How Long Do Your Trips Last?

[_19disnA]

Any of our vacations to Disney or elsewhere are never longer than a week. Seems you can only live out of your suitcase and eat every meal out for so long.

 

[ilovebassets]

Summer weather? 9 nights so we have about 5-6 days of parks and 1-3 pool/water park days.

Cooler weather? 7 nights.

We have done the occasional 5 night trip when just going as my husband and I or the two of us and only one of our three kids for whatever reason.

 

[Genie+]

We try to work in longer trips. They save money and reduce stress like you said. The trouble is synchronizing schedules during a time of year we like to visit. It’s hard. Summer gets us longer overlapping time off but no thanks. The battle with sunscreen is real.

This year we took a 3 night trip in March. We’ll do 6 nights mid-November followed by 4 nights next Feb.

We could do 13 nights and save money on repeated flights. We just don’t have 2 weeks straight to do it.

 

[Carolynleanne]

Our Disney World trips tend to be 10ish days, because it's a 6.5 hour flight for us from Western Canada. If we do Disneyland, a week is MORE than enough.

 

[beccasmom]

Five or six nights is our sweet spot, but we are DVC and visit 2 and sometimes 3 times a year. Our upcoming trip beginning on Monday is only 4 nights, but we are returning in September for 7 nights. Our longest trips have been in the 10-day range; pre-DVC we often did split stays (monorail resort/moderate) to keep the cost down.

 

[peabody58]

DVC here. We do 5 night trips Sun-Fri in Jan/May/Sept, and occasionally squeeze in a Nov or Dec 5 night trip. We drive from Georgia. Can't stand to be away from our Yorkie to long.

 

[Genie+]

Five or six nights is our sweet spot, but we are DVC and visit 2 and sometimes 3 times a year. Our upcoming trip beginning on Monday is only 4 nights, but we are returning in September for 7 nights. Our longest trips have been in the 10-day range; pre-DVC we often did split stays (monorail resort/moderate) to keep the cost down.

Our longest trip has been 8 nights. We managed that twice.

Surprisingly we noticed having 9 days didn’t make much difference over 6 or 7 days - didn’t accomplished more. That could be the mindset feeling less need to hurry?

 

[Jabroniville]

Oh good- so I’m NOT crazy for going for 10-11 days !

Or we’re all crazy, but we’re all crazy together, lol.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Meriweather]

WDW is 10-14 nights

 

[Jfsag123]

Shortest we have ever done was first trip back in 2013, 5 nights. Longest was 12 nights in 2016. We usually stay for 9-10 nights once a year.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

7-10 nights every 2-4 years. We take early flights in and late flights home.

I’ve found my sweet spot to be 8 nights/9 days with 8 day hoppers.

Our 2018 trip was 10 nights with 10 day hoppers. We don’t do full park days everyday, lots of late start days and half days, but I felt I would’ve been good to go home by day 8 or 9.

In 2022 we did 9 nights and 9 day hoppers. The day before our last day we were in MK and I just felt I could’ve gone home that night and been happy. The next day we did DHS before our flight and had a good time but still felt I would’ve been ok going home the day before.

Next trip in 2025 we will be doing 8 nights with 8 day hoppers and arranging park days like our last trip minus the last day.

 

[hhisc16]

WDW-3/4 nights
DLR-3/4 nights
DHHIR-1/2 nights

(driving distance to wdw and dhhir)

 

[NorCalFanatic]

Anywhere from 7-10 nights at DLR. 8-9 at Aulani but next trip will be 12-14.

 

[Cierese]

We usually go for a week. DH does not get a lot of vacation time and Disney isn’t the only place on our travel list. That gives us a week to go somewhere else plus a couple of weekend trips a year.

This is our new reality. I used to take 15-17 day trips and camp at the Fort. I work remotely, so I worked there some mornings/afternoons and we would just relax....
Now my fiancé has a new job that gives him enough vaca days to do that, but he can't take more than 5 at a time so..... my son and I go down a few days early, and then he comes down for a week. Other vaca days will be spent elsewhere.

 

[rangerxenos]

Somewhere around 9 - 10 days is the sweet spot for me. I have to fly, so I usually only get two trips a year.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Longest trip, 5 nights with 4 park days/rest day. And shortest trip, one day in a few parks. We usually tie our visits into other things in FL, family, other attractions or parts of the state. I would say our sweet spot for Disney trips is probably 4 nights w/ 3 park days.

 

[Jabroniville]

My daughter is a CM so I visit a few times a year. I go for 5/6 days for Spring Break and my longer trip in July for about 10 days. I also make 3 or 4 trips for long weekends. Normally flying out on Thursday early evening and coming home on Sunday or Monday if it's a holiday.

Nice! What's her area of expertise?

Going a few times a year sounds fun- too far a trip for me (and not enough $$$, lol), but a great way to experience the parks at different times.

 

[Jabroniville]

Our longest trip has been 8 nights. We managed that twice.

Surprisingly we noticed having 9 days didn’t make much difference over 6 or 7 days - didn’t accomplished more. That could be the mindset feeling less need to hurry?

That seems likely- I think the most I ever accomplished was in my first trip, spending 5 days in the parks. I did EVERYTHING, but only exactly once for the most part. The 7-10 day trips were all full days, but the middle part was MUCH lazier, and nearly every trip there was some regular thing I didn't do, like skipping the Tiki Room or not having time to go to the Mexico Pavilion or something, despite doing multiple rides and attractions repeatedly. Because you have so much time, you don't feel the need to "cram everything in" and so you get casual enough that things can slip by.

 

[Jabroniville]

I go on a few, shorter trips every year, however, I live in the US near an airport that offers direct flights on an inexpensive airline. I equate your airfare conundrum to what we face when we want to travel internationally - in that case, we set aside as much time as we can. Our last trip to Europe, for example, was almost three weeks long. I justify it by telling myself this is 3 trips to Europe, but with the cost of only one, round-tip airfare ticket. I would much rather spend my money on trip costs like hotels, food, experiences, souvenirs than a seat on an airplane, so, if I were in your shoes, I would probably opt for the longer trips. Whatever is most cost effective!

Yeah, I sometimes marvel at the people able to go to Disney multiple times a year (like ChunkyMonkey's old trip reports where there was a new trip seemingly every month or so), but the logistics of living here mean I have to spend about $800-1000 round-trip just to fly down- I can justify it once, but not for two short trips.

 

[princessjilly]

Previously 21 nights and 17 nights but this year will be 14.
I’m from Scotland so I would only consider less than 14 if I got absolutely bargain flights!