Length of Stay?

[MomDad&2boys]

I know the answer will be different for everyone but I'm wondering what is the optimal length of stay for your family?

I'm trying to gage how many points we should buy & if we'd be more likely to do a few small 5 day visits as opposed to longer 2 week visits. We are coming from Canada with 3 boys under age 4, so that will factor in but I'm interested in hearing what the 'experts' have to say.

Thanks.

 

[Susan C]

We just came back from a 5 night visit... Next time I would plan a longer visit, so we could rest at the resort between busy park days.

My DS loves to spend time with other kids at the resort..

Susan

 

[disissue]

Five days is a bit tight when you have small children, there never seems to be any down time to spend at the resort. Plus the fact you have to allow at least 1 full day put aside for travel time now you are really looking at a 3 1/2 to 4 day window of time for the parks. We originally bought 210 BW points 12 years ago within the year pf purchase we added 100 additional points, we were not the type of people who dealt well with not having weekend stays most of all because of school schedules. I felt the 310 BW points have given us the freedom to do full week stays leaving additional for an adult long weekend in the off season. We now have 310 BW points and a small add on of 100 pts at VB. If weekends are not important for you and you are happy with studio accomodations then the 210 should do it for you. Good luck with your decisions, it has truly been the best thing we have ever invested in .

 

[DisneyDreams21]

I have done both and it depends on airfare, kids' schedules, work, etc... Kids grow fast and the one thing that I like about DVC is that the points are flexible so if you plan on a few shorter trips and it doesn't work, you can always switch up your plans (banking, borrowing points, add-ons).

I don't mind a 5 day trip but love the longer trips best for resort time.

 

[Dean]

5 days (S-F) is great for us and very cost effective, but we are only 4 hours away. In part it depends on how easily and cheaply you can get there as well as your personal situation. If you can get direct, reasonable and easy flights then I'd say 6-7 days is likely the best. If not, or you prefer to travel for a longer period, I'd say 12 nights Sunday to the following Friday is often the best and most cost effective. Your park and ticket choices also come into play such as Annual passes with the member discount.

 

[MomDad&2boys]

Thanks everyone for your replies so far. I should have mentioned that we can fly pretty cheaply direct through 4 different major airports (Toronto, Ottawa, Syracuse or Buffalo) & my inlaws also have a place just outside of Orlando so if we were doing a 5 day it would be part of a longer trip to Florida or part of a maximizing points trip (5 days Sun - Thurs, weekend at inlaws condo, then back to Dis for another 3 or 4 days).

Our last trip was 6 days and it was a good amount of time, however I think 7 days might be a bit better in order to get some actual relaxing in.

 

[spatter1234]

I know the answer will be different for everyone but I'm wondering what is the optimal length of stay for your family?

Thanks.

We stay 7 days. I hate having to spend the increase in points on the weekend but I am not into moving rooms in the middle of a trip either. Having said that our kids are still small so we can stay in a studio. I know I will have to add on points when they get older to accomodate our vacationing habits so that we can get at least 1 br each visit.

 

[ranthony]

We were at WDW from the 19th-29th of December with 3 little guys ages 6, 2 and 2. Prior to the trip I was a bit concerned that it may have been too long of a time with little ones (especially during the busiest week of the year ) However, I made sure to plan plenty of rest time and resort/pool time and at the end of 10 days we were not ready to come home. Our trip was wonderful and shortly thereafter we purchased DVC.

I think with kids you can easily burn out by touring commando style but if you take it easy, longer trips are wonderful.

Now we're going to try for scheduling 2 trips within one calendar year to maximize APs.

 

[wildernessDad]

We fly in. Too many little vacations would tax our expenses. We're going to do 3 vacations per year and then go down to 2 per year. Right now, I kind of like the idea of folks coming with us, so a few long vacations with friends would be nice.

 

[DisFlan]

Now we're going to try for scheduling 2 trips within one calendar year to maximize APs.

That's what we're doing this year. We were at BWV last Sept. for 8 days and we'll be going back earlier this Sept. in a studio for 7/8 days to reuse/maximize APs, DDEs and golf cards (I LOVE this part! ). Then we'll skip a year to build points back up for a larger extended family vacation.

We'll fly because Allegiant started flying near us last year. Otherwise, we'd likely drive. (Regular airfare has become a real budget buster for vacations.)

So far, this is working out for us.

DisFlan

 

[bounceliketigger]

7 days is perfect for us. In November we stayed for 10 and that seemed just a bit too long. Then again, we changed rooms on day 7 and had others with us that also left on day 7, so it sort of felt like we should be leaving with them. Maybe if we were in the same room for the entire stay 10 days would be fine. You can really relax when you're there for a bit longer and don't feel like you have to squeeze everything in.

We own 200 pts, but we have other timeshares that we trade into DVC, then use our DVC pts for shorter getaways or to add on to a week.

 

[jdkdorn]

We really like to do one longer trip in October 8-10 days and one shorter trip in the spring or summer 5-7 days. Buy I really like that 8-10 days because it gives you days to have pool days and non-park days instead of the constant running from park to park and being more tired when you get home.

With the discounted Annual passes the longer trip are worth it because small ones don't give you value.

So the longer you can stay at WDW the better it is

Judy