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

[RUDisney]

We like to stay for 10 days. That makes it not feel rushed and we can do everything that we want to do.

The last time I went for 4 park days and I went into commando mode to make sure we did/saw everything. My legs and hips hurt and I was exhausted. I don't feel that way coming home from a longer trip.

 

[nycdisneygal]

I like the long trips but if you get to do 2 different special events this way then 2 short trips... Provided airfare is not crazy.

 

[Alynw]

We've done both ways and they both have pro and con but hands down, one long trip is way to go. For us, the only real benefit to doing two short trips was the fact we had a shorter waiting period in between trips and it don't feel like forever before getting back to Disney. Short trips goes by so fast it doesn't feel like u get much time at all, it cost more money, u double ur traveling expenses, unless u have AP u have to buy tickets twice and lose some on the multi day tickets, not to mention double planning. We go for 2 weeks a year and when we first started going we done a 1 week trip twice a year but it only took couple years of that before we switched to 1- 2 week trip a year and we've never looked back. Besides the cost savings, which was around 2,000 for us, it is just nice knowing we got plenty of time and we can take our time to really enjoy everything and not just run through it. Not only do we feel like we get our money's worth but when it's time to leave were actually ready to go and not wishing we just had 1 more day. But it is hell waiting a whole year to come back. Personal preference.

 

[sheilafri]

We do shorter 4-5 day trips. We hold APs so ticket prices aren’t a budget issue. We drive (6 hrs) and that can get old, but we like to time it based on when the weather forecast is nicer at Disney than at home. It may be blasphemy to say it here, but we prefer The Mouse in smaller doses. We generally go to a different park each day but always seem to end up at MK in the evenings.

 

[dromio42]

For us, a long trip works best. We go for 18 days (some of that is travel - we take the auto train so we can have our car). we have been doing that every other year since 2002. We are now wishing we could go every year, but still have a long trip.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We almost always fly free using SWA points so I would vote for 2 shorter trips. Flying from the northeast doesn't take an entire day. We can often fly after work at night, stay at the Hyatt MCO, and wake up well rested in Orlando. If not, an early flight gets us to MCO before 10am. We are not ones to just spend a whole day relaxing at the resort so 4 full park days are perfect. We have done longer trips, many week long and did a 10 day trip once, and dh just starts getting parked out after the 5th day.
I like having another trip to look forward to.
Do what works for you.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

I've done both, and my preference and experience was the longer trip. The reason was simple - I've always noticed when on vacation it takes about 2 ~ 3 days to get in "vacation mode". This is where you are in the moment, and rested and relaxed and the stress from work is a memory. On a short vacation by the time I felt this the vacation was half over. The feeling of hitting vacation mode mentally and physically knowing you have a week or more is truly wonderful!

 

[kylenne]

Short trips are only worth it imo if you have an AP. I really enjoyed my 4 day holiday weekend trip back in November, but I know I wouldn't have if I had to spend a bucket load on tickets for the second time in as many months. It's weird but something about having that AP immediately changed my mindset toward the parks, as soon as it hit my hand that August. I didn't feel especially pressured to see and do everything because I knew I could easily come back--I can basically hop down when I feel like it despite living out of state due to plenty of airline miles and comparatively cheap and plentiful flights from the NYC area to MCO. (Or so I thought...).

I still prefer longer trips though, mostly because neither myself nor my gf are commando types and we prefer staying Deluxe, so we like to have plenty of downtime to rest and enjoy the amenities. We were supposed to do 10 days next Saturday, and when we rebooked that for next May we extended it to 2 weeks on a split CL stay. We are taking a very casual approach to parks and want lots of time to enjoy the resorts.

 

[LSchrow]

I've done both, and my preference and experience was the longer trip. The reason was simple - I've always noticed when on vacation it takes about 2 ~ 3 days to get in "vacation mode". This is where you are in the moment, and rested and relaxed and the stress from work is a memory. On a short vacation by the time I felt this the vacation was half over. The feeling of hitting vacation mode mentally and physically knowing you have a week or more is truly wonderful!

Agreed, it's sad when you have to leave right after you finally hit that wonderful "vacation mode" day.
We used to take one week trips, which morphed into 2 5-day trips. Then we decided 5 days was silly, and gradually extended to 7-8-9-10-11-12-13 or more days.
After a lot of years & finding what fits us best, we have a standard 13 days in May (now changed to June), and another 13 days in October.
This year, I decided to also book a 14 day December trip as we've never been for the holidays.......

 

[kylenne]

Agreed, it's sad when you have to leave right after you finally hit that wonderful "vacation mode" day.
We used to take one week trips, which morphed into 2 5-day trips. Then we decided 5 days was silly, and gradually extended to 7-8-9-10-11-12-13 or more days.
After a lot of years & finding what fits us best, we have a standard 13 days in May (now changed to June), and another 13 days in October.
This year, I decided to also book a 14 day December trip as we've never been for the holidays.......

Would you mind if I picked your brain a little? We've never been longer than 8 days (which flew by entirely too fast) and I kinda don't know what to do with myself having 2 weeks to plan for. I know everyone's different but I'm curious to see how other people do it. How do you find yourself balancing park and resort time?

