Skip to Content

Top 5 Reasons to SKIP a Weeklong Disney Vacation!

Top 5 Reasons to SKIP a Weeklong Disney Vacation!

Weeklong trips to Disney World are not always the best option! Read on to find out what tends to work better instead.

Walt Disney World Vacations

Credit: Maggie

When we think about a traditional vacation, we often envision a weeklong (or longer) trip away from home to the destination of our choosing. A weeklong Disney vacation seems, on the surface, to be the perfect length of time for a stay. With a weeklong trip, you can comfortably visit each of the four Florida parks at least once. You can also build in rest days to enjoy your resort, Disney Springs, the Boardwalk, or other great spots on property. But, is a weeklong stay at Disney truly the best option?

I (Jaelyn) have visited Disney several times over the last few years. I’ve completed stays as long as two weeks on property and as short as just over 24 total hours. Through these experiences, I have definitely nailed down what I believe to be the perfect length of a Disney stay: a long weekend. My favorite version of the Disney long weekend is to fly out after work on a Thursday night and to return home on a Sunday evening, leaving Friday and Saturday as full vacation days and Sunday morning as a half-day of Disney fun!

Read on to find out why the Disney long weekend is truly the best option for most visitors!

#1: Money Savings

Credit: Maggie

First, and most obviously, visiting Disney for a long weekend will save you money in comparison to traveling for a week or more. When traveling for a long weekend, you spend less money on hotel room accommodations, food, park tickets, souvenirs, and other “extras.” Even though you will likely pay the same price for flights or travel for a shorter trip versus a long trip, there are several great strategies for saving money on flights, including using credit card points, flying on a budget airline without any extras, and more.

For comparison sake, I spent significantly more money on my weeklong trip to Disney’s Boardwalk Villas versus my long weekend to the Grand Floridian, even when calculating other expenses. I am an Annual Passholder, so I did not have ticket prices to include. Even after calculating the additional cost of tickets to Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party, I still came out significantly ahead on my long weekend trip budget-wise.

#2: Calendar Flexibility

Credit: Susan

Long weekend trips to Walt Disney World also allow for greater calendar flexibility. For a weeklong trip, most travelers would have to take an entire week off of work. A long weekend allows individuals to really only take one day off work, leaving for less disruption to daily lives.

Many individuals may also find it easier to take a Friday or Monday off of work randomly at different times throughout the year. This allows for guests to visit the parks at different points of the year and maximize time during some of Disney World’s “slower” seasons. In 2022, I took long weekend trips in January, August, and December. Our August trip was particularly low in crowds, as we traveled after many schools had already returned to class for the year.

#3: Less Exhaustion

Credit: Maggie

One of the best reasons for booking a long weekend versus a weeklong trip is that both adults and kids alike always seem to have more energy on a weekend versus a full week trip. On a long weekend, my kids are always “fresh” and don’t get as worn out and exhausted as they do after a full week, even when we plan plenty of rest days and pool time.

During our two week trip this summer, both of my kids were exhausted into the second week, even after we spent significant amounts of time relaxing and recharging at our resort.

I tend to find that it is difficult for my family to do more than 2 full park days in a row without significant rest. On a long weekend, we have just enough time to get in the things we want to do and then rest as we travel back home.

#4: Easier to Plan

Credit: Jaelyn W.

Long weekend trips are also much easier to plan than weeklong (or more) visits. I find myself choosing to prioritize one or two parks to focus on during shorter trips and tend to structure my visit around a particular event (like Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party or EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts).

It isn’t possible to do EVERYTHING on any trip, especially on a long weekend. I personally feel like knowing that it is impossible to do everything on a weekend makes me create more realistic and less pressured plans for my visit. Even though this sounds counterintuitive, I truly feel like I take a more “relaxed” pace on shorter trips than I do on weeklong trips where I feel like I need to fit everything in.

#5: More Varied Trips (and more trips in general!)

Credit: Susan

To piggyback off of the last reason, shorter trips lead to prioritization, which makes each trip unique. A long weekend focused on After Hours events at the Magic Kingdom feels very different than a weekend trip spent focusing on Fantasmic! showings and Hollywood Studios, for example.

As my family visits the parks frequently, we really like to focus our trips on something unique each time to make different memories each time we visit. Short trips allow us to do this more easily! And, in all honesty, short visits allow us to visit more often in general. To connect to the previous points, shorter trips and less time off work lead to more more saved and more vacation days to visit again!

Overall, long weekend trips to Disney World work best for my family for the reasons listed above. Do you prefer shorter trips or do you like longer trips to Walt Disney World? What is your preferred vacation style? Comment below and be sure to share this post with whomever you are planning your next trip!


Discover more from KennythePirate.com

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Mary M Mcwilliams

Thursday 16th of March 2023

We go for 6-8 nights and now only do 1-2 Park days. We love relaxing at the pools, exploring all the on-property resorts, people watching, and fun/food at Disney Springs. This works perfectly for us. That said, I'd like to try this option you use at least once!

Brogan

Monday 13th of March 2023

You're insane! Two days of parks and traveling over 4 days? There's no way possible you can enjoy that experience. I go for 10 days of a minimum and two weeks to 4 weeks for a nice leisurely vacation. I have completely avoid the parks on weekends when everybody else is there. Monday through Friday is so much better. Maybe your travel style is perfect for somebody who's working all the time and has no life. But for the rest of us, your expectations are completely out of whack. But I'm glad you got the writing credit.

Jennifer Thompson Brigman

Thursday 9th of March 2023

We have done this for years. Although, we don't always do a weekend. Because I'm a teacher, we have a few weeks where we can go for 3 nights and then come home. (Sometimes mid week.) Now that two of my kids are in college, it's easier to plan around their Friday or Monday at home for a long traditional weekend if they want to join us. The cost factor is the original reason we started doing this years ago. But, then we came to like it. We also find that we like picking two main parks to enjoy and hitting the others for smaller, more targeted things. It works well for my family.

Rebecca vocino

Wednesday 8th of March 2023

I absolutely agree with you 100%. I was just telling a friend the same thing. We visit frequently and we’ve always done weeklong trips. I’ve recently just done a long weekend and it was perfect!

Heather

Wednesday 8th of March 2023

Yep, would love to do a few small trips per year, but can’t afford the crazy airfare prices. Lucky to go down just once, so stay as long as is feasible.

If we could drive or our airfare was cheaper, would totally be on board with your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from KennythePirate.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading