How long is too long at WDW?

[bryanb]

I could probably holiday in London for four weeks, and even entertain groups of guests during that time, it being a vast city at the crossroads of the world, but even by then I'd be taking day and overnight trips out of the city to experience other parts of Britain and maybe the Continent.

Personally, I think four weeks is a really long time at WDW, and I'm a big parks fan. I'm guessing budget isn't an issue, but you don't want to get burned out during your first visit. I would probably not stick around for four groups of friends/family to rotate through but this must be a rather unusual circumstance. I'm so curious on how four groups decided to come through at different times. I'd probably see any of those groups wanted to meet me in New York City, or in Anaheim instead.

If I had an extra week for the adults, after basically living for four weeks at WDW, and I definitely wanted to experience more Disney, then I would spend that extra week at Disneyland in California and maybe enjoy the Christmas parades and festivities there. You'd have two new theme parks to explore, plus the rest of Southern California. Plane tickets are probably a drop in the bucket compared to what you'll have already spent.

 

[VandVsmama]

My thoughts & advice in no particular order:

1. A lot of us live in the US, so we have no idea what 4-6 weeks of paid vacation/holiday time off from work is like. A lot of families end up having to cram 2 weeks' worth of fun into a single week. Which leaves a lot of people burned out after 6 days in a row in theme parks.
2. Think about how you've handled other 4-week-long vacations before. You probably don't go go go all day, every day for a month. You probably take some time to "smell the roses," to relax, to really enjoy yourself. You probably mix in some high energy fun in with that, but vacation doesn't have to feel like you're planning the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
3. If you've taken vacations in the past with extended family & other groups of friends/family, then follow whatever tips & methods worked well for you on those trips.
4. If you've never taken a long trip like this before with extended family, then you absolutely should plan on EVERYONE having down time from each other. Each family group will need time to just themselves. Do not spend every waking minute with each other. Do not eat every single meal with each other. You'll all be there for a month. You'll see each other at breakfast. Or the next lunch. Or the next dinner.
5. If you want to do some off-site touring, then you should absolutely look into that.
6. A lot of people have suggested other theme parks, but there are some really interesting other stuff to do around the Orlando area in addition to theme parks. Besides, you might get Theme Park Fatigue if you just devote the whole month to that. For example, there's Cape Canaveral (which you're already planning on going to), Gatorland, take a Wild Florida airboat tour to see some of the swamp lands/Everglades nearby. Rent a car for a day or 2 and spend the whole day laying around on the beach. Adults could go take a tour of the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Tampa (~ 1 hr or so drive from Orlando). They have some really great videos on Youtube.
7. You could also spend an evening going to see Blue Man Group in the Universal area of Orlando.
8. You could go horseback riding...just you & DH...at Fort Wilderness.
9. You could arrange to go fishing one day on site. Or you could probably find a tour company that will pick you up and take you out on the Gulf of Mexico or on the Atlantic to go ocean fishing.
10. You could go on a manatee kayaking tour on the Indian River. There's a company that does it for $65/person.
11. And if you're tired and worn out, you could just laze around here and there and sleep in, hang out by the pool with a cocktail, have a nice dinner somewhere, etc.

FWIW, our family spend a week at Disneyland last summer and it was so much fun. We did not do and experience everything there was to do there. I don't think you'll be bored being at WDW for 4 weeks. But what WILL be nice about your vacation is that you won't have to deal with that frantic sense of urgency that a lot of WDW guests get. The whole "we have to cram it all in because we're only here for 7-14 days!"

If you're tired and you originally had huge organized plans for your entire clan to do all of this elaborate stuff that day, complete with complicated FP+ reservations, etc.? Cancel your FP+ reservations. Do your own thing. Tell the rest of the group that you're happy to just sit there on Main Street for a bit and watch the world go by and you'll meet up with them at ___ for lunch/dinner.

Your niece has the right attitude.

 

[disneyholic family]

I’m not sure if this is the right forum, so apologies if it’s not.

We are going to WDW for the first time in October, coming from the UK. We are spending 4 weeks there, with 4 groups of family/friends. We have zero time when we will be there on our own.

The first Christmas party starts a few days after we leave. We can’t arrive later because we are tied to school holidays. I am vaguely kicking around the idea of staying for the Christmas party, a total of 5 weeks. This was originally supposed to be our “one and done” trip for a big birthday and anniversary, though now we may end up going again in 2020 to stay in the Star Wars hotel.

Is 5 weeks too long? The last week would be the only one that was just my husband and myself, and it might be fun to do grown up stuff. Our flights are more expensive than an extra week (so we won’t be back any time soon), we are upgrading to an AP as it’s cheaper, and I will be sad if we miss the Christmas party. However, 5 weeks is a very long time to spend in a theme park! Is it silly to even consider this? Thank you.

our longest stay thus far at WDW was 4 weeks....was it too long? heck no...
there is no 'too long' for us...
last august we were there for 24 days....too long? nope ....it was way too short!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and even with a zillion trips of 2, 3 and 4 weeks each, there are still so many things we've never had time to do...

so no, five weeks is NOT too long!!!!.......

.

 

[Tigger in a kilt]

Some more great replies - thank you! My ADR window opened today and I have booked 2 things for just my husband and myself (sushi at Kona Cafe, and lunch with an Imagineer) that I wanted to do but that wouldn’t work for the other family members. We talked a lot and decided to also opt out of the waterpark day, which is not really our thing, in favour of sushi and exploring some of the other hotels, and maybe renting a boat for an hour. I’m letting go of the idea that we all have to be together 24 hours a day and that I’m responsible for everyone’s happiness, and as a result I’m far more excited today than I have been in months!

