7 day park tickets, which parks?!

[ktrask]

I know I'm so early...but I just like to think of the Disney vacation...it's my carrot on a stick right now We go Nov 6-13, 2020. DD will be 11, and DH and I will be taking her for a family vacation.

We will tell her end of March, so she can help me pick places to eat before dinining reservation time. But before I can even get to dining reservation time...I need to think about how many days in each park. I know it will be a party time for the holidays, and we will for sure do that on one of our days. Plan is to arrive on first flight of the day, so we can do a park on day 1. Since the ticket price didn't increase by much I figured go for the 7 day (non hopper) pass becuase I won't mind if we don't spend a full day in a park since that 7th day is so inexpensive.

So...what are your suggestions for how to break up those 7 days? Does each park need 2 days, or can any of them just be one and done? I am a Star Wars fan, so really hopeful that things will be more manageable in HS because I'll never get my husband up that early just to get in a boarding group

Help!! We haven't been in 6 years, so I feel a little lost.

 

[Taylor'sMom]

For 7 days I'd say 2 days each for MK, EP and HS and 1 day for AK. Dont forget to "plan" some down-time. A disney vacation is exhausting and you'll need some time to relax at the pool, etc. We like to take a full day every few days. Maybe plan a resort meal or evening at Disney Springs, but no park for the day.

 

[tamerbelles]

First of all, you are NOT too early! You're smart to think about what days you'll be in which parks before you make other plans.

Consider looking at crowd calendars to see which parks will have lower crowds on each day of your trip. There are several free options out there, but I pay for a TouringPlans subscription and use their daily calendar to find the lowest crowd days for each park.

Also, consider any hard-to-get dining reservations or FastPasses you might want and move those park days to the end of your trip, if possible. You'll have more availability toward the end of your trip than the very beginning.

Finally, Magic Kingdom is definitely a two-day park. The others??? Could be one day but it really depends on your family's interests.

 

[Taylor'sMom]

You wont be able to sustain a park open to park close pace for 7 days. Maybe plan a few half-days (ie. 1 morning at MK and take that eveing off, on another day, sleep-in and plan for afternoon/evening at MK for your 2nd visist).

For my family, I'm planning most of ADR's as lunch because I know we like to do rope drop, FPs mid-morning and then will enjoy a break from the heat to sit down for lunch. Afterwards we will decidenif we want a break at the resort, and then return for evening activities. I dont plan evenings. No ADRs and no FPs.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I know I'm so early...but I just like to think of the Disney vacation...it's my carrot on a stick right now We go Nov 6-13, 2020. DD will be 11, and DH and I will be taking her for a family vacation.

We will tell her end of March, so she can help me pick places to eat before dinining reservation time. But before I can even get to dining reservation time...I need to think about how many days in each park. I know it will be a party time for the holidays, and we will for sure do that on one of our days. Plan is to arrive on first flight of the day, so we can do a park on day 1. Since the ticket price didn't increase by much I figured go for the 7 day (non hopper) pass becuase I won't mind if we don't spend a full day in a park since that 7th day is so inexpensive.

So...what are your suggestions for how to break up those 7 days? Does each park need 2 days, or can any of them just be one and done? I am a Star Wars fan, so really hopeful that things will be more manageable in HS because I'll never get my husband up that early just to get in a boarding group

Help!! We haven't been in 6 years, so I feel a little lost.

Honestly IMO both EPCOT and AK are the easiest to do in one day. AK is my personal favorite (I like animals) so I tend to dedicate two days to it instead of EPCOT. But EPCOT should have the Food & Wine festival around that time and if your daughter isn't picky, it's a good time to introduce her to some different foods. Plenty of entertainment too. Will you be on-site and planning to use EMH? Or, since you have essentially base tickets, avoid parks with that benefit (EMH parks tend to be more crowded).

I would still do two days at DHS & MK. I tend to like starting and ending my vacation with MK, but that usually puts me in a higher crowd day .

As others have suggested, consider taking a break on at least one day.

 

[loves to dive]

While I'm not a big planner when it comes to WDW (o.k. I don't plan at all) I can see why you might want to at least for some of the parks. With an eleven year old girl, I would think 2 days at MK would be a must. I would then say plan one day for each park then play it by ear the rest of the time. Gulp, I know for a planner "playing it by ear" is a no-no but here goes my thinking. You have seven days. Say you plan the day you get there at MK, day two at AK, day 3 at HS, day 4 at Epcot (just examples for days) Day 5 maybe you go back to MK but only spend 3/4 of the day there and go back to the resort for some down time. On day 4 you knew you didn't get everything done at that park so you went ahead and booked your fast passes for day 6 for finish out that park and maybe have some more down time that day to rest at the pool or resort hop. Day 7 you can then just go with the flow and go to whatever park you feel you need some more time in. Maybe even one of those first 4 days of parks were only a 3/4 day as well. While it's not popular practice here, same day ADRs are pretty easy to make if you don't want character meals, that is the only way we do ADRs. Or build you play it by ear day into day 4 so you can rest a little in the middle of your trip. So hard plans for 4 days and 3 days of winging it, sort of.

