Should we have a rest day?

[mastermind307]

I was thinking about adding a day to our ticket so we could go to a park on our departure day since we have a later flight. However, since I purchased tickets before the ticket increase last year (Feb. 2017), the cost to add another day is more than I want to pay (about $120 for 2 tickets). So I'm debating whether or not to have a non park day during our trip and go to a park on our departure day, or just relax and eat at 1900 Park Fare for a late breakfast on our departure day.

If we did a rest day, it would have to be on the third day of our 8 days trip. That's the only day that will work, but it's not ideal because I feel like we won't be ready for a break after just 1 1/2 days in the parks.

On our departure day we would go to Hollywood Studios. We would visit HS on another day to see fantastmic and do a few other things. So on this day we'd like to do TSM, Star Tours, Rockin' Roller Coaster, Frozen Sing along, and meet Mickey and Minnie. I think we'd be able to get all that done and have lunch before we'd have to leave. Magical Express should be pick us up around 2:30 (flight leaves at 5:50).

Or we could have breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at 10:30 on our departure day and just hang out around our resort, the BW.

I can't decide what to do, so I thought I'd ask for some advice. Thanks!!!

 

[kniquy]

It might be nice to have the last day as a sleep in, lounge and late breakfast day. Although i am one that always votes for as many park days as you can fit it- it just means that many more FP and if you really don't need a full day it can be just a morning in the park and then pool/resort relaxing for the rest of the day. So you get a rest day but with the benefit of a f a little park time.

 

[Tksolomom]

I wouldn’t do the rest day that early in my trip, and I always like to do a character breakfast on my last day.

 

[WaterLinds]

We did a park day on our departure day this last trip, but we were driving and didn't have far to go, so could stay in the park until late afternoon. Even with that I found the morning rush--getting the room packed up on top of getting kids fed, park supplies packed, shepherding everyone out at a decent time, etc--was more stress than it was worth. I won't be doing a park on departure day again soon, I don't think.

But you may be more organized than we are and able to make it work! A rest day certainly sounds nice in the middle of an 8 day trip, although I agree that day 3 isn't ideal timing...

 

[tinkerjo]

I so wish we did a rest day. There is so much walking that everyone had sore feet and blisters. We decided to always schedule one from now on

 

[danceteachermom]

Really depends how much you like rest days vs. park days. We love the parks but my hubby and I always say our favorite day is the rest day. We'd never want a just lay at the pool or even beach all day vacation as we like having stuff to do. But putting that pool day into a busy trip is always much needed for us. Now our daughter could park every day...she dislikes being by the pool for more than a couple hours.

One time we had a return flight about 5 PM and had a great time with a late breakfast and just hanging at the WL pool until Magical Express picked us up. It was a fun way to end our trip.

 

[MainMom]

What are your plans for your 3rd day right now if it’s not a rest day?

 

[LISAMWDW]

We always do lots of rest days. There is so much to enjoy in the area than the parks. We always schedule about 1/3 ish or our trips doing non-park stuff.

 

[Geoff_M]

Our rule of thumb is that we try to only do two full park days before we either do a rest day (or at least sleep in and do the light park day).

 

[Moliphino]

I'd pick a full park day over a partial park day, so I'd go with no rest day and no park on departure day. We never do rest days, though. I can rest when I'm home.

 

[KellyHonos]

my two cents would be to not pay for a ticket when you only have the chance to use it for a partial day. With tickets being as expensive as they are, I personally would like to see myself get my money's worth. Why not go to Disney Springs, or go to a character breakfast like another poster suggested? Or spend some time at the pool if it's a nice enough day. I generally leave earlier in the day on my day of departure so I get home and can start laundry and relax, so spending the day in the park would give me anxiety personally. I would be too worried about the busses taking too long or getting stuck somewhere. That's just me.

 

[mastermind307]

It might be nice to have the last day as a sleep in, lounge and late breakfast day. Although i am one that always votes for as many park days as you can fit it- it just means that many more FP and if you really don't need a full day it can be just a morning in the park and then pool/resort relaxing for the rest of the day. So you get a rest day but with the benefit of a f a little park time.

My original plan (before thinking about a rest day) was to eat a late breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. We could get up, and not have to rush. We'd take our luggage to RAC, check out, and then head over for breakfast. I think it would be a relaxing way to finish our vacation. With a 10:30 ADR, we should be back at the BW plenty of time before the Magical Express picks us up.

 

[mastermind307]

We did a park day on our departure day this last trip, but we were driving and didn't have far to go, so could stay in the park until late afternoon. Even with that I found the morning rush--getting the room packed up on top of getting kids fed, park supplies packed, shepherding everyone out at a decent time, etc--was more stress than it was worth. I won't be doing a park on departure day again soon, I don't think.

