Is 17 hours too long in the parks?

[marcyleecorgan]

I would try to do it, but do NOT overdo it!!!

 

[SaintsManiac]

It's too long for me, but everyone is different.

 

[GPC0321]

Prior to my most recent trip in June, I would have balked at 17 hours in the parks. But we only had two park days during our short trip, and no hoppers, so we did both Epcot and MK from rope drop til close. We were in Epcot for the full 12 hours (9am-9pm) with about an hour tacked on that we waited for rope drop in the morning and maybe another 45 minutes to an hour from the end of IllumiNations until we got on the bus back to the resort. That was the longest I had spent in a park....until the next day when we arrived at MK at about 6:45am (8am opening). We were the very first people at the security checks from the buses. We were among the first into the park and onto Mine Train. We left Magic Kingdom after watching the "Kiss Goodnight" closing announcement/castle going to sleep thing, which was not long after 11pm. We did have about an hour or so break where we took the boat over to the Grand Floridian to look around and then rode the monorail back (maybe closer to an hour and a half to two hours total away from MK...but it still wasn't the same as going back to a room to flop on the bed, or take a swim or whatever).

It was tiring (for two moderately fit women in our early 40's), but not as bad as I thought. MK was more exhausting just because of the late night getting in from Epcot coupled with the early morning heading to MK. Plus, MK is just more exhausting in general. It's hotter than Epcot because it seems you walk more in the strong sun to get around. Future World at Epcot is easy to navigate and you spend a lot of your time inside. World Showcase has lots of places to duck in out of the sun as well as you travel around, and lots of movies and shows to get you off of your feet and in the A/C.

I never saw myself as an all-day park-goer before, but now I know I can do it and it's kind of nice. We got SO much done! Definitely felt like we got our money's worth for those park tickets!

 

[brave321]

It's definitely a shorter trip than we're used to. I got slammed at work this month, but promised a trip to my daughter before she left for college so we cut out a couple beach days. We are definitely more of the spend as much time in the park as possible to get our money's worth and then take a break the next day type of people, but we have never done anything this long with this much stuff because of my husband (he'd die). I figured my daughter and I would probably be able to pull it off, but I wanted to know if others had done it before.

It's actually kind of funny because we went back in December/January for NYE and it was FREEZING. Now we're going during the hottest time of year so I guess we're really hitting the two extremes. We had long park days for that trip, but because it was so crowded we weren't worried about doing as much and instead took the time to relax and enjoy being there, so I didn't know how different we'd feel. My daughter and I were tired, but not nearly as much as my husband and son were!

Our schedule is pretty flexible, there are a lot of things that I'd like to get done, but won't stress about not getting to. If we need a break, we will probably do CoP or take the Monorail to one of the resorts to check them out if we have time. My daughter and I have never been the type to take a midday break, my husband and son would usually do that while we stayed at the park.

I'm feeling so much more confident about our plan now! Thanks so much!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We would need to stop for...libations...then come back. We would not think of bringing beer into MK.

 

[Flamingeaux]

It is doable but I would try to hit a lot of the sit down attractions at MK. Country Bear, CoP, HoP, .....

 

[kniquy]

wouldn't even be fun anymore?

It is doable but -- plan to sleep in the next day a little. There is such a thing as Disney Adrenalin -- we were up at 4am for our flights, arrived at the resort by 11:30a and were off and running at Epcot until 8:30 and probably not in bed until 9:30p --- and this was with a 5 yo and 12 yo twin boys. To help give you a break from the crowds maybe plan a couple TS meals or you could plan for a couple hours in the afternoon to leave the park just to relax and head back. Play it by ear and maybe don't plan any FP between 1-4pm so that if you want to leave you can and if not just keep on going.

 

[mindeola]

Completely dependent on the temperature for me. A cool day or a warmer day with no humidity I can and will do that. Hot and humid depths of hell? I just can't. I have to refresh mid day.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Several factors:

Weather-if it's hot, humid, rainy, that's a no.
Crowds-if packed to the gills, it's a no. On the flip side, if it's not busy, you may run out of things to do.

Agree with some of the above posters that MK has many options for "rest" time if needed. In reality, all of the parks do.

It also depends on the rest of the week plans. If you are closing a park the night before or plan on opening a park the next day, I wouldn't do it. On the other hand, I likely would not do a 17 hour day as we tend to do the park closing/opening thing and stay away from the midday crowds.