How many park days?

[nreid77]

We are traveling in June and staying for 7 days at the Contemporary. We have young children with us. I have signed up for 4 park days, but wonder if that is enough? 4 park days and 2 pool days. The idea of 2 pool days sounds nice, but wonder if that might get boring. Others suggest resort hopping also. Can you use other resorts pools? Or just enter for the food?

 

[SheSingsAlong]

With young children, I do think 4 park days is plenty. Even downtime at Disney can be more active than you expect. You cannot pool hop, but other resorts are fun to visit for food, shopping, and just enjoying the different themes and vibes. You might also consider something like mini golf or renting a surrey bike on one of your non-park days. Plenty of things to keep a break day interesting - just don't forget about the "break" part! You will genuinely need the rest

 

[scrappinginontario]

It really depends on your family. Would you prefer 4 full days in the parks or, more days where you can take things at a slower pace? Each family and child is different. Our family likes multiple days in the parks with the option to return later/another day so we don't feel like we need to be in the park.

If you choose down days there are lots of other things to do outside of the parks.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

We have kept the same schedule since our kids were little (they are teens now). We rope drop and then head back to the room by 2ish. Relax for 2 hours then go to the pool and then go to dinner. We do get Genie + for most parks and some ILLs to cram as much possible for time we are there. This trip we did 6 park days.

 

[nreid77]

Thats a great schedule. I think we would want to do the parks for the morning( I'm an early riser) and take a break and then go back later in the day.

 

[saraheliz]

We would rather do more park days and add in some breaks each day, but different plans work better for different people. You can always add a day to your tickets when you're there if you decide you want another day based on how it's going. I think it's as long as you add the day before you've scanned in for your last day allocation, you can just add it to the current ticket.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We would rather do more park days and add in some breaks each day, but different plans work better for different people. You can always add a day to your tickets when you're there if you decide you want another day based on how it's going. I think it's as long as you add the day before you've scanned in for your last day allocation, you can just add it to the current ticket.

It depends which ticket type OP chooses. If they purchase the 4 Day, 1 park each tickets, adding additional days will not be an option.

I’m like you and prefer more days with less pressure to get everything done. There is so much to do in each park that we can easily spend more than a day in each park, especially with little ones who may wish to meet characters, wander slowly as they investigate the little things, rest and more.

 

[way2tyred]

Our sweet spot is 6 park days and one rest day. Epcot and MK get two days, AK and Hollywood Studios get one day.

 

[Dulcee]

When we have a full 7 days we prefer 6 park days, 1 full day for no parks. We travel with 3 kids (9, 5, 2) and find a lot of days end up as half days or with significant middle of the day downtime.

6 day park hoppers allow us to get to all the things we want to do in parks without feeling like we have to spend a full day in the park on any given day.

 

[Robber Baron]

For us, we're only at WDW for the parks. Even when the kids were little we'd have Park Hoppers for every day.

We do hit the resort pool for a while on some afternoons.

When we want a non park vacation there's other better places to go.

 

[Upatnoon]

Here is my experience having gone to Disney many times with 3 young kids:

It is much better to have 7 park days and spend less time in the parks vs. 4 park days and trying to cram it all in.

For example, you go to MK in the morning, leave at 1 p.m. and take the rest of the day off.

Or you sleep in, go to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon and stay to close.

This avoids the "theme park death march" I see many families doing. I understand for some it is an expensive, once-in-a-lifetime trip, but if you can avoid doing it your visit will be more of a vacation and less exhausting.

The cost per day drops quite a bit the more days you buy and it's worth it in my opinion.

I'm sure your next question is if it's worth it to buy park hoppers. My 2 cents is sure, they give you flexibility, however, If deciding where to put my money, I would buy more park days.

For example, in a week we might hop twice to see a show we missed, eat at Epcot or view the fireworks. While it certainly is nice, it would just be less of a priority.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

Here is my experience having gone to Disney many times with 3 young kids:

It is much better to have 7 park days and spend less time in the parks vs. 4 park days and trying to cram it all in.

For example, you go to MK in the morning, leave at 1 p.m. and take the rest of the day off.

Or you sleep in, go to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon and stay to close.

This avoids the "theme park death march" I see many families doing. I understand for some it is an expensive, once-in-a-lifetime trip, but if you can avoid doing it your visit will be more of a vacation and less exhausting.

The cost per day drops quite a bit the more days you buy and it's worth it in my opinion.

