Would you rather: two shorter trips or one long trip?

[ExtraMagic]

I’m Disney daydreaming and wonder what other budget-conscious Disney World fans say:

Two 4-day Disney trips
Or
One 8-day Disney trip

My strategy has been to take short trips (with just one or two park days) so I can go to Disney more often. This year we had an amazing quick trip in February and are hopeful that we can get back in September.

But I have to admit that I am beginning to wish I had a full week+ on the horizon.

 

[DisLiss]

Given that a significant portion of our expense is always transportation to and from Orlando, if I were to decide based on budget alone, then I'd take a longer trip for sure.

 

[tvguy]

Given that a significant portion of our expense is always transportation to and from Orlando, if I were to decide based on budget alone, then I'd take a longer trip for sure.

Same here. The travel time and expense mean we always try to stay as long as possible.

 

[starry_solo]

Same with the other two posters. One long trip. If you think about it, when you're buying park tickets, they become "cheaper" with days added, rather than two separate 4-day park tickets

 

[MICKIMINI]

Stay as long as you can. Transportation eats up two days, so IMO you don't get to relax unless you stay at least 8+ nights. You are also halving the amount you pay for transportation vs two trips and tickets are cheaper for longer stays.

 

[davper]

Longer the better.

 

[krd315]

Agree with other posters. We fly so we usually stay 6-8 days.

 

[Miffy]

Definitely longer. I'd only want two shorter trips if "shorter" meant "a week" and "longer" meant "two weeks"!

 

[DIS_MERI]

My kids have found a 4-5 night trip to be better (we are DVC and get gold APs for most trips, so it doesn't add significantly to ticket costs). We usually get good flight deals, so it doesn't add a ton for transportation costs. This also allows us to hit 2 different "events" (so F&G and F&W both). We did try to do a slighter longer trip last August, but Dorian cut us short

 

[smmco]

It’s hard to answer this question not knowing where you live. How low long is the flight or drive?

 

[loves to dive]

I live in Ga. and drive down and often take 4 or 5 night trips. A 4 night trip equals 5 park days for me. When we used to go only once every other year we went for 6 nights 7 days. Now I go at least once a year, for the past 4 or 5 years it has been 2 to 3 times a year. It's only a 7 hour drive so short trips are easy. Heck, we've gone down for 3 night 4 day trips.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Personally we really enjoy the 4 day trips. We always book early flight and spend day 1 at the pool then DS for night festivities. We are of the thought this way we get to WDW multiple times per year.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Do you need or like down time? If so 8 days. Even if just so you can say you tried it once if you think you might like it. But if you’re a go-go-go style, 2 4 day trips.

 

[ICF]

If it were within driving distance of a few hours I’d probably do 2 shorter....but since we either fly or have a very long car ride.....I’d take the longer trip to save on travel time & cost.

 

[ExtraMagic]

I live in Ga. and drive down and often take 4 or 5 night trips. A 4 night trip equals 5 park days for me. When we used to go only once every other year we went for 6 nights 7 days. Now I go at least once a year, for the past 4 or 5 years it has been 2 to 3 times a year. It's only a 7 hour drive so short trips are easy. Heck, we've gone down for 3 night 4 day trips.

I’m a 7 hour drive away, too! We usually leave between 7 and 8 am so we’re in Orlando by check-in time!

 

[stephk1981]

It really depends where you live and cost of transportation. Our permanent residence has been in Florida for the past 15 years, but my husband's job often travels and we go with him. We have lived as far away as Ireland for 5 months( we did visit Disney and stayed for 14 nights that trip.) We have lived in SE Georgia( 3 hours away...3-5 night trips very nice and doable.) When we lived right outside of Orlando we would just go when we got fast passes that we really wanted. Now we are back ' home home' near Tampa. It takes us about 1.5 hours give or take 15 minutes to get to WDW. We do various trips as in 1 night to 12 nights while at home. Before I had DD2, my DS11 and I would do day trips to go and come back, but I haven't done that since DD was born. All about how long it takes you to get to the parks! Before parking fees I always found it to be better to drive than fly....$25 a night can rack up on a long trip! I hope you have many magical trips to come. Be safe and healthy

 

[chad_1138]

We drive down from Indiana, so we prefer 1 long trip. We are staying July 5 - July 17 this year. We like a long trip because it affords us a couple of "resort" days to sleep, relax, and recharge. Also, having the longer trip helps out with fast passes, as far as being able to secure the hard to get ones, especially later in the trip.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Our last few trips have been 10 days. We like doing this since we only go every 2-3 years or so. 10 day tickets are much cheaper than 2 5 day tickets. Then add in flights. It’s cheaper to do a longer trip and it’s much more relaxing.

 

[tvguy]

Do you need or like down time? If so 8 days. Even if just so you can say you tried it once if you think you might like it. But if you’re a go-go-go style, 2 4 day trips.

I agree on the long trips, but Disney is too expensive to go there for down time. I can do down time at home for almost nothing.

 

[pwdebbie]

We drive. We stay 11 nights, 10 parks days. I wouldn't stay less.