What is you perfect amount of vacation days?

[BriarRose]

We are going to be going for 15 days this time. While I am not complaining at all, I was wondering what you consider the perfect amount? For me, it's 10 days. But I'll take the 15!

[henry.james.s]

10 days for me as well..enough time to do everything I want to do at a relaxed pace.
Relax..that's the key!!

[NJ Camper]

We are also staying for 15 days Oct 12-27 at FW we like to stay a min of 10 days we come from central NJ we take 2 days to get there and 2 days to get home after 4 days of traveling we like to go slow and take it all in we will spend some time in parks and some in the campground there is so much to do there alone plus we do go outside of disney also so 10 days is a min. we aren't going anywhere else this year due to gas prices so we thought we would still make our disney trip just instead of 10 days we would use the extra time we would spend on a second trip and make disney a 15 night trip

[DizneyRox]

14 days seems to be the sweet spot. This applies to cruises as well. We could that 7 days you're just getting used to the relaxed pace and don't quite miss home. At 14, you're done and getting back to real life is a welcome change. So much that it's not a shock to get back to work etc.

[chefmickey3]

10 seems best for us. We have done 6 and 7 night trips as well and find that we always rush because we don't want to miss something. When we do 10 we are not gone from real life too long but Disney starts to feel like home.

[Marilyn Michetti]

After a week, we're ready to come home. DH only gets a week. We go once a year, and we can do everything at WDW, plus Sea World, then go home and get ready for Christmas. It's enough.:mickey:

[elmjimmlm]

We will be there 7 days this year...I wish it would be about 30...:cloud9:

[joonyer]

Two full weeks with weekends (16 days) would be perfect for me. But I never get to take one that long.

[Madame Leona]

We usually go for 10 days but in my head I would rather go for 14 days.

[GrmGrninGost]

The more the merrier... I think! :mickey: Actually 9 days is the most we've been able to manage due to work and funds. But, I've always dreamed of 2 or 3 weeks at WDW on an unlimited (well, sort of) budget! I bet that would be a blast!

[Love of Disney]

The longer the better!! That is, if you can afford to go that long. It gives you the flexibility to do lots of different things as well as the opportunity to do those things a second time that you love!!
:cool:

[AHOTE]

Generally we do 9 days, this year will be 8 days, close enough. Fewer days make it seem too rushed and 9 feels just right. I've only taken two other trips which were once in a life time events, outside of WDW, that lasted 28 days and I didn't want to come home. :D

[Mousemates]

eight days, 3 times a year

[BritCody]

Our last 3 trips and our up coming trip in Oct. 08 have all been 10 days. I always feel that the longer the vacation the better

[Coach48]

10 days is just right.Can't stay away from my dog longer than that anyway.

[Tygger7]

Well, since there was no option for "never go back to work", I chose 13+ days. Anything less than 2 weeks, I find I don't totally relax and get rested up & refreshed. I think I was 4 days into our May trip before I finally got my brain to slow down. Plus, when you have to travel long distances you also need time to rest up from driving.

[LauraF]

I'm usually limited by how many vacation days I can take at any one time from work, so I usually go for 9 days, which if I place just right over a few weekends, ends up much longer.

I'm still trying to convince my boss to send me to one of those many annual conferences Orlando hosts - then I could go after work every day and still take another week. Aahhh, bliss! :mickey:

[KylesMom]

15 is the magic number for us - or at least all we can afford each year! :D We've been doing this number for several years now & can't imagine a shorter stay. DS and I still cry on that 15th day when it's time to say goodbye! :(

[dolphinmickey9170]

Well, since 365 was an option, I chose 13 or more. We really like to do a 14 day trip whenever possible. It's usually a 10 day trip, though because of hubby's city schedule.

[SBETigg]

I could stay forever, but that doesn't work for my family. Ten days works out to be the perfect time frame for us.

[tinkerbellybutton]

Our perfect trip is two full days for each park and a day off in the middle. :D

[DisneyCouture]

I wish I could get off of work 2 weeks in a row for vacation. I usually just do a week or when I get back to work I won't be able to see my desk. lol.:hide:

[Polynesian Dweller]

After 7 we've usually done everything we want to do on a given trip. At that point we're ready to go home. Don't want to do it to the point we wouldn't want to come back.:mickey:

[crazeedizneefinatic]

10 days 9 days in the parks works well for us. We have tried shorter trips and it just is too rushed. We like to take the time to enjoy the resort in the middle of the day and still see everything we want. I hate feeling like we have to stay in the parks to see everything we want. We did a 4 day quickie trip once and it was the biggest disappointment, it did not feel like we even went, I wanted to cry on the way home, and it cost almost as much as our 10 day trips. We did not save much. It seems our family only gets started around day 5-6. Don't get me wrong I will take Disney anyway I can get it but our annual trip better be 10 days, LOL.

