Frequent visitors, what is your typical park day schedule?

[eeyoresmom]

We do 6 park days. 4 of those days we go to the AM EMH at whatever park. We stay a couple hours, then move on to another park where we have our FP. We then stay most the night at that park, sometimes leaving a little early (maybe 7 ish), but usually stay till around 8-9 (depending on closing time). We usually take one day not to head to the parks until around 11, and the other day we play by ear. Those days we usually schedule FP in for our morning park. Not much sleeping in for us on vacation.

I'm thinking of changing that a bit next time though. We will still do the AM EMH, but then plan our FP for that park that day. Then just spend a couple hours in another park in the evening. Either trying to get more FP, look for low wait times, or just taking it all in. I think I want to try ending on the park we will only spend a couple hours in than starting our day that way.

Your plan is similar to how we tour now. Active days but not too crazy. I would like to take it down another notch on a few days though to enjoy the resorts more.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We used to do this when our kids were little. Do you stay onsite or off? Now that we stay at DVC resorts I feel guilty if we dont take advantage of the resort activities.

We always stay onsite. My parents always go with us and we’re all DVC members. I understand wanting to get “your moneys worth” out of the resort.

 

[FSU Girl]

We almost never rope drop. I like sleeping in and then going on the rides we made fastpasses for. We usually will head back to the resort after for a break and then head off to dinner either in a park or hotel. I love the night time shows and try to stay for some of them.

 

[lovin'fl]

DVC members who go 2-3 times a year. Our 3 kids are all college age too. So when they are with us we tend to lay low all morning as they sleep in. Hit the parks for lunch and then 3 FP and then back to resort to rest before dinner somewhere. When no kids are with us, DH and I will get moving earlier...go to parks for 3 FP around 10-1 and then eat lunch there or leave to eat lunch at nearby resort. Then rest at room before dinner. We like to visit lounges for drinks and DH likes to watch sports (so lounges with TVs when it's football or hockey season). But we don't hop parks too often anymore...we go next week and I think we have 2 nights of EMH planned where we'll do another park earlier for FP...but we usually skip the EMH (say we'll go but then get lazy and skip it). And we tend to just do 2-3 FP and that's it. It's a more low key, drinking vacay. We love Epcot and the festivals and spend most time in Epcot. We've been doing it like this for probably 6-7 years now.

And as far as resort offerings...our kids (20, 20 and 22) haven't been into the pool for several years. Last trip I can remember them getting swim suits on was at BCV in Jan 2013 and that was for the quiet pool hot tub at night (they didn't even dig the BCV SAB pool...I tried to get them to go but was alone over there). When my mom is with me we do pool time, lay out and take a dip and people watch and have a fruity frozen drink. DH won't EVER do that. Maybe the kids will now as they become of drinking age...hmmmm.

 

[eeyoresmom]

DVC members who go 2-3 times a year. Our 3 kids are all college age too. So when they are with us we tend to lay low all morning as they sleep in. Hit the parks for lunch and then 3 FP and then back to resort to rest before dinner somewhere. When no kids are with us, DH and I will get moving earlier...go to parks for 3 FP around 10-1 and then eat lunch there or leave to eat lunch at nearby resort. Then rest at room before dinner. We like to visit lounges for drinks and DH likes to watch sports (so lounges with TVs when it's football or hockey season). But we don't hop parks too often anymore...we go next week and I think we have 2 nights of EMH planned where we'll do another park earlier for FP...but we usually skip the EMH (say we'll go but then get lazy and skip it). And we tend to just do 2-3 FP and that's it. It's a more low key, drinking vacay. We love Epcot and the festivals and spend most time in Epcot. We've been doing it like this for probably 6-7 years now.

And as far as resort offerings...our kids (20, 20 and 22) haven't been into the pool for several years. Last trip I can remember them getting swim suits on was at BCV in Jan 2013 and that was for the quiet pool hot tub at night (they didn't even dig the BCV SAB pool...I tried to get them to go but was alone over there). When my mom is with me we do pool time, lay out and take a dip and people watch and have a fruity frozen drink. DH won't EVER do that. Maybe the kids will now as they become of drinking age...hmmmm.