I'm sure your next question is if it's worth it to buy park hoppers. My 2 cents is sure, they give you flexibility, however, If deciding where to put my money, I would buy more park days.

For example, in a week we might hop twice to see a show we missed, eat at Epcot or view the fireworks. While it certainly is nice, it would just be less of a priority.

I would definitely skip the park hoppers and use that towards an ILL. Especially if you are rope dropping so you can skip waiting for some of the rides that have a habit of not starting on time (Seven Dwarves has this issue).

For example this morning started at 7:30 with early hours but Seven Dwarves didn’t get up until around 9:30 I think. We got ILLs for 12:30. In those 2+ hours it was down we got on PP, Winnie, Speedway, Buzz, HM, BTMR, and Pirates. By the time 12:30 rolled around waits for everything we’re getting long so we headed out after riding.

 

[Marek Zyskowski]

I think every day should be a park day and get the park hopper. You never know what the weather will be and I often find myself going back to a park visited a previous day to get a snack or meal that I liked. There is a limit to the amount of planning that makes a theme park visit fun in my opinion.
For sure you will be in the company of someone that absolutely must ride a certain attraction. Go for it and make it happen by getting to the park early. But plan to take breaks too. In the summer the middle of the day is really hot. Those mid day hours are really hard to work with a plan.
It does not bother me that I leave certain things unvisited. It gives me a reason to come back.

 

[tguz]

We wouldn't do 2 pool days on a 7 night vacation. We actually do not do any pool days. We take a mid afternoon break and we use the pool at that time. The kids can use the pool daily. We do Disney Springs on the night of our AK day as it usually closes early.

 

[nighttowll]

It is much better to have 7 park days and spend less time in the parks vs. 4 park days and trying to cram it all in.

This.

Average time to see 75% of each park:

• MK: 2 days
• Epcot: 1.5 to 2 days
• HS: 1 to 1.5 days
• AK: .5 to 1 day

You won't be able to fit everything in in 4 days, and you'll rush around killing yourself trying. Even if you do 7 days, you still won't see it all. You could spend 2 weeks and still find new things to explore.

With little kids, I would definitely think about breaks, naps, playground time, pool time, art and crafts time, etc. Only you know your kids, but I think most do better with afternoon breaks and the occasional day you sleep in. Plus, some do better if you keep them on their regular bedtime schedule which can cut into your touring time when the parks are open late in the summer, so you have to factor all that in.



For ideas of what the resort offers to do, you can see the links the below:

Monthly Calendar:
https://www.magicalresortguide.com/contemporary-homepage

Disney Amenity List:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/contemporary-resort/recreation/
I think you will find that naps or the pool are probably going to be enough. All the walking really wears you out.
I've told this story before, but my 10 year old sister just refused to walk anymore on our first trip. She was way past the age of taking naps, but we went back to the room, and she slept for like 5 hours. Even if you think you'll have strollers, they still have to walk through the queues, so it is still a lot for little feet.



You cannot pool hop at Disney. Universal allows it between onsite main hotels, but Disney does not.

 

[GroguAndStitch]

we just did 8 days, 7 nights and did 5 park days. we did:
1. disney springs and pool day
2. HS (PM pool after 3)
3. Epcot
4. Pool
5. MK
6. AK (half pool day)
7. Float day. The family chose to go back to Epcot. (mid day pool break then back for fireworks)
8. character breakfast and resort hopping.

We loved having the 5th park day ticket to float to whatever we felt we didnt get enough of. I thought for sure we'd go back to MK or HS, but my family all loved Epcot and we hit up everything we missed and went back on our favorite rides *guardians, test track and Remy.

Next time we do a week's trip, I'll get hopper tickets so we can hit up our favorite things again and again! We stayed at Boardwalk and it was amazing!

 

[nighttowll]

Yes, it’s great to leave a day open to return to whichever park you didn’t finish for whatever reason.

 

[rwdavis2]

Here’s what we did last visit of 8 days/7nights. We did not spend all day in any park. About 3 we slept in some. And other days we hit rope drop, then had lunch and went to the pool until later for more park time and dinner. But that trip was using FP+ which made things simpler. IMHO skipping complete days is a waste of time.

But you know your kids best. I have not checked lately what additional park days cost after a few.

 

[Dulcee]

With little kids having a non park day is a great time to do a resort character breakfast/meal. Those meals are expensive and when we do them I don’t want to worry about getting to a park. I want to really spend our time enjoying the character interactions without watching a clock!