Too many non-park days?

[yena48]

Hello everyone,
I am planning our very first trip to the Disney World and have been doing tons of research. I read that it's a huge place and it can be tiring -- needing another break when you return from the trip We are family of three with 8 years of girl. Although all the attractions and the parks look amazing, we want to have a relaxing vacation. We are also visiting during the busy time, Spring break. Out of 9 days of our trip (including arrival and departure dates), we plan to use only 4 days to visit the parks. For the three non-park days, we plan to swim in the resort, visit Disney Springs and join the Chip 'n' Dale's Camp. Do you think we are missing out a lot by staying many days off the parks? We are staying at the off-site resorts as we are utilizing hotel reward points to stay for free. Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Thank you very much!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I think you can definitely make a day out of staying at your resort and visiting Disney Springs (if you like shopping and eating!). Chip and Dale's Campfire Sing-a-Long is only an evening event, so it won't take up a full day. You may want to consider adding a park day on that day. If you have a four day ticket, you can also wait until you get there and if you feel like doing more park days, simply go to a guest relations window and upgrade your tickets.

 

[MainMom]

It is your trip to do as you please. I personally could not do just 4 days. If you change your mind I think you can add days onto your tickets. There are ticket experts here who can help you with the details of adding days.

 

[rg35]

You might want another park day, especially for Magic Kingdom, and especially if you plan on this being your only visit to "the world."

 

[motherof5]

Hello everyone,
I am planning our very first trip to the Disney World and have been doing tons of research. I read that it's a huge place and it can be tiring -- needing another break when you return from the trip We are family of three with 8 years of girl. Although all the attractions and the parks look amazing, we want to have a relaxing vacation. We are also visiting during the busy time, Spring break. Out of 9 days of our trip (including arrival and departure dates), we plan to use only 4 days to visit the parks. For the three non-park days, we plan to swim in the resort, visit Disney Springs and join the Chip 'n' Dale's Camp. Do you think we are missing out a lot by staying many days off the parks? We are staying at the off-site resorts as we are utilizing hotel reward points to stay for free. Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Thank you very much!

There is alot to do at the resorts that are fun. I usually don't go to the parks the day I get there or leave. I do usually buy more park days and instead of going all day I do the relaxing pool stuff doing the morning, early afternoon and then go to the parks after 3 when it's not so hot and stay late. I have 5 kids and we even stay at times at the park 7p-midnight. Less crowded and go on more ride, and not hot. Then the next morning they sleep in, do the pool and do the late night again. In the past we used to spend 6-8 hours at the park and that is exhausting. I would recommended more days and less hours each day. Plus a 4 versus 5 day park pass isn't too much different in price.

 

[disneyvoice]

We also often schedule "break days" in between our park days but instead of doing the resort pool we hit the water parks and then spend an evening at Disney Springs and eat dinner there. It isn't necessary to spend an entire day, from rope drop to close, at a park. We find that if we get good FPs and do rope drop we are usually done with everything we want to do by the afternoon. We rarely spend evenings in the parks anymore. Or we do a sleep in day and then head to the parks later in the morning knowing we will skip rides with long lines. We are AP holders but when we don't have AP we have always gotten tickets equal to the number of days we will be there, even if we THINK we won't be at the parks every day. We like to have the ability to just go into a park for a hour to eat dinner or to do just one or two rides.

 

[PSUGuy]

Only once once did we take a non-park day mid week of a 7 day stay. Never again. There's too much to do in the parks and one can lounge around a chlorinated pool or shop anywhere. We do make Sat during Food&Wine a half day, skipping WS in the afternoon due to crowds and once or twice during a 9 park day stay we'll take an afternoon pool break if we're planning a PM park activity. Also, once you buy a park pass for 4 or 5 days each extra day you add doesn't cost that much.

Bill From PA

 

[Amelia :)]

I really don’t think an 8 year will thank you for too many rest days. We took our daughter when she was 8, and her favourite phrase was “what ride are we going on next?!”. In my experience 8 year olds don’t like relaxing, they don’t like strolling round shops or resorts as much, they have no interest in eating round the world etc. They like rides, water slides and shows! Make the most of it whilst you are there. We did 14 days of theme parks/water parks with an 8 year old and never had a full rest day.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

I personally never do a resort day (mainly because I can go shopping and swimming anywhere, but I can only go to the Disney parks a few select days of the year if I'm lucky). However, I do think that one day spent in combination at the pool and in Disney Springs is sufficient.