I do frequent trips with just DD(23) or just DH and they are night and day. DD is go, go, go,still, doesn't stop to smell the roses even at Flower and Garden , haha. She knows I'm over that so I will just stop to look at whatever interests me and she eventually realizes I'm not running behind her to the next ride. DH is slow to get going in the morning, likes to eat, return to the pool, nap, go back to the parks for dinner. He could never go on a ride and be quite happy. I just have to find balance this trip since 2 of us only go every few years and 1 has been only 1 other time.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I’ve never managed to make it to rope drop. My exhusband was not a morning person,and this will be my first trip back without him. I am going to try to hit a couple EMH this trip. But my normal schedule is to get to the parks between 9 and 10, sometimes we would leave mid day and go eat outside of the park, hang out at the resort, eat dinner outside of the park, and come back until close. Other times we just stay until close. My favorite place to watch the fireworks shows is fantasyland. Even though you can’t see what’s being projected on the castle, you get a great view of the fireworks themselves and once fantasyland reopens, you are the first in line! Most people with small kids tend to leave at that time so I can normally get all of fantasyland ridden in that hour after fireworks. If we finish before park close, I usually move to tomorrow land. But like rope drop, we find we can pack in a lot of rides between fireworks and close. And my kids seem to prefer staying late to getting up early.

 

[AngiTN]

Thank you, this is valuable advice and sounds so reasonable. If you have any other tips please share

Oh, let's see
To me these things seem obvious but they may not be to others. I tend to forget we go so often that what has become second nature to us is brand new to others

We book our first FP about 10:30-11:30, timing it so we get there about 11:30, using it right near the end of it's window and so we are ready to move right in to the 2nd FP. Where possible we select the 3rd FP as one of the easier to find FP and with any luck, are able to move it up when we've scanned in for #2. If we can, great, if not, then we've got a minute or two to kill and will just grab a beverage (of the adult variety where possible).

I saw your later post about your DH not being a morning person. We may be married to the same person. This is a constant struggle at Disney. Especially in the summer as he also hates the heat so he knows there's a need to get up and out early so we can get back to the room and out of the heat as early as possible. It made our DAH trip last week perfect. We never went to the parks before evening. He'd love if we could do those every trip. We only used FP at Epcot, which is where we grabbed food too.

We don't ever bother with trying to battle to make rope drop. There are no rides we HAVE to get done so if we can't FP it or if it doesn't have a short enough line to stand by, we just don't ride it that trip, it can get done next time.

Same approach for night time shows. I love fireworks the most in the family so they leave it up to me which shows we catch and when. I try to work in HEA at least once, usually from behind the castle but that's pretty much it. The others are just if we are there, great. We don't make any efforts. We'll catch them next time.

 

[Disneypro1]

We always have our first FP at 1000 so we get there about 930 and then stay until park closes. That how we roll. Any park is pretty much the same schedule. 0930 arrival. 1000 hrs past pass #1. Then so on. Stay till close. Well get our sleep another time. Lol

 

[wdw&sonny]

It sounds to me like OP is looking for advice on what to do on check out/in day of split stay. Our normal day is like yours, RD til lunch, resort for R&R, evening dinner/park. So on check in/out day, we treat it the same. Pack, load car, head to RD park through lunch or maybe lunch at new resort. Check to see if room is ready. If not, still go to pool for R&R. Sometimes we change into swim wear, or may just lay by pool w/ book and drink. When room is ready, we check in, unpack and off to dinner...

 

[shyjade]

We always rope drop, and usually leave the first park by late morning or early afternoon. Our trips are short - normally 3-4 days. Sometimes we head to a different park, Disney Springs, mini golf, or back to the hotel to relax by the pool for a bit. We never stay in the same park all day long. We used to go "commando" - from park to park, never taking a break in between. Our theory was, "we can swim back at home, but we can only do the parks when we are at Disney." We still struggle with this theory, but really do try to fit in some downtime by the pool at least one afternoon. This will be our first trip since my daughter was diagnosed with Lupus and POTS, so I suspect we will make downtime by the pool a priority. (This is also why I choose Moderates over Values now - we find the pool time and resort vibe in general so much more relaxing than at the Values. When we crammed 2, 3 or 4 parks in one day, all we did at the resort was sleep.)

