WDW fans: How often do you go?

[Farro]

A few times as a kid in the early 80's.
Then not until 2000.
Then every 3 years(ish) since 2011, so 2011, 2014, 2017 and supposed to have been 2020 but you know...so now October 2021.

We go for 9 nights each trip.
We travel other places the other years.

 

[TCRAIG]

We’re DVC and can drive (from the Carolinas) - so we go 3-4 times a year for 6-7 nights...

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

We do the "year of Disney" that others have described earlier in this thread. Basically about every 3 years we get an annual pass. During that year, we visit 3-4 times. Usually get the pass in Aug/Sept with a 10 day stay, then a 4 day trip in Feb, 4 day trip in May, then another 10 day stay right before the pass expires.

In the other years we are beach/pool people and like to go somewhere in the Caribbean. So far Aruba has been our favorite but we still have many other Caribbean locations on the list. We were supposed to do Atlantis in 2020 but that is delayed until at least 2022. For 2021 probably doing some sort of East Coast beach trip that we can drive to from Pittsburgh.

 

[tigertides]

We’re DVC and can drive (from the Carolinas) - so we go 3-4 times a year for 6-7 nights...

You spend between 18-28 days a year at WDW?

 

[MudQueen22]

I had never been to WDW until I married my husband. He had been a few times.

We now go every 2.5 to 3ish years. On our last trip, we stayed 10 nights. We decided we would prefer a longer stay going less often than shorter stays going more often. It doesn't cost much more to add on additional days, and the fuel expense to get us there and back is a fixed cost.

We also like to splurge on dining out, etc. We would rather not go as often and be able to spend a bit more when we go.

 

[TCRAIG]

You spend between 18-28 days a year at WDW?

Yup - and we’re not really even ‘ride’ people. Since we drive it’s just the price of gas and we can eat offsite and we bring food and cook some in our Villa with a few QS and TS meals at our favs thrown in and get APs. It’s actually a pretty cheap vacation. We’ll go to the parks in the morning and ride a few rides, maybe catch a show, walk around and go into the shops...then back to our Villa and just chill after that...sometimes we’ll go back to the parks in the evening - sometimes not...

 

[imktdqt810]

As a family we have gone 2 times (3rd coming up in June) and it WAS 4 years apart but this year will make it 5 years (2012, 2016 and now 2021). I don't see us going back in the next 4 years, I really don't. DS will be in college by then and DH isn't really a "Disney Fan" due to the cost. We live in WV and normally flying is an all day event since we have to take a plane out of our smaller airport to a hub (like Charlotte) then onto Orlando....even when I book tickets FAR out it's been 1200 to 1500 for the 3 of us in airfare. DH can't do long car trips so we will never drive down there and when I heard about Magical express going away and everything else changing, I'd rather try something new like maybe a Sandals vacation in 4 years!

 

[StageTek]

How does one justify multiple trips a year given that? (barring AP and DVC ownership)

An interesting question. I have never thought about justifying multiple trips a year from California without an AP.

You got me thinking; how do I justify any discretionary expenses? Going to WDW multiple times a year isn't necessary. It's expensive. And often I don't go somewhere else that I'd love to see because I got a second or third time to The World. In fact the year I had an AP I spent a lot on air travel, rooms, food and time off work in order to justify getting some "free" park admission days.

But I love being there. Perhaps that's justification enough.

 

[decheez]

I'm from Ontario. During my entire childhood we went 3 times and stayed off site. Starting when I was in university we starting going more often and staying on site. I'd say we went once every 12-18 months. I'm now 47 and for the last 4-5 years I've been multiple times a year (between 3-5) due to some good fortune with travelling for work and being able to piggy back trips onto those flights and buying APs. I'm no longer with that job and with price increases I just can't justify the cost of a trip to WDW that often when I can spend the same amount of money and travel somewhere in Europe. My last trip to WDW ended 1 day before it closed in March and I don't anticipate going back until late 2022 or early 2023. It's not that I don't love it anymore, but the cost is prohibitive and there's so many other countries I'd love to visit.

 

[auntlynne]

Sounds like a great time for a National Park vacation! When the kids don’t seem to want to go to Disney, why shell out the Big bucks?

