Open to close?

My last trip in ‘18 I opened and closed the park everyday. My party was just myself (30) and my buddy (26) so maybe we are young enough to get away with that sort of thing.

The only time we ever left the park was during our HS day, to head to DS for a meal and then straight back to the park.

The Studios was also the only day we stopped for a break. We lied down in the road for about 20 minutes. But other than that we had no problem filling our day in HS. Toy Story and Galaxies Edge are cool enough at night to warrant visiting again IMO, even if you’ve spent a considerable amount of time there during the day.

Our day in MK we rope dropped and booked the last reservation for the evening at BOG. It was a long day for sure, but with a good pair of walking shoes, I had no complaints.

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Awww, this is what I fear for our soon to be 13 DS. He has never been to WDW, and went to DL when he was 4-5. He keeps asking what roller coaster will be the fastest or has loops, he’s looking for the Six Flags style. My DD 11 loves the magic of Disney still. Our two oldest (20 & 24) love the history and detail, and they love Disney is the adult fashion.

Well, I will say DS16 gets really excited about the new SW and Marvel stuff. So he was really looking forward to going when SWGE opened up when he was 15 and he made me plan a DLR trip this October so he could see the new animatronic swinging spiderman robot. Their favorite park in WDW is DHS because it has RnR and ToT. But DD13 prefers Universal to Disney because it has real roller coasters. I think one day it’ll be nostalgic for them again and they’ll appreciate it and to be fair mine have been super spoiled and go to a Disney park at least once a year and sometimes two times a year so I may have just burned them out :wink:

We have spoiled the kids by allowing them to choose their Sr Trip. They can either go with their class or have a family trip of their choice. This WDW trip is a 2020 Senior Grad trip that my DD 20 skipped out on with her class (many dramatic reasons she was avoiding). Of course, with this virus, we had to reschedule and then cancel last year. And now after watching YouTube, DS 12 is thinking he wants US, especially since the Velociraptor is opening soon.

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I’m a RD - Close person! (Or until I drop anyway)

The tips that help me are to have at least 2 TS meals planned where I plan to sit for an hour. I like to do a very late breakfast / early lunch - (10:30am / 11am) after all the RD rides and then a dinner (5pm - 5:30pm).

I also plan out at least 20 minute breaks for every 90 minutes in the park. Often these are used to “catch-up” in my plan when queues are longer than expected or we get caught up in a gift shop. However, if you are doing 12+ hour you’ll need to just pause sometimes.

It’s also great to mix in a show about every 3rd - 4th attraction when possible. Do Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Splash then mix in Country Bears or Tiki.

Finally, the best advice is prep. You’re going to be walking about 10 miles each day. A couple months in advance, or ASAP, start a walking program to get you to where you are able to do close to that amount of walking. Also, a couple weeks in advance - start staying up a little late and getting up a little early. It won’t hit you quite as bad if that’s already a familiar routine.

Overall… you do have to pace yourself & be prepared. Have fun!

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Our first family trip we planned open to close 7 days in a row. We collapsed midweek. We were so unprepared for that level of activity! It was so bad (and so good) we planned a ‘do-over’ trip. That trip we did late am arrival - close. We spent our mornings drinking coffee and watching the animals from our AKL balcony. We all considered that trip to be far more successful. DD still today says that was our best trip…”only 2 meltdowns on that one!” :joy: However, first trip was in September, second one was in Nov/Dec. It made a huge difference.

I did a Sep trip w/DD & DM and we did midday breaks in the room and hopped to a different park in the evening. That trip was so exhausting. I never felt caught up on my rest, but we started with sleep deficiency too. (Pretrip anxiety and prep).

Now, my first ever July trip and I’m wondering how to plan it. Extra pressure this time with park and dining availability more limited, and less flexibility to change my mind day of.

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As I age I learn you really don’t have to do it all. It’s a vacation and Disney parks are amazingly fun but they are very stimulating and all that standing in lines and crowds in the heat is exhausting. My approach has definitely been like that one where you slept in, had coffee on your balcony and watched some animals every morning. I think the key is in your extensive planning, plan for downtime. Then it’s there and if you don’t want it or need you don’t have to take it but the same thing goes for being in the park till close. I cannot tell you how many times in our last few trips I said, nope I’m not gonna stay for the fireworks or Fantasmic! But I have seen all those things so that does help me let it go. I will also say if those things are really important to me for a trip I plan a late sleep in nowadays.

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:joy::joy::joy:

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I thought about putting this in my update post but I think it goes better here. This is how we are spreading out our plans for our trip. We are both over 50 and have mobility issues and will be renting ECVs for all portions of our trip.

Arrival Day 5/31: head to EP once we get our scooters and/or get checked in about 2:30 pm stick to UK, Canada and France unless we feel otherwise. Relaxed wandering etc.back to hotel at 8 ish

6/1 HS Day 1: Hope to get RotR BG which can mess this up but otherwise…RD RnRC and ToT. Then work our way GE. Eat then go back to hotel for a few hours and then return in evening for Toystory Land ADR at Sci Fi and anything else depending on how we feel.

6/2 EP Future World: basically do the horseshoe starting at Sunshine Season’s stay in park the whole day but take big breaks and do lots of snacking/resting at F&G fest. ADR at A&C for dinner

6/3 Tap in at EP as early as possible then head to DS for lunch at Homecomin then park hop to HS. More GE and TSL dinner in park. Stay until we want to go back.

6/4 EP World Showcase: basically wander around the world and pick up the few rides etc. enjoy the F&G rest when eat etc. Medium rests built in. May do any repeat rides we want in evening.

6/5 depending on how we feel can RD RnRC and/or ToT if we want OR sleep in a bit. Lunch at 50s PTC (again trying for RotR BG) more GE Oga’s and Droid Depot.

6/6 rest/resort day

6/7 rest/switch hotels day maybe DS for a bit

6/8 MK Day 1 RD BTMRR and HM other rides then lunch in park, break to hotel, come back for ADR Liberty Tree Tavern then who knows

6/9 AK day 1: RD NRJ and do rides etc until about 3:30 then back to hotel (unless FotLK is available )

6/10 rest/resort day

6/11 MK Day 2: RD or not but do other rides/shows rest in park until ADR BOG at 6 pm

6/12 rest/resort day

6/13 AK: Wildlife express stuff (not RD) and a few rides with early dinner (again FotLK if possible)

6/14 Leave Disney and head to UOR

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Wow! You have a long trip!! Exciting :slightly_smiling_face: Looks like you have a good amount of rest days.

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