Too long at Disney?

[Zosha]

I'm having some last minute trip indecisiveness! We have two weeks in Orlando and I was planning to base ourselves at DTD for the entire time. Now I'm wondering if that might be a bit over the top and perhaps instead we should stay for a week, then hire a car and go explore Florida, maybe head down towards Key Largo? What do you think? Is 2 weeks too long to be based at Disney?

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I'm having some last minute trip indecisiveness! We have two weeks in Orlando and I was planning to base ourselves at DTD for the entire time. Now I'm wondering if that might be a bit over the top and perhaps instead we should stay for a week, then hire a car and go explore Florida, maybe head down towards Key Largo? What do you think? Is 2 weeks too long to be based at Disney?

It depends on your interests, but 2 weeks at WDW would be easy to full. You could probably spend all day, everyday, in the parks and still not see everything.

If you are planning on seeing Universal as well, you might want to go and stay in a Universal hotel for 3 or 4 nights. This is particularly the case if you are going after the new Harry Potter section opens up as you will want an express pass.

On my last trip we spent 11 nights at WDW and 3 at the Hard Rock Hotel. The ratio was pretty good, but I could have happily spent a few more nights at both.

If it feels like too much theme park time, perhaps consider breaking it up with a 3 or 4 night cruise.

 

[Tashinwdw]

There are a lot of things to consider when deciding how long to spend at WDW. Money, weather, the travellers etc.

Our last holiday we spend 8 nights on site at WDW and we found that it was no where near long enough, thats why we are going again this year. I was not prepared for how tired the children got (even though they were aged 8 - 13) the heat really sapped us of energy as well. Even though we went when it was really quiet and we hardly ever had to wait in a line (except for toy story mania) we did not get to see or do all the things on our must do list. It also gave us no time to venture outside of WDW. Also will you be going to the water parks as that will take time away from the other parks. It was our first experience with water parks - we have one pool here with a swirly slide but thats it. And we fell in love so we spent 2 full days at the water parks and plan to spend more time there at our next trip.

This year we will have over 2 weeks just at WDW and also 6 nights at a hotel at universal studios and I am sure even then we will run out of time and not do everything we want to do.

Have a look and plan out the things you really want to do at WDW, which parks, what rides, particular restaurants and try and do a time frame. That will help give you an idea on how long you might want to stay there.

good luck, I am sure which ever way you go, it will be a magical holiday.

 

[zanzibar138]

I think 2 weeks sounds like a great timeframe I haven't been, but I wouldn't go to WDW for any less than 10 days, especially for my first visit. Then a couple of days at Universal, and you've got 2 weeks!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm having some last minute trip indecisiveness! We have two weeks in Orlando and I was planning to base ourselves at DTD for the entire time. Now I'm wondering if that might be a bit over the top and perhaps instead we should stay for a week, then hire a car and go explore Florida, maybe head down towards Key Largo? What do you think? Is 2 weeks too long to be based at Disney?

It will depend on what type of holiday you want and how much you want to see other parts of Florida. It's a LONG drive to Key Largo. From Miami to KL, we took a good day to do the drive down, stay the night and then turn around and head on back. We did stop along the road and it's effectively a one-lane highway going down and one-lane coming back. So if the traffic is heavy, it can be slow going.

Are you staying on-site at WDW or are you staying off-site? There are a few things to do in Orlando....shopping, a day trip to Kennedy Space Centre, taking an airboat ride, the other theme parks (and not just Universal). If you really do want to see a bit more of Florida, then you could consider driving to Tampa for the day or heading towards the beaches on the KSC side.

 

[Zosha]

Thanks for all your input. This is our first trip so maybe we would be wise to base ourselves at Disney and then just do some day trips in the second week. We are staying at the Doubletree. I was thinking of doing a loop - KSC, Miami, KL, Fort Myers, Orlando in 6 days. Maybe it wouldn't be time to do it justice though as I would love to explore the Everglades too. Now I'm talking myself out of it, LOL. My partner is worried that we are spending too much time at Disney and will get bored. He's put doubt in my head!
I discovered there is a rocket launch at KSC while we are there, so that is super exciting!

 

[Tashinwdw]

I discovered there is a rocket launch at KSC while we are there, so that is super exciting!

