Anyone else struggle with cost/benefit of short trips?

[SandyinMonterey]

As far as Disney (WDW) goes, we don't need a full week anymore. When we lived in California and had to fly to Florida we'd go for a full week. But DL, we'd be fine with 3 days. Now that we live on the East Coast and drive to WDW, a shorter park trip is fine now. My husband prefers to drive everywhere now. He's not afraid to fly, he just doesn't like it. The traffic, parking, delays, etc. Other trips like beaches, Savannah, etc, it doesn't have to be a week. We went to Savannah a couple of years ago for 4 days and that was too long. By the second and third day we were running out of stuff to see and do. Our touring styles have changed. Don't feel we have to go non stop and even do parks every day. We went last May and didn't even get park hoppers (first time in over 20 years.)

 

[AndreaDM]

I love short getaways just as much as longer vacations. Flying from Ohio next weekend for MNSSHP, so staying 3 nights and will have 2 full days. Flights were $44 each r/t on Breeze, staying at a Hyatt with minimal points transferred from Chase. Yes it will be rushed, but we will have a blast, we've done trips like this before, it will give me the Disney fix I need lol. We are taking an almost 2 week trip to Europe next month so we save our longer vacations for international destinations.

 

[bwr827]

I’m in your camp of longer trips based on value, starting with the international flight cost.

I like to find the sweet spot that balances cost-per-day, sufficient length to disconnect from real life, ability to do all the things, and overall budget constraints.

We find ourselves landing on 10 days, give or take.

 

[SL6827]

The ticket prices used to give a good break at around four-five days. Now it's at least seven days before the price break comes.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

For us, a full week has been our standard trip. Now everything cost wise seems to be measured against that.

We would love to go on a couple short trips but then the what ifs start.

For example, plane tickets are the same price for a 3 day trip and a 7 day. Park tickets get cheaper overall every day you add. 3 day trips lose part of the days to travel.

Before long we have talked ourselves out of a short trip to wait until we can stay longer.

Def struggle with this. I have found that it IS nice to get away for a weekend, but it's usually better if I can just do a longer trip later because I am unable to actually recharge on a long weekend. And with air travel the way it is now, days could be wasted with flight delays (unless you can drive easily).

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Funny just seeing this thread but yesterday decided against a last minute 4ish day trip from NY. Airline prices the number one factor. Was hoping prices would be slashed for last minute flights but turns out everyone wants to go away this week so nothing cheap! I didn't realize "Pricelining" trips isn't a thing like it used to be years ago. I loved doing that! I love squeezing in as many trips on the AP as possible and if I had any more DVC points left it would've nudged me to go but I cant add a Swan or Dolphin stay on top of the airline. Plus then I start thinking of the ride to and from airport plus food even if we go cheap...meh it's ok. Went Last month and going in October so at some point you gotta say enough is enough. Can't get too obsessed...or can we lol

 

[Figment Mom]

Yes, absolutely. We end up going for 12 days. The airfare is the same and you get a few days in the parks for an additional $20 per day at a certain point.

We stay at a value resort so additional nights aren't too crazy, either.

For some reason the food prices got to me this time and I felt like I was hemorrhaging money halfway through the trip. But I can never justify a shorter trip!

 

[Willow Ufgood]

For some reason the food prices got to me this time and I felt like I was hemorrhaging money halfway through the trip. But I can never justify a shorter trip!

We are fortunate to book DVC villas with a full kitchen. That doesn't mean that we eat every meal in the villa but it gives us options. The cost of dining at Didney has becomes so expensive that during our 7-10 night trips we cut way back on our table service dinners and we almost always eat breakfast in the room. We intend to try offsite dining or Uber Eats during our next visit.

