I grew up in Seattle, so my first trip in '92 was from up there. I would say that, the group that had not just come off a 12 day backpacking trip and associated training were strong advocates for a couple of non-park days.
I advocated against the waterparks because:
- I dislike waterparks
- we have one at home for free with our six flags pas
DW did go to Disney springs later (as did I very briefly, to be discussed)
I would agree to take some time off, especially just because the Heat will catch up with you. When we do DL we go HARD, open to close for 3 days and that's often 8-10 or 11. You can't do that in WDW for 11 days. We also don't do sit down meals at DLR, but we NEEDED the recharge of an indoor sit down meal at least once a day.