How much is "too much" for a vacation?

[Dancemom03]

I don't think it sounds like too much but that's all relative to what you are comfortable with. I personally like longer vacations as it takes a little time to relax and appreciate new surroundings so you can really enjoying it.

As someone who's done Discovery Cove with a two year old, you might want to give more consideration to that one part of it though. The park is not stroller friendly at all. DH ended up not taking his scheduled dolphin swim after we realized that one of us would be doing it alone b/c DD2 couldn't do it with the rest of the family. Also, we were locked into date & time. The day we scheduled was in June but rainy and on the cooler side for a toddler to enjoy being out on a beach or walking around so she sat in the stroller in the cabana more than we'd expected too.

DD was awesome in all the other parks, even SW, and we didn't have a problem with tired princess crankiness because we were able to enjoy our time without feeling pressured to do it all b/c we stay for 2-3 weeks - but, given the option to do it over, I'd wait a few years for DC rather than spend the $$ and chance the weather, given the limited stroller accessibility. I'm not sure I'll ever forget the feeling of being wet and pushing the stroller thru the sand under cloudy skies all afternoon...

 

[shane_cromer]

vacations are priceless! stay as long as you can afford too. Life's short!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I decide upon what is Too Much for a vacation based upon two metrics.
2) My metrics
. . . I can stand giving up the rights to my First Born
. . . I can't stand giving up a car or house title

 

[ticktock]

1) I decide upon what is Too Much for a vacation based upon two metrics.
2) My metrics
. . . I can stand giving up the rights to my First Born
. . . I can't stand giving up a car or house title

So I can have your first born for a vacation? Is it a boy or girl?

 

[Kit'smommy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRustyScupper
1) I decide upon what is Too Much for a vacation based upon two metrics.
2) My metrics
. . . I can stand giving up the rights to my First Born
. . . I can't stand giving up a car or house title

So I can have your first born for a vacation? Is it a boy or girl?

If she is giving it up that easily, it must be a teenager....

Be careful, ticktock!

 

[rluey29]

As someone who's done Discovery Cove with a two year old, you might want to give more consideration to that one part of it though. The park is not stroller friendly at all. DH ended up not taking his scheduled dolphin swim after we realized that one of us would be doing it alone b/c DD2 couldn't do it with the rest of the family. Also, we were locked into date & time. The day we scheduled was in June but rainy and on the cooler side for a toddler to enjoy being out on a beach or walking around so she sat in the stroller in the cabana more than we'd expected too.

Well, the difference with my family is that I got my husband and DS9 the all-inclusive with the dolphin swim and only paid $139 for myself and baby is free. I expected to be letting him play on the beach and splash in the pool, but he can do the lazy river and aviary too. I thought DH and I could just switch children when I was ready to snorkel or do the stingrays.

I didn't think about the rain though. That would definitely put a damper on things!! Why did your DD have to ride in the stroller alot? Did she not enjoy just walking around and exploring and swimming?

 

[ZPT1022]

I would go for it! Our last vacation was when my twins were 2 and my oldest was 5- we were at WDW for 18 days. It was great! With a vacation that long we don't feel the pressure to go-go-go all the time and we can relax more, or go back to the hotel for a swim or a nap.

We also took time off in the afternoon twice and I would do the laundry while DH played with the kids in the kiddie pool- it worked really well- less to pack, a nice time to rest. DH felt so bad that I was "trapped in the laundry room" that he brought me nice drinks from the pool bar. Funny enough, there were a few other moms in there and we were joking that we were enjoying the quiet

For us, we really enjoy the extended vacation. It's just enough time to be gone that when it's time to come home we are actually looking forward to sleeping in our own beds, and eating home cooking, and most of all, seeing our pets.

The only thing in your plans that I would reconsider is the day at Discovery Cove- you're not at WDW all that long and I would be hesitant to take a day away from the parks there- I think your kids might enjoy the time at WDW more. I also don't think Discovery Cove is really good for the toddler and preschool age kids. My impression was that it was mostly geared towards older elementary school and up. The added benefit with skipping DC is that adding one more day at WDW is going to be a lot cheaper than tickets to DC.

As for the price- if you can pay it in full, I don't think it's too much. How many people are in your family? We're a family of five and my kids are now all old enough to be counted so this year we're having sticker shock at the jump from paying for three to paying for five- it's almost doubled ticket prices and we need bigger or more hotel rooms than we did when the twins were little. I'd go and enjoy it before you have one more ticket to buy

 

[FINFAN]

it's too much when the worry over the cost takes over the joy of the trip. If you have stepped out of your comfort zone, make adjustments to the plans. I agree that you have an awful lot scheduled to do...enough for 3 trips! We are ghuilty of what we call the "full value of airfare" trip...after it costs so much to fly and we can only do it every 2 years or so...we try and jam a lot in to take advantage of just getting to our detination, but we have had some trips that we should have scaled back and done more relaxing. Our motto used to be "sleep is for the Weak"..but not anymore!
At any rate, sounds like an awesome trip and you will have a blast!

 

[GoldieSaysMeep]

It depends on so many factors of personal comfort levels, taste, income etc.

So I'd say the only universal answer to this is "too much" is "rack" rate.

I would never pay rack rate for a hotel. There are ALWAYS deals if you research and stay flexible with travel dates.

I would also never pay the kind of prices I see some people pay for airfare. I fly Southwest or Jet Blue and I use gift cards I get through a merit program at work to pay for them. In fact, I have a $50 SW gift card left over (grrr 3 card maximum if you are paying partly with debit card online) that I have no idea what to do with since I'm not planning to travel anywhere for a few years.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

Are you sure you want to stay 3 days at Busch Gardens? That seems like a long time there.

