How many days?

[Delirium]

My preference is 10 park days to get everything done that we want to do. This includes mid-day breaks and having a hopper. The most nights we've done is 12, with a couple of off-days thrown in. I think my ideal vacation would be 14 nights with 10 park days.

One of the factors in us getting to do everything we want to do is being able to hit all the parks at night, and not just for the nighttime spectaculars. There are a lot of rides on MK that are better after dark, walking through World Showcase at Epcot is more magical, and Animal Kingdom is absolutely amazing at night. So, the time of year, factoring sunset and park hours is critical for us in determining how many days we need. When the parks are closing shortly after sunset, we need more nights to experience everything we want to do than if there are several hours of darkness based on the schedule.

 

[tinkerhon]

My preference is 10 park days to get everything done that we want to do. This includes mid-day breaks and having a hopper. The most nights we've done is 12, with a couple of off-days thrown in. I think my ideal vacation would be 14 nights with 10 park days.

One of the factors in us getting to do everything we want to do is being able to hit all the parks at night, and not just for the nighttime spectaculars. There are a lot of rides on MK that are better after dark, walking through World Showcase at Epcot is more magical, and Animal Kingdom is absolutely amazing at night. So, the time of year, factoring sunset and park hours is critical for us in determining how many days we need. When the parks are closing shortly after sunset, we need more nights to experience everything we want to do than if there are several hours of darkness based on the schedule.

This is EXACTLY what we are doing next week ! Leaving next tues for 2 weeks - doing 10 park days - ( some early - some later - some early with a break in the middle of the day) - the other days are going to be pool/relax days and DS at night - love the food options now and going to check out a few movies with the kids )

 

[nacho113]

How many days minimum would you plan for in order to hit all four parks and do them justice? We did a 7 day trip several years ago and really focused on MK, skipped AK. Already starting to think about a Spring 2020 trip with our 3 kids who, by then, will be 4, 8, and 10.

Depends on how many days that you have. Once past the cost of the first 4 days, additional days are really cheap.
If we are in the area for 7-10 days, 4 or 5 park days is pretty good but usually results in longer days in the parks and "down days" between our park days.
For a 14+ day vacation, 10 half/partial days in the parks is a lot slower paced and more relaxing. I don't actually think we get more accomplished but we don't get nearly as tired.

***If we've only got a couple of days in the area and really need our Disney fix, we will pick a one day hopper and do a "commando" rope drop to close, 3 or 4 park day...it's all about the timing!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

10 nights / 9 park days seems to work great but this year we have complementary hopper tickets so we're arriving early and doing HS on arrival day for the first time. We usually go to DS on arrival day but we moved that to a HS day. We like DS at night better anyway. we're doing 3 MK, 3 HS, 2 EP and 2 AK and will hop to MK and EP on a few nights.

 

[Tawney]

In December 2017 we did a four day trip - we skipped HS and replaced it with SeaWorld. Never again would I try to fit so much into so little time! The biggest mistakes that I made was splitting our EP day with MVMCP, and not slotting any time for "down time". I hadn't been to Disney in so long that I thought I could squeeze EP into half a day. Wrong!

That being said, for our next trip in December 2019, we are staying 8 days and will have five or six park days with hopper. Two days will be devoted to MK, two for EP, and one for each AK and HS. We will hop around night to whichever park sounds good depending on what we want to see (or more likely, what we want to eat!)

 

[michellelovesthemous]

We are up to 18 this year with 10 park days on the first trip 2 MNSSHP nights and a bonus park day on our 2nd lag room only res. We have gone for as few as 8 days with last year being 3 weeks thanks to dear Irma! Still don’t get everything done we want to but that’s what keeps us coming back!! Especially w/Mum getting on in years we have learned to slow down a skosh.....eh who are we kidding open to close like usual on those park days...Monday to Thursday with weekends down.

 

[pixie_mtl]

We used to do 15 days on site with 10 days tickets on Free Dining promotion. Now back then, we even used to have pin codes offering 40% off all category of Disney hotels. These were the good days lol Now we go anywhere between 7 to 10 days with 5 or 6 days + park hopper tickets depending on the season. You won't be able to do and see it all, but if you can, I think 8-10 days is a good option. It allows you to enjoy both the themed and water parks + some time to relax.

 

[B. Shoe]

T-minus 108 days to our 5-day trip!