 

[sachilles]

Our pattern is 5 or 6 days.
Typically, we arrive about dinner time, and go to Disney springs the first night.
We don't quite rope drop one park, and use our FP there, eat lunch. Then head back to resort early afternoon for a nap/chill out, then go to a different park for the evening for dinner, and stay until close.
Usually our mornings get later as we go. Last day is usually at the pool, and an afternoon flight out.

This week, we are going straight to the park on arrival stay until close. Next day sleep in, and hit a tour at 11am. do our normal routine. The difference this time is working in an off day on Saturday. Morning character meal at another resort, hang out at the pool at home resort and disney springs for the evening.

 

[Barnabas T Bullion]

We have a 6 night stay next month that is split between 3 resorts.

Yikes.

 

[mousiemom]

We are frequent visitors and always rope drop, go back to the resort for an afternoon break, then return to the parks for dinner and a few more attractions. We do not always see the night time shows since we've them all many times. We have a 6 night stay next month that is split between 3 resorts. Since waiting for your room to be ready is the hardest part of split stays I was thinking it would be easier if we did rope drop, stayed through 3 pm or so, then just checked into the new resort and stayed put enjoying the resort. We would return for HEA, but our MK day luckily falls on a day we arent moving. We would also return to HS on a day we are moving so that cant be helped. We have never toured any other way in 18 years of going several times a year, so a new plan is daunting! BTW, our family is 6 adults so everyone CAN do whatever they want. So, what do you guys do?

we are rope droppers every trip, our MK days are the longest, but we usually get a lot done, break for lunch, maybe go back to resort just to freshen up and go to dinner, or fireworks, or disney springs. we also like to take boat taxis everywhere (my favorite) sometimes we will leave MK and take boats to wilderness lodge or other monorail resorts to walk around, take pics and relax in lobbies.

 

[sdomino11]

Our touring preferences would line up nicely with your resort hopping. We sleep in and get to the parks at 11. Then we head straight for quick service lunch. So, we don't actually do any attractions until around 12. I know many would say that we're missing the shortest lines but we really don't mind. Plus it gives us the energy to stay up late and not leave until they kick us out! If you were to adopt this plan on your resort switch days, you could drop your luggage at bell services to be transferred to your new resort before you catch a bus out at check-out time.

 

[NH-to-FL]

When DW and I were making our frequent on site vacations we would always rope drop, usually to the park with morning EMH, and then take an afternoon break. After the break we would decide what our evening activity would be. We would also have at least one rest day, sometimes two depending on the length of stay. However we never did split stays. We liked to settle in. I appreciate that you are finding your new 6 day, three resort plan a bit daunting. I know I would. It would take me a day to settle in every time.

 

[skippytx]

We do exactly what the OP does. Start early, mid day break, usually end up at MK or Epcot for the evening. Just depends. The mid day break is important to us.

 

[eeyoresmom]

When DW and I were making our frequent on site vacations we would always rope drop, usually to the park with morning EMH, and then take an afternoon break. After the break we would decide what our evening activity would be. We would also have at least one rest day, sometimes two depending on the length of stay. However we never did split stays. We liked to settle in. I appreciate that you are finding your new 6 day, three resort plan a bit daunting. I know I would. It would take me a day to settle in every time.

It's technically only 2 resorts, Beach Club and WL, but will most likely have to switch rooms at WL.

 

[tnolan]

We visit every year and our arrival day is an abbreviated visit to MK, during which we have lunch there, visit a few beloved attractions, then back to the resort for the night. The other days of the trip, we usually reach the parks by around 11 am, get our fp's done, then my husband, who is not a late nighter, goes back to the hotel around late afternoon while I, if its not raining, will stay to see the night time shows.