When we went to the parks in the late 90’s when the kids were kids, we rushed around trying to do everything and ride all the rides. We stayed rope drop to close. It was exhausting, hectic, and a lot of fun. Then we started taking my dear mother-in-law with us on these trips and soon found out that this kind of itinerary was not possible. She was in great shape, but was in her mid 60’s and just could not keep up. We had to modify things to accommodate. We had to slow our roll.

Slowing down does not mean you have to sacrifice anything. It just means that you choose to do things a bit differently. We followed this general strategy on our last trip with the grandkids and it worked great for us.

So be like Crush just Go With The Flow

General Strategy

This strategy is for those of us that do not want to plan each second and organize a trip to the park with military precision. It is much more laid back, taking advantage of the day as it unfolds. (remember Be Like Crush) Part of this comes from necessity. We just cannot walk as far or run between places. We have a more leisurely pace sort of a stroll or mosey really. You will find parts of Grandpa’s method in many blog posts, but it has been modified.

Our generalized plan of attack is

• Stay On property
• Get an early start
• return to room for midday downtime
• Do only what you are able. smaller chunks people!
• Go back to parks early evening. (or Not!)
• Be Flexible

Stay On Property

First we always stay on property. This has many perks, but 2 big ones.

• Early Entry
• Free Transportation

Full disclosure. Grandma and I are DVC owners. Our home resorts are Disney BoardWalk, BayLake Tower, and Disneyland Hotel Villas.

By staying on property you can easily travel between the parks and resorts. This makes it possible to leave the park and escape the crowds, noise, and chaos. Of course once you are in a WDW park you can take advantage of the transportation, but having a place to go for downtime is crucial. Having someone else take you there is a blessing. I suppose you could stay off property and use UBER or Lift, but grandpa is not too keen on this mode of transportation. Several resorts are within an easy walk of the parks. Contemporary (Bay Lake Towers) is an easy stroll to Magic Kingdom, BoardWalk and Beach/Yacht Club are an easy walk to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Disney resorts also continue the Magic found in the parks. It is a fully immersive experience!

The other big perk is Early Entry. Now in the old days it was 1 hour before the general public now it is 1/2 hour. You get a great head start on your day. Most people on vacation do not want to start their day early. Since Grandma and I are early risers, it is easy to get the jump on them. Pick a ride or attraction you want to ride. Make your way there at rope drop. We pick rides that are close to the entrance since running to one in the back of the park is out of the question! If the line is already too long, go for plan B. Just don’t stress about it and get all upset if this happens. We have all witnessed people having a complete melt down since they were not the first ones on the ride. It sets a bad tone for the rest of the day and it is just not a good way to live! You will be walking a lot in the park so pace yourself. Your feet will thank you for it.

wrapping up

So that’s about it. In a nutshell, stay on property, start early, go back when you are tired, rest and repeat. Remove stressors. Enjoy yourself! Sounds simple because it is. Just don’t do more than you can do. Next post will contain a more detailed use of this strategy.

Talk to you next time.