How Long Do Your Trips Last?

[Jabroniville]

This is more of a general one- how long do you generally like to stay on your vacations? As in, how long are you typically on your trips?

I find the longer, the better- not just because you get more Disney and maximize the use of your plane tickets (I'm Canadian, so it's very expensive), but because this allows a lot less stress if you missed something, it's too busy one day, or half a day gets rained out. Plus you don't have to be as choosy about where you eat, and when you meet characters, they'll actually remember you from the week before! You get better interactions that way!

The funny thing is my vacations have increased in magnitude every time I've gone. In 2014 I went for the "bare minimum" trip (to be fair, I went to New York the same year, only a few months after)- 5 days at Disney, 2 at Universal. Next trip in 2019 I spent 6-7 days at Disney and one at Universal. During COVID, I went for an even LONGER trip, with no Universal stay. And then in late 2022 I went for a crazy 10-day trip! Now my upcoming one (just a few days) is 11 days- not even sure if I'll do Universal this time, either (even a single day tends to add like $300 to my trip's price!).

I've become a big fan of doing these long trips... though I'm starting to wonder about the price. I can't really afford to go once a year as I once theorized I could have (prices on rooms in particular rose too high). BUT since I stay for these ridiculously long trips, I'm adding 4-5 days to the typical venture. If I shrank those down a bit, I'd actually be able to go on vacation more often (saving $1-2000 actually letting me go yearly). So I'm kind of torn, haha- these long, easy trips, or the "short & sweet" ones you can do more often?

 

[kanerf]

I go for 10 days at a time. Usually arrive on a Thurs and check out on a Sunday. I have been doing 3 trips a year. I can only do this because I own DVC.

 

[dancergirlsmom]

My daughter is a CM so I visit a few times a year. I go for 5/6 days for Spring Break and my longer trip in July for about 10 days. I also make 3 or 4 trips for long weekends. Normally flying out on Thursday early evening and coming home on Sunday or Monday if it's a holiday.

 

[LoveDaisy]

We usually go for a week. DH does not get a lot of vacation time and Disney isn’t the only place on our travel list. That gives us a week to go somewhere else plus a couple of weekend trips a year.

 

[saraheliz]

We did our "one big family trip with all three kids" in 2022 and stayed 11 nights, I believe? It was supposed to be a week in 2021 but I just kept adding because Covid cancellations of everything were making me sad and I wanted a whopper of a vacation.
AAaannnnddd then we went back in 2023 and are going back in 2024. We are addicts. Each of those trips is 8 nights, which about maxes our budget while still giving us the time we like.
I've done shorter trips. (4-5 days) but really I like a full week at least to make it feel worth it.

 

[jsergent]

6 or 7 nights is really nice for us. Not usually possible for us to do more than that due to cost and other logistics. Some more recent trips we've been reduced down to 5 nights since everything has gotten more expensive.

 

[Hubalorian]

Our last trip was 6 and we felt it was more congested and felt rush. The trip before was 10 and it allowed more time to relax and breathe.

This summer we are going for 9 nights, planning a park then resort day

 

[scrappinginontario]

9-10 nights normally.

 

[Marthasor]

I go on a few, shorter trips every year, however, I live in the US near an airport that offers direct flights on an inexpensive airline. I equate your airfare conundrum to what we face when we want to travel internationally - in that case, we set aside as much time as we can. Our last trip to Europe, for example, was almost three weeks long. I justify it by telling myself this is 3 trips to Europe, but with the cost of only one, round-tip airfare ticket. I would much rather spend my money on trip costs like hotels, food, experiences, souvenirs than a seat on an airplane, so, if I were in your shoes, I would probably opt for the longer trips. Whatever is most cost effective!

 

[reddog21]

14-18, 4-5 days at Universal and 10 at Disney

 

[Dulcee]

My preference is 7 or 8 nights, we tend to go to Disney World once every 12-18 months. Longer than that we tend to get burnt out. Shorter we feel like we are rushing to get it all in. It is not our only vacation throughout the course of the year.

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

If we are really doing a "Disney trip", then we stay at least 10 nights. We do lots of short trips to Orlando also, usually 4 days over a weekend, where we might do 1 park day.

 

[hes122]

Since I started going regularly:

2017 - 8 days/7 park days (Sat - Sat)
2024 - 7 days/5 park days (Thur - Wed)
2023 - 6 days/4 park days (Sun - Fri)
2018, 2019 - 5 days/4 park days (Wed - Sun)
2021 - 5 days/3 park days (Wed - Sun)
2023 - 4 days/3 park days (Thur - Sun)
2024 - 4 days/park days TBD based on MNSSHP schedule (Thur - Sun)

I actually like the shorter trips better.

 

[nighttowll]

Prefer to go about 10 days, usually arrive Thursday or Friday, stay the week, and then leave the following Saturday or Sunday, but recently, I have been taking more long weekend trips because I can't get off that much time from work all at once.

 

[kimj88]

About 2 weeks each trip, but that's usually every other year.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

Growing up we would do a road trip that included many attractions not just Disney and we'd be gone about 16 days.

These days I mainly focus on Disney and rarely go to other attractions. If I don't have an extra day at each end I fly but if I do have that time I'll drive.

I prefer short trips now that generally include a 4 night stay at a Disney resort and 3 day park hoppers and if possible I like to arrive early and leave later so I have resort time and Disney Springs time.

This year I'll be driving. Leaving home on August 19th, arriving at my resort around 1pm on the 20th, parks on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, and then leaving around 11am on the 24th and arriving home in the evening on the 25th.

I feel like short trips keep it fast pace and interesting and I'm never sitting there like ok should I go on Pirates for the 4th time or just go take a nap.

 

[Disneylover99]

The longer the better.
It’s so much more relaxing.
19 days at Disney and 4 days at Universal was probably my favourite trip.

 

[Pooh2]

Used to do 7 to 10 days.
Due to price increases, our last two trips were only 3 nights each.

 

[disneygirlmass]

This is more of a general one- how long do you generally like to stay on your vacations? As in, how long are you typically on your trips?

I find the longer, the better- not just because you get more Disney and maximize the use of your plane tickets (I'm Canadian, so it's very expensive), but because this allows a lot less stress if you missed something, it's too busy one day, or half a day gets rained out. Plus you don't have to be as choosy about where you eat, and when you meet characters, they'll actually remember you from the week before! You get better interactions that way!

The funny thing is my vacations have increased in magnitude every time I've gone. In 2014 I went for the "bare minimum" trip (to be fair, I went to New York the same year, only a few months after)- 5 days at Disney, 2 at Universal. Next trip in 2019 I spent 6-7 days at Disney and one at Universal. During COVID, I went for an even LONGER trip, with no Universal stay. And then in late 2022 I went for a crazy 10-day trip! Now my upcoming one (just a few days) is 11 days- not even sure if I'll do Universal this time, either (even a single day tends to add like $300 to my trip's price!).

I've become a big fan of doing these long trips... though I'm starting to wonder about the price. I can't really afford to go once a year as I once theorized I could have (prices on rooms in particular rose too high). BUT since I stay for these ridiculously long trips, I'm adding 4-5 days to the typical venture. If I shrank those down a bit, I'd actually be able to go on vacation more often (saving $1-2000 actually letting me go yearly). So I'm kind of torn, haha- these long, easy trips, or the "short & sweet" ones you can do more often?

We typically do at least 10 days.

 

[RJPoste]

Seven to ten days, with 1 or 2 days off from the parks depending on the length of time.