How Long a trip

[debster812]

Folks,

Need your advice and help. DH and I last went to the World in '89. Have not been since (i know, I know, the shame ). We are now the very proud lucky parents of a 4YO DS. Looking to plan a trip for sometime in 2002 (had planned on Sept, but DS will be starting Kindegarten, and I don't think we should pull him in the first 2 weeks of school.) I think pulling him out would be OK once he is settled. My husband's job chooses vacations by seniority so we can't always pick exactly when we would like.

So here is the question: What are your opinions on the 'ideal' length for essentially the first timers trip. We have never seen MGM, never seen AK, and DS has never seen any of it. I want it to be enjoyable, but not overloaded. What do you think? I will take any and all suggestions.

Thanks in advance

Debbie

 

[supercarrie]

I don't know about others, but I think a 7 night (with 7 full days) trip would be a good length for a good introduction to WDW. That would include 2 days at MK, 2 days at Epcot, 1 day each at MGM and AK, and one more to explore a water park, Downtown Disney, resorts, etc. Or you could use the extra day to revisit your favorites in each park, or even lay out by the pool and relax lol. As long as you keep in mind that there is so much to see and do at WDW that you could be there for a month and not see everything, the 7 day/night trip will give you a good overview of WDW.

 

[Barb D]

My kids have been to WDW 4 times (5th trip later this month!) in the last 6 years. The longest we've stayed is 4 days, and the shortest 2 days. We'd rather go more often and stay for a shorter length of time. 4 days is NOT enough, but we always know there will be a next time!

 

[Pluto4President]

I personally think 10 days is a nice trip if you have the time and money. This way you don't have to hit the parks commando style. Your 4 yo will get tired quickly and want to go back to the pool or to color in the room. This I know from experience. This way you have all the time to relax and tour. Cramming will just make you need a vacation after your "trip". Short trips are nice if you plan on going often, this is strictly my opinion though.

 

[luvmy2sams]

We made our first family trip (DH had been in the mid-80's as a teen) with our then 19-month-old DD last October. We had 5 full days for the parks and two half days on our arrival/departure days. Because of our DD's age, we spent a lot of time in Fantasyland, but we also did the other theme parks and took big breaks each afternoon. We managed to see and do everything we'd planned and felt that this was a good first trip. With that being said our trip in 2002 is booked for 13 days of magic. We loved it so much the first time that we want to stay as long as we can...without DH having to look for a new job upon our return.

 

[AKASnowWhite]

I guess the length of trip would depend partly on how often you plan to go and mostly on how much money you want to spend....we tend to be more fanatical than our friends (but not NEARLY as Disney crazed as some of the people on these boards!!!) and have taken our young kids 3 years in a row. Our trips have ranged from 8-10 days each. It is VERY true that there is more to do at Disney than can possibly be done on ANY vacation! (that's how they keep us coming back!) If this is going to be a "once in a life time" vacation, I'd say pull out all the stops and stay as long as your budget will allow. For us, our first trip of 10 days was about all that we could handle. We were approaching burnout, even though we did try to take a slower pace, and take daily breaks from the parks.

As far as taking your son out of school, I know there are some people here with some VERY strong opinions (both for and against!), but I think your choice to let him settle in is a good one. We have found that by working with our school calander, we can plan our vacation around school holidays(such as Columbus day or veterans day), conference days and Professional Development days (ie teachers meetings!) so we minimize the amount of actual class time our kids miss. It's worked out well for us. In our town, the school calander for the next year is published in April and available from the Superintendants office after that...enjoy your trip!

 

[royhawkins]

We took my DS for the first time when he was one month shy of his third birthday (2 11/12ths). We stayed for eight days and had a wonderful time with him. We spent the first and second day at the Magic Kingdom, third day at Epcot, fourth day at Animal Kindom, fifth day at MGM, sixth day at the hotel (long story) seventh and eighth day at Magic Kingdom. We pulled a lot of short days so that he could spend time in the hotel pool (All-Star Music). We also came with the agenda of doing nothing that he could not do. We did not ride Rock-N-Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Dinosaur, Thunder Mountain Rail Road, or any other ride he could not do. We came so that HE would get the experience and it really paid off for us. He is so crazy about Disney now that we are using it as a potty training tool. We have promised him that if he will learn to go in the potty we will take him to WDW. He has been doing so well that we had to plan a trip in October to hold up our end of the bargain (we are planning on going in June of 2002, but we can't make him wait that long, and we can't wait either).

We took one night to go to Pleasure Island and we used the Fairy Godmothers and that was a tremendous help to us. He was missing his "Nanny" and he took right to the woman who came to watch him. He was so into her that he wouldn't even tell us 'bye'. He just wanted to get rid of us.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.