What's your sweet spot?

[twinklebug]

By the eighth day in a studio I want to be back home. If we went for less trips and got the one bedroom unit I think I could last 14 days

 

[Syd&Cammie]

while i'm always happy when i arrive home for my first sleep in my own bed...I've yet to find the sweet spot...I still like to be at Disney as long as I can

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I love the question because there really is too much Disney at a point. I thought it was only me. We once stayed 9 days and it really was too long. We do enjoy Disney and we take our time but after a bit the noise on the bus is irritating. We find the constant noise in the parks, the visual overload and people just gets to us and we want to come home.

I think about 5-6 days in the parks and then a day or two at Vero makes for a good vacation.

 

[rentayenta]

We've been to WDW twice and both stays were 10 days. Both times I left wishing we had one more day. Our next trip will be 13 days including 9 park days, 2 days for travel, a pool/DTD shopping day, and a golf/spa day.

 

[Pixieflip]

LOngest trip was 11 nights and was not ready to go home. None of us were!

 

[bwvBound]

Whenever we plan a vacation, we try to figure out how long it will be before our desire to be at Disney is overshadowed by our desire to sleep in our own beds, have a bit of "space" away from one another at home, and tend to things in the "real world" that need to be tended to.

<snip>

So, what is your sweet spot ---- that amount of time where you get to do most of what you want to do while not overstaying your welcome and not sacrificing things you "have" to do back home?

For us, it depends on the vacation but we are trending towards shorter vacations.

Long vacations (12-14 nights): We have a long-term goal of completing a world-cruise-in-pieces. When adding a new segment to our goal, we are pretty content being away for 12-14 nights. We aim for port-intensive cruises where the destinations are important to us (Egypt, Israel, Turkey, the Antarctic continent, etc.). While we were formerly completing two long cruises each year -- we've slowed the rate to one long cruise every three years.

Mid-range vacations (7-10 nights): These are frequently hybrid, mixed-use vacations built around a conference or special event. While away, we are focused at least 5 days on the special topic, be it work-related or of personal interest. The "vacation" part is simply the break on either end of the event.

Short vacations (2-4 nights): These are our sweet spot! We thrive on long weekend getaways. Most "Disney-vacations" will fall into the short-stay category as I max out after 2 days of Disney parks.

Just came back from a nearly perfect vacation where, indeed, I found myself missing "my bed." It ran like this:

• Tues: last night in my "own bed" before travel.
• Wed: last day in the office -- but left early and spent Wed night in our vacation home. Spent a few hours with our horses, boarded near the vacation home, before crashing for the night.
• Thurs: hit the road at 4:30a ... arrived Reno at 2:30p. Started first of four nights at our Worldmark condo in Reno.
• Fri-Sun: attended a three-day event on horsemanship.
• Mon: hit the road at 4:30a ... arrived our vacation home at 2:00p. Spent a five hours with the horses before crashing for the night. Overnighted at the vacation home.
• Tues: Left the vacation home early for re-entry into normal life. Made a run to the kennel to pick up the parrot, set him up at home, and then ... eeek! went into the office for a full and long first-day back.

The nights in Reno were lovely -- but I was so ready to return home. Most likely I was really missing the horses (it is tough to watch others playing with their horses for three days w/out aching to be home adapting the same techniques with ours!) but by the last night I was very ready to come home.

 

[RachaelA]

We are usually ready to go home by day 9 because we miss our dog. If we could bring our dog to Disney, we would probably be fine for at least 2 weeks ig not longer!

 

[JWG]

We usually do 7 days at Disney and a few days elsewhere to make for a 10-12 day trip.

We usually leave ready to be home but feeling the Disney portion was too short. On a 7 day trip we seem to spend each day in a park versus doing other things.

It seems like our sweet spot is around 12 days for being ready to go home. Haven't found our Disney sweet spot yet.

Our next trip is 10 days at Disney, so that'll be a new test for us. I've longed for the 14 day full two week trip, but between work and points that's tough to pull off.

