Tips for a laid back trip

[mom2munchkins]

This trip I've decided I don't want to come home needing a vacation from the vacation. Of course my kids are going to want to go on rides BUT we've always ran from ride to ride. My kids have no idea there are parades in Disney Shocking I know!! I want to do some shows and I've seen people drawing characters. I'm not sure where the drawing is located. Suggestions for a fun and relaxing trip. Must see shows or other hidden gems. TIA

 

[mjhannaf]

This trip I've decided I don't want to come home needing a vacation from the vacation. Of course my kids are going to want to go on rides BUT we've always ran from ride to ride. My kids have no idea there are parades in Disney Shocking I know!! I want to do some shows and I've seen people drawing characters. I'm not sure where the drawing is located. Suggestions for a fun and relaxing trip. Must see shows or other hidden gems. TIA

The drawing is a lot of fun! You can find it in the The Magic of Disney Animation building at Hollywood Studios. It's called the Animation Academy. Check it out here:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/hollywood-studios/magic-of-disney-animation/

 

[Micca]

Can't help with the drawing but I have a couple of thoughts. I'd get the FP+ setup for the most important rides in each park, shooting for mid-morning times(so you don't have to get up early). Then you have lunch, hangout, do some activities until the parks start getting super busy, and you head back to your resort for pool time. This might also be time for a nap, watch a movie, have a drink/snack, etc. When batteries are charged up, you head back to a park for evening activities and dinner. Even if you can't do this every day, if you could do this on alternating days with commando touring you'd be less worn down.

 

[clarkinstlouis]

Just my opinion, but when our family slowed down and stopped treating it as an amusement park and started to enjoy the magic that is Disney, it got so much better. The rides are now secondary to us. We love the details, the shops, the steamboat, the train, the people watching, the shows, finding hidden mickeys, finding characters, etc.

People may come for the rides, but they they stay for what makes Disney so special

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I go in not stressing about making this or making that. I don't even make ADRs. I just go and follow my general plan of enjoyment. I realize that I will have to wait in line for some rides and that the parks will be busy. I think a lot of it is your expectations going in. Me I am a ride person, the only thing parades do to me is block me from walking where I want to go on occasion. But if that is your thing then make time to sit and watch one or more. I think if you go in with the mindset of having to see and do absolutely everything or the trip is a failure, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Just some thoughts from my perspective.

 

[BlueFairy]

Hi.

We did this for a short trip last summer. I am one who likes to keep pushing for more and more park time, so I sort of had to trick myself. We booked a deluxe hotel with a tempting pool in order to tempt us away from the parks. I purchased the shortest amount of park days that I could handle, knowing we could add on days once we arrived if desired (which we didn't). I planned all my TS meals outside of the parks, though I purposefully avoided making ADRs until the night before I needed them, sort of forcing us into being more spontaneous. I did have some rough game plans like a plan for a Fort Wilderness afternoon, a plan for a resort hopping day, and so on, but left all of our non-park time wide open so that we could plan when to do those things as we went. I looked into non-park add-ons like wagon rides and boat rentals.

I would love to read ideas for slowing down in the park. Maybe use your FP+ times for MSEP and FoF? I was not very successful with keeping a slower pace during our park time. I find that hard to do with kids. However, I did plan a big chunk of time midday for lunch which allowed for in-park shopping, something that always seems to eat up ride time with my kids browsing for just the right souvenir.

 

[darkwing818]

Just my opinion, but when our family slowed down and stopped treating it as an amusement park and started to enjoy the magic that is Disney, it got so much better. The rides are now secondary to us. We love the details, the shops, the steamboat, the train, the people watching, the shows, finding hidden mickeys, finding characters, etc.

People may come for the rides, but they they stay for what makes Disney so special

Totally Agree, it probably took us 15+ years to finally realize this & it's probably why we also enjoy Disney Cruises so much. Much less stress & more time to relax & really enjoy our vacations.

 

[HollieS]

To better answer this can you elaborate on what makes you feel stressed? for every person it is different.

