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

[virk4]

over the years we have found that two five-night trips are much more fun than one 10-night trip....our next WDW visit is never far away!!

 

[Sakiki]

Long. The longer the better - preferably three weeks or more. Of course coming over from the UK makes this almost inevitable as you lose a full day travelling on the way out and a second day recovering from the jet lag, and the best part of the final day making sure you’re at the airport in time (and then just hanging around of course). We enjoy staying in a villa with a pool - staying on-site gets expensive for that length of time... Although we did have 3 nights at AKL before moving to a villa for the remaining 2 1/2 weeks on our trip in April 2018.

 

[Krystal659]

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

I completely agree, we love Disney World, but find after day 6 we are ready to go home. I have done shorter trips and felt like I did not get "everything" done. We have done two trips some years and one bigger trip on others. For us the time of the year matters too (in the heat of the summer vs. milder fall/winter).

 

[My Grandpa]

Putting aside the travel time & expense (we fly down from Vermont) ... and we just did a short 4 night visit ... and not only is the visit over in the wink of an eye ... but you have to make horrid choices of how to spend your limited time.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Longer, definitely. We do 14 days and it still feels like it flies by. By the time we have 4 days left of our trip is when I start sadly thinking “oh no! Our trip is almost over!”

 

[bakerworld]

Over the years we have discovered the 5N/6D is our optimal vacation. We've vacationed as short as 3D and as long as 12D. We fly and have found the most inexpensive air is mid-week. We both work so the mid-week travel gives us two short work weeks around our vacation, which we enjoy. When we traveled with the kids we found that after day 4 the kids became tired. With the less expensive airfare we can go more frequently without a significant increase in the vacation cost versus flying out on a Saturday or a Sunday the weekend. We enjoy 3 to 4 vacations a year using this strategy versus 2 week long vacations or 1 very long vacation.

 

[AnnaS]

We prefer longer. BUT where are you coming from? If I was within a few hours drive, two shorter trips might not be bad. Flying? Driving all day/overnight? Longer is my preference.

 

[Lilsia]

We live in the middle of the Country so we always fly. It is a hassle and eats up half of the day since we always have to switch planes somewhere. So we stay for as long as possible. I have a 2 week trip planned for October. We are also DVC and have an AP so those are already "paid" for. But even if I stay at a regular resort, I stay as long as possible.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

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.

I never want my Disney vacations to end so I vote LONGER

 

[pxidst119]

We’ve always done longer trips but now that our dog is older we don’t like to leave him as long so we’ve done 2 shorter trips. In the moment I love the longer trip and knowing we have so many days ahead of us. With the shorter trips I love knowing we will be back soon. Once we are home and think back on the trips we’ve decided we don’t remember which was long or short. We just have great memories either way. Any time spent in the happy place is good for me. DH and I recently did 3 days 2 nights for our 20th anniversary. Long full days. Early flight down late flight home. We were exhausted but did a lot with no rest. It was less expensive, short and sweet.

 

[tvguy]

Longer, definitely. We do 14 days and it still feels like it flies by. By the time we have 4 days left of our trip is when I start sadly thinking “oh no! Our trip is almost over!”

Ouch. 14 days at Disney would bankrupt me, and almost impossible to get two consecutive weeks off work. Having only been to WDW once, you need more time there because the parks and open 3 fewer hours a day compared to Disneyland, and the travel time between parks.

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm in the it depends on where you live camp. I fly so we do longer trips as transportation costs are a factor. If I lived close enough to drive (8 hours or less), I'd get an AP and do several short trips a year.

 

[Darcy03231]

Ouch. 14 days at Disney would bankrupt me, and almost impossible to get two consecutive weeks off work. Having only been to WDW once, you need more time there because the parks and open 3 fewer hours a day compared to Disneyland, and the travel time between parks.

The trick to doing 14 days is to stay off-site and do a lot of meals in. We did it and it worked out great. We did 10 park days with the rest pool days/Disney Springs days. We kept the meals simple. We also ate off-site quite a bit which also saved money. You can get better meals cheaper off-site than on.

 

[tvguy]

The trick to doing 14 days is to stay off-site and do a lot of meals in. We did it and it worked out great. We did 10 park days with the rest pool days/Disney Springs days. We kept the meals simple. We also ate off-site quite a bit which also saved money. You can get better meals cheaper off-site than on.

You just burn up more time in transit being off site. We are a hardcore Disney family when we go to Disneyland, usually in at 630 am with early admission, and there until midnight. WDW was soooooooooo different. Shorter hours, longer travel time even though we stayed at the Grand Floridian. Last trip to Disneyland we stayed at the Grand California. We timed it, less than 3 minutes from our room to being inside California Adventure.....including the time it took to go through the metal detectors.

 

[HHMcG]

I would pick the 2 short trips - more Disney throughout the year instead of one and done. I feel we get to see/do more on 2 short trips than 1 long trip. No need to waste time resting on a short trip. We do short trips often. (We fly but can get cheap airfare.) I think it is also more palatable to the family members who aren't Disney crazy.
We have done only short trips the last 3 years (coupled with cruises or Universal, just for a party or opening of Galaxy's Edge, etc.) and now my family is craving a long trip. So we have 12 nights planned in July.

 

[MickeyP]

Don't forget about ADR's, if they matter to you. The longer the stay, the better ADR you may get.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Ouch. 14 days at Disney would bankrupt me, and almost impossible to get two consecutive weeks off work. Having only been to WDW once, you need more time there because the parks and open 3 fewer hours a day compared to Disneyland, and the travel time between parks.

We’re DVC, and we travel with my parents who are also DVC. We split the point cost of the room. Even with that, it is still super expensive though (about $5,000 just for tickets for 7 people to WDW and US) but for our large family that’s expected. And DH lucky enough to own his own business so he can take time off whenever. I reLize that’s not the case for most people, so it may be more reasonable (and easier) to get two shorter trips in.

 

[firefly_ris]

You just burn up more time in transit being off site. We are a hardcore Disney family when we go to Disneyland, usually in at 630 am with early admission, and there until midnight. WDW was soooooooooo different. Shorter hours, longer travel time even though we stayed at the Grand Floridian. Last trip to Disneyland we stayed at the Grand California. We timed it, less than 3 minutes from our room to being inside California Adventure.....including the time it took to go through the metal detectors.

Meh, guess it depends. For us driving a rental is much faster and more comfortable than waiting around for Disney busses. Last off site trip it took 10 or 15min to get to MK. Even if we stay on site again next time, I'm building a rental into the budget either way.

 

[tvguy]

Meh, guess it depends. For us driving a rental is much faster and more comfortable than waiting around for Disney busses. Last off site trip it took 10 or 15min to get to MK. Even if we stay on site again next time, I'm building a rental into the budget either way.

They were experimenting with the Express Buses when we were at WDW. Cost us $29 per person for the week. That was so nice, got park to park without going through security, getting dropped off inside the park. But they ended the experiment and stopped the service.

 

[Darcy03231]

You just burn up more time in transit being off site. We are a hardcore Disney family when we go to Disneyland, usually in at 630 am with early admission, and there until midnight. WDW was soooooooooo different. Shorter hours, longer travel time even though we stayed at the Grand Floridian. Last trip to Disneyland we stayed at the Grand California. We timed it, less than 3 minutes from our room to being inside California Adventure.....including the time it took to go through the metal detectors.

When we stay on-site we stay at the value resorts. When staying off-site we pick a home that's close by. I've actually found that since we're not waiting on a bus, plus travel time, most of the time we're in parks faster than we are when we stay on-site.