Cost of Disney Family Vacation

[GrumpyDad1974]

If you can afford a 10k vacation that is great for you and your family, that would be a dream vacation for us. But in reality that would be 4 trips for 3 of us (2 adults, 1 junior) during FD, staying at value hotels and driving down to FL...

 

[Jennasis]

We can afford one trip every other year if we scrimp and save. Our vacations (2 adults) at WDW are around the $1500 mark. We do not fly. We drive, and we stay for about 5 days at Pop.

Our upcoming trip has me very excited as my husband's uncle offered us his unused DVC points for our trip. It's like Christmas morning around here!

When anyone discusses how much one spends on a trip or what "most" people do, I would think it wiser to only speak for yourself. To say MOST people spend xyz seems ridiculous.

 

[padawans]

We (2 couples) are going in January... 7 nights -2 Bedroom at Saratoga Springs Deluxe Resort, Roundtrip Non-Stop air, 8 day park hoppers - The Entire trip for all 4 of us approx. is $3250.00... We got some great deals and I planned it out really well - We will all chip in for groceries and of course have dinners out, but this allows me to vaca more than once a year. For 10,000.00 - I think I would have to go to Europe!

How is this possilble when 8 day park hoppers cost 1400 for 4 adults. How did you get a 2 bdr villa for a week, and plane tkts for 1800. Just curious.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We (2 couples) are going in January... 7 nights -2 Bedroom at Saratoga Springs Deluxe Resort, Roundtrip Non-Stop air, 8 day park hoppers - The Entire trip for all 4 of us approx. is $3250.00... We got some great deals and I planned it out really well - We will all chip in for groceries and of course have dinners out, but this allows me to vaca more than once a year. For 10,000.00 - I think I would have to go to Europe!

I looked into going to Europe a few years ago for my family of 4. Seems like flights were insane, like $1k each. We'd have easily spent $10k or more...but then we'd also eat a lot of our vacation time on either end in-transit. If we had another 2 weeks to spare I think I'd give it consideration again. Unfortunately, that's not the norm.

I dunno. If we get another 2 weeks that we can go on an adventure I'd like to do a road-trip out to California. We'd take the time to see the Grand Canyon & Hoover Dam. We've never done Disneyland. I think that's next up on our radar. We're kinda over WDW as it stands now. Maybe after the new additions are finished....

 

[parrothead14]

We have 3 going and are lucky that my sister is a DVC member and gave us 7 nights at AKL. Just had to pay for 2 nights at CBR, plus air and food. Still will be at least 3K.

 

[Cin]

If our vacation cost $10K, we would be staying home. Our average is $3000. But that is just us.

 

[Marthasor]

I think what's nice about WDW (and the whole Orlando area, thanks to WDW) is that you can enjoy a vacation at any price point. I just helped a friend plan her first trip with her two girls. By taking advantage of free dining and going at a slow time, I was able to keep her entire trip - 6 nights at ASMo, 7 day park hoppers, upgraded DDP and flights from NYC under $3000. I find with us it's usually the airfare that really escalates costs and certainly what time of year we travel.

 

[neville04]

we are going at the end of the month 2 adults, 2 kids ( ages 5 and 3) free dining plan nights /7 days, staying at POFQ with park tickets its 2200, and then $400 for airfiar..... so about $2600, which is not to bad for a week - i could not see paying 10K for a vacation-

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

DH and I are going at the end of January for 7 nights. Even owning DVC it still costing about $1,110. $450 in airfare and then another $750 for the dining plan. Oh and this trip requires that we purchase new annual passes so that's an additional $419 each but we'll get more than one trip out of them (probably 3 - at least 2).

 

[AlwaysMoving]

Part of the problem coming as far as we do is the airfare. You would be looking at $4000 for the 6 of you to fly from here. We are fortunate to be able to take one of these trips every year or two, but we worked hard to put ourselves in that position. It's definate advantage for those who live close enough to drive or catch the $199 flight specials.