I stress at not being "prepared". My DH at being scheduled. My mother at what other people are stressed about .

Is it just the rushing around? Is it doing too much? Is it worrying there isn't enough time for xyz?

 

[darkwing818]

To better answer this can you elaborate on what makes you feel stressed? for every person it is different.

I stress at not being "prepared". My DH at being scheduled. My mother at what other people are stressed about .

Is it just the rushing around? Is it doing too much? Is it worrying there isn't enough time for xyz?

Basically for us it's pretty much everything you noted. After a week to 10 days hitting the parks, we used to feel like the OP, we needed a vacation from our vacation. Then we started scheduling non-park days, just to catch our breath & that helped a bit. But it really wasn't until we took our first Disney cruise back in 2001 that we really felt relaxed after our vacation. We still do the parks but now we try to schedule a cruise (14 to date) to coincide with our park visits.

 

[mom2munchkins]

We always run run run! I'm not silly enough to think we'll make rope drop. BUT we are there all day and beat when we get back. This year we got hoppers and booked at OKW. My goal is to mid day break. I think if I can flow us down I can be convincing to book bounce back ( see method to my madness...lol)

 

[Groomer Gal]

Oh my! This is right up my alley right now!!

We will be staying 10 days at BWV this May.
The last few trips we have been on the go go go every single day almost. I come home and I'm exhausted ! We have fun...but we are dog tired.

This time around we are going about it all differently....more relaxed. We have 5 ADR's scheduled...but honestly I think I'm canceling 2 of them.
We only have ever gone back to our room to rest if we were headed to MVMCP. This time....we plan on going back to our resort almost every day to rest...swim...relax!!
We also have 2 1/12 days free. (We have AP's so we may walk into EPCOT to grab a bite to eat but that's it!)

I'm SO ready and looking forward to a much slower paced but still magical vacation!

 

[Spoisal]

I will let you know after our next trip Feb 1-5. We are going to try this approach & I can't wait! I haven't scheduled any ADRs - we are going to wing it as much as possible. I have scheduled some FP+, but that's about it!

 

[vicky33006]

I think what we do isn't popular on the Dis, but it works for us. Our first trip we went commando, and while we obviously came back (so it wasn't horrible or anything) we didn't fall in love with Disney. The next trip I took it WAY down in terms of what we do. This was so so much better for us. Here's how we relax on a Disney vaca (FP+ is a huge help for us):

- We don't make rope drop. We aren't morning people. To have to get up early every day just to make it to a park to have fun.. Well it's not really fun for us. We do get up early one or two days each trip (usually AK day and Universal day)

- We schedule FP+ for later in the day. This means our morning is open for whatever we decide to do. If we want to head to the park we do. If we want to relax at the resort and swim then that's what we do. This prevents us from ever getting a 4th FP, but that's ok.

- I simply let it all go. We won't see everything. We won't do everything. If we're tired and Wishes is about to start then we decide if we would rather leave. If we leave then that's absolutely fine. I don't care about the quantity of the things we see and do... I care much more about the quality of our vacation. We do schedule ADRs, but that's the planner in me. I just can't let that go too.

I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing trip!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I go in half and half. I go in knowing what I want to do. I like RD and Early hours at parks. I like getting a few good hours with out to many lines. I take it down in the afternoon have shows and things planed. Also I like to go rest at the hotel and come back for Night time stuff.

I know the most annoying part for us will be the Bus's but I think even though we will get most the rides we want. That we can still take time to relax.

 

[msmama]

Last year I took my son the WHOLE WAY across the country to Disneyland and in the 4 days we were there, we rode maybe 15 rides total (and keep in mind they have as many as all 4 parks at WDW AND we rode Buzz and TSMM 3 times each).

While it partly killed me, my son had the BEST time. We walked through stores (and we really took in the atmosphere of every store - look up in a Disney store, there's not just ceiling), we watched shows, we sat and people watched, we watched ducks (what Disney trip would be complete without duck watching - and these were obviously special California ducks!!)