[bruin1344]

7 days i usually accomplish everything

if decide to golfing, visit wide world of sports, or go outside the property, then i would need more days

[gwfx1031]

We have been good with 5-6 days. It is enough to be able to get away, see our favorite things and keep us wanting to come back for more the next time.

[Jasper]

Well, since 365 days a year was not an option I had to go with 13+. However, even though I say that we have NEVER been able to do more than 8 days as our longest. Unfortunately little things like life, work, school, and maybe most importantly money get in the way of us doing longer trips. And actually, our 8 day trip only came about because my company sent me to Disney World for a seminar and we took a few days in advance for a family vacation and then the family continued to vacation while I went to the seminar for 4 days.

I have seen some of you mentioning things like 8 days 3 times a year and I am just amazed at how anyone can afford to do that!

[BMan62]

We normally go for 8 days/7 nights, with the 8th day actually being about 1/2 day - we leave early afternoon.

This gives us a full day in each park, plus time to revisit anything we missed or want to do again, as well as time to spend in DTD. We don't do the water parks, so there's more time for the 4 majors.

[Bethis26fan]

about 6 for me. I don't do slow vacations (in or out of the disney) so that way I have a day to relax before heading back to work.

[thrillme]

Actually the perfect number of vacation days would have to be 365 :D

Alas we normally spend 8-10 days 2 weeks would be nice but I think we'd have several non-disney days in there like a trip to Universal and maybe St Augustine maybe even catch a show like the Blue Man group or Medival Times.

[MushuGrl]

Last year we did 7 days, which was perfect. We'd done everything we absolutely could not live without doing, and the last two days was spent doing our favorites over and over again (aka Buzz. And Pirates. And LF. And..uh...Magic Kingdom period.) :mickey:

[avantgardeinker]

We go for 9 nights, so I guess that's 10 days. We usually don't go to a park on check in or out days and we take a day in the middle to relax and do some shopping, so we get 7 day passes.

:mickey:

[katzctkpt]

7 for us. I think we'd go for more days if we could afford it but, we can't. Usually after day 6 I'm ready for home and to cook. Must be something wrong with me. :confused: Then after 2 days home I'm ready to go back.

[mom2morgan]

Wow, y'all go for long trips! The last time we went, we did 5 days and it was NOT enough. This year we're doing 8, and since we also want to do Universal/Seaworld/Discovery Cove I know it STILL isn't going to feel like enough.

[Red Randal]

Let me just say that I voted for 5 because that's about the limit of what I'd want to spend at Disney seeing as I go there quite often.

If I were planning a trip for someone who had never been to Disney before then I would recommend at least 7 full days to see "everything."

If you're asking how many days per year I'd prefer to be on vacation then the answer is, of course, 365.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

11 days. That way I have enough time to do everything that I want and some time to relax.

[mickey&missy]

I hate to say it but, I can't stay too long! On our last trip I kept saying I'd like to stay for 10 days next time. By the end of the trip I realized I could never! We needed to go home!

[Tigerinvestigator]

For some reason the number 4,211 came to mind! So I voted for 13!:thumbsup:

[dsnyfan001]

I am going to have to go 10+ days, I used to go for 2 weeks did disney and universal and threw daytona beach in, but realized the older I got after a week1/2 i was ready to come home. This year will be diff I am only going for 9 days really 8 my ninth is comin home:(. So I will see what is better lol.

[Ropachs]

We do 6 because we like to go during off-peak, but don't want to take DS out of school too long. Someday I'd LOVE to do 10!

[DizNee143]

i went with 9...its a perfect amount for me..but ill go whenever i can for how ever long i came..im not picky! lol :mickey:

[FromKnoxvilleto Disney]

I voted tem days buy would choose more if we slowed down a little. I seems like it takes me a few days just to wind down and get in vacation/relax mode. Then I only have a couple of days of fun enjoyment unless we stay 10+. About day 5 is when I really start enjoying myself.

[thumperbug]

our longest trips have been 8 days. I can always go for more but DH starts to get a bit frazzled. We also miss our darling puppy-love Thumper who unfortunately has to stay home.

[laward32]

Our first trip was for 6 days, but we got in about midnight the first day and left early on our last day. So we really only had 4 days for Disney and it didn't seem like enough time. Our last two trips have been for 8 days. That seems to be just enough time. I love WDW so I don't want to where myself or my family out. We definately get everything in we want to do in that time period.:mickey:

[LovinWDW]

I had to vote for the 13 days or more. We always do 14 nights each July (wife is a teacher so we're forced to do our long vacation in the summer months) We have also been going back every Oct for MNSSHP and staying 7-9 nights, which never seems to be enough. If I could get my wife to agree to it we would stay 3 weeks in the summer. Just can't get enough!

