How long do you visit WDW?

[CindyT]

We have gone for 3 days (definitely not enough time) to 16 days. On the longer stays we build in days off to be lazy, and recuperate from commando days. I can never stay long enough, but the rest of my family is usually ready to go back home after 2 weeks.

 

[jimmalru80]

After eight days and seven nights, we are ready to go home.

 

[shellybaxter]

Our shortest stay was for seven days, our longest for 15 days. Seven was our first stay, and it wasn't nearly long enough. Fifteen was a little long - I started missing home. Nine to ten days seems to be about right for us, and we don't leave Disney property. Just lots of fun, relaxing, and eating good food

 

[Dana49]

We used to do 7 night stays. Now that we don't have children with us, we stay for 5 nights. aw:

 

[kathyjacks]

hi!This is my first post on this site although I have been reading over it for about a week. My hubby , Me, DS 8yearsold , and DD 5 years old are going to disney for 10 days april 8-18.we have allowed 2 weeks for driving time and to take our time on the trip. It will be the first time any of us have been.IS 10 days too many? TO few?How long does it take to see everything in Mk, ak,mgm, or epcot? Any info , tips are wonderfully appretiated.

 

[Ms.Mouse]

We've normally stayed 7 nights/8days and it is never enough. I think we need two or three more days added on to that and we'd be happy. We don't get tired of the togetherness thing because we all do our own thing and meet up for our dinner which is usually a "sit-down" meal. Our whole party tends to stay in the same one park all day so if we want to share something "special" or do something together, we call each other on the cell phones. That worked out very well this year.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We have been doing the 7 night. I would like to do 10 nights but thats a little out of reach right now. Two weeks might be too long but I would like to try it and see.

 

[goofie4goofy]

We do 5 nights tops sometimes 4 but we go 2 times a year. We sometimes split a 10 day vacation...we have gone on a Celebrity cruise, not wanting to go home rented a car in Ft. Lauderdale then drove to WDW for 5 days...we have also split our trips with Atlantis Bahamas, Naples and Captiva. Florida is such a great vacation spot, we love it. From the Caribbean it's a short flight and from the West coast of Fla a 3-4 hour drive to Orlando.

 

[SuperGurl]

Family trips are 7-9 nights, adults only 5 nights (our yearly excape!). We've stayed as long as 12 nights and as short as 2 nights (all the way from Ohio). The 12 night trip was fantastic. We slept in, went to both water parks, multiple days in each park. Wish we could manage that many nights everytime.

Can't wait for retirement. 3 months in a 5th wheel in Ft. Wilderness every winter!

I'm from Ohio too. We plan to drive. If you drove, about how much did you spend on gasoline?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Seven days is about right for me. I went to Orlando with my then 5yo Dec 2004 for 13 days and that was too long. I don't know how much of it was too much togetherness with my mom and my sister, who we met there and how much of it was missing my DH and my other kids, but it was several days too long.

Five days is my minimum.

 

[jlovesee]

Our best trips are always atleast a week long, leave on friday night (driving from KC) and arrive saturday night, leave saturday morning, so 6 days. We have also had trips that have been on 3 days (summer at POFQ) and we have had trips that have been a week and a half. I have never wanted to leave, so I imagine if I could have a dream trip of 2 weeks long I would be in heaven.

Jennifer

 

[dixipixi]

At least 10 days. We have done 14 once, but never less than 10.

 

[umbluegray]

hi!This is my first post on this site although I have been reading over it for about a week. My hubby , Me, DS 8yearsold , and DD 5 years old are going to disney for 10 days april 8-18.we have allowed 2 weeks for driving time and to take our time on the trip. It will be the first time any of us have been.IS 10 days too many? TO few?How long does it take to see everything in Mk, ak,mgm, or epcot? Any info , tips are wonderfully appretiated.

Last time we took 2 weeks off -- which translates into 16 days away from work.

It's about 830 from Memphis to Orlando making it, with stops, about 14 hours. We decided to split the drive in half and spent the night in Dothan, AL. We did the same thing on the way home.

That gave us 4 days of drive time. Take out the drive time and we had 12 days in Orlando.

