Do you ever regret not slowing down a bit more...

[Figmentmommy]

We've never been rope drop types - but often close the parks & enjoy that very late night EMH. Even when our kids were young we stayed out late and did as much as possible each day. Now we slow down by starting our park days in the 10:00 hour instead of 8 and taking a morning to hang by the pool while the kids swim then head out in the early afternoon until who knows how late?!? Our motto has always been that sleep is for the weak at Disney - we didn't travel all that way and spend all that money to take it easy. We could have stayed home for that & have more money in the bank!

 

[wollydoodle]

My goal is to slow down for our upcoming February trip. I always say I'm going to, but then I get there and something in my mind that says, "fit all this in!" kicks in and it's like I can't help myself! My family still laughs about my "willy nilly" comment from the last trip when I said we wouldn't be so structured and fast-paced. Lol... This is a "bonus" trip that came up with my son's school band and my much-more-relaxed-at-Disney sister and daughter are going too so I'm going to try really, really hard....

 

[gabzee]

We have always had that "there is no sleeping in Disney" mentality. We used to be commandos to the extreme. Now we have found a happy medium. We still love some rope drops and being one of the last families in the park; however, while we are touring the parks, we have learned slow down and enjoy some of the little treasures that Disney has and even take a break. We know this isn't our last trip. We will be back to enjoy more of the magic soon so there is no need to run around like we are late for a very important date.

 

[griff0525]

Slowing down is such a luxury! We always say, "we'll be back" and not stress out if a line is too long or we want to sleep in!

 

[PetePanMan]

I'm not commando, but I like to have a basic plan. I know what our ADRs are for the day, and what our Fastpasses are. That is as much as I like to plan daily. I don't like to sleep in, I find rope drop to be valuable, and I still have the energy to stay in the parks until close.

One thing I don't mind doing is standing in lines. I think it gives a great opportunity to stop and appreciate the fact that I'm at WDW, catch up with my party members, etc. A WDW trip is certainly tiring but I really like the moments that my party gets to spend in line.

I totally get your point about standing in lines. Don't get me wrong, I won't stand in super long lines but 15-20 mins in line with family / friends are often great times to connect and have some laughs.

 

[GPC0321]

I don't have the experience under my belt that most DISers do, having been away from WDW for 17 years and this upcoming trip being only my 5th time visiting, but the main factor that will make us take it slow (besides my parents' ages) is that I spend 5 days a week (10 months out of the year) on a very strict schedule. Back when I booked the vacation and started planning, I was ALL ABOUT having a packed schedule and seeing the most we could see. But that was in the summertime when I'm off of work. Since being back at work (I teach), I've slowly decided that there is NO WAY I'm scheduling my WDW vacation to death. Heck, when school is in session I don't get to eat when I want or even use the bathroom when I want. My day revolves around lesson plans, bell schedules, duty schedules, and meetings. I "have" to do this, this, and this EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of the week for the 36 weeks we have students. 25 minutes for lunch. A 10 minute break to use the restroom. Even my classes have to be scheduled: Bell-ringer, guided practice, independent practice, wrap-up.

So, yeah, I'm not going to just "wing it" when we get down there. We'll utilize rope drop and morning EMH, and will do our best to hit the things we want. But I'm not scheduling every hour of the day down to what we'll be riding when and where we'll be eating when (QSDP really relieved that ADR insanity for me). I've even built in a day where we'll just go to whatever park we want.

There are no guarantees that any of us will ever get to go back to Disney, so I say make the most of it while you're there. If that means seeing and doing every single thing like you're on a whirlwind scavenger hunt. Go for it! For me it's just enjoying the fact that I'm THERE.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

We have never been those people. Though we are up so early for everyday life that "park early" still isn't early for us. We do one day rope drop with a "early" breakfast. I think for what we pay for resort fees you really are spending too much if you don't take a resort day, especially for a Deluxe or Mod stay.

 

[Julylady]

Each Disney day has three parts. Morning. Afternoon. Evening. We spend two of the three in the parks each day, and relax on the third part. So about 6-8 hours per day in the parks. We also avoid EMH at all parks except MK.

 

[tstidm1]

I'm a person who likes to Rope Drop to close or until the Evening show ends (with a break depending on Park and time of year) just four days straight even a departure day. I'm thinking about taking a day off during the trip because I don't want to exhaust my 70 something mom and having her not see the Evening shows. I'm planning to do a Mid-Day break even though it's Early May to help on this. It will probably help me have more energy as well.

 

[rainboots]

I wish we could slow down and take more advantage of the late hours, but the first week of Feb, the hours are pretty short, so we can't take big midday breaks . We are trying to sleep in on this trip, but I bet I am antsy to get to the parks!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

We've been to WDW 5 times with last 3 as DVC owners (most recently from Dec trip). With each trip, we try to slow down a bit more at parks, sleep in more, spend more time at resorts etc. Yet, we are still a bit too frantic chasing another FP or ride or park or whatever. We are getting better and enjoy WDW as much or more than ever but still return thinking we would enjoy it even more by further slowing down. Anyone else like this? Any strategies you use to try to chill out a bit more?

We used to go at a leisurely, slow pace and just go wherever, take afternoon breaks, enjoy the resorts more when it wasn't so crowded and the wait times weren't what they are now. We are trying to go back to that on this next trip. I have lots of empty time so we can just enjoy the trip and the resort. Before, we'd go to Disney a couple of days, US a couple, Sea World, hit Disney again, spend the first day at DTD, and still have a day off (if we didn't do Sea World or the 2nd day at US).