[dizneeat]

I voted 13+. We usually vacation for 30 - 44 nights :cloud9: in the US (not just Disney). This summer it is going to be 30 days and next year it's going to be 37 days. But we have to sit on a plane for more than 13 hours, so I think I would not go for any shorter period of time to make up for the looooooong plane ride.
If we vacation somewhere here in Europe we usually go for 15 - 23 days. :thumbsup:

["SULLEY "RULES!!]

My husband and I usually go for 10 days, but this year we're going for 12. ( 156 days and counting ):sulley::sulley::sulley::sulley:

Next trip: November 24 thru December 5th:turkey::santa:

[#1donaldfan]

For me the amout I'd prefer was not avail.....

......345 days for vacation at Disney
......20 days of work
......10 of those sick days
...... 7 of those federal holidays
...... that leaves 3 full days to work ......

sounds great to me, anyway !!:mickey:

[PirateLover]

Although I agree with everyone else that I could stay forever, I chose the standard 7 days because that seems to be what works out the best. It gives you enough time to get to each park multiple times as well as see additional things, and for the average joe, it's hard to leave your job for much longer than that. I was surprised at how many people go for 10+ days at a time. You are lucky! Maybe one day...:mickey::D

[dumbo ears]

I havent stayed for more than 3 days before so I dont have much experience with it. I think 5 would be a perfect choice because you could do 2 days in the park. have a chill day then 2 more

[JasonH]

2 days - AK
2 days - DHS
3 days - Epcot
3 days - MK
1 day - Universal Studios
1 day - Universal's IOA
1 day - DisneyQuest
2 days - Relaxation during day, special events at night
4 days - Travel time to WDW and back to home

Total: 19 days!!
This would be my perfect/dream amount of days for vacation and it would have to be done during Oct. when Halloween Horror Nights, MNSSHP and the Food&Wine Fest is going on. :cloud9: I've come very close only once before on a solo trip with a total of 15 days. Any of the family trips I've been on has always been around 12 or less. If I were to take that perfect vacation, first off it would be a solo trip. Why? B/c I'm not married nor have a g/f and fam that I normally go with couldn't take that much time off. Second, it would take a while to accumulate the vacation days and money to use, especially since my vacation days no longer carry over to the next year. :( But oh the fun I would have! :D:thumbsup:

[princessjojo]

All of our previous trips have been anywhere from 6-8 nights and I've always said I wanted 10 full days. Well this most recent trip, I got it. It was tough. Back ached, legs hurt, and feet will never forgive me. But much of it was because of some of the time constraints of other family. My youngest DSis could only stay for 5 days so we went comando style from Tues to Sat. If I had to do it over, I would do it again, but schedule parks 2 days, rest day by the pool, parks 2 days, rest by pool, etc... That would take a lot of the stress off the hustle and bustle of park life for us.

[Harriet]

If I could stay for a month at WL and not worry about money I be in heaven but that will never happen so I am contented with 8-10 days. I rather not go if I can't at least go for 8 days at least. I want to enjoy and have time to relax and not rush. This coming trip will be a 8 day trip although it may be longer if I decide to drive. No mather what it will be the best.:cloud9:

[pdrlkr]

15 days would great! :thumbsup: :mickey:

[garymacd]

You didn't have a choice for 365 days a year.

Neither do I. Guess I will have to wait another 6 or 7 years for that.

[Laughin' place]

We are just back (5/31 - 6/11) from an almost 12 day trip. I have been MANY times (altho this was the first time for my two stepsons and first time for my wife and I to go together). I am an obsessive planner, and this year's plan worked great. Our typical wait was 15-20 minutes, tops, and my only long wait was for Summit Plummet (45 mins to an hour). We stay on property, use EMH, and almost never miss a time saving trick.
This trip was great, but incomplete. My DW had mobility issues this trip, but was a real trooper. Consequently, we took it slow, let the teenage boys sleep in ( a waste of time, imho), and didnt really push. All that being said, our almost 12 days was NO WHERE NEAR enough. At my usual (killer) pace, 10-12 days is ok, but Id really like 14 or 15 to see and do it all

[DDuck66]

Since I have moved about an hour away, we find that we do not need as long to visit. We make lots of short day trips and hit our favorite parks. We also do not feel as pressured, since we always know that we can come back the next day or the next week.

