Cost of a beach vacation vs. a Disney vacation

[pittsburghmom]

I know there are many different factors and it is not apples to apples, but just curious how much a vacation for a family of 5 to Myrtle beach or Outer Banks for a week vs. a week at Disney (let's say a value/moderate) resort? Cost should include food/lodging/entertainment costs. We cannot vacation at the beach, since my husband can only take vacation time in the winter months....which is why we love going to warm and sunny Orlando! I am sick of hearing people comment how "nice it must be to afford going to Disney" when I have the feeling that a beach vacation isn't much cheaper! Thanks!!

 

[Alesia]

It really just depends on what you want to do. For us, a beach vacation would cost less than half of what an onsite trip to WDW would cost.

 

[feezle]

We have a hard time vacationing anywhere else considering what we get out of a Disney vacation for the cost. When you are used to paying ~$250 for a week in a Condo, paying that amount for two nights in a hotel is a bitter pill to swallow. We are forcing ourselves next year.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I think generally beach vacations are much cheaper.

The ticket costs at Disney are huge for 5 adults for a week.

Most people who vacation at the beach rent a house or condo with a kitchen and cook because it's not a go-go-go vacation. Also people tend to do free things at the beach-swim, read, listen to music, etc. I guess if you did things like jet-skiing and parasailing everyday it could get expensive.

The price of Disney is comparable to a lot of vacations. I probably spend on a week long diving trip close to what many spend on Disney. Traveling abroad often costs more. I don't think that you can compare Disney costs to a typical "week at the beach" for most.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Well, I hate the beach. A justifiable beach vacation for me would be in Tahiti. I can go to Disney for a lot cheaper than I can go to Tahiti.

That being said, I did once go on a beach vacation to Myrtle Beach. There were 6 of us in a rented condo, we drove (from Michigan), we cooked the majority of our meals in house, we did not do any activities that I would consider to be a big deal (unless you're really mini-golf fans). All in all, we probably spent less than $1000 per couple. And it was one of my least enjoyable trips ever. So, can you do a beach vacation for less than Disney? Yes. Can you do a beach vacation for equal to or more than the cost of a Disney vacation? Yes. Whether you pay more or less for your beach vacation is really up to you, and what you want to get out of it.

 

[lovin'fl]

For us, being DVC members, I'd say that ticket cost is what surpasses the cost of a beach vacation. We pay annual dues for DVC similar to the cost of a beach rental, we eat out both at WDW and on beach trips, food at WDW is more expensive but on beach trips we tend to do extras like putt-putt, movies, fishing charters, etc. We can drive to beach trips but we sometimes fly to WDW (though we mostly drive there too). So ticket cost is the extra for us.

 

[wilkeliza]

It really depends. My fiance's family travels at least once a year for beach vacations and I know for a fact they are more expensive than any of our Disney vacations have ever been.

 

[NinaBella]

If you can't vacation to the beach in the summer, have you considered a cruise? Cruises are actually a great value.

I am actually from Myrtle Beach, so for me it's just gas and food. I can sleep on a relatives couch. LOL. Hotel prices range just like Orlando. If you go to MB and want to do water parks, dinner outside your hotel/condo/house, go-carts, amusement parks, etc. I would say it would come close to what Disney cost, but not exceed Disney. Hotels/Condo/Rental house would be the driving factor on the overall costs.

 

[HM]

Well, we do the beach a bit, but usually with family, renting a very big house. We do it before the real summer season begins so the cost isn't at it's highest. For our family of four, we paid about $900 last year for the week. We take turns cooking dinner for everyone (that probably cost about $75)and bring our own groceries for other meals/snacks. We do a few touristy things that might add up to a couple hundred dollars. So, for us the beach is much cheaper than Disney as I don't think it comes to much more than $2000 when all is said and done. To do Disney now for a week with my two adult children costs about $4000 before food. (Moderate resort, tickets, and travel by car).


You can do the beach in the winter. It's actually a lovely time to go. No, you can't lie on the beach and gather sunshine and swim in the ocean. But, you get evenings in front of a fire, cool walks along the beach with hardly anyone in sight, hot tubs with drinks, kites over the beach, tourist spots with few people (in the Outer Banks: lighthouses, KittyHawk Dunes, Wright Memorial, etc) and lots of great family time for games and catching up. Plus winter rates are awesome! You can stay very cheaply.

 

[ajwolfe]

We did a beach vacation this year. Now granted we stayed at Disney's Hilton Head resort so by far not the cheapest accommodations we could have found. But I think all in all we spent about the same or maybe more on our beach vacation of 5 nights at Hilton Head and 2 in Savannah. I think it all depends on where you go and what you do. But many of our friends do beach trips and are always saying that our Disney trips would be more but then when they say how much it cost to go to Gulf Shores or Pensacola, etc it's usually more or about the same.

 

[hsmamato2]

depends on which beach you're talking about.... heading south in winter to visit a beach is cheaper than Disney b/c park tix are very expensive. no matter how you slice it,park tix are the changing factor when comparing. even at the best discount price per day I can get...a day sitting under a beach umbrella is cheaper. Now I can probably break even if all I do is sit under a pool umbrella onsite at Disney, but if I add a full day's entertainment to a beach trip, it might break even. But when Im at the beach we tend to just...sit at the beach,walk,etc. it's a very outdoorsy,laid back thing for us. so it's cheaper. And it's not really worth it to me to stay onsite unless we do some parks,etc to jazz things up,since we have to travel a fair bit to get there.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We generally do 5 days at Disney each fall and 2 weeks at Hilton Head in the summer. We spend about the same on each, but obviously we get a lot more days for our money at the beach.

