Cost of a beach vacation vs. a Disney vacation

[crisi]

It does depend on how you want to stay. I'm surprised Hilton Head was cheaper, but then I haven't priced it too much, just glanced, although I did look at Myrtle Beach. I've thought about going back to St. Thomas or St. Johns, but haven't looked into it as much as I should since I was on a cruise last time and only had one fare to pay for! I feel bad since my daughter has only been to the beach once and we live 4 hrs away. LOL! I should be ashamed!

Hilton Head rooms were the same as Disney, but since we didn't have park tickets to pay for, HH was a far cheaper vacation.

 

[kirstenb1]

Crisi, here in Virginia Beach, oceanfront will set you back $$$$ in summer, so I agree. But with a little research, you can find 3rd or 4th row for $1800 plus taxes and fees, which puts it around 2000 for a week. These places are few and far between, so you need to book early. However, there are just usually 4-6 of us. For a big group, the pricing per family is much better. I've noticed Hilton Head seems to be fairly cheap--I'm guessing it's overbuilt, if you're willing to stay back 1/4-1/2 mi from the ocean.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Totally agree. Disney. One bag each, on the plane and go (direct flight), hop on Disney transportation with maybe a backpack and go all day. Beach. Hours the night before to fill the minivan with sheets (house rentals, have to bring your own), chairs, umbrella, beach toys, bike rack on the back, drive ALL DAY bc no matter where you go from Upstate NY, you have to drive through NJ which is some bizarre time warp where the GPS always tells you there's 6 more hours to go, spend another 1+ hours unpacking the car, grocery shopping, meal prep, pack up beach bag & lug said chairs/umbrella/toys/food down to beach... then have to pack it all up and bring it back to the house in the evening - and this was staying three houses from the beach - even worse if you have to drive/park every day!

Yeah... DH hates the beach. I used to love it, but it's rarely relaxing. I'd rather spend the extra money and at least not have to cook and pack the car!

We actually pack heavier for Disney/Universal than we do for the beach. Mostly, the beach just doesn't require a lot in the way of clothing, though we do pack a couple of chairs. And either way, we're probably going to Florida

 

[Dakota731]

I always got the impression here that any acceptable beach place on the East Coast was going to set you back a king's ransom.

Nope our 4 bedroom 3 bath beach block condo this year was $800 a week and it was very nice. There's no way Disney could ever be cheaper for us even if we drove because the park tickets set our family of five back $2000 and more if we want to do waterparks and that's for 5 days not 7! So for us Disney is a once in 5 years splurge and in between we spend $1500 a year at the beach.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I'm not really sure what a beach vacation is. We live in a land locked province with 10,000 lakes. We can be at a world class beach in an hour. Most people I know just zip up for the day. Maybe take a picnic lunch. Only cost is gas and the park admission fee if it's a provincial park. If you want to rent a cottage - which would be mostly a private one someone is renting out - maybe $500 for the week.

 

[mommypenguin29]

We go to Myrtle Beach every other year and it costs us about 1/3 of what our Disney trip will cost - and we stay right on the beach!