Plans changed after readiing this board

[57gibby]

After reading this board, we made a change to our March plans. We planned to spend 3 days in the parks, now we are changing to 2 days. Every person we talk to told us to spend an entire day exploring Fort Wilderness. We arrive on Tuesday, headed to Downtown Disney for Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. Park on Wednesday. Fort Wilderness all day Thursday, another park on Friday. Rented a golf cart to fully explore the camp. Did we make the right decision?

 

[Toddupton]

I guess I should ask how many times you have been to Disney before. If it is your first time 2 days is going to make you way to depressed since you really won't be able to do that much.

 

[North of Mouse]

After reading this board, we made a change to our March plans. We planned to spend 3 days in the parks, now we are changing to 2 days. Every person we talk to told us to spend an entire day exploring Fort Wilderness. We arrive on Tuesday, headed to Downtown Disney for Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. Park on Wednesday. Fort Wilderness all day Thursday, another park on Friday. Rented a golf cart to fully explore the camp. Did we make the right decision?

Depends on who you ask, LOL. We love the Fort, have been camping there since they opened, but we have never spent a complete day there - not enough to interest us, but then we are in the minority. We usually have AP's and it's the parks that are our main interests. We would never stay at the Fort for a whole day if we only had two other days for the parks, but it's definitely to each their own - only you can make that decision!

 

[57gibby]

We have been to Disney many times, but this is the first one for our 2 youngest. They are 6 and 5 years old. With the little ones, we thought a day spent at the camp would make the Park days less fussy.

 

[tina.tina]

I think you need to ask yourself some questions.

Do you plan to spend all day in a park?
How tired do your kids get? How early do they go to bed? Will they really take naps?
What is your real priority- the parks or FW? What do you hope to see/do at FW? How long will that take?
What are your kids' priorities? Do they like exploring nature? Swimming? Would they rather be in the parks?

You could still go to MK on your explore FW day for a little while in the evening using FP+ to conveniently get a few rides in. Then, make it an early night to be fresh in the morning.

 

[MattFromPA]

Two days isn't very long in the parks. How old are your kids? Ours are 5 and 3, and as much as I'd like to stick around FW for a day, they won't have it. Now we will spend a morning at MK and then go back to the Fort pool for the afternoon. But our trips have been from 7-9 days. There isn't enough for our kids to do at the Fort for a full day, but for older kids I can see renting bikes and canoes eating up a good chunk of a day.

 

[ruthies12]

Hmmmm, honestly I wouldn't do it in your case. I am planning on spending an entire day at the fort on our next trip BUT our trip is 9 days long not including our 2 days of driving. And even on our fort day we will be leaving to go to chef mickeys for brunch so it really won't be an entire day at the fort.

Only reason I'm doing a fort day is because we have a long 14 hour drive coming down and I want the next morning to finish setting up and settling in without rushing off to a park. After that fort day we are doing 6 days of Disney parks and 2 at universal. I figure one of our universal days will be a half day and two or three of our Disney days will be half days as well, then we will spend some downtime at the fort pool or in our camper relaxing. My kids will be 6 and 2 on the trip.

If I were in your shoes, especially with a first visit for the youngest 2, I would do park tickets for each day with the fastpasses scheduled and then leave the park early and spend some time at the fort if my kids got too tired. that's my 2 cents!

 

[Teamubr]

All good comments so far.

We come to WDW for the parks. Our park days are typically GO GO GO. We don't do rope drop, but are in the parks by 10. If I only had 3 days, I would only do parks. We try to do 9 or 10 days though and we need a day or 2 to slow down and relax. These are our Fort days.

It looks like park tickets are still pricey to go from 2 to 3 days. $90 each. That might be a motivator for me too.

You know your kids. If they have been to the parks before, the Fort will be something new. If they don't remember the parks, I would think the extra day in the parks would be worth it.

j

 

[John VN]

A couple of oldies here, both in age and years at FW, never spent a whole day at FW when kids were or grandkids are with us.

Parks the places for action and entertainment for our brood.

 

[7KLucky]

I would want more time in the parks personally. I don't see how you can get all of the fun Disney stuff in. I went with teenagers for two days and we were running around like crazy people trying to fit in everything we could. We missed out on so much of the "wow."
Of course the park tickets are one of the most expensive parts so if trying to save money is a goal, I have read FW is worth the fun of just staying there.

I'm just saying it takes us so long to save for our Disney vacation, I don't want to miss a moment of Disney.

 

[4077]

I guess it really does depend on the individual tastes (okay no surprise there) as well as length of stay and whether you been before, etc. This is the first time that I have seen a thread where more of the posts are saying "I would go for more parks" (in general) than the other way around. I suppose, however, that for a short stay that is more likely that you would hit the parks a lot (unless you are there ALL the time) along with kids first time. I dunno, I guess the nice thing is you could always change on the fly (well, depending on your ticket purchase...lol)

OK, fine, there is no perfect way...lol

 

[kcp1377]

I agree that 3 days at the parks sounds better. Less is usually more for us when we go, but we've found that 4 park days is perfect for us (2 days at MK, 1 at Epcot and 1 at AK - we skip HS). But if we only had 3 days we'd do tickets each day and like others have suggested, you'll end up going back to enjoy the fort in the afternoons as the little ones get tired. For us we plan on staying at the park for 4 hours, then go back to the fort for a while and end the night at a park (usually a different once since we park hop). We have plenty of time during those days to explore.

 

[Southern Bell]

Everyone is different and has different Ideas. I enjoy Fort Wilderness, but...For most of our family we are only at the Fort to see the theme parks. I say most because one trip my father in law spent most of the week at the Fort. He said that's what he wanted to do. Now my son in law likes to fish, OF ALL THINGS! lol! I think you could do that when you get back home! LOL! But... For that short of time I would not personally spend all day at the camper. We would at least go in for the morning or evening hours if not both and rest in the middle, Maybe! LOL! After I spend that much money on tickets we want to see what we can. LOL! But I know with children it is a slower pace and you need to let them rest, take naps, have some down time, too. You can always change your mind. After you arrive , and go to the parks, you can decide what is best for your family or you want to do, either way!

 

[Gillian]

I think that would be fun. We would also probably take the boat around to other resorts or ride the monorail and check things out.
If you plan to go again, there's no need to try to stuff everything in on one trip, although I do agree that 3 half days would work well too.

 

[northwindiana]

We *always* spend at least a couple full days the Fort. If you ain't happy there, you ain't happy anywhere. Lots to do, or just relax. We love it. And with AP's, we don't feel the pressure to be at a park from gate drop to closing. We would actually stay at the Fort and never visit a park if we didn't have AP's.