How Many Days To Visit Walt Disney World

If you are planning your trip, you probably wonder how many days to visit Walt Disney World. There are a few things you need to consider when making the decision.

How many days can you take off work in a row? 

The very first thing you need to consider is how many days you can take off from work. Some jobs are very strict on the number of days you can miss while other job will let you combine vacation days to take off more than a week. Check with your boss or HR to see how many days you can take.

How many school days can the kids miss? 

If you are traveling during the school year, check with administration to see how many days of school the kids can miss in a row. You might consider visiting in a week that has a 3 day weekend like Veteran’s Day or Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

How many travel days will you need? 

If you are driving, every 550 miles will take you about a day to drive. If you are flying, take an early morning flight on the way there and an evening flight on the way home.

Allow 2 days for the Magic Kingdom. 

There is so much to see and do in the Magic Kingdom that you will need more than one day to do it. I suggest you allow at least 2 full days in the park if possible.

Allow 1 day for Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. 

You’ll need at least a day in each of these parks. Until Hollywood Studios finishes it’s renovations, you could budget 1/2 a day in Hollywood Studios and 1/2 a day in Animal Kingdom.

Do you need a day off? 

Some families like taking a day off from the parks in the middle of their trip to rejuvenate. If your family would like to take this day, plan it for the middle of your trip and maybe consider an evening at Downtown Disney.

Will you visit the waterpark(s)? 

There are 2 waterparks at Walt Disney World. If you want to visit these parks, you will need to add the Waterparks, Fun and More option to your ticket. This will give you a 1 day admission into either waterpark for each day of admission you purchase to the 4 Disney parks. So if you have a 7 day park ticket, you’ll also get 7 days of waterpark admission. These waterpark days can be used the same day you use a park ticket.

Will you visit Universal Studios, Sea World or the beach? 

If you plan to visit other areas of Orlando during your trip, you will also need to allow for days to travel outside of Disney World. You’ll need 1-2 days for Universal Studios and 1 day for Sea World and 1 day for the beach.

Couponing to Disney readers recently chimed in on how many days their next Walt Disney World vacation will be. Of the 531 responses, 28% will visit for 7 days, 19% visit for 10+ days and 11.7% will for 5 days.

My suggestion 

Most families take a 7 day vacation. I would suggest either flying in on the morning of the first day or leaving the night before and driving until you are as close to Walt Disney World as you can get (we usually stop about 3-4 hours away; we live 10 hours from Disney) before stopping for a hotel room. I would spend the evening of the first day either touring your Disney resort or visiting Downtown Disney.

I would then visit the parks in the following order (this would directly depend upon crowd levels, but this is an example to give you an idea):

Magic Kingdom – Day 2
Animal Kingdom – Day 3
Epcot – Day 4
Magic Kingdom – Day 5
Hollywood Studios – Day 6
Magic Kingdom – Morning of Day 7
Travel home – Afternoon of Day 7

Whatever you choose, your vacation is yours to make however you want. As long as you educate yourself on all the choices available, I am sure it will be perfect!

If you stay long enough to do laundry, here are some tips on how to make the process less painful.

Learn more about planning your Walt Disney World vacation. Plus overwhelmed with all the planning? Destinations in Florida can help you plan your perfect trip.