Two parks per day or just one?

[dotcomgirl18]

We are spending 4 and a half days at Disney this August. Our original plan is as follows and we are trying to decide if we should change it...

All FP+ will be used for the afternoon parks.

Day 1: arrive to Orlando around 3pm and check into AoA. Head to HS for dinner and EMH. Use FP+.

Day 2: MK for rope drop. Spend half the day there and then head to AK for about 4 hours until it closes. Spend some time in the evening at DTD.

Day 3: Epcot for rope drop. Spend half the day, then eat lunch on the Boardwalk. Head to HS. ADR for dinner at Sci Fi. End day at Fantasmic.

Day 4: AK for rope drop. ADR at Kona Cafe at 2pm. Then head to MK. End day seeing Wishes.

Day 5: Typhoon Lagoon at opening. Epcot for EMH that late afternoon/evening.


We are both Disney veterans and I have a very gung-ho commando attitude about hitting the parks. My sister is more laid back. I'm willing to try to be more laid back this time. We are now considering just doing one park per day (one day would still have to be split because we don't have enough full days to do them all plus Typhoon Lagoon).

In your opinion, should we stick with our original plan or will it be too exhausting?

 

[mrsmorrow]

We are spending 4 and a half days at Disney this August. Our original plan is as follows and we are trying to decide if we should change it...

All FP+ will be used for the afternoon parks.

Day 1: arrive to Orlando around 3pm and check into AoA. Head to HS for dinner and EMH. Use FP+.

Day 2: MK for rope drop. Spend half the day there and then head to AK for about 4 hours until it closes. Spend some time in the evening at DTD.

Day 3: Epcot for rope drop. Spend half the day, then eat lunch on the Boardwalk. Head to HS. ADR for dinner at Sci Fi. End day at Fantasmic.

Day 4: AK for rope drop. ADR at Kona Cafe at 2pm. Then head to MK. End day seeing Wishes.

Day 5: Typhoon Lagoon at opening. Epcot for EMH that late afternoon/evening.


We are both Disney veterans and I have a very gung-ho commando attitude about hitting the parks. My sister is more laid back. I'm willing to try to be more laid back this time. We are now considering just doing one park per day (one day would still have to be split because we don't have enough full days to do them all plus Typhoon Lagoon).

In your opinion, should we stick with our original plan or will it be too exhausting?

Everyone has their own style, but to be honest your plans is very similar to what we do on every trip! You'll get things done in the am and the have your FP's to look forward to in the evening! Looks great to me!

 

[Lindaland]

We travel about the same way, always get the park hopper. I love getting to the park early and then having a break, and then off to another park. I also just get really bored with one park all day.

 

[cleophus12]

If your family has the stamina to be at rope drop every day, then your plan looks like a good one. We used FP+ for the first time this weekend and our FPs were for later in the day, but we went to rope drop anyway. Even on Saturday at the MK, we were able to knock out most of the park before our FPs started about noon. Have fun!

 

[maddiebee]

We also tour somewhat similarly and in August. Just keep in mind that it will be HOT and if you are feeling too exhausted from the heat, that it's ok to change your plans around!

 

[MrInfinity]

Day 1: arrive to Orlando around 3pm and check into AoA. Head to HS for dinner and EMH. Use FP+.

Day 2: MK for rope drop. Spend half the day there and then head to AK for about 4 hours until it closes. Spend some time in the evening at DTD.

Day 3: Epcot for rope drop. Spend half the day, then eat lunch on the Boardwalk. Head to HS. ADR for dinner at Sci Fi. End day at Fantasmic.

Day 4: AK for rope drop. ADR at Kona Cafe at 2pm. Then head to MK. End day seeing Wishes.

Day 5: Typhoon Lagoon at opening. Epcot for EMH that late afternoon/evening.

We are both Disney veterans and I have a very gung-ho commando attitude about hitting the parks. My sister is more laid back. I'm willing to try to be more laid back this time. We are now considering just doing one park per day (one day would still have to be split because we don't have enough full days to do them all plus Typhoon Lagoon).

