Has anyone here ever stayed on grounds at Disney for more than 14 days

[wisbucky]

We have seriously considered a very long vacation at Disney at OKW. I am wondering if someone has ever stayed for a long period of time. If so what have you all done for enjoyment besides going to the Disney Parks. I am interested in hearing what you did and how you got there without a rental car.

 

[vernon]

I've done several long stays but always with a car.

The wonderful thing about a long stay is that , depending on ticketing, it allows you to take your time, pace yourself and not have to be in a park from opening till closing. An AP is probably the easiest and best value ticket option, allowing you to explore WDW to the full. With a longer stay it also allows you to explore some of the other things Orlando offers (off site) , but a car is the easiest way to get about. IOA, USF, SW and BG are all great days out ( SW and BG usually offer second day free so you can get a couple of days entertainment at these parks). If you're interested in the local wildlife Boggy Creek airboat rides can be a lot of fun. You might get a few more ideas if you visit the UK boards ( trip planning and trip reports) as almost all the brits come to Orlando for a minimum of 2 weeks. Their trip planning and ideas are likely to be more in line withyours than the majority of US visitors.

 

[DisneyMim]

We've done many long stays. We always have a car though and I don't think we would go without one. We're going down for a quick trip in March, staying at the Poly and we're still renting a car. We tend to look at WDW as our second home so we don't need to be doing something every second of every day. You know how it would be if you owned a second home at the beach, etc? That's how we vacation at WDW. We have annual passes and sometimes just go into a park for dinner and one or two rides. Believe it or not we never leave Disney property unless we go to the grocery store or a walgreen's or something to pick something up we need. We find tons of stuff to do right inside Disney. We have many favorite restaurants and always try to go to 1 or 2 that we haven't been to for awhile. Also we always try to do something different every trip. I should add that we never stay in one place for the whole trip. We are long time Poly lovers and usually stay one week there before heading to OKW for the rest of our stay. When we are at the Poly we do the length of stay boat rentals and the kids especially get to spend hours on their beloved water mice. I've done two of the park tours and have really enjoyed those. Long stays are not for everyone, some people might tend to get bored, but it's nice to be able to kick back and relax. Sometimes we have to try something to see if you like it. Some people enjoy more frequent shorter stays. As for us, we like frequent short stays, frequent long stays, just about any kind of stay!!!

Happy Planning!!

 

[bluecdr]

We are from the UK. Longest stay was 3 weeks at the Grand Floridian. We tend to explore around Orlando, especially love SeaWorld, go to Busch Gardens, Kennedy Space Center, the Mall, alligator farms, sit by the pool, Water Parks and try not to spend too much time in the traditional Disney Parks.
Treat it like a beach holiday but with more to do

 

[pmcpmc]

three weeks in the summer and another week in september.
This gives us the ability to do what we want when we want.
We in Ireland believe in taking things easy.
we usually only go to the parks on E RIde nights.
we love Universal and Islands of adventure.
WE shop a lot [my wife's favorite passtime].
we enjoy all the water parks and especially enjoy our own scary clown slide at Boardwalk.
MY daughter loves us to go to chucky cheeses.
we always try to do something new each year.
WE are very much enjoy the views from the Boardwalk side and up until this year always had a room overlooking the pool.
I am always fascinated by the magnificent Swan and Dolphin and the Tower of Terror views.

 

[GraceDVC]

We usually plan on one long vacation each year, 14 or 15 days. We fly down from NY and haven't rented a car yet. We stay on property the entire time and never get bored because we love the pools, shopping, dining at the various Disney resorts, parks and Downtown Disney, visiting the park attractions at a leisurely pace, and enjoying the whole atmosphere. We stay at a different DVC resort than the prior year, and have switched to the Contemporary a few years ago on our anniversary (as it was our all-time favorite resort before we joined DVC). Each year, we say that we'll take in Universal or Sea World, but we never have the desire to do so once we are in our second home!

As a matter of fact, after two weeks stayiing on property, we still hate to leave when our checkout day arrives.

 

[KNWVIKING]

We did 16 days once. It was great, until I returned to work. The boss said no more two weekrs !!

 

[pmcpmc]

not live to work.
my brother who lives in Boston works in a unionised industry and when he came home to Ireland each year for a week he got fired and had to start in a new job each time.

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
We did 16 days once. It was great, until I returned to work. The boss said no more two weekrs !!

 

[BigTigger]

We spent 15 days last August in Orlando, but only 8 were onsite at BWV. This coming August we will spend 17 nights - 9 at OKW followed by 8 at BWV. We never have any trouble finding things to do around Disney and Seaworld/IOA/USF. We always get a rental as it allows us more flexibility in when and where we go places.

I'm the reverse side of pmcpmc's comment - I work with our Europe subsidiaries and they take half of July and most of August off, so I can disappear from work without many issues. Last August's virus outbreak followed by the power outage in the Northeast meant I couldn't check email if I wanted to for most of the vacation. The nice thing about an extra long vacation is that you are ready to go home at the end (at least until you're home a few days and pine to return to Disney).

 

[colleen costello]

If I had enough points I would NEVER leave... When I was a kid we stayed 10 days each summer, and that was in a crummy, 20-foot travel trailer at Ft. Wilderness (no air-conditioning). We loved it... Looking back on it now, I am not sure how my sainted Dad didn't strangle us all (Mom was the Disney fan). Two weeks in a DVC resort would be heaven -- air conditioning, laundry, jacuzzi tub -- what's not to like?

