With 45 square miles, four main theme parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios), two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon), a bunch of golf courses (and mini golf) and a major retail/entertainment complex (Disney Springs), there’s a lot to see and do in Walt Disney World.
And that’s before you add in all of the great non-Disney activities: three parks at Universal Orlando – great if you or the kids are into Harry Potter – Sea World, and just 10 miles up the road is a Legoland, various gator parks and air boat trips in the Everglades.
Plus, for those of us who like shopping, there are numerous shopping outlets (Orlando Vineyard Premium Outlets and Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores) and malls (like the Florida Mall), restaurants, golf courses, cinemas and everything else you could possibly imagine.
So, planning how many days you can afford to spend in the Disney/Orlando area (in terms of time and money) is pretty important.
And then planning what you want to do on those days – in terms of days or part days spent in Disney and non-Disney parks, shopping, golfing, eating, sitting by the pool, and just chilling out – will help you get the most out of your Disney vacation.
You can even extend this further and sketch out the rides that you want to go on during that day, and in what order, to spend the least amount of time queuing (but you are going to queue – there’s no way around it!) and get the most out of your days.
And with you now having to make a reservation at a Disney theme park in advance, rather than just turning up at a chosen park as you used to be able to, you are forced to plan your vacation days well in advance. More on this later.
We even create a spreadsheet-based itinerary, showing:
This may seem like complete overkill for a holiday, and others will not want to plan or structure a vacation in this way, preferring to go with the flow on vacations.
But, please trust us, it really, really makes a difference when you’re there.
We never plan to be in a park (Disney or Universal) for more than about 4 hours – so a morning or an afternoon or maybe an evening for some food or for the fireworks – as park-fatigue can occur when you feel you have to do a whole park in a day.
You’re on holiday and want to enjoy it! It’s nice to come back to a hotel or house after a park and chill out by or in the pool, play a bit of mini golf, go shopping or exploring – such a lot to see and do.
Well, with all there is to do, you can just about vacation in Walt Disney World in a week, but it’s tight. If the budget and time will allow, then 10 days or two weeks can work well.
If you do go for a week and have 6 days in the parks, we’d just do Disney (and its 4 parks) and leave Universal and non-Disney parks for your next visit. But it’s a personal preference and you may be guided by the age of the kids, who may prefer Universal over Disney.
At the end of the day how long you visit Disney for will most likely come down to a combination of the budget that you want to put aside for this vacation, and the time that you have available to visit Walt Disney World.