Is it better to have more trips or to visit sparingly?

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Last year I visited WDW 4 times. It was glorious. We did a trip during flower and garden festival to run the dark side 20k. We did the DIS boards podcast celebration in July. Then we did two short trips in September and October.

It was a really fun time and we made some good memories.

That being said, we decided there were other places to visit this year, but we still wanted to fit in one Disney trip. We decided on mid December.

I realize it's only the end of January, so we'll see what my thoughts are later in the year. I'm actually really enjoying the anticipation of the trip that's almost a year away.

I'm starting to wonder if it actually might not be a better thing to space Disney trips farther apart. I know everyone's different... But for me it seems this December trip will be even more special since I have to wait for it. It's more of an event.

What does everyone else think? Do you find some weird enjoyment in not going to WDW so often? Or would you rather go as many times as you can the sooner the better?

 

[dancin Disney style]

I like doing both. I just enjoy traveling so the more the merrier for me. In 2015 I was at WDW 3 times then in 2016 I went in March and then went to some other countries later in the year. I have just booked to go to WDW in March again even though I wasn't supposed to be going. I just decided that I would miss it too much to take a break.

 

[DemonLlama]

We went only once every two years at December from 2000 - 2014. It was soooo long in between, the anticipation was killer, but I think that also made us more appreciative every time we managed to get back.

In 2015, with my daughter moving to Sarasota for school (and now she's an AP holder) somehow we just keep finding excuses to go more often, sometimes just for a weekend, never all of us at once any more, thanks to grown up kid schedules. And we love it.

But . . . it's not quite the same.

Not quite the same anticipation or excitement. Not quite as magical, but still lots of fun. It's a delicate balance.

So after this year's two more trips that are planned (April with just DH for a conference, then December with, finally, ALL of us together again) we will likely scale back again and wait another two years.

Maybe.

 

[Crystal824]

We will usually get an AP and go two or three times in one year, and then take a year or so off. We did twice last last year. This year we have no plans to go to WDW at all. We are thinking our next trip may be Summer 2018. If you go too much, it becomes less special.

 

[WEDWDW]

I'm probably in the minority,but I go 4 times a year and every trip is just as exciting as my first trip-I just LOVE the place!

 

[skuttle]

We go about once every 12-18 months. I like it that way. If we did more frequent trips, they would have to be shorter trips. I'm a fan of longer trips so that we can relax and enjoy the resort.

 

[Farro]

Spread apart, by at least 3 years! We went in 2014, going again this October and I'm worried even that's too soon! But just excited for everything else!

I read so many complaints from people (valid or not), who go at least once a year and I'm so glad we don't go that often, so we aren't going to notice, or frankly care about some of the changes people complain about. And honestly a lot of complaints would be alleviated by just not going as much!

After this we won't be coming back until 2021 at the earliest. We will visit other places, and then be ready to go back.

 

[BrianL]

I like going pretty often, but if I'm in a mood for change, I'll just head to Anaheim (or maybe even overseas) a different Disney Park.

 

[Momofone92]

We have gone 8 times this year with our APs. Most trips have been around 7 days although we are going 4 days this year for Valentine's Day. Personally I think it is just as fantastic each time.

 

[Imagineer5]

I go about 3-5 times a year - every trip is different and booked for different reasons (or Seasons!). Some super long (12 nights has been our longest) some short (3 nights is too short IMO!). I have an AP, stay at Shades of Green or offsite or rent DVC points, and at least half the time it's just me and my daughter(s) (I have an almost 5 yo and a 1 yo). I can't imagine going less and would actually totally disagree with the poster above who says they go 3+ years in between trips - because I go so often, I don't sweat the small stuff like not getting an ADR, or a FP, or not seeing a show, etc. I have the time to do the things I love to do each trip, skip things from one trip to the next, and it doesn't phase me.

We do visit many other places too, although we had a little bit of a streak going between all the Disney trips then Europe trips and a Disney Cruise and it got a little out of hand lol, so we are taking a break from big, expensive trips for now (DD #3 is also due in April!) and instead focusing on our family time at Disney. In 3 years we'll start doing the big travels again!

