How often to visit Disney???

[ArwenMarie]

We've been going twice a year for a while now. For us, that frequency works because then we don't care if we miss something, because we can catch it next time. We don't visit every park every trip. That helps a lot to keep things a bit more fresh. We find that we are more relaxed than we are when we go once a year. When we go once-a-year we get a bit crazy trying to fit everything in.

That being said we aren't doing our winter trip this year, so it will be a year in between trips most likely this year. But on the bright side, hopefully Rivers of Light will be open by then and the Frozen ride, so waiting to see new stuff is good too.

 

[lustergirl]

2 trips this year and going back solo in late January. Now I have grown bored with certain things and haven't visited places like HS in quite some time. On my solo trip this past April I went to DTD and was like "meh." If you aren't into shopping then DTD, now Disney Springs I guess then this spot is definitely not your thing. I do however think of Earl of Sandwich sometimes. I try and find new things to do every trip and also always have my old favorites such as HM, POTC, Jungle Cruise, Soarin, Spaceship Earth, Safari in AK, etc. Each time I go now I am spending more and more time in the World Showcase seeing things that I have never paid attention to before.

 

[rwdavis2]

We go about every 4 years. This keeps everything relatively "new" and gives time for changes tot he parks. Keeps down the cost of vacations. Besides we like going other places as well.

 

[Happy_2_B]

Is yearly "too much"? Is it better to have longer period between visits?

Yearly isn't too much. But that area of VA has a lot to offer, with Colonial Williamsburg and a bunch of caves in the neighborhood as well. Depends on taste. We used to do WDW once a year- now it is much less frequent. There are many things to see and experience throughout the world- Disney is nice, but it isn't all that. You live in a good spot in the north east- lots of things to see and do that are within a day or two driving distance. If I was in your shoes, would do the VA trip- lots of entertainment there as far as parks, but also a lot of history and beauty if you want to stretch your vacation mindset beyond the 27 acre landmass that sits in central FL.

 

[Mikie]

We go about every 4 years. This keeps everything relatively "new" and gives time for changes tot he parks. Keeps down the cost of vacations. Besides we like going other places as well.

Ditto - we've been timing our trips to go just before each kiddo turns 3 (still free!) or just before someone turns 10 (=Disney adult pricing) and that means we happen to be going every 2.5-4 years. 4 was a bit long, but it just made the return sweeter. last one turns Disney adult in 2 years, making it 3 between trips. Feels just right for us doing other things between, absence making the heart grow fonder, new attractions opening. . .

 

[Anchored]

I would skip 2016 and go in 2017. More new stuff will be open by then.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg + Water Country are AWESOME! I am local and we have annual passes. The shows are great, especially the one in Ireland. Plenty of kid friendly rides that have MUCH shorter lines than Disney. So much wonderful stuff to do in the area, like Colonial Williamsburg, Yankee Candle Village (an awesome Santa all year round with indoor snow!), and Great Wolf Lodge. Also a very short drive to Virginia Beach and the boardwalk if you are wanting some beach time.
Busch Gardens Tampa can't hold a candle to Williamsburg- it's a gorgeous park.

 

[AngiTN]

Daily would not be too often for my gang. But we don't live close enough for that.
We went in May, Aug, Oct and are going back in Dec this year
Plus we went to DL in June.

 

[Dis703]

We have been going yearly to Disney with our family, however in 2014 we skipped Disney. When we went this past Aug/Sept 2015, I have to say, it was our best trip ever. I am wondering if going yearly is too much? We have a bounce back reserved for Aug/Sept 2016 and I am wondering if we should go to BuschGardens/Water Country in VA (we live in NJ and can drive there) instead and then go to Disney in 2017? Our trip for our family of 5 to CBR (2 adults, 2 Disney adults and 1 child) for 10 nights with free dining and airfare will cost around $6K. I am just wondering if we should save around $4K and go to Busch Gardens? Just wondering if yearly makes going to Disney not as exciting? It just seemed like this year after missing a year, that we enjoyed it so much better. Is yearly "too much"? Is it better to have longer period between visits?

I think it would be hard to say if skipping a year made it the best trip yet. We went 4 times between May 2013 and May 2015 and the most recent one was definitely our best family vacation yet. Everything just went perfectly. And this week I went down with 2 other adults and again had one of the most fabulous times I've ever had at Disney. So if anything it seems the more we go the more we enjoy it. That may not be the case for everyone though.

I think if Busch Gardens has enough to interest you and you want to save a few bucks you can still have a great vacation. I've been once and I'm not particularly interested in going back (to the one in VA at least) and I think my kids would need to be a little older before they would enjoy it, but it looks like your kids may be at an age where it could be a lot of fun for them.

 

[DisneyMandC]

BGW and WC are both great parks, but they are really one day each type parks. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of that in case you were planning a really long vacation for both of those. But as others have said, there is plenty to do in the area including Colonial Williamsburg, and King's Dominion is not too far away to go to as well.

 

[Kingdome8]

We go every 18 months to 2 years. I think it's perfect. It's our fav place to go. But still really like going to myrtle beach or OCMD.

