a rest. I get up refreshed and ready to go again. We then usually go to Epcot, and have dinner there. Of course, you could change your schedule around whatever works best for us. We usually choose Epcot, because it's open latest. Some nights we don't go back to the parks at all. We eat dinner at a resort then do optional nighttime entertainment. Without the rest, I'm done for the day before dinner. We used to always have a long relaxing midday lunch, then keep going, but that no longer works for me. We always like to have a few non-park days to do other things, but that really doesn't help me on subsequent days. Of course, I don't know what your MIL's physical health is. Only she knows what she's able to handle. Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helped a little.

 

[jaysmom4285]

If your MIL is willing, don't hesitate to rent her a wheelchair. This will conserve her energy and make the experience much more enjoyable. Any attractions she wants to experience will be still accessible to her since she is able to get out of the wheelchair by herself to get on. Tramping around WDW all day is very taxing for much younger people, and older people tire so much faster, especially if the weather is very warm. We took my mother twice, when she was 68 and 72, and got her a wheelchair both times. She didn't even have any particular health problems, but she was able to keep with us all the time and didn't have to be concerned about holding us back or making us change plans on her account, and she was the only one among us not worn out at day's end!

 

[buzz2400]

I would definitey get to the park as soon as it opens. I would also not go to a park on the early entry day. Make sure you have the schedule so that you can plan around it. It is a lot of walking and it might be better to rent a wheelchair. You might even want to rent the wheelchair were you live and bring it. It will be a lot cheaper. We just rented a wheelchair for my mother and it only cost $40 a month. I am sure it is about $10 a day or even more in WDW. Also hit the big rides first thing in the morning. The lines get very long and sometimes the fastpasses run out.