I don't know who is in your traveling party, but could you give everybody a day in charge? Let them pick what THEY want to do, even if it's just for a few hours.

 

[Sharpdisney]

I don't know who is in your traveling party, but could you give everybody a day in charge? Let them pick what THEY want to do, even if it's just for a few hours.

That is a neat idea, I had not considered. Good for people who might have been before and know what to pick?

 

[MrInfinity]

Just my opinion, but when our family slowed down and stopped treating it as an amusement park and started to enjoy the magic that is Disney, it got so much better. The rides are now secondary to us. We love the details, the shops, the steamboat, the train, the people watching, the shows, finding hidden mickeys, finding characters, etc.

People may come for the rides, but they they stay for what makes Disney so special

Yep, there's so much to see and do. Especially with young kids, it's such a great place to be that you don't have to be powering thru rides all the time. Many of our best memories have little to do w the rides at all and are whatever interesting things the kids happened to find to do.

I would suggest doing the quests. Whether it's P&F at Epcot, Wilderness Explorer at AK, or the Pirate and Princess quests at MK, do them. They are awesome for kids and get them to look at the things they would otherwise run past and never know existed! But keep in mind you can get caught up spending hours on these.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

My husband and I took a trip this fall, and I felt it was one of the most laid back trips we have done so far. We were forced to slow down as we now have a one and a half year old, and so we couldn't tour with the same intensity as before.

Based on our experiences, my tips would be

1) Use Fastpass Plus! One of the reasons we ran around a lot on previous trips was to get fastpasses for one ride, then go somewhere else until it was time to redeem it, and then have to go back over. But now with Fastpass Plus, we had all of the fastpasses taken care of ahead of time, and if it was time for a fastpass and we were all the way across the park, we could just go into MDE and change it to something else.

2) If you aren't adverse to getting up early, go for rope drop. You can get so much done by noon, and then grab some lunch and leave. If you really want to relax, I would say to just spend the rest of the day enjoying your resort. (We always went back to the parks in the evening.)

3) Visit locations where you will spend a good chunk of time: You can easily spend an hour at The Seas, a few hours wandering the World Showcase, up to an hour seeing shows (the two at Animal Kingdom are very good, especially Festival of the Lion King.)

4) Most importantly--don't stress out if you miss stuff. We never got to ride anything in Tomorrowland our last trip. It just didn't work out that way. Sure, I was slightly bummed we missed TTA and Carousel of Progress, but we will get them next time--no sweat!

 

[DisneyFive]

Totally tagging along for this one!!!

After four WDW vacations back to back 2010-2013, we have all agreed (and want) a relaxing WDW vacation this September.

The thing is, we also LOVE the commando style, park open to close. Getting every last drop out of your time and value. However, that's led to us being exhausted when we get home. (we do typically sleep in one or two days in the middle of the trip. Found out the hard way that it's necessary for us)

To be honest, after four longish trips, there is VERY little that we haven't done in all four parks. We don't feel the need to do this or that anymore. It's actually a little depressing, to know that you'll never have those first or second time thrills or suprises on any of the rides or shows.

So with that being said, we want to slow down, relax and chill this time. Problem is, I have a hard time seeing me do that. I want to take afternoons off to swim at the resort, but I always have that feeling that I'm missing out on the parks. I need to find a way to get my mindset right.

Dan

 

[Micca]

4) Most importantly--don't stress out if you miss stuff. We never got to ride anything in Tomorrowland our last trip. It just didn't work out that way. Sure, I was slightly bummed we missed TTA and Carousel of Progress, but we will get them next time--no sweat!

This is a key point: So many of us travel as though we may never get to WDW again. Of course for many it is a one & done vacation. This is obviously not the case with most of us here. If you can go to WDW with a future trip in the works, it makes a huge difference. APs are the best deal going if you can get more than one trip out of them. As buttercup says, when you have to give something up, you just plan to make that attraction or event a priority on the next trip. If you think you'll never be back, you just worry about trying to cram everything in to one trip.