 

[kylenne]

Funny just seeing this thread but yesterday decided against a last minute 4ish day trip from NY. Airline prices the number one factor. Was hoping prices would be slashed for last minute flights but turns out everyone wants to go away this week so nothing cheap! I didn't realize "Pricelining" trips isn't a thing like it used to be years ago. I loved doing that! I love squeezing in as many trips on the AP as possible and if I had any more DVC points left it would've nudged me to go but I cant add a Swan or Dolphin stay on top of the airline. Plus then I start thinking of the ride to and from airport plus food even if we go cheap...meh it's ok. Went Last month and going in October so at some point you gotta say enough is enough. Can't get too obsessed...or can we lol

With NY at least I think the airfares can be explained by folks trying to get in one last hurrah before it’s back to school time. When I was a kid this is typically around when we’d take our family Disney trips. But fares have a tendency to spike around this time of year from NY to leisure destinations. JetBlue just started a fantastic flash sale yesterday though if HPN is an option.

And don’t feel bad about it. In 2021 I booked a last minute trip for July 4th weekend solely bc of the return of fireworks and I had just been down Memorial Day into the first week of June for my birthday. I got a crazy good AP rate for Gran Destino. tbh I think only you can determine whether or not you’re going too much, but if finances allow it why not lol.

 

[MicheyMouse]

Surprisingly we thought food at Disney seemed much cheaper now that a lot of ordinary fast food meals run $10-15. I think jambalaya at FQ was $12 and I love it. Harbour House in MK has fish and chicken for $12-13.
Sit downs are of course very different. Trader Sam’s was a pretty good bill too but it was our first visit so a couple mugs came home.

 

[bwr827]

$12 a meal is very reasonable, all things considered.

Park discounts do still get better at the 4-day mark, eg with recent promotions. We increased our tickets to 4-day to get the free parkhopper, which we don’t normally splurge on.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

The accommodations aren't a big deal for us when it comes to short trips. We own DVC so it's just a matter of whether we have the points to do it. Even airfare can be absorbed if we use airline points. We have a lot of Southwest points but they cut way back on nonstop flights out of our closest airport. And we could always dine on the cheap side for a few days if necessary.

But those ticket prices! Not to mention all of the lost perks like Magical Express! That just puts a short trip in the no go category.

Yup. It’s the ticket prices for us too

We aren’t going back for 18 months (and only for a week) as a result, when we used to go for 15 nights every year….

Which means I now have too many Dvc points!

 

[Willow Ufgood]

Yup. It’s the ticket prices for us too

We aren’t going back for 18 months (and only for a week) as a result, when we used to go for 15 nights every year….

Which means I now have too many Dvc points!

It will be more than 2 years since our last visit. We used to go 2-3 times per year. We ended up renting out all of last year's points. We took a cruise and visited Europe with the money. We will stay for 10 nights when we go back later this year. I bought 14 day tickets from a UK ticket vendor and the price, after applying the exchange rate, was cheaper than buying 7 day hoppers from the US vendors.

We also have more points than we could use this year so once again we rented some out and used the money to apply towards the tickets. We will probably rent them all out next year because Disney just hasn't provided us with a good incentive to make a yearly visit anymore.

 

[jimmymc]

I do struggle, but I've also taken a few short trips. It's especially bad when you're taking a short trip centered around a party, so you end up only needing a 1 or 2 day park ticket. If I can get a DVC studio with points and a good deal on flights, then I'll pull the trigger. Having less time in the parks gives me an excuse to buy lightning lanes and after-hours tickets, so it's like I get a week's worth of rides done in 4 days.

 

[Disneylover99]

We only do short trips when we have an annual pass.
Without an annual pass we’ll get 10 day tickets.
I can’t stomach the one or two day ticket prices.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

Most of my WDW trips are shorter trips (3 days is typical). If I compare WDW to other trips on short trips WDW comes up reasonable because I try to cram as much as I can into 3-4 day trips. When I go anywhere else I do multiple things each day (sports, shows, museums, parks, etc) and suddenly paying for 3 days of park hoppers is cheap in comparison.

