What is your typical Disney trip?

[Rebecca Pocahontas]

Everyone has a different schedule when you come to Disney, but what is your typical vacation like? How many days to you stay, how many parks, do you go to park on the day you arrive, any days off to relax? I am wondering because I want to know if you all like to cram everything in or if you leave some days to explore and cool off.

We normally stay for 5 nights and go to 2 parks. We never go to a park on the first day, we always play mini-golf and explore the resort (even if I've been to the hotel 10+ times before!). The next days are always park, day off, park, day off. Part of the reason that we love Disney so much is the atmosphere and you don't always have to go to a park to feel that Disney magic. So a few days off to relax and resort hop is a great way to spend our vacation time.

 

[Meriweather]

We stay 14 night usually.
Arrive in the early evening, so don't go to a park.
We have 3 free days, usually 3 MK, 3 AK, 2 Epcot and 2 DHS

 

[firefly_ris]

I have been to WDW 7 times, which compared to a lot of posters here is basically nothing. But for me, I'm there for the parks. I grew up spending summer vacations at places like Ocean City MD which has mini golf on basically every corner, and did a lot of hiking/camping trips with some fishing, boating, etc. so I was not personally interested in doing things like that at WDW because I already have opportunities to do them elsewhere, but I can't do the parks elsewhere. I'm also not a big shopper and the whole "retail therapy" concept is incredibly foreign to me, so I might like one evening at Disney Springs to walk around and get dinner but that's it.

I don't really remember the length of my first 2 trips because I was younger, but in my adult life the longest I've been was 6 days, and the shortest was 3. We tend to rise early and spend a lot of time in the parks. I can rest when I get home, lol. I have a relaxing home environment, my house is on some acreage with a big creek, plus we do our relaxing vacations elsewhere (OBX, etc.), my in-laws live less than a mile away with an in-ground pool for my kids, so I don't really require a huge amount of relaxing time at WDW, I just mentally frame it as more of an active vacation. I like to make sure I see each park, even on short visits.

That said, if I could afford (or talk my DH into on top of it) a long trip, like 10 days, then I'd probably do a pool/resort day or two, because I'd still be able to get a lot of park time in as well. But with 5 days or less I want to use each possible moment absorbing the parks.

And if I win the mega millions, then I'd book a spa day, some fancy pants dinners, stuff like that. But I don't see that happening any time soon, lol.

 

[AllieBoo]

We do 7-8 nights, staying onsite. We do a park everyday, no rest days. We do however take a long afternoon pool/resort break. We like to stay at either a monorail resort or one of the Epcot resorts, so we can walk to a park. The past few trips, we've done splits between MK and Epcot resorts, because we like to avoid having to take the bus. We might do one table service meal per trip, but other than that, we eat quick service and have breakfast, snacks in the room.

 

[Oneanne]

My trips are usually 7 days/nights, and start with taking the red-eye from the west coast Friday night, arriving Saturday morning. If I'm on the non-stop, I get to the resort around 7am and can freshen up, drop things off with bell services and be at the park-of-the-day for RD. I'll head back to the resort as soon as I get the text for my room to take a good solid nap, because a red eye without a nap = crankiness... even in the happiest place on earth.

I RD most days, because I like the cooler calmer mornings: I take mid-day resort breaks and I'm a hopper... more often than not I end up at EPCOT in the evenings. I've been so many times that I'm no longer ride or attraction driven, I know I'll have another opportunity to do whatever doesn't fit in or get done. I only book a few ADRs ahead of time, because I prefer not to be committed to an eating schedule but do like a couple fancier sit down meals. Every trip I try to do a couple new things and try to do a tour. I really like to take a stop-and-smell-the-roses pace, and soak up just being there.

I usually fly home Friday, on the evening non-stop if possible so even the last day can be a half park day. And that gives me the weekend at home as a transition period before heading back to work... even then that Monday morning bus ride is a shock.

 

[Good&Plenty]

Haven't taken the kids to WDW before, so trying out the following plan. We're meeting members of my family, for a group total of 10 people (5 adults and 5 kids, ranging in ages from 4 to 7), so the plans revolve around working w/the group. This assumes that our FPs will work out.

Sunday: (Travel day. Flying from New England. Hotel pool if time.)
Monday: Epcot (1/2 day, mainly for FEA for our daughter). Meet arriving family at DS in the afternoon and eating at Blaze.
Tuesday: MK (Rope drop)
Wednesday: MK (at a more relaxed pace - taking in the sights, etc.). Hotel pool in the late afternoon.
Thursday: HS (Rope drop for the Jedi stuff)
Friday: AK (Rope dropping whatever we don't get FPs for)
Saturday: (Travel day back to New England.)