 

[The WDW 3]

Every other year. This would be our year, but At this point we won’t be going until we can do it safely without having to wear a mask.

 

[marcar12]

I never went to WDW as a child and oh how I LONGED to go. I was so jealous of anyone I knew who got to go. But my parents didn't have the money. My very first trip to WDW was when I was 20. After getting married and having kids, I decided that saving for Disney trips was a priority for me. I wanted to give my kids something that I had wanted so badly when I was growing up. HOWEVER, I 100% agree with you about changing it up and not having Disney trips be the only vacations we ever go on. So we have only taken our kids 2 times so far (2012 and 2018). We were planning to try Disneyland this year, but that seems unlikely at this point, so we are going to just go with WDW again. At this point we are thinking every 3-5 years is good. And in-between those trips we are going to do national parks, Mt. Rushmore, cruises, Hawaii, Alaska, etc. Because while I truly ADORE Disney and our trips there, I want my kids to have some variety and to really appreciate it every time we do get to go to Disney.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We are a 7 hour drive away and for years we went from 2-4 times a year and this included at least one 8 or 9 day stay. But with the constant price increases on tickets, food, parking and resorts, and getting less and less value, we have gone twice in 3 years.

 

[tigertides]

After a less than magical experience in 2016, I was calculating the costs we spent while driving back to MCO on DME.

it was right then and there I committed to doing a DCL Cruise in 2018: and kids loved it more, better food, and similar cost

I was blown away.
My brother has similar aged kids. He will NOT take his kids to WDW. He swears by all inclusive Caribbean resorts
Kids love it. For 1/2 the price

 

[georgina]

As a kid, never. We didn't travel. Went in my 30's with my DH and 3 kids in 1998, loved it. Went back several times over the years. As they grew up they were not so into Disney, made a few Harry Potter trips to Universal. As empty nesters, DH got into scuba diving and I would go on solo trips when he went diving, so 2-3 times per year. I have stayed at Pop and off-site. I have both Uni & WDW AP's, haven't been since last Feb though, and after covid may take fewer trips in the future.

We did several driving trips with our pop-up camper - Yellowstone/ Grand Tetons/ Mt Rushmore, also Maine and New Hampshire. Flew to the Grand Canyon & Zion area. Seattle and Vancouver and an Alaskan cruise.

 

[gharter]

Generally twice a year.
Once for Flower and Garden and once for Food and Wine Festivals.
Sadly, none in 2020.

 

[foolish-mortal]

We go about every 2-3 years for a big trip. We like to travel to lots of other places, too. But, we love our WDW vacations!

 

[AquaDame]

Never went before 2008 - we're on the west coast so I grew up going to Disneyland every summer. I visited the Tokyo and Paris parks before WDW... both twice.

We've averaged every year or so since then, usually about 5-6 days over a weekend. The draws of RunDisney and Food and Wine won me over. It would be nice to do a longer trip sometime as I find it hard to squeeze in new stuff around "must dos". We were going to go for a full week in 2020 (cancelled) and currently I have a nice long 9 days planned for this November but we'll only go if we are able to get fully vaccinated. Fingers crossed!

 

[Lumpy1106]

We go once a year for a 5 day trip (we try our hardest not to be there on the weekend). We bought DVC so our annual dues are about $1000. We fly on JetBlue miles at least one way (round trip last year). That leaves tickets as our one biggest expense.

And...
We live 20 miles from DL. We go there (typically, obviously not this year) about 1-2 days a year. WDW is a REAL vacation where we really do have to put everything else aside. Worth it. Our trip in 2020 was weeks after the parks re-opened and we also had a hurricane sweep by the day we got there (made a turn offshore @ Cape Canaveral so it luckily missed all of FL). Exciting times - will do it all again in '21 - with a lot less COVID drama with any luck (though we did enjoy the sparse crowds).

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Not DCV or AP or local. All cash for resort and park tickets. We’ve only started going once a year for the past 3 years bc we can finally afford it - it IS insanely expensive but a lot of fun. And we’ve never stayed longer than 5 nights - that’s the perfect length of time for us to balance getting to see/do everything without totally blowing the budget on the resort.