One long trip vs. two ore more short trips: the ultimate debate

We used to go and spend a week at a time and enjoyed it immensely.

Now, it seems to take less time to see our favorite things and I don't feel we need as much time. Our last couple of trips have been 4 or 5 days and I really like that. I'd much rather do those more often.

Last summer we spent four nights at OKW, then went to the REAL Key West for four nights. For the most part, I expect thats the way we'll do it in the future.

I really do enjoy taking several small trips. I'm the type of person who wants to have my next Disney trip booked before I leave the hotel on the current Disney trip, and the only way I can afford that kind of behavior is to do a bunch of little trips. Plus, it's easy to get more time off of work if you go over long weekends several times a year instead of using up all of your vacation days over a couple of weeks.

I guess it depends on how often you can--or want to--travel to WDW. If you're the kind of person who will travel to WDW every year and/or if WDW is the only place you ever vacation, then I think you can afford to take more frequent, shorter trips. You've already done everything there is to do there, so you know what you like and what you don't like, and you can afford to skip some things sometimes.

It might also depend on what or who you're leaving behind. If you've got kids and you're leaving them at home with someone else, it might be hard to stay longer than a few days. Same if you're going without your spouse. Or if you have a job or business that you can't leave for very long.

However, if you don't get there very often, you'll want to maximize your experience, and so I think you want your trip to be longer. Or at least, that's how I feel about it. I have only been there once, and it had to be a short trip by necessity: 4 nights and 3 days. Because I'd never been there before, I wanted to cram in as much as possible, and the result was that I visited 4 parks plus downtown disney in that time period and was thoroughly exhausted at the end of the trip. I will never be the kind of person who only vacations at WDW or goes there every year. There are too many other places I want to see.

My next trip in May will be 7 nights and 8 days. That will give me plenty of time to do everything, and also have some downtime to relax. There's nothing worse than coming home from my vacation so tired that I feel like I need another vacation to recover from it. And yet, that is so often the case with me. I've never taken such a long vacation alone, so I'm excited to see if spending a week there takes care of that problem, or if I am incapable of relaxing on a vacation and will just spend 8 days running myself ragged instead of 3. I probably need to build in nap times every day, like a little kid.

I'm with you there! Back in the old days, when there was only the Poly, Contemporary & (then known as) the Golf Resort, I used to come home from a trip and immediately make reservations for the next trip. Back then you had to make them up to a year in advance anyway.

I always like having that date in the back of my mind, knowing I could put it on a calendar and count it down!

That's always been a huge plus of WDW. It's less stressful in several ways:

1.)
You don't stress about "finding your way around" and things like
that. Even if you're a neophyte, you can find things pretty
easily. (Except when you're driving)

2.) You don't stress about having to see everything. If you miss something, it's not like you missed the Louvre.

Probably the most likely cause of stress is other guests, as Jim points out in the Bad Experiences page.

Such good points, SF. If you're at WDW several times a year, you just don't need to ride Pirates of the Caribbean every single time (for example...). Plus, there are so many other things to do and see at WDW that you're able to make substitutions when you know you'll be back soon.

And, yep, I build naps in just about every day. I like to be at the parks bright and early, and then take advantage of evening parties/EMH when I can, so my typical day does include a nap pretty much every afternoon. It's the only way I can stay "magical."

Also, your point about who and what you're leaving behind (kids, spouse, pets, work, home business, etc.) is a really important one. DH and I go to Disney World together, but we've never been comfortable leaving our pets for very long (especially when they get older).

Personally, I like to take several shorter trips versus one long one. Like you said, when you get back home you're always anticipating your next visit. If you only go for one long trip per year, it's a LONG stretch between visits. If you take two or three short trips it may cost more but I find you're much happier all year long .

Can I have a lot of long trips?!? No? Dang...

Pets. Yeah. That was why my last trip was so short. My cat was elderly, and I just didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone for too long. She was really attached to me (and vice versa) and I knew she'd be freaked out that I wasn't home at night. She has since passed on, so I no longer have to worry about anyone back home.

I always like the longer trips. I love the feeling of when you first get there and know you're not leaving for quite a while. I think the only time I went for a brief trip, we called and tried to stay longer and EVERY resort was sold out. (Or so we were told)

Since this thread went up, I've thought about this a LOT. Having done Disney as long as I have and seen as much as I have, I've got to go with the shorter trips. I remember that terrible dread after being there a week of knowing you're going home.
Now, after four or five days and having done everything I want to do, I'm more appreciative of having been able to do it.
Its probably a combination of being used to the experience, as well as knowing with the shorter trips it won't be that long until we go back.
Having Southwest Airlines (and traditionally cheap airfare) out of Nashville has probably helpe too!

Absolutely! I don't know what I'd do if I had to deal with no direct flights to Orlando!

And those short trips are great when you just need a little relaxation break. Knowing that you're coming back sooner rather than later makes it easier to leave (and also make it feel like work is just "what you do between Disney trips")

SWA is the best. You can make plans at the last minute and not be penalized. Rates are generally pretty reasonable even at the last minute.

Ahhh.. and in the good old days, when people just started buying tickets on the internet, you could get a free ticket with every FOUR purchased on the net. I don't guess I bought a ticket for my wife for years.

I'm waiting for the days when no frills airlines in the US are as cheap and easy as they are in Britain and Europe. Easyjet is cheaper and easier than the bus!

I've jaunted all over the place on Southwest. There' s a reason why they are the only airline making money. So much better of a business model. Just the fact that they use the small airports in cities makes it SO much easier to be on-time.

Yeah Southwest's "Raipd Rewards" program is probably it's least compelling feature. I fly AA a ton and having status on there is really nice, while SWAs "Buy 10 Get One Free" is not nearly as nice. That being said, Southwest is still great.

And they've modified it so that they black out dates now. They used to allow you to take any seat, any time. Not any more.

And as much as I enjoy them, there ARE subtle changes in the past few years. They used to be a lot more fun, and now it seems more like 'business as usual'. Oh well, gone are the "hot pants days" of the early 70's!