[rnin02]

I would love to stay as long as possible, or move in or something, but after a while I do miss my bed, my stuff, it gets hard to pack for a really long trip, plus I start to worry about my "furbabies" back home. If I didn't have to worry about my cats and dog, I would probably get over missing my bed and deal with washing clothes on vacation. I think I voted for 10 days, we stayed 9 days on our honeymoon and an extra day or two would have been nice.

[Gator]

I've always done 8 days - 2 travel days and 6 days in the parks. This time I'm going with 10 days - 8 full days in the parks. I feel like I needed more time there, but I don't know how my kids will do. To be continued...

[Soul_Power]

During our first trip, we thought that 8 days would be enough to see everything - boy, were we wrong! The next time around (December 2009), however, we probably won't be hitting the water parks, so maybe 8 days will be enough for the parks alone. We'll see! :mickey: Mind you, I'm graduating college this December and he graduating last semester, so funds are pretty limited for us! :laughing:

[TheRustyScupper]

One more than you planned, and one less than going broke.

[Spaceship Tigger]

We spent 10 days at WDW on our honeymoon. That seemed liked the perfect amount. I like to visit each park several times and still have a couple of purely off days.

[Lizzie]

If I could plan my perfect Disney vacation and only plan on doing Disney it would be 15 days.

We always fly red eye out and get to the hotel and drop our stuff and go. I would love to get to the hotel that first day and do nothing. Especially with the kids. Than I would do the 10 day park hopper, and most days come back to the hotel for a swim and let the kids nap. So we can get up early for extra magic hours and stay late. Than I love the water parks so I want to visit both. And than we have never schedualed a day of nothing in the middle and I would like that one time.

A day of sleeping in and going to Downtown Disney and doing shopping during the day. Letting the kids explore that during the day when they aren't so tired.

And we usually fly out super early the last day,I would like to change that later in the afternoon so I can get up that morning to pack and let the kids play at the pool. Instead of staying up late the night before.

But we don't have a trip schedualed until 2011 so it will have been 4 years since our last trip so I am hoping that it will happen. With the cost of airfare we think it might be better to do longer trips and go less often. And inbetween that will do roadtrips to Disneyland.

[sleeping beauty77]

:mickey:Well , how I see it, is to make the long flight worth it . The more days the better. It's usually at least a 6.5 to 7.5 hour flight, and that's if you have a short layover. To cheap to get the non-stop flights.

[Flower]

The longer, the better! We sometimes stay in Florida for a month - thank god for Canadian mat leaves & my in-laws having a house in FL, we still spend several nights at WDW though.

I like to be able to relax and take our time, if we only want to do a half day, that is okay. If we want to take a day off - that is good too.

I find the 7 day trips rushed an exhausting, but if that is how we have to do it, then so be it!

[Camping Mom]

We never go on vacation anywhere as long as we do at Disneyworld. We go for 10 days usually...we get tickets for 8 - 10 days because we don't always go in the parks. My DH would be content to hang around Ft. W most of the time...so relaxing.

[Rayles]

14 plus

[RAIDER]

We normally go for 2 weeks in Dec and its never enough in Florida i think 21 days would be just right for me :cloud9:

[2Princesses4Us]

I voted for six... that gives us time to go to all the parks and do what is do-able with our children's ages (6, 3, and 1). I think two weeks would send me into overload! :mickey:

do you two-weekers have moments of too much family togetherness in such tight quartes? just curious....

[Kisobel]

as many as i can get off from work. and without going into bankrupcy.


kate

[LoriMistress]

DH and I did 11 days/11 nights. It was perfect for us. We were able to do most things we wanted to do at our own pace, and by the time we left we were starting to get a bit "tired" of WDW.

[Doug The Disney Man]

I have to say a minimum of 10 days. My ex would go with 5, but that is probably part of the reason she is my ex.

Here's my reasoning. I like to take my time and leave space for shopping, reriding, breakdowns (dang TestTrack!), character MnGs and people watching.

My minimums for the parks...

MK-2 days. This is a bare min. Just look at the map and you'll see about 70 things to do there. Plus dining, characters, parades, etc. If you have small kids (3-9), you will need more time here because so many of these things are for the kids. I'm changing the 2 days to 3 days having thought about it for a minute.

Epcot-2 days. If you like to eat in each country, you'll up this by a day or two. I like to spend one day in FW and one in WS.

DHS(is this the new abbr?)-2 days. I need at least one day to ride Tower of Terror! I would ride that all day. Plus, RNRC, Star Tours, the new Toy Story Mania looks awesome, and characters you can't find anywhere else. Plus, you have to coordinate the showtimes moreso here than at MK or anywhere else.

