Disney too Expensive!

[loser1824]

Our budget is tight but I think Disney is well worth the money and memories that we will get. We are going to 9 nights/10 days. It's DH, DS9, and Me, we are staying at POP and have free dining. We are going for about $68.51 per day, per person. That includes park tickets, hotel, two meals a day and a snack. It is well worth it. We go every year. Last year we went all out for my Masters graduation celebration - this trip won't be as generous as the last but still way affordable and fun!

 

[abc999]

Disney is by far one of the cheapest vacations that I can think of.. I priced a cruise (bottom of the boat with a window), it was about $4000 for our family of four... Disney was by far much cheaper.

 

[littleelvis]

Ummm...it's a vacation. Not a necessity.

If you can't afford it, don't go.

Or, save up until you can afford it.[/QUOTE

I totally agree, we would have loved to have went in 2009 but we skipped this year to go in 2010 and have a lot of our trip already payed for. Our plane tickets we got last week paid! Our room we got 499 days out paid! We just need the packages to come out to pay for them and HOPEFULLY get a deal too But you never know. I totally agree with Alesia!

 

[Lancer]

Put me in with those that think Disney is a great value! Free dining, free nights, unlimited ride oportunities, all day entertainment, what more can you expect of a, for profit, company. Compared to those that happily pay $75 plus for a 3 hour concert, 2 hour race, 3 hour golf round etc, $75 for up to 16 hours of park entertainment in a single day is a bargain. And that doesnt even include DTD, pools, electrical water parade, being able to see wishes from outside the park, and resort activities.

 

[Hallowishes]

i understand what you mean .. but disney does it best to entice us by offering free dining, 40% off room rates, ect. i only go on one trip a year and i go by myself so it is relatively expensive. i just try to cut out other things throughout the year so i can save up the money. try saving your change in a jar or put aside $20 or so a paycheck ...it all adds up

 

[*pixie*dust*]

WDW is a bargain compared to many other places! A week at the beach is over $1500-- just for accomodations! We recently went for a 3 day weekend up to Mackinac Island and it cost nearly $800. I am not sure where you usually travel to but for what you get in terms of service and theming, I cant thing of a single destination that comes close in value.

 

[Whitaker24]

I think for the money this is a great trip. Our family of about 15 are going for a family vacation to the beach in Sept. The price for the house alone is $2600 for one week. Our disney trip 9/3-9/9 will be $1100 including food. We can make it on 2 tanks of gas $100 from SC. We spent about $300-$500 last year maybe less. So last year trip was like $2000 total an we stayed like one more day.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

I've read some great posts here about people who have really pared down their expenses - staying at great off-site hotels with 2 BR suites plus free breakfast and a small kitchenette so they could make most of their meals at quite a bit less than an on-site hotel, getting great rates on rental cars from Priceline and similar, using a reputable discounter to get tickets at a better price, finding bargains on airfare, etc.

But for me, personally, it's also a matter of managing expectations for my DD. The bottom line is we aren't going to be spending on a lot of extra stuff like the BBB, or a specialty cruise or buying DD some $50 toy or shirt just because she thinks she wants it.

I honestly don't buy that line "c'mon, you're at Disney - splurge and buy whatever for your children" or think a 4-yr-old needs a "special experience" while at WDW. WDW itself is the experience and doing it together and making special memories - that's what is important, IMHO.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think that Disney is a great value for a vacation destination. If you do your research and take advantage of the codes that come out the price can be very affordable. I priced Rydin' Hy for my family and we all ended up heading for Disney. With our discounts we stayed for less money and that was including our airfare.

This year we are paring down our spending so Disney is out. I think we may end up regretting that decision once we price day trip or over night trips to the beach and theme parks in the area. I do believe that vacations are expensive in comparison to staying home but Disney is a much better value than so many other destinations.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

Hmmmmm, I wonder what your other Disboard name is?


