Has anyone decided to consolidate vacations?

[invalid_char]

We may be considering this option only because we are exhuasted. We have a long story to tell as to how we stayed in 3 different suites (including one in the Beach Club -- not BCV) during our 5 night stay, but I will save that for our trip report. (BTW, we had a wonderful time!)

Unfortunately for our pocketbook, we are currently in a situation where a 2BR is the only kind of room that provides a vacation for everyone in our family. Well, points for a 2BR do not go very far. We have enough points for 6 nights in October and 5 nights in May. 5 nights seemed so horribly short (again this may partially be due to the fact that we moved so much during our recent stay), but I think, with all of the work and paraphernalia involved with a 3 yo and an infant, these short stays, while always awesome, leave us aching for a more extended and relaxing vacation. If we consolidated the trips we could do one 10 day vacation in either May or October. And if we skip our trip this October, we will be have a grand total of 419 points to rent or bank. Of course, we'll also save a lot in airfare and may be able to get away with an ultimate park hopper instead of an annual pass. We would like a vacation that is both fun AND relaxing for a change. It is hard to relax in Disney World if you are staying for less than a week.

Has anyone (with or without small children) ever consolidated vacations like this and how did it work out?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Lisa F]

I never thought about it as consolidating vacations, but I definately vote for a longer vacation rather than two shorter ones. While a shorter trip to disney is better than no trip at all, your'e right in that longer trips are soooo much more relaxing. That feeling of being "home" takes a few days to kick in and you feel a lot less rushed when you have so many days to just enjoy being there.

We don't even have kids yet, but the "getting there" part is always my least favorite part. Packing, dealing with airports, the flight, getting to WDW, getting checked in... I could do without all of that. I can only imagine that it gets more complicated with kids. I personally would choose to stay longer and avoid doing that twice rather than take two shorter trips. Half the hassle and twice the fun!

Lisa

 

[invalid_char]

Thank you Lisa for making me feel good about this (almost) decision!

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

As an almost-empty-nester (DD22 is on her own & DS is 18 and usually stays home with the house and pets), we enjoy our 5-day, no weekend-point stays because it is a wonderful break from the daily routine. We'd rather go for just one night to get a magic fix, than not at all.

That said, if we had little ones to settle in right now, I think we'd opt for a longer stay. Most of our vacations when our kids were that small were camping or to relatives, so I can't imagine schlepping all that stuff between 3 rooms in 5 days.

Do whatever makes your family happiest. If a longer stay is more relaxing (and it sounds like it may well be), go for it. As time passes, your family grows and changes, you'll probably figure out what feels right for all of you. That may well change from one year to the next.

 

[llp479]

We do both - a 6 night stay in March, and a 9 or 10 night stay in Aug before school starts. Our first 10 day stay was last Aug at OKW. At first we were worried about what to do for 10 days - LOL! Not a problem. Our dds are 9,9, and 6. We swam, slept in, went to the parks and did a little outlet shopping. Okay, a lot of outlet shopping.

Enjoyed it so much we're going again this August. Found a great deal for three of the nights at the Marriott's Grande Vista in a 2 bdrm, and then the next 6 nights at OKW. (Still have points left over!)

Even if we didn't go in March, I'd still renew our AP's. It's cheaper than a LOS for all those days.

 

[fkj2]

If your first night (arrival) is a Friday or Saturday, and you would be arriving late, you might want to consider staying off-site, which would save a number of points, and then move to DVC the next morning. Bothersome, yes, but practical if you want to stretch those points.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

We have tended to move around alot during our stays. However, now that we have a new baby (three kids total), we like to have a DVC stay of at least six nights. For some reason, 5 seems too short. For a weeks stay, we'll arrive at WDW on Friday, stay at ASMo for the first two nights, then move to DVC for the remaining six nights. Thats eight nights total, one move. Our last stay we moved four times over two weeks. It was a little much, but we've gotten pretty good at it, and have a system for packing and unpacking. I would take advantage of longer trips while your kids are small. Once they start school, you may not want to take those longer trips in the off season. As our kids start school, we plan on taking them out for a weeks trip and doing some longer ones over summer.

Good Luck...

 

[jaysue]

We do two vacations - one in winter/spring and one in summer so they are consolidated to that extent. We find it more relaxing that way - figure about 10 days per vacation works great for us

Thanks
jaysue

 

[Granny]

Here's a vote for the "consolidated" vacation.

We have enough points to do a couple of trips a year. But we drive to WDW (14 hours) so short trips are not a great option for us.

Even if we were closer, the one long trip is such a nice luxury that we will be doing that from now on. So our trips will be in the 10-12 day range, depending on time of year.

When you do those long trips, you really feel like you've been on vacation. You can rest, and spend days out of the parks just relaxing, swimming, shopping, whatever.

