How many days will I need to see the whole park?

[Lilylogan]

all of WDW? about a month lol

 

[DisMommyTX]

11 days for the parks: 3 at MK; 2 each at EP, HS, AK; 1 day for each of the 2 water parks.
If trying this on one trip, plan at least 3 rest days to enjoy the resort and Disney Springs. You still won't see everything, but with careful planning could have an amazingly, thorough trip.

More realistically, a good short trip is 5 days (2 @ MK, 1 HS, EP, AK). We really like 9 park days for 3 + 2 each with some of those as partial days to rest/chill.

 

[MrsDuck]

I think a week is a reasonable way to start.

 

[TinkSassy]

As others have said - everything is relative. Plan at least 2 days at MK, 1 minimum at each of the other 3 main parks - I like to have 6 or 7 total so I can move a little slower. Also - remember WDW as listed is huge which means a lot of walking and standing in possibly some major heat. If you can get a rest day in there - to sit at the pool, maybe go to Disney Springs for a little while, tour a hotel or two - that will help you recharge for more fun days at the parks.

 

[Rob Montagnese]

If well planned 5 days for the 4 main parks is reasonable.

 

[Poohspaleeyore]

I don't know where you are from, but Florida in September is HOT. Humid and hot, and it rains every afternoon. Not long, but it's a great time to take a break and rest up because you'll want to enjoy the evenings with the rain out of the way.

I'm likely going in August or September 2020, but haven't made the decision. However, I'll get up early with the grandkids, visit a park until 11:30 or noon, go back to the hotel and swim/rest before heading back again. I don't like hot weather, and my family is not at all used to hot weather, so it will be a slower pace than my January trips for sure.

I live in Florida in the winter, but can't take it in the summer!

I agree. When visiting WDW in September the weather should play a significant role in your daily plans. The heat and humidity at WDW can be almost unbearable at times. It can be very difficult to spend entire days at the parks. Staying in a WDW resort and taking advantage of Morning extra Magic hours or extra extra magic hours is one way to try to manage the heat. The heat starts ramping up by11 am everyday to the point of misery.

Since you have almost a year to plan I would spend a lot of time in wdwinfo.com and disneyworld.go.com studying what attractions, entertainment,restaurants, maps and fast pass plus. you will get a good idea about which things are right for you and what you will enjoy at each park. Magic kingdom will take two days to see most of it. The other parks are one day parks. you will get the best experience from a 6 to seven day trip at a WDW resort your first trip.

 

[kniquy]

not sure how many days this will need to get around the whole park?

This is how we have tackled the parks.

MK 2 maybe 3 days,
Epcot can be 2 or 1 1/2
HS a full day with SW land now
AK can be done in a solid full day, but could use a little more time.

What helps with the planning for me is to print out maps of each park (can be found at easy wdw). This helps give a visual of where all attractions and restaurants are. It would almost be impossible to see everything in one trip, so read up or watch youtube videos of various rides you want to do. From there make a priority list of Have to do, would like to do and will do if we have time. If you set out to see everything, you will end up leaving disappointed.

Touring plans might be helpful in your planning as it can give you estimated walking time between attractions and it will give suggestions on what order to hit stuff.

Try to go for as long as you can, ideally 7 nights. Buy park tickets for everyday you are there. This helps with the planning and at least allows you more FP to help with the planning. I have heard more than once where someone complains they were so busy and didn't get to see everything but they were at WDW for 7 days but only bought tickets for 4 days. Just think how nice it would be to go to sleep in and go to the park later in the day and for the evening. You don't want all your days jam packed with parks open to close -- you will wear yourself out. Plus once you start adding park days it does get "cheaper" per day.

 

[Bullseye]

Oh boy, the Ops question makes me hearken back to 2005 when we went to WDW the first time as a family for a five day trip and I kept complaining to the DW "What the heck are we going to do at an amusement park for five days ?" Been going annually ever since and still haven't come close to doing everything. Yikes, what does "everything" even mean

OP just get on-line, do some homework, and make a short list at each park of things you want to do/see. Follow that plan and along the way you'll run into other things to do/see and at the end of the day you still wont come close to doing everything, even at a single park, but you will have had a memorable day!

 

[shocker]

To the thread title question, I would say...two and a half years.

I've had annual passes covering multiple years & still have a list of things I've not done.

A family member went on a couple days school band trip. I asked how it went & what did they do. She replied 'EVERYTHING'...no she didn't. You can't see everything in a few days. But, it is possible to see your short list of must do's sprinkled in with a few items from your would really like to do's & with great care in planning & awesome use of park hours & FP's might make it to a few could take it or leave its. Every trip ends with something on a lower list moving up in priority for the next visit.

