For those who take yearly trips..how many park days?

[TinkAgainU]

If staying at a fun resort we like more Rest days to explore dining, Disney Springs, or just riding the transportation after the crowds are in the parks. Same is true for super cold or super hot weather to relax and plan the next day is fun. Typically fine with a 5-6 nite stay and 3-4 day non-hopper tickets. Perfect is 6 nites with a 3 day pass and one event (Mickey's Merry for example). We don't do water parks, and can skip one park each trip, to do that one the next year.

 

[DWillowBay]

We have a special needs member of our family as well. We go yearly....7-8 days, but 2 park days, then 1 day off, 2 park days, then 1 day off...etc. That way, everyone gets a chance to do what they need to at the parks, but has downtime to regroup. The 'off' days are also a good time for us to work in a character meal at a resort or a trip to the outlets, etc. without missing park time.

 

[VolvoManiac850]

We're getting to be regulars there, have taken two trips this year and one last year, so I guess I'm qualified to answer this now...used to go every odd-numbered year for a while so I knew it was heading in this direction anyhow.

I find it's more or less a matter of how many days you go. My suggestions are as follows:

Two day trip: either get in early one day or out late the other. Make one day a park day and focus on only one park. Use the other to enjoy your resort.

Three day trip: get a park ticket for all three days and make sure it is a hopper. Decide which one to split between the days, but if you want resort time (which I like personally), you'll basically spend the same amount of time at all of the parks.

Four day trip: logic says to hit one park each day, but common sense says to only get three days worth, split one day between two, and enjoy the resort on the first day or the last.

Five day trip: now you've got more flexibility. Four days should be park days. Focus on one park each day, but allow flexibility to go back to one you didn't have time to hit everything at or just enjoy on another.

Six day trip: suddenly, you can slow things down. Five days will be park days. This is one of those times when you can really stop to enjoy something like World Showcase. Alternately, do four park days like above and take one day to remain at the resort (especially if it has a lot to offer like Stormalong Bay at YC/BC or the Boardwalk at the resort of the same name) or add in something like a water park or golf.

Seven day trip: five days at the parks, the rest split between resorts, golf, water parks, Disney Springs, etc.

Regarding Disney Springs: I only mentioned it once here; on the other days, it's a good choice to hit sometime on the way out or back. I've done both on longer trips and actually prefer it, personally, as the opening of a trip. It builds a bit of the excitement without being officially Disney yet if that makes sense. (Yes, I know it's "officially" Disney, but it's not a resort or a park...just a shopping district with some good dining options...)

 

[Sweettears]

I usually go solo. My trips are typically 5 days four nights. Arrive early leave late on departure day

 

[TinkAgainU]

One other thought, when doing a shorter trip - we are jet lagged, so an easy morning with breakfast, some resort time, then the park in the evening to enjoy dinner, lights, fireworks and back to the hotel when tired (not necessarily closing since trying to adjust timewise), back in the park the next morning at Rope Drop, leave when the park gets full (2pm or so?) and decide that evening if returning. That assures we get to do an "evening" early in the trip, but not trying to go Rope Drop to Closing in one day. We're older, but I can see similarities between older and traveling with kids or special needs too

 

[LoveDaisy]

We usually go for a week and get tickets for everyday. With that said we don’t do the parks all day everyday. We stay at BWI and have been know to just walk into Epcot for dinner and not do the parks. We like the option to be able to go everyday even if we don’t go everyday.

 

[kanerf]

I usually do 10 day trips, this year 3 of them. I don't go to the parks on the first and last days, so 8 days.

 

[Meriweather]

We go to WDW every other year (the other rotation is DLR). 3 trips each year for both.
We spend 10-14 nights.......9-10 park days. We're older, so not always all day long.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We go every year I. March fior at least 10 days. Rarely go to parks. If we do we get a park hopper and do 3 in a day just hitting the big rides and fireworks somewhere. It holds little interest for me anymore. We are dvc and like the resorts and good restaurants every night.

