Park Strategies

[WDWFan2018]

How do you prefer to spend your days at the parks? We would normally get there early and leave after dinner. I would maybe like to change things up a bit this year. Do you stay from morning until night? Do you arrive late in the day and stay until close? Do you arrive in the morning, leave and then come back later? Looking for the best way to do this with a 7 and 5 yr old and no stroller. We had a stroller the last 2 times so I didn't get any complaints about all the walking. Do you have different strategies for different parks?

 

[disneygirl76]

How do you prefer to spend your days at the parks? We would normally get there early and leave after dinner. I would maybe like to change things up a bit this year. Do you stay from morning until night? Do you arrive late in the day and stay until close? Do you arrive in the morning, leave and then come back later? Looking for the best way to do this with a 7 and 5 yr old and no stroller. We had a stroller the last 2 times so I didn't get any complaints about all the walking. Do you have different strategies for different parks?

We used to always do one park in the a.m., back to a resort, and then hit the park open late or Epcot because we loved that park at night. However, now with an almost 4 year old, we find that it is best to go early (he is an early riser) and then stay until after dinner. We usually catch only one night time show. They are not his favorite. He will ride Dinosaur but doesn't care for Rivers of Light...and forget about Fireworks! We find that works best for us. But as he gets old, I can see us going back to our old way - resort early, pool/rest at the resort, then back to another park. That is ... assuming he enjoys fireworks some day.

 

[DarthVader]

We used stay from rope drop to till dinner, but this past trip (just last week), we took a slower approach. Partly because my kids had difficulty dealing with the heat. We got there at rope drop and stayed until afternoon, and then did something else. By mid-afternoon the crowds in the park tended to be fairly heavy and couple that with the heat, caused it to be more troublesome then it was worth.

By 3:00 (or later), nearly every ride's wait time was at least 60 minutes (at least in MK). There were some exceptions to be sure, but generally speaking, it was mostly a stand in line in the heat with a bunch of other hot sweaty people.