It took me several weeks, but I wasn't very serious about it in the beginning. After I got serious, I'd say it took me about a week, week and a half, worth of playing fairly continually for hours a day.
That's good! Mine took pretty much since the start of my account O_o I play sporadically cause it's so bloody boring! haha. I should finish the Insane level ... 3 years from now? ;) lol
I do plan on upgrading them, but I'll probably wait for awhile. The first one is horribly boring, but I actually enjoyed the second one, and didn't have to work on leveling, because I was always ahead of the recommended levels.