How many nights is best?

[MICKIMINI]

12-14 just sayin'! We have a 7 night in September and I'm already stressing about how short it is considering we have a 12 night in May. We did 12 nights in October/November. No rushing, just move in and enjoy!

 

[lorie13]

We used to say 10 nights 11 days as flying from the West Coast, two full days are dedicated to travel. Now that we are a bit older, I think 7 - 8 nights is more ideal. If doing more nights I would recommend a non park day in the middle. Hang around the pool day to recoup for the 2nd half of your vacation.

 

[kstruchen]

We've done 7 nights the past two trips and it felt like not enough... doing 8 nights in July so we'll see if that extra night helps.

 

[bakerworld]

We tried 2 to 10 nights and find 5 or 6 nights is our optimal. By the fourth night I'm missing my bed but if we're really having a good time - usually during F&W - I can do 6 nights.

 

[TravelandLeisure]

In a Disney exclusive vacation I’ve usually had my fill by 7 nights, so 1 week is perfect for us. Any more days then that and we would need to add other places to the itinerary (beach, Universal, etc.).

 

[ellbell]

I have stayed 4 to 14 days. For me it's the longer the better. I watch vlogs of UK residents staying for 3 weeks and wish I could do it too. When I try to plan future trips I feel like it's never enough time to do everythinf I want to.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

Up until a couple of years ago, we would do 2-3 trips per year and our longest was always 9 nights. We drive (7 hours) and we would leave Friday after I got off work and head out. The bad part is that we normally arrived around midnight or 1AM, but we much rather do this, knowing that in the morning we are waking up already in our resort. We then would leave on Sunday to be home around 7PM. We have been doing this since our 1st DD was 6 month's old, now 17 The past couple of years we just have been turned off by the cost of rooms etc.. It really peeved me when I found out the other day that Chapek & Iger both saleries went up 125% from 14.2 to 34.5 million each, yet they will not pay their CM's better Sorry just venting.

 

[UpstateMick]

We have done 4 nights to 9 nights and have settled on 6 being our perfect time taking into account finances, pacing, and recovery. Our 4 was too short and our 9 we were “done” with the pixie dust!

 

[Miffy]

If money weren't an issue, I'd say somewhere between 10 and 14 nights is my sweet spot. But I need (interpret the word need by using Disney logic! )at least 7 and preferably 8 nights.

 

[PPFlight75]

We do an 8-9 night during the summer, split between 2 resorts. We have found that we like to go to the parks for the first half and then spend the second half focusing on sleeping in, pool days, and maybe a quick evening in a park. This keeps everyone happy!

 

[teachmedis]

We started with 4, then 6, then 8, the one we have coming up in 9 nights. We loved the 8 but we didn't have any break days in the middle so we said ok, add one more and that should be right.

 

[kylenne]

We are staying for 9 nights at the Poly this September. Previously we did 7 nights there, but wanted more time to enjoy the resort, and it was a good compromise from the 13 night trip we postponed twice.

there is no one way people vacation, so it all depends on your expectations. Being Park people we would rather save money on the resort and extend our days at WDW. I've never once thought to myself, I wished I would have spent money to stay at that resort rather than spent the money on extra days at WDW.
After multiple trips per year for almost the last decade, we finally settled on a 12 day trip. We fly in on a Sunday stay at GDT at CSR, but ultimately we are park people, so where we stay isn't critical as we spend most of our time at the parks. We just do a little skyliner tour for some resort hopping and eat a bite for lunch at one of the QS on arrival day. Then, later we head over to DS for dinner. We found if we fly in on Sunday, we obviously only have one weekend to contend with during the 12 days and typically take a day off from the parks the following Saturday. We sleep in on that Saturday or it's a good day to do those must do breakfast ADR's at a resort or two. We book the latest flight out of the MCO and just use our last 10 day park hopper ticket on our departure day. Typically we take off from the parks around 4-5 to head back to the resort and take off to MCO.
I've never once thought at the end of my trip, I wish I would have spent more money to stay at a resort rather than I wished I could spend an extra day or two on my vacation at WDW. My suggestion to people is take your budget and compare vacations... For example in Sept. a party of 2 could stay at GDT for 12 days for with park hopper tickets in a water view room for about 6K or we could stay in a standard Poly room for 8 days for a little over 6K. No telling how many days a park view would knock off but I'd guess it would be significant at WDW. Ha

Honestly, half of why I love coming on the boards is seeing the vast variety of ways that people approach their vacations. It's so funny because I totally understand this logic and it's super valid, but we're the total opposite! Where we stay is actually really important to us, because the resort experience is as important to us as the parks, so that's why we stay deluxe with park proximity. We value the amenities of our "nest" vs. spending more time in the parks. I find this is true even on my solo trips as an out of state AP; I absolutely had more fun during my 4 day long weekend at the Beach Club than I did in 7 at French Quarter, even though I technically did much more on my POFQ trip due to having more time in the parks. Both trips were great but if I had to do it over again, I would have probably chosen Swan or Dolphin over POFQ. Being able to just wander into HS to look at the holiday decorations after dinner at YC was priceless to me. So was being back in my room like 10 minutes after Epcot Forever on a Food & Wine holiday weekend.

FWIW I loved Gran Destino when I stayed for a solo weekend last summer, and would totally stay there again, but it would have to be a split with a deluxe in proximity to the parks.

 

[Farro]

We do 9 nights. Two adults.

By night number 9, we are ready to go home!

 

[rick1zoo2]

Lately, we have been enjoying split stays and usually do 6 nights, 3 at each resort. A nice combination is Riviera and Grand Floridian or Animal Kingdom Lodge and Polynesian. We will go to the parks closest to the resort for each part of the trip. We also have found that the resorts are very important to us as we generally go to the parks first thing in the morning and like to head back to the resort early afternoons.

 

[kylenne]

Lately, we have been enjoying split stays and usually do 6 nights, 3 at each resort. A nice combination is Riviera and Grand Floridian or Animal Kingdom Lodge and Polynesian. We will go to the parks closest to the resort for each part of the trip. We also have found that the resorts are very important to us as we generally go to the parks first thing in the morning and like to head back to the resort early afternoons.

We are definitely rope drop then leave midday back the resort people. Sometimes we go back to the park or hop to a different one for a late night after napping, but not always. We talked about AKL/Poly split because we both love animals, maybe one day.

My gf couldn't come with me for my 40th birthday trip last year because the Canadian border was still closed, but I spent 8 days split evenly between GF and YC and it was fantastic being able to walk to 3 parks. Though if I had to do it again I would definitely end the trip at GF.

 

[jennyq87]

7-8 nights is probably my favorite length. Shorter than that and we usually have to "give" on a favorite experience. Much longer than that and we start doubling up on experiences. I don't need to spend more than ~3 days in the park at the most. Then a couple days for enjoying the resort and resort hopping. A day or two for Disney Springs. At that point I've done everything I need to do! And probably sufficiently drained my vacation account

 

[Dsny4fun]

8 nights/9 days is usually what works best for us...2 days in each park plus a DS day (arrival day)

 

[Meglen]

We normally do 6 nights and it never felt enough so this past trip we did 9 and it was to long for me. So this trip were doing 7 nights and I hope its a happy medium.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

10 days is the sweet spot for us. We did 14 for our honeymoon and it was just too much. Tried 12 and same thing. 10 gets us to every park more than once and we leave before the magic and crowds start to wear.

 

[Sandiz08]

We like 7-8 nights. No more , no less.