 

[tgropp]

Since we usually go in Dec and due to the outrageous park prices, my wife and I do Epcot for the Candleight Processional and MVMCP for another day. When the whole family (children and grandchildren) come along, it is 8-10 days. This year is 9 days park visiting

 

[VeronicaZS]

The past couple of trips, 4 park days have been sufficient with 1 day in each park but we do typically stay 6 nights. The 4-park ticket offer saves us about $800 for our family of 5.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Before the pandemic, we were making one trip per year (flying in from Canada, and always in October) and doing 9-10 park days. We would also do a Halloween party, on the night before our departing flight. Since we do our favorite rides multiple times, we still missed something on every trip.

Up until 2016, we would alternate between WDW one year and California/Disneyland the next. At Disneyland, it was always a five day park hopper. We also went to attractions like Universal Hollywood, Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, and San Diego.

I miss those trips. If they ever fix the mess that is Genie+ (and getting rid of virtual queues would help, too) we would be much more inclined to come back. Just a little hint for the WDC...

 

[Massachusetts]

We have been going to WDW once per year for the past 16 years. We generally stay between 7-10 nights. Most of the time we buy Hoppers for length of stay minus 1. We don't crush the parks - preferring to build in a couple of hours for a siesta or pool time especially during the summer trips. We do have a bunch of favorite restaurants in EPCOT so it is common for us to end the day there regardless of which park we do in the morning.

This year my wife and kids will have 3 trips. I will go down twice - so AP's worked for us. I don't foresee us going more than once per year going forward. Due to ageing parents on both sides this year we splurged. It seems certain that this year will be the last time one or more of the grandparents gets to WDW with my children (grammar school X2 and a special needs young man).

 

[Minsc]

Twice yearly (May & October) 5 or 6 day trips. All park days! Our summer beach trip is for resting!

When the kids were young, we still did all park days, but we usually took a 2 hour break in the middle of the day.

 

[BigOnDis]

We go once a year for a week and get 6 Day Park Hoppers. We go every day, but don't spend all day in the parks. We get up and go early and stay until lunch or so and then go back and swim and relax, then go somewhere for dinner and then the energetic people in our party go to another park.

 

[wabbott]

The last 4 trips (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) we did 8 days with park hopper every day. That gives us two days in each park, and allows for 2 or 3 repeats on attractions that we like.

We economized by moving from the Grand Floridian in 2019 to the Caribbean Beach in 20, 21 and 22. On our upcoming April 24 trip we will be staying at Pop Century. We couldn't reconcile paying double prices for rooms used mostly to shower and sleep.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Highly variable. Above 9 is too much, we've done weekend FL trips that only had 1 WDW day or 1 Universal day. Many are 3-7 days. It depends how much time we have available, pricing at WDW/Universal, pricing to get there, etc. We sometimes do trips where we combine a theme park with non-theme park days.

Combining Disney/Universal with beach/National Park/state park days is an easy way to keep costs down, and also to have some quieter days.

If you have a child, consider looking into the Junior Ranger program at the National Parks. It is free/low cost, a fun way to learn about the park, and the junior Ranger gets a free badge. (or nearly free in some of the smaller parks).

 

[bakerworld]

We didn't purchase tickets for the first or last day. We were never commando so fitting parks and resorts into our vacations were never a problem.

 

[ilovebassets]

3 park days minimum, 6 park days maximum. We've skipped MK before for our one and only adult trip, but typically we spend at least one day in MK. I think all the parks can be two-day parks if you really want to experience all of it--two TS meals, entertainment, shows, rides, characters, etc. Even AK takes two days if you want to get ALL the Wilderness Explorer badges (absolute highlight of our Covid Christmas 2020 trip).

We've gone anywhere from five to nine nights. Usually for trips that are 7 nights or longer, we also do the water parks for a day or two and sometimes do absolutely nothing for a day other than resort pool and/or mini golf and/or skyline/monorail.

We never use park hoppers. I find there's so much to do in each park that I don't need to hop to a different park. I think we had hoppers once when you could only get the water park and more addition with the hoppers. I think we used it once during a nine night trip and didn't really see the point. (But clearly, they're quite popular overall.)

And we never visit a park on arrival or departure day. Too much work!

 

[gharter]

We have cut back to 1 week a year and do 7 days in the parks. We will rope drop, but then often either leave the park earlier than closing time or go back to the resort fora while in the afternoon.