For those that did Disney when DC was 2 -3 yrs....

How many days did you spend in the actual parks and which parks did you go to? Which did you skip?

We're planning our spring 2011 trip to Disney but want to plan realistically for in-park days. DH and I are HUGE Disney fans and we could go hop from one to the other all day every day but going with the little guy is gonna be different...

Re: For those that did Disney when DC was 2 -3 yrs....

I went with my 3 yr old and my 6mo old. We didnt skip any of the parks. We spent 5 days park hopping in July. We would go out at ropedrop in the mornings and come back to our vill for lunch and a swin in the pool. Then back out to the parks for more rides and dinner. Back to the hotel for baths and bed.

Re: For those that did Disney when DC was 2 -3 yrs....

Message edited 10/17/2010 11:55:45 AM.

Re: For those that did Disney when DC was 2 -3 yrs....

We went when DS ws 22 months for 5 days 4 nights. I felt like I needed another day. We did MK, Epcot and AK.
We would eat breakfast at the hotel (caribbean had a nice food court which was super convenient) Then we would go to a park, come back around lunch relax, go in the pool or nap then go back to the parks at night for dinner and fireworks. It ws over 90 degrees in October so we had to take breaks!

This year we are going and DS will JUST under 3. We are staying 6 days 5 nights. I am planning on adding HS to our list this year. We are traveling with another family and their 3 kids so I am not sure how we will structure the day!

ETA< we totally utilized our park hoppers even with a 22 month old! he loved hte fireworks so some days we hit Epcot just for that! We did AK one Am and left there before 1 and that was fine! DIdnt need much more there!

Message edited 10/16/2010 9:41:11 PM.

Re: For those that did Disney when DC was 2 -3 yrs....

We went to all the parks and went from morning until night with a break at the room inbetween. We did 5 days at the parks. It was sooo much fun!!!! DS was and is a dream to vacation with! He would nap in his stroller and really was great keeping up with everything. I didn't want to hold back on anything since it was an expensive trip and we didn't know when we would be able to go back again.

Re: For those that did Disney when DC was 2 -3 yrs....

We stayed at the poly so we didn't have to get on and off buses or rent a car (you can roll your stroller onto the monorail). DD#1 was 1.5 months shy of turning 3, DD#2 turned 1 the last full day of our trip. (This was our 2nd trip with DD#1 the 1st trip she was 15 months old).

We spent one morning at AK and one morning at HS. We could have done more at those two parks BUT we honestly didn't want to be bothered packing and unpacking the stroller, standing on a packed bus with 2 young girls and a stroller an diaper bag - so we only did those 2 trips.

Normally we would only go 7 nights 8 days - but DD's birthday fell during the trip so we extended the trip a bit so we didn't travel ON her birthday and then made day 1 and day 10 just travel days and counter service meals.

You certainly don't need the time we spent but we try to do things a few times and get through everything. We get to the parks a little before rope drop (opening) so we get a lot done before there are lines or only 5-10 minute waits. DD#1 wasn't a good line waiter at the time so leaving at lunch worked well for us (we did counter service either at the park or at our hotel) and would return to the hotel when lines were getting long. If your DC is good with lines and doesn't nap you could go longer - but we like the break at the hotel b/c it gives them some down time (even if they don't nap) and away from all the overload. We saw lots of children who were overtired and over stimulated. Depending on the time of year you go too makes a big difference in what you can get done in the amount of days. Slow season you can get through 1/2-3/4 of the MK in ONE morning without fastpass - but during crowded/peak times of the year you will get a lot less done in the same period of time and will need either more time or more days in the parks.

Our trip looked something like this (exact day might be a bit off) but you get the idea:

Day1 - (sat) - travel to WDW - checked into hotel, walked around the grounds, had dinner at the hotel, swam.

Day 2(Sunday) - MK in the morning, lunch at the hotel, swim and nap, dinner and rides at EPCOT

Day 3 (monday) HS morning and lunch - hotel -nap and swim, evening EPCOT

Day 4 Tuesday - EPCOT morning and lunch, hotel break, night - MK

Day 5 - Wed hotel morning - dinner chef mickey's MK night

Day 6 Thursday - AK morning, hotel break, dinner EPCOT

Day 7 Friday - MK morning - hotel break - dinner at the hotel and swim at night, explore our hotel and watched the water parade that evening and fireworks from the beach at our hotel

Day 8 Sat - EPCOT morning - hotel afternoon - EPCOT evening

Day 9 Sunday (DD#2's birthday) - MK Morning, hotel break - MK night

Day 10 - return home.

Message edited 10/17/2010 9:46:24 AM.

Re: For those that did Disney when DC was 2 -3 yrs....

My DS is younger than your DC(18months), but we did Monday to Monday and did all the parks plus universal studios. I think we park hopped each day, except the universal days. The only thing we really skipped were the water parks. We spent plenty of time at the hotel pool instead