9 nights and 8 park days at Disney World too much ? Please read.

[pryncess527]

I was there for 8 days at Christmas and could have used 8 more!

 

[scrappinginontario]

We’ve often done 8 or 9 park days, even when my dd was a toddler. I will say we enjoy mixing water parks into the mix.

Enjoy!

 

[SpykeYs]

There was some miscommunication between me and my wife. She was under the impression I was scheduling 8 days of park from 8 am to 10 PM. We both don't want water park as we do not feel they will enjoy enough + we have a season pass for a much bigger water park in Canada. We prefer resort pool.

Here is what our schedule looks like. Thoughts ? Remember I am traveling with a 3 (almost 4) and 5. I would guess I have incorporated enough resting period but I'm definitely open for suggestions.


Sunday March 5th: (no park tickets)
-Arrival at All-Star Movies around noon
-Unpack, pool, etc.
- 5 PM dinner at Mediavles Times
- in bed around 9 PM

Monday March 6th (Magic Kingdom)
- Purchase Genie+
- Arrival ~8:30
- Dinner at BoG 5:05 PM
- Leave park after BoG
- Going to bed early

Tuesday March 7th (Animal Kingdom)
- Arrival ~8:30
- Departure ~3-4 PM
- Dinner TBD
- Pool and going to bed early

Wednesday March 8th (Hollywood Studios)
- Purchase Genie+
- Arrival ~8:00
- Leaving around noon for resort pools + nap
- Back at 4 PM
- Dinner Hollywood and Vine 5 PM (with Fantasmic! package)
- Fantasmic! at 8:30 PM
- back to hotel after Fantasmic!

Thursday March 9th (Magic Kingdom)
- Purchase Genie+
- 8 AM Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table
- Leaving around noon-1PM for resort pools + nap
- Back around 5 PM for evening + Fireworks
- back to hotel after fireworks

Friday March 10th (Epcot)
- Purchase Genie+ (stacking)
- Pool at resorts in the morning
- Late arrival (~Noon-1PM)
- Dinner at Space 220 16:50
- Fireworks at 9 PM
- back to hotel after fireworks

Saturday March 11th (HS)
- Purchase Genie+ (stacking)
- Late Arrival (11AM-NOON)
- Sci-Fi 15:45 (Fantsmic! Package)
- Fantasmic! at 8:30 PM
- back to hotel after Fantasmic!

Sunday March 12th (AK or EPCOT) -- Based on kids preference
- Late Arrival (10-11 AM)
- Disney Springs at 3 PM for Cirque Du Soleil show at 4 PM
- T-Rex after Cirque Show (~6 PM)
- Shopping + back to hotel.

Monday March 13th (Magic Kingim) -- LAST DAY
- Purchase Genie +
- Rest back to hotel at 1 PM if necessary
- Back to MK for evening + fireworks

 

[BingoJoe]

Go for 14 days every summer, much shorter and you are rushing about and not relaxing I find.

Most people from the UK come for the two weeks, especially if it isn't a regular thing. Never heard anyone say they were bored.

 

[jo-jo]

There was some miscommunication between me and my wife. She was under the impression I was scheduling 8 days of park from 8 am to 10 PM. We both don't want water park as we do not feel they will enjoy enough + we have a season pass for a much bigger water park in Canada. We prefer resort pool.

Here is what our schedule looks like. Thoughts ? Remember I am traveling with a 3 (almost 4) and 5. I would guess I have incorporated enough resting period but I'm definitely open for suggestions.


Sunday March 5th: (no park tickets)
-Arrival at All-Star Movies around noon
-Unpack, pool, etc.
- 5 PM dinner at Mediavles Times
- in bed around 9 PM

Monday March 6th (Magic Kingdom)
- Purchase Genie+
- Arrival ~8:30
- Dinner at BoG 5:05 PM
- Leave park after BoG
- Going to bed early

Tuesday March 7th (Animal Kingdom)
- Arrival ~8:30
- Departure ~3-4 PM
- Dinner TBD
- Pool and going to bed early

Wednesday March 8th (Hollywood Studios)
- Purchase Genie+
- Arrival ~8:00
- Leaving around noon for resort pools + nap
- Back at 4 PM
- Dinner Hollywood and Vine 5 PM (with Fantasmic! package)
- Fantasmic! at 8:30 PM
- back to hotel after Fantasmic!