 

[Mic]

Our longest trip was 10 days so far, but I am always dreaming of ways to go to WDW, and stay there longer when I get there. If you are flying in, I would suggest renting a car at the airport , then keeping it a few days to go to the grocery store and do any off-site touring. You could then return the car at the car care center at WDW, or at one of the Downtown Disney hotels, depending on the company you rent from. The best thing to do would be to price the car rental, deciding exactly how many days gets you a good price(it is sometimes less expensive to keep a car a week than for just 4 days), then plan your itinerary accordingly. Once you return the car, you can rely solely on Disney transportation to their parks. Another alternative would be to use a towncar service from the airport(in order to get your grocery stop), and again to make a day-trip to Universal or Seaworld.

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by colleen costello
If I had enough points I would NEVER leave...

My thoughts exactly.

We started visiting relatives in S. Florida for about 4 days & then doing WDW for 4 or 5 days.

Then about 3 days visiting in S. Fla & 5 or 6 days at WDW

Then forget the visting - meet us there & we did 7 or 8 days at WDW.

Then - 10 days at WDW. No visitors - they were sick of it.

Then 14 days at WDW - relatives from S. Fla decided to visit again.

Next trip - 15 days - not sure about visting relatives yet!

15 days still won't be enough for me!!

I am so depressed every time we leave to return home. If I could live there I would & someday I hope to. I want to retire to Orlando & work in WDW part-time just so I can experience the magic every day!!!

 

[mickey7861]

We stay 3-4 weeks each summer. We always have a car. We enjoy renting pontoon boats, checking out the area neighnorhoods and touring model homes ( hope to relocate soon...you never have to shovel sunshine and dressing in layers means you wear a shirt over your bathingsuit !!) Since we go in the summer we typically do stuff like that during the day then tour the parks after dinner. There's always something to do and I still hate to come home.

 

[colleen costello]

Melsmice, I am with you. I can't get enough of WDW/Florida, and my dream is to live there someday. My kids are little and we have a great little hometown and school, so it's not for now... But "someday." I am already telling the kids (who are in 3rd grade and Kindergarten) that they should go to college in Florida... My plan is to move down there after they get out of high school! I want to sit at the DVC sales info desks or work at the Polynesian selling luau-type dresses. All my friends tease me and say I need a "Disney intervention" but I know they'll be visiting after I relocate!

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by colleen costello
Melsmice, I am with you. I can't get enough of WDW/Florida, and my dream is to live there someday. My kids are little and we have a great little hometown and school, so it's not for now... But "someday." I am already telling the kids (who are in 3rd grade and Kindergarten) that they should go to college in Florida... My plan is to move down there after they get out of high school! I want to sit at the DVC sales info desks or work at the Polynesian selling luau-type dresses. All my friends tease me and say I need a "Disney intervention" but I know they'll be visiting after I relocate!

I couldn't help but giggle when I read your post. That is so me - I tell my DD's the same thing. I figure if they move there then I HAVE to move there anyway to be near them!!

My DH is in sales so I figure he can sell DVC while I do something - anything - I'll even sweep the trash! Just let me be in Disney every day!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Last summer we did 14 nights at WDW (2 CS, 3 Doubletree Suite, 3 AKL and 6 BCV). Then a month later we did 7 nights at GF. We just got home from 12 nights at WDW (1 Dolphin and 11 VWL). This last trip was our most relaxing ever. We spent several evenings watching TV or doing homework with our son or watching a movie that we borrowed from the store. The more times we stay the less we really need to hit the parks. We have PAPs, but a couple of days we didn't even go to the parks at all.

Last summer we finally did a park other than Disney (we got two adult passes to Sea World for visiting a time share and bought our son one of their special annual passes), but we really aren't interested in going to Universal or somewhere else. We might do SW again some time since our son is a big dolphin fan, but maybe not.

We were talking about doing Disneyland this summer, but our son decided he wanted to go "home" instead to where he was born in Montana with a side trip to Yellowstone. On our trip home from VWL this week he asked me if I would rather go to DL or MT. He had a great time.

Otherwise, we won't be back to WDW until Oct for the 10K race, then Jan 2005 for the Marathon again.

 

[KNWVIKING]

Not so fast missy !!!

I've already reserved that job for myself. I've got a pic taped to my work monitor of me & a CM who allowed me to borrow the tools of his trade. He was impressed with my skills with a broom & bucket-on-a-stick, stated I was a natural. He probable gave my name and phone # to ME, I'm just waiting for the call.

But,I hear they need people to hand out puke bags over at M:S. I'll put in a good word for ya.

 

[Bojo]

But,I hear they need people to hand out puke bags over at M:S. I'll put in a good word for ya.

Hey, I could do that - as long as I didn't have to collect the used ones!

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
But,I hear they need people to hand out puke bags over at M:S. I'll put in a good word for ya.

...................

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
Not so fast missy !!!

I've already reserved that job for myself. I've got a pic taped to my work monitor of me & a CM who allowed me to borrow the tools of his trade. He was impressed with my skills with a broom & bucket-on-a-stick, stated I was a natural. He probable gave my name and phone # to ME, I'm just waiting for the call.

But,I hear they need people to hand out puke bags over at M:S. I'll put in a good word for ya.

LOL - how about you take Tomorrowland and I'll take Liberty Square? Or you get one side of Main Street USA & I'll take the other!