 

[Dis703]

I enjoy doing multiple short trips. I was there this past year 3 times. Twice for 3 nights with my twins (individually) and then a 5 night trip in December with the whole family. I like having a Disney fix every few months. But I will say there are also things I feel like I miss out on each time with a shorter trip. If we stuck to once a year or less we could do a solid 10 day trip and fit a little more in.

 

[loves to dive]

Over 30 years ago we started going every 2 years, single mom with a toddler it took me 2 years to save. That continued until about 5 years ago, my son is grown and was married at the time, my honey hates to travel unless its a dive trip. I started going every year solo, then I started taking two trips a year. Now my son is divorced and back in college and he has started joining my every year (he still went with me every other year, even when engaged and married his wife learned about WDW for adults). Last year I went 3 times, March with my son, Sept. solo (F&W) and December short trip 4 nights 5 days with my son. I still love going, it's a great place for a solo woman to go and relax and frankly is less expensive than the other places I used to go for my solo I have to get away or I might do something I'll regret trips. I still travel other places as well, diving with my honey and long weekend trips solo in between my WDW trips.

 

[rwdavis2]

We go about every 4 years. It's enough time for some new attractions to get built and not get bored with it. Even then, during our trip last November, I was getting bored with Epcot and some aspects of MK.

 

[bnhonest]

What do you people do for a living? Dang!

I live in Alabama, so I can drive down with little expense. But my upcoming trip is still going to cost over $5k for 7 days. I've been socking money away for over a year and still have 100 days to go. I don't see how it would even be feasible to go yearly. This will by my family's 4th trip since 2008 (08, 11, 14, 17). I've been planning this sucker since 2015. I'm geeked with anticipation, but there's no way I could do this once a year, much less multiple times per year.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

1. It depends on your mindset.

2. If we visit too often, I find many attractions less compelling, and the hassles more quickly annoy me. (Like unclean bathroom stalls, folks who don't look where they are going.)

3. It depends on the length of each visit. Two 2-day visits would equal one 4-day visit, no?

4. For me, cost/convenience are always relevant factors. Under current pricing and policies, I don't see us visiting very often like we did in the past. It used to be, that we could visit WDW in short notice, and get almost any dining we wanted, plus equal access to the e-ride FP's. If I can't get a FP for rides likes Space Mountain, then there's little incentive to go. In the old days, having an AP meant getting inexpensive repeat visits.


That said, I REALLY like the new HP areas of Universal. Just being there is fun, because so many people seem so enthusiastic to be there.

 

[gatorlisa]

I would like to go more often, but with limited vacation time and a desire to travel to all kinds of different places, it has tended to be once every two years or so, and even then, just for a short visit. The past couple of years have been a bit more frequent, with a trip in January 2015, then in January 2016, and finally a last minute trip in September 2016 to catch one last MSEP (there was also a trip to DL in 2016, so lots of Disney last year). We took advantage of the 13-month AP offer and have purchased annual passes that we will activate in September I think, and then for that 13-month period, I figure we will get 3-5 long weekend trips in. Trips for us are not all that expensive, since in the past we have had 10-day no expire tickets we've used, we don't do table service at all, and we tend to stay in value resorts or maybe moderate if the discount is decent. We are a 7 hour drive away, so we only have to deal with gas. Future trips once our APs expire (assuming we don't renew) will be more expensive, since we are now out of days on our no-expire passes and a 3-day hopper costs quite a bit more than the per-day cost of our no-expire tickets. After 15 years with my employer, I finally have 4 weeks of vacation, so hopefully I can manage a short Disney trip each year, in addition to the other traveling I like to do.

 

[Klayfish]

We went only once every two years at December from 2000 - 2014. It was soooo long in between, the anticipation was killer, but I think that also made us more appreciative every time we managed to get back.

In 2015, with my daughter moving to Sarasota for school (and now she's an AP holder) somehow we just keep finding excuses to go more often, sometimes just for a weekend, never all of us at once any more, thanks to grown up kid schedules. And we love it.

But . . . it's not quite the same.

Not quite the same anticipation or excitement. Not quite as magical, but still lots of fun. It's a delicate balance.

So after this year's two more trips that are planned (April with just DH for a conference, then December with, finally, ALL of us together again) we will likely scale back again and wait another two years.

Maybe.