 

[Flamingeaux]

We have slowed down over the years. We still hit it hard in the morning and depending on the park we will keep going a few hours after lunch.

 

[hsmamato2]

yes. The older I get, the more I want to take it slow. However my teen ds wants to go at 1000 miles per hour....so we try to compromise... I end up doing WAY more than I intend to do,and having fun, but wishing I was taking it slower!

 

[hsmamato2]

we tend to putz in the mornings and stay out later to make kiddo happy

 

[North of Mouse]

We've slowed down since buying an AP. That's my best strategy for taking it slow.

We have purchased AP's the last several years and that has also made us be a little more leisurely. When we had X amount of days, we felt we were 'wasting' a day if we didn't keep running all day! Now, we just go in and out at will. We also use our AP's 2-3 times during that year, then skip a couple years til our next trips. After our last trip in Feb. with this AP, we plan to take more time off - so many other places to go/see - also getting a little weary with Disney's ridiculous changes.

After many years, 'age' also has a way of automatically slowing us down! Have been going since the MK opened.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

In my daily life, I get up at 3:15a on work days and don't get home until 7:15p, so even getting up for RD is still 'sleeping in' for me. The last time we went, we were going 'commando' for the first couple of days. DSIL was on an ECV due to recovering from a broken leg, so even though it was hot, she didn't get as tired. After going back and forth across the same part of the property for fast passes and shows, combined with the heat of the day and that we were in AK (which is a hotter park by design), I literally melted down. We went back to the resort to take a break and I ended up being done for the rest of the night. The next day (and for the rest of the trip), DH and I did early mornings, left by 11a for the resort, either napped or hit the pool, left to go back to a park by 4:30p and stayed there as late as possible. Most of the time DSIL joined us back at the resort, but sometimes she wanted to go back to a park earlier or stay through.

I feel like we rode everything we wanted to multiple times. I know we missed a few last time due to weather, but I got plenty of park ambience time and loved soaking it in. We also used the pool WAY more than I thought we would, so I am planning on more bathing suits for next time.

 

[think-like-tink]

I have been wanting to share my story from a best friends get away from our husbands, it was a Christmas present. Dh and kids like to stop and look along the way to our next stop. I like to take tons of pics. too. My friend all weekend practically ran to the next thing. We had to rush,rush,rush, the whole. It's no wonder why her kids don't like Disneyworld. I was so tired when we got back.
The only thing we slowed down for was the lights. Thank goodness.

 

[THEJOEL]

We've been to WDW 5 times with last 3 as DVC owners (most recently from Dec trip). With each trip, we try to slow down a bit more at parks, sleep in more, spend more time at resorts etc. Yet, we are still a bit too frantic chasing another FP or ride or park or whatever. We are getting better and enjoy WDW as much or more than ever but still return thinking we would enjoy it even more by further slowing down. Anyone else like this? Any strategies you use to try to chill out a bit more?

That was or vow after our trip in October. So when we went back last week we made it a point to slow down and check out more things that aren't rides.
It worked well as a strategy to not only appreciate the small things but to deal with the heavier crowds. We did all of the shows in DHS (Really loved The Frozen Sing Along), spent more time in the world showcase and finally saw the hall of presidents in MK.
Heck we even sat on a bench and just relaxed for an hour between our FP to just people watch and spend time together. It was really nice.

 

[dlavender]

Never. We can sit around and do nothing at home for free.

We tried to take a day off in the middle of the trip once. We were bored to tears by 10:00 am.

We are right there with you. We tried to take a mid day resort break a few years back, and we couldn't stand it. All the walking back to the bus, to the room, to the pool, back to the room, back to the bus, back to the park, was way more work than we expected. The break became more work than just taking a breather inside the park, lol. We go RD to goodnight kiss. We will slow down when we can start taking 10 day trips.

 

[katt789]

Having spent a year living down in Florida it was much easier to slow down and relax during the park days we had. Though we were usually up at going by MK's rope drop, we'd stroll down Main St, grab a coffee, eat breakfast and watch the first trolley show. After the parade, or around 6pm, we'd head over to the monorail resorts and grab a bite to eat and a drink and just sit and soak up the atmosphere (might be a bit harder to do with kids, but depending on ages they might dance around to the music or even play around on phones?) PP's said stopping every few hours for a snack works, which is definitely true, a snack, coffee, meal, ice cream, can all make you sit down for a while. We spend a lot of time sitting in the hub grass once the sunlight isn't too bright.

Epcot in particular is an easy park to stroll around in, have a snack or drink in each country and sit around to absorb the culture represented. Check out the movies, get a Duffy stamped in each country, spend some time chatting with cast members about where they're from/what the like about working in Disney or at home. They'll be MORE than happy to continue to chat (this works with any cm's but the ones roaming the merch shops works best). I also find DAK to be super easy to take a load off and absorb everything in because there's so much to look at and explore. Take a break while the kids (or you) dance around to the live band in Harambe, wander through all the jungle trek pathways, take the train out to planet watch and hangout with some goats for a while. It all depends on what you want to experience, while "slowing down"

I've spent previous trips starting at 6:00 am and not stopping until midnight, rides, fp, characters, ddp meals, parades, shows, fireworks, leg cramps, exhaustion, and it's all absolutely been worth it. I've also spent entire days at a resort and it's also been worth it.