Is doing all 4 parks in a 6 day trip realistic?

[41694love]

My husband and I took a cruise last year (in May). We found out we were going to be docking in Port Canaveral for one day. Well, while some people might have been thinking see the sites there - I was thinking "how long does it take to get to Disney from there?" So, there was actually a shuttle bus you could take over. We had one day left from a previous trips' parkhopper. So, we did it - literally - all four parks on one day - ONE DAY! We "ran" literally from place to place but there was just some things we could not miss. We did a couple things at each park and ran back to the bus to have it take us back to the cruise. We were so proud that we did all we wanted and even got our pic taken in front of the castle on the way out

 

[USCGamecocks]

Most definitely you can visit each park. By all means do not expect to do everything there is to do at the parks. We plan to have 1 full day in each park and a half day more for both MK and Epcot. We will make a list of our "must do's" and our "want to do's" and then finally our "if we have time to do's." I doubt we will even get to our "if we have time" list, but if we do, then that is more than we expect. Just keep your expectations realistic and all should be well and you should have a WONDERFUL time!

 

[robincorn]

This is our plan too with my 2 boys 6 &9 who are first timers. I will be interested to hear how it goes.

 

[vt_disney_fan]

Yes, you CAN do all 4 parks in 7 days, if you want. Depends on your family, and your desires.

You'll always get a lot of people who say, "Ooooh, that's way too many parks, slow down, go for 3 hours in the morning, take a long afternoon break, and go back for 3 hours in the evening." Why? B/c that's what they're used to, and that's what their family does. Doesn't mean you need to.

You'll always get a lot of people who say, "Sure, no problem. We're up from sunup to sundown, going all day in the parks, no break, and we hop around all week." Why? B/c that's what they're used to, and what their family does. Doesn't mean you need to.

You'll always get some in between who say "We do some of both - real active on some days, real relaxed on others, but we do what we want to do." Why? B/c that's what they're used to, and what their family does. Doesn't mean you need to.

Are you catching a pattern here? Do what is right for YOUR family, depending on what YOU want to see and do! The ones who do little, might tell you that you'll wear yourself out, or be real tired, or be real hot, or your kids (in your case, kid) won't like it. You know what? Kid(s) are more resilient than most people think, and often handle this a LOT better than the adults do! But here's the deal - do what YOU want to. You'll have some who do a lot, and might tell you that you're not seeing enough of the parks, that your not having as much fun as you could by not seeing everything, if you go to leisurely (I personally subscribe to this theory, and we have 4 kids, 2 under 3, who have been 3 times! But whatever...). You know what? Maybe you're more prone to heat exhaustion or being tired than those people. But here's the deal - do what YOU want to.

It's YOUR vacation, not mine or anyone else's. Is it possible to do all 4 parks in a 7-day trip? Absolutely, and you can do it and see most everything, and still not feel rushed. Do you HAVE to? No, there's no rules. But you never know how it is, until you TRY it!

 

[madalex]

You can't do everything in all four parks in six days, but you can definitely do all four parks in six days. You may not get to do everything you want to do, but you will experience all of the parks and what they have to offer. You'll also be able to learn what things you want to do on your next WDW trip.

 

[vt_disney_fan]

you sound like us-we'd be perfect vacation buddies!!!

You can do all 4 parks in 6 days! We only take 6 day stints at WDW, and we hit all 4 parks EASY in those days.

But we are Park Commandos. We haven't been in our hotel room during daylight hours. All waking hours are spent within parks or eating at some restaurant. We don't take time out to go swimming, or relax and watch TV. We have a pool that we pay much HOA dues for, so we take a picture of the pool and keep it moving to the buses!

Oh, and we've been going to WDW for 3 years straight and we haven't seen what Downtown Disney looks like, either. Why? Because Atlanta have great malls.

So I go to WDW to ride. And watch the shows. And take pictures. And eat. And play until I'm so physically tired, I pass out on the bed.

But once daylight peek through the window of the hotel? We're gone to do it all over again!!!

(By the way, I'm like God in this sense- on the 7th day, I rest!

Sounds EXACTLY like how we do it when we're there (all 6 of us, little ones included). We've seen the looks from people - "How dare they bring that little baby down here, and keep her in the sun all day, and not go back to their room and take a nap or let her get in the pool." What kind of parents are they?" Yeah, you know what? Blow it out your ear. She's 4 months old - she eats, she sleeps, she poops. She'll do it in the parks, or in the hotel room, she doesn't care where. Why do you? Sunscreen, cool indoor restaurants and shows during the hottest part of the day, wiping off the face... Hey, why am I making excuses? I'm the parent! Be gone, bitter old lady!