I really enjoy having a trip booked though. Like even though it's a year away just fun to know it's in the books. Kids like talking about it

 

[Mousemommy1]

We have gone at least once a year for the past 7 years now. For the past few years, we keep saying we are going to take a break, but we haven't yet. We have been AP holders for the past 4 years, which has been nice!

Next year, we are doing Disney in April again, but we are only doing 4 days in the parks and we are trying out a Disney cruise for 4 nights as well. We are really excited about this trip because it's something totally new for us.

We still haven't decided if we are going to get annual passes again, because if we find we love cruising, we may do that in 2017.

 

[msmama]

Seems like mostly you have older kids and I think that changes things. While they're younger, the trip really does change every year as they get big enough to ride different things (and brave enough). I don't know if you go the same time of year, but I think going different times of year shakes things up, too. This will be my first Fall trip since before kid and I find myself way more excited. There are so many things going on at different times of year that I think it's always different.

That said, I'm going to end up with 4 trips (none less than 5 days) this year and I think that's total overkill (though excellent use of the AP purchase)!! And I expect to take a several year break...after next April!

 

[Chelle's Belles]

For our family 1-2 years between trips would be perfect. Part of the fun for me is having a totally different experience as my kids get older and are interested in different things.

 

[AllieBoo]

Of course everyone's opinion will vary on this. We go every other year and find that works best for us. We did back to back trips one year and the second year was just not as exciting for us. Now, we alternate Disney with other places like the Florida keys or the mountains.

 

[Pepper pots]

Well since we are 3000 miles away, it's a two yearly vacation for us, and we love all the new stuff..It takes us at least one year to plan it out, and two years to save the $$$$$$$$$.....Some of my friends think I'm crazy to spend that kinda money on a vacation, but it's the greatest feeling in the world when you know your heading back after two years...

 

[Stitch808]

The last three years we have gone once a year. Next year we are going take a break as we are going to go to Hawaii and Seattle in separate trips. We will see how we like taking a year off, but I truly believe will resume a regular trip later.

 

[CaitlinMarie13]

I would go live in Disney if I could, I don't think I could ever go too much! That being said, I go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg all the time, actually in going tomorrow for Halloween, and I love it too! It has a lot to offer, and if you go you have to get soft pretzels from the place across from Verbolten. SO GOOD!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I would skip 2016 and go in 2017. More new stuff will be open by then.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg + Water Country are AWESOME! I am local and we have annual passes. The shows are great, especially the one in Ireland. Plenty of kid friendly rides that have MUCH shorter lines than Disney. So much wonderful stuff to do in the area, like Colonial Williamsburg, Yankee Candle Village (an awesome Santa all year round with indoor snow!), and Great Wolf Lodge. Also a very short drive to Virginia Beach and the boardwalk if you are wanting some beach time.
Busch Gardens Tampa can't hold a candle to Williamsburg- it's a gorgeous park.

I haven't been to BGT, I have been to BGW.

I always thought BGT was known as better than BGW. They seem to have cooler animals?

I agree though, you can make a great vacation down in the Williamsburg area.

 

[piccolopat]

We love Disney and also go almost every year but now that we are getting older (DD is now married) we think this was a mistake. For the money we spent over the years we could have gone every third year and let our DD experience other places in the US like national parks, museum rich cities, historical sites, etc. as well as trips overseas. She still loves Disney but she isn't going every year now either. As we approach retirement, we're thinking about moving to the Orlando area not only for the lower taxes and warmer weather (we're in NY) but also because we can minimize the costs to visit Disney and instead use that money for travel to Europe and other places on our bucket list.

 

[loves to dive]

As others have said, it really depends on your family make up. When we started going, we went every other year because it took me two years to save the money. I was a single mother with a small child, we always stayed on site and when we started going there were only deluxe resorts, the monorail ones. As my son got older we were able to sneak in an every year trip now and again but not often. Now I go twice a year, F&G and F&W, usually solo. My son did go last year to F&G with me but he probably won't be able to go this year. H is 35 and still loves going, his schedule just doesn't always make it easy for him to fit it in. I've found, for me at least, since I go more often now, I'm able to enjoy it more since I'm never in a hurry. I don't plan the whole FP+ and ADR stuff, I just pick my FP the night before and even when my son goes we don't book ADRs until the day of. If we don't ride a ride, it's o.k., we'll be back. I've also gotten into split stays, going solo and driving down it's no big deal for me to switch resorts. Doing that, I've stayed in two values (enough to tell me I'm not staying value ever again) and one Mod so far. I've stayed at all the deluxe resorts except, WL and SS, which I just might do on my next F&G trip. I've only stay at POR mod so far but I'm thinking I'll do Cornado Springs and Wilderness Lodge next trip. Then again it might be CS and Swan/Dolphin since I'm not sure I can bring myself to give up an Epcot resort for F&G. That's the good thing about going often, you get to experiment. It also helps that DW is not the only place I visit. I'm lucky enough to be at a time in my life where I have more disposable income, we are scuba divers so we try to take a big dive trip at least once every other year and I try to take long weekends to other places as well.