A length of trip question...

[SuprDav]

I see that many of the posters here that visit the World from across the pond will spend 14 and sometimes 20 plus days at WDW. Most of the trips from visitors in the U.S. are about a week. I know with the distance being so far for some that it makes sense to stay as long as possible. My question is how much vacation do you get a year from your employer that would allow you to stay there for 3 weeks at a time? I am blessed enough to have 4 weeks vacation per year, but would still only be able to use a week of that at most for a WDW trip. My other paid time off goes to taking Fridays off when the need arises or to make a ballgame. I'm not criticizing anyone's choices, I'm just curious how all that works for everyone.

 

[luv]

I get about 4.5 PTO hours for each week I work. PTO is paid time off and covers vacation, sick, personal time. We can bank that time, but we max out at like 500 hours. Once you have 500 hours, it becomes "use it or lose it."

We can also donate our hours to specific people, which I like. Some companies will let you donate but to a pool and they choose who gets it. Some don't allow donation at all. I've donated time to co-workers whose house burned down, who had a child die and who had to take a lot of time off for cancer treatments.

 

[twinnstar]

20 days!? 4 weeks!!!?! Wow...i am really jealous. I have 2 weeks, thats it. Always have, probably always will. Seems to be "the norm" in my field/my part of town.

So I like to stay in disney for 8-10 days. 8 is usually the magic number. 2 days in EPCOT, 2 days in MK, 1 day for HS, 1 day for AK, 1 day for DTD, 1 day for extras like resorty things, waterpark, etc = 8!

 

[bethymouse]

I've always only stayed 6 nights 7 days- a week.
I'm envious of folks who are able to do 2-3 weeks or more!

 

[olinecoach61]

I'm a teacher so I get all of July and most of August off, plus a week in December and April. Our last trip was our longest yet, 7 nights, 8 days. By the end I was ready to go home.

 

[ShookieJones]

I get about 22 days a year PTO. I never call in sick so I use it all for vacation time.
I could and would take a 2 week (straight) vacation and spend a considerable amount of it at WDW.
Unfortunately my wife only gets 2 weeks vacation, so her dumping all her time in one clip and not
getting any breaks the rest of the year is tough.

 

[popcenturylover]

I get 4 weeks a year (after 10 years! ) but, I can only take 2 weeks at a time. We're going to the World for a week!

 

[SuprDav]

I'm a teacher so I get all of July and most of August off, plus a week in December and April. Our last trip was our longest yet, 7 nights, 8 days. By the end I was ready to go home.

I feel the same way. As nice as it is, 5 or 6 full days there is plenty for me.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

I've always only stayed 6 nights 7 days- a week.
I'm envious of folks who are able to do 2-3 weeks or more!

As much as I love Disney, I could definately stay for 3 weeks, however, my family grumbles after a week or 10 days. Airfare is thru the roof flying in from the UK ... where we pay $100 and up per person airfare, our friends across the pond pay thousands!!

 

[SuprDav]

Not only would I not want to be gone from home for longer, but a week stay at DW is at the upper end of my budget.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I get 26 paid days off and I never call in sick. When we travel to WDW we stay for 15 days. We are DVC members and that helps us with the longer stays.

 

[tare]

We usually stay at Disney 8-9 days--I'm a stay at home mom do I can take my vaca when I want haha--my hubby usually gets 2-3wks

 

[Kev1417]

i get 25 days a year off, and can carry over days as well. Like others, i don't call in sick. i try to save days off specifically for vacation.

we started out staying a week, then it was 10 days, last year we bumped it to 14. I thought by the end of the trip I would have had enough Disney. Turns out I wanted MORE!! Knowing we had a full 2 weeks slowed our pace down considerably. We walked at a slower pace, enjoyed people watching, and explored more of the parks rather than just the rides. If you are able to take a longer trip it is WONDERFUL!!