Thursday March 9th (Magic Kingdom)
- Purchase Genie+
- 8 AM Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table
- Leaving around noon-1PM for resort pools + nap
- Back around 5 PM for evening + Fireworks
- back to hotel after fireworks

Friday March 10th (Epcot)
- Purchase Genie+ (stacking)
- Pool at resorts in the morning
- Late arrival (~Noon-1PM)
- Dinner at Space 220 16:50
- Fireworks at 9 PM
- back to hotel after fireworks

Saturday March 11th (HS)
- Purchase Genie+ (stacking)
- Late Arrival (11AM-NOON)
- Sci-Fi 15:45 (Fantsmic! Package)
- Fantasmic! at 8:30 PM
- back to hotel after Fantasmic!

Sunday March 12th (AK or EPCOT) -- Based on kids preference
- Late Arrival (10-11 AM)
- Disney Springs at 3 PM for Cirque Du Soleil show at 4 PM
- T-Rex after Cirque Show (~6 PM)
- Shopping + back to hotel.

Monday March 13th (Magic Kingim) -- LAST DAY
- Purchase Genie +
- Rest back to hotel at 1 PM if necessary
- Back to MK for evening + fireworks

Sounds great to me.
Only caution I would say is don't cut the time too close with the "leave about 1 back at 5 for dinner" Sometimes disney transporation is awful awful. I mean if you leave the park just a bit late, long wait for bus, toddler finally goes down for nap, but now you have to wake him up to get back for 5:15 dinner.

 

[snikki]

I think your plan looks good with a good amount of rest time.

Personally I would mix up the RD and late starts instead of bunching the RD days first and the late starts at the end. We try to do 2 RD days and then 1 late start.

My son was a VERY early riser as a toddler/young child but at Disney he would sleep past 8 am easily. It's a lot of stimulation and activity. Just prepare that your kids may sleep later than usual and 4 days in a row of RD may cramp the kids style if they are tired.

 

[WedWayPilot]

We usually come down for 8 nights and do 9 park days. Some days are partial, and we will normally take a break for 3-4 hours at some point each day. My family will not go rope drop to close, but they are fine for several hours each day. Every time we have tried “off property” (Universal, Wikiwatchee, Cocoa Beach) excursions it has been less enjoyable than just staying at Disney and relaxing at the hotel for a few hours.

 

[SpykeYs]

We usually come down for 8 nights and do 9 park days. Some days are partial, and we will normally take a break for 3-4 hours at some point each day. My family will not go rope drop to close, but they are fine for several hours each day. Every time we have tried “off property” (Universal, Wikiwatchee, Cocoa Beach) excursions it has been less enjoyable than just staying at Disney and relaxing at the hotel for a few hours.

We are maybe considering SeaWorld instead of a 8th Disney park day. But the cost would be 450$ vs 100$ for the 8th day at Disney. We are debating if the extra 350$ is worth it for SeaWorld vs perhaps using that money for gifts and such.

Anyone been to SeaWorld ? Thoughts ?

 

[loves to dive]

Your plan sounds o.k. but a few thoughts.

I'm not sure you need 2 Fantasmic shows and an 8:30 showing means you probably aren't getting back to the resort until close to 10. When my son was those ages, that was a tad late so doing it for more than one night, I'm not sure. You know your kids better than me but mine would have been over it with that many TS meals. Of course, I have a son and boys get restless sitting still. He was always well behaved and I took him out to eat a lot at home so he was used to it. We also found when he was at those ages that having a schedule (i.e. having to be somewhere to eat or ride a ride at a specific time) didn't always work out.

 

[JStu]

THIS is my trip. 10 days, 8 in the parks with travel the first and last day. we have done this trip 2-3 times in the past. the flexibility is awesome. see a line at 60 minutes? come back the next time in the park and make it a priority. want to leave for lunch and hang by the pool during the mid-day and then come back at night? do it!

anyway you go, you'll have a blast!