 

[kylenne]

We go Nov 6-13, 2020.

I am a Star Wars fan, so really hopeful that things will be more manageable in HS because I'll never get my husband up that early just to get in a boarding group

Please don't start with that this early, lol. There's an extremely long time between now and Nov. 2020, there may not even be boarding groups in effect anymore for ROTR. For all we know FP+ will be online for Galaxy's Edge attractions then. That said, how many days for each park really depends on your family's interests. At minimum I would agree with 2 MK, and 1 for each other park. You're going during party season though, and MK is a ghost town on party days. You can get an insane amount done, the whole park even if you get there for rope drop. But it's crazy crowded on non-party nights for HEA. Where you're staying also makes a difference because with hoppers you have a lot of flexibility. If you're at a monorail resort, the Crescent Lake resorts, or at a Skyliner resort, it's very easy to spend your morning in one park and then hop to another after a midday rest break at your resort.

I would just echo the advice to make sure you bake in enough downtime. I always feel really sorry for the families in the parks having meltdowns because it's clear they've been run ragged for a week. Rope drop to fireworks for a whole week is really unsustainable. I'm a big proponent of the midday break with at least one full day at the resort with no park time, but even if you plan long days in the parks, try to do a lunch ADR, find a quiet spot, or dip out for an hour or two to a nearby resort to relax.

 

[Unlimited N2O]

Taking into consideration the dates you want to go, consider the following:
2 x MK
1 x HS (Assuming Star Wars calms down a bit, otherwise 2)
1 x Epcot
1 x AK
1 day full rest
1 day rest with MVMCP in the evening

 

[SG131]

As others have said, it depends on your family's interests. 2 full days at MK is a must. I know it's tempting to start your trip at MK, but I would wait until your first full day to do MK. I also would recommend 1.5 at HS because of the way the fastpasses are set up there right now. I would maybe do your first or last day there so that you can ride more than one tier 1 ride. Personally, we only need one day at AK, but we are not animal lovers. If your family loves animals you might consider 2 days at AK to really have time to explore the trails and shows. I always do 1.5-2 days at Epcot because of the fp situation and because it has the best restaurant choices. If you don't think your family will care for food and wine or the countries then you can cut it down to 1 day.

 

[ktrask]

This is all incredibly helpful, and I appreciate that you all remind me this isn’t too early to start thinking.

We are staying at POP, so value on property. Right now I think MK day 1 because if touring plans is right...it will be a party day and close at 6. Then we could do dinner at something like Hoop de Doo (we’ve never been to it) and still be back at POP for bed at a reasonable hour.

It’s all the other days I really need to think about. I feel way more overwhelmed this time than I did when we went 6 years ago. Oh...and we have dining plan with table service

 

[andieb0602]

Someone mentioned you would be there during F&W and I wanted to add onto that. We took our kids when they were 8 and 11 and did not schedule an ADR either of our Epcot days. We ate a decent-sized lunch at Sunshine Seasons and "snacked around the world" for dinner (but really the snacking started right after lunch). The kids *loved* it and we all got to try a bunch of different foods. One of our favorite memories from that trip was their faces when they both realized that they love octopus. The stands at F&W are a really good use of a snack credit, too, if you're on the dining plan.

That said, we're a big thrill ride family and we would plan a day and a half for Epcot, 2 days for HS (big Star Wars fans), 2 days at MK and a full day (open to close) at AK. A full rest day in the middle would be a must for us so we could sleep in late since we rope drop on park days.

 

[kwdw]

Given how tickets are priced - I'd plan on buying a 7 day ticket and plan on NOT going to the Christmas party. I'd plan EPCOT as day one if its a party day at MK. Then - hit each of the parks once - probably MK on day 2 with AK and HS on days 3 and 4 (either order). I would PRE-PLAN a second day to MK for sure. THEN - PRE-PLAN a second day at 2 of the 3 other parks (your gut response). HOWEVER - you might "change on the fly" the second 3 days of tickets depending on what gets done the first day.

I would not plan a day not at a park. I think that is good advice for frequent visitors or folks on trips lasting at least 9 days. I would, however, carefully plan such that you are not trying to spend ALL day at the parks every day. I'd plan no more than 4 open to close days - and plan the other 3 days as no more 6 hour days.

That's what I would do this far in advance. I'd also plan probably twice as many TS meals as you will ultimately want as soon as 180 days hits. Cancel some and play with them after you get your FP's. I almost always hold a couple extra ADRs until right before the trip starts. I also do something change them during the trip, too - just being cognizant of the deadline to cancel entirely without a fee.

A big decision for you regarding your planning is whether or not you want to plan MVMCP or something like Hoop De Doo. Don't buy your park tickets until you decide because if you decide on the party, I'd cut your ticket to 6 days. I'd do research over the next couple of months and decide if those are for you or not. I personally don't strongly recommend either for non-frequent visitors - but I do like both and with a 7 day trip - you could fit in some stuff like those things if you want. You also might want to look at if you want to do an Early Morning Magic or Disney After Dark package. Or a dessert party After our last experience with these events - my group would definitely pick either a EMM or DAH event again. We cut our park ticket by one day for a DAH event, for example.