As of now, all 5 kids are early to bed and early to rise, so we plan on rope dropping most days but will be heading back to the hotel on all nights after an early dinner. No fireworks this time around (I think).

Meals will be breakfasts in room, sandwiches/fruit for lunch that we will bring w/us, QS or ADRs for dinner.

 

[hes122]

Each trip has been different, but looking at my previous trips I'd say that long weekend trips are my norm. My next (hopefully next 2) trip will fall into that category as well. Maybe in a few years I'll take another week long trip. I loved that, but I don't know how feasible it is for my current budget and vacation schedule.

 

[PSUGuy]

We usually go for 9 or 10 nights, staying at Board Walk on rented DVC points. We drive to Philly the night before, stay at Sheraton Four points with a sleep n fly package then fly out of PHL on SW. We send our luggage on DME but rent a car to pick up groceries and drive to Raglan Road and AK. We arrive early on a Wed or Thurs before 9 am, hit Publix then check into BW. We're in the picture below by 11:30 when Carl opens the taps.

Our first FP is Soarin then on to Space Ship Earth and Land. We're there for Food&Wine so we Graze Around the World and our first night this Oct is the last night for .38 Special at the Eat to the Beat concert series so we'll catch them.

Every day except Sat we hit a park at rope drop then hop to WS for F&W. On Sat the crowds at F&W are crazy so we hang out at the pool after our early park then dine at Raglan Road. Every morning I get up early, wolf down a bagel, grab a coffee then head over to the bench next to Atlantic Dance and have a cigar as the sun comes up. We'll eat at Raglan and do the Cape May Buffet once and that's it for table service. Breakfast and a lunch snack we'll have in our kitchenette but otherwise we indulge ourselves at the food kiosks in WS.

Our flight home is around 1 pm on Sat so we get to MCO a little early to have a last drink or 2 at which time we start planning next year's trip.

Bill From PA

 

[RocketCityMama]

We typically are down there for about 8 days with 6 or 7 park days depending on a lot of factors. However, even if we don't take a day off, we rope drop most days and take an afternoon break and head back to the parks in the evening. Some days we sleep in, swim and then hit the parks in the afternoon, others we rope drop and relax at the hotel in the evening.

This particular trip we are going for a total of 12 days and 10 park day tickets, we are doing 5 days of parks, 1 day off and 5 days of parks. We will take daily breaks, especially since many nights the park is open later. We still plan to rope drop most days but not all, but because we are there so long I am hoping we can have a little slower pace than when we got for just 6 days. We have 2 days alloted to each park right now and 2 flex days which will either be half day split between the 4 parks or just half days in general.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We go every 2-3 years or more. We go for 7-9/10 nights. I try to get the first flight out and be in Orlando by 9 am. We hit MK up once we arrive. We also always end with MK.

I switch up resorts every time. I don't like to do the same thing over and over again so doing the same resort year after year isn't something I want to do. We do PH tickets to cover everyday of our trip. We mix it up with RD days that have a midday break by the pool and then a PM park and late start days to shut down the park. Our "rest" day is hitting a park in the PM just for our FP+. We used to do complete rest days but my kids would be a bit bored by 6 or 7. Except when we stayed at the Beach Club. They stayed in the pool twice while we hit up Epcot. They LOVED SAB.

 

[loves to dive]

We don't have a routine per se or a set number of days, it all depends on prices for the resorts and days off. When I go solo for F&W I normally stay 5 nights. I have an AP so that is a park hopper. Since I'm there for F&W, a part of every day is spent at Epcot and the rest of the time I just hop around the other parks following whatever my mood is at the time. When I go with my adult son, we normally do 5 or 6 nights, he had an AP last year but it has expired. We always go to a park on arrival day, we drive down and get there between 2 and 3. If our room is ready, we drop our bags off and go potty then head out to a bus stop if we are not staying in an Epcot resort and just hop on the first bus to arrive. If we are staying in an Epcot resort, we walk over to Epcot. In either case, we grab a bite to eat at whatever park we end up at the just go with the flow. Sometimes we go to a park the day we leave, sometimes not. A lot of it depends on whether we are boarding his dogs or if my honey is keeping them. If we are boarding them we pretty much have to get up and get home since the place closes down at 5. If honey is keeping them, we will usually go to HS for one last ride on ToT. We have been known to only go for 4 nights at Christmas just to get us a Disney fix.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We go once or twice a year. Never for less than a week but in March we do two weeks. We might go to parks one or two days. And have been known to skip parks entirely. We are dvc members. Come for the resorts, the ambiance, the restaurants etc.

 

[rentayenta]

We live really close to Disneyland so our typical trips are day trips unless we use our DVC points to stay at the GCV and then we are there for the weekend. We just moved back to California last July. We visit the parks weekly. Its awesome!

