What percentage of your vacation is taken visiting parks

[Chris and Pooh]

I was curious to find out how much of your vacation is spent at the parks. As we have got older we tend to visit them less, is this a general trend or just us?
Perhaps you could post your reasons for your visit percentage?

Chris and Bev SSR members since Sep 2003

Oct 1996
Nov 1997
Oct 1999
Oct 2001
Sep 2003
Oct 2004

 

[Cruelladeville]

We have been to WDW for so many years now, that we go to Florida just to relax and eat! We go to the parks for a couple of hours, then go swimming, golfing, or eating. What a life!

 

[DBBN]

We've been so often that now we only visit the theme parks when a new attraction opens up. I voted 0% only because it was the closest to our visiting patterns - I would have selected 5% if it was available. For us the warm weather and laid back vacations we have at OKW is what brings us back time after time.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I voted 50%, but that was a WAG.
We don't have kids. We generally wake up by 10:00, maybe hit the treadmill, maybe order breakfast in the room, then shower, then leave for the day usually before 1:00pm.
We stroll a park non comando, quite possibly with brew in hand. We may hit a couple rides, and the women shop a bit.
We then head back to the room and get ready for dinner, as we always eat at a full service Disney restaurant in the 7:30ish timeframe.
We then may have a night cap somewhere, or possibly hit the Adventurers' Club or Jelly Rolls.
My wife usually ends with a late night dip in the hot tub.

MG

 

[Chuck S]

Mom (81) and I (47) spent most of our days in the parks as long as the weather is nice. But we rarely spend all day in the parks. We tend to arrive around 10am and stay until mid-afternoon (3 or 4 o'clock) Or we'll arrive in the park mid-afternoon and stay for the fireworks.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I voted 75%. Having kids leads us to spend a good amount of time in the parks. We include the water parks in this as well. We do spend a couple days of our vacation just as pool days or visiting relatives a couple hours away. Both sets of relatives live very near the coast, so we get beach days in there as well.

 

[4Gus-Gus&Figaro]

I chose 50%. With the APs, we find ourselves spending a lot of partial days in the parks. I am so not a morning person , so we've been rolling into the parks mid-late afternoon lately. And there are plenty of days where all we do is hang out at the pool.

 

[Beca]

This is really hard to say. We usually go into one park every day. But, we are not morning people, and we like to go "off-season"...so, the parks tend to close early. If we get two hours in before AK closes, we consider that a "big day"!!

However, we do plan our day (as much as we plan) around what park we will "visit" that day. But, with the exception of Epcot (we just can't seem to leave there...the countries are SOO pretty at night), we don't stay too long at the parks.



Beca

 

[gjw007]

I would say probably 50% but it depends on the trips. I mostly go to Florida for vacations to relax and not worry about what's going on at home or work. I don't go to Central Florida specifically for the theme parks but they are an attraction that helps draw all the other attractions together. If it was just theme parks, I could stay home; Six Flags is an hour away, Paramounts Kings Dominion roughly 2 hours, Hershey's park about 2 hours, etc.

 

[newholidayx2]

it depends - last Aug DS & I were at WDW for 14nights. We took it a little slower (although DS would debate this! lol)
Starting Fri we're planning on alot more park time. Im taking 2 girls who havent been since 2001. The only restaurants theyve eaten in are H&V and CM. The only resort they stepped into is Contemporary. They have alot to see and they'll only be with me 5days.

 

[Skip to my Lou]

With 3 kids DD7, DD5, DD4, the parks take up alot of our time. I'm shooting for 5 days of our upcoming 7 day stay. But with groceries this trip, we should be spending a few meals back at the rooms.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I chose 87%, because we really do still spend most days at the parks (in our 9th year of ownership), but we like to spend a lot of time at the other resorts too. We now think of AKL and WL as entertainment destinations (mostly for dinner) in much the same way we go to the parks.

 

[DVC Sadie]

I voted 50%. We enjoy going to the parks either in the am or just pm but rarely spend more than 4 hours in the park on any given day. If we have neices or nephews with us we tend to spend more time in the different parks. I just enjoy spending time in the resort.

 

[stinkerbell2009]

Our family will spend 2 of our 10 days at the theme parks next week. 2 days at the water parks and the rest around some pool.

 

[simzac]

My vote was based on our previous non DVC trips. Now that we are members, I see the amount of time we spend in the parks going down.

 

[cobbler]

I too voted mostly what we do now and what we did as non DVC members. About 75%.

I am telling hubby that we are going to spend one non park day every trip to enjoy our hotel and relax. We may even do this more as time goes on. But we still have young ones so park time will probably be over 50% for at least a while.

 

[Pa@okw95]

I voted 0 percent but only because there was not a 2 or 3 percent zero was closer. We just go to eat once in awhile and we will go on "Soar-In" if we are at EPCOT. I have no real desire to join the masses at the parks.

 

[JimC]

My guess is 50%. I figure there are three periods -- AM, PM and Evening. We go for almost all AMs, some PMs and some Evenings - though we rarely stay to closing.

That is way down from the early 90s when it would have been close to 100%. We were younger then, had two children with us, and if we were not in the theme parks we were at a water park. Now we like to do different things -- when at the parks more enjoying the non-ride features and when not in the parks enjoying boating or miniature golf or the pool at our resort or a resort restaurant or just relaxing at our resort.

 

[abbysmema]

I voted 75%. We usually go into the parks every morning leaving after lunch and returning in the evening on probably five days of our seven night stay. We like getting our money's worth out of those APs. Marie

 

[murcor]

Maybe 2 or 3 days out of 12. We love to relax and enjoy what the resort has to offer.