 

[supitscarrie]

I guess it really depends on your situation and your park preferences. For just my husband and I (both in our 20s, childfree) we did seven days on our honeymoon, which included two days at MK and one day at Universal in addition to a day each at the other parks. We're going back this November for six days, no parks on arrival/departure day, and our only time in MK will be for the Christmas Party. I'm not at all concerned about missing out on things at the parks! We make the most of what we can within our budget (and PTO limits, haha).

 

[scottandtisha]

My preference is 10 park days to get everything done that we want to do. This includes mid-day breaks and having a hopper. The most nights we've done is 12, with a couple of off-days thrown in. I think my ideal vacation would be 14 nights with 10 park days.

One of the factors in us getting to do everything we want to do is being able to hit all the parks at night, and not just for the nighttime spectaculars. There are a lot of rides on MK that are better after dark, walking through World Showcase at Epcot is more magical, and Animal Kingdom is absolutely amazing at night. So, the time of year, factoring sunset and park hours is critical for us in determining how many days we need. When the parks are closing shortly after sunset, we need more nights to experience everything we want to do than if there are several hours of darkness based on the schedule.

We did this last year and it was by far our best, most relaxed trip. It's my new standard ... 14 days at Bonnet Creek and 10 park days.

 

[gharter]

We do 7 days at a time in the fall, but then have a 4 day trip in the spring.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

MK: At least 2 full days. We still don't get everything done and there's still much I haven't seen after 8 trips.
EP: At least 2 full days. Same as above.
DHS: At least 1 full day but fitting all the shows in can be tricky.
AK: At least 1 full day but really our family needs 2. Always missing something.

This takes into account that you wish to experience everything and not just hit the highlights and that you enjoy shows and exhibitions like Maharaja Jungle Trek in Animal Kingdom.

We so not utilize park hoppers.

 

[KenHutch]

We do about 10 days. Three in Magic Kingdom and 2 each in the others with one day in the middle for the girls to go shopping in town and for me to have a day resort hopping and rating other resorts for future trips. But we have never done a water park and even with this many days we tend to be park commandoes.

 

[DJFan88]

We're in the 9 night camp. Don't underestimate the exhaustion factor. You will not want to go continually in the parks all day every day. Plus, lots of bad weather pops up which closes some rides here and there, plus heat factor. And we're all fairly fit individuals and my kids are teens. If you are dealing with younger kids/strollers/ walking issues etc., I just see it on some of their faces, exhaustion. Plan alot of down time.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We always do 9-10 nights so that we don't have to rush.

 

[PaulaSB12]

2 weeks I did 3 but that was a bit long, because the flight is 8 hours I don't think anything less than two weeks is worth it

 

[Nancyg56]

We always do nine nights. That allows us to take our time in the summer heat but still get fast passes for every attraction we want so we never wait in more than a 20 minute line.

I like 9 nights, 10 days as well. We cannot always mange the time, however the times we were there at least 10 days were the easiest trips for us.

On another note: sometimes finances etc do not permit a trip of 7,8,9,10 days. Please know that when my kids were little I was a single mom and could only afford two park days. We have amazing memories of those trips. So there really isn't a must have number of days for a magical Disney trip. The more days you can have the slower pace you can go and more off your feet time you can have. As I stated before 8 park days would be my dream but my family has made magical trips on fewer days.

Exactly. We have been for fewer days when necessary, and made it work. You never et it "all done" anyways, so we never try. By the 10th day my DH is beyond ready to go home, and I am just ready, so that seems to be the sweet spot for us in terms of preferred trip time.

OP- start with your budget and vacation time available. You never get it all done, so toss that out and go from there. WE shoot for at least a week, but have found that if we can do at least 8 nights we are satisfied and not pressured.

 

[DisneyFive]

My advice is to go as long as possible, however the minimum I would recommend is 1 full day at EP, HS and AK and 2 full days at MK.

Dan

 

[sponica]

The bulk of my trips have been 5ish days (it's the onsite lodging that really hits my pocketbook). As adults the pace doesn't bother me, but once we added a toddler in, it felt rushed.

I'm hoping that the next trip in 2020 is at least 7 days (we also fly, and if I can convince my husband to fly SW we can fly nonstop)

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We always do 12 to 14 days. Usually 4 days at MK, 2 Epcot days, 1DHS,2AK and universal.