On the short trips, there's a tendency to spend all the days in the parks because with four parks, every day becomes a "park day".

 

[chris1gill]

Another vote for one LONGER vacation... When your kids are older, it will be easier to pack them up for a weekend trip to Disney... but you've got a ways to go... Our kids are 5 & 8 and we can finally hop on a plane with a minimum of STUFF for a weekend.... Unless it goes into a carry on, it doesn't go on those trips!

 

[crisi]

We go every other year for seven nights.

We lose two precious vacation days in travel. So we can't go for any less than seven nights effectively. And we don't have enough vacation time to go for longer (ok, we could do eight, but we like a recovery day at home on the end) and still do the other things with vacation time we want to. We save a ton on airfare over going every year (or twice or more a year) - which - since we have DVC, airfare and park tickets are our major costs.

Seems to me, the only reason you are going every six months is to get the Disney fix that often. If you need it and can afford it, you may be happiest continuing. But if you can get by with a Disney fix every year rather than every six months, you can reap the rewards of longer stays, more leisurely trips, airfare savings, and a maybe even non-Disney vacation every year (even if it may be just using your vacation days to veg at home - I use a couple precious vacation days every year to leave my kids in daycare while I go see a couple of "Mommy movies" without any talking animals).

Course you could go through withdrawl. If you get the shakes on this plan, you may need to buy more points so you can go for a week twice a year.

 

[Pa@okw95]

We usually use the Hilton for the weekend stays then move into DVC on Sunday. That gives us 6 or 7 days at WDW which is usually enough for us. This coming vacation we are staying at a condo off campus for the weekend, then moving into a 2 bedroom on Sunday because we have guests.

 

[laceemouse]

We have 4 kids so a 2 bedroom is a must have! We only bought 160 points because we did not want to finance and that is all we can afford right now. We also drive down to save money, and we don't like to take our kids out of school so we have to go when points are high. Our plan was to go every 2 or 3 years by banking/borrowing. We certainly hope to add more points in the future! Going to Disney is great but we get by by vacationing in other places on our off years. We own another timeshare which we trade around to see other things. We have decided to just do 3 nights at BCV next spring break because we just can't wait to see it!!! We will also spend 3 or 4 nights at the beach, something our kids are dying to do!!! We really do not feel the need to see and do everything at every park on each trip! We know we have 39 more years to enjoy DVC again and again!

 

[sgtdilbert]

I'm just so darn lucky. We just bought, and are looking at a 10 day vacation per year at WDW. Can't wait! But since I'm a complete Disney nut (and who isn't on these boards), I'm super lucky that I live just down the street from Disneyland Resort. I go to Disneyland at least once a week, except during the summer when I steer clear of the madness. I get my Disney fix all year long, and really look forward to the long, relaxing time at Disneyworld!

s.

 

[mikesmom]

Holy Mackerel! We moved 3 times last year in 10 days and I though DH was going to kill me!! I can't imagine doing it in 5 days. Our moves were almost by accident - a waitlist for Vero didn't come through, so we grabbed 2 nights at OKW (airfare was already booked), then 5 nites at BW with the extended family of 9, then I needed a couple of days to recover from the vacation, and OKW had room, sooo.....

Anyway, I guess I'm trying to say that if you did 5 days and don't move, it's not nearly so taxing. We just came back from only 4 ights at OKW and we're really relaxed. We only did parks about 4 hours/day, then hung out at the pool or on our balcony. It takes us a day of travel each way, too, so I wasn't sure, but it was really great!

 

[Lexxiefern]

Another vote for the longer stay! I was actually just figuring this out this afternoon myself. I figure we can go for 8 nights every year and a short 5 night trip every other year. Of course, I would really like to do an add-on, but for now this is my plan. Good luck with your decision - enjoy it, it is part of the fun!

 

[JimC]

We vote for the long vacation for significant relaxation. That said we often don't take our own advice. We are known to leverage other time in central Florida into some WDW time and even a short 4d/3n is relaxing if you limit your schedule (particularly in early December).

After eight days the AP still is the better deal. Schedule your vacation for the following year to end the day before you started this year's and you get two on the AP.

 

[invalid_char]

Thanks everyone. jimc, that's a good point about the aps

 

[mickey7861]

I vote for the consolidated trip. This is what we've been doing and it works out great. We still buy AP's though. We spend 3 weeks in August on the year we buy AP's then we return for 3 weeks the following July (same AP). While we do miss WDW during the rest of the year, we love spending the extended time. We find it much more relaxing and cost effective.

 

[reneesam]

Three weeks at a time...oooooohhhhh I'm very jealous! DH's job only allows one week off at a time, so that's max for us. Airfare is the killer, especially with full fare for both kids and frequent flier tix that seem impossible to get, so I also vote for longer trips.