This is us. We used to live 800 miles from WDW, so we had to fly. We couldn't afford to go very often. It was anywhere between 1 and 3 years between visits from 2003 through 2015. Those times in between stunk. Especially when it was a 2 or 3 year gap. When summer rolled around, I would constantly say to myself "Wish we were going to WDW this year". When we moved to GA a few years ago, it was exciting to be close enough to drive. Our first driving trip was summer 2015. We didn't actually plan to buy an AP, but halfway through the trip, we decided to bite the bullet and do it. We had 6 total trips in that 12 month time frame...two very long trips with 4 shorter ones in between.

Our AP expired July 4th 2016 and we didn't renew, so we could give our wallet a break. But while we were there in June/July, we had already set our dates for the summer 2017 trip to come back down and buy new APs and do it all over again. I think it'd be exaggerating to say it's been "brutal" or "awful" not having gone since last July, but I've been counting down since then for sure. When we bought our AP last year, I had literally just started a new job 3 weeks prior. By time this upcoming June trip rolls around, I'll have been at my job 2 years. I have some seniority, and I also have permission to work from home/remotely when I need/want. That just makes it even more awesome, because we can stay longer. My wife works at the school district our kids go to, so they have a ton of time off. So when they're off, we'll be at WDW a lot and I'll work remote some of it.

And no, it never loses its' magic for us. Sure, there's a tiny bit less build up, but it's just as magical.

Yes, we do want to travel other places eventually. But right now, we're making magical memories in WDW and quite happy to do so.

 

[PSUGuy]

We average a trip a year since 1999. Twice, because a grandchild was due, we went 18 months between trips and twice for the same reason we went 6 months apart. 18 months was too long for us, 6 months was a good thing. We're happy to go yearly during Food&Wine, we but APs and get 2 trips in on them. If we had the time and loose change we'd sneak in a March trip but we haven't done that since 2014.

Bill From PA

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm so glad we don't go that often, so we aren't going to notice, or frankly care about some of the changes people complain about.

FWIW, I notice those things MORE if there's a solid amount of time between trips. We haven't been inside a WDW park since January 2015. When we go next I'm going to be stunned at the changes, both to rides and the decrease in quality I've heard about. Changes in menus, etc. It's going to be big.

It's when people go often that those little changes take awhile to sink in. My cousins courted at WDW back in the 90s and with FL passes when they were reasonable (and before I introduced them to the modern Universal) they were there often. There were many things they didn't know had changed, because they just did their same old same old, never researched etc.

But my upcoming trip is still going to cost over $5k for 7 days.

Wow.

I'm geeked with anticipation, but there's no way I could do this once a year, much less multiple times per year.

I couldn't do a 5K trip multiple times a year either! Our trips are not that expensive time after time. (though one does have to include the initial expense of DVC in there, and some of our trips have also involved days in non DVC resorts paid for by DH traveling and getting free nights with hotels.com, etc)

 

[mickeyluv'r]

What do you people do for a living? Dang!

I live in Alabama, so I can drive down with little expense. But my upcoming trip is still going to cost over $5k for 7 days. I've been socking money away for over a year and still have 100 days to go. I don't see how it would even be feasible to go yearly. This will by my family's 4th trip since 2008 (08, 11, 14, 17). I've been planning this sucker since 2015. I'm geeked with anticipation, but there's no way I could do this once a year, much less multiple times per year.

In year's past, Disney math was a wonderful thing.

Now maybe it was always rationalizing, but the way I saw it....

I could offset the added cost of an AP through the discounts offed on my 1st visit. I don't recall exact numbers, but back then the AP cost me like an extra $300, but the combined AP/TiW discounts saved us over $300.

With a little creativity, we could return for very little $. Value rooms were under $100/night (with AP discount). No matter where we are, we have to eat. With a few groceries, and some creativity, and sometimes even (back then) DDP, we could often eat for little more than the cost of eating at home.

IMO, WDW also made a big mistake getting rid of the no expire tickets. (Prior to ending them, they made the price crazy high. Ugh!) Back in the old days, I also kept costs down by buying the 10 day no-expire tickets, and stretched them across several trips. I always had a collection of tickets on hand at home.

Since the change, I been very reluctant to buy WDW tickets at all. If you can't use all your days, for whatever reason, tough luck.