Someone upthread asked how I ended up with 4 groups. It’s not a very interesting story, I warn you! My sister-in-law and niece asked if we wanted to come with them to WDW for the standard 2 weeks that most Brits go. When we saw how much flights would be on the date we had to leave, ie the largest expense of the trip, we decided to stay in the US afterwards and visit 3 sets of close friends we have, who all live in the western part of the country (I used to live in Colorado). After several exasperating weeks of trying to work out an itinerary, flights, dates that worked for everyone, my husband (who has mental health issues and is not a great flyer) said that he couldn’t do all this travel. So instead, we told the three sets of friends that we were going to stay in Disney for 2 extra weeks and if any of them wanted to visit us, we would pay for it, but we were not coming to them. That gave us a two week window, and with some minor negotiation we have got everyone working together, with 3 different overlaps of parties at MCO.

It should be chaotic but very fun, and seeing people who we love very much and don’t get to see often enough is far more important to us than anything else. However, I do want the kids, my pseudo-nieces, to have fun, since it is also the first time any of them have been to WDW.

 

[ELLH]

I would do 2-3 weeks in Europe because of the travel time but I would also hop around. Spain, France, Italy, London. It's on my bucket list.

I get the OP is coming from overseas so 4 weeks is normal. I just wouldn't spend it all at WDW or Florida for that matter. I would do LA, NYC, WDW, the beach, etc.

eh...

Of your makeshift list I've done them all. I don't care to do any of them again... but Disney World?... I continue to do that multiple times a year.

Maybe the OP is missing out... but sounds like their vacation is already booked and the question is simply "should I add another week or is that too much"; not "where else should I go"?

 

[ELLH]

OP, one quick question:

Do you want to adopt me and take me with you? As an added bonus I'll throw in my wife and kid. And heck, I'll even do the paperwork.




Seriously, though, I say if you have the time/money then heck... why not. I suppose that if by the end of the 4th week you really were just plain sick of the World you could always cut cord, pay whatever cancellation fees would apply and head back home.


I'm an AP-holder. We visit a few times per year. We typically stay 5-7 nights. The weather/crowd levels are what drive my feeling of being “over it” but I'll say this: I have never once been on property and thought "I can't wait to get home". Sure, when I arrive home and unwind from the vacation I might think to myself "it's nice to be home" but you have to again factor in my much more limited window of vacation. That we have significantly fewer days of vacation time than you would regardless of your 4 vs 5 weeks dilemma means that we are trying to pack in more in our week, even though we have the luxury of packing in less than someone who might only go once a year or less thanks to visiting 2-3x per year. So having said all that, with the amount of time you’ll be there you’ll have the ability to take things at an easier pace. You can sleep in, stay up late, rope drop, swim, park hop, etc, etc, etc to your heart’s content and do so at whatever pace you desire with your family (or bail on them whenever you deem necessary). So, if it were me and my family? Yea, 5 weeks sounds right.


On the flipside I could also make the argument that I would never take a vacation to WDW for 5 weeks but only because I don’t think I’d ever want to come back home.

 

[Tigger in a kilt]

eh...

Of your makeshift list I've done them all. I don't care to do any of them again... but Disney World?... I continue to do that multiple times a year.

Maybe the OP is missing out... but sounds like their vacation is already booked and the question is simply "should I add another week or is that too much"; not "where else should I go"?

OP here, and I’m happy to bring you along if you will do the driving!

I have travelled a lot in the US (and elsewhere), so although I’m new to WDW I’m not new to the US, and have done all the places suggested, as you say. WDW is one of the few places, with the possible exception of New York, that I think I could spend 4 or 5 weeks and not run out of things to do.

I do appreciate that this way of travel is unusual: we are extremely lucky to have flexible jobs with good vacation allowances. It allows us to see places in a different way, and without the frantic pace that we otherwise would.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We’d LOVE to do a 5 week stay sometime! The longest we’ve done at WDW is 19 days last June/July (every day in parks, but only for a couple hrs on July 3 and 4). In the past year we’ve also gone for 9 days in Nov, 4 days last month (bookending a 7 night DCL cruise), and we’re going again in a week and a half. We also have 10 days in July, 3 days in early Nov, and 10 days over Thanksgiving.

Now that we live back in TX, I’m not really sad about leaving WDW bc we love our home, but we’re also not clamoring to leave. DH and I are used to “long” trips though (we’ve done about 5.5 weeks in the South Pacific/Oceania).

 

[Donaldswife]

This is really helpful, thank you. We could potentially rent a car in WDW for our final week, which should give me a better idea of where I’m going. I would just need to sit on my hand so I didn’t keep trying to change gear! I will give it some thought...

Don't be afraid to rent a car and give it a try since you will be here so long. I was a little scared to drive over Spring Break in Grand Cayman a few weeks ago (wrong side of the road for me, didn't know my way around...) but I worried for nothing. I made my way around quite well and am very glad I did it. I think you will find the benefits of getting to see more outside of Disney outweighs whatever hesitation you have. Good luck!

 

[mamamelody2]

Sounds like an amazing trip!

I don't know if I could do that long, but that's just me. I have visited WDW 3 times, each time for a week or so. Each time, I felt I didn't get to do everything I wanted, and we didn't have much down time. 2 or 3 weeks would be great. Enough time to get all the park time in that I wanted, plus a couple resort/shopping days. Maybe go to the beach for a day. Sounds amazing. Unfortunately, we don't have the time or $$ for that
Oh, well, we are going in September for 9 days and I'm sure we'll have a great time!