Is 4 nights to short of a stay?

[angeleigh]

We had planned to go to Disney for my 40th birthday, which is Christmas. We originally planned to go for 7 nights. Now we are discussing shortening the trip to save money. Is it worth traveling 1200 miles to only be there for 4 nights? We have been to Disney several times before but have always stayed at least 7 nights. And we have always traveled in the summer. Should we just wait and go in the summer when we can comfortably spend 7 nights? Thanks in advance for you input.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Since you have the choice to go in the summer for a longer vacation I would choose that for sure! It would mean more to me to go for longer rather than when it is my birthday on the calendar. Have a great time

 

[Disneychix]

My vote is yes, go for Christmas if you've never been at that time before. We usually go for about 4 days/ 3 nights and I am in NYS too. I absolutly LOVED going in Dec. The weather was great, not hot and humid, and the decorations/atomosphere was soo amazing.

 

[Taja]

It really depends on what you enjoy. Personally, with a travel day on each end of a WDW visit, 4 nights isn't worth it. You're a bit closer, so that could make a difference.

I love WDW during the holiday season, but prefer it earlier in the month before it gets crazybusy. All one word! *LOL*

If you know your way around WDW, you certainly can enjoy yourselves regardless of the crowd levels--with the right attitude.

 

[jls886]

If you're going in the weeks leading up to Christmas, I'd say you'll be fine. The crowds are great. If you're talking about being there OVER Christmas, then I'd say you will definitely want more than 4 nights! We have gone over Christmas more than once, and the week right before Christmas is wonderful, then the holiday hits and the crowds are out of control!

 

[veraletta]

I would wait until I had more time. We stayed for 6 nights this March, I felt like we didn't have enough time to rest. The only way I would go for 4 nights, is if we had 3 drivers that way we could take turns every three to four hours to drive.

Since I do all the driving, when my daughter and I go, I'm worn out by the time we get to Disney. We drive from Ohio which is about 900 miles. If you have more drivers then I would say sure go ahead, because going at Christmas time is amazing. I'm 55 so I really get tired when we drive to disney.
If you think the drive isn't bad, then I would say, you will be okay. 4 days is'nt
much time, but at least you will be able to go to each of the parks.

 

[kellydizfan]

I always said I need at least a week to unwind and enjoy. But if I had a chance to go Christmas Time. I think I would take the 4 nights, 5 days. Get in as early as possible and out as late as possible. Probably since I have been enough that it may not bother me not being there a full week or 8 days. I want to go Christmas Time but it just isn't possible with the age of my kids and I don't want to go the week of Christmas so we are going during free dining end of August. I just hope it doesn't pour the whole time like it did for us back in 2006.

 

[fakereadhed]

Driving no, flying yes. Wouldn't be worth it to me to spend a lot of time in the car for only a short trip.

I used to take my DS when he was a preschooler by myself for short trips(because I wasn't sure I could handle longer by myself). The best thing about quick trips is you can fit a lot in and be home before you hit the wall! Short trips can be lots of fun. The only budget problem is tickets. The cost is almost equal for a lot less unless you have NE tickets or annual pass. Even though we use NE tickets, we like to do MVMCP for our MK day. If you get there at 4, you can get a lot of stuff in before 7pm and enjoy the party! Also make sure you do the monorail loop and take the boat to WL to see the Christmas decorations.

 

[hsmamato2]

not long enough,IMHO- 7 nights is my minimum for travel,etc- then I need time to relax..... otherwise I'd just wait- or go for 7 nights earlier in the month to save some $$$$

 

[JKMJ441724]

My husband and I went for our 10th anniversary without the children. We thought 4 days was plenty when it was just the 2 of us.

I've never been at Christmas-time but DREAM of the year when we can do that.

 

[ekmom]

I have very limited vacation time so we've flown down on a Wednesday night after work and flown home on Sunday. That gives us 3 full park days and then on Sunday we usually hit Downtown Disney on our way to the airport. Not a particularly relaxing trip but we're not good at relaxing around the pool anyway. A little Disney is better than none at all!

 

[Havana]

Have you seen the Christmas decorations before? It is a must do! Worth the trip!

 

[PatriciaH]

We used to do it all the time years ago, but air was $99-$189 round trip then. I guess if you could get air for under $250 RT PP it would make sense. It has been so high from here lately though. We also had AP's so hotels were cheaper and we had our tickets already.