But you may be more organized than we are and able to make it work! A rest day certainly sounds nice in the middle of an 8 day trip, although I agree that day 3 isn't ideal timing...

That is one thing that has me worried, we'd be a little more rushed if we want to be at Hollywood Studios at rope drop to make the most of our day. However, we're normally up early (getting up at 6:00, is like sleeping in) and we could have the majority of stuff packed up the night before. I'm also not sure how much I'd enjoy myself knowing that I have to be back at a certain time to catch the magical express. The good thing is we're staying at the BW so we can just walk back and wouldn't have to worry about Disney transportation.

 

[prprincess]

We usually do. I don't like to come home exhausted and feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation. So it's usually smack in the middle of the trip, or on our last day depending on our touring plans.

 

[mastermind307]

Really depends how much you like rest days vs. park days. We love the parks but my hubby and I always say our favorite day is the rest day. We'd never want a just lay at the pool or even beach all day vacation as we like having stuff to do. But putting that pool day into a busy trip is always much needed for us. Now our daughter could park every day...she dislikes being by the pool for more than a couple hours.

One time we had a return flight about 5 PM and had a great time with a late breakfast and just hanging at the WL pool until Magical Express picked us up. It was a fun way to end our trip.

I like park days, but I'm trying not to over do it. There's always things that we want to do that we never have, like mini golf. Without a rest day, we'll finish at the parks earlier and then we can do some other stuff in the later after/evenings. If we do the rest day, we'll probably be in the parks a little later, but we'd have the free day to do mini golf and other stuff.

 

[mastermind307]

What are your plans for your 3rd day right now if it’s not a rest day?

If we don't do a rest day, we'll either go to EPCOT for EMH from 8-10 and then go over to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon. Or just go to Hollywood Studios at rope drop and get done earlier. I thought we could get some favorite rides in at EPCOT without long lines and save the FPs for Hollywood Studios. DD favorite ride is Test Track. We'll be seeing and doing the same things at Hollywood studios no matter if we go the 3rd day of our trip or our last day.

 

[ellbell]

Our rule of thumb is that we try to only do two full park days before we either do a rest day (or at least sleep in and do the light park day).

I do this as well. I fly in on am early morning flight on Tuesday and we are doing a bit of shopping and relaxing, Wednesday and Thursday are park days, Friday is a rest day and then parks Saturday and Sunday. Monday break and Tuesday and Wednesday is park day. Wednesday we are leaving but our flight isn't until 11 pm so we are going to take our time packing up, drop our bags at RAC and head to a second day at Epcot till about 5 or 5:30.

So I will always vote rest day. I am on vacation and have a high stress career so I need downtime too.

 

[mastermind307]

Please tell me if either of these plans will work for our departure day and which one makes more sense. I don't want to think we can do one of these plans, if in reality, we can't.

Plan A

8:30 Take our luggage to RAC
9:00 After going back to the room and making sure we have everything, take our carry on to bell services
9:15 Either catch a bus to MK or walk to HS and catch a bus to the Grand Floridan for breakfast at 1900 Park Fare
10:30 Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare
12:00 Should be done and begin travel back to BW
We should be back at BW by 1:30 and that should give us at least at hour before Magical Express picks us up.

Plan B

7:30 Take our luggage to RAC
8:00 After checking our room, take our carry on to bell services
8:15 Walk to HS for rope drop
9:00-1:00 HS
Doing the following - I've made a customized touring plan on Touringplans.com and according to it, we can get this stuff accomplished
*TSM
*Rockin' Roller Coaster - use FP+
*Star Tours - use FP+
*Meet Mickey and Minnie
*Muppet Vision 3D
*Eat Lunch at Hollywood and Vine at 11:30
1:15 walk back to BW
We should be back in plenty of time to get our bags and catch the magical express.

Our flight is at 5:50, so I'm thinking Magical Express will pick us up around 2:30.

 

[Tksolomom]

I think they will both work.

 

[YawningDodo]

Your plan B sounds fairly similar to what my mom and I did on our departure day in 2015. Since we were in an Epcot-area resort we decided the safest way to get park time in and be sure we wouldn't miss our ride to the airport was to walk to DHS -- Disney buses can be hit or miss, but we knew exactly how much time it took us to walk back and that was what made us feel most secure and confident in our plans. I've never eaten at 1900 Park Fare, but since you're allowing 2.5 hours to get back before ME pickup once you count in the hour of lead time you gave yourself, I would think that would be fine.