AK- 1 hour. Ha, seriously 1 day. I honestly do the safari, Bug's Life and Everest. Then leave. But, my son loves the animals after the train thing and in Asia (Jungle Trek), plus we always eat at Rainforest Cafe.

Waterparks- 2 days. I don't ever spend 2 whole days at BB and TL, but I usually go for 3 or 4 mornings plus at least one of the minigolfs near BB. BTW, BB is better if you have little ones since TL's wave pool is wicked.

DTD- 2 days. One of these is spent mostly at DisneyQuest which I like so much that I am always mad at myself for never having checked it out sooner. Then at least two nights at PI and most of the last day shopping at the Marketplace.

So that totals out to around 10 or 11 days. Of course, that assumes that you aren't going to spend any time at Universal (which I will now with the Simpsons ride), or IoA, or Busch Africa, or SeaWorld, or Cypress Gardens (does anyone still go there?), or CityWalk, or Daytona, or another beach, or Space Camp, or Gatorland, or the HolyLand Experience. Wow, there is a lot of stuff down there.

[Charlee]

To me the answer is to this question is how long is a piece of string? My family have just got back home from a 21 day vacation where we stayed in Disney property for the entire period. It will amaze people that in 21 days we did not do everything nor did we really try to.

It was a long, relaxing vacation, with plenty of rest breaks, repeats of favorite rides, using Extra Magic Hours on an evening then sleeping in the following morning. We did not spend a full day in the parks and did not tire ourselves out. Instead we went out in the morning, hit a certain few attractions, went back to Pop for swimming then returned to the park later in the day.

We'd definitely do 21 days again as it takes the first few days for us to get onto Florida time and we did everything that we wanted to do.

[texasteacher]

I can usually only afford a week but could stay for much longer if time and money allowed!

[Imagineer1981]

Will someone spot me some cash so I can stay more than 13 days? :thumbsup:

[DNS]

I went with 10 days. You can do all the parks at a leisurely pace, plus do some of the other fun things like golf or mini golf, rent a boat, hotel hop to check out restaurants and shops, rent a boat, go to a water park, or hang out at the pool. Of course I would not complain about longer trips either. :mickey:

[princessjojo]

Another thing I'm realizing is it really depends on the time of year. We're going back in about 2 weeks and it's less crowded than in June. But the parks have different hours this time, so we may try to make more early EMH this trip. We usually do evening EMH and sleep in late. Who knows. We won't be doing but 1 TS this trip as well. No dining plan as we will be able to make it on CS for the most part (I hope). It will only be 6 days but since we've already been this summer, we'll hit the highlights and make do with the rest.

[motherof4]

we have always gone to dw 11 days.It is nice but I always wanted to go for 14 days but haven't tried it yet. someday I hope to

[Daddy Mouse]

DW gets two weeks vacation a year. I am a teacher so the school calendar dictates when I can travel. We both agree that 10 days at WDW is adequate to quench our thirst for a year. We plan on becoming snowbirds after we retire.

[homeschool mom]

I voted for 10, but we have never gone for more than 6. I can't get DH to give me any more days. :( He used to only give me 5, so I'm happy with 6. We don't do the water parks so we are usually able to do all we want in the other 4.

35 days and counting! :minnie::mickey3:

[darthmacho]

I voted 13+days, but my three trips have been 8 or 9 days. If money was no object, I'd do a minimum two weeks a year, occasionally a month or more! :mickey:

[Dickson Thunder]

Seven Days and 6 Nights always seem the best for us. We usually leave on a Saturday and come home on Friday. That leaves a couple of
days to get things done and rest a little before going back to work.

[celestesmommie]

We go for usually 14 or 15 days in June which is usually perfect for our family. I can't complain though since I am getting a quick 7 days this December as one of my Xmas presents.:santa3:

[Mickey91]

We usually go 9 but 13 or more would be much, much better!:mickey:

[ASweetLov]

For me a week is perfect, but more or less days than that is great too as long as I am in WDW:cloud9:

[WDW24]

My family and I will be going in 3 DAYS!, for ten days and we think it is the perfect amount of time! :mickey:

[Diznee4Me]

Seven is good for us - not counting one day driving down and the day to drive home. We did add an extra day once so eight is ok also. :D

I build a lot of time at work but my DW doesn't. I accummulate three weeks a year and have nearly 12 carried over. I could go for three months! :cloud9:

[GrumpyFan]

I voted 7, because that's the most we've ever done. It gives enough time to hit every park including the water parks at least once and not be too rushed about it. And truthfully, after 7 days, I'm about ready to go home. We tend to stay late in the parks most every night, so after a week we're pretty tired.