Average Stay?

[lochcarron]

We go for about 7 days per time. At the seventh day we usually have had enough but it doesn't take long before we're longing to go back!!

 

[disneychrista]

Wow, I didn't know there was such a thing as Disney overload!

Yeah I know, odd for a Disney fan.

 

[isisisme]

We live in NorCal and did a 2.5 day trip last month and a 3 full day trip this past weekend (wed pm through Sat am). Neither was long enough! We like to enjoy ourselves and take our time, take breaks back at the hotel to cool off and rest. We normally got in Oct for a week..which I am looking forward to this year as well.
There are a lot of things we did not get to this past weekend. We almost did not get to ride Space Mountain even once. We had a FP, it was broken down the 2 times that day we went to use it. We went on Friday to get a FP, right after, it went down, and then when we went to use our FP that night, we got in the car, started forwards, and then... alarms sounded and they had to take us around the corner to get us out of the car and the ride was down for awhile after that. We happened to decide to head into the park for breakfast and saw it was a 5 min wait and road it. otherwise, it would have been missed.

If you are a ride hopper, less days are fine. if you want to "be" at Disneyland, you need more time to enjoy everything (IMHO).

 

[wvnative]

If we didn't go often, I'd go longer. If I traveled with small children I'd also go longer. However, everyone in my group is over 18 and we go at least annually if not more. We generally do 2.5-3.5 days. (F-S-1/2 day Sun or F-S-S-1/2 day Mon). We did a 5 day trip once and felt it was too much. The teenagers were worn out and no fun by day 5. lol My guess is their poor diets and lack of usual exercise were key issues here. My DD's friends had a heck of a time keeping up with me at the park and I move slow.

 

[Kristina]

On my last trip I went 3 days in a row staying at the Candy Cane and then one night at the Disneyland Hotel for my birthday. That was enough time but alot of the larger attractions were closed it being September. I still had a blast but now I don't know, should I plan 5 days? I can't wait to visit again and wonder if the good neighbor hotels do a nice discount in off season? I love the Candy Cane Inn .

 

[isisisme]

I love this.

 

[I'm mikey]

We usually spend 4 or 5 days at the parks, but we live "close enough" that we're
able to go 2 or 3 times a year.

 

[cgh]

Hi Joshmom! I'm a mom to a Josh too!

Last year, we stayed 3 nights at the DLH in August. This year, we are staying 6 nights. We have a 3 yo. I do think how long you stay depends on a number of factors-time of your, list of attractions you want to see/do, what kind of visitor you want to be. I know that WDW is much bigger but when you look at the attractions that are listed at each place, their not THAT much different. With 3 days in the park, we weren't able to see everything. (we took a long afternoon break 12-4 and left at 7:30). We were in the parks 7:30-12 and 4-7:30. With a 3 yo-we did primarily little kids things (i.e. Fantasyland, Toontown, Playhouse Disney). We didn't do so many of the big rides. I circled back and did some of those during nap time, but still didn't get to do all I wanted. Now with Carsland, and a desire to see more, we extended the trip.

There's just a handful of things that need ADRs so its not nearly as complex as WDW. (I'm a little afraid of planning a trip there!)

DLR is A LOT different from when I went there when I was a kid. I admit, at that point, I thought at 13 "but it's just the magic kingdom" and we only spent 1 day there. It's a lot different then it was 20 years ago and there's much more to see and do.

 

[chrissiecutie]

Alright...to all those who go for 7 or more days, I'm curious...why so much time?? Are you in the parks the whole 7 days??

I have been going to DL for roughly 25 years and up until 15 years ago, DL was always a one day visit. As my siblings and I got older, my parents would take us for 2 days.

With the addition of DCA, I started going for 3 days and have found this to be the perfect amount of time. It's expensive and exhausting (fun too!) and by the end of day 3, I'm done for.

I'm now considering adding a 4th day onto our visits OR doing 3 days and Mickey's Halloween Party, so that's almost like an extra day. 2 days for each park seems like more then enough time to see and do it all. I have never, even in the middle of August, walked away feeling as if I didn't get to experience something or that I missed out.

