Length of trip vs distance from Orlando

[fbarker]

We did an 11 night trip in 2018 and drove down - added 2 days each direction for driving ( and 1 overnight hotel each way ) so the whole trip was 13 nights long.

We live 1200 miles away.

We are also from the same area and we do it a bit different, a bit slower. We driver making it to Chattanoogta a area the first day. We then make it to Ocala. We leave Ocala at about 8am and are in our first park at WDW my 9:30ish. We then stay Sat-Thursday leaving on Fridday morning and making it back to Chattanooga. This is sometime a hugh challenge as we try to get through Atlanta area in under 3 hrs!!

 

[wilbret]

We are also from the same area and we do it a bit different, a bit slower. We driver making it to Chattanoogta a area the first day. We then make it to Ocala. We leave Ocala at about 8am and are in our first park at WDW my 9:30ish. We then stay Sat-Thursday leaving on Fridday morning and making it back to Chattanooga. This is sometime a hugh challenge as we try to get through Atlanta area in under 3 hrs!!

We live in Atlanta area, so we always leave for vacations in the evening, if we can't beat rush hour(s). That puts us at WDW around midnight in most cases, but you can typically go directly to your room, and it's nice waking up there, ready to go. Kids sleep en route, roads aren't busy, it's an easy drive to make.

 

[skippytx]

We fly from Texas, so we like to stay for 7 to 9 nights if possible. Plane ticket pricing often influences how long we stay.

 

[agamble]

We tend to stay at an express pass hotel when we go to Universal, but not every time. We’ve never experienced crowds and waits there like at WDW lately. (New rides excluded). Universal has single rider lines on most attractions (not all). On last visit, we didn’t have express passes, the week of Christmas, and we walked on Hulk and Rip Ride Rocket several times in a row.

Point being, don’t be scared away. Even with crowds, it’s a nice change of pace.

Oh, and don’t rule out SeaWorld! Great coasters there, and many hotels offer free Quick Queue!

Happy Disney-or-other-ing!

Thank you. I am considering putting Universal back on our agenda. Problem is I've already planned out so much of the June trip that finding time for it is hard now. We have time at the end, but I know my mom will be annoyed if we go to Universal without her and she is leaving before us. LOL. I was looking at Sea World last night. It looks interesting. We were going to go to the CA Sea World this summer when we were in San Diego area, but then Disneyland had LOW crowds, so we rearranged our trip and ended up at Disneyland for a couple days. It was great! We have a time share, so we don't need hotels. It is nice to have that paid for and have all the space, but there are some things you miss out on when not staying at the resorts.

 

[MomOTwins]

I’m starting to understand how people say they are priced out if Disney if they expect to stay two weeks at a time! We have only ever done 3-4 park days. Even though I know that after 5 days the per day ticket cost is less, 5 days alone is too pricey for is, and then you have to pay another day of hotel and dining as well for each additional day which adds up to a lot even without a ticket.

 

[Kaadk]

I’m starting to understand how people say they are priced out if Disney if they expect to stay two weeks at a time! We have only ever done 3-4 park days. Even though I know that after 5 days the per day ticket cost is less, 5 days alone is too pricey for is, and then you have to pay another day of hotel and dining as well for each additional day which adds up to a lot even without a ticket.

Agreed, if you're adding to the overall length of the trip, then yes, the park ticket days is barely a drop in the bucket of your overall costs. But for those that are planning on a set period of time, like say, a Sat-Sat trip, the difference between getting only 5 park days with a non-park day and getting 6 park days is minuscule, since the cost of the hotel and food are things you'd be paying for anyways, whether you went in the park or not.

 

[disneypaws]

We are >4000 miles away in Scotland and usually stay in Florida for 2 weeks though almost always spend part of that on the gulf coast somewhere. We also travel elsewhere during the year to other parts of USA and Europe, as well as within the UK.

 

[disneycat321]

We're about 2800 miles away in CA. With the cost of the airfare and the fact that we lose basically an entire day on each end due to flight time and the time change on the way there, I don't think we'd ever do a trip to WDW that's under 7 nights. We've done 7, 10, and 8 nights. WDW is an every few years thing for us. We are only about 450 miles from DLR, so we go there more frequently, and usually for only 2 days or so - a long weekend type trip.

I also love national parks (American and Canadian), and CA is ideally situated to visit many of them. So I've taken a few road trips to those and plan to take more.

I'm a teacher, so lots of time off but not during low seasons. DH has limited PTO, and has to use some of it to visit out of the area family for holidays, so we couldn't take a ton of vacations even if money were no object.