 

[parasail_of_congress]

We did eight straight park days in mid-August with three kids (ages 11, 9 and 6). We rope dropped almost every day but rarely stayed to close. We went back to the resort and swam, went to bed and did the same thing the next day. Everyone had a great time, and while we wouldn't have minded a rest day somewhere in the middle, it worked pretty well for us to hit each park twice while we were there. If we were really tired, we could have taken a longer break at the resort, but outside of a two hour break on our second-to-last day, we made it through everything we wanted to do and more.

 

[CynBeth]

We are maybe considering SeaWorld instead of a 8th Disney park day. But the cost would be 450$ vs 100$ for the 8th day at Disney. We are debating if the extra 350$ is worth it for SeaWorld vs perhaps using that money for gifts and such.

Anyone been to SeaWorld ? Thoughts ?

We love Sea World take a day to visit there every Disney trip but we go around Thanksgiving when they have special holiday shows at night on certain days. We don’t go on most of the rides tend to see shows and visit the animal areas. You would need to go on the website to see what they have and decide if it is worth it to you or just want to keep your schedule as is.

 

[bfost87]

We're doing 12 full days (outside of travel days) and doing 10 park days.

 

[Sjm9911]

Way too much, especially given the ages of the kids. That is unless you just plan to hit a park for an hour. This is especially true at some places the littlest will not like so much. Take some breaks, do some relaxing at the pool, see if you can take in a disney breakfast and not be rushed. Go to some free stuff like at the for , see the horses.

 

[SpykeYs]

Hi !
Thank you again for your feedback! I made some minor modifications in order to have the rest time more spread evenly and same things with fireworks. Here is my new schedule:

My big question is would you leave as is or remove 1 disney park day and replace by Seaworld ?

Context:
- We are interested to rest for a few hours here and there but not a full rest day.
- Kids 3 1/2 and 5 1/2
- Extra Disney park = ~100$ where as Seaworld = ~500$ with uber.

I'm leaning towards keep this trip Disney only and next time when they are older perhaps do half Disney and half universal with Seaworld. I have a feeling the extra disney park day would be more or less a rest day (a few hours park and some resort/pool) where as if we go Seaworld it is going to be full day in park.

Sunday March 5th: (no park tickets)
-Arrival at All-Star Movies around noon
-Unpack, pool, etc.
- 5 PM dinner at Mediavles Times
- in bed around 9 PM

Monday March 6th (Magic Kingdom)
- Purchase Genie+
- Arrival ~8:30
- Dinner at BoG 5:05 PM
- Leave park after BoG
- Going to bed early

Tuesday March 7th (Hollywood Studios)
- Purchase Genie+
- Arrival ~8:00
- Leaving around noon for resort pools + nap
- Back at 4 PM
- Dinner Hollywood and Vine 5 PM (with Fantasmic! package)
- Fantasmic! at 8:30 PM
- back to hotel after Fantasmic!

Wednesday March 8th (Animal Kingdom)
- Arrival ~8:30
- Departure ~3-4 PM
- Dinner TBD
- Pool and going to bed early

Thursday March 9th (Magic Kingdom)
- Purchase Genie+
- 8 AM Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table
- Leaving around noon-1PM for resort pools + nap
- Back around 5 PM for evening + Fireworks
- back to hotel after fireworks

Friday March 10th (Epcot)
- Purchase Genie+ (stacking)
- Pool at resorts in the morning
- Late arrival (~Noon-1PM)
- Dinner at Space 220 16:50
- Harmonius at 9 PM
- back to hotel after fireworks

Saturday March 11th (HS)
- Purchase Genie+ (stacking)
- Late Arrival (11AM-NOON)
- Sci-Fi 15:45 (Fantsmic! Package)
- Fantasmic! at 8:30 PM
- back to hotel after Fantasmic!

