sorry blame Disney. If you miss your window just tell them it was Disney's fault somehow. Ride went down, wait took longer than expected, etc. |
OP, to answer your question, Disney can be too much for younger kids if you stay all day, especially when it is hot and crowded. No one of any age is at their best under those conditions. My DD and I, who are both Disney lovers, joke about how right around noon, families start to unravel, especially in the summer heat. When my kids were younger, we always took mid-day breaks. Actually, a perfect Disney vacation would have both mid-day breaks and full-day breaks between park days. During the non-park days, you can swim, go to Disney Springs, visit some other Orlando attractions, or relax. If your kids are into characters, off days are the perfect time to schedule a character meal at one of the resorts. Speaking of characters, kids' enjoyment can also depend on familiarity with the characters and Disney movies in general.
Given that your kids didn't enjoy the parks, I agree with the others who recommend that you wait a few years. |
We’re getting deep into strategy here, but don’t you have to deal with unpleasant crowds if you stay until close? |
umm that’s exactly one of the main differences between Disney and any other kind of vacation. there are hundreds of things to choose from. |
No, there are hundreds of things to choose from to do on a normal vacation. On a Disney vacation, there are hundreds of things to wait in line for. |
Right. Because nobody ever waited in line to see the Sistine Chapel or rushed to save a beach chair at 630am anywhere. You can walk into everything with no reservations, tickets, or waiting. |
I’ve been to the Sistine Chapel and plenty of beaches and never waited in line or rushed to get a beach chair. If you hire the right guides you never wait. As a PP pointed out above, you can have misfortune traveling and get things screwed up. Disney is one of the few places where things we consider a misadventure that requires a pivot is…just how things are done on a good day. We went to Disney once. It was fine. No one has any desire to go back. |
I don't believe you have been there. |
Extended park hours are only for those who stay on property. So it’s totally worth it. But it’s not usually that bad. |
There are very, very few other vacations where every element of the vacation is oversubscribed. Even if you end up waiting at the Sistine Chapel and are then running late, as per your example, you will still be able to sit down for dinner at a nice restaurant in Rome. Every single sit down restaurant doesn't book up 60 days out. And the next day you can do hundreds of things that aren't oversubscribed at all, so it's just one day of crowds. I also don't have to refresh an app hundreds of times per day to schedule each activity or walk a half mile to talk to customer service when something goes wrong. |
You can spend your time finessing all that, or go to Paris and Rome. That was the original point in this thread - that unlike Disney, I CAN plan those activities around my meals well in advance and not have to “finess” on the day of, which I don’t want to do! |
Her thread is titled “if YOU had a negative experience” so it can and is being read as negative for both the parent and/or child. |
You can also hire a guide at Disney and never wait. |
Is that still true? We had one when we did Disney in around 2011 and it was worth every penny, but I’d thought that whole thing was over now |
You can still get them, but they have to be official Disney guides - the VIP tour. |