Touring style:

[mrodgers]

Yeah, we take breaks, but not going-back-to-the-hotel breaks. We'll spend a couple hours in Trader Sam's/Nomad Lounge/etc., which is relaxing while still feeling like I'm doing things.

Coldest day we were there was 105°.

I explained to the wife and kids how if you want to do anything, we have to get there when it opens. With record breaking temperatures, lunch then back to the hotel for the kids to swim was in the plan for every day.

First full day, had a great (although hot) day in the park. Got fast passes and was able to ride the big rides 6 times before lunch as well as all the stuff with the younger kid. Ate lunch, let the kids cool down in the pool. Went to dinner and rode the big rides again 5 or 6 times in the evening on fast passes.

Wifey didn't like that. She likes her 28 hours a day sleep. So we did it her way the 2nd day. Animal Kingdom. I roamed around the resort until 10 or so when they finally got their lazy behinds out of bed. We rode 1 ride, ate a late lunch, back to the hotel for the pool midday, and park closed at dinner time. So, 1 ride that day after 2.5 hours of standing in line.

 

[Kitty 34]

Let's put it this way.....back when I planned and did our Disney trips it was also, considered a weight loss program!!!

 

[anniemae]

Used to do rope drop then a mid day break, but the break felt like such a time sucker. By the time we got to the bus, waited for the bus, and got back it just felt like a waste of time. We would change to swim suits and go to the pool, but the water was so hot (summer time) that it wasn't really refreshing. Then back to the room to change and head back. More bus fun. then it just felt like we never got to really rest and recharge.

Now that the kids are older, we like to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, sometimes head to the pool, and then head to the parks later and stay until late. We still try to do a rope drop or two since it is usually nice the first couple of hours of empty park time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

A theme park vacation is usually go go go with parts here and there to relax (a lounge, a spot to just people watch, etc), we do get our steps in, we do exhaust ourselves but we leave parts to just decompress too while still being able to pick right back up and go again.

A beach vacation is a mixture of pure relaxation and activities. Contrary to many people a beach vacation to people doesn't have to mean just sitting on a beach doing nothing else. For us that would be boring and a waste of our money to get from the middle of the country to wherever. We like swimming in the ocean, sitting on a beach but we also like going to a waterfalls where you get in and explore or a historic place or a catamaran ride or a guided tour of a beautiful city. We've actually stayed away from places where we're too isolated because we don't just want to be confined to the resort never leaving it.

A history vacation is often a combo of the above because there's often parts to that we can relax but often parts where we're quite busy that day.

 

[tcufrog]

My DH isn't a morning person. There's no way we'd make rope drop unless we ditched him.

 

[Micca]

We usually make ropedrop and go commando for a few hours, but after that...it's pretty casual. At some point I'd like to see if there's a way with Genie+ to not do rope drop and still get everything done we want to.

 

[neverlandsky]

Use to be drop rope Go-Go-Go Commando at DL. Midway through of doing the same thing with our first WDW trip, we became sloth mode and enjoyed the experience so much better. We found our true vacation mode. We spent our evenings poolside. The pool was a ghost town and we got ice cream to-go after every night. We loved it. Would love to go back to WDW for a second time and go total sloth mode.

 

[PixieT78]

I voted rope drop commando as that is the closest of the options to what we do. We go for the rope drop and take advantage of early lines then an early lunch then back to the hotel for naps/pool time. Then back to the parks in the evening.

We tried total commando on our first trip snd I think were in the parks for like 14 hours…never again. My feet were in so much pain and it never gets better as the trip goes on!

our May trip is shorter so we’ll likely do the same style. However our Sept trip is our longest and first time staying deluxe so I’d really like to do more of a vacation mode. We have lots of opportunities to see the parks so we’ll likely change it up on different days!

 

[Jennasis]

Was commando forever and then we bought DVC back in 2014. Now we do rope drop and hit rides foe a few hours, the. Leave for a midday nap or swim (or both), eat a late lunch or early dinner and go back to parks in the evening.

 

[easyas123]

We’ve been enough times that it’s not about the parks so muc-h anymore. It’s about relaxing. We never do rope drop. We usually get to a park by 10 and then head back to our resort late afternoon and enjoy some pool time and adult beverages. Sometimes we head back out to a park or to explore other resorts, sometimes we don’t and we just have dinner at the resort and chill the rest of the evening. It’s all about just being in the bubble.

This is us for the most part! We are early risers though, so we are usually up and out of the room by 7 AM, but we don't 'rope drop' to do it, it's just because we are already up.

WDW is our getaway in mid-winter, not our main vacation, so for us it's more about just taking a few days to relax a bit.