For WDW, we have been 3x, last trip being 6 years ago. Our 3 prior trips were all 10 days (including travel days). We purchased DVC during our second trip. Best. Decision. Ever!

This next trip, finally, will be for 6 days/5 nights in August. This trip will be much shorter but it'll be just DH and myself which we are looking forward to. We will be celebrating our anniversary.

DH and I both have APs to DL/DCA so that makes things very nice! We don't typically park hop and most likely won't this trip but we'll see.

The last 3 trips were pretty much centered around the kids; the last being our middle daughter's bat mitzvah gift.

This trip will be much different and more focused on relaxing, eating, imbibing, riding a few rides, and maybe one rope drop for AK (still on the fence). I still envision midday breaks without RD though. Love our pool and resort time. The resort is a big part of our vacation no matter where we are and Disney is no different. This trip we will be at Kidani, savannah view. This is our favorite DVC resorts of the ones we have visited/stayed in.

Fun thread! Like seeing how everyone tours.

 

[Dawson'sMom]

8 nights is our usual trip (arriving on a Friday and departing on the following Saturday),
We love CSR and stay there on most of out trips. Our next trip overview looks something like this:
Arriving on Friday 11/30 in the evening and going to DS for dinner @ Ragland Road
Saturday 12/1- Hollywood Studios lunch @ Sci-Fi - Star Wars dessert party
Sunday 12/2 - RD Magic Kingdom lunch @ LTT - leave park late afternoon going to DS for QS and the VOID
Monday 12/3 - Epcot snacking/eating around the WS
Tuesday 12/4 - Animal Kingdom lunch and dinner QS
Wednesday 12/5 - Hollywood Studios dinner @ Mama Melrose sunset greetings
Thursday 12/6 - Animal Kingdom in morning after lunch break MVMCP @ MK in Evening
Friday 12/7 - Epcot late arrival San Angel Inn early lunch FEA Dessert Party
Saturday 12/8- Ohana Breakfast drive home

 

[Paul Rodgers]

My trips have varied so much in the past, but the way I like to do it is:
Either get there very early in the morning and MK on the first day or arrive late afternoon/evening and start the next day. I prefer the later.
Usually stay for about a week. Arrive/leave on the same day, maybe a day less.
Park Hopper Plus with Deluxe Dining
Have a day in the middle with not much planned.

 

[MikeNamez]

Usually stay 2-3 days max, maybe hit a park. I come more for Trader Sams and California grill than the parks. Every night at Disney Springs getting tipsy and then on to a 4-5 night Universal stay.

 

[dreamit]

We stay 8-9 nights. On the first day, we arrive at the resort mid-afternoon and either have a TS dinner planned or QS with a few hours at MK. With each new trip, the pace becomes more relaxed and we have fewer must-dos. The first few days we RD the parks with maybe one of those days being open to close. The others are either ending the park time near dinnertime or mid-day break and back to a park or a TS ADR at a resort restaurant. A few days in we have either a partial or full day away from the parks. In the past, on this "off" day, we've visited Universal, DD did the Pirates and Pals cruise, visited a waterpark, Disney Springs, and hung out at the resort pool. This year we're visiting a waterpark. Disney Springs doesn't interest me much because I don't have an interest in shopping on vacation other than the resort and park shops. The second half of the trip we have a few later starts at the parks and stay until close to take in the shows and fireworks or we have later starts because we're doing one of the parties.

 

[Newsies]

A week (check in Sunday, check out Saturday) at the beginning of August. We drive down (and stop overnight in Georgia), and typically arrive around 11 in the morning. Lunch at the resort (typically Poly), maybe head to Magic Kingdom. Next day Magic Kingdom, then Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom. We find an evening to do Disney Springs. We also reserve an evening to do something "special" once a trip, like a dessert cruise or a dinner show.

 

[LovingPooh]

We are DVC members. We normally stay 10-14 days at a time. We do not go into the parks until after 5:00 pm or if we do go in earlier it is for a dining reservation. We normally travel during the summer months. We sleep late, grab a quick lunch, outlet shopping, go to the pool, or whatever we decide to do for the day. We are counting down now... 34 days

 

[wisteria1019]

When I was a Florida resident and DVC owner, we would do two or three days. Now that I am back in Colorado, I couldn't come for less than eight nights. Depending upon arrival time, visit a park or just dinner and hotel time. Magic Kingdom is traditionally the park of choice on our first day. We typically have Hoppers, take an afternoon break. I am visiting solo for the first time this autumn, so am curious how that will look. I purchased an 8 day ticket for my ten days to ensure that I will do some of the non park activities that I intend to, but talk myself out of if I have an available park day.