 

[LSchrow]

Would you mind if I picked your brain a little? We've never been longer than 8 days (which flew by entirely too fast) and I kinda don't know what to do with myself having 2 weeks to plan for. I know everyone's different but I'm curious to see how other people do it. How do you find yourself balancing park and resort time?

We do make FPs (based on Crowd Level Calendars), but don't plan very much else. We try to minimally ride a few favorites (FoP & Safari in AK, TSM in DHS, Soarin' & SSE in Epcot, PeopleMover, Pirates & HM in MK), & try to see a few side shows, especially in Epcot (there's just so much to see in World Showcase). On occasion, we take a tour (highly recommend Wild Africa Trek), sometimes we go to a resort just for fun and/or to eat, maybe a bus ride to Disney Springs for walking around, dining/drinking & shopping (bowling and a movie are also options), a round or two of mini-golf, etc.
Some days, we may go to the pool, sometimes Community Hall. We usually stay at the BoardWalk, so stroll along the BW & watch performers (and people watch ) at night.
A few days into our trip, we rent a car for about a week from Dolphin Alamo, and use it to go grocery shopping, dine off-site, hit the outlets, etc.
It's easier for us as we are usually DD or DH & myself (occasionally a nephew, cousin, and/or friends will join us). I think the key for enjoying longer trips is NOT planning too much, changing plans on the fly, and making sure to have down-time to enjoy one another's company - even a simple game of cards in your room at night can make a vacation really feel like a vacation.

 

[kathy884]

My vote is for the shorter trips. Budget wise tickets are more expensive for shorter trips for sure, though. Also, how inexpensively and easily can you get to Orlando? Those are practical matters to consider. It's a pretty quick / easy flight for me, and I tend to use airline points (which feel like free money, even though in reality there is an opportunity cost).

Four nights / three days is perfect for me and my preference. It's easy to talk me into a mini / short trip. They are so easy to plan and so much fun. I never have any problem picking what to do in that short period of time and what to skip, but I've been a frequent visitor for decades.

Also (unlike so many others on this forum), I don't really like spending longer periods of time in Orlando (am ready to go home before the week is over and am bored with the routine even with beach/nature/family visiting diversions thrown in). For a longer trip, I much prefer a destination that I haven't been to before.

Do note, though, I have been going to WDW since 1971 when they opened and have probably done about 35 trips, so maybe I have Disney burnout for longer trips?? Maybe I'm in the been there, done that, bought the T-shirt mode. But not completely, as I was down for a mini trip in December of 2019 and snuck in two nights offsite and a day at the Magic Kingdom before a cruise in February this year and had so much fun (super magical day?? Maybe the most fun in the park that I've ever had (hung out with my 20 something son and nephew), so what's up with that??).

 

[JenBush]

I personally like longer trips(7-10 days) with more time between visits. I like having more time to explore the parks and resorts.

 

[Boopuff]

I much prefer the long, slow go trip. Short trips, I just go with zero expectations and go with the flow. Longer trips allow for better planning, more relaxation.

 

[LuvOrlando]

As adults who can afford travel/airfare/time multiple short trips are a joy, loved this style when I was newlywed and am back in this groove again with 2 adult college students. Short and sweet if everyone can cooperate. With little kids to go anywhere, zero ability to cooperate even on a good day EVERYTHING is such a pain to collect, move whatever - my trips were always as long as possible to minimize cost of airfare and travel time.

 

[WDWTRAVELLER]

We find that getting there is sometimes a hassle with the young children so we like to stay for a longer trip than a few shorter ones. We started with 10 days and now do 21 days.
The problem is where we fly from in Canada we have connecting flights through big centers with little time to get through security and customs. Hauling the little ones off and on the planes is not ideal.

So what we do is 2 weeks where we do all the parks 7-10 pass and then the other week is just relaxing at the resort. lots of pool time and unwinding before we head home

 

[NightFury326]

We drive down from here (about 8 hours) and we did a 6 nights and rented DVC. It was almost ideal. I just want an extra few days so I can have AK. Anything beyond 8 days would be a bit too much.

 

[Sakiki]

Would you mind if I picked your brain a little? We've never been longer than 8 days (which flew by entirely too fast) and I kinda don't know what to do with myself having 2 weeks to plan for. I know everyone's different but I'm curious to see how other people do it. How do you find yourself balancing park and resort time?

Well... We tend to stay off-site in a villa, and plan for 2 1/2 - 3 week trips. Take out a couple of days to recover from the jet lag and do some grocery shopping, 7 or 8 park days (usually half or a little more than half days, to be honest, as we no longer have the stamina to do ‘rope drop to fireworks’), a couple of mornings or evenings for dining in specific resorts, a couple of days hitting the local malls (DW likes the way some US clothes are cut), at least one day to do an airboat trip on one of the lakes (I love gators ), a day at Kennedy Space Centre, some days strategically spaced to lounge at the villa and use the pool... Botheration, 3 weeks isn’t long enough, is it?

 

[sbvaldes]

I just asked my kids this question! They all said longer trip. I’m a little bummed because I’m eager to get back but it does make more sense since we fly to save our money and do the travel expense once

 

[WDWTRAVELLER]

I much prefer the long, slow go trip. Short trips, I just go with zero expectations and go with the flow. Longer trips allow for better planning, more relaxation.

I agree with you on that. Long and slow. We have tried staying 1 week and jamming all the parks in. Found once we got home we needed another vacation just to relax