How many days...

[MommaBerd]

We do 10, but two of those are travel days. On our arrival day, it's "tradition" that we go to Disney Springs and eat at Earl of Sandwich.

We spend 7 days in the parks - at least 2 in each MK and Epcot and 1 in each DHS and DAK and the last day is wherever we want. We get hoppers, and we take full advantage of them. We also got to a water park for one day - that is our "rest" day.

And honestly, I always leave wishing we were there longer. But my philosophy is that is how it SHOULD be; I hope we never feel like we are eager to get home.

ETA: After reading @Pmlocke above, I echo the need for "margin" time. This time I am hoping/planning to spend a little more time relaxing at and enjoying our resort. If time (and subsequently money) is not an issue, I would suggest 12 days. You can explore the parks at a more leisurely pace and have time to enjoy your resort and other activities.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

When my kids were that age we would do:

Arrival day at MK and we would arrive early. Then MK, Epcot, AK, rest day, DHS, Epcot, MK.

We would do PH's and go to MK in the evenings especially after AK and DHS days.

 

[dekraut]

We are going Mid-Jan also, and our kids are going to be 11 and 7. We are doing 6 days in the parks and have it budgeted as 1 day HS, 1 day AK, 1 day EP, and 3 days MK. There is a chance we will steal 1/2 from MK to use as follow up in another park if we don't get things done that we want.

Depending on how often you go, that can affect the answer to your question. If you go every year, you need less time because you can catch it next time. If you are only going once in a while, you may want longer. If you are going at a time when you plan to use the pool and/or visit the water parks that is another factor. We typically go in Jan, don't swim or hit water parks, and aren't big shoppers, so we choose to maximize our time in the parks.

If time and therefore money were no object, I would like to spend 10 days or so. That gives us 3 days MK, 2 days EP, 1 day HS, 1 day AK, a day or two for repeating anything we want, and some time to enjoy the resort or Disney Springs. Once you get to 5 days or more, the cost is really negligible as far as tickets go, so you are just paying for the resort.

I am sure that you could spend two weeks and still not see it all. There are so many details and activities to do, see, hear, and watch.

Enjoy!

 

[NH-to-FL]

I think Pmlocke said it well. As has been said, figure out what is most important for your family, the "must do's" and then weave those goals into a low stress, maximum fun plan. As to how many days? One question to consider is how long you think you would want to be away from home. When we were taking vacation trips to WDW we ended up with 8-10 days in WDW. I would take 2 weeks off from work and have a day or two before and after the trip. After 8 or 9 days in a hotel room we were usually ready to go home.

Last year was our first snowbird winter near Disney and we still haven't "done it all".

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I love WDW, but our 'happy limit' is a nine day trip, and we actually prefer 6 or less park days.

WDW has well over 100 table service restaurants, a few only serve dinner, but most serve at least two meals each day....plus there a ton of QS places and every menu serves multiple entrees....

Visiting WDW is a lot like visiting a major city, or attending a large university. You can't possibly be a part of everything that is happening, and that is the beauty of our cities and universities. The fun of NYC is being a place where things are happening, not attending every event.

Further, just like NYC, the cost of staying too long is prohibitive.

I don't know how folks tolerate 14 day trips to WDW. There are lines every time you want to eat, use the restroom, do anything, see anything, or buy anything. There are liens to enter the park, exit the parks, to board the buses, to get off the buses. While the food is good per theme park standards, four days into a vacation I get tired of WDW restaurant food.

At home, we eat piles of fruit and vegetables every day. At WDW, we're often reduced to lettuce salads and mealy apples. You will not find blueberries, peaches, kiwi, steamed broccoli, or sugar snap peas at WDW. (except maybe in tiny portions at $$$ places.)

AS others have said, a good starting point is two MK days, one day for HS, one for AK, and one or two for Epcot.

 

[RuthieT]

Thank you for all the great advice. We want to enjoy the parks along with other things FL has to offer. I think we will be staying 2-2.5 weeks. We probably wont be returning to WDW in the anytime near future so that is why I wanted to get a feel for what everyone had to say and go from there.

 

[RedOne3781]

Since you just mentioned you are going for roughly two weeks, I would suggest maybe seven days at Disney
(3 MK, 2 Epcot, 1 DHS, 1 AK), two days at Universal, one at Sea World, if you like that sort of park, maybe one day trip to Cocoa Beach (hour drive each way) and/or a day at a water park, an evening at Disney Springs and one day to relax at your resort (I would schedule that day in the middle of the trip).
Maybe a schedule like this:
day 1: no parks. Resort/disney springs
2. Disney park
3. Disney park
4. Cocoa Beach
5. Universal
6. Universal
7. Sea World
8. Rest Day. No parks
9. Disney Park
10. Disney Park
11. Water Park
12. Disney Park
13. Disney Park
14. Disney Park
15. Go home

 

[amycakes]

2 days MK
2 days Epcot
2 days HS (Star Wars lovers Lol)
1 day AK
2 day waterparks
1 day Disney Springs/Shopping
3 days Universal staying onsite (Harry Potter fans too!) but could be done in 2

 

[stinkpickle]

We usually stay for 7 nights and spend 6.5 days in the parks...2 at MK, 2 at EP, 1 each at AK and HS, plus a half day floater. This year, we're actually staying for 10 nights.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I think a lot depends on how you want to structure your day. Will you stay in the park from open to close, or will you take long afternoon breaks, or just do half -days, etc.

