How long do you stay at WDW?

[saraschoening]

We would like to try driving to WDW, taking our time and enjoying the journey as well as the destination. That's probably going to have to wait until my retirement (in a couple of years) so we'll have the time. I also say we're going to have to rent a trailer for all the things we've wanted to buy but were to expensive to ship and too big for the luggage.

Cruise split stay was fantastic! Transfers were a breeze, Disney efficiency at it's finest. An added bonus to the trip was the fact that we stayed at resorts other than our home resort. So we got a good look at the Boardwalk Villas before the cruise and Old Key West after, and it made us realize how much we enjoy Bay Lake Tower. The cruise itself (our first) was outstanding, everything Disney knows about guest service leveled up!

I would love to do a Disney Cruise.. maybe we will do the Disney Alaska one.. I just think that it would be cold.

 

[cslittle999]

Our shortest trip was five days for an extended long weekend. We're doing another one of these in October. Our typical trip is 10 days. We've been down enough times now that we don't try to do everything in one trip because we know we will be back.

 

[trivial]

14 nights... lucky you! My trips tend to be about a week long (due to budget constraints), with the bare minimum days for parks being 2 days for Magic Kingdom and Epcot each, and 1 day for Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom each.

 

[saraschoening]

14 nights... lucky you! My trips tend to be about a week long (due to budget constraints), with the bare minimum days for parks being 2 days for Magic Kingdom and Epcot each, and 1 day for Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom each.

Yes we are very lucky but I assure you we have been on a major budget since we decided to do this trip so it hasn't come easy but its finally almost here. Also with the dollar and a certain ex not paying any support for over 5 months.. it affected our budget big time and then we decided to rent a car.. so the visa free trip has turned into a trip with the visa... at least for all our misc expenses. We managed to pay off our trip and our flights.

Do you rent a car while you are there? I am so torn but we are the kind of people that need to take a break mid day and we are staying at POR.. so I think that a car would be helpful? Anyone else have thought on that?

 

[saraschoening]

You might also consider cutting the number of park days but adding WPFAM instead. We went gung ho on the Disney Parks our first few trips (1 week each), but now we spend more time out of the main Disney parks than in. In that many days you can get your fill of the parks and a taste of some of Disney's other offerings. The water parks are terrific, DisneyQuest is great for tweens and teens, and WPFAM also includes golf and mini-golf if either of those interest you. Our first trips we were good with 2MK, 2Epcot, 1AK, 1HS. After that, you've seen/done it all. Now we only do about a half day in each park doing our favorite rides, and we can skip any of Epcot, AK or HS easily; MK still holds a special place.

I think that is the package we have. I have us going to each water park on separate days and we are going to do Disneyquest as well. We got the tickets that have the hoppers, waterpark etc.. we pretty much got everything but the non-expiry add on.

 

[kuhltiffany]

No, I wouldn't rent a car unless you plan on going shopping or somewhere offsite. You can get grocery delivery to the hotel and use the Park system of buses, boats, monorails etc. to get around. Plus it will save money too!

 

[saraschoening]

No, I wouldn't rent a car unless you plan on going shopping or somewhere offsite. You can get grocery delivery to the hotel and use the Park system of buses, boats, monorails etc. to get around. Plus it will save money too!

Totally OT but have you done an Alaskan Cruise before? I noticed your countdown

 

[dancin Disney style]

Our average stay is approx. 11 nights. We have stayed for 14 several times both onsite and off site. We have been to WDW many times so park days are few, even on a 14 night trip. We will usually only go into the parks for 3 or 4 days. The other days we like to visit DTD, the waterparks and various other places. We like to spend time hanging out at the pool as well so longer trips allow for all those things. I just went for March Break and my DD and I only stayed 8 nights it really was a short stay. I wish I had added an additional day. That said it was my DD's birthday trip and she had made a request for it to be an 'all park trip'. So we planned 5 days in the parks(7 full vacay days, day 8 was a travel day). We had a great time but it was a lot to be in the parks so much....an extra pool day would have been perfect.

 

[kuhltiffany]

Totally OT but have you done an Alaskan Cruise before? I noticed your countdown

No, this will be our first! The fact that we can drive to port made it an easy choice

 

[saraschoening]

No, this will be our first! The fact that we can drive to port made it an easy choice

Be sure to let us all know how it goes.

