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Zeike
05-05-2011, 09:59 AM
Hi! we are set for a nov. 13th -21 vacation. How does everyone plan out the days? do you go to a park each day including the day you arrive ? do you let a day or 2 just to be at the hotel downtown disney?. We have 3 kids and they would probably want to hit the parks everyday. Just wondering how other families plan the days ahead.

Have a great day everyone!

Ms. Mode
05-05-2011, 10:30 AM
We make a list of our "must do" rides for each park and then make the plan from there. This includes the places that we would like to eat so we can make our ADRs. We always end up changing this up when we're actually there, but not by much. This always gives us a basis to work with...and we change it about five times before we make the ADRs because you're kinda stuck with the plan then (except for the small changes when you're in the parks.) :mickey:

disneymom15
05-05-2011, 10:49 AM
We pretty much wing it. We usually only make 2 or 3 ADR's, so those days we know which park we'll be in. We have AP's so we come and go as we please. Usually hit the parks every day though.

DisneyDoug2
05-05-2011, 10:52 AM
If you can afford it add the park hopper option to your tickets, this way if you get bored at one park or during the day it gets too crowded you can leave and go to another park. We love this flexibility of not being tied into one park every day. This also gives you a lot of flexibility in where you eat. You can spend your day at MK and have a nice dinner in England (Epcot) if you want or a mired of endless possibilities. As for how many day’s we plan in the park, we buy a ticket for everyday that we are there, based on your length of stay adding a day is very cheap compared to the first few days, so there is some benefit to buying more days. If you not sure if you want to or not they can add days to your tickets and the multi day rate if your not sure.

NJGIRL
05-05-2011, 12:42 PM
Everyone is different, but here is what we do:

Day 1: Fly into MCO after work (late around 11:00pm)

Day 2,3 &4: Spent at Universal Studio & IOA

Day 5: Disney Water Park & Disney Quest or DTD

Day 6,7,8, 9, & 10: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, (2 days) EPCOT
These are in no particular order. It depends if we are going to MNSSHP and the early & late admissions.

Day 11: Always ends with EPCOT. We leave the park at 5:00 to catch our flight back home:(

Mickey'sGirl
05-05-2011, 12:53 PM
We always plan on visiting a park each day we are there, even if we arrive in the evening. We use Annual Passes, so the tickets are not an issue for us. We always have at least one ADR each day, and if it is a daytime one, we will plan on going to that park on that day. Otherwise, we have started to go with the flow, depending on what our children want to do. We make sure to hit a few Extra Magic Hour mornings, however, so that we can hit some of the big ticket rides at least once!

Ramblingman
05-05-2011, 02:23 PM
Since we have always lived close enough to drive, we plan a little different from most who fly. When the kids were young, we would spend the night with my mother in Tampa and drive over real early the next morning to let the kids wake up in the parking lot for a special bit of magic.

This time, since the kids are a bit older, we are driving down during the day and arriving in time to check in. We don't have a park planned for that day, so we'll do the hotel and DTD and get all settled in. Plus, there is a pin trading party that night at the Contemporary.

We start early the next morning with the parks. We schedule a main park for each day for general purposes and for ADR's, but we always keep flexibility in case we want to slide over to another park sometime during the day for some reason. We usually head back to the room for a rest in early afternoon for a couple of hours, so that we can head back to another park and not lose that much time to transportation.

We also have one day devoted to DTD this time, which is a first for us. That's because we had originally planned on Sea World that day but changed our minds.

minnie-mouse
05-05-2011, 07:10 PM
With young kids, we plan to do one park a day. We get there early in the am, and stay most of the day, usually til after the parade. Then we head back to the resort, take a swim/nap, etc. and then head to dinner or back to the same park for evening festivities.

It helps to be familiar with the parks and rides and restaurants before you go, so you know what rides your kids will enjoy and what restaurants to skip in the case of picky eaters.

Also, we try to allow some down time for the kids, pool/playground time. Standing in line and walking all day can really tire the little ones out. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

steamboat willy
05-06-2011, 10:20 AM
To help decide what park, what day, etc.... Check which park has EMH and stays open later than others. This is a starting point and will help you decide which PARK to be at which day or at least in the evening. Our FIRST DAY PARK is ALWAYS the MAGIC KINGDOM, regardless of the hours.
When you check on tickets, you will find that after 5 days, the extra days get cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. Only dollars per day for 6,7 and 8 day tickets. We also get Park Hopper Tickets which allows us to go to a different park or one that is open later for Fireworks, Dinner, etc....
DW has MS and we always go back to the Resort for a rest for her and pool time :vacation: for me and then go back after we've cooled off.

