Where would you go, park again or resorts?

[jessie31383]

We are going to WDW 12/19-12/27. This will be our 2nd trip. Our biggest regret from our first trip was not enough time, (we went for 5 days the first time). We will be going to Epcot 2 days, MK 2 days, DHS 2 days and AK 1 day. To be fair 1 of the Epcot days is going to be arrival day. I had planned on us going to Universal for 1 day to see all of the Harry Potter stuff, but it will cost my family of 4 almost $700 for 1 day!!! I am not willing to pay that much for 1 day, so now we are deciding to do with the Saturday before we leave. Where would you go? I am thinking about just resort hopping to see all of the pretty Christmas decorations, and also Downtown Disney and boardwalk because we did not do any of that the last time, but at the same time, it makes me sad to think about not being in a park right before we leave. My hubby thinks that any more then 2 days in 1 park and we will be bored. What do you all think? Where should we go?

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

In my ideal world, I would do Magic Kingdom first and last, so I would put the non-park day in the middle of the trip or spread it out so that you do a park each day but use the most busy time of day (afternoon) to do other things.

 

[Alesia]

We need 2.5 days at Epcot, so I would go there.

 

[brb1006]

I been to the Magic Kingdom twice, and it's a the best for you to good there for you're first and last days. Especially when you're leaving during the night.

 

[kwdw]

I, too, would move a park day to the end (unless it's a short day, then I'd stick with non-park things), and have the non-park day in the middle.

Now - one idea is to WAIT to decide if you want another park day as you start your trip. Don't buy it now. After a couple of days, decide if you need to ADD a day. If yes, add it. Now - that means your FP selections won't be unlimited, but as long as you have planned your must do FP's on pre-planned days, that's fine. You can get FP's for the next day or even same day - they just are more limited.

We had a very rainy day the day we planned for AK last trip. We got "enough" in to make it okay - but we did miss things we had wanted to see. If we had an empty day planned - we probably would have added another park day to go back a 2nd day to AK.

Once you hit that 4 park day ticket price - adding a day is cheap for each added day after that.

 

[nat8199]

I would add another park day. We do 3 days at MK with no problem at all. Plus, kids like to do things over and over and over again.

I have never understood the appeal of downtown disney as a destination (other than for a specific ADR). Also, my DH and kids would think I was absolutely insane if I told them all we were going to do was look at resorts for an afternoon. None of them would do it.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yeah I would do another park day, adding on the extra day is minimal relative to total costs.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I will be there during the exact same time. It also depends on where you are staying, but I would definitely add in another park day. If you do go to resorts, I would definitely go to the Grand Floridian to see the gingerbread house.

 

[Mikie]

Personally, I think you can ALWAYS spend more park time and NOT see it all. However, we usually go for 6 park days (2 each MK and Epcot, 1 each AK and DHS) plus sometimes a little on arrival day. My regret is always that we don't have a longer trip with a scheduled down day! In 6 park days, we see enough of everything to satisfy us, but are usually pretty exhausted by the end and not lasting as long in the parks. I'd have a resort day in the middle.

Caveat: I haven't gone at Christmas, so perhaps the very heavy crowds would make it beneficial to take a long daily break in the afternoons (we rarely do that) instead of one entire "break day"

 

[loves to dive]

I would go with the flow and decide on the fly. Maybe one of the days in the middle that you have planned everyone just is too tired so you do resorts and pool and switch the last day to a park day. Or maybe, that last day everyone really wants to go to a park, you do the park. Are you going to have park hoppers, if so, may do a little hopping that last day. I agree I wouldn't do DTD, just not a draw for me or my family.

 

[cbrown1007]

I would do another MK day! With kids, I don't think any amount of time is enough in MK, so I'd do as many days as possible!

 

[PeasandCarrots]

You know your family better than any of us, but if it was me I would go to a park. You can always resort hop on a rainy day or a day you just need an afternoon out of the parks to rest. I can't imagine going to WDW and spending a day NOT in the parks, but that's just me I guess.

