Would 5 NIGHTS and 6 DAYS Be Enough for Disney World?

We went in late October too and had a blast. Our kids ranged from 12 down to a few months at the time. We stayed in one of the Disney hotels and used the meal plan (2 main meals(these are generous. Some restaurants use 2 meals up if you are doing a character restaurant we had no problem having enough to do this we split meals for the adults sometimes, there was soo much food) and a snack(can use as breakfast...but we wanted to get a quick start and brought granola bars and such for the room and hit the parks as early as we could)...it made life easy and we loved the restaurants we chose. You can take the kids back to the room early get the girls down for the night and either switch off with your folks to babysit or hire one of the babysitter from the hotel, and head back to the parks in the evening for some adult time. When we went my husband took the kids to the Not So Scary Boo Parade and I took the littlest ones back to the hotel. Definitely have a stroller...if you are bringing one for the youngest you might consider renting one for the 2 older girls. Its a lot of walking for a 5 year old and it was worth everypenny (the one we brought got a flat and couldn't be fixed I was thankful in the end because we didn't have to haul it on the bus to the park.) Everyone working at these parks make special effort to see that even the littlest ones has a good time. My daughter slipped near some management types who were preparing for the evening activity and the whole group came running over and went beyond the call of duty to make sure she was ok. Its a magic place for little ones. We loved Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios and Epcot Center and the pools back at the hotel.
Goodness, they will probably sleep all the way back to Texas afterwards. They'll be so tired (and you might too) but you will have great memories. Its worth every penny and you can make it as stressful or not as you want. Use the planning materials they send you from Disney...they do a good job orienting you.

we got a dining plan three meals a day and i recommend it.
we went when our kids were 2. we stayed 5 days and that was wayyyyy longer than i should have planned it. at that age they get tired easily and i still had to make sure they had naps and such so it was exhausting for us, as we had no extra help.
the flying back part is fine. they'll sleep during the flight. they'll be up from airport to home and crash again at home. so don't worry about that part.
and don't cancel it. no reason to cancel. try mousesavers.com see if you can use any of the coupon codes to get discounts on stuff (you have to read carefully to see what applies to you)

We went last year with our 2 year old. We stayed 6 days and 5 nights. We booked through the Disney site, so we had got a package that included 2 nights free. We did get the deluxe dining plan because my husband doesn't like buffets... we still had to do buffets for most of the character dining. I do recommend the dining package because it does reduce the price of things and it was just on our room key. It also included a cup at the resort we could use whenever to get beverages.

The next thing to look into is your reservations for dining. If you want to dine with the characters, they have a concierge you can call to determine what times are available since these fill up fast. We did a LOT of character dining and it was fun.

The flight time is perfect for your kids. It is so much nicer when they sleep on the plane. I try to plan most flights around nap or bed time for my daughter. :)

Have a great time... I am about to start planning our trip for October. I'm waiting until after taxes and to see if any promos come up to allow us a discount on stay. :)

We have been to Disney twice in a similar situation (us - our parents - grandkids). The 1st time we did the parks in 4 days and had an extra day to spend time at the pool, relax, catch up on sleep, etc. We went to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studio, and Epcot. That time we had a 7-4-3 yr old along and it felt like enough time. Fav park for adults was Epcot and the kids' was Magic Kingdom. We were all pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed Animal Kingdom. And Hollywood has the best light show.

We didn't do the meal plan either time. I think the meals (regardless of plan) are the most stressful part of the day. The lines, the same "food" at every park, ordering for so many people...Just plan to stop for meals at "off times...Do not plan on having lunch at Noon. Oh! And the autograph thing was really annoying. The oldest made us all wait in ridiculous lines to get autographs from the characters.

We went last summer and did not do the dining plan. Big mistake! Next time we go, we definitely will do the dining plan! You will save money.

Check out:

http://www.mousesavers.com/

and sign up for their free newsletter. We bought our park tickets through them and saved over $200 for the five of us. We didn't have any problems using our tickets either.

I think you'll spend the most time at the Magic Kingdom. My girls loved it - especially Mickey's Toontown. We didn't plan on doing the Magic Kingdom twice, but that's were the girls wanted to go on our last day. It rained, but it was really fun. We also loved the Animal Park. Do the safari about 45 minutes before the park closes. A cast member told us to wait and we were not disappointed! All of the animals were out and we got some great photos.

Spend more time doing research - airfare will probably come down after the summer and Disney almost always has deals after peak season is over (like free dining plan).

I think 5 nights, 6 days is plenty. The kids might even be more interested in staying by the pool and playing than going to say, Epcot. Don't get me wrong, we all enjoyed Epcot, but my kids are older.

You can also check out

http://www.passporter.com/

See if your local library has a copy of the lastest book. It goes into detail about hotels, theme parks, shows, etc. It was really helpful to us to plan our trip.

Updated

deleted repeat post. don't know what happened there!

Don't stress out, this is supposed to be for your fun and relaxation! First, let me tell you, that even 10 days is not enough at WDW these days. There is soooo much variety of things to do, that you should please confort yourself by knowing you can NEVER 'Do it all'. At your DD's ages, Magic Kingdom will be the one that they are most interested it. That is where all of the Princesses are, and most of the kiddie things - Pooh Bear, Dumbo, etc. I would plan on spending 2 days at the Magic Kingdom.
Be sure to go back to the Country Fair in the MK, that is where they have a line to take pics with 3 Princesses and near there are Mickey and Minnies houses to take pics with them.
For the 5 year old, she would probably LOVE the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique - there is one in MK and one in Downtown Disney - if it fits your budget, make an appt earlier in the day (so she can appreciate it all day). Bring along a princess dress - they will do her makeup nails, and hair with a tiara for $50 and the girls eat it up.
If you do go at the end of Oct, look into the Not So Spooky Halloween Party - it is tons of fun, but late at night (I think 8-12), so I don't know if it would work with your younger ones - perhaps just you, hubby and the 5 year old?
Again, waaayyyy too much to write about, but those are a few tips.

We took our 6yo and 18mo last year. You'll be fine going for 5 nights - you won't see every single thing, but that's okay, especially with your kids ages. They'll be most excited about the Magic Kingdom, so plan to spend a day or two there. My 6yo is really into movies, so he LOVED Disney Studios, and the Animal Kingdom is good for all ages. There are things in each park that young kids enjoy, so if I were you I'd get a park hopper pass to make the most of everything. You could do a few things at one park in the morning, go back to the hotel for naps/downtime, then do something different in the afternoon/evening. My kids loved all the shows (nemo, little mermaid, lion king, etc.), animal kingdom and the nemo ride and aquariums. We also took a couple afternoons to play in the pool at the resort. We did the 2 meal per day plan and I think it was worth it for us.
Good luck and have fun!