 

[rluey29]

So I'd say the only universal answer to this is "too much" is "rack" rate.

I would never pay rack rate for a hotel. There are ALWAYS deals if you research and stay flexible with travel dates.

I think I am paying rack rate, but I also got that "buy 4, get 3 free" deal so it's a little better. We love the dining plan so we had to add it also.

I got a "buy 3, get 2 free" at Residence Inn with Seaworld and Aquatica.

And I also booked Discovery cove early and got $50 off each admission.

I would have a hard time booking any of this without getting a deal of some kind, LOL.

 

[kkmcan]

For me it would be too long. We spent that much last year on 4 vacations and a camping trip. I prefer many trips throughout the year rather than 1 big one. I always have another trip to look forward to if we plan several smaller ones (4-5 nights each).

 

[homedad]

I find that our true vacations(not to visit family) or cottage rental with inlaws every summer(split 4 ways) we seem to spend about $5000 a week. Our trip we leave for tomorrow to colorado is $4500 for lodging, ski lessons and school, airfare, and lift tix. We like to travel! Hawaii next summer is already in the works and thats gonna be about 4 grand just to get there.

 

[rluey29]

For me it would be too long. We spent that much last year on 4 vacations and a camping trip. I prefer many trips throughout the year rather than 1 big one. I always have another trip to look forward to if we plan several smaller ones (4-5 nights each).

I would LOVE to take more than one a year, but it's not feasible with my husband's job.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

I don't think it is too much $$$ for that long a trip. I would also worry it would be too long a time. I know by the end of our trips (usually around 8 days including traveling) we are so exhausted and about getting sick with sore throats etc. Ds is usually pretty miserable on that last day.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I'm sure this doesn't happen with other families, but we get kinda "ripe" on each other after about a week or so. Being with someone 24/7 is hard, even when they are my loved ones!

When our boys start fighting and we are tired of it, DH takes one, I take the other and we go our separate ways for the rest of the day. Works great!

 

[stacy2197]

We are going in june for 2 weeks also.
2500 for pop with park tickets
830 for flight
I'm sure once we add food we will be well over 4000 so don't feel bad. Last year we took a two week vacation and went to a bunch of national parks. I think it cost us over 3000(I was afraid to add it up) and we camped for alot of it so disney isn't too bad of a deal.

 

[rluey29]

I don't think it is too much $$$ for that long a trip. I would also worry it would be too long a time. I know by the end of our trips (usually around 8 days including traveling) we are so exhausted and about getting sick with sore throats etc. Ds is usually pretty miserable on that last day.

We're not like that at all. We've never been for more than about 8 days but we're always upset when we have to come home. We're counting down the days until we can move there permanently!

We might get a little tired on long days but we rest up quickly. And as long as we are in Disney, we really don't get on each others nerves. It must be the pixie dust in the air!!!

 

[tinatark]

We had $5k budgeted for vaca this year - economy took a nosedive, so we looked at our budget and worked numbers around - dropped the spring vacation to $3k. After skymiles tickets, we got a 7 day W. Caribbean cruise for around $2800! I know there is a cruise bill at the end, and we are saving $$, and playing with the budget again to cover that.

 

[Dancemom03]

I didn't think about the rain though. That would definitely put a damper on things!! Why did your DD have to ride in the stroller alot? Did she not enjoy just walking around and exploring and swimming?

At that age, 2-3 yrs, the options for swimming/walking/playing are much more limited in DC - or were for us anyway. Most of the water areas aren't really shallow so she couldn't play alot on her own while I watched her and she wasn't impressed at all with the Aviary. If it had been a beautiful sunny day, I might feel differently but still wouldn't do it again with a child under 4 or 5. DD19 was in middle school at the time and she had a great time despite the iffy wet weather but it would have been better if the family could have been more together in the water.
We took the smallest princess into the stingray pools with us and that was fine. What we found though was that, once wet and with no sun to dry/warm the sand, the younger DD just wasn't into the park like we'd assumed she'd be and preferred to be carried or pushed in the stroller covered with a towel. After 5 or 6 hours that can get old, especially since there aren't a lot of concrete walkways that go any real distance.

She's always loved SW, just not DC. It may sound odd, but it just wasn't active enough there to hold her interest and after an hour or two she was ready to go. I've had clients tell me the same thing so I know it isn't just us, but every family is different and yours might truly enjoy it. I hope so.
I just think, in contrast to the rest of your budget, that is a nice sized investment to make for a potentially rainy afternoon spent occupying a preschooler outside.

For us, it wasn't the price especially, as I get a TA discount and this was years ago, so we paid like $79 to watch and $119 for the swim at the time. Our issue was the weather, which isn't something you can guarantee but can make all the difference in what activities you might be able to enjoy once there, and the lack of things for the younger set to do.
Those doing the swim won't mind wet weather but I'd find something else to do with my preschooler, even just playing in SW's playground or watching SW shows, given the chance to do it again. DC photographers take super pictures of the encounter and lots of them. Much better than you can from the angle you're at if watching on the beach. Definitely worth budgeting in some extra $$ for pics when you go. I cherish the photos we have of that day, even though the day itself was somewhat disappointing.

There are often some really nice codes for NICK hotel also. It's in between DTD and SW, with a shuttle bus to those as well as Universal.
That could be great for a few inexpensive days while visiting SW and Aquatica. There are lots of activities at NICK for preschoolers as well as their older siblings, though DD19 pointed out a few years back the place has few older teens. NICK is in between WDW and SW too, with a shuttle bus to those and US too.