Who's done a trip with limited park visits?

[madelyn]

Our typical Disney trip might be no more than 4 to 5 Disney major parks although we spend 11 to 12 nights in the Orlando area. We won't go to a park on our arrival/departure day. Hubby likes to do a park every other day to make things less hectic. We enjoy the night extra magic hours, so if you are staying out until 2 to 3am at Magic Kingdom, you are in no shape to go to a park the next morning. On our non-park days we have gone to a water park, Fort Wilderness and Hoop De Doo, visit the monorail resorts and do a character meal, shopping at the outlets or Downtown Disney, relax at our resort swimming or spending time in the DVC community hall, go to a Universal Studios park. This works well with our non-expiring water park and more hoppers that we used to like to purchase. If we are going with other families who don't like to spend as many days in the area, we still only go to the parks 4 or 5 days but go every day and might add on a couple of more relaxing days at the beginning or end of the trip. Our upcoming trip in March will be one park per day Sun-Wed, Thursday might be a water park, Friday is a Universal Studios day, Saturday we might go back to Magic Kingdom because it is an extra magic hours late night, Sunday will be a relaxing day, probably at the resort or Downtown Disney, then we fly out early Monday. We haven't gone on a Disney area trip where we didn't go to a major park at all but we have considered the idea of taking a budget trip and just visit water parks on our non-expiring ticket.

 

[mggeary]

Thinking of doing a version of this our next trip. We usually do rope drop till around 5pm every day in the park. Thinking of doing a bunch of half days in the park, leaving shortly after noon each day with a lot of pool and resort relax time this trip. We'll do some resort hoping and try some new restaurants. We'll see how it goes, will be totally new to us.

 

[PACVII]

Yes have gone as long as 10 days and did each park once. It's was so nice and relaxing. We go twice a year and been to the world many times so we really did not feel like we miss anything. We hit the water parks three times spent a whole day walking around DTD play mini golf and really enjoyed our resourt one day. Just hanging out by the pool and had a great dinner.

 

[laughinplace199]

We normally stay 7-9 days and do parks every day. Two years ago, we stayed at Vero Beach for a few days and then surprised the kids with 2 days at WDW (they thought we were driving to the airport to go home from Vero but we were really going to WDW). We just did 2 park days that time.

This summer we are doing 6 nights at AKV (with 7 day park hoppers) and then 3 nights at Vero.

 

[Chickp]

We are going in April and probably not doing any parks. We are camping and planning on doing stuff around the campground like fishing, horseback riding, and the movies at night. We all LOVE Boma so that's a must, and we may try some meals at other resorts, but I am really looking forward to it. If it's warm, we might do a water park, though.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We went for seven nights in November and did two park days, MVMCP and Blizzard Beach. The rest was resort time, DTD and one afternoon we rented a boat at the Beach/Yacht Club then had dinner/sundaes at Beaches and Cream. It still felt like a jam packed trip to me and didn't feel like we were missing out at all.

 

[kathy884]

We on a six day / seven night trip, always just do three or four park days and do two or three resort days -- usually do a park every other day. Works great for us. On one stay at the Contemporary we didn't do any Disney park, but did do one day at SeaWorld. It was a four day / five night stay with just one theme park. We really just liked swimming, exploring resorts, trying different restaurants, and watching the Electric Light Parade from our balcony -- very relaxing with our little one. DH had a seminar at the Contemporary by the way, so during some of the days it was me, my son, and my parents. // This past December we were offsite -- day 1 was a resort day and the Titanic attraction in I-drive, day 2 was SeaWorld, day 3 was a relaxing morning with Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Day 4 was a resort day, Day 5 was Universal/IOA, Day 6 was back to SeaWorld for the $15 second day ticket. So this trip was six days and four days at theme parks. // Because of the deals on multiday tickets I understand people doing time in the theme parks every day, but for us we really kind of like the every other day approach more.

 

[fla4fun]

Yes, I have spent several long weekends at WDW and not hit the parks at all. I have spent many ten day trips and maybe spent 4-5 days in a park (and partial days at that). I do tend to stay at deluxe or DVC resorts when I'm planning a more resort intensive trip, and save the values and mods for when I'll be in the park a lot more. It all depends on how your family likes to vacation. I have family that can't stand to be idle for a moment, and family that thinks a chair on the beach is too active. If you like more laid back and relaxed vacations, then you will enjoy spending time outside the parks. If you are a go, go, go kind of family, you may not.

