Had to shorten our stay to save $

[Beckypooh1972]

I'm wondering if anyone has had to shorten their usual vacation week to fewer days to save money. We were going to stay 7 nights on a free dining pin code but we recently had to cut back to a 5 night stay which is the shortest Disney trip we've ever taken. We did the math and decided to checkin Saturday, 12/12/09 and leave on a Thursday 12/17 instead of staying until Saturday, 12/19/09 like we normally would. The cost of flights for 4 people are just too prohibitive and the rates for WDW and flights go up significantly after 12/17/09. With a shorter stay, is it still worth going? We've been to WDW many times but never in December; we are so excited about all the Christmas festivities including the party. Has anyone had to take a short trip and did you still think it was worth going? Should we cancel and take a longer trip when we can afford to stay longer?

 

[RunningGirl]

You will still have a great trip, esp. since you're going when it's not so crowded. We have done some short trips (4 or 5 days) and you just have to set your expectations accordingly. Plan your park days carefully to take advantage of extra magic morning hours. Do you have park hoppers? That makes it easier. We've also done 10 day trips which are great (and we want to do that again) but shorter trips can be lots of fun!

 

[rie'smom]

You've been often enough to skip what doesn't appeal to your family, so you should be fine. We've taken 5 day trips and had a blast.
If this was your first trip, I'd say cancel until you could afford more days.

 

[disney1995disney]

You are cutting it short to squeeze in the driving time?

If so, that can be half the fun! Get a cheap hotel(s) for the ride, bring a few board games and get cheap fast food to bring back to the hotel!

Enjoy the ride and 5 days in WdW will be fine! You wil get your x-mas fix and leave enough to make you want to go back when the budget works for you..

Good luck and I am sure it will be 100% fine

 

[Buckalew11]

I've done 5 days that time of year 2 or 3 times. Since we go at other times of the year also, we can be selective about what we do and where we spend our time. It is fun to see all the Christmas decorations so that is what we concentrate on. Going to see the decorations at the GF, WL, BC, BW, YC and Dolphin are just breathtaking.

I just did a 5 day trip with a friend and we had a blast. 11 day trip in january was much more relaxing that a this one but is still fun! I did 2 days last fall (went to Vero for the rest of the week) and saw all 4 parks in that 2 days! It was still fun (but tiring).

Have a wonderful, magical trip!!

 

[paintnolish]

We cut back, too- was 12/12-12/20, now 12/12-12/18. It's hard, especially before Xmas. Oh well....see you there!

 

[Beckypooh1972]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. I think we will have a great time with just the 5 nights; we were already planning to focus on the Christmas aspects of Disney. One of the reasons we are staying on property is to make it easy to resort hop and check out all the decorations. We are passing on the park hopper option to save money and because we want to take it easy this trip with the kids. We haven't decided about driving vs. flying. We'd like to fly if we can find flights at a decent price (under 600.00 for 4 of us); driving ourselves is our backup plan, which would save us on renting a car too. I once heard a podcaster say that he'd prefer MORE trips to Disney vs. longer stays. Guess he wasn't in the minority...

 

[Hyonlyf]

I am staying the exact same days as you and I had to shorten my vacation the same exact days you did. Weird.

We went in Feb and we just couldn't quite pull off a full week vacation in December.

See you there!