Longest you have gone between trips

[Networth]

I have lived in Florida for over 3 decades. I recently moved to Philly for work, and haven't been to WDW since December of last year. I have been craving to visit WDW bad lately, I don't remember the last time I felt the need to visit this bad. However, I don't know when we will be back. As someone that could drive to the parks whenever the need arose this is a strange feeling now being so far away that I actually have to plan a full vacation to get back. I am starting to empathize with all the non-FL residents I have read about on these forums over the years. With all that said, what's the longest you have gone between visits?

 

[NelleBelle]

For me, it's been since June of 2018 that my family visited (we unfortunately took both my mother and my MIL along--not a good combo for a 12-day trip )! But DH swore that would be the last trip for him until we have "grandkids"--my oldest is 16 to put that in perspective! I think he totally gets Disney-overload despite being a Disney-fan himself. I think he was not too happy that I ended up having a full blown melt down towards the end of our trip--one of those diabetic-low-blood-sugar moments combined with the MIL/mother totally annoying everyone in addition to NO ONE having done what I asked and downloading MDE/WDW app so they could look for food when I want into a diabetic low. I stormed off in a fit on hanger and left everyone at Yacht Club and hid out at Internat'l Gateway for an hour.

But that hasn't stopped us from going to DLR--we been twice since that trip (easier for us since we're on the West Coast). I finagle a trip in every time we visit his relatives in San Diego.

I'm planning a trip to WDW for next May with just my mom and me for her retirement gift. Hopefully somethings will return but if not, will go and enjoy what we can. And if DLR ever opens, we have a big extended family trip tentatively planned for next June.

 

[Mr Starky]

2005

 

[Shouldigo12]

For me, it's been since June of 2018 that my family visited (we unfortunately took both my mother and my MIL along--not a good combo for a 12-day trip )! But DH swore that would be the last trip for him until we have "grandkids"--my oldest is 16 to put that in perspective! I think he totally gets Disney-overload despite being a Disney-fan himself. I think he was not too happy that I ended up having a full blown melt down towards the end of our trip--one of those diabetic-low-blood-sugar moments combined with the MIL/mother totally annoying everyone in addition to NO ONE having done what I asked and downloading MDE/WDW app so they could look for food when I want into a diabetic low. I stormed off in a fit on hanger and left everyone at Yacht Club and hid out at Internat'l Gateway for an hour.

But that hasn't stopped us from going to DLR--we been twice since that trip (easier for us since we're on the West Coast). I finagle a trip in every time we visit his relatives in San Diego.

I'm planning a trip to WDW for next May with just my mom and me for her retirement gift. Hopefully somethings will return but if not, will go and enjoy what we can. And if DLR ever opens, we have a big extended family trip tentatively planned for next June.

As someone who very narrowly avoided having a...challenging family member join them on their trip (and who got many annoyed remarks for over a year afterward about how we went without her) all I can say is oof. I feel your pain.

 

[Goofyernmost]

4 years between Sept. 2015 and Sept. 2019. And then I only went for two days. Spent a day in MK. Most of the next day in Epcot and the evening in Disney Studio's. Park Hoppers were always my friend!

 

[wdwfan4ver]

5 years. July of 2001 to August of 2006.

 

[UNCgolf]

I have no idea. Probably like 10-12 years? I went as a teenager at some point but don't remember exactly how old I was. Pretty sure I didn't go back after that until I was in my late 20s. Then I had another gap of 7 or 8 years.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

As of right now the longest was 24 months (November 1996 to November 1998). Second longest was 21 months (November 2004 to August 2006).
But currently I'm in what will be the longest stretch because I last went in July 2019 (had 2 trips planned for 2020) and now I will not be going back until August 2021 which will be 25 months between.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

1986 to 2003 was the biggest gap..Afterwards it was almost every other year if nothing new was being done..

 

[ParentsOf4]

1993 to 2001, 8 years.

Had kids and waited till they were all out of diapers before we returned.

 

[jbird327]

1987 to 1998.

 

[Goofyernmost]

1993 to 2001, 8 years.

Had kids and waited till they were all out of diapers before we returned.

That is primarily why I didn't go until I was 35. I wanted my kids to be old enough to enjoy it themselves, share that with me and even today, 36 years later, we still talk about the first trip in 1983 the little ones are now 44 and 46 with a flock of little ones of their own.

When I was a kid WDW didn't exist and Disneyland was clear on the other side of the continent. People didn't travel that far for the most part, especially blue collar families.

 

[Heppenheimer]

1996 to 2008 is my longest gap, by far. By 1996, two of my three other siblings had grown and moved out of the house. This was our last real family summer vacation to anyplace further away than the south Jersey shore, and only myself and younger brother went on this trip with my parents. As a young adult, I tried planning trips on two separate occassions that were cancelled by unexpected military deployments. After a few years, it just wasn't a priority anymore to visit Disney World.

The fire was relit, however, when I spent a long weekend at Disney World while I was on TDY to Ft. Rucker. Still had another trip canceled after that by a deployment, but I've at least tried to visit either Disney World, Disneyland or Disneyland Paris every 2 years since. COVID has now added a new, unexoected barrier.

 

[Communicora]

1987 - 2008 was my biggest gap. While I did pay a visit to Disneyland during that time period, WDW wasn't on my radar as a travel destination during my young adult years. I had too many friends to see and new places to visit. I made a few visits after that 2008 trip and then had another gap because my mom was ill and I bought a house. Pricey vacations just weren't a possibility.

 

[NickMaio]

For us it was summer 2019 - - - - this is the longest break between trips for ius in decades.
We usually go every summer.
When we get a grip on this virus WDW will see quite the surge of visitors..........for sure.
We are missing our happy place big time.

 

[Worldlover71]

I went 7 years between visits twice; 1979-1986 and 1997-2004. Since then, it has been about every 2-3 years. Some visits were full vacations and some were brief (24-48 hour) stops while visiting south Florida. There were also trips out west to DL in '08 and '12 thrown in there.

 

[mf1972]

my longest gap was summer 1989 until my honeymoon in 2000. we’ve gone every year since then, but cancelled our October trip for this year.

 

[danyoung56]

For almost 25 years I've visited at least twice a year. This year, for obvious reasons, I only went once - right as they were closing the parks. I'll probably go again next March if things are a little better.

 

[JohnD]

I have lived in Florida for over 3 decades. I recently moved to Philly for work, and haven't been to WDW since December of last year. I have been craving to visit WDW bad lately, I don't remember the last time I felt the need to visit this bad. However, I don't know when we will one back. As someone that could drive to the parks whenever the need arose this is a strange feeling now being so far away that I actually have to plan a full vacation to get back. I am starting to empthathies with all the non-FL residents I have read about on these forums over the years. With all that said, what's the longest you have gone between visits?

20 years or so. I moved out of Florida in 1994 and didn't return (except for the visits to family) until 2002. Then after I had moved back, I didn't return to WDW until 2013 which is about the same time I joined WDWMagic. Since 2013, I've been a regular visitor. Obviously, COVID has lengthened my time between trips. My last trip was MLK weekend in 2019 and my next trip is next week.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Four years of High School years. During lower school grades we could take DS out of school at times and he could keep up with his school lessons and work by bringing assignments with him to Disney. When he entered into high school we decided it was better that he not take time away from school. Because of owning our own business we couldnt take time off during school vacation weeks because those were times when we were busiest. Those long four years of Disney drought were soooo disheartening. But we then went to celebrate his graduation.