What is the ideal length for a visit?
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| Sat, 03-10-2007 - 7:43pm |
I'm hoping we'll have our first trip to WDW this August. My kids will be 5,6 and 9. I know they say you could stay a month and not do everything, but we have to be realistic. : )
How long is the ideal trip... enough the kids don't get sick of it and worn out and overstimulated. I'm asking because whenever I talk about it with dh , he is always 2-3 nights less than what I'm thinking. I'm thinking... we're there, let's do it right and stay 6-7 nights. Dh is thinking 4-5 nights. We won't do the waterparks as my younger two aren't great swimmers yet.
I envision us doing each park at least one day with probably an additional day or so at MK. I also want to relax and swim, and not be exhausted from running around constantly. Dh is taking two weeks off and we are driving down from New England, so we have flexibility. Oh yeah, we also want to do a day at NASA either after or before Disney, we'll get a hotel near there for that night.
Your ideas would be great!
Laura
Edited 3/10/2007 7:44 pm ET by lautel

Hello! I went with 3 kids (girls ages 3 and 4 and boy age 8) back in September. We went for 5 nights (4 days in the parks) and I thought it was too short. My ideal trip would be 6 or 7 nights but this December DH and I are going for 10 nights and my schedule is already booked solid, lol. It sounds to me like your plan for 6/7 nights would be great!
Good luck as you plan this vacation!
Melissa
Hi Laura!
I would say no less than 7 nights. Ideal for me would be 10 full days. But we usually go for 8 full days because that's about what we can afford!
Disney is HUGE and I think people (first timers) just don't understand how huge it is!! There is so much to do there, and cutting the trip short can be stressful if you are trying to get your money's worth!
Good luck!
Marcy
Our trips are usually longer, but we like it that way! As a family, we've done 10 nights (that was supposed to be 8 nights, but we flew down a day early because of a hurricane and stayed one more night to do MNSSHP (Halloween Party) and get cheaper airfare home. That trip was about the maximum I'd want to try, we were ready to come home. It wasn't bad, but we were tired!
Next trip was in 2005, and I want to say we stayed 8 nights, but it may have been only 7; it was just perfect. This year, we're doing 8 nights, 9 days; we will arrive by noon, so we'll have 1/2 day that day, and we'll have a little time, until 1 or 2, on the day we checkout to play. I am having trouble working in everything we want to do, but I think I've got it down now!
We like 2 full days for MK (we take a break in the afternoon because my kids still need a nap), 2 full days for Epcot, 1 for MGM, 1 for AK, and then an extra or so for anything we missed, Downtown Disney, etc. We split our days into 1/2 days, start at a park, take a break, and usually go to a different park in the evening, so one full day isn't 14 hours in the same park.
My DH would love to go over to NASA, but he wants to time it when there's a shuttle launch, and that's not easy to do!
OK, I'll stop now. I think this was more info that you wanted!
Steph
I would say if you are flying or driving long distance I would stay 6 or 7 nights.
We are doing 7 nights at POP in May. This is our first trip as a family, although dh and I have both gone before (separately) and we wouldn't want to do it any shorter. We have three kids 7, 5, 3 and don't want to push them too much. We fully expect to be splitting our day with a break if the kids get tired. We decided that this was a trip for them, so we are going to let them lead us (other than TS meals and the BB Boutique I have booked) so it could be a much slower trip and we don't expect to see everything.
Have a great trip and hope you pick the perfect lenght for your family.
Christine
I have 2 kids, who will be 4 and 7 when we go in July. I like to stay for no less than 7 days...especially if driving (we're in PA). For our next trip, we'll be down for 10 days total. Here's what we do: We plan on visiting each park twice, with a few days left open to go back and visit the things we each liked best. We usually hit the parks when they open, visit the most popular attractions/ get fastpasses early, eat a late breakfast or early lunch, spend a little more time in the parks, and head back to the hotel for a swim/ nap. Later in the day, we visit another park for dinner and enjoy their nighttime shows, parades, etc.
We've been there several times in the summer, and it typically rains in the afternoons--no problem for DH and me, but with the kids, strollers, etc., it can get a little sloppy and uncomfortable.
My kids get very tired with all of the excitement, heat, swimming, walking.... and they welcome the afternoon nap, even though both aren't regular nappers throughout the year.
I'd say go for the maximum you can agree upon...since it's your first time, you'll be glad you did! Also, I'd be sure to get a good guidebook and read up on everything ahead of time.
Enjoy planning your trip!
Claudia