UK Visitors Lenth of Stay as opposed to US Visitors

[pwwhitehead]

I recently booked my stay at BWV for this October 11 until October 24. As usual member services were of great assistance.

We then started to chat about the lenth of stay UK visitors usually book. This conversation was started by the lady at member services. The lady commented that UK visitors booked for stays between 10-14 days. Not short breaks.

I notifed the lady that after the nine hour flight with check in and travel each way this totalled 12-15 hours in travel. Do US residents have to allocate that period for travel,and still take short breaks. If so are we adverse to the travel?

OK how long does it usually take US residents to travel to WDW? And what lenth of stay is the average?

 

[yasuern]

From Massachusetts by plane it takes approx 3hours(6hours with airport and hotel checkin) - We usaully stay 5-8nights our average being 6 nights and since joining dvc we are going 2x/yr - this year however we are going 3 times - one trip without the kids - We think this will be our trend for a while.

 

[CarolMN]

We live in Minnesota. The flight time (if you go non-stop) from Minneapolis/St. Paul is approximately 3 hours. The shortest visit I've made to WDW is 4 nights and the longest was 9 nights. Our usual trip is for either 6 or 7 nights and we usually go once per year.

Having flown across the Atlantic 4 times, I can certainly understand why UK visitors prefer longer stays. It always took me at least a day to get over "jet lag". I also think cost makes a difference. If you have to spend a lot on airfare, most people would rather stay longer to "make it worthwhile".

 

[littlestar]

We fly direct from Indianapolis, IN. It's a two hour flight. We usually fly ATA (our hometown based airline) or Southwest Airlines because they are low cost and provide those short direct flights. We travel to Orlando two or three times a year. I paid $131.50 per person on ATA for flights in May.

We also love Hawaii. But, Hawaii is a long-haul trip for us. It's 9 or 10 hours of flying. And if we include delays, it's more like 12 or 13 hours. When we go to Hawaii we usually stay 15 days.

 

[DeeP]

My flight is 2 hrs 15 mins and I go to WDW every 3-4 months, I never stay less than a week. My average trip is 10 days and my longest trip was 16 days.

 

[MdmMim]

I travel to WDW on the train twice a year. This takes 27 hours one way, if the train is on time, longer if it is running late. (I love the train and find it very relaxing. My vacation begins as soon as I set foot onboard.) Due to this travel time, I stay at WDW for an extended period of at least 10 days. (I leave this week for 25 days at the "World"--only possible with DVC!)

 

[ncligs]

We always fly (until we retire ) and go at least twice a year.Roundtrip non-stop flights, are usually anywhere between $170-$250 per person for us depending on time of year.
The flights are 2 hours long for us.Then we always rent a car

for around $175 for the week. We usually stay 6-8 days each time.
I always make the reservations(air,car,etc) on the internet.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

We live in Connecticut, and my wife makes us drive to WDW, as she is afraid to fly. We usually take two days for the drive, then spend a few days at Vero, followed by 7-9 days at WDW. Last trip we also visited St. Augustine for a couple of days. Of course, it is all followed by a two day journey home.....

 

[anniet]

We stayed 7 days for our first 2 or 3 trips in the early 90s, but we kept sobbing like little kids every time we had to leave! So we expanded them to 10 days, now we're up to 2 weeks. Our longest was 17 days, but it wasn't a very good trip...my company went into receivership the day I flew down, they lost my luggage for 4 days and I got the flu. I took that as a sign that 14 days is my limit! (but occassionally I'll go down for another 7 in September if my family is going down then! )

 

[mikesmom]

Our longest trip has been 8 days/7 notes, our shortest 4 days/3 nites.

Our flights from Oklahoma don't go direct (at least not Southwest) so usually we have a 10 AM flight that lands at 4:30 PM or so. However, airport is 1 1/2 hours away, add 1 1/2 hours for check in regs, security, etc. An hour and a half in Florida to get luggage, rental car and drive over to WDW. So, if we leave home at 7 AM and arrive at check in desk at 6 PM our total trip is 11 hours.

It's still worth it for even the short trip though. Normally I'm not getting calls from the office from the time I step on the first flight, so I could say some of my vacation starts right there

 

[drusba]

The vast majority of US residents go for 7 nights or less (and the average is probably in the 5 to 6 night range). A significant minority like us go longer (12 nights). From Chicago, flight time is only 2 1/2 hours (but total travel time from home to hotel is usually 5 to 6 particularly when you need to allow so much time now to get through security). As long as you have a direct flight you can fly even from California to Orlando in 4 1/2 hours (flight time and up to 7 to 8 hours total door to door). If you are coming from a west coast state like Washington or Oregon and have to switch planes somewhere it can take closer to 11 or 12 hours total door to door. Of course if you are coming from Hawaii or Alaska it will take a lot longer than even you face from the United Kingdom.

 

[pwwhitehead]

Thanks for your replies. As expected you tend to visit more times during the year,but for shorter stays. Oh how I will I was only 4-8 hours travel away. Never mind just have to keep enjoying the 14 day visits.

 

[slc224]

We have flown and drove to Disney from Central Illinois. If we fly, it is a 1 hour 45 minute drive to the Indianapolis airport. Arriving at Indy 2 hours before our flight, a two hour flight to Orlando, and about 1 hour to get out of the airport puts us at about 7 hours travel time. If we drive it is about 18 hours driving time straight through which is extremely tiring. We usually stop one night somewhere in Georgia aroung Macon.