How long do you usually stay?

[mom2aiden]

We're planning a trip in Oct. 2008. It will be me, DH and DS who will be 3.5. I would like to stay for a week, but DH thinks we only need 4 or 5 days. I think in order to hit all the parks and have some down time to recover, that 7 days would be better. I just wanted to see how long you guys normally stay, or what you would recommend. We plan on staying at the Contemporary.

Oh, and we will be flying down as well, if that helps.

Thanks!

 

[miksilver]

My vote is for 7 days. The extra time will come in handy, especially with a young one. That way when you have to come home earlier, go back for some "down time" or sleep in you can and not feel like you are missing out on the magic. I can always come up with more stuff to do in WDW!

 

[SeeDisney]

We stayed for 9 days and it was just perfect. Got to see Magic Kingdom twice and had some down days to enjoy the resorts.

Four or five days is just too short, you'd feel rushed to see and do everything.

 

[Mommy Poppins]

As a family, we usually stay 10-12 days (me, DH, DD11, DS8, DS5); however, if I pull off my surprise trip for DH's birthday at the end of the month, we will be there roughly 48 hours! It will be only DH and I; but I still plan to do 3 parks, MNSSHP and HHN at Universal.

 

[eliza61]

We're planning a trip in Oct. 2008. It will be me, DH and DS who will be 3.5. I would like to stay for a week, but DH thinks we only need 4 or 5 days. I think in order to hit all the parks and have some down time to recover, that 7 days would be better. I just wanted to see how long you guys normally stay, or what you would recommend. We plan on staying at the Contemporary.

Oh, and we will be flying down as well, if that helps.

Thanks!

Boy, your dh would hate me. When my kids were smaller we tended to stay 10-12 days. I hate doing disney "commando" style. This gave us lots of time to hit the parks, take breaks in the afternoon and relax. Also avoided some major meltdowns. So my vote is definitely 7 days.

 

[mamaloya]

We like it best and can relax most when we stay 10 days or longer. We like to arrive on Friday and then spend Sat and Sun in the parks. We take Monday off to explore or relax. Then, Tue and Wed in the parks and then Thurs off. Fri and Sat in parks and leave Sun. We spend 2 days in MK, 2 days in Epcot, 1 day in AK and then 1.5 days in MGM. We don't feel rushed at all. I know some people who buy only 4 day tix and spend only every other day in a park and every other day off. We enjoy our time in the parks too much though and feel that since we go more, we can go slow and take our time. We can listen to our kids and not feel like we are missing out on anything. If we just want to sit and have a mickey bar for a while and relax, we don't have to worry about not getting to ride something.

OH, we also split MK in 2. We don't criss cross the park. On day 1, we only do say Adventureland and Frontierland. If there is time we may go into toontown. On day 2 we would start in Tomorrowland and then do Fantasyland then toontown if there is time. We feel that criss crossing the park with young ones is tiring and time consuming. We do the same in Epcot by only focussing on either the East or West or either WS or FW.

I would stay for as long as your vacation days will allow and schedule not just days off, but enough time not to rush through the parks. Trying to see everything in one day is frustrating, exhausting and will make you regret your trip.

 

[bebelle]

We have always stayed 10-12 days with the exception of a short adults only trip of 5 days. With so much to see and do, I am beginning to think the next time will be closer to 14 days!

 

[Honeymooner04]

I think a week is a good amount of time. Anything shorter your feel rushed and I am ready to go home after a week.

Have a great trip!

 

[MrsJ Henry]

I think it depends on all of you as a family.
DH and I always stayed at least a week when we would go. Now we are going to take our toddler and we think we would like to try just a 5 night stay since we don't know how she will do. As well as, not knowing how well we will do since it will be our first trip with her.
We will not be doing all the parks and will spend most of our time at MK and taking more breaks than we are used to so we won't be seeing much but we just thought we should try this first before going on a long trip.

 

[::Snow_White::]

We stayed for 10 days on our last trip.
But me and my brother are both in our teens so we wouldn't get tired out so easily.
I think it just depends on what you would think would be better.

 

[hcmommy]

We are doing the same thing as Mrs.JHenry this time for the same reasons. When my kids are older we will go for longer and have recovery days in between. I really don't like staying ANYWHERE for a full week anyway.

 

[momto2inKC]

About 10 days is the perfect amount for us! Our first time we were only there 6 days and we felt so rushed and like we didn't have enough time. We've done 9 nights/10 days the last 2 times and it's just perfect!

 

[SandrainNC]

We usually try to stay 9 nights. We have two "rest days" in there and also get to go to MK twice.

Sandra

 

[bigbabyblues]

Our trips have been 8 nights/9 days the last two times, and it works really well for us. We stayed 7 nights once, and it just wasn't enough time.

 

[amyhughes]

Since we plan on going once a year until the boys get older we usually only go about 5 nights and 6 days. We don't go COMMANDO or anything just lay back and enjoy our time together. The way I work it we get a majority of our time in at MK and Epcot, with a full day at MGM and AK sprinkled in. Sometimes we just go in at night to walk around, not go on attractions but sit back and enjoy being in "The World". It's not going anywhere, so if you plan on coming back hit the high spots on the list and sprinkle in those favorites over the years.

 

[HeatherSue]

If you can stay at least a week, I highly recommend it! 4 or 5 days just isn't enough, unless you're going to make the trip every year or something!

 

[WVUFan]

We are going in November with our 2.5 year old for 8 nights, and we're spending the 7 whole days in the parks. We're doing it slow and going back to the resort every afternoon for naps and possibly swmming. Hopefully the downtime will help avoid meltdowns! If your DS will sleep in his stroller (my DD will not) then you might be able to do it in five days, but it would not be as relaxed as the whole week.

 

[TheDizMom]

We have always done the full week so we can have 2 days at MK (1 is never enough ) and one day to just hang out at the pool and relax . We like to have a day for each park too, and time to squeeze in DTD. So I am definitely with you on this one .

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

we usually go for 7 or 8 days depending on what flights we can get. We always do 5 days in the parks and take 2 or 3 days off. We usually go in the summer so we always take advantage of the EMH and take breaks for nap/pool after lunch and then go back to the parks at night. If we could stay for 2 wks i would lol but my parents would be broke lol.

 

[mjf2wdw]

7-10 days is the ideal length if you want to take it slow and easy and see and enjoy most of what WDW has to offer. I always go 12 days at a time and sometimes feel that I need more time. Whatever you decide, Enjoy