 

[GatorMama]

Our "big" trips (for more than just a night of MNSSHP)have all been for only four days days each with a week or more in total vacay. The first trip was nine days and we also went to SW and Typhoon Lagoon. Second trip we did a week, with four park days and one night DisneyQuest. We have spent our non park days with family in the area before but after our last trip we won't do that again for a long time. A lot of stress and worry over something that is not appreciatiated by the receiving end. So this time we won't be seeing them at all on our weeklong stay. We will enjoy Disney Springs, the resorts, MNSSHP and each other when we aren't at the parks (4 day hoppers plus the half day for the party)

 

[nooneshome]

A while back we had 10 day tix no exp. We decided to do three trips, one 4 day and two 3 day trips. I wouldn't do it again but we did have fun. This was when the kids were at a great age and we were going to WDW 2 to 3 times a year.

 

[shalom]

We've done Orlando vacations without hitting any of the parks, and we've done vacations hitting the Disney parks about every other day, and highly recommend either. I do have one warning about your plan; once you have a ticket for four or five days, adding on park days is cheap enough to be very, very tempting. Or at least we succumb pretty easily; while we had a great time our last Disney vacation, some of us really regretted not doing more "resort" days (which for us include hitting Downtown Disney, watching the fireworks from the Poly beach, etc.). Right now our plan for next time is to get a party ticket at Disney, and then a two-day ticket a Universal, and call it good (we'll be there eleven days or so). With younger ones it may be easier for you to do half days, though, so even adding days could be pretty restful compared to all day, every day in the parks.

I don't want to feel like we are missing out on the parks while we are there. I guess we could do a few character meals at hotels as well.

As someone else suggested, I would be careful about what resort you pick, especially staying onsite. Saratoga Springs would be better than Bay Lake Tower, for instance; especially with 5-yos, you don't want the kids to be able to see the parks from your resort every day you're not going! I would also pick a resort where you have access to more than one pool, ideally more than one themed pool (Port Orleans, Saratoga Springs, and Animal Kingdom Lodge are the only onsite ones I can think of with what I could consider multiple themed pools) -- offsite I'd consider Wyndham Bonnet Creek (which is practically onsite), and Gaylord Palms for themed pools; or Marriott World Center, Sheraton Vistana, and Orange Lake for multiple pools with less theming. How important that is depends on how much your kids are into pools (my kids at that age were pool addicts, and would have been thrilled with any of those places); there are also offsite resorts with things like paddle boats and canoeing and whatnot. I'd for sure pick somewhere with a variety of onsite things to do (which I believe all those I've listed have). You also might consider having a list of little stuff in town (little compared to Disney), or one-day things like Fun Spot or the Lego Park (your kids are the ideal age for that, however it's a bit of a drive), so if the kids want to to go and do a bit you have some options that aren't committing to a whole day (or to such a long day, in the case of Lego).

 

[think-like-tink]

I am so happy you posted this. Not to take over.... but, Im having a hard time wrapping my head around our Christmas trip. DH wants it to be a laid back take all the Christmas stuff in. And I'm commando go, go, go. I will be following this to help ease my desire to ride all we can, see ALL we can.

 

[dbarker]

DS16 and I are taking a short trip during Spring Break. We are flying in on Saturday and leaving on Wednesday. We sill stay on property. Since there are just two of us, we will go to Disney Quest on Saturday. We will have a whole day at MK and Epcot. One day, we will do 1/2 day at AK and DHS. On Wednesday, we have a late flight, so we go over and play miniature golf.

This will be the first time we went w/o DH.

 

[Brian Noble]

Here's my question: Has anyone done a week trip with only 3-4 park days?

We went a step further: we spent a week-long trip with ZERO park days. Instead, we bought annual passes to the water parks and DisneyQuest, and just visited those for "park time." We added a bunch of resort meals we'd always wanted to try, but never taken the time for: brunch and animal viewing at Boma/AKL, lunch (and a kitchen sink) at Beaches & Cream, Tonga Toast for a leisurely breakfast at Kona, etc.

We even did a dinner at Ohana, and then walked over to the TTC to take the Epcot monorail round-trip, but never went into the park!

It was in many ways the best Orlando vacation we've ever taken. Those three venues are easy to see in 3-4 days, so there was no pressure to pack things in or run around and "see everything." Those tickets are very affordable, as well: right now, the water park AP is $110ish per person. If you add DQ, it's $140ish.

 

[Brian Noble]

I am so happy you posted this. Not to take over.... but, Im having a hard time wrapping my head around our Christmas trip. DH wants it to be a laid back take all the Christmas stuff in. And I'm commando go, go, go. I will be following this to help ease my desire to ride all we can, see ALL we can.

We just did our bucket-list Christmas trip this past December. We made the "holiday things" a big priority---we saw most of the storytellers in Epcot, did the Processional dinner one night and Illuminations + the Holiday tag on another. We did see Holiday Wishes and spent Christmas evening seeing the Osborne lights and then dinner at Cape May. The "regular" stuff definitely took a back seat, and we took things at a more relaxed pace. For the week, we only did three rope-drop days, though we did also spend one evening in MK until 1AM.

