I have a work meeting May 3-5 at one of the Resort propertities and am bringing my husband, as we've never been to WDW in 25 years of marriage and many other travels. We are thinking of staying on through the weekend, and purchasing 7 day passes to everything. We will want downtime. Also, we will want/need to switch to a much less expensive property. Is 7 days too long on site? Any advice appreciated.

I have a work meeting May 3-5 at one of the Resort propertities and am bringing my husband, as we've never been to WDW in 25 years of marriage and many other travels. We are thinking of staying on through the weekend, and purchasing 7 day passes to everything. We will want downtime. Also, we will want/need to switch to a much less expensive property. Is 7 days too long on site? Any advice appreciated.

Seven days is not too long on site, especially since you won't be able to devote your whole day for the parks and attractions, while you have meetings. If you need or want to transfer to another on-site resort, you can easily arrange for Bell Services to transfer your luggage to your new hotel when you check out, then just check in to your new hotel. I just took my parents for their first Disney World trip, and they were just astounded by the scope and sheer size of the place, and they did not even get to every park. Book some of your meal reservations at some of the hotel restaurants-there are many very good, and romantic places to eat. Even if you spent over 12 hours a day, for seven days doing park activities, you would not get to do and see everything, so don't try.

Seven days may be enough to decide what you want to do on your next trip.

A reasonable schedule includes at least two days each at Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and at least a day and a half each at the Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

The rest of the time involves two water parks, five full-size golf courses, four miniature Golf Courses, a major shopping and evening entertainment area, an indoor theme park, and over 20 themed resorts/hotels. Plus other stuff to see and do.

Remember, this is twice the size of Manhattan; do you think you could do one borough of New York City properly in a week?!

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it's a good thing I recently trained and walked in a half-marathon! I will purchase a guide book and plan an itinerary. I am truly starting at the very, very beginner point, and look forward to an exciting week!! It's only a month away!

Make any other hotel reservations you need right away, if you have not made them. Also, call ASAP, as in tomorrow, to make any table service reservations you may want, and expect to find limited availability. Be flexible with your meal times, as in lunch at 2:30 or dinner at 8:30. Many people have made their meal reservations up to 6 months prior to the first day of their vacation, if they are staying on-site. You may have better luck at some of the hotel restaurants, especially places which are not geared to families with kids. I would suggest Artist's Point at the Wilderness Lodge (take a bus to the hotel from any park or Downtown Disney, a boat from the docks right outside the Magic Kingdom, or a taxi from your hotel), or Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, by bus or taxi. Or Flying Fish at the Boardwalk, because you can walk there from the International Gateway at Epcot.

GASP! Too much? . . . Disney? . . . Never! ;)

Is 7 days too long? I went for 5, and there is A LOT I did not get to see. I will be there for 7 and I hope to see everything that I missed, as well as the new stuff that has been added since then.

I don't think 7 days is too long - heck, I've got 9 days coming up in June!

Actually, this is my daughter's first trip to WDW and my only previous trip was about 15 years ago, so it's like my first trip too.

We live in Hawaii, so more likely than not we won't be returning anytime real soon, since it's easier (and cheaper) to go to DL. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to visit the parks, hence the 9 days.

I figured a day at each park, a "free" day and then 4 more park days. Then we go to Universal for a couple more days before going home. Can't wait!

I don't think 7 days is too long - heck, I've got 9 days coming up in June!

Actually, this is my daughter's first trip to WDW and my only previous trip was about 15 years ago, so it's like my first trip too.




Me too:)

We are going for 8 days in a month and I'm worried it's not enough time. We are only doing Disney Parks.

I would say that 7 days is the bare minimum you need in WDW. Have fun!

My preference is 10 days... there is wayyyy too much to see and do. I was just there for 4 days and BARELY skimmed the surface.

We're going 8 days and I feel like it's not enough. It's our first trip to WDW. Living in Los Angeles, I've been to Disneyland tons of times (last trip was on March 31st) Hoping to make one more trip before our WDW trip (maybe 20th of April). I can't get enough of Disney. People at work call me Disney freak, but they have no idea that there are bigger and better freaks than me.
Anywho back to what we were discusing. I agree that 7 days is good to plan your next trip and please, please make your reservations soons. We have Artist point on our first day there.

I agree with a thread above, 10 days is pretty close to perfect, although I bet I could "handle" a 14 day stay! 10 days gives you plenty of time at the parks, plus a couple of days to do whatever, from water parks to DTDisney/Disney Quest etc. Is 7 days too long? Noooooooo; if anything, it is toooo short.

I agree with a thread above, 10 days is pretty close to perfect, although I bet I could "handle" a 14 day stay! 10 days gives you plenty of time at the parks, plus a couple of days to do whatever, from water parks to DTDisney/Disney Quest etc. Is 7 days too long? Noooooooo; if anything, it is toooo short.

Perfectly stated!

GASP! Too much? . . . Disney? . . . Never! ;)


HEHEHE, that's was I was thinking.

You said you wanted down time. Please use that time to see the local area such as Mt. Dora, FL. ,about 45min by auto. They have some great restaurants and the antique shopping is some of the best in the US.