Planning a 9 night/10 day trip (with hopper)...how much can we do?

[DWDan]

Piggybacking off a thread I just saw, I'm wondering what is a realistic expectation for how much one can see and do in 9 park days? Most threads I've seen say that 2-3 days at MK and 2-3 days at EP are ideal and 1 day at AK and 1 day at HS is sufficient. We will be an up early type family (hoping to do a couple different character breakfasts) then hit the park and try and do the most popular rides before the masses get there, and then do the less popular stuff for a bit, but I was thinking that it would be good to be able to go back to the resort for lunch/pool for a couple hours in the afternoon and recharge and then back to the park for dinner (with an ADR of course) and a few other attractions, parades, fireworks, etc.

So is 9 days enough time to have the full Disney experience, but not feel completely run down by day 10 or are those couple hours of downtime each day (and maybe it wouldn't be everyday) taking away from seeing things that would be worth seeing. I mean I'm sure you can do 9 days running and still not see everything, but my hope is to go back in the not too distant future. This will be my first trip to DW since I was child (20 some years ago).

 

[ELSA711]

Piggybacking off a thread I just saw, I'm wondering what is a realistic expectation for how much one can see and do in 9 park days? Most threads I've seen say that 2-3 days at MK and 2-3 days at EP are ideal and 1 day at AK and 1 day at HS is sufficient. We will be an up early type family (hoping to do a couple different character breakfasts) then hit the park and try and do the most popular rides before the masses get there, and then do the less popular stuff for a bit, but I was thinking that it would be good to be able to go back to the resort for lunch/pool for a couple hours in the afternoon and recharge and then back to the park for dinner (with an ADR of course) and a few other attractions, parades, fireworks, etc.

So is 9 days enough time to have the full Disney experience, but not feel completely run down by day 10 or are those couple hours of downtime each day (and maybe it wouldn't be everyday) taking away from seeing things that would be worth seeing. I mean I'm sure you can do 9 days running and still not see everything, but my hope is to go back in the not too distant future. This will be my first trip to DW since I was child (20 some years ago).

I think it depends when you are going. Crowds, weather, etc.
We went last October for 9 days and by day 7/8 the kids were stuck on what to do next since we accomplised everything they wanted to do. I could have spent more time in Epcot for F&W but that's not really fair to kiddos. Now we go every year or every other year too.

With a good plan you can accomplish a lot. I have schedules and back up schedules, etc.

 

[DWDan]

We'll be going in late April / early May.

 

[Lucius Best]

You can definitely see everything in 9 days, with proper planning. We just did a 9 day trip end of April. 3 days MK, 2 days Epcot, 2 half days AK, 2 half days HS. We did rope drop every day, and this was the first trip we did not park hop. On the MK and Epcot days, we stayed at the park all day, because there is so much to see and do, and we wanted to maximize our additional FP after using our first 3 before lunch. On the AK and HS days, we got there early and left around 1pm or 2pm to either hit the pool, relax, play mini-golf, visit/eat dinner at other resorts.

 

[ELSA711]

We'll be going in late April / early May.

I think you can get a lot done during that time of year. We are not a up early to the parks at RD people nor do we stay every night to close. We stay one night late at MK and EP for night shows, otherwise we are back to hotel around 9pm.
We accomplish a lot with a good plan of attack. We toured all of new fantasyland before our ADR @ BOG for 12:55 last October including 7DMT and we didn't even arrive until 9:20.

 

[Indio]

Yep, I agree - you should be able to get a LOT done in 9 park days. I would definitely take mid-day breaks on some days just to enjoy the pool at the resort and rest then go back to the parks at night. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

 

[Travis B]

I think you have the time for a very full experience, even with afternoon breaks. We took our trip a couple weeks ago, and like you, I had not been to WDW in over 20+ years. I think that planning our trip was the only thing that got me through this winter. I was so excited and eager to get everything done, and was going very guerrilla style the first couple of days. We accomplished a LOT in our first 2 1/2 days, but I began to realize that the pace was not going to be sustainable. After I had a near-meltdown trying to find a spot for Wishes (I felt like the crowd control CMs were 'yelling at me' LOL) I decided to slow our pace a little bit.

You'll read that a lot of people underestimate the size of WDW, and Im sure that's true. However I think I OVER-estimated the size, and was so concerned about fitting everything in that I maniacally rushed us around for two days in fear of missing something. When I started to relax, smell the roses, sit on benches, and slow down my urban speed-walking, my trip became a vacation and I started to really enjoy myself. As our days went on we did less and less, sleeping in more and taking time to rest. I feel like we got through everything in 5 days or so, and then got to go back and revisit things we liked during our last 3 days. With planning and smart use of FP+ we accomplished almost all the attractions, the three fireworks shows, and most of the stage shows.