 

[think-like-tink]

We just did our bucket-list Christmas trip this past December. We made the "holiday things" a big priority---we saw most of the storytellers in Epcot, did the Processional dinner one night and Illuminations + the Holiday tag on another. We did see Holiday Wishes and spent Christmas evening seeing the Osborne lights and then dinner at Cape May. The "regular" stuff definitely took a back seat, and we took things at a more relaxed pace. For the week, we only did three rope-drop days, though we did also spend one evening in MK until 1AM.

Thanks for that Brian. How did you like doing the Processional dinner pkg? I am thinking about booking that for us. We are on the dining plan, so that's a plus even if it is a 2 credit deduction.

 

[robndani]

We just did our bucket-list Christmas trip this past December. We made the "holiday things" a big priority---we saw most of the storytellers in Epcot, did the Processional dinner one night and Illuminations + the Holiday tag on another. We did see Holiday Wishes and spent Christmas evening seeing the Osborne lights and then dinner at Cape May. The "regular" stuff definitely took a back seat, and we took things at a more relaxed pace. For the week, we only did three rope-drop days, though we did also spend one evening in MK until 1AM.

We've never done Disney at Christmas. Coming back from a Jan/Feb trip where there was really no swimming because it was chilly, I'm hesitating doing that for 2015, but really want to!

If it's warm, we might do a water park, though.

It will be warm! We've gone twice in April and it's been really hot! Enjoy!

As someone else suggested, I would be careful about what resort you pick, especially staying onsite. Saratoga Springs would be better than Bay Lake Tower, for instance; especially with 5-yos, you don't want the kids to be able to see the parks from your resort every day you're not going! I would also pick a resort where you have access to more than one pool, ideally more than one themed pool (Port Orleans, Saratoga Springs, and Animal Kingdom Lodge are the only onsite ones I can think of with what I could consider multiple themed pools) -- offsite I'd consider Wyndham Bonnet Creek (which is practically onsite), and Gaylord Palms for themed pools; or Marriott World Center, Sheraton Vistana, and Orange Lake for multiple pools with less theming. How important that is depends on how much your kids are into pools (my kids at that age were pool addicts, and would have been thrilled with any of those places)

We're DVC, so we would only stay at a DVC resort. I guess you're right about seeing the parks (& not just the kids)! We were thinking of AKL because that's our home resort and because of the more isolated resort-like feel. Plus if you know a bus is your only means of transportation, it's less alluring! My kids would swim every day, all day if I let them! When we stayed at Beach Club in Sept, we spent 1-4 hours at the pool every day... that was my "must do."

 

[VMS]

Our entire trip in July was parks-free aside from one day at Typhoon Lagoon. We spent the rest of our time at our resort (Wilderness Lodge), Fort Wilderness, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Downtown Disney. We had an absolute blast! We had no trouble filling our time with Tri Circle D Ranch, the pool, exploring the resorts, shopping at Downtown Disney, and a round at Winter Summerland. We did do two character meals - a dinner at Chef Mickey's and a breakfast at 'Ohana. Our daughter is four and she had a fantastic time. We were able to really relax during that vacation and still have a fantastic time. We have talked about doing more parks-free trips in the future.

Did a similar trip July of 2013 with my then 16 year old daughter. Same home resort, we did the WL tour, one day at TL, as well as the Backstage Magic Tour. Walked over to Fort Wilderness, Downtown Disney, Dinner at Boma, pool hopping to BW and Poly. It was a great trip, one of my favorites!

 

[Brian Noble]

Thanks for that Brian. How did you like doing the Processional dinner pkg? I am thinking about booking that for us. We are on the dining plan, so that's a plus even if it is a 2 credit deduction.

It was expensive (we were OOP), but like I said: this was a bucket-list trip, and the Processional was one of the biggest reasons we were there. We ate dinner at Biergarten, which at the time was offering a 10% discount even for the CP packages, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But, it was worth every penny; the show was just fantastic! We lined up relatively early, and had very very good seats. I'm not sure I would do it again right away, given the cost, but I'm sure glad that I did it once.

 

[bababear_50]

I would definately choose to stay at AKV
There is so much for you to do:

Animal viewing with night vision.
Marshmallow roasting (pre make some Smores baggies at home)
Movies under the stars.

Daily activities are posted at AKV:
A few things we did
Medallion rubbings ( I brought some cool paper and extra crayons for this from home)
Baking cookies at Boma.
Storytelling by the campfire.
Visited the turtles at Kidani.

Made up our own treasure hunt of the resort,and celebrated after with treats from Mara.

P.S
I'm also DVC

Have fun planning
Hugs Mel