How many days do you stay?

[JodyLynC]

When you plan your trips to Walt Disney World, how long do you typically stay? Other than doing the parks, what else do you do? (ex: enjoy the pool, day of shopping, water parks, resort hop, other activities).

We are planning about a week, but I want to do a big blowout since we probably won't be back for a long time (9 years since last visit). Maybe we should make it longer..

 

[Loopster]

We always figure out how many times we want to do each park, then add in one or two "rest" days in there and that's how we figure out how long we will stay. This past trip (two years since our last visit) was 9 nights. When we go back next year it will be less since we are doing a Disney Cruise and were just there.

On our "rest" days (non-park days) we sleep in, resort hop (to eat), go miniature golfing, Disney Springs, water park, relax by our resort pool, explore our resort, etc. We don't do all of these each time...it's just an example of things we may do. I highly recommend a break from the parks...such a great way to recharge!

 

[Mike&AllisMom]

We go from 7 days to 2 weeks. We have at least one non park afternoon / evening spent at the pool or downtown. This year we are going for 2 weeks and my husband & son will leave after the first week. They do not enjoy Disney as much as my daughter and I. I think you can do most everything in a week. We like park hoppers and do one park in the morning, back to the hotel for rest or a swim, and a different park at night. This gives you at least 13 different blocks of time for parks / shopping / or time off. My daughter and I use at least one afternoon for tea at the Grand Floridian. We like to do dinner at different resorts also - usually the resorts around the Magic Kingdom on an evening we spend in that park. Travel is easier.

 

[Hikergirl]

We normally do 7 days, 2 for MK, 1 for the other parks and a day to do whatever we feel like, usually just sleeping late, hang by the pool and then DTD, well now Disney Springs.

 

[Meriweather]

Normal is 14 nights.....typically we do MK 3 days, Epcot 3 days, DHS 2 1/2 days and AK 2 1/2 days.......couple free days for shopping and exploring resorts.....maybe a movie.

 

[CAS239]

Usually 3 days. But we go pretty often. I don't even want to know how much money some of you are spending when you guys go for a week+ lol

 

[Klayfish]

We've done as little as 3 days, and are about to do 17. Most of our trips have been 10-17 days. We hit each park several times, including the water parks. We may do a Daytona Beach day, depending on what the kids are feeling. Otherwise, it's WDW all the way. We don't run ourselves ragged per se, but take advantage of being there.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We just got back from our second shortest stay. We were there 6 nights/7 days, and it just wasn't long enough. Our typical trip is either 8 or 9 nights, with 9 or 10 park days. We don't take an entire day off from the parks, but we like the water parks, mini golf, Disney Springs, etc.

 

[ArielSRL]

We did 7 days last week but next year I'm adding a day onto the front of the trip (room only) so we can get settled in and explore the resort/pool areas. We typical do an evening of Disney Springs, and midday breaks, some resort meals, but the rest of the time is in the parks.

 

[loves to dive]

I go twice a year now and it's normally 5 nights, 6 days. Back when we went every other year, it was 7 nights, 8 days. We have never taken an entire day off the parks but when my son was little we might do 3 hours in a park then back to the resort to swim or nap then back to a park. We used to do downtown Disney maybe every other trip for a few hours but don't even do that any more. I just don't like the problems of getting there and back and can pretty much do all the shopping I want in the parks or resorts. When I started going solo (after my son grew up, my honey doesn't vacation except for dive trips) I started going and visiting at least one resort at some point during the middle of the day. I don't really plan out my days, I will book a couple of FPs maybe a week before, maybe the night before and sometimes I use them, sometimes not. I just go to the parks and decide what I want to do when I get there. We have always had length of stay park hoppers, I have an AP now so we have never spent an entire day in just one park and we have never been in the parks from open to close without taking a break in between. The breaks are never planned, when solo I might be walking around a park and just get the whim to go visit a resort, usually don't even know which one I want to visit. I'll walk out to the bus stop and kind of stand in an area that has two or three stops and hop on the first bus to come. When I do that, I rarely go back to the park I started at, again I just get on the first park bus that comes. We have never done a water park or mini golf. We have been known to think we are going back to the resort to hang out at the pool for a few hours intending to go back to a park later and end up having a drink or two at the pool bar and eating at the resort then just hanging out in the room.

