Too many days at Disney?

[GeorgiaHoo]

Our longest trips in the past have been 6 nights, usually more like 5, and we were NEVER ready to leave. This November we are tentatively planning an 11 night trip. Our kids are older now and we do NOT enjoy going to a park when it opens and staying through close -- too hot and crowded in the middle of the day and simply too long and tiring of a day. This trip we'll go to a park each morning for rope drop so that it isn't too crowded and we can hit the headliners, take a midday break and hang out at the pool, perhaps nap (some in the family nap, others not so much), or walk over to Epcot for the Food & Wine food/drinks, then eat a relatively early dinner around 5-5:30 and hit the parks again in the evening. We'll probably do at least one evening EMH at Magic Kingdom and sleep in the next day and try to make a number of morning EMH. Probably spend 1 day at Universal this trip (never been), and may spend a half day at a water park (never been). So we won't take a 12 day trip and spend every minute at the parks but will try to spend quality time at the parks and quality time at the resort.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

My longest trip was nineteen days. People thought I was crazy, but I could've easily stayed longer.

 

[TJDisneymama]

for a first trip, I always recommend AT LEAST 6-7 park days (plus a couple down days in between). Once you've been several times, then I think shorter trips are more doable b/c you know what you like and don't like so can plan accordingly. But for first timers, I cringe when I hear someone say they want to do a 3 or 4 day trip (or God forbid, even less). At that point, I feel like --- don't even bother going, wait until you can do it right.

 

[TexasPete]

We hit it hard for four park days and come home exhausted. It works for us, but I think we are in the minority.

 

[CowboyCO]

We try to do 9-10 days, with 8 days in the parks. We'll dedicate 1 full day to each park, take one day off to relax and recuperate at the resort and Dismey Springs, the we park hop for the next 4 days, usually starting a little later in the day (10-11 am). Since our kids are now teens, we love the late-nights at the parks and take advantage of the evening EMH.

 

[Klayfish]

For your first trip, no way on earth will you be bored after 6 or 7 days. Well, I guess you could if you didn't enjoy WDW or that type of thing, but if you do, there's no way a week is too long. You will barely scratch the surface of what it has to offer, even if you did 12 hours per day for 7 days. I would NEVER recommend doing that, you will wear out after 2 or 3 days. I don't believe you need to take a full day out of the parks to do nothing but rest, but if you do a couple of 8 hour days, maybe follow it with a 3 or 4 hour day and spend the rest of the day relaxing and recharging.

In the summers, we typically do 16-17 day trips, and we're far from bored.

 

[MsLady]

I think 6-7 days is the perfect amount! 7 nights is the longest I have stayed and it was nice! We had a break day where we just relaxed at the pool. Then we were rested and ready for the rest of our trip! We are only doing a 3 day trip this year due to family reasons and I am a bit saddened by this because I enjoyed the 7 day trip so much!

 

[TJDisneymama]

I will also add, now that I have been numerous times, the shortest trips I have ever done is 4 park days (usually due to school or work or financial constraints) and I feel like that is the *minimum* WDW trip I would do. It's not quite enough, but feel it is 'sufficient'. I don't know that I would go at all if I could only do 3 or less park days........we have no problem skipping AK on the shorter trips as there's not much there for us.

 

[MissKIA]

We went for 8 days last time and it was too long. We were just exhausted by the end and didn't even end up doing anything on the last day. We wet 10 days the first time but we had off days where we just hug out by the pool which was great. But 8 days in a row is just too much. 6 would probably be perfect.

 

[kmv]

Depends on your family's style. BUT, for us. I love having 6 park days with 7 days in Disney so that a day in the middle we can sleep in, hang at the pool all day and go to Disney Springs at night. We park hop so we would figure out our days based on that but there may be another night we come back to the hotel after lunch and hang at the pool the rest of the day/night.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We have 2 days at Universal and 8 days at WDW this year. I think it's a great amount of time, because you can plan at least 1 light day without feeling like you're missing out. I enjoy a lazy day by the pool and having a nice meal. I don't like feeling as if we have to go go GO all the time.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We have been many times, but the longest trip was 6 days. That feels about right to me, although I would like to try staying for 10-12 days sometime.

 

[disneyvoice]

We average 7 to 8 days at a time, however once we did 10 days and it still wasn't enough to do everything we wanted to do. It would be great to spend 2 full days at each theme park (although we would LOVE 3 days at Epcot), at one full day each at both water parks and a day or two at Disney Springs. Even better would be to build some rest days in between to just relax at the resort pool, resort hop, miniature golf, etc. So in my perfect scenario it would be about a 2 week trip!

 

[jendubz]

Well, first off you need to find new people to talk to about WDW.

I was waiting for someone to say that!

 

[jendubz]

So it sounds like these people are just negative and I don't need that in my life. HaHa!

In my mind, I was thinking that 6-7 days would give us time to "stop and smell the roses". We won't be rushing to the next ride or character meeting to get it all in. We could always go back to a park the next day.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

We like 7-10 days so that we don't feel rushed. We do RD, back to resort to enjoy the pool, then back to a park for the evening. You will be amazed at how big it is and how much there is to see and do. Pictures, videos, even Robo's maps, as awesome and detailed as they are, still cannot adequately get across how massive WDW is.

 

[AngiTN]

So it sounds like these people are just negative and I don't need that in my life. HaHa!

In my mind, I was thinking that 6-7 days would give us time to "stop and smell the roses". We won't be rushing to the next ride or character meeting to get it all in. We could always go back to a park the next day.

Actually, 6, 7 days is a bit of rushing, less of stop and smell the roses. You need at least 1 more day to have more stop and smell the roses, less rushing to the next thing.

 

[AngiTN]

We did 6 park days on our first trip (plus arrival and departure days, which were not full days and no parks) and it was too short. We were flat out dead on the last park day, It was not enjoyable at all. 1 more day would have been a huge help, 2 even better.

 

[jendubz]

Actually, 6, 7 days is a bit of rushing, less of stop and smell the roses. You need at least 1 more day to have more stop and smell the roses, less rushing to the next thing.

Oh man. Ok. I guess I don't realize how big it is. I know we won't get to everything. Sounds like I'll need to do a lot of planning before hand.

 

[AngieInOH]

I wouldn't do any less than 7. We started at 7, bumped up to 8. Next trip I'm hoping to go 10!