Disney is a small part of our West Coast vacations. We also visit family, drive the coast, Universal, this year we are planning on going to Legoland for the first time. So our typical average stay in California is about 10 days. OP- were you asking folks how long for just Disney or what their average stay for their whole vacation is? I would be curious to hear how many others see/do more then just Disney and how many days they plan for this.

 

[chrissiecutie]

I really like going for 3 days. 4 just sort of wears me out but is doable--and 5 is too much Disneylanding for me.

We just got back from a 4 day trip (4 solid days in the parks), and by the night of the 3rd day I felt like I was done. It really is a working vacation in many ways--especially in the full heat of the summer when the parks are open till 11:00 or 12:00. We always take a mid-day break and that helps.

Yes, what she said!

Disney is perfect for 3-4 days. Anything more then that and I start to melt.

And it really is a "working" vacation. At least for this Mom it is! But then again....a vacation isn't really a vacation when you're a MOM & kiddos are in tow.

 

[JoeyyDLCA]

Voted for 4+ as we always stay for a minimum of 5 and a half days.
The first time that we had gone back after a good chunk of years without a vacation in DL, we only had gone for 3 days and needed more. So every year since, we now go for at least 5 days once a year in the summertime. We haven't gone for 3 years now, so I am anticipating our next vacation to DL more than ever!! We only went twice while I was a child, we didn't begin to go yearly until I was around 13 with 2 siblings only 4 years apart from me. So we've always been able to easily stay within the parks at all hours. My brother and myself are the main disney nerds and do not easily become bored or tired to spend such an amount of time at the parks. My sister is easily bored by it all now and my parents do reach the light done zone, maybe around the 3-4 day mark, but continue to make the best for it and do enjoy themselves naturally in the end

I probably couldn't spend more than 7 days at the parks consistently though.

 

[Brady's Mom]

We love to stay for 5 or 6 days. BUT, we usually go off-season, so the park hours are 10 am to 8 pm (mostly). We stick a beach day in our plans as a break and always make time for the pool. Our stay would generally look like this -

Day 1 - in the parks from open to close (usually a Monday)
Day 2 - in the parks open to close
Day 3 - in the parks in the morning, then out to the beach or some other spot we want to see. Relax, swim, hang out....
Day 4 - in the parks open to whenever we feel like we're done - sometimes early afternoon for swimming or going somewhere for dinner since we love to explore our surroundings and love to try new things.
Day 5 - in the parks in the morning (usually a Friday) at rope drop, usually leave at around 2 ish to go back to the hotel to nap/rest - back to the parks for dinner and then close down the park.


We are doing things a little differently this year in Oct. We have 3 day hoppers, and are planning on being there 4 nights. We are adding in a Halloween party, so that makes 4 days in the parks.

We will take it easy and relax on our Halloween party day since our first day in the parks is Columbus day and DL is open late and the party is (hopefully) the next day.

I'm feeling like it won't be nearly enough time at DLR, but it's the best we can do since we can't leave before Sunday night and have to be home before Saturday.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I think the reason to have a 5+ day stay is to avoid that "working" feeling. By leaving every afternoon for pool and rest time, you really save your energy and have a much more resort vacation type trip (especially staying on site). With 5 + days you can also hit DD for build a bear, lego store, even a movie !

For a very park centric trip 4 days should be plenty.

 

[elaine amj]

Great question as I'm wondering the same thing too. I'm planning our first DLR trip for either Jan or March 2013. We like to spend lots of time in a park. when we do WDW, we do 10-12 day trips. we would feel completely unsatisfied with a 7 day trip.

I was originally planning to do 6 park days. However, the new ticket structure only sells a max of 5 day tickets. So now, my debate is whether we should get 4 or 5 day tickets.

If we go in January, we can't go for any more than 9 days from Jan 1 onwards.