 

[babesboo99]

We go about once a year. And normally we do 7- 14 days usually about 4 - 5 days at US and then we head over to Disney our home away from home at the BCV. for the rest of the time, we usually spend about 7 days at Disney.

 

[PSUGuy]

We go yearly and for the longest time we'd be there 7 or 8 park days. One year we did 11 and that was a bit much, yes, there can be too much of a good thing. Last year we did 9, this Oct it'll be 10 and I suspect we'll keep it at 9 or 10. The last several years we've hit WDW in Oct for Food&Wine so we buy an AP, go in late Oct the first year and earlier the next to get 2 trips off it. Eventually we'll slip in a short trip between those dates.

Bill From PA

 

[aleksandr]

Between 30-40 days. No, really. We typically pick up 5-6 day park tickets and use them over the course of 2 weeks. The rest of the time is spent living/working. And obviously, this is off-site, at a rental house.

 

[elle101me]

Two weeks. We tour at a leisurely pace but hit all the parks several times. We take afternoons breaks and hop to a different park at night, check out the Disney outlet stores offsite, Disney Springs, last year we did Universal for two days, and we've spent a day at SeaWorld. I can't do the commando thing anymore.

 

[Flamingeaux]

We used to go twice a year and each trip was 6 park days. Now we go about once a year and we do 5.5 park days. I'm thinking we may do 4.5 park days for our next trip. We usually arrive around 4 or 5 and we head out to MK for the nighttime stuff so I count that as a half day.

 

[Gillyrose779]

Long weekends if it's just me and the hubs and at least a week with the kids- we usually grab a RCI timeshare and they are usually a week so we go off of that. Honestly- most times 7 days will get stretched to 10 b/c I can find cheaper airfare and/or a cheap timeshare in the last minute to tack on a few days.

Along with the parks we will swim 2-4 times, go to Disney Springs a couple times, Community Hall at the resort, marshmallows and a movie at the resort, resort hop, kids go to a kid's club while we have a nice dinner, etc... That's why we love Disney so- there is just so much to do other than the parks.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Our typical trip is 7-8 nights. We usually arrive on a Saturday and leave on the next Saturday or Sunday. We usually do a rest day every 3 park days--e.g., parks Sun-Mon-Tues, rest Wed, parks Thur-Fri-Sat. The rest day usually involves sleeping in, enjoying the pool and maybe going to Disney Springs for dinner/shopping in the evening.

We just got back from a combination visit where we went to the parks, but our main mission was to get DS settled in for the College Program. We did 6 straight park days, but 3 of them were half days. Even so, we probably overdid it and wouldn't go without our customary rest day again. We need it as we get older. As that philosopher, Toby Keith sang, "I used to be hell on wheels/Back when I was a younger man/Now my body says, "You can't do this boy"/But my pride says, "Oh, yes you can."

 

[jeepwreck]

our last trip was for 11 day (our longest trip) this was out schedule

we were traveling with a
22month old
10 yr boy
11 yr boy
12 yr boy
13 yr girl
my self, my wife and my mom

we took my nieces and newphews with us all first timers. so we spread the parks around pretty good and made lots of time for resting and eating


Monday Check In

Tuesday Epcot®

Wednesday Magic Kingdom® Park

Thursday Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park

Friday Disney Springs

Saturday Magic Kingdom® Park

Sunday Disney's Hollywood Studios®

Monday Disney's Typhoon Logoon

Tuesday Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park

Wednesday Magic Kingdom® Park

Thursday Check Out Before 11:00 AM

 

[CaptJacksWench]

When we plan a WDW vacation my family usually spend 14 days which usually involves a length of stay pass with Water Park if in warmer season. We typically will go into a park for several hours in the morning then come back to the Resort and relax and then get dressed to head back into a park for dinner and the evening activities or to another Resort for dinner.

 

[niffer5150]

i try for 10. 2 of them being half days for travel, so i'm really trying to work out something for next year where we can squeeze in an extra day. it's such a long way for us that shorter trips are not enough value for the cost.