Sunday March 12th (AK or EPCOT) -- Based on kids preference
- Cellier at 17:00
- Harmonius again (if not tired)

Monday March 13th (Magic Kingim) -- LAST DAY
- Purchase Genie +
- Rest back to hotel at 1 PM if necessary
- Back to MK for evening + fireworks

 

[Sjm9911]

I still say its a lot. Can you do it, maybe. Just going off my experience, 1 kid 7/8 first time around , 9/10 the second, 1 adult. I had a similer plan. This was before the G+ , soyou could get up a little later, and we stayed at the campground, so we had breakfast fast and easy while getting ready. It did not go anywhere near plan. You have to get on the G+ at 7 am. So, get up 630 to have coffee, and be able to think. Lol. If your up, mite as well get into the parks earlier. We had the pool rest thing also, kido was too tired to go back to the parks at nigh. We did the fireworks only 2 of the days. It was a later firework show because it was november. My daughter was sleepwalking through them. Lol. I think only 2 times we atually went back to the park after returing at one. On the second trip, we just brought some food with us, she was 9/10 years old on this trip, we did the parks untill 3 pm and done. This time also only went to see one fireworkshow at night. Plan out your areas and what you want to get on and see. Plan out stuff so you walk less. My daughter wanted to do rides, we could almost do all of MK by 3 pm with the G+ or the old fast pass system. I would skip sea world, and plan to do less with the younger kidos, look around, take in a show. My daughter hated AK, we have zoos by us and she wasn't too into it. I thought that would be her second favorite park. She loved epcott, with the shows, and things to do and see, plus frozen. HS was good but way too packed and had a bunch or rides go down. So, try to plan around the rides that go down the most. Those would be the newer ones. MK is always everyones favorite, but they took away stuff like the wizards game and such that the kids liked. The will have stuff at AK for the older of the 2 kids, wilderness explorer, that may make it more fun for them. But this is only my experience, with my kid. Your will very. Just be able to adapt, and rest the kids. They will need it.

 

[MiraclesTakeTime]

Eight park days sounds like a lot for a 3 & 5 year old. Resting in the parks isn't the same as resting at the pool at the resort. We usually like to include a couple resort/pool days to give the kids some downtime from the parks, but really every child is different. If you think your kids are up to it, go for it. I'm not sure you can ever have "too much" Disney.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[CalOilerGurl]

Agree with previous posters that the REST days are huge and some of my family's favorite memories are created while swimming or enjoying our resort. Every family is different though, and if your family likes to go go go on vacation, and that is your style, then it is a great plan.

For context, we have a 7 year old and a 3 (almost 4) year old and we did a 10 day trip in Jan with 6 park days. It was the perfect balance for us.

 

[TraderStitch]

From my own personal view.... I used to make a park day every day and thought it was the greatest thing ever. ... then I bought DVC and it changed everything.

Since I know we are always going to have the ability to come back, we don't stress about cramming as much in. We have a 2 yr old now with another on the way. On our last trip this past week, 2 yr old and momma needed a nap so every day it was a forced nap in the room. Late morning or early afternoon.

We only had 2 park days and even those were half days.

Looking at your schedule, I was tired just reading through it and we LOVE Disney. I can see how a non-Disney loving spouse might grow weary of a schedule like that.

With something that ambitious I'd say plan two rest days to keep the Mrs happy haha.

 

[Miffy]

I concur with a previous poster who suggested you alternate your RD days with your later-arrival days instead of having 4 days in a row of RDing. I think that could turn out to be exhausting, unless your family is used to getting up early, rushing to get everything together, and then walking for 5 or 6 miles. I mean, that's possible--I'm not being sarcastic. But WDW can be really tiring. You're not just doing a lot of walking, you're doing a lot of standing, which can be even more tiring than walking.

Not to mention how overstimulating WDW is. I'm mentioning this because I can do WDW commando-style but neither my DH nor my sister (one or the other is always my WDW traveling companion) can keep up with me and I have been known to wear each of them into the ground to the point where all they can do is sit on a bench for a few hours while I run around the park. And, yes, I leave them on the bench!

My vote is against SeaWorld. I haven't been there recently but the only time I was ever there I swore I'd never go back. Maybe it's amazingly better now, but I would never waste a WDW trip on this.

Keep in mind that your schedule may not work out. People get tired, someone might want to ride something multiple times, and even you might feel like eating something different on the day you have a particular restaurant planned. So, be prepared to be flexible.

I'm sorry you can't do hoppers. That would really help with your situation since sometimes one goes to a park and it's so crowded that all one wants to do is leave. Or your kids might favor a particular park and want to go back more than once. Unpredictable.

Nevertheless, have a great time! 10 days at WDW = fantastic!