We spent 10 days at WDW, 1 day at Sea World and had 1 rest day. We chose Saturday as our rest day because at that time of year the weekends are busier at the parks.

Personally, ten days weren't enough for me. Maybe that's because I'm just a big kid and had too much fun with my 5 yr old daughter. It sure beats the heck out of work.

We had Park Hopper tickets so we could go to whichever park we wanted whenever we felt like it.

I did a lot of planning. From folks on this board I found out which days of the weeks were busiest for each park. Using that, I planned at least 2 full days in each park on their respective less-busy days.

By having 2 days at each park, we could use 1 day each to just do rides and attractions while ignoring the parades &/or fireworks. That was nice because while the parades &/or fireworks are happening, the crowds thin out at the rides.

We also split days at different parks, i.e. morning at Animal Kingdom and evening at Epcot.

Because Animal Kingdom closes earlier than the other parks we'd spent 1 day at AK and then went to Magic Kingdom specifically for the Spectro Magic parade and Wishes. We used our 2nd day at AK to allow us to hit Epcot that evening for Illuminations.

Even with as much planning as I did and allowing at least 2 days at each park, we still didn't get to do as much as we wanted. We didn't do any water parks. Next trip our daughter will be older and we'll factor the water parks in.

I think you'll be glad you have 10 days to spend at WDW. And afterward I think you'll find out you need to do 10 days again on your next trip.

As far as tips go... I would definitely PLAN!

You can get a lot of planning tips from this message board. People here are VERY friendly and helpful. Check out the Disney Tips forum.

You might want to do some character meals. We did Cinderella's Royal Breakfast and we had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eyeore. Those were so much fun! If you want to do character dining you need to call well in advance to make reservations.

You may also want to spend time meeting characters. There's an art to working that activity in your day, too.

Dig around on the different forums and ask plenty of questions. You'll get plenty of great answers.

 

[fanofdisney]

We did 5 days last time; not enough! I like at least 2 days to chill out at the hotel. We'll probably do 7 next time. I would do more, but we miss our dog too much. aw:

 

[Rudegrle]

Usually nine to ten days. This will be our second vacation away from our puppy and it makes me oh so sad

 

[Kristina]

We did 16 days last trip, but only because we come so far and both the first and last day are made up of traveling. We don't leave the resort until 3pm on the last day, but my boyfriend is to much of a nervous nelly to go to a park or DTD on that day, so that ends up being our only 'take it easy day'!

I to did a whole bunch of planning, chose the very best days for each park, made a list of what I wanted us to see/do, eat and experience.
We had a great time but it was go go go always! On the days that we got out of the room late, like about 10 or 11, I had an antsy feeling, like we were missing something, and I bet we were!

We did the Universal Parks 2 days, but not Sea World . Once or twice we started our day with DTD for lunch, but we never did lounge by the pool or go to a water park, and when we came home we were happy, satisfied and exhausted!

 

[Bracho]

My trip this past May was 8 days and my upcoming trip in March is 14 days at VWL. I can't wait...

 

[maxiv]

you people be glad...i was there with my girlfriend and my parents this summer....i couldn't persuade my parents, especially my dad to more than 5 days + 6th day departure..he isn't a disneyfan at all though he had his fun

well we did all the parks + waterparks + DTD but it was quite a rush....not too rushy I'd say but i could have spent 2-3 days more, which i'm trying to do with my DG nexttime on our selves and then we want to keep an eye open for the details like hidden mickeys, overlooked attractions, alle the parades (we did most of them and the evening shows too, though), take photos of architecture and just the little things


unfortunately we're from germany so i don't think i'll be able to return to the world that soon.... :'(

have a nice trip!!!
max

 

[ciera321]

Normally we go for around 8 or 9 nights...This August will be our first 11 night DW trip, but I'd love to be there for 2 full weeks. Then maybe we could do everything and try every restaurant we want to.

 

[SelectTheGold]

We did 10 days last October & by the 8h day I was ready to go home (we didn't take enough breaks & smell the roses We will not be doing that again)...just curious..how long are your trips to Disney world?

We've always stayed for 6 or 7 nights. This time we are staying for 8 nights/9 days, and my DH is contemplating changing it to 9 nights/10 days. I hope I don't miss our animals too much staying this long!