THEN - while you need a rough plan going into your FP selection day - you might need to adjust your plan as you figure out which FP's you can get on particular days. Right now, for example, it can be hard to get SDD or FOP on day 1 or 2 of a trip. But with changes coming at HS and EP between now and then - the super high demand FP's might change. So - I don't think the advice on this board for a Nov. trip for FP planning is going to be super helpful until later in the summer. Sure - you can learn the tough rides to get now - but that might change some. (I'm guessing FOP is still going to be super tough to get.)

And definitely let the 11 yo help with planning. Sounds like my niece has been way more times than your daughter - but that's still old enough to browse the Disney website and talk to friends. Our last trip - my 10 yo niece had two very specific requests - and that opinion from her really helped actually. Maybe you can ask your daughter to select 1 or 2 "really want to do" attraction from each park, for example.

 

[evlaina]

That's less than a year, which isn't too early in my book! And 8 days is perfect, so you can have 2 at each park. Obviously depends on your interests, but for Nov. 6-13, I would do:
Fri, 6th - MK, even though it will probably close early for a Christmas Party. I just can't NOT do MK our first day.
Sat, 7th - HS
Sun, 8th - AK
Mon, 9th - E
Tues, 10th - HS
Wed, 11th - AK
Thurs, 12th - MK
Fri, 13th - E

However with this plan you're not going to see Happily Ever After, because I like to plan our MK days for party days because they're less crowded. We always get hoppers and I do suggest adding them on, and we hop over another day before HEA from another park.

 

[evlaina]

Also, including your daughter will be so much fun. My 6 year old couldn't care less about planning, but my 8 year old loved helping me plan the last trip. Picking restaurants by reading reviews and youtubing rides is really helpful.

 

[BobbyDukes]

I agree with some of the people in this thread. Break up your week, maybe try a "no-park" day and do hotel pools and dining in morning -afternoon and then DS at night.

 

[montreid]

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to WDW: Dec 23-29
Sunday : West coast flight - 1AM arrived
Day 1 Monday: pulled into AirBnB 230AM -- late start - EPCOT Hopped to MK to close it out
Day 2 Tuesday: AK
Day 3 Wednesday: EPCOT
Day 4 Thursday: MK (Dec 26)
Day 5: Friday: AK
Day 6 : Saturday HS Late PM: AK to close it out
Day 7 : Sunday : travel Afternoon

--it was insane - we loved AK as we have Disneyland just 1.5 hours away and seasonholders -- so MK wasn't as much as must have vs the others.

Hopping can be inefficient, but vital to catch parades/events/fireworks if you're into those. Monorail transfer was fun in itself.

 

[finedice]

Honestly, if you have more than 4-5 days - buy hoppers if you can squeeze it - it let's you feel like you can go anywhere anytime. It makes you feel like it's okay to not do everything in a park in a day. It gives you the run of the resort really... I'm biased though - I like the freedom to zig when everyone else zags - I like to start at the EMH park and hop to the least crowded one right before or after lunch... I like to take a swim (and maybe have a drink) at the resort and play with my phone to see where I can get some decent FPs for the evening... I like to be able to completely scrap my 180, 90, 60, 30, and 2 day plans and do what feels right in the moment. And for the real die-hards - the 4 park challenge is always an option - I tried - once...

 

[5kidsmommy]

It really depends on your family. My kids always want two days in MK and two days in Epcot. They've never really enjoyed HS or AK, although they haven't been in a few years so they might actually be willing to do a full day in each park. One reason we get hoppers is because my family enjoys one park in the morning then a little downtime at the resort and then off to another park.

 

[TonyLovesDis]

For me personally and if I were going with an eleven year old Id plan it
MK -Day 1
Epcot- Day 2
Animal Kingdom - Day 3
HS - Day 4
Relaxing Epcot night - Day 5 ---give yourself sometime during the day to sleep in and relax around a resort or head over to Disney Springs during the day.
Animal Kingdom - Day 6
MK - Day 7 ( end the trip with firework show)

 

[ppony]

I’ve never planned in a no park day in any of our visits since 1994. We only get to WDW every few years or more, so we stay from 8-14 days and do a park each day. We just don’t have qualms w skipping things and bailing when we’re tired.

I suggest checking touring plans dot com to look at crowd calendars to plan what parks on what days. That really helps start to make your plan take shape. AK is the easiest to do in a day. We always leave by mid afternoon. EPCOT too can be a day but sometimes 2 if you’re there long enough. With Star Wars open now, DHS is going to be a 2-day Park for years. It’s NOT going to calm down for a long time. If I were planning your days, I’d do 2-3 at MK, 2 at DHS, 1-2 at EPCOT and 1 at AK. Don’t forget Disney Springs if you like shopping like we do.

You know your family best, so if you need breaks, do them, but at that time of year, parks aren’t open as late and trips back to your resort suck valuable time in transportation. Keep everyone hydrated and do the best pace you can, but be flexible in cutting parts of your plan on the fly to save sanity.