what would you do with 11 days at WDW? and a question about MYW tix & night at resort

[Mrs.viv07]

we decided that we will be going back to WDW in January 2008. This time we will be driving mainly because I HATE FLYING and just to be different
we were thinking of leaving either friday/saturday night around 11pm and hopefully driving thru the night stoping for breakfast and the straight thru. hopefully getting to orlando by 9-10pm the next day (we're in NY rockland county)
sleep at a cheap motel that night then checking into Disney resort the following morning.
i figure we can give each "main" park (AK, MGM, Epcot, MK) 2 days each, that puts us at 8 days right there, then devoting 1 day at seaworld and one day at universal. that's 10 there, any suggestion for the remaining day?
keep in mind that last trip we did seaworld & cirque du solei on 1 day and my 6yo was perfectly fine with it (we on the other hand were exhausted!)
Also i know some people will say AK & MGM can be ½ day park at least AK which closed at 5pm when we were there.

what would you suggest?

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Now for the other part of my question last time we were there we stayed 7 days 6 nights, i am having a brain fart, the DDP it goes by how many nights you are at the resort NOT days...BUT lets say i am staying for 10 nights can i get the DDP for only 5?? or you get as many DDP as the nights you are staying?
Also same deal for the MYW ? do they depend on how many nights you are at the resort? say you booked 10 nights but can you get only 6 MYW and then do what you want the rest of the other 4 days?

sorry if this is so confusing!

 

[ransom]

Interesting question!

We try to hold back one day at the end of the trip for doing whatever needs to be done. Sometimes you figure out that you need some more time at X, Y, or Z park, or want to do A, B, or C rides, or whatever. It's just a nice feeling to know that we have one day for "make-ups and do-overs."

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Someone who is more familiar with packages can hopefully help more than I, but I'm pretty sure you'll have to book 2 seperate stays to only get tickets & DDP for part of the stay. Also, the dining plan will expire on the last day that you have that particular package booked. In other words, you can't book 5 days DDP & spread that out over 10 days.

I don't know what category of resort you plan to stay at, but if possible, I would switch to a Universal resort for the last couple nights of your stay. You could spend a day at each park. It's great to be able to walk everywhere. No busses needed! Also, the tickets are a great deal. You may enjoy seeing Blue Man Group at CityWalk, while you're there.

I'm one of those people who thinks MGM is a 1/2 day park. We usually spend our evenings in Epcot, when we go to MGM or AK during the day. Alternately, you could go to the campfire at Fort Wilderness, & watch the Electrical Parade from the beach there. There's also a petting zoo. Or you could go to HDDR, while your there. Your son would probably have a great time spending an evening at the Fort. Evenings at DTD are always fun too.

Longer trips are great! You'll never want to go back to 7 nights.

 

[LOLA2]

How about 1 day for each Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Also
there is Blue Man group you can look into - my kids loved it.

 

[marlynnp]

You could go to Cape Canaveral for the day

 

[mx55mom]

If you have been to the "main parks" I wouldn't spend two days at each again. This is something we did and it was different, relaxing and fun at the same time. We went out the "side" exit at Epcot (over on the right before you go over the bridge to the countries) and took the boat over to The Beach Club and had a yummy ice cream sundae at Beaches & Cream. From there we took the boat across the lake to check out The Boardwalk. We also took the boat from The Magic Kingdom to The Wilderness Lodge just to check it out. If you have never been to Seaworld or Universal they could both be a two day visit. Enjoy the planning!

LEAVING ON FRIDAY!!

 

[CleveRocks]

Magic Your Way park tickets are totally independent of your room reservation. In other words, if you are staying 11 nights at a WDW resort you could buy park tickets for 1 day, 3 days, 8 days, whatever you want, it's totally up to you. You could even buy your tickets through an outside vendor if you wanted. Also, you don't need to use the admissions on consecutive days. Tickets expire 14 days from first day of use. You can use them any way you want within the 14 days.

Now, the Disney Dining Plan is completely different. The ONLY way you can do the DDP is you pay the daily rate for the DDP for each NIGHT you have on your reservation. The only way around that is, as tarheel suggested, booking 2 separate room reservations. That way, if you book a 5 night stay and a 6 night stay, you can have the DDP for one but not for the other. The DDP credits expire on after 11:59 p.m. on the day you "check out." I put check out in quotes because if you do this during the first part of your trip, you won't be leaving WDW, but you may well have to change rooms even if you're staying at the same resort. Also, one requirement of the DDP is that everyone on the package buy at least a 1-day park admission, which would mean it wouldn't be worth it to buy tickets from the outside (I've never done that anyway -- for the very few bucks I'd save, I miss the convenience of one-stop-shopping at the resort front desk).

Which leads me to an interesting suggestion....
If it's true that you'll need to switch rooms even if staying at the same resort on two different reservations, then why not take the opportunity to stay at a second resort? Even staying in the same class of resort (and thus same or similar price), it'll give you the opportunity to experience more of what WDW has to offer. I mean, if you have to go to the trouble of packing up and vacating the room, anyway .... If you do change resorts (called a "split stay"), Disney will even transfer your luggage for you. You could check out of Resort A, go to a park, and then go "back" to your second resort and check in.

HAVE FUN!

 

[txbradybunch]

My family loves the water parks - in fact, we would do a water park day for each park day. If you have the park hopper passes you can break it all up and not have to exhaust yourselves doing everything at one time. I researched our last trip extensively in advance (I'm extremely anal about planning!) and brought a calendar with each extra magic morning marked and extra magic evenings marked. We found that the extra magic evening hours at the water park were so great because the lines were soooooo much shorter. For example, we did one of the 1/2 day parks (Animal Kingdom if I remember correctly) in the morning for the extra magic hours. About the time the park started to get really crowded and hot (summertime mid day) we left and went to the water park. We had some lunch and swam and played and enjoyed the super short lines after the rest of the guests had to leave. Then (since the water parks close around dinner time) we went back to the room and got cleaned up and went to Epcot for dinner and fireworks.

We also found that if we start the vacation at the water park on check-in day we aren't so cranky about how long it takes them to get our room ready. We just go chillin at the water park and havinf fun and the room is always ready by the time we take the bus back to the resort after the park is closed.

The Disney Dining Plan is soooooo worth the $$. We got to do lots of character meals we would never have spent that kind of cash money on. If my understanding is correct I agree with the other poster who said you cannot elect to get the DDP for just a part of the trip - and you must get it for EVERYONE in the room as well. You might try doing as suggested and make seperate ressies to elect dining for just part of the trip. You can start eating on the plan from the time you check in, and the meals expire at midnight on the check-out date.

 

[Marion]

I add my vote for a day at the Kennedy Space Centre! I was checking out Gator Tours as well and they have a combined space centre tour with an airboat tour afterwards. And I think there's a wildlife park/preserve somewhere nearby that should be fun... especially with a 6 year old

 

[remfam5]

HI!
With your extra day, I would take a "REST" day right in the middle of your vacation.
Sleep in later and go for a swim, shop at DTD, or go to one of the water parks for an afternoon.

Having done 9 days straight in 2005 with NO rest day, we were all so exhausted!
This next visit we are staying 12 days with the very purpose of having a "rest day" and still getting in all 4 parks, Typhoon Lagoon, Universal & Seaworld.

Have a great time!!