How Often?

[sommer]

How often (on average) do you all go to Disney? We went last month on our first family trip, and I am dreaming of our next. Unfortunately I don't see it in our near future. We have a lot of other places on our "list" to visit. Not to mention that I don't like to take the kids out of school, and my parents go to AZ in the winters so I feel obligated to (& do really want to) visit them during the winter. Ahhhh... if only money weren't an issue - I think I would like to go at least once a year.

[TinkerbellT421]

DBF and I go once a year :) Usually every January. But next year we are going later in the year. We will be there in Dec. 2012. But thats the first time we will be going an extra 11 months to go. But we are planning a sea/land trip which will be a) more money b) more vacation time in a whole and c) christmas time. So then after that we will probably go back on our usual schedule :D

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We can only afford about once every 3 years:(

[cajunprincess]

I try to go 2 or 3 times a year. IF possible!:mickey:

[anneo]

I brought my husband for our honeymoon, and he's addicted. We have been married for about 2.5 years, and we're going for the 5th time since we've been married in 2 weeks.

[disneymom15]

Atleast 2 times a year.

[MariMouse]

Usually 3 times a year!

[SBETigg]

It was every five years, then it became every other year, and I keep trying to bump it to once a year but the family is not on board with it. We're probably not getting back for another few years now. There's a plan to see other places (which we do anyway, but moreso), plus tuition payments with two kids in college, and other things going on. I'll give the family a rest, but if I have my way, I will be back with my husband for a Food and Wine Fest trip in 2012, and then back to every other year after that.

[faline]

We used to go once every 3 years or so. We are now fortunate enough to be able to go at least twice per year.

[Momto3littlemice]

We have been going every other year. However, we may be waiting an extra year or two after March's trip (not counting our cruise in 2012) so DH can finish his tenure clock and we can figure out what's next for us. I really think every other year is a perfect amount. We NEVER get sick of it and we really look forward to it! :mickey:

[DizneyRox]

Pre 9/11 - 3 or 4 times a year
Post 9/11 - 2010 - Once a year
2011 - Forward - Not sure, nothing planned for Disney, soonest looks like late 2012 if it happens.

[rhonary]

We've gone 2-3 yrs in a row then took a yr off then went 2 in a row again...we have the same problem with the kids...not taking them out of school..so we go at the end of Aug its hot but hasn't been unbearable plus it was free dinning. We use our tax refunds to pay for the trip..runs about $3500...its like putting money aside for our trip and you don't spend what you don't have!

[JROriole8Fan]

We are fortunate. For the past decade we've gone 3 times a year. A week in the spring and two weeks each for the summer and Christmas. Now we have a place right behind MK and we have added 3-4 additional long weekends, so it's never more than 2 months until the next visit. The 900 mile drive can get tedious, but it saves so much for 4 people over the airfare.

[javamama]

Every year for us over the past 5 years, my kids love it and so does dh.

[ransam]

when i was a kid, went every year...didn't go back for a long time...went back in 1999, and then in 2005, and have gone back every year since then

[PETE FROM NYC]

During the 80s and 90s, we were averaging a trip every two years. We had an eight year drought because DW was care giver for her Mom.
We went in 2007, DW, myself, and her niece, and family.
After I retired in 2007, I wanted to do a drive down because we had never done it, and had no time constraints. So we did our first drive down in 2009, and wound up joining DVC. Now because we had our DVC points to use or lose, we drove down again in 2010.
To tell the truth, I don't think we enjoyed that trip too much because it was too soon after the previous trip. Its like going two years in a row spoils some of the magic.
The way we want to do it now is to go every other year to maximize our points and keep the magic alive.

[princessjojo]

As a child, it was the obligated childhood trip and a couple trips thrown in during highschool. As a parent, we prefer about every other year, but have gone twice in 1 year. As for our current trip, it's been 3yrs since we've been. It really depends on how the cash flow's going around the homestead...

[rjmdds]

How often (on average) do you all go to Disney?

Not often enough.

[magicman]

- We used to go about 1 time per year
- Then we had to scale it down to every other year
- Now it's scaled back to about once every 3 years

Would I like to go more often? Absolutely! We have a GREAT time on our trips; however, I am getting priced out of more frequent trips.

My recent trip to WDW was $5k (for my family of 6 to: fly, stay 5 nights at a Value resort during the January value season, eat, and purchase minimal souvenirs).:spend:

We had a wonderful vacation, but I am worried that if prices continue to rise, our frequency might further diminish. :sad:

[RedSoxFan]

We have been going every couple of years. And now that my daughter will start high school (boys are in/out college); it will be harder to take her out of school. She's a 3 sport athlete and taking time out from HS sports will not work. So it may be after she graduates before we go back.

[Tygger7]

We try to go every other year now...but hoping to make that more frequently now that our DD is heading off to college. :mickey: She is planning to do the college program with Disney, so we'll have an even better excuse to visit.

[Wayne]

I guess that I'll be the unusual one here. It has been 8 years since we were last at WDW and I don't see a family trip headed back there anytime soon, although DD might go on the senior trip to Grad Night in 2012.

Do I miss it? Yes. Up until I married in 89 (we honeymooned at WDW), I would make the trip twice a year on average. However, we have decided as a family that we want to experience more than what we can get with Disney. I don't mean that as a slap at anyone who goes frequently.

Our family vacation time is precious to us. Stress-free downtime is priceless. Having to plan meals 6 months out is just one thing that makes no sense to me and would detract from what I want a vacation to be.

[GrmGrninGost]

We try to go at least once a year. If finances allow we go 2 or 3 times. WDW is the place my wife and I enjoy the very most, so why not go there? :mickey:

[brownie]

Not often enough! We're thinking about Disneyland in 2012 and Walt Disney World again in 2014. We'll have to see what happens. 6-7 years between trips to Walt Disney World is a long time!

[AllDisney]

We first began going every 4 years but soon that plan was no longer in effect:secret:

We go when we can afford it and fortunately for us that happens pretty often:mickey:

[Narawen]

We have a somewhat odd pattern. We wait 4-5 years between visits, but then go 2 years in a row. That first trip always gets me anxious to go back, but after the second we just fall away for a few years. I'm hoping in the future to bump it up to every other year, since there are still many other places I want to see, but Disney just feels like a second home.

[Ian]

We're going less and less as the years go by, our family increases in size, and the prices keep going up and up.

It helps that we've bought into DVC to give us some level of certainty around accomodations, but that doesn't help with park admission and food. The cost of both annual passes and the DDP has gone up significantly in the past couple years and with another child (DS4) now old enough to need a dining plan and an AP it's getting price.

And then there's airfare which, for a family of six, is a big expense. And now with fuel costs skyrocketing, it looks like airline tickets are going to shoot up too. We're actually going to drive this next trip to save some cash.

But anyway to the point ... when we were a family of three we used to go anywhere from three to five times a year. When DS was born, we cut back to more like two to three times a year. Now that the twins were born, we're looking like we'll be once or twice a year max. Probably once barring some miraculous turn in our financial situation. ;)

It's not all money, though. Some of it is also time off. I swtiched jobs back in '08 and at my old place I had like six weeks of paid time off. At my current job, I have a little less than four. And DW has even less, so ...

[joonyer]

We have only been to able to go about once every other year, even though we live relatively close (5 hours driving). That's about all we could fit into our family budget, and as our boys got older our schedules. With more extracurricular activities (band, sports, church trips) there were less and less opportunities for us to go except in the middle of summer (without missing school), and I don't really have the desire to experience those crowds in that heat and humidity again. Been there, done that. We will probably go again next year, October, 2012.