 

[HeatherC]

For us a beach vacation is way cheaper since we have to fly to Orlando with 5 people, plus park tix, rental car, etc..

We are also HUGE beach people and are content being near or on the beach most of the vacation. This year we rented a place on Cape Cod which is an easy hour and a half drive from home. We stayed two weeks in a 3br house within walking distance to the beach for $1100 a week. With three teens and their friends visiting, we cooked in most nights and just had a blast biking, hiking, swimming, fishing and generally relaxing. We enjoyed it so much that we rented it for three weeks next year. MY Dh will take two weeks vacation and commute to work one week since it is the same distance to work for him as driving from home.

We love Disney and usually stay at Bonnet Creek. But it is definitely more money than our beach trips.

 

[mrsabbott]

Echoing what others have said.. We are a family of 6 and a "budget" beach vacation with a few (but not many) extra outings and a couple meals out is about half of what a "budget" Disney vacation would be for us. This is with us renting a condo via VRBO and going during the "off season" for both trips. Most of our savings is in not spending the money on tickets. Also, more meals would be eaten at the condo than if at Disney because, as someone else mentioned, most beach vacations aren't "go, go, go!"

 

[Marionnette]

I know there are many different factors and it is not apples to apples, but just curious how much a vacation for a family of 5 to Myrtle beach or Outer Banks for a week vs. a week at Disney (let's say a value/moderate) resort? Cost should include food/lodging/entertainment costs. We cannot vacation at the beach, since my husband can only take vacation time in the winter months....which is why we love going to warm and sunny Orlando! I am sick of hearing people comment how "nice it must be to afford going to Disney" when I have the feeling that a beach vacation isn't much cheaper! Thanks!!

Sorry! The beach is way cheaper!

$2100 for a week in a 3-bedroom ocean view condo. A couple hundred for groceries and alcohol. Gasoline and tolls run less than $50. No beach fees. No parking costs because we can walk to the beach from our place. Evenings spent playing cards, board games, walking the boardwalk and buying ice cream at a local shop. No souvenirs other than our sunburns and the ubiquitous sand that follows us home.

I love Disney and I can do it pretty cheaply (for Disney), but a beach vacation is always cheaper.

 

[bigbabyblues]

A beach vacation is a lot less than our normal Disney trip. Disney we do 8 or 9 nights at a moderate resort, package ends up around $3800 not including dining (going from memory, we haven't been for two years). We budget about $150-$200 a day for meals, depending on if we have a TS that day which we do 2-3 per trip. We don't do many souvenirs, maybe $100 total for that kind of thing (kids bring their own spending money). We drive from Ohio, it takes 14-15 hours and about three tanks of gas each way. We drive straight through on the way down and almost always on the way home, no travel hotel costs. I would guess we would spend around $5500 on Disney.

We have gone to the Outer Banks the last two summers, and several times before that. We rent a 4-bedroom house, (not a new, huge house), for the week, and I think we had about $1600 in total for the house this summer. We cook most of our meals at the house, and we spend about $250 on groceries for the week, the same as at home. We eat out one breakfast (probably $40 or so), one lunch (again $40-50) and one dinner ($125 or so) through the week. We drive to the beach, about two tanks of gas each way, no overnight stops. We don't buy souviners or anything, maybe an ice cream or snack here and there. We spend most of our time on the beach or at the house, we don't do mini golf, go karts, or anything like that. I think we ended up spending about $2400 total this year on that trip.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We're a family of 7, our beach house (5 bedroom w/pool) and all the associated expenses at the Outer Banks when eating out some of our meals are about $4000. For us to go to Disney and stay at Fort Wilderness for 6 days we spend about $5000 but that is eating out almost all our meals. The costs are about the same. We have found for our vacations we tend to spend $4000-$6000 no matter what we do but that's because that is our budget.

 

[pens4821]

Depends on when you go. We go to outer banks last week of August (too hot for us to go to Disney) before my nephew goes to school so it's much cheaper (probably about half). The same house that may be 2000 or less is may be 5000 or more in summer. We stay oceanfront or semi oceanfront and get a pool. However we also cook in and only eat out once or twice so that cuts down on cost. If we'd go in summer and eat out twice a day like at Disney it's probably about the same (if not cheaper at Disney).

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Disney is not cheap! Not everyone goes because of this. There are tons of vacation options that are less, but also tons that will cost more. You could try an all inclusive to Mexico or the Dominican Republic during the winter that would be comparable to a Disney vacation.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We spend a lot more on the hotel when we go to the beach (PCB) as we stay offsite at WDW. Drive to both, same # of travel days, extra 200 miles each way for WDW so basically same travel costs other than a few extra bucks worth of gas. Spend a LOT more on food in Orlando, and park tickets are the big killer.


Overall, for a June/July trip, WDW is at least 50% more money. For October, which is still very warm on the Gulf but with much cheaper rates, WDW is basically double the beach trip. For Christmas week, which CAN see temps in the 80's on the Gulf, it's even more of a spread.