How many nights do you stay?

[1971DBday]

We typically do 10 days 9 nights. We started going again as a complete family when kids were 10, 7 and 8 mos. it was just easier to try and see a lot and not have them on the go the whole time we were there. We had down time for naps for the littlest one (I had her sleeping at the pool BC/ she was used to noise when she napped) and swim time for the big kids. We actually came back refreshed instead of exhausted (earlier trips before youngest was born were shorter by 1/2).

I think they will be fine and you won't feel like you need to be at the parks constantly.

 

[tennessee]

we love disney, but there is no way I could stay that long. Five to seven is the most. I like to stay 4 and then head to melbourne beach for the rest. My husband would love to stay longer,but no way. I take the ocean any day over the resort pools.

 

[AlohaAnnie]

We are going for 14 days/13 nights. This will be our longest trip.

We have went as few days as 5 days/4nights over Fall Break.

 

[PrincessJo]

We usually only stay 5 or 6 nights each time. After that long the 16-year-old gets grumpy and we all start to bicker

 

[Wood Nymph]

We usually stay 5 - 6 nights. We get tired of restaurant food and staying in a hotel. Six nights is perfect and we like to get home in plenty of time to unpack, pick up some groceries and do some laundry before work the next day.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We typically do 10 nights, but now that the kids are older, we are thinking that next year we will do only 7 or 8 nights so they don't have to miss any school.

Because we usually go during a school vacation, on a 10 night trip they usually end up losing about 2 days of school before vacation and I am starting to feel guilty about that...so next year 7 or 8 nights it is.

 

[excited4disney2012]

We usually stay 8 nights 9 days. I just read somewhere on the Dis site that some lucky person is making reservations for 32 days!!!! WOW!

 

[jaybee1026]

Airfare is crazy expensive so we take a longer trip instead of going more frequently, usually 13-14 nights.

 

[shalom]

I only wonder since I have small children if 12 days is too long for them, especially since this will be their first vacation (aside from camping 4 hours away!) that was half the reason I brought up the question,

IMHO it depends on how you spend the days. We do eleven days, but even with my teenagers, we don't all hit the parks every day, and we don't always do full days when we hit the parks. Little ones often feel even more strongly about spending time at the resort rather than going to the parks all the time; when people say they're going to Orlando with little ones on one of my TS boards, longtimers recommend either getting tickets for only a few days or not getting tickets at all, because it's so common for the kids to want to stay at the resort rather than go to the parks/after having been at the parks just an hour or two.

Onsite resorts don't have canoeing or nature trails (for the most part) or some of the other stuff many offsite resorts have, but OTOH they're brilliantly themed and there are lots of activities for kids there. Depends on the child, I suppose, but I know a lot of people who stay onsite who plan quiet vacations with little ones, because much as they enjoy the child's wonder at the parks, everyone's happier long term if the little ones get lots of down time. Some of them then go back and hit the parks hard when it's an all adults vacation; others just figure they'll go harder when the kids are older. Anyhow, as long as you're open to some down time, I'm sure a longer vacation with little ones will be fine.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We usually do 6n/7d, although this December we're only doing 5n/6d because this time I'm paying for both of us and I couldn't afford more than that.

 

[Haley]

A week is good for us. We have gone 10 days before and at that point I start to miss my own bed and we get burnt out on doing the parks.

 

[elaw]

Usually 9 nights ... but we've done anywhere in between 7-10 nights

 

[KELLY]

We go a minimum of 10 nights. THis year we are doing 16 nights and 17 days. Yeah for FD bounceback.

 

[AquaDame]

We stay 5 nights usually - enough for a park a day and then an extra. Would love to stay longer but there are so many other places we also want to go - I hate blowing all our vacation on one place a year. Would rather travel more often and break up the monotony of work!

 

[DizDaD7]

Mostly done 8 or 9 nights...We did do an 11 nighter last August at BWV which was fabulous.... There's definitely no burn out when u go at a leisurely pace. Gotta remember to enjoy the resort days as well as the park days...too. This goes hand in hand with all the activities that they have at the resorts which makes for a lot of fun for the kiddos...Old n young.LoL.

We jus completed an 8 night 9 day trip to AKV which was amazing but wished I had a few days more...

 

[tmbacon]

Wow I didn't realize how long people stay at WDW! That's pretty cool. I think the longest we've ever stayed is 5 nights. Now that we've relocated to NC from IL, we can drive, so it's a little easier on the wallet without needing flights. But even then - a trip to WDW sucks up our vacation budget in a hurry!

 

[bowbat]

I honestly think I'd go nuts staying in a hotel for 10-14+ days. Plus, we have geriatric pets that we're uncomfortable boarding for long periods of time.

Luckily, we live under two hours away, so we go multiple times per year for just two or three nights at a time.

 

[pigletto]

8 nights at Disney and 2 nights at Universal is just about the perfect trip for us.
We did 13nights all at Disney one year and were really ready to go home at the end.

 

[sjs314]

In the past we have done 4-10 nights. Our last 2 visits we stayed 5 nights/6days which is the perfect balance for us as we prefer to stay Deluxe plus we spend the night before our flight out at a hotel near the airport and the night of our return flight also at the same hotel which makes for a much more overall relaxing trip making our actual away time 7nights.

 

[star04]

I'm hoping to do 6 nights for our first family trip.