Does anyone else have to survive on short trips only??

[panfan]

Hi!
Just trying to start planning the days for our December trip. It will be a late Sun-thurs trip.

Being in the rest. buisness-we can never go over a weekend so our trips are from late sun to thurs usually . sometimes we can squeeze in a friday if we are lucky but not this time. (the only good thing about this is the point factor!)

Since joining DVC in april the one thing that will be better for us is that we will definetly go two times a year now !! HOWEVER--I still get jealous reading all of the posts about all the longer trips you guys take.

Anyone else have to survive on just small jaunts to DW??
Anyone have any tips ?? ( I know I am lucky just to be going at all!--although friends and family think we are nuts)

Thanks for any discussion

 

[dianeschlicht]

WE just did a 5 night trip (returned yesterday), and I can say I didn't care for it much! We felt like we were trying to cram too much into a short time. I think you would do fine with the shorter trips if you plan to only do specific things on each trip. That might help keep you from being a commando.

 

[lurontravel]

My family and I normally do 2-4 day trips, that is 1-3 nights. We do spend the almost the entire first and last days there as we live about a 2 1/2 hour car ride away and get up at 4 am so we can be there before anything opens, adn if our room is available at that time, we'll checkin and unpack. Otherwise we just leave our stuff, and go into the parks. We usually do the parks early, and leave when they start getting really crowded (around 1 or 2 pm), go back, nap, pool, dinner (either at the villa or out depending on our desire , we usually eat 50% in, 50% out), and onto our evening activity (either at a park DTD, or whatever we feel like doing). We do sometimes stay in a park all day if the boys nap well in the stroller (they are soon to be 2 and 4 yrs. old), then will go back and have a quieter evening. We NEVER do Disney commando style, b/c we go ALL of the time, and have our Seasonal Passes (we're FL residents), and have our DVC! Our boys LOVE staying in "Mickey Mouse's Hotel".

Yes, I guess sometimes I could stay at WDW for a longer period of time like others are able to, but for me, that would mean LIVING there. Currently, that is not an option for me. Boo-hoo.

Tuly, though, I'd rather go and spend my 20-25 days in small spurts b/c otherwise, I'd have REALLY bad Disney cravings.

I pity those who live to distant to come more then once every year or even once every three years...

 

[spiceycat]

Spicey goes with me - but my other cats stay at home - so we generally do the 5 days (sun-thurs) come back on Friday thing. I don't like to leave them alone for long.

Hey it saves points! You can go back more often.

we only try to do one or two parks per trip - like on this one we are during MK one morning and AK one morning - that is it - if we feel the need to do again - Epcot at night.

we aren't going to try and do everything - mother is not able too.

the day at the Contemporary we are spending at the Cont probably go visit the other monrail hotels too.

for trips less than 3 days - I will generally fly (I hate to fly) - Birmingham is only around 9 to 12 hours driving from WDW (depending upon how many stops you make, and how long they are) - so I generally drive.

of course we generally go around 3 to 5 times.

we have done 7 days and I didn't really enjoy it as much as I thought - I need my 2 days at home before returning to work - it I don't get them - I am not a nice person

 

[Scoootch]

Now that we live in FL -- (moved from N.J. 2yrs ago) we mostly take wknd trips as we need to use what little bit of weekday vacation time dh gets to go back up north to visit family.

The up side is that we now can pick up and go to WDW anytime we want to - even if just for the day. The down side though is that once there, always feel like we never get enough time to stay and vacation anymore Really miss those week long trips 2 times a year instead of overnighter's. Not complaining at all mind you -- love that we can just pick up and go whenever the mood or CRAVINGS for WDW hit us. Just miss getting to not have to leave the next day LOL. And then of course there's the points!! Eeesh - killer for the wknds. Thank goodness for AP and FL resident discounts for when the points run low

 

[KyBill]

It's not amatter of surviving on short trips. We plan it that way. The advantage we have is a winter retreat in South Florida. So we can stop at WDW on the way to Florida, during our winter stay and on the way back north. Also since we are owners and seasonal residents we qualify for the Florida Seasonal Pass. Plus we share some of our points with the kids and they bop in and out of WDW for 3 to 5 days. We al stay away from weekend points.

 

[Disney Doll]

We usually take a 7-10 day trip, because we live in Connecticut.