 

[vt_disney_fan]

Don't go commando with young kids. After a few first days of go go go we finally decided to be smart and enjoy the experience.

Again, don't this, IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT FOR YOUR FAMILY! Nobody says you have to. But if YOU want to do this, FORGET what anyone else says, and do it! This may have been "smart" for the person above, but doesn't mean it's "right", or "smart", for everyone.

 

[vt_disney_fan]

My husband and I took a cruise last year (in May). We found out we were going to be docking in Port Canaveral for one day. Well, while some people might have been thinking see the sites there - I was thinking "how long does it take to get to Disney from there?" So, there was actually a shuttle bus you could take over. We had one day left from a previous trips' parkhopper. So, we did it - literally - all four parks on one day - ONE DAY! We "ran" literally from place to place but there was just some things we could not miss. We did a couple things at each park and ran back to the bus to have it take us back to the cruise. We were so proud that we did all we wanted and even got our pic taken in front of the castle on the way out

That is friggin' AWESOME! What a great time!

 

[Amirah95]

I agree with the others...all four in six is doable. Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[Sabor]

I would do all 4.

If you aren't getting Park Hoppers.

Do AK (ropedrop) try and stay until parade then leave - have an early night.
At ropedrop most go to EE , you can knock out Safari and get a FP for another , then be able to do Nemo or Lion King First Show.
Do MK (ropedrop) stay until noon or 1pm - Take a break - go back to MK

Sleep in on Epcot and HS days , as the Major attractions are more thrill rides that your child isn't old enough for. HS you might want to take the whole moring off and go after lunch and stay through Fantasmic.

IF you are getting Park Hoppers.

I would still do AK as above but you could break up MK into 2 or 3 days and combine them with Epcot and HS.
Do at least One ropedrop for MK as you will knock out all of fantasyland in no time that way.

 

[SuperTink]

We do 4 parks in 4-5 days! And we hop. But we go at a very low attendance time of year. I'd love to have more time, but we make do.

 

[R2-JD]

We had no problem doing all 4 parks in 6 days. And we were there at a busy time, April 19-26. I do prefer the parks to be A LOT slower than when we were there in April though.

Saturday we arrived at WDW at about 15:30 and checked in and went to Epcot until it closed. Sunday we went to AK for rope drop and then went over to MK at 16:00 and stayed there until it closed at 2:00 (EMH). Monday we were at DHS for rope drop and stayed the whole day. Tuesday we were at MK for rope drop and stayed the whole day and saw Wishes. Wednesday we did Epcot for Rope Drop again and and went back to DSH for Fantasmic. Thursday we were back at AK for the day with some extra DTD shopping and then an ADR at O'hana. Friday morning I wanted to go MK for one last time but figured we would loose some time getting to and from the parking lot so we went to AK and left WDW at 11:30 to head to the airport (I did not want to go )

We follow the itineries from the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. We have done so every trip we have made and will go on to WDW. In all with it being so busy we still got to see everything we wanted to. I only wish I had made reservations for the Epcot segway tour this last trip. I didn't think we would have time but we actually would have had time to do that as well (by not going back to AK as much). Oh well there's always next time

JD

 

[ReneeA]

This is the way we do it: 2 adults, 2 young children (they were 3 & 4 our last trip) with no park hoppers.

The most important thing for us is to stick to our kid's normal schedule. They are up by 7 am everyday, which means we were out the door by 8 at the latest. We did several EMH mornings - which are great...you can have all the big attractions done before the park even opens to the general public. My kids are both very tall and are daredevils so we made sure to ride the thrill rides right away.

We had early counter service lunches, went back to the room for rest/pool time, then had early TS dinners. After that, we'd head back to the park until fireworks. If the kids were getting way too tired, we'd go back to the room earlier.

I didn't push the kids...I let them take the lead so that the trip was enjoyable. We managed to see every park and most of the attractions with no problems in a 7 day trip...and that's with slipping in one rest day with no park visits.

You'll be fine...enjoy your stay!!

 

[suzimar57]

we've done this before: 2 days each in MK and EP, one day each in MG and AK (actually, AK is more like a 1/2 day, so we'd go back to a favorite park that afternoon)