It works out GREAT and gives us both a break! :mickey:

wdwfansince75
05-06-2011, 11:00 AM
Our trips have traditionally included most of our immediate family, which includes our 4 DK's, their spouses, and our 7 DGK's. Most of our family visits parks every day, including the first evening. (Always do MK that first night) On most trips, we use park hoppers...we (I) develop plans, considering meals, park hours, EMH's, for which park which day...but rarely stick to the plan. Since we always stay on site, close to the monorail (usually SoG,occasionally, CR) we usually finish most days at MK.
Some of us do most AM openings, including AM EMH...and once or twice a trip, meet up with the late risers for a late morning Character Breakfast...favorites include Donald's Safari Breakfast and Crystal Palace.
I spend most days at the parks, usually spliting my days between the various parks, and sharing experiences with different sub-clans (most trips have been with most of our 4 kids and their families, including m...while we usually do character meals together, and get together at random times, we rarely do entire days as a family...and DW tends to spend more of her time just relaxing at the resort.
Some of the family members do at least one day at a water park. Others do mid day breaks at the resort for swimming, and naps.
While we only schedule occasional group events, we wind up with many more unscheduled events than pure chance can explain...we have more fun by accident than most people do on purpose!

ryca1dreams
05-06-2011, 12:55 PM
I started to do "flexible planning": I would plan out the trip with two parks per day (1 morningish, 1 afternoonish) based around opening/closing times, EMH, special events, expected crowds, specific ADRs, etc. However, at anytime we could deviate if we wanted.

I like to have some sort of plan, but know that we can still "wing it".

Inside The Magic
05-06-2011, 01:52 PM
After 4 days the park pass is only about $6 per person for each additional day. The most important thing is a break. Depending on your kid's ages it doesn't have to be a nap. Enjoy a pool break, go to any of the resorts and maybe take out a boat. Anything just to get out of the parks.

If you take advantage of early morning entry and extended evening for resort guest you can tour alot by noon or go in after dinner and close the parks. We always did park hopping before we got the annual pass because it allows to to visit multiple parks.

Just make your "to do" list and anything else is a bonus. Just remeber keep it as a vacation and not a triathlon.

kemps@wdw
05-10-2011, 05:49 PM
we avoid early EMHs at any park, but have done a few late night EMHs, we get to the parks early enough to get to do what we want with little or no wait, and possibly get chosen for Family of the Day. We make maybe 2-3 ADRs when booking, and go to that particular park on the day/evening of the ressie, and we ALWAYS get park hopper options, so we don't have to plan a day @ the resort. We go back to the resort each day to have some down time between parks.

AmandaChan
05-10-2011, 08:27 PM
Every time we have been it has just been DH and I. We are lazy and because we go every year we usually get to the parks a little later than everyone else. We go in the AM, take a break at the hotel for an hour or two, then go back out at night. That always seemed like plenty of time in the parks.

This year we are going with a party of 8 including a 1 year old. We are taking the 7am to 9am flight, hopefully getting to the parks no later than noon. Then we'll probably come back around 7 or 8. The next four days there are EMH in the morning at each park. MK, Epcot, DHS, AK. Each day we plan on taking the EMH then going back to the hotel for a nap/pool/another shower :) Then we will head back the parks (a different one) for the evening. With a 1 year old I don't really plan on staying too late every night.

We usually definitely go every day including the first day. But this year we are going 3 days, off 1 day, then 3 more full days. I am looking forward to the 1 day off more than anything, I think. Especially because I think the rest of the family is going to the beach without us and DH, baby and I can be lazy all day and take our own pace.

first day - DHS after get back from airport
2 - MK, epcot.
3 - Epcot, DHS
4 - off.
5 - DHS, MK
6 - AK, Epcot
7 - MK

Disney-4-Me
05-10-2011, 09:46 PM
We do different things from time to time but there are some general "rules" that we always follow.

The first park we always go to is the Magic Kingdom. After that we look at the schedule for EMH times and parks. Then we make a flexible plan (we always park hop to try to avoid crowds) to determine our dining reservations. After we make dining reservations we firm up our plan a little more. We don't say that we are going to be at a certain park at a certain hour. We just know that we'll start a day at a certain park and end at another.

Planning is a big part of the fun!:mickey:

Cinderelley
05-12-2011, 02:01 AM
My arrival day plans completely depend on who I am with. It is a long flight for us so with my family, we generally plan a table service dinner at one of the resorts for the evening we get there and unpack/relax that day. If I am with my friend Amy, neither one of us can wait, so we head to the Magic Kingdom as soon as we're done unpacking. :D

After the first day, everything is planned to avoid the parks that are listed on intercot's busiest days. We generally go during free dining. I plan which park we will be in which day, and a table service for dinner or breakfast. That's it. We only do one park per day .