 

[Alison1975]

I see that many of the posters here that visit the World from across the pond will spend 14 and sometimes 20 plus days at WDW. Most of the trips from visitors in the U.S. are about a week. I know with the distance being so far for some that it makes sense to stay as long as possible. My question is how much vacation do you get a year from your employer that would allow you to stay there for 3 weeks at a time? I am blessed enough to have 4 weeks vacation per year, but would still only be able to use a week of that at most for a WDW trip. My other paid time off goes to taking Fridays off when the need arises or to make a ballgame. I'm not criticizing anyone's choices, I'm just curious how all that works for everyone.

My husband gets 18 vacation days and 5 personal days a year. I dont get any paid time off.

 

[pumpkin7]

14 days. i get 20 days off paid annual leave. we have been for a week before but it just doesn't justify the stupid airfare to get over to the USA. so 2 weeks is best.

 

[DisneyWall-E]

i get 25 days a year off, and can carry over days as well. Like others, i don't call in sick. i try to save days off specifically for vacation.

we started out staying a week, then it was 10 days, last year we bumped it to 14. I thought by the end of the trip I would have had enough Disney. Turns out I wanted MORE!! Knowing we had a full 2 weeks slowed our pace down considerably. We walked at a slower pace, enjoyed people watching, and explored more of the parks rather than just the rides. If you are able to take a longer trip it is WONDERFUL!!

This is how I want to do it.
I got a new job in March and I only get one week a year for vacation starting next March. But every 3 weeks I get 8 hours of comp time. I have saved almost all of that comp time for my upcoming trip to WDW in SEPT, 48 hours worth.

 

[mamamouse]

hmmmm I stay home n hubby gets about a week of straight vacation,but does day trips for sports or family days pretty much whenever he wants(he's the boss) but he's a Disney grump so we used to use his time to go see my Dad,who knows what we'll do with that now.I just usually go to Disney with the kidlets,the amount of time depends on where we stay and what extras we plan.

 

[twinnstar]

Wow Im so jealous that you all get to use your sick days as vacation days. For me, I get sick days, personal days (1-2 days at a time) and vacation (2wks) - I cant use sick days or personal days as vacation, even if i wanted to

 

[Tinkerbella16]

The job that I just left after being employed for 6 years, only gave 2 weeks a year and then at the 10 year mark you got a 3rd week, but we never had to use it or lose it.. it always rolled onto the next year which was nice. And we always got paid for any unused personal time in June. So when I left my job last month, I got paid for 100 unused vacation hours and 27 unused Personal Time hours included in my final paycheck so that was a nice chunk of money to end with! I too, never call out sick and barely even took vacation (hence the reason I haven't been to WDW in 4 years lol) but I would only use a weeks worth of vacation and stay 8 days, the longest. We tend to go once a year so that is enough for us, if we only went once every two or so years, we'd stay longer.

My new job that I just recently started at, does the whole PTO thing where vacation/personal/sick is all bundled.. still a little confused with that because I'm not used to it yet but I'm sure its not too bad. I won't be getting paid for the week I am away to WDW in September because its within the 3 month period but they knew about it during my interview and I am getting paid so much more than I was at my old job so it'll kind of even out when I only get a paycheck for one week instead of two that pay period.

 

[flynnibus]

I see that many of the posters here that visit the World from across the pond will spend 14 and sometimes 20 plus days at WDW. Most of the trips from visitors in the U.S. are about a week. I know with the distance being so far for some that it makes sense to stay as long as possible. My question is how much vacation do you get a year from your employer that would allow you to stay there for 3 weeks at a time? I am blessed enough to have 4 weeks vacation per year, but would still only be able to use a week of that at most for a WDW trip. My other paid time off goes to taking Fridays off when the need arises or to make a ballgame. I'm not criticizing anyone's choices, I'm just curious how all that works for everyone.

Western Europe as a norm believes more in 'work/life balance'. They tend to work shorter days, and have more vacation time per year. There is less of the 'rat race' compared to the US, but that has been invading their societies as well with globalization.

It's not uncommon to have 4 week in many western europe societies where the 2 weeks is seen as the 'norm' for most salaried people in the US.

My employer gives everyone 4 weeks to start.. but that is PTO.. and I used to get 5 weeks + sick leave :/ damn acquisitions..