Currently, I hope to spend Jan 1 travelling (6-7 hr flight), then DLR for 5 days, then 1 day to drive to Yosemite, 1 day in the park, and next day drive to San Francisco/Oakland to catch a flight home. If I cut DLR to 4 days, then I can spend an extra night in Yosemite. Dunno if we would need that extra day though? 1 evening and 1 day seems like plenty just to SEE it and walk through the sequoias.

DH and I just spent the weekend in Quebec City. travelled 16 hrs by train, spent 2 days, then travelled 16 hours by train back home for a total of 4 days. It was actually a great trip. 1.5 full days in Quebec City was all we needed and we were done. The last half of the 2nd day wore on our nerves a bit as it felt we were seeing the same things for the 5th time. And this was with spending about 4 hours on the Ile d'Orleans, a beautiful island near the city.

DLR vets - is this plan doable? Alternatively we can go in March but I would love to see the holiday decor as it isn't likely I'll manage a WDW Christmas trip for some time to come.

 

[Judy from Boise]

the entire New Years week will be busy crowd wise. The 5 days would still allow for relaxed touring.
Also there are easier options to see very nice sequoias other than Yosemite which is rather out of the way........The "las Vegas and west" board has some good advice for those options.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I like a five night, four full days in the park trip at a minimum, which is what we have in July. And I am kicking myself for not going one more day due to the high crowds Carsland and wanting to see and do all the new things at DCA. In fact, we have happily done trips as long as ten days at DL (with side trips to the beach in that time frame).

I will add that when we stay onsite, for sure we like more days (which is too bad lol since those hotels are so expensive) so that we have time to really relax at the resort.

DL does only have the two parks and you do for sure waste WAY less time getting between the two parks and your hotel (as long as you stay close by or onsite which is a must in my opinion). But there is so much packed into those two parks. At WDW there are lots of things I can just plain miss in all four theme parks. DL is different for us, in that we like to do virtually all the attractions plus the shows. DL fireworks knock the socks off Wishes (and I love Wishes). Fantasmic is also a million times better at Dl vs. WDW. Now there is also WOC. So I like to allow enough nights to get those things in.

We are huge WDW fans, but DL is hard to beat as far as attractions, and nostalgia. As others have stated, the Walt factor at DL is hard to explain and the charm and detail of DL is something WDW does not have. And again, I love WDW!

We prefer to stay onsite and for your first trip I recommend it if you can. But its not necessary to enjoy all the parks have to offer and I wouldn't cut down days or not go at all if staying onsite is not possible.

 

[TeddiBarra]

Sorry--guess I didn't realize that people spend more than a few days. That's why I asked the question. Having never been there, and knowing that at WDW average stay is 7 days for 4 parks, didn't realize that an "average" stay was more than what I posted. Is May a "slower" time like at WDW or just as busy? We usually get out of school early May here, if there's no snow days, so that's when we would go.

May is a fabu month to go! Esp. early May, the crowds should be very managable, brisker on the weekends, but not like peak summer crowds at all. The weather ought to be lovely. I'm born and bred CA, but we even did a big fancy trip for 8 nights, with me doing 8 days in the parks(everyone else did 6 or 7). I love our longer trips- slower pace, etc. Disneyland is like WDW but remember- it has more attractions- enough that it truly takes 2 days to "do it all", especially if you want to include shows/parades (AND by May of next year there MIGHT be a new stage show, maybe maybe). And, since Carsland is now in action, DCA is a two day destination also. I'd recommend 5 days, 2 for DCA, 2 1/2 for Disneyland and a half day to do whatever!

I seriously recommend staying on property. Since last year, they've been adding perks and promos- like finally getting EMH going, and/or special early entry access via the Grand (which should be a time saver or making getting to do things in Carsland even easier or less time standing in line). I've been to DLR many times, grew up doing mostly day trips and now live 6 hours away and I still REALLY like staying on property. 5 days will make sure you get to do all the nightime stuff- and you really do want to catch it all. F! WOC, and fireworks. And yes, I know F! is also in WDW but the DL version (i've not seen in person, just in videos) is just awesome on the Rivers of America.

If you want to eat at Napa Rose or Blue Bayou, then do dinner ressies. Outside of that- nope, you really don't need any ADRs.