 

[DCLMP]

Disney aside I've never found a good cost benefit with any weekend trip. It always feel likes a spent a lot of money and got short changed. Regardless of where I'm going I like long vacations with a couple of days to recover when I get home.

 

[kathy884]

I don't, but for me it's short or not at all. If you are someone who enjoys and has a family who enjoys the longer trip, I can see where you would lean for the longer trip for the cost per day value.

I'm in the shorter trip camp. Growing up (grade school thru college for me) we did one week or two week trips (one to three of these a year), but I had a Disney loving family / extended family, and we had a motorhome and would drive down regularly (mom and dad are who planned and paid for the trips too). Fast forward to being a grown up and having a school aged kid - grade school thru college and DS in early 20s too and being married to a guy who does not like Florida or theme parks. During this phase I switched to the four night / three day get-a-way to Orlando leaving DH at home most of the time (I think we just did in that 20 year period just three trips that were a full week and opting for almost an annual short trip most of the time instead). Sometimes it would just be me and DS (most often). Sometimes we would meet up with extended family. One trip was to Disneyland, CA with other Southern, CA things thrown in and one trip was Disneyland Paris (an add on (three nights / three days) to a trip to Paris and Belfast). The shorter trips (theme park stuff) kept costs down and left vacation monies available so that our bigger week long trip would be something DH would enjoy too. And during that phase the short intensive trip (usually to Orlando) just felt perfect to me -- easy to plan and something I got a lot of satisfaction doing. A longer time to me (and since I was paying for the trip was my choice) just felt too long. And four nights / three days while not the value per day was what I really liked and felt like doing and overall was cheaper than a week due to food, lodging costs, and incidentals. Most of my air too was free to Orlando, using points.

Now that DS is 29 and married, that I'm 64, and that DH still doesn't like Disney, theme parks, and Florida (and I'm not as much into that as I used to be -- I'm older and in a different phase of life and don't have grandkids), and that I now have relatives in Tampa and Orlando, my Disney trip days (Quote UnQuote) you might actually say are over. Our week long family trips next year (two of them for example) and we are treating DH and spouse to come with us on both too are a week in Puerto Vallarta Mexico (late Feb.) and a trip to Glacier National Park (July). It's me picking something that appeals to everyone that I think fits better into stage of life where DH and I are and inviting DS and spouse if it ends up being something that I think would work well for the four of us. But still being a little bit of a theme park girl and a little bit of a Disney fan lol (I guess that never really goes away totally) and being committed to doing a mini trip annually to see my cousin who is in assisted living in Tampa that's not all that far away from Disney, and having a favorite nephew who I love spending time with in Orlando, it's not a Disney trip that I do anymore, but maybe a day experience here and there some years. 2025 early February, I am flying to Tampa and getting a hotel two nights there to see my cousin (my nephew is joining me in Tampa too), and then I am doing 1 and 3/4 days in Orlando (two nights) and staying at my nephews. This year for the Orlando time for the 3/4 of a day it's visiting monorail resorts, dinner at Boma, and watching fireworks at the Polynesian (no Disney theme parks) followed by a theme park day at SeaWorld (me and my nephew). Even the mini mini get-a-way sounds like tons of fun and is so fun and easy to plan. It's just what feels right to me and what I want to do now.

I have gone from the longer trip to the shorter trip and now I am just an occasional day tripper.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I don't like short cruises. I feel like you're just getting the feel of things and it's time to go. We felt that way on the Wish last year. From now on at least 7 nights.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

I don't like short cruises. I feel like you're just getting the feel of things and it's time to go. We felt that way on the Wish last year. From now on at least 7 nights.

MTE. We did a couple of 3 and 4 night cruises when we first started cruising because we wanted to make sure that we weren't susceptible to sea sickness. We're seasoned cruisers now and just completed a 14 night transatlantic repositioning cruise. Fun times!