It costs us that much for 3 to fly from Europe. Gotta make it worth the money spent on airfare, so we take 2 weeks at a time. Due to the expense of everything, we can't afford to take yearly or even bi-yearly vacations.

 

[Narawen]

2 adults, no kids, our 5 night trip came out to just under $2500.

5 nights at CSR with 35% PIN code= $618
5 day base MYW tickets= $517
2 round trip tickets from NC and MI= $470
Food budget= $750
Souvenirs= $100 (prepaid photopass CD, I doubt we'll buy much else)

Total= $2455

We could have gotten it to under $2k if we used a Value resort with our PIN code and cut a few of the expensive meals, but we love all the restaurants we picked, and a couple of them are 3-course special meals. I could easily spend $10k on my dream Disney trip, 2 weeks at the Poly with an MK view would be pricey.I got lucky with a $199 flight here, Orlando is one of the cheapest places to fly into from my airport.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I'm not shocked by a 10K WDW vacation ...

A lot has to do with WHEN you travel. If you have to travel during peak season (when discounts are almost non-existant), prices can really go up. Look at the price comparison between the same trip (family of 4, assumes 3Disney Adults and 1 Child) during two different seasons (same room class, same park tickets, same dining plan, same flights):

A free dining Sat-Sat trip from 1/28/12 - 2/4/11:

Garden View POR = $3323 (airfare = $837, package = $2486)
Savannah View AKL = $4681 (airfare = $837, package = $3844)

A Sat-Sat trip from 3/31/12 - 4/7/12 (our spring break)

Garden View POR = $7272 (airfare = $2644, package = $4268)
Savannah View AKL = $9091 (airfare = $2644, package = $6447)

And these prices don't even include tips, airport parking, or any spending money. The spring break AKL trip could easily be a 10K trip.

*I've been watching spring break airfare for a couple of months now ... it has gone as high as $3200 and as low as $2400, today's price was $2644. I just priced the Jan trip airfare today (same airline, better flight times).

 

[MrsDanielle]

Yup that's my family. No direct flights from WInnipeg. The flights for me and my 3 kids are sitting around $3000. We are staying at POR in the new Royal Guest Room. That's costing just over $4000. So then add in food, snacks and souvineers. We're around $8000. But it's the first vacation we've EVER taken as a family so we're going all out. It's also the reason that our trip isn't for 324 days! I need to make monthly payments!

This is no longer the case as both West Jet and Air Transat have direct flights to MCO every week this winter. Not too sure if it'll continue beyond that though...

The cost of these holidays does not surprise me in the least. Flying from Canada, particularity western Canada can get pretty pricey. Everything adds up so quickly!

Cost of our holiday in January 2012:

AKL DVC, studio, savannah view - $1100 (much more than we had originally anticipated, so we do hope it'll be worth it)
Flights (direct) - $600 for 2 adults (oh so cheap!)
car rental - $200
2 -5 day WDW tickets - free, redeemed loyalty card points
2- 2 day park-to-park tickets Universal Studios - 1 free (w/ loyalty card points) and 1 $150

Food, spending money (outlet shopping, no souvenirs for us), parking between 800-1000.

Total estimated cost $2800-$3000

In May 2011, we vacationed in France and Italy for 3 weeks and spent around $15,000 CND. This really was done on the cheap, mostly staying in b&bs. This holiday seems like peanuts in comparison...

 

[fla4fun]

I was shocked about 20 years ago when I was behind someone checking out of GF and just their hotel bill was $12,000 - that's when I realized that some people spend a lot more on their vacations than I do. If they had to add airfare on top of that, all I can say is wow!

I get six weeks of vacation per year, so I have to stretch my budget as much as possible. Fortunately, WDW is closer to my house than my job is, so I actually spend less on transportation getting there than I would going to work. I can usually get an AP or Florida Resident discount to bring the room cost down, and the savings on the room over the four vacations I typically take is more than enough to cover the cost of the AP. I pay for food OOP, because I tend to eat light, and I do always have breakfast food in the room so I can have breakfast while I get ready in the morning.

