Originally Posted By RabbitRules My husband and I have taken the kids (2 girls) to Disneyland every year for the past seven - we would like to take them to Disney World - but boy is it a whole other ball game planning for WDW. At first we wanted to go as long as possible (who knows if and when we would get back)but now we find you can only buy a 10 day ticket - so it seems longer isn't going to be affordable. How long of a trip do you need to really get to see MOST everything - probably impossible to see everything even if you live close by. We are looking at going when school is out - so either summer time or Christmas vacation. We are leaning toward Christmas - to get to see all of the holiday extras. Any advice would be appreciated!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip If you can, I would avoid either the Summer or Christmas vacation. The Summer has large crowds and unbearable weather. Christmas vacation has nice weather but unbearable crowds. Of the two I guess I would choose Christmas vacation, but realize that you will spend a lot of time standing in line and dealing with crowds. Of course it varies for everyone, but my favorite length of vacation at WDW is 9-10 days. The longest I've been was 12 days and by the end I was more than ready to go home. If you do want more than a 10 day vacation you might want to buy an annual pass. A 10-day hopper with no expiration costs $479.25. An Annual Pass costs $477.12. Clearly you get to the point where an annual pass is a good idea. Please note though that the 10-day hopper with expiration 14 days after first use is only $287.55 -- considerably cheaper than the annual pass. My suggestion would be to go for 10 days. You would never see everything in one trip no matter how long it was. If you are dealing with Summer or Christmas crowds you will probably be more than ready to leave after 10 days anyway. My preferred length of stay during those times of the year is 5-7 days. If I stay much longer than that I would usually prefer to be home having a root canal. ;-) Whatever you decide to do… have fun!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo My prefered length of time would be about 10 days. Remember, WDW is so huge, you would have to stay for months to do everything. But 10 days is a good time to experience the key attractions. I try to avoid the main school vacations like the plague as the whole of the world seem to decend on WDW. But if you cannot avoid it, then Christmas is preferable (the weather in FLA in the summer is unbearable IMHO). But school vacation time the waits will go from 15 minutes to about an hour for a lot of attractions. Also, you will have to plan ahea and book table service restaurants 180 days in advance to avoid disappointment. Have a great time - personally if you can yank the kids from school, do it. I find Epcot and Animal Kingdom will probably teach them more than they will learn in a classroom.
Originally Posted By RabbitRules Wow - thanks for all the great input. How is the third week of March (the week before Easter Sunday) - the kids have Spring Break - is the weather and crowds a little more bearable? If you had your choice, would you go the week before Easter, beginning of summer, or Christmas? Many Thanks!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Easter used to be the busiest season, not sure now. I personally do not go to Disney during school vacations as I do not enjoy it due to the crowds. But if I HAD to go during school vacation (I would not, I'd pull the kids), then Christmas would be my choice. Just be super prepared for the crowds. And I mean they are huge!
Originally Posted By crazyformickey I went to Disney in March this year. We were there for about 12 days. The first week it was busy but not that bad. Most ride times were about 30 mins and it was easy to get around. The second week it did get very crowded and on Friday (the Friday before the week before Easter) It was so crowded we left the park early as it was hard to get around and very hot. Spring break is tough, if it is the week before or after Easter it is almost as bad as Christmas. As far as how many days??? If you have never been to WDW 10 seems to be the best. Most of my trips have been 7 days and I have been able to see quite a bit. If you are looking to do water parks, golf, downtown Disney etc... you will really need the extra days.
Originally Posted By seafairy1622 I have kids in school so have to go on their breaks. We went last July. It was so packed. Some of the fast passes would be all gone by 2:00. It was so hard to get a stroller through the crowd. We went the 2nd week in June, in 2005 and it was much better crowd wise. There was alot of people, but it wasn't jammed with people. So many rude people! ( we experienced in July.) It's DW your supossed to be happy! Even star wars weekend at MGM (in June.) wasn't as bad as July. Although the star wars store was packed, but we were there a couple days earlier and it was fine. I will never go in July again.
Originally Posted By sun-n-fun I may be in the minority and I've never been to WDW during Christmas (but plan to eventually). But compared to other times we have gone (Feb break, Spring break, and July) I've found Aug the past 2 year to NOT be as busy. I realize that "busy" is relative to what you are used to, but compared to other school breaks, it wasn't too bad. Other that a 120 min wait for Soarin' (we did not wait BTW) the waits were very bearable. It was extrememly hot - even for me and I love the heat so we were back at the CB by 3 for a swim and dinner and returned to the parks later. Other days we slept in a relaxed in the am and enjoyed the parks after 3 (FYI - no FP available). Since FL schools are starting in Aug that is a great time for us to go. We don't start school here until after Labor day. I'm sure there are other times of the year that are far less crowded, but we kept commentin gon how slow it seemed to us. Would love to see the holiday decorations sometimes........