 

[Pams]

If it wasn't for our new grand baby we could be away from the Canadian cold for 6 months. We were away for 5 months last fall/winter (husband works from "home" for an American company). We each took a couple of trips home to see the kids and grand baby and parents but not at the same time. My sister visited while hubby was away.
We close up the house, turn off the fridge and the water and have an internet camera to check the temperature and the sump pump. A neighbour checks in regularly.
We spend most of our time in resorts in Orlando but not on site because of cost and the bigger units that we can get off site. We go to the parks every other evening to see fireworks or shows or concerts (in the fall).

 

[mellvswdw1]

We are 10 days kinda of people...but we are only going to 8 days this next trip. We love our long, don't have to be here or there trips. We typically go for 10 days on one trip, and 5-6 days for our 2nd trip of the year. When we take our second trip with fewer days, we always talk about buying more points. Some day we will have more points!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Two weeks is the sweet spot for me. Less than that and I feel like I didn't get enough resort time. Next trip is 11 nights and if I didn't have extended family coming along, I would only have had to reserve a 1 bdr. villa and would have stayed the two weeks. It's nice to be able to share DVC with my family though. Next trip to WDW will definitely be two weeks!

 

[Alexander]

7 days for me. I know how to get all the rides in at the parks before 1pm So by 7 days we have done all the rides at least twice with rests during the afternoon. more then 7 days it would get boring plus 7 days is all i can take with the crowds.

How do people who stay more then 7 days get stuff done at home? Maids? lol

We don't go to the parks very much. We have APs so we bounce in and out at our will. We don't care much about rides, the kids have their favorites.

What kind of stuff do you mean at home?

 

[DVCconvert]

How do people who stay more then 7 days get stuff done at home? Maids? lol

Oh no!...I wouldn't dump all that on just the maids...we spread it out evenly between the maids, gardeners, butlers and chauffeurs! ( )

 

[crisi]

Disney - about seven days. We only go every other year and stay in a two bedroom, but then I want to be home with my dog and my cat and my friends and my house and my TV and all my books and......

When we spend a long time on a plane (Europe, Hawaii), it can take a bit longer. Or rather, I still sort of want to be home after a week, but those are better ten to fourteen day vacations.

 

[Starshine]

We are usually ready to go home by day 9 because we miss our dog. If we could bring our dog to Disney, we would probably be fine for at least 2 weeks ig not longer!

This exactly! DH looked at me last trip and said, "ya know, if we had the dog here with us I think I'd never go home!"

 

[burberryplaid]

9-10 days is perfect! 7 is not enough for me!

 

[amypetecar]

For us its around 6-8 days. It's not that we don't love every minute of it, but after a week of paying disney prices for everything, thoughts of how, "I could have bought an IPAD for what I spent on food this weekend......" start to go through my head.

 

[laura-k]

For us its around 6-8 days. It's not that we don't love every minute of it, but after a week of paying disney prices for everything, thoughts of how, "I could have bought an IPAD for what I spent on food this weekend......" start to go through my head.

I am usually pretty frugal ,so after the initial AP or Pass shock cost ,I try not to think about money so much ,it's vacation after all ,so It's kinda a treat
that said I have been going for quite a few years and the lack of decent new resort merchandise and most of the park souvenirs don't really
interest me so much anymore I don't spend much on stuff .
Mostly just food and any extra activities, I usually do get a rental car for a week so thats an expense -
We are only able to go once a year so 10-13 days is are our sweet spot -usually in Feb or lately in March (DS School)- It's a great getaway from the MN.winter-
I would maybe like to extend that to a month in a few years but I think a week of that might have to be near the beach !
PS-I really love DVC with my frugality it would be tuff for me to spend the prices for the nice one bedrooms we usually get now !!
I think I might be spoiled ???

 

[quirty30]

I need at least a week. But my company frowns on approving vacations for more than a week unless it's something like a honeymoon. So we've been creative the last 2 years and combined a week of my vacation with holidays or personal days. Last summer we did 8 nights and last month we did 9. I also plan several 4 day weekends each year. If my work schedule were conducive to it, I could easily stay for a couple of weeks.

 

[bwvBound]

But my company frowns on approving vacations for more than a week unless it's something like a honeymoon.