Question for FL residents....

[RBennett]

How do you enjoy the "world"? And by that I mean, do you try to just go once or twice a year for a full week or do you go maybe once a month for a Saturday/Sunday/other day off?

DW and I are trying to move down to the east coast of FL here in about a few months, and I was wondering how to do it? I think that at least for a while we will try to make it a monthly thing where we go over to one of the parks for a day and just take our time but I was curious as to how others do it. So what's YOUR way?

 

[Gdad]

We go for a day here or there. Sometimes we might stay over for a weekend Fri/Sat night deal but thats about it. In the past when we have stayed longer or tried to make it a weeks vacation we are usually all ready to bail by day 4 anyway. Our kids are pretty little still so the exhaustion factor of a long stay at the world usually takes the fun out of it for us anyway.

 

[zackiedawg]

Being about 3 hours away, I can't often just do the 'pop in for an afternoon' stuff. Typically, I go up to Disney about 5-6 times a year for 4-5 day trips at a time. I usually take a day or two off of work plus a 3-day holiday weekend so I can have 4 or 5 days up there. I bought DVC years ago since I go so often. Annual passes of course, so I can go as often as I want. Because of how frequently I'm up there, I enjoy the parks at an extremely slow, non-rushed pace...I'll go to parks and only hit a few rides, do some photography, people watching, a show or parade, a relaxing meal or picnic, hit some good restaurants at night, visit various other resorts, play minigolf at 11pm...I may wake at 9am or 11am...no schedules. I can change which park I go to on a given day just based on which bus comes to the bus stop first. If a park is crowded, I'll leave after an hour and head to another. I'll mix my trips up - some with family, some with friends, and some solo.

I love living nearby!

 

[budmonster]

I live 2 hours NW of Disney and DD and I try to go at least once a month. Plus we always go for a week in April during her spring break and sometimes manage to sneak in a few weekends here and there. Living here and going so often has made so that we take out time exporing the parks and not just rush through and miss all the little detail of Disney.

 

[Golf4food]

How do you enjoy the "world"?

As often as possible.

Truly, we might go 2-3 times every 12 months for 3-6 days depending. For instance, between September 2008 and Sept 2009 when we had season passes we went for:

2 days in Sept 08
6 days in Dec 08
5 days in Sept 09

We had also planned a 3 days F&W trip in Nov 08 but cancelled it because we decided to build a new house instead (also why we haven't renewed our passes - old house hasn't sold yet)

Ideally we'd like to go down for 2-4 days every two or three months. It is a 2.5 hour drive so we can't just hop down for the day, but we'd happily take a long weekend or a few days during the week.

 

[aeryn]

I live 5-10 minutes away. We pop over all the time, some times for just dinner, other times to spend the afternoon with or without friends who may be visiting. We usually pick a park we haven't been to in a while and will often go see attractions or shows that we don't usually see. A lot of time I'll go over, take pics and people watch.

I love love love living this close

 

[ukcatfan]

We are about 2.5 hours away. We probably go for about 5 or so short trips a year and try one big one for about a week. We do Seasonal Passes because the blackout dates are not ones we want to be there anyway. Either too busy and/or too hot! It does not cover parking, but we typically stay on property and get that included that way.

 

[Zoesmama03]

I think most people that can't afford APs(or rather for them and all the kids) go only a few times a year at most. Some less. Or so it seems based on the people I knew when I've lived there. Not including my first residency in Florida in 98 and because I was cast most of the people I knew were cast members and went more often that the average. My dad and step mom(an hour away) go more often than anyone I know there but they have APs they renew every year.

I went only once the 2nd(only lived there 3 motnths) and 3rd(only hit MK once) time I was resident. I hope to move back for good one day and miss it dearly but just couldn't get the finances in order to stay. Perhaps one day. I love Florida and not just for the parks.

Oh and I was never more than an hours drive away and still didn't go as often as I'd like. I wanted to get an AP but didn't end up getting it with my tax refund last year so I only went once when I had a friend and her fam in town. If I had gotten it I would have gone more often for sure. Oh well I know I will be back even if I don't move back for many years.

 

[Zoesmama03]

sorry for double post.

 

[xApril]

I'm about 20 minutes away. I don't go too often. Maybe once a month. It's usually months in between visits. My parents don't like to go since they both worked with the company and took me a lot when I was younger. When I can find a friend that can go, we'll get dropped off and picked up later. My dad still works with the company, so we get free admission.

I do however go to Universal a lot more with my annual pass since it's a lot closer.

 

[safetymom]

I was in the parks 95 times last year. I live very close and still love to visit the different parks.

 

[ssanders79]

We typically do day trips. In fact we went today (friday) to MK in the morning for 2 hours then had lunch at Wilderness lodge, stopped by Downtown Disney so my wife could get one of those new Douney & Bourke purses and headed home. We try to go every other week. We really do not go much at all between late may to late August. We really do not want to deal with all the summer vactioners unless we have out of state friends/family going to the parks, then we will meet up with them.

Basically, we take it easy. There is never a rush. If the line is over 10 minutes we walk pass a ride. Toy Story Mania is currently the only exception to that rule.

We try to plan our visits to make sure we hit the yearly events at Epcot such as Food & Wine and Flower & Garden.

 

[vicki_c]

We used to go for the weekend when we lived a little over an hour away, and stayed overnight. We both work and our kids were in school so we couldn't really pick up and go any time we wanted, and it wasn't that close either, so we did Friday-Sunday trips mostly, or else we went mid-week with friends that were visiting during their vacations. I think we usually made it over there 4-5 times a year in the 2 years we lived in Florida.

If you are still working, you will have a lot less flexibility than if you are retired, obviously. When you're working 40 hrs/week, there just isn't enough time to spend in the parks!

We had FL seasonal passes one year (and for Universal too) and had 4 day resident tickets a few other times.