I think it's great that you can go to Disney on a tight budget, or you can have an all out splurge - your choice. Neither is better or worse than the other. I've had some really tight budget trips, and one or two super splurges over the years. All of them were fun.

I've also made a couple trips to Europe, and managed to keep the costs reasonable by using loyalty points to cover the hotel (free!), so the airfare pretty much equalled my average WDW hotel tab and kept the costs in line. When you love to travel, you do what you have to do to get there - whether it's Disney or somewhere else. I just came back from a low budget 9 day trip to Cocoa Beach - hotel on loyalty points (free), $200 for food, and $35 for gas and tolls. I was able to watch the air show for free from the hotel, and enjoy the beach and pool and have a very relaxing and fun trip for not much cash. Granted, unless I stay at a non-Disney hotel with points, I won't get a WDW trip that cheap, but by cutting corners on one trip, I can spend a little more on another.

 

[Bonnie151]

Flights from the UK are horrendously expensive, particularly during the summer holidays so when we go, we stay for 2 weeks. Our last trip was Aug 2010 and for 2 adults & 2 children we spent approx $12,000 total (stayed at WL).

We've actually just bought into DVC to offset some of the future costs for accommodation as the kids are getting older and soon we'd be looking at 2 hotel rooms or a 2 bedroom villa.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

OP, as a Manitoban I am completely un-surprised by the costs you mention. Actually, I think that getting your flights for under $2K is really good! If we could have cheaper transportation it would knock a big chunk off our trip costs. DH and I are always quite jealous of people who live close enough to drive easily, which for us would include pretty much all the Southern states. We would use the transportation savings to take at least one more WDW vacation a year. But currently each trip for our family of 5 costs $2000-$3000 in transportation alone.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

UGH I feel for you guys on the airfare! My cheap butt is trying to figure out if I should spend $1200 for my family of five to fly from NJ to Orlando or to drive for our next vacation!

Hooked on the Mouse: I just laughed at your description of your location in your profile! LMAO! Makes Jersey sound like a dream!

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

If our vacation cost $10K, we would be staying home. Our average is $3000. But that is just us.

Ditto! Even if I had the 10K to spend on vacation, I could never justify it at all! We did spend 5K two different times, once on a trip to WDW and be brought and paid for two extra people to come with us (included airfare, park tickets, food, etc) and another to go on a Land/Sea vacation, but even that is nowhere near 10K.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

I'm not sure that everyone calculates 'vacations' the same way. I include every single penny that we pay because of the vacation. We have been staying at the deluxe hotels and the cost has been between $5k to $7k for a week for our family of 4. This includes discounts I have gotten on plane tickets, rental cars (if we rent one), and even a free night at the Hilton before we go to Disney property. We have gone on other vacations and spent the same amount of money. I'm astounded at the tours that cost $10k - $15k JUST for the tour and no flights included (or extras). So to hear someone paid $10k is not a shock. I think if more people actually put down EXACTLY what they spent, they would find they are spending more than $2k or $3k for a week vacation for 4 (not everyone, just some folks).

 

[mirage0306]

Our vacation to WL this June for a week was upwards of 6K. Like others have said, part of our higher costs is the airfare. We live in NM and the drive would be nuts for us. Getting flights for a family of 4 for under $1600 now is tricky. That's a lot of money! I would love to go every summer (wouldn't we all!?) but since my DH really only wants to stay deluxe and we hope to go for at least 8 nights next time, we may be on an every other year plan. It does depend on the discounts that might be released, though, so I haven't completely lost all hope for this summer.

Anyway, I am not shocked at all that people's vacations would cost $10K. I could easily see that. RT airfare, deluxe club level accommodations, park hopper tickets, no decent discount offered at the time--absolutely. Would I personally pay $10K? No, but I am not surprised at all that people do.