In your opinion, should we stick with our original plan or will it be too exhausting?

Here's my thoughts. That is a pretty exhausting plan. You say you're willing to be more laid back, but a laid back person is not going to take well to the 3 places in one day you have planned for day 2... the MK, AK, and DTD all in a day.

Day 1: Perfect!

Day 2: I don't care for AK evenings. Bussing from the MK back to AOA then from AOA to AK plus then DTD afterwards is spending most of your day on the bus.

Day 3: This sounds pretty good. Since you're transitioning thru the Boardwalk, this is all walking distance.

Day 4: AK rope drop, then Kona? I think that's ok cuz you can just bus from the AK direct to the Poly, then boat across to the MK.

Day 5: Perfect!

Overall, I would suggest not doing 2 days at AK... you have a morning and a night planned there, why not just combine them into the same day? You have MK-AK and AK-MK but I think those work equally well with less bussing by doing them AK-AK and MK-MK. In both cases you end up with a morning and an evening at each park... just this way spends less time on the bus.

On the AK day, since you'll be there for RD and have FP+s, you should be able to do that park, get on everything, and get out of there around 4 or 5 to jump over to DTD and have a nice evening there too. A lunch around 1 or 2pm will break up this nicely.

Your MK day becomes more relaxing too since you can boat or monorail to/from the Poly, and you get to enjoy a nice midday break w/o having to do busses.

 

[TreeSapp]

We are spending 4 and a half days at Disney this August. Our original plan is as follows and we are trying to decide if we should change it...

All FP+ will be used for the afternoon parks.

Day 1: arrive to Orlando around 3pm and check into AoA. Head to HS for dinner and EMH. Use FP+.

Day 2: MK for rope drop. Spend half the day there and then head to AK for about 4 hours until it closes. Spend some time in the evening at DTD.

Day 3: Epcot for rope drop. Spend half the day, then eat lunch on the Boardwalk. Head to HS. ADR for dinner at Sci Fi. End day at Fantasmic.

Day 4: AK for rope drop. ADR at Kona Cafe at 2pm. Then head to MK. End day seeing Wishes.

Day 5: Typhoon Lagoon at opening. Epcot for EMH that late afternoon/evening.

We are both Disney veterans and I have a very gung-ho commando attitude about hitting the parks. My sister is more laid back. I'm willing to try to be more laid back this time. We are now considering just doing one park per day (one day would still have to be split because we don't have enough full days to do them all plus Typhoon Lagoon).

In your opinion, should we stick with our original plan or will it be too exhausting?

Sounds like a great plan! The only thing I might recommend changing is, putting in some downtime before of voter Kona, depending on how late MK is open and how much you accomplished at MK rope drop day

 

[dotcomgirl18]

Thanks for all the advice. We will look into possibly making the AK/MK days just one park, and leave the rest as is. We won't be using the bus system at all (I hate having to wait for the buses), and we will be using our own car to get everywhere.

 

[bopper]

We just stay at a park for the whole day...otherwise you waste time in transportation.

 

[btk2333]

We just stay at a park for the whole day...otherwise you waste time in transportation.

We always park hop after a few hours in a rd park- we don't have the stamina to rope drop every day unless we take midday breaks- no way we could be at parks from 7 am-11 pm.

 

[bopper]

We take a day off after two days in the park. You are right though, you have to build in rest some time!

 

[TreeSapp]

Thanks for all the advice. We will look into possibly making the AK/MK days just one park, and leave the rest as is. We won't be using the bus system at all (I hate having to wait for the buses), and we will be using our own car to get everywhere.

If you're driving your own car, you don't lose much in transportation time. We often do this - if we lose even a whole hour (rare) we often make it up by getting to a park that is open later than the one we left

But driving to/near DTD has been pretty slow going lately due to the construction... So take that with a grain of salt

 

[wiigirl]

If your family has the stamina to be at rope drop every day, then your plan looks like a good one. We used FP+ for the first time this weekend and our FPs were for later in the day, but we went to rope drop anyway. Even on Saturday at the MK, we were able to knock out most of the park before our FPs started about noon. Have fun!