However, there have been times when the moon has been in the right house and the gods have been smiling upon us when we have been able to squeeze in an unexpected 4 day trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed those. I think it was because I KNEW I wouldn't be able to run around like a nut, so we really pared down to what we truly wanted to see and do, and relaxed.

I find that the DVC gives me the luxury of not being a "commando" tour-er anymore, because I know I'll bee back.

 

[lsutiggeratwk]

All of the comments made so far, ring true for us too. I'm not one who likes to be away from home for long periods of time - got that from my dad
We're going for a quick trip in Oct. and it will be the shortest trip yet - really only 3 1/2 days, leaving early on Sunday morning. I''ve been thinking about how we'll spend the days and I have to keep telling myself that we don't have to do everything. I think it will be a more relaxing trip. We have AP's and I think that helps with the "don't have to stay in the parks all day" thing.

Make the best of the time you have in WDW!!

 

[Granny]

We made a 5 day trip last year and found it to be very relaxing. The DVC ownership takes away any need to "cram it all in" since we know we'll be back again soon. So we spent less days in the park on that trip (second one of the year) and more time exploring some of the other features of WDW.

4-5 days, a couple of times a year is a pretty nice deal. We live too far away to do that, so we are now doing the longer trips once a year.

 

[Lisa F]

5 days at disney is better than no days at disney, and 5 days every year (or twice a year) at disney is better than one week every few years! Just being there is so fabulous that I enjoy each and every moment, whether it is attached to a long weekend or a 2 week stay (though my days of the two week stay are over now that i am out of grad school and in the "real world"

Lisa

 

[colleen costello]

I feel like our trips are too short, and we usually go for 7 or 8 nights. I'd love to go for longer, but with school and hubby's job, a week at a time is what we can usually do. It puts it in perspective when I hear about others going for just a weekend or so... But we drive down, and for a 16-hour drive I expect some serious time with Mickey!

 

[kaf7878]

We only do short trips! Max 3 nights. We live in Tampa so obviously we are fortunate to not have the travel time and expenses that most incur. We also have a 1 and 4 yr old so that is enough! But when we go, we really go to relax, swim, walk around, eat, etc. Sometimes we don't even do parks (I can hear jaws hitting the floor right now!).

As others have said, just take it easy and don't cram too much in...you'll be back soon!!

 

[SamSam]

DH and I mostly do short trips. Usually a Thurs-Sun, or Wed-Sun.
Last year we did 4 of these trips and we enjoyed every one of them. Going so often, we really don't feel rushed. We don't try to see everything, we just try to hit our favorites. Knowing we'll be back again to do/see whatever we missed helps.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

Originally posted by panfan
Anyone else have to survive on just small jaunts to DW??

We also have to survive on short trips. My husband and I own a liquor/package store, and Fridays & Saturdays are always busy, so we try to make sure we are always in town on those days. We usually leave on our trips on Sunday mornings and return before 5:00 on Friday. Since the points are so much higher on Fridays and Saturdays, being forced to go Sun. - Fri. allows us to take several shorter trips each year. We are only 6 hours from WDW and about 4 hours from HH, so if we leave early enough, we can be in the parks by 1:00 or so. While I would love to be able to stay for a week or longer, I really enjoy our shorter trips.
Holly

 

[donmil723]

Since we bought at BCV right after they opened, we have been going to WDW 2-3 times per year. Before we bought, we usually only went once a year for 6-7 days as we didn't feel we could leave our business (farm) for any longer than that at one time. So now we get to go 2-3 times a year for 5 nights each time. We really enjoy going more often Don't always get as good a deal on a rental car by not staying Sat. night though. Airfare has been pretty reasonable the last couple of years so its not too bad to take more trips especially since we don't have to pay for a hotel too.

Donna

 

[muickey'smj]

Generally, we take three trips a year, five nights each, Sun - Thurs nights.

Vero in Sept or Oct, the World in January, and HH in the spring. This has worked out well and has allowed me to invite several friends and family members at different times. One of these years, though, I may just keep all my points together and stay in one place for a while. Though every time I think that thought, I say, "Hmmm, I don't know . . ."

Usually we take an early flight from Boston to wherever we're going, so we arrive early or mid afternoon, in time for dinner, the pool, the beach, or air conditioned happy hour. It's also a chance to catch up with each other since we often meet other DVC family members on site.

On the other end, we usually fly out of wherever sometime around noon. That way we're home at a decent hour without too much hassle. Works for us.

MJ