Is everyone on here really doing all these trips to the World?

[emerald51362]

You people all must be made of $$$$$$

[CanadianGuy]

Originally Posted by emerald51362

You people all must be made of $$$$$$

Disney, like every other vacation destination on this planet, can be very expensive or quite reasonable.

We just went as an adult couple, stayed value for 7 nights with a discount offer, had full dining plan and park tickets and the whole trip ... was $1696.00.

Not exactly made of money territory. Now, you can spend over $100,000 on a 10 day trip with the Platinum Plan, premium dining, top of the line resort/vacation villa, unlimited recreation etc...

But.. the range in between 2k and 100k is what makes life interesting.

[AJKMOM]

Not made of money. Bought DVC many years ago, so we go every year. We have a son with autism, and there is no place anywhere else that is so "autism friendly". We joke that we spent his college fund on DVC, and have not regretted a minute of this purchase.

[davedmaine]

Originally Posted by emerald51362

You people all must be made of $$$$$$

You'll also see the cases here that I shake my head at: people complaining about being too far in debt or who haven't been able to find a job in months, but they're still going on vacation to Disney. I don't get those..

Apart from that -- DVC, annual passes, TiW, buying flights on credit card rewards, etc, can make a trip affordable..

[Mariep26]

Definitely not made of money but we budget in other areas of our lives in order to afford our vacations. We also are DVC owners and AP holders so we have motivation to get there multiple times a year.

[JaimeA]

Disney vacations can be very expensive or done reasonable. Our family is addicted to Disney and we own DVC. DH and I work our butts off all year and Disney is our break from reality. When my kids were younger we did not go as often as we do we now. I think you will find a large spectrum of Disney lovers on this site, some first timers some that go yearly and some that go any chance they get. The only thing we all have in common is our love for Disney!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

[smitch425]

You don't have to be "made of money". You just have to live within your means and be smart with the money you have.

[anniemck]

Totally not made of money here. Actually quite the opposite. However, we do have FL Resident Season Passes, stay off property at the Rodeway Inn which is 10 minutes from the gates, and only eat one meal a day on property most times. We live 2 hours from WDW, and spent a total of 40 days since October 2011. As a matter of fact we have to renew our passes in a couple weeks for this year. We will probably only clock about 20 days this year, but they will include the MNSSHP and MVMCP for sure. We can go for a week just the two of us for $500 including our hotel, meals and fuel. I always get the efficiency at the Roadway and it has a full kitchen and never costs more than $30 a night. Put food in the crockpot on low in the morning and it is ready to eat when we get back.

[beesauce]

I think it also depends on where you live. If we were within a 10-12 hour driving distance from WDW, we would definitely be there more often. The price of the flight is what kills us and forces us to one trip per year. We're a family of 6, so the flight gets crazy expensive.

[2012bella13]

smitch425 has the way of it!!

[scottmel]

Yes we go every summer and usually stay club level but always deluxe. Free airfare points, chase rewards points saved all t
Year pays for our food and no expire tix gets us into the parks 3 days for free. Other days are spent enjoying resort or waterpark wtc. It can be easy to do paying way less than u would think

[clanmcculloch]

It's all about the choices that you make. My family doesn't have cell phones while many people I know are spending a couple hundred dollars per month on cell phone bills. We drive older cars (two 2000s and a 1984 pickup) and therefore have no car payment and we maintain and keep our cars until they're not worth fixing. What many pay in car payments and cell phones more than covers WDW vacations for us as well as putting a bit aside for another older vehicle when we're at the point where we need to get another one.

There are so many things that other people choose to spend their money on that we don't and this makes a big difference. I know people who are at the movies every weekend. This costs a family of over $50 per trip including food (generally more). Yes it can be done cheaper, but it still add up.

We don't buy a lot of new clothes and when we do it's really good bargains. Some spend $100 per pair of jeans.

Again, it's all about how you choose to spend your money. We are very deliberate about how we spend as well as don't spend our money.

[kmb584]

I'm certainly not made of money but take DD to The World twice each year. I am, however, smart with the money that I do have. Being AP holders and the purchase of TiW has saved us a considerable amount of money. I've been flying USAir for forever and just purchased our airline tickets for April - because of accumulated miles the grand total for our round trip tickets was $12.00. It's all in how you handle your funds.

[Bambi5826]

I really think, like everyone else, it just depends how much you spend on the vacay.
I haven't been in a while, but this trip, I just happened to get round trip tickets from Detroit to Orlando for $500 for our family of 3!!
I'm planning on doing limited eating in the parks, and my mom gets a discount on hotel rooms.

[stargazertechie]

Originally Posted by davedmaine

You'll also see the cases here that I shake my head at: people complaining about being too far in debt or who haven't been able to find a job in months, but they're still going on vacation to Disney. I don't get those..

My husband has been out of work for roughly 18 months at this point. We've been able to live within our means and still remodel our home (he's got tons of free time!) save for retirement and have money left over on the side for vacation. We don't go out to eat, we don't go to the movies (unless we have free passes) and we shop sales in order to afford our vacations. They're a priority in our lives. I would never take on debt to take a vacation, but just because someone is unemployed doesn't mean they're broke.

OP- My husband and I are taking a short trip in February. We have unused airline funds (that we got on Southwest as a result of price drops) that have to be used by the end of February. We were able to get a room at 40% off, and we have a few days left on old no-expiration tickets. We will take our own breakfast foods down with us, and use our normal weekly grocery budget to pay for our meals while at Disney. Our entire trip is going to cost less than $250 above and beyond our normal grocery spending.

In the years that we had APs, we would drive down and stay offsite at a $20 no holler hotel on I-drive and buy groceries to cook our meals at the hotel. Those trips averaged $800 for the week for the two of us when you factored in the pro-rated cost of the AP visits.


You should also probably consider that MANY people on the boards live within a reasonable driving distance to WDW and have access to Florida resident ticket rates and hotel discounts.