Tell Me the Pros and Cons of 3-day trip

[kclark9830]

Hi everyone. I'm trying to think through the pros and cons of planning a 3-day trip for next November. I've never been for less than a full 7 days, and we usually go 9 days. So I'm just really unsure how well I would do with such a short jaunt. Here is what I sort of kind of have in mind.

• Fly in on Monday, hang at resort, eat dinner at the new meal with Snow White (though it won't be new by then!)
• Tuesday hit Disney Springs, then go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night
• Wednesday fly home

It would be me and my 9 year old daughter. I will use credit card reward points to pay for the party tickets AND the hotel room, so all I'd be paying for was flights and whatever we ate.

But, will it be very dissatisfying to not be able to experience more when we don't get to go very often? Our trips have panned out to be roughly every 2 years. This would happen to be an in-between year, as we just went earlier this fall. Should I save our points and use them toward a bigger, longer trip the following year?

Oh, the agony.

I appreciate any viewpoints and input in helping me decide!

 

[JETSDAD]

If you were able to do 3 park days then I think it could be worthwhile but all of that for basically one half day in park I personally wouldn't do.

 

[MinnieMom85]

Are you able to get a good deal on flights? If so, it sounds like a great little break and a way to get a good disney fix!

 

[Kathleen Zwally]

We do 3 nts for MNSSHP and it's not disappointing because we know that's the trip we are planning.

Day 1 arrival, resort pool, nice dinner
Day 2 Park day 1 day ticket
Day 3 brunch, pool time, MNSSHP 4-12
Day 4 depart

 

[greenmom2b]

We usually go three to five days every year with one trip longer at eight days a few years back. I go with my daughters. We love the mommy and me time... I truly wish now that my oldest is about to turn 14 that we had gone more often. That age is so short where things are magical for them! Go and enjoy! The short trips are good except for the sticker shock per day cost so my tip is just don’t look at that.

 

[tzolkin]

Most of our Disney vacations have been 10+ days, but we did a "just the Christmas party" trip one year and we had a great time. We visited family for Thanksgiving and then stayed two nights at a Disney resort and did the party.

It's a completely different experience, but it was still very fun. I think the Christmas aspect of it made it different enough from a "regular" Disney trip that we didn't miss going to the other parks. We checked out the decorations at some of the resorts on arrival day and the morning/afternoon of the party so we were in full "Christmas-mode"

Honestly, a trip like this is the only way I would do the parties. I just don't find the value or "special-ness" during the middle of a week or longer trip to be worth it for our family to buy the party tickets.

The one-on-one quality time would also be worth it for me in your situation. If you were buying 5 plane tickets, I might rethink it, but the cost for just the two of you to spend a few special days together would be worth it to me.

 

[Emily Gilmore]

My husband and I are going doing a short trip in January. Fly in late thursday, parks Fri, Sat, Sun and then flying home early Monday morning. I'm finding it difficult to fit in everything I want, but I'd rather have three days there than nothing. I agree with another poster that the price per day for tickets is hard to swallow but I still think it's worth it.

 

[North of Mouse]

Hi everyone. I'm trying to think through the pros and cons of planning a 3-day trip for next November. I've never been for less than a full 7 days, and we usually go 9 days. So I'm just really unsure how well I would do with such a short jaunt. Here is what I sort of kind of have in mind.

• Fly in on Monday, hang at resort, eat dinner at the new meal with Snow White (though it won't be new by then!)
• Tuesday hit Disney Springs, then go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night
• Wednesday fly home

It would be me and my 9 year old daughter. I will use credit card reward points to pay for the party tickets AND the hotel room, so all I'd be paying for was flights and whatever we ate.

But, will it be very dissatisfying to not be able to experience more when we don't get to go very often? Our trips have panned out to be roughly every 2 years. This would happen to be an in-between year, as we just went earlier this fall. Should I save our points and use them toward a bigger, longer trip the following year?

Oh, the agony.

I appreciate any viewpoints and input in helping me decide!

