Would you rather?

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

Planning for our next round of trips- we will get an AP and plan on either 3 week long trips in one year or 1 week long trip and 1 14 day trip in one year. Would love your thoughts on which you think works better and why.

Trips would be-
1 week Oct 2017 (kids miss one week school)
1 week May 2018 (kids will not miss school)
1 week early Oct 2018 (kids miss one week school- different school year)

Or

1 week Oct 2017 (kids miss one week school)
2 consecutive trips May into June 2018 (kids will not miss any school)


Flying in so the second option would save roughly $1200 on air fare.

We would plan on several no park days either way.

 

[CarolMN]

We do the 3 trips - we start our APs with early December, then visit during Flower & Garden and finish up with Food & Wine. Easy for us because we no longer have to worry about children's schedules.

In your case, I'd go with two trips - to minimize time children miss school and the cost of transportation. The longer trip will give you lots of time to enjoy the resort's amenities and non-park activities, too. Sometimes, those are just as much fun as the rides. Enjoy!

 

[Splashboat]

I would much prefer 3 seven day trips but between issues with school and the extra air fare it is hard to justify.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Because of school I'd go with the 2 trips. We've never done a 14 day trip - only a 10 day once but it was a very nice thing to experience and a change for our vacation style.

 

[Anal Annie]

We like to go as often as possible and our ideal trip would be about 10 days. Our use patterns are changing now that DS is in college and we started driving on our longer summer trips to save on airfare costs. When our DS was in school we never planned any trips when he would miss more than 1 day of school. I would be tempted to say do the 3x a year plan and consider driving on 1 trip except that makes the kids miss 2 weeks of school...so I guess with that in mind I would do the 2 trip plan.

 

[TinkandGoofy'sMom]

Planning for our next round of trips- we will get an AP and plan on either 3 week long trips in one year or 1 week long trip and 1 14 day trip in one year. Would love your thoughts on which you think works better and why.

Trips would be-
1 week Oct 2017 (kids miss one week school)
1 week May 2018 (kids will not miss school)
1 week early Oct 2018 (kids miss one week school- different school year)

Or

1 week Oct 2017 (kids miss one week school)
2 consecutive trips May into June 2018 (kids will not miss any school)


Flying in so the second option would save roughly $1200 on air fare.

We would plan on several no park days either way.

My absolute favourite trip was last summer when we stayed for one week at AKV and one week at BWV consecutively. It was so relaxing...no rushing around, lots of time to do everything we wanted and also sleep in some days!

 

[lennyd]

After 7 )days I'm ready to go home

 

[schoen]

I LOVE a nice long trip, so I would go with option 2. The kids miss less school, and it's cheaper. I have done 15 nights before, and I thought it would be too much, but it was really wonderful. We're doing 12 nights this year and I can NOT wait!

 

[mort1331]

After 7 )days I'm ready to go home

Where is the unlike button....

 

[Mpadovani2]

We wrestle with this situation regularly. We have done it both of the ways you have suggested with the exception we start our pass in November then go in June and then October of the next school year and then we take almost a year off and start all over again. I like the three trips and since it spans two different academic years, I don't feel as guilty. I didn't like 14 days in Florida. A little too much for our taste at one time. Even though we planned on a few no park days, we still ended up at one each day - just couldn't help it. The three trips ended up better for us. We drive, so I can't speak to the savings on flights.

 

[DenLo]

The savings is worth changing your schedule to only two trips IMO. Plus having a two week trip will give the family time to relax and see more things at WDW. So often guests miss much of WDW as they are usually hurrying from one attraction/ride to the next one.

 

[kniquy]

If the air fair is not a huge issue then i would break it up into 3 trips, if you want to save on travel cost then do the 2 trips. If money was not an issue i would like to be excited about 3 trips and planning things that maybe you missed or wanted to do again on the next trip. I was just looking at doing this same thing myself -- we possible have enough points to do 2 studio trips instead of one trip in a 1BR- I love the thought of spreading out our time.

I think your deciding factors should be dependent upon how old your kids are and what grade they are in -- younger kids in elementary school it isn't a huge issue for them to miss a week of school, not a great idea but the teachers are generally more accommodating to catch up on the work. If your kids are older middle/Jr high/high school then missing a week is a huge set back - so what kind of student they are plays a part. It might be different school years but it could be a significant amount of work to catch up on. If you have a so-so student that struggles then missing school would not be an option. This would probably be my deciding factor.

Maybe look at some of the other times of the year where it over laps a holiday and they would only miss a couple of days of school.