 

[Marionnette]

Since you've been there before and no doubtedly will be there again, I say go for the 4 nights and do it up right! My husband and I were there for 4 nights in Dec. of 2009. Stayed at the GF concierge level. Got free dining and upgraded to deluxe. Added the wine package. Did a lot of signature dining. When you're only staying for 4 nights, it's not as big of a budget buster as it is if you're staying for a week or more.

Besides, Disney is awesome when all dressed up for the holidays. I think everyone should do it at least once.

 

[Belle0101]

It's really subjective. For us it's a 20 hour drive covering roughly 1000 miles. DH would say that it's not worth it. I would say that it is worth it.

My cousin and I took our children once. We broke the drive into 2 days, spent 3 days in the park and then drove home 2 days. 4 days of driving for 3 park days. It was really hard on her youngest child especially, they aren't good travellers. My children have always travelled so it was easier on them. We went in the week between Christmas and New Years and managed to get everything in that we wanted even with the crowds.

Since then we've driven once - straight through - and flown the remainder of the trips.

Whatever you decide, have a great trip!

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Oh gosh, I get butterflies just reading people talking about Christmas!! I have never been around Christmas because my DH works retail and of course cannot take any time off for vacation from Oct to Jan. But this year, for the first time, I'm going without my family. A friend of mine and I are flying down 11/30. We are only staying 5 nights but I am SOOOOO excited.

I would take the shorter trip just to see Disney at Christmas. And honestly, I would do everything I could do to avoid summer. It's hot and crowded. I think it would be worth the sacrifice on days to go at Dec.

 

[brymolmom]

Can you plan a less expensive 7 nighter instead? That's what I would do.

Honestly the first 4 days of WDW vacation are the most expensive (because airfare stays the same AND park tickets remain basically the same whether for 4 days or 7) - so for 3 more nights, I would try to get it in on the SAME or close budgeted amount.

Try NOT getting hoppers to save on the budget.
Try NOT getting the DDP to save on the budget.
Try staying offsite to save on the budget (we got STaybridge Suites LBV for $75 a night last December - full, hot breakfast included, went to grocery store and ate 1 lunch and 1 dinner in our room, brought lunch to park another day, got CS meals 2 - 3 times and had 2 TS meals). When you factored in rental car, gas AND parking we still ended up saving likely $500 this way.
Try bringing sandwiches to the parks to save on the budget.

Try all of the above and see if you can get a 7 night trip for about the same price as a 4 nighter.

 

[wishesuponastar]

I'm going to change my answer to agree with some pp. Going at Christmas time is special Seeing all the decorations is beautiful!
So yeah I would go for the 4 days just for that reason.

 

[sk!mom]

I suspect that 4 nights is too short for me. Ask me in August and I'll be able to give a definite answer.

We had no plans to visit Disney any time in the near future but Harry Potter has been calling us. We had planned a week split between DC and NYC for this Summer but I couldn't muster any enthusiasm for the DC leg of the trip. Then Disney sent us a free dining offer and we decided to head to Universal for 3 nights followed by 4 at Wilderness Lodge. We do not have time to make it any longer. Our last Disney trip was 10 days and we've only once gone for less than a week. We've never stayed at Universal and our only visit there was one day in 2001.

Enjoy the easy vacation scheduling of young children because as they become teens and young adults it gets very hard to find a time when everyone has a free week and anything longer is near impossible.

Our compromise for the short trip is doing it pretty Deluxe. Our one other 4 day trip was at the Contemporary and it was great but it was our second trip that year and in a cool uncrowded month so it was great. We'll see how a short August trip goes.

 

[angeleigh]

Thank you all for you replies. I will give a little more details. My dh made the original reservation for a package and gave me it to me on Christmas this past year because he knows that I like to do all the dining reservations and everything so he wasn't going to do that. I have always talked about going to Disney for my 40th birthday so that is why he did it. However since then dh had the opportunity to go on a fishing trip to Alaska and that is something that he has always wanted to do and was never able to. I decided that I wanted him to do that so. He will be going with my dad and our two oldest girls (18 and 15). We have been to Disney several times so this trip won't be one where we have to see everything.
Oh and as luck would have it my cousin called me today and asked if I would like to stay three nights with her and her family in the treehouse villas. We haven't made our final decision yet but now we have different options.