how many days to stay?

[caribbeanme]

Hey all!

We're planning our trip for late May 2004, early June (late teens, late twenties, early 50s). Way back when we first went (12 yrs ago), a four day park hopper wasn't ideal, but it did get you to the main sights. After reading these boards, I don't think we can squeeze half of the things we'd like to do in four days! Even if it could be done, commando-style , we'd like to take a more leisurely pace (shows,dinners, lounging by the pool). How many days should we plan on staying? Around how many days should we plan for each park? We're staying on property (haven't decided yet, though). We're really at a loss here, but super excited!

Thanks a bunch!

 

[danny1649]

10 Days,are you interested in water parks also you have TL or BB.Miniature golf,behind the scene tours,boating,tennis or golf or horseback riding?If you are planning on Dinner Show like HDDR I would book now.I would plan 2 days for MK and Epcot, 1 day each for MGM and AK if you don't want to rush.Maybe a day for water parks,also a day for the 8 hour Behind The Magic Tour,a non park day to enjoy your resort and pool and get some rest. A day for DTD to have fine dining go shopping and then take in clubs at PI that evening.Just my thoughts.

 

[cleo]

My 'minimum daily requirement' suggestion would be 2 days at MK, 2 Days at Epcot, a full day at MGM. AK typically closes at 5:00 pm, so you could stay all day and then hop over to another park in the evening.

I think it takes a full week to see the basics at a leisurely pace, without a water park, DisneyQuest, or a break day at your resort.

 

[KdawnLily's Mom]

We normally go a week and spend about 2 days per park with exception to AK- it really is a half day park. We feel exhausted by the time we get back home and always feel like we should have stayed longer- we never feel we have time to do the water parks or PI or even relax at the resort.
I have also done 11 day trips and these seemed to work great for us. Enough time to do everything we want without feeling like we were rushing through the parks.
This November, thanks to the FTP and my DD, we are staying 17 days on property with length of stay passes for 15 of those days. This will give our family of five DH, DD, DGS, DB and myself
plenty of time to do the parks, visit our resort, visit the outlets if we would like, allow the guys to go to Universal without feeling it is cutting into our WDW time and even some shopping and nightlife at DTD/PI.
No matter how long we are there we always feel it isn't long enough esp. when it's time to leave.
I would say that 4 days is definitely too short if you are planning to take everything in at a leisurely pace and 10-14 days may be better for you.
Here is a hint I learned from this board: If you get an AP pass for stays over 10 days the cost is more reasonable than LOS or hoppers and you may also be able to get some discounts for room stays(not to mention having a reason to go back before the year is out)We would have gone for this but the FTP was ALOT LESS than AP's this time.

 

[w8ting4pooh]

We stayed for 10 days - we started our 8 day UPH on day 3. We spent a day half at BBeach, half Disneyquest and seven full days at the parks. We took a break in the room towards the end of the trip. 10 days wasn't enough!!

Next year, we plan to get APs and skip the water parks, DQuest and just spend 8 days at the 4 major parks to hopefully take in the minor details that we missed whizzing by everything!!!!

 

[barbeml]

First time I went to WDW (at age 22), there was only EPCOT and Magic Kingdom and four days was not enough to see it all. First time DH and I went, Studios was there and our 4 days left us exhausted--and I had blisters on my blisters!

Now we do 7 nights/8 days as a rule, and we still don't see it all--and we do not do the water parks. You really do need a week to be able to call it a vacation. Down time at your resort is a must, and we always leave a day open on our itinerary for flexibility.

 

[KaraS]

We have gone for 7 nights/8 days the past few trips. We don't go to the water parks, but we still feel like we have just enough time to see everything we want to see.

I think the minimum that I would recommend is 5 nights/6 days. And even with that you will probably need to really prioritize your schedule!

You will probably all laugh, but when we were planning our honeymoon and asked about a 10 day WDW vacation, the travel agent actually said "Oh, that's way too long to stay there".

 

[snuggles]

Welcome to the Dis caribbeanme and KaraS!

We usually take short trips but then we live close enough to drive too. Takes us 5 hours. I'd love to stay for a week one time just to do everything without going comando. I'm sure the others will advise you better than I could. I just wanted to say hi.

 

[aesalsa]

DH and I honeymooned for 12 nights there at the beginning of 12/02.
*3 of those days we went to the Universal Studios Parks and did all that we wanted to there.
* I think we only spent 5 days at MK, Epcot, MGM, and AK--most of the time at Epcot---and it wasn't enough at all!
**IMHO, Epcot deserves the most days (IT IS HUGE!), then MK, MGM, and AK in that order. And the crowds were almost nonexisitent.
*2 days for relaxing and doing the "honeymoon thing". And I had migraines for the rest!

Next month, we're going for 10 days--parks for 7 days.

Hope this helps

 

[roserae]

Eight days is the break-even point on the annual passes and you can get some discounts at resorts with that, but if you are interested in water parks, pleasure island or disney quest this wouldn't be the route for you. I think minimum eight days for your trip, but of course, 10 would be better! Of course, I could spend months there and still find something to do! Ha! Have fun!

The nice thing about the annual pass is if you plan another trip for the next year just before your AP expires. (They also have premium APs that include the water parks) This way you get the most out of your pass. This is what we are doing. We are from Oklahoma, so it isn't a short trip to WDW, but it cost the same for us to get the AP as it would for us to go for eight days last February. Now we have a trip planned for January on the same pass. Free admission as far as we are concerned!

Have fun!

 

[jann1033]

well I think 7- 8 full days is enough. however we usually go 1) in the off season, 2)don't usually do the water parks, more cause of weather than time, 3) go to ecopt in the evenings. I think you had teen and older people going so I'd say (unless it is real busy) 1 day at each park plus a few evenings to go back to epcot after the others close, at least one day to relax or go to dtd or a water park or resorts, and then the other 3 days to either redo the parks or whatever you want to do( for example our kids always went horseback riding at least once, usually twice). we never cared much for Universal so we only went 2 times total, the second time only cause the family we went with wanted to.we never Killed ourselves running around the parks but saw everything we wanted ( and some things we didn't want to depending on who we were there with!). the lack of crowds definitly makes a difference.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

10 dasy to two weeks to me ssounds about the best way to go... keep a more casual pace that way...

 

[JulesMom]

We stay as long as we can afford!

Our shortest trip was 7 days-WAY too short! and our longest was 17 days-still not long enough!!

I would go and stay less than 7 days. There is just too much to see and do.

 

[lizdotcom99]

365...and that is just for the first year!

 

[soccer mom]

I would agree that 10 days is a good place to start. But you'll still leave wanting more!

 

[nativetxn]

Welcome to the DIS, <b>caribbeanme</b>! I'm glad you decided to join us here.

I usually allow 2 days for MK, 2 for EPCOT (minimum) and 2 for MGM the one day for AK. If I can wrangle more days than that I stay longer. Last trip was 9 days and I still feel like I missed a lot

Katholyn

 

[tammydel]

Here is my best most honest advice, for what it's worth.

Stay as long as you can and start planning on going back! This is what I do. Then you can enjoy the things you do and make plans to see the things you missed on your next trip.

Have fun wether it is four hours, four days or four weeks.
Tammy

 

[redwingsmickey]

Our 5 night stay was way too short!

Our only visit to WDW was last September (Me, DW29!, DS7, and DD2); 5 nights at Coronado Springs and a 4 day park hopper. We did 2 days at MK, 1 day at AK, and 1 day at MGM. (We could not tear our kids away from MK and spent every evening there).

As first timers, our heads were spinning at how much there was to see and do. After the second day, my wife and I had already reached the conclusion that our trip was not going to be nearly long enough. We felt like every moment we were spending at the resort and not in a park was being wasted. It was a great trip, but we were wiped out on the plane ride home, and we still feel like we missed alot.

Our next trip we will be there 9 nights and we are planning on having at least one "down" day at the resort. We're looking forward to it so much, I hope there's no 2nd visit letdown.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

See, I'm funny. I don't plan how many days I need for each park, I plan my trip around the park hoppers I purchase. Being a FL resident, I get a GREAT deal on a 4 day hopper, so I plan around that. On our next trip, hubby and I will be doing 7 days and 6 nights. Two travel days, one day at Islands of Adventure and 4 days at the MK, EPCOT, MGM, and AK. The two travel days are great because we spend those in Downtown Disney. We usually arrive at Disney around 4pm, so we cleanup and head to Downtown Disney for window shopping and dinner. Our last day we do the same, we check out before 11am and head to DownTown Disney for lunch. We spend a couple of hours there and hit the road home around 3pm or so.

So for me, 7 days is the limit. DH and I spent 9 days and 8 nights at Disney on our last trip, and if you can believe it....it was just too much for us!

 

[caribbeanme]

Hey all!

Thanks a bunch, guys. I've scrapped the five day plan, and I think we'll aim for around 7-8 days for this trip and see how that works out. I don't plan for this to be our last trip, so it may be 10 days next time


Thanks!