 

[BostonEd]

9 days minus two travel days equals 7 "real" days. I would definitely add another park day. 5 park days yield two rest days, which will be plenty. Believe me, I'm a big fan of the rest days, so I'm not trying to push the "all parks all the time" type of agenda.

Heck, I think you could have a relaxing trip with 6 park days: 3 days on, 1 rest, 3 days on. But, not going "all out" on all of those 6 days. Maybe do a couple half days, and then head back to the resort. Nice and relaxing.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We are here for two weeks and may go to parks four days. But we only hit big rides. We have been many times and the parks are not that exciting any more. We hang by pool, go to movie and or bowling at Disney Springs, might do miniature golf. We are at Old Key West and the pool attendants put on a great program for kids all afternoon plus there is a bonfire and movies at night and the community center has lots of kids activities. Plus there is tennis,shuffleboard, ping pong,etc. I’m assuming that even the off site hotels have similar activities.

 

[chartle]

1. For the three non-park days, we plan to swim in the resort, visit Disney Springs and join the Chip 'n' Dale's Camp.

2. Do you think we are missing out a lot by staying many days off the parks?

1. You have 14 or so usable hours in a day for those three things what are you going to do the other 10 hours left per day.

2. I would add 2 more park days, one for MK one for Epcot. Last trip we did 1 and 3/4 days for each. One full day Rope Drop to close and one where we left for few hours at lunch to visit other resorts (it was Xmas time). Now at the time my sons where in their 20s so didn't need breaks but for our first trip they were both around your daughters age and we did pretty much 7 days RD to close with one day where we visited both water parks and they would have wanted more.

 

[Hopefully]

Yes you definitely need less “ rest” days.
I recommend:
Travel day - arrive at resort, unpack and settle in, explore resort, pool, early dinner bed early.
3 Park days
1 rest day. Pool Disney Springs in afternoon/ evening
3 Park days
Travel day home no parks.
Anything less is a waste of travel costs, in my opinion

 

[Allison]

That is too much for me. I would be at the parks at least one more day. Remember-it doesn't have to be a whole day. You can always sleep in or get up early and spend the afternoon at the pool.

 

[Hoodie]

I'd add more because I find your in-park days tend to be more hectic if you try to limit them. It's a lot less crazy when you spread out the days - go later when you want to do the fireworks or night shows, go earlier some days and then go to the pool/Disney springs in the afternoon or evening. That way you aren't trying to cram in everything you want to do in a specific park in 1 long day.

 

[chartle]

I'd add more because I find your in-park days tend to be more hectic if you try to limit them.

Yes OP if you only one day at at least the MK you will always thinking "we have to get this and this and this, etc. ) done. If you have another day you can always relax and think you get this or that attraction the next day.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I'd bump that up to 7 day hoppers, but I would never spend the money a Disney resort costs without going to the parks as much as possible.

 

[chartle]

For the three non-park days, we plan to swim in the resort, visit Disney Springs and join the Chip 'n' Dale's Camp.

I'm going to "double down" and say just these 3 things are maybe 3/4's of one day. I would swim in the morning, if its warm enough, drive to DS and either drive to the campfire or kill some time and take the bus to FW for the campfire. If you really need to kill time from DS to FW, take teh bus to the Contemporary and then the boa t from there to FW. Either way you need to take an internal bus to the campfire from either end of FW

 

[Sue M]

As you say, Disney is huge. Optimally I would do
2 days MK
2 days Epcot
1 day Studios
1 day AK

With just 1 day at each park you’ll be missing a lot. Instead of taking entire days off, I would hit the parks at rope drop, then take afternoon break for pool time, and return to another park at night.
Get a park hopper.
Our first visit I also thought 4 days would be sufficient. Not so much!

Good for doing research. It really helps in planning. I love the book WDW Unofficial Guide. And their companion web site Touringplans. I still use their crowd calendar for determining what days to go to each park. My first few visits I used their touring plans, and they work. They taught me how to tour.
Happy planning.

 

[yena48]

WOW, Amazing tips! Thank you, everyone, for the great advice. Our trip could have ended up being boring and with lots of regrets..! THANK YOU for saving our vacation

Then I will do 3 days at parks -> 1 day break (DS + campfire) -> 3 days at parks -- 2 days for MK, 2 days for EP, 1 day for HS and AK.

We took our daughter when she was 8, and her favourite phrase was “what ride are we going on next?!”.

One more silly question, please. The weather forecast for the days that we plan to spend at the MK is predicted to rain a lot (5 hours..?). Would it be hard for our DD to wear the princess costume and walk around the park after BBB?