We are all different, but there would be no pros for us in a short trip. We, too, usually stay for 8-10 days min. and any less would not be worth our while or expense. There are many people that take short trips, but it would be just long enough to make us mad!! LOL

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

It's hard to pass up a 3 day trip to Disney when Frontier offers $20 flights so we do a lot of 3 day trips. If you can score cheap flights then do it! The 3 day trip will help fill that gap between your 2 yr visits. If you can, maybe try and fly out late Sunday night and still fly home on Wed. That would give you 2 full days at Disney. I know that adds another hotel night that you would have to pay for but having those 2 full days would make a difference. It not going to cost you all that much so go and enjoy it.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We are all different, but there would be no pros for us in a short trip. We, too, usually stay for 8-10 days min. and any less would not be worth our while or expense. There are many people that take short trips, but it would be just long enough to make us mad!! LOL

This is us, too. We did a 5-day trip once and it almost wasn't worth it. We decided nothing less than 7 nights/8 days from then on, and we usually do 9/10. Not that other people shouldn't do it or won't like it, but it isn't for us.

 

[bookbabe626]

We almost always do long weekend trips. I’m a teacher, and it’s either holiday weekends (or peak travel weeks like Xmas) or no trip at all. Luckily, I’m Canadian so we have a few long weekends that don’t match up to the US ones, and for the holidays that do match up, like Easter, the short length of the trip keeps us from getting too annoyed at the crowds. With an AP, tickets aren’t an issue over multiple trips, and the discount on the room helps keep the cost down a bit. Over this AP year, we’ll have done 7 long weekends, all four days or less. What’s nice is that we don’t try to do it all anymore. We know there’s another trip just around the corner, and we can focus on certain activities, like MNSSHP or F&W, and pick a convenient hotel to that focus, thus cutting down on bus time, etc. It’s a very different type of trip but it’s been working really well for us.

 

[JustBrad]

We are doing a 3 night trip in January, but only because we are taking a 3 night Disney Cruise at the end of those 3 nights.

It's a totally different mindset than our 7 day trip in June was. Park priorities are more focused, no resort breaks planned except our arrival day, even down to knowing we wont be able to do "everything" and having to pick things we know we will have to bypass.

For instance, we aren't planning on any table service meals at MK on purpose, just because we don't want to miss 2 hours in the park that could be better spent....instead, we will have 2 QS meals and have Breakfast at Chef Mickey on our departure day. Whereas in June, we just did Chef Mickey before we went to MK for the day.

 

[scrhsa]

I just recently spent 1 day at the Magic Kingdom. I was visiting my new grandbaby in Clearwater and my sister and I just had to take a day and drive over. We got up early and drove from Clearwater and made rope drop and stayed til about 9pm. Spent the night at All Star Sports and got up leisurely and then hit Disney Springs. It was great. Well worth it. I needed a bit of a Disney fix. Not gonna lie, though, it was tough not being able to hit Hollywood Studios and Toy Story land!! But I just feel lucky to have had that day!!

 

[Rach3975]

I think a lot depends on your expectations and your daughter's. I think my kids would be disappointed with a trip that only allowed them 1/2 a day in the park; we'd be better off doing a non-Disney trip and exploring a new city for a few days. My kids also aren't big fans of DS; they're not interested in most of the stores there. But unless the cost of park tickets is keeping you away, you have enough time to get a few park days in.

We've always done 5-6 day trips in the past with 5 park days and 1 non-park day (either arrival day or a break mid-trip). For the first time, DH and I are doing a short trip next Nov. without the kids. We're going to buy hoppers, which we never do with the kids. This is what I think our plan will be:

Saturday-fly in, AK or HS for a few hours, evening in MK
Sunday-Epcot
Monday-MK until its early closing then Epcot
Tuesday morning-fly out

With a shorter trip like yours, I rather have half days in the parks on the travel days and a full day on the in between day.

 

[Amunet]

I've done something similar Do not regret.

 

[angierae]

We did a "just the halloween" party trip and it was a lot of fun. We arrived on Sunday, had a late lunch at the Poly and then went to the Halloween party. We had one day hoppers for Monday, and went MK-->DHS->MK, and then Tuesday we hit disney springs before flying home.

 

[glocon]

Don’t blink- your child will be a grown up tomorrow.... do it!!!

 

[Riss]

My family has flown in just for the weekend before, fly in on a Friday and fly out on a Monday, and we still loved it! We had park hoppers and spent 2 days in the park, the Saturday and Sunday, and were able to do everything that we wanted to do, even hitting all 4 parks and Disney Springs. Actually, we've never really stayed more than 3 or 4 nights, at least I don't think so.

I do think it all comes down to what it is that you want to accomplish in that time. For us, it was going to see my siblings in the band and march in Magic Kingdom so we didn't care if we were only there for a couple of days. If you're looking to maximize your time there and try to experience everything, then there is a possibility you might be disappointed with the time that you have.