We have taken 3 trips that were each 9 park days, and didn't come close to doing everything. But those were also break-heavy trips, and a "day" was really only 5-6 hours of park time.

We've also taken much shorter trips and done 12-18 hour park days, which was easily enough to completely "finish" a park in one day.

Also consider if you want to go to the water parks, Disney Springs, have a resort day, etc.

Depending on your pace and what you want to accomplish, 4 days might be plenty. But you could easily fill 10-12 days without getting bored.

 

[RuthieT]

When at DL we usually do open to Dinner time (6pm-ish) and sometimes we will do open to 2ish and then back to hotel to rest 2-3 hrs and back to park to closing

 

[AmyA]

We always stay at least 10 days and have gone as long as 15 when DH got back from Iraq. This year, for the first time, we are spending some time at Universal during the same trip as Disney.

Our plan this year is 8 days at WDW and 4 at Universal. We get antsy with full days off so we stagger some late starts (more and more as the trip goes on) and early nights. Our plan this year is:

• Arrival day at AKL...swim and hang out at AKL then head to MK for parade and fireworks
• DHS
• Epcot
• AK
• MNSSHP - late arrival at MK
• Epcot
• MK and Disney Springs
• AK - til we get too hot or grumpy and then head over to Universal (HRH) to swim and relax
• Universal
• Universal - Halloween Horror Nights
• Universal
• Universal, Disney Springs, and departure day

My guess is that in reality we mostly miss day 2 at Universal until near HHN time, bug out on part of the 2nd Epcot day, and crater after an hour or so at the first Disney Springs day. No matter how much all 4 of say we want to completely commando, we end up getting too tired or too grumpy to commando for that many days. No matter how you manage your time though, you will have an awesome time and there will be always something to come back to WDW for!

 

[ajjoplin1]

There is really no wrong answer, only preferences....except for the part about "seeing it all", LOL!

We usually get to go for one week, so we try to hit each park at least once and MK twice. We are also taking a break mid-week to enjoy DS and the resorts.

If time is not an issue, I would say two weeks with 10 day park tickets. Hit each park twice (including HS, it's so underrated!), and use the last two for your favs....MK and one other.

Ultimately, it's what works for you. Enjoy!

 

[AdamsPrincess]

We like to do 3 days MK, 3 days EP, 2 days HS, and 2 days AK!

 

[tink9702]

I personally think you need at least 2 days at MK, 2 days at Epcot and 1 each at AK and HS. If I had unlimited time and money I'd do 10 days at Disney with at least 2 days at the hotel pool/relaxing and then do other things in FL. So I think your plan of 2.5 to 3 weeks makes sense to me if you are doing a lot of non-Disney stuff.

 

[osopecoso]

Wow. You all spend a lot of time at Disney. We only go for long weekends about every other month but we also only live about 2 hours from the parks so we would sometimes leave the house at 6am, be at the front gate at 8:15-8:30 then leave at 7pm to drive home. Don't you all get bored at the parks?

 

[MalkaR]

Wow. You all spend a lot of time at Disney. We only go for long weekends about every other month but we also only live about 2 hours from the parks so we would sometimes leave the house at 6am, be at the front gate at 8:15-8:30 then leave at 7pm to drive home. Don't you all get bored at the parks?

Quite an ironic reply!

 

[Marbel]

On our July 2015 trip, we were at Fort Wilderness for 13 days and had 10-day park tickets. We did 2 days each at EP, AK and HS and 4 days at MK. Some of those were half days (we weren't fans of HS) and AK closed at 6, so we did have some down time. On MK days we always took a midday break. We did water parks as well. The remaining "free" days we spent relaxing at the Fort, riding the monorail/resort hopping and going to Disney Marketplace. We didn't feel 10 park days were overkill.

 

[NicholeB630]

Were going 9 nights in September. Arriving late on Thursday evening and then leaving early in the morning the Saturday the following week. We are doing 2.5 days at MK, 1.2 at Epcot, 1 at HS and 1 at AK. With 1 full day off from the parks. I would go for longer if possible. But Im pushing it with DH for 9 nights Theres just so much to do. When I tell people at home were going that long they look at me like I'm crazy.

 

[SA mom]

We've done up to 10 days. It is never enough time. Sometimes you find the neatest stuff just walking around, taking it all in.