 

[mort1331]

We tend to go for 5-6 days, the last was our longest at 11 days, but that was driving there 24hours.

I would not rent a car, you haven't mention your party size, but the busing is fine. Going to MK I would not take a car even having one there. You have the boat to DD and DQuest.

Some have mentioned about saving a few dollars with an Allstars resort. I like them, but staying that long the couple extra bucks for POR is well worth it. Love that place. Have a blast.

 

[saraschoening]

We tend to go for 5-6 days, the last was our longest at 11 days, but that was driving there 24hours.

I would not rent a car, you haven't mention your party size, but the busing is fine. Going to MK I would not take a car even having one there. You have the boat to DD and DQuest.

Some have mentioned about saving a few dollars with an Allstars resort. I like them, but staying that long the couple extra bucks for POR is well worth it. Love that place. Have a blast.

There is 3 of us. Myself, DH, and DD (9)

Have you ever gone to WDW in May? Do you know if it is busy or not?

 

[JCricketismyfav]

We are from Victoria BC and are going on our first WDW vacation in May. It is a little way to go so we have decided to stay for 14 nights at POR and buy 10 day tickets. Our friends and co-workers keep asking us why we are staying for so long and it is because we want to see as much as we can.

I was just wondering how long everyone else goes for when they travel to WDW? Also how many days do you usually spend at each park?

We're from Abbotsford, BC and fly down to DL and get a 5 day pass. We used to get a 6 day pass when it was offered. Anyway, what amazed me was when the cast members realized we had a 5 day pass - they were totally shocked. I guess they don't see that that often. Maybe that's why your friends are amazed.

 

[saraschoening]

We're from Abbotsford, BC and fly down to DL and get a 5 day pass. We used to get a 6 day pass when it was offered. Anyway, what amazed me was when the cast members realized we had a 5 day pass - they were totally shocked. I guess they don't see that that often. Maybe that's why your friends are amazed.

Last year when we went to DL we got a 4 day pass and then ended up having a ticket cast member refund that and charge us for a 5 day because we wanted an extra day. I am hoping that a 10 day pass will be enough for WDW. We are the type of people who get restless on our days off and want to go to the parks.. but you can't get more then a 10 day...

 

[Pinkos]

What about Daytona Beach? My dad is a HUGE Nascar fan so I wanted to get him a few things from there... but what is the actual beach like and the surround areas?

Daytona beach is awesome!! We rented an efficiency unit on the beach for three nights at the end of our last Florida trip. The beach is fantastic, the boardwalk is really nice/quaint. It was a wonderful relaxing way to spend the end of our busy trip. We often say we want to go back for a longer period of time.

 

[DougEMG]

We're in Victoria BC as well. Out trips use to be around 14 days, for the last couple of years it has been 4-5 weeks at a time. This year we are going Oct 19 to Nov 21. We own DVC so the room costs are not bad. Buy an annual pass and use it over two trips. And fly out of Seattle instead of Victoria.

 

[PensFan]

This will be our 3rd time to Disney as a family and every time its been 10 days ... Flight/Travel day on days 1 and 10 and 8 FULL days for the parks!

 

[minnie56]

The longest we have stayed is 3 weeks ..typically though we plan on approx 7-10 days.
Depends on the deal I find..

 

[saraschoening]

We're in Victoria BC as well. Out trips use to be around 14 days, for the last couple of years it has been 4-5 weeks at a time. This year we are going Oct 19 to Nov 21. We own DVC so the room costs are not bad. Buy an annual pass and use it over two trips. And fly out of Seattle instead of Victoria.

We are flying out of Seattle.. what a price difference, don't you think? Do you know what the price difference is between the 10 day and the AP? We were thinking of upgrading it now for this trip, DH wanted to just buy an extra 1 day pass and I think that i would be better to get the AP.

 

[DougEMG]

We are flying out of Seattle.. what a price difference, don't you think? Do you know what the price difference is between the 10 day and the AP? We were thinking of upgrading it now for this trip, DH wanted to just buy an extra 1 day pass and I think that i would be better to get the AP.

From Disney the annual pass is $696. A 10 day base ticket with park hopping is $435.

The annual pass only works for us because we get two trips out of it and each trip is longer than 10 days.