Regardless, I'll play the game anyway: Expensive compared to what? Even a stay-cation in your own city will cost a hefty penny. I love the Audubon Institute in New Orleans, but a zoo/aquarium combo ticket is almost $30 & just going to the movie theater in Houston cost us $10 per ticket, $5 for popcorn, $3 for a drink, plus we had to pay around $5 for parking. Disney isn't super-cheap, but, IMHO, neither is a 12 pack of coca-cola; both are luxuries.

 

[Aliceacc]

A typical vacation for us is a week upstate in a cabin. So, for us, ANY vacation that involved airfare is a more expensive vacation. But that's our problem, not Disney's.

In the two years that I've been interested, we've seen Free Dining offered for 2 summers. Last year we got a 40% PIN code. This year we're doing the 4/3 deal. And I was reading today about the 35% fall discount.

For a company trying to make a profit during tough economic times, I think Disney is doing all it can.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

As others have mentioned, there are lots of ways to do Disney on a budget. We saw lots of folks bringing their lunch and snacks into the parks, more than I have seen in the past. Offsite is always an option.

I also am in the camp that at Disney you get a lot of bang for your vacation buck.

I also agree that vacationing is a luxury, not a necessity, so IMHO no "relief" is needed.

 

[Pacha]

Hmmmmm, I wonder what your other Disboard name is?

Exactly what I was thinking.

Anyway, we think Disney is a bargin compared to alot of other vacations. We chose WDW this year but had been thinking of DC or NYC. In NYC to stay close to what we wanted to do without renting a car we were looking at $500-$600 per night just for a Holiday Inn Express. We are actually paying about the same for 11 nights at WDW as we had figured for 5 nights in NYC.

 

[DisneyNicole]

Well, it all depends on how much your willing to spend.
For these bad economic times, i would suggest you would be staying in all star- sport or all-star music or pop century, if your willing to save some money.

 

[Orangeandwild]

I think Disney has done more than any other vacation resort area to attract visitors. Their deals have been great for onsite stays, cheaper than they have been in years if you work it right.

There are also some great off site bargains now, clean no frills places that would allow some to have trips who cannot do offsite right now.

During hard economic times, not everyone can travel unfortunately and vacations sure are not as important as paying the mortgage and eating!!

Once the economy improves I do not think you will see these great deals on the resorts any longer.

 

[jessieroo]

Free dining for a week! Thats enough of a break relief for me!

Thanks Disney!!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I find our Disney vacations are cheaper than our other vacation destinations.

 

[jimmiej]

When Disney starts taking a big kick in the pants on attendance, they'll do something to get it back. Until then, they're basically charging what the market will bear, as its stockholders would want.

Exactly. We were there last week & the parks were packed.

 

[jliucci]

Totally agree that a vacation is not a necessity. If we can afford it we go. My boyfriend and i are going for free dining because we thought it was a good deal..

But i do have to say that there are cheaper vacations out there. We went to the Bahamas 2 yrs ago and stayed in a really cool all inclusive resort. It had a ton of amenities and it was only $900 a person including airfaire.

 

[jettyspagetti]

I think its as expensive as you let it be. Our last trip was in Sept 2007. We saved extra cash for ten years til we had enough in the vacation fund for a HUGE trip. We stayed at the resort we wanted to and spent $$$ on all the extras. It was a great trip, we didn't go into debt and the $6000 for a family of four was in our budget that year. We are going back this year during free dining staying at a value resort and getting basic tickets-we will still have a great time and feel pampered without feeling like we are missing out on something.
I live outside of Destin Florida and the $2500 for a week trip to Disney is on par with how much people spend for a week here.

For our family saving money to be able to make the trip to disney was a great impetus to watch our power usage and a great excuse to dial back on how many chanels of satilite tv programing we had subsribed too. Just getting rid of HBO and giving up movie rentals every weekend was enough to just about pay for the trip

Family time together at the parks is such a great time to really experience the magic of disney with your kids. ANd act like a kid a bit yourself