We always go for 8 nights and do:

3 days MK
1 full day Epcot
1 day AK
2 days HS

and most evenings in Epcot via park-hopping.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

We are going to WDW 12/19-12/27. This will be our 2nd trip. Our biggest regret from our first trip was not enough time, (we went for 5 days the first time). We will be going to Epcot 2 days, MK 2 days, DHS 2 days and AK 1 day. To be fair 1 of the Epcot days is going to be arrival day. I had planned on us going to Universal for 1 day to see all of the Harry Potter stuff, but it will cost my family of 4 almost $700 for 1 day!!! I am not willing to pay that much for 1 day, so now we are deciding to do with the Saturday before we leave. Where would you go? I am thinking about just resort hopping to see all of the pretty Christmas decorations, and also Downtown Disney and boardwalk because we did not do any of that the last time, but at the same time, it makes me sad to think about not being in a park right before we leave. My hubby thinks that any more then 2 days in 1 park and we will be bored. What do you all think? Where should we go?

Unless it was some special occasion if I go to either Universal or Disney it will be multiple days. The pricing is such that if I decide I am going to go I get multiple days as one day for either park is way too much momey, but multiple days (on a per day basis) is much less egrigious. Universal especially, they have a buy two day pass/get a third day free which comes to around $150 I believe (one day is over $100).

 

[revdon64]

We're planning a resort hop day on our trip the end of this year. We want to take in as much of the Disney Christmas stuff as we can as we'll likely not get another opportunity to go at that time of year again.

 

[hskaggs11]

DH and I went 2 years in a row, for 6 days in November, and we toured commando-style. We got there within the first hour or so of opening, and stayed out until park close each night. We did 1 day for each park, and even got in 1 day each at Universal's parks. By mid-week, we were sooo tired. This year, we are doing 6 days, but planning on 2 rest/half-park days for sure, and forgoing Universal. We are going to slow it waay down. So maybe switch your resort day to mid-trip to give you a good break.

 

[itchin2go]

The resort decorations are nice, but not so WOW that I would spend a day seeing them. What we did is to plan several ADRs in resorts where we knew there were notable decorations, and then just made it a point to seek them out before or after the ADR. We saw the Frozen gingerbread display at the Contemporary, the gingerbread carousel at the Beach Club, some chocolate sculptures at the Beach and Yacht Clubs, and the gorgeous tree at the AKL. They're nice to see for sure, but don't take up much time. If you hop from resort to resort, most of your time will be taken up with travel.

Alternative things we've done: GF Perfectly Princess Tea Party, Alice in Wonderland Tea Party at 1900 Park Fare (the grown ups had lunch at GFC), DTD for Goofy's Candy Company. Things we're thinking about doing on the next trip: GF Afternoon Tea and the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour at MK. There's a Family Magic tour at MK too that might be fun.

I agree with PP that we need at least 2 full days at Epcot.

 

[Dizlvr]

I would take 1 of my DHS days and make that another MK day and spend the last day at the pool at the resort, or visiting other resorts.

 

[tinkerbesh]

I would for sure do another park day, especially since that time of year will be crowded, and potentially difficult to do everything you want within any given day. I would also strongly recommend consulting a crowd calendar & following its advice. My favorite is easywdw.com

 

[scrapquitler]

I would do a park day. I have zero interest in running around looking at resorts, and I know my family feels the same way. I would either use the extra day at Epcot or MK. Our general rule is to go to the MK on the first and last day of our trip, regardless of the crowd calendar. For you to add an additional day onto your tickets will cost something like $12 per person, which for me is a bargain and well worth it.

 

[thinkerbell]

I would definitely add another park day. As a pp said, the decorations are nice but not enough to spend a day jumping around to see them. We have been at that time of the year several times and it is pretty crowded. You may need that extra day to get in things that you didn't have time to do. If you do decide to take the day off, I'm with the others...do it in the middle of the week instead of your last day.