That is the day we return to Port from our cruise, will have to keep an eye on that, it would be really exciting to see it.

 

[hellosue]

Do you like Dolphins.... if so Discovery Cove is a must! your entry pays for an interaction with a Dolphin including being able to hold the Dolphins fins to take you on a ride... (brilliant) swimming through and over fish/rays, lazing your way through the canals and it all comes complete with lunch! Best thing in Orlando .... besides Disney of course!

 

[dollarmite]

I'm having some last minute trip indecisiveness! We have two weeks in Orlando and I was planning to base ourselves at DTD for the entire time. Now I'm wondering if that might be a bit over the top and perhaps instead we should stay for a week, then hire a car and go explore Florida, maybe head down towards Key Largo? What do you think? Is 2 weeks too long to be based at Disney?

In 2009 my family stayed onsite at WDW for 2 weeks. It wasn't long enough IMO. We saw all the parks (multiple times), 1 waterpark, DTD and a few of the other resorts, but I still don't think we saw 'everything'. I could easily have stayed for another week at least, preferably more. I think DH was getting a bit over it though.

If/when we ever go back, I'd do 4-5 days elsewhere in FL, followed by a minimum of 2 weeks onsite at WDW.

We did have one day out, at Kennedy Space Centre, but I couldn't wait to get back to my Disney bubble.

We then spent another 2 weeks at Disneyland (and 3 weeks in other states), but it's an entirely different set up, and we probably spent at least half our time doing non-Disney things.

 

[wendlle]

Two weeks for me isn't long enough
I normally like to spend 3 weeks in Orlando but that's me! I'm a Disney nutter and love the place. I don't like to rush, I like to take the parks at a relaxed pace and I do day trips as well, but It really depends on what you like and if you don't mind moving around. Once settled I like to stay put.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We spent 6 weeks at Disney in October and November 2013. Aside from two days at Sea World and a 4 day Disney Dream cruise, we were just at WDW and it was amazing! We didn't get bored at all so I would think two weeks would be easy to fill

 

[Zosha]

Thanks everyone! I have changed our plans again! I scrapped the Hilton booking. I wanted to shorten the booking by three days, but they said that would forfeit the rate I had and it jumped by $40/night! So I would have ended up paying $300 more for 3 nights less And exciting bit: I booked us into a Disney hotel instead with the 30% off deal - yay! So we are doing 9 nights Coronado Springs, 3 nights in Florida city to do Everglades and then coming back to the French Quarter for the last 2 nights!

 

[aussietravellers]

I'm having some last minute trip indecisiveness! We have two weeks in Orlando and I was planning to base ourselves at DTD for the entire time. Now I'm wondering if that might be a bit over the top and perhaps instead we should stay for a week, then hire a car and go explore Florida, maybe head down towards Key Largo? What do you think? Is 2 weeks too long to be based at Disney?

We have done two long trips to WDW, one was 21 nights, another was 22 nights. So two weeks wouldn't be too long for us

 

[DisneyMamaAU]

We did 10 days at Disneyland and are dong 13 this time. I bet i could spend a whole lot longer at Disneyworld!

 

[WickedDreamer]

We spent about 6 weeks in Disney World October/November last year, and had based ourselves at DTD. We only left property to visit Sea World 2 days and do a 4 night Disney cruise. We didn't get bored at all through this trip,and there is still things we just haven't event seen.

It is up to you and the family though, is there anywhere else you want to visit in Florida? Have you been to the parks before? You could always rent a car for a few days and drive to other places off property like Universal, Sea World etc

 

[lffam]

We went to WDW in Oct/Nov last year. We spent 13 nights and could have easily spent another 5 days. I think for a first trip I wouldn't like to do any less than 10 days thats for sure, but it really depends on the type of trip you want. We didn't want one where we were at rope drop every day and there till closing each night. We certainly spent alot of time in the parks, but some days we might not get to a park till 10/11am.

The other thing we wanted was some down days where we hung at at the pool or went to outlets or water parks. We did all this in our time, I just would have liked all those days to have been extra for our time there.

As many have said you need to do what fits your style holiday, budget etc. I am sure you will have a great time! I wish we were going again!

Oh and BTW - I am not talking about time including Universal we had 3 days before WDW for that, which was definately too short for us