Our first short trip! Insight/realistic expectations welcome!

[Regan1103]

Hi all! My husband and I are sneaking off to Disney for an us only trip end of April. It will be our last trip before our little guy actually comprehends we are going without him and before we add on to the family. We go to Disney every other year for about 6 days. We had planned on the normal length trip but I got a new job (yay!) and so our trip got cut short. We will have three full days and one half day. Or if we get plane tickets we will have an evening, three full days and one slightly more than half day.

Those of you that have done short trips, do you feel rushed? How do you mentally prepare only having a day in each park instead of multiple days? We are park hoppers but I feel like we may end up hopping less than I am anticipating? (we are typically the two/three parks in a day type)

My plan for right now is if we don't get plane tickets and drive all night like we normally do we will hit AK on day one and then head to disney springs when it closes. If we fly in we will open AK and go to trader sam's then to MK to close it out.
Day 2: open HS hit TSMM, RR and DH will probably do TT, we will grab one of the super duper healthy double shot (the alcoholic kind, because baby free! haha) coffee drinks that are back where you use to wait in line for the frozen sing along (if that place is still there) and then walk/boat over to Epcot and start the around the world festivities. I am looking forward to color world! I think epcot closes at 9 so we will head back to the hotel.
day 3: probably open MK then head to AK for a few hours then back to Epcot or DS
Day 4: half day either DS or spending the morning at AK (we love AK, if that's not evident) or Epcot. and hit the road by 2 or 3.

We aren't big on fireworks or parades so if we catch them awesome, if not, no loss to us. We don't really do shows any more. We like riding rides and walking around, so even when we hit three parks in a day our schedule never feels crazy. I'm so excited but a little nervous about the trip feeling too short!

 

[tlmadden73]

I've had several short trips lately and enjoyed our time just fine.
First trip was when my son was 2 .. second trip was when my son turned 3.

Both trips were 4 nights, 3 days, but only 2 park days. (with hoppers).
It was a different trip than the one you are planning since it was a trip with a toddler in mind. We didn't care what we did or didn't do and didn't feel rushed (hard to feel rushed when you are worried about a toddler).
I know I WILL be back, I don't stress about what I am missing.

Just dont' try and cram it all in and don't try and worry about what you are NOT doing. Focus on what you've done.

Personally I think you are trying to hop too much. I don't see the point besides using them on the AK or DHS days (since those parks can be done in 3/4 of a day. There is significant time 'wasted' hopping between parks.

I'd suggest:
Pick a few unique experiences (like a special dining place or show) to do that you couldn't do with kids.
Prioritize things that are new since your last time.
Make sure you hit all the rides you won't be hitting in a while with small kids (coasters, scary rides, etc.).

Also . .depending on the opening of Frozen Ride, New Soaring and AK Rivers of Light, you may have to adjust plans to fit those in.

 

[Regan1103]

Good ideas! At this point I'm still planning with the not wanting to miss anything mentality so that was helpful!

If any of those new attractions are open the new Rivers of Light will be the only one we see. The attractions I definitely want to do are test track, color world at Epcot and maybe mission mars since I missed all of those on our last trip. Obviously we will have to hit the classics at MK (which we can easily do at opening at MK, i imagine if i can easily squeeze 10 rides in two hours at MK during xmas it shouldn't be a problem in late april haha). Other than that we love walking around AK (and playing the carnival games at DinoLand ) and epcot. Our only dining musts are Yak and Yeti, getting DH a cinnamon roll from Norway, and trader sam's.

We are hoping a lot on day two, but after taking our son to MK i'm not sure if it will be as fun and magical without him but I still want to see the opening show and walk down mainstreet before it gets too too crazy haha.

 

[BaltimoreLauren]

I've only ever done short trips, 1-4 days at the most. I've never done park hopping so I don't feel like I'm missing out, and I never really feel rushed either. My flights are always super early when I arrive, and super late when I leave, which makes me feel like I have enough time. My only suggestions is to get FP's to anything you absolutely want to do.

 

[Nancyg56]

With a short trip I really change my mindset. We never are those " get it all done folks" anyway, but there is a huge difference between 5 days and 9.

I make a priority list of what we want to experience. We toss the hoppers. We add dining priorities even more, for instance, we book Narcoossees so we see evening Wishes, candlelight package when we want that show do dinner is a little extra special.

I look at entertainment and plan how we tour so we get the shows we want, and figure out what we can skip.

We also do not tend to use the resort as much. Honestly I find short trips can be very relaxing because we deliberately reduce our expectations and increase the experiences that are not attraction driven.

 

[alliecat523]

I've actually done 5 short trips over the last year (for various reasons). I try to fly in early and fly out late to maximize the time. You won't get to everything, so decide what is most important and go with that. If you're kid free, there are a lot of things you can skip. I would focus on more adult things that maybe wouldn't fly with a kid around. World Showcase in Epcot, for example, or the thrill rides. My only other word of advice is to not try to cram too much in. You'll spend the whole time running around and not enjoying your time there.

 

[loves to dive]

I've done a number of short trips, most of my trips aren't longer than 4 or 5 nights but we drive down so I have a half day on both sides. I'd lose DS and trade it for a nice dinner in one of the resorts that you might not get to do with little ones. I do have PHs and can't imagine spending all day in one park so I get that you are hopping around. You will be there during Flower and Garden at Epcot so you might be surprised how much time you spend at WS sampling booths and strolling around. I spend every night at Epcot during both F&G and F&W, I usually start off at another park. I don't concentrate so much on rides on a short trip, it's more about enjoying the stuff I don't take the time to see normally, I do a lot of sitting on benches and walking slowing and looking around at the details.

 

[msmama]

If I do short trips I cut out parks and usually don't hop (or at least don't hop via busses, may do boat between Epcot and HS or monorail between MK and Epcot).

I feel like the good thing about Disney is that I always know I'll be going back so I don't have to do everything!!

 

[Bluegrrl]

Like others have said, do more adult things, things that you don't always do or can't do with a toddler. Realize that you will not get it "all" done, and that doing rides isn't the end all, be all of the parks. Maybe try activities that you normally wouldn't do, like a nice eatery, out of park things like boat rides or golfing (golf courses are fabulous there). Or take the Keys to Kingdom tour (can't do that with toddlers). The rides are great, but there is so much else that you can do at the parks. I would also recommend a car, although it sounds like you will drive there anyway, to facilitate transport between the parks.

 

[Regan1103]

Thanks all!! Everything you all have said is lining up with what my logical side is anticipating. I don't see us not hopping though, especially since we only have three full days and its only an additional $85 via UT, worth it to me. I've started looking at nicer dining reservations but fine dining is lost on me I get too caught up in price and can't help but thinking how else that money could be spent haha. I did snag a reservation at CG at 930pm on our AK day

We will more than likely end up driving, if we fly we probably wont go to DS (main reason for trying to squeeze this in is to show DH he hasn't seen any of the expansion or new stuff). I'm making a must do list of rides, attractions, and restaurants and then will go from there

The only thing I'm curious about is whether or not to try and fit in Fantasmic! (its happening every night of our trip) and Indy or not. HS is our least favorite park until we get in, if that makes sense. So I'm torn. Do we make our first day AK only and spend the evening at DS, or go to trader sam's, or do CG or make FP+ for the evening at HS.

On top of this being our first short trip, this is the first time we have encountered the non holiday hours! So parks closing at 8 and 9 is really what is throwing my planning for a loop!