I do like to plan no more than 2 consecutive go hard park days. MUST sprinkle 'off' days of little walking & no alarm clocks. Plan pool/water park, mini golf, light shopping, fancy dinner, etc. on off days.

 

[DisneyOma]

Need some advice on how big the park is and how long queueing will likely be for a trip in September. I have never been to Disney World before and I want to see everything but not sure how many days this will need to get around the whole park?

Go on google maps. FInd WDW. Explore, and you will get an idea how big the property is. Go on the Disney World website and start looking at the attractions in each park. Decide what kinds of rides you like, etc. Then get back to us

 

[Chrisizzle]

Need some advice on how big the park is and how long queueing will likely be for a trip in September. I have never been to Disney World before and I want to see everything but not sure how many days this will need to get around the whole park?

I have not read all the posts in between but I saw a few “you’ll never see all the parks magical goodness. So don’t try.”

You sound like myself as a traveller. I try to see enough of a country so I don’t have to return or feel I missed something.

If that’s what you are going for here, you’ll need four days of park tickets (one for each Disney park), Then have an extra day to see Disney Springs, ride the monorail, check out a few Disney resorts and restaurants.

That’s what I did for my girlfriend who had never been to Disney. She got an overall Disney experience and is happy not to return. Using advance Fast Pass bookings we even did more rides than expected, including most signature attractions.

Now, that isn’t to say we won’t be back... because we will. But, 5 or 6 days is enough to ‘get it’ and say you saw ‘everything’.

 

[DisLiss]

You won't do *everything* unless you stay for multiple weeks. Our trip is booked for Sept. 2020 as well, and we'll have 6 full days plus 2 travel days. Our arrival day should have us at a park by 1pm, while we leave 4pm on our last day.

Our plan is to devote the last day (6 hours) to Disney Springs. That will in no way come close to being enough time to do all Disney Springs has to offer, and that's not even technically a park. Even if we gave Disney Springs an entire day we couldn't do all that's there--and by that I just mean all of the activities and shops. Clearly we wouldn't be able to try every eatery in a day.

We plan to devote at least one full day to each of the 4 parks, plus a half day at each water park, leaving us 2 half days plus our arrival day as extra time to devote to returning to some parks a second time. We won't see or do everything in the 4 major parks by any means.

We may or may not do all the water parks have to offer (main things, not separately paid for extra events) depending on how determined we are, what's open, and how the crowds are. (Which brings up another point---there will be plenty of things closed in Sept. 2020, especially in Epcot. So it won't be possible to do those things no matter how long you stay.)

That means we also have no time left for the golf courses or resort hopping or heck, even special activities at our home resort for our stay! And there is so much to do at all of the different resorts!

So, for a first visit, if time and budget allow, I'd try for at least one FULL day per major park, just to get a feel for them, an overview if you will. I would not go in with any "do or die" rides or activities in mind. Just go and enjoy what I could. Then if you can stay longer, you can devote your extra day(s) to revisiting the parks you still have the most left to try, or the park(s) you like best. If you want to do more than the 4 major parks, then I would try for a trip beyond the 4 full days plus a few extra...maybe 8-10 days? But even then you won't do everything. You'll just get to try to get a taste of more of what the entire property has to offer.

My personal opinion is to try not to get your self bogged down with an insane amount of planning for a first trip. Try to give yourself time to be able to take in the parks as a whole, not just a mad dash from one item on your itinerary to another. (Although I know other folks would feel a trip without an action-packed battle plan is a waste, which is why I said it was my personal opinion. )

 

[Babsy]

The good news is that you have the time to plan your trip! Yay! As others have said, a lot depends on what you mean by 'all'.

Really to see it all, you need about a year. So many things/shows/festivals are offered at different times of year. Plus: Many things continually are added and/or changed.
I went the first year WDW opened and have been going multiple times per year ever since. I still haven't seen it all. We can't wait to go again for 9 days in Dec to see what is new. DH and I are going again in Jan for two weeks to see what we don't have time for in Dec.
You can spend a LOT of time in Walt Disney World.

My feeling that a first visit should be about 10 days. I like to have 2 days per park and a couple of rest days, which can be spent recovering or at a water park or Disney Springs.

I second the recommendation to read "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World". It will help you get a fell for the scope of what you are trying to see.

Enjoy the planning!!!

 

[bdiddy]

You can easily get everything done in a week. That’s our standard time we go for and usually do each park twice except for AK. And even have a little time for Disney Springs and chilling at the resort. We’ve gone for longer as well (10 days) and obviously that was even better and we’ve gone for as little as 1 day but 7 is pretty good to get a good taste of it all and not be rushed.