What is the value in a Disney vacation?

[olwyngdh]

The value for me, more than anything, is not only the joy my daughters have every minute we are there, but the fact that my husband actually relaxes and is more the man I married than he is any other time since his tours in Iraq. He is currently in a high stress position on a General's staff, and the idea of a WHOLE WEEK where the Army can just fall apart without the General needing him to fix it is pure bliss. I think I am going to hide his cell phone...

 

[serene56]

This will sound odd, but compared to a lot of other options, Disney is a relatively "cheap" vacation. That makes it an attractive option. Where else are you going to get a full day of high-quality entertainment for $60ish/day? We saw a show in Vegas last week and the tickets were twice that for a 90 minute performance.!

our disney vacation is 168 per day per person.
thats a lot of money for us for vacation- most of our vacations are 100 pp per day or less. (and yes both those figures include food)
cruises, aruba or disney.
but each vacation- no matter what vacation each is priceless on its own

 

[gracie1]

First family trip:

I accidentally drank a little bit of anti-freeze before we left (please don't ask- it's embarassing ) and we were concerned that I might have to visit the hospital but I was okay. We got started 3 hours late, though.

My sister called while we had stopped at Daytona Beach on the way to WDW. She lost a signed check from my account made out to cash for $700. I had no idea of the check number and spent over an hour on the phone with the bank taking care of that!

DS5 poured an entire sand bucket of ocean water on me while I was on the phone to the bank. Because of various issues, I ended up wearing those clothes the remainder of the day- even to Chef Mickey's.

We got stuck in the sand on Daytona Beach and were pushed out by 3 guys who cursed more in quantity and quality in those few minutes than my DD9 & DS5 had heard in their lives.

I cried the first morning because I couldn't get DH & the kids to make rope drop AT ALL. We missed 1/3 of our ADRs on the trip because of transportation and health issues.

I got an extremely painful eye infection and had to get my doctor to call in some medicine. Talk about feeling unattractive beside of a Disney princess in our pictures from CRT. Why didn't I just have the kids in the picture?

DH & I both had blisters & I got the Disney rash. I ended up having to soak in a very hot bathtub every evening. We were so exhausted we only spent about 3 hours at Animal Kingdom on our 9 night stay.

I lost DH's wallet on the day we were leaving Disney and we ended up spending another night to wait to see if the wallet was reovered by lost & found. It was recovered thankfully but it was a very sad, tense night.

We got home to find that real (not Disney) mice had moved into our home while we were gone for 12 nights & I have a horrible phobia.

To sum it all up, best vacation ever! We can't wait to go back and I wouldn't care if all of the above happened all over again. We all agree it was magical and the bad stuff didn't seem so bad even when it was happening.

This is definitely a trip you will not forget

 

[gracie1]

Why do you ask? If you're in financial dire straits, don't go. Seems like there's some rationalizing going on

Always trying to stir things up.

 

[gracie1]

When we took out Disney trip, it was a place that I never had the desire to visit, but my mom did. I am extremely happy that I went, because it was a great vacation. I would love to go back once to see it decorated for Christmas, however I personally wouldn't make it a yearly trip. There are so many other places that I can go, that costs quite less than going to Disney.

I would like to try a Disney cruise, because I hear they are awesome!

 

[ambiancetc]

For us it was a several things that made us decide Disney was the best value and just...well.."PERFECT!"

BIG #1: It's where our DS can just be a kid and everyone is so accommodating we forget we are dragging his equipment around everywhere. It's where he's INCLUDED like everyone else. Where we forget he is even sick. To be brutally honest, his life expectancy is short, Disney trips will insure that his QUALITY of life will be awesome! His memories and our memories with him, the best they can be. (for him/us anyway, everyone's definition of quality is different I know..disclaimer, disclaimer etc etc... you get the idea)
2. We travel a lot to visit family all over, but realized as much as we love family, we don't actually spend time with our kids on those trips. (they're off playing with the cousins) Plus, there is a certain amount of extra work, cooking & cleaning that comes with staying with relatives.
3. We use to love cruising but there is no way I'm taking my DS out of the mainland. Disney insures me proximity to an actual Children's Hospital.
4. For a total cost of $2100 a week I can take my kids to a place where we spend time WITH them doing everything fun under the sun all day long! Where we all relax, where my DH and my cellphones don't ring and I don't have to do any more cooking or cleaning than I want too.
5. It's in my all time favorite State
6. Thanks to our Disney travel buddy (DSIL) my DH and I are looking forward to slipping away for a few evenings to "travel the world" together. We can't leave DS for more than 6 hours at a time so Europe is off the table but Epcot is the next best thing!

So, several reasons of why Disney is the most value for us right now. It's the most bang for our buck, it has everything we love to do all in once place and for how we do it, it's one of the most affordable vacations we can take with 6 people. The biggest though, it's where our DS was the happiest he has ever been and were we reconnected with our amazing DD's. Enough said

 

[BadgerGirl84]

For me, the value comes from the wonderful memories. I am a cheapskate in every other aspect of my life, but I see my WDW vacations and a great way to spend some of my savings. It's the one thing I splurge on.

I have such wonderful memories over the years of going to WDW. My mom started taking me and my sister when I was in the 5th grade and we went every other year after that...plus a couple of trips with mom in college and my early 20s. I associate those trips with just having a wonderful time with my mom and sister.

When I was 26, my fiance took me on a surprise trip to WDW and proposed to me inside the castle. It was the best and happiest moment in my entire life.We also had a great honeymoon there a year later.

I combined my mom/sister trips and me/DH trips last year when we brought our moms and my sister--had a great time on that trip. We never know how many years our mothers will be here so it was so wonderful to spend time with them there.

I'm already thinking about how many tissues I'll need to bring when DH and I bring our baby (due in July...) to WDW the first time!

 

[Samar]

Aside from the Memories, it's just the feeling of being transported to another World. I still get teary eyed when I lay eyes on the castle, I still drag my kids to some of my favorite attractions (come heck or high water, we were doing Small World and Peter Pan. LOL) and I love seeing Disney through my children's eyes. Each trip, something new fascinates them and it makes me appreciate it that much more.

For our 10 year anniversary, my husband agreed to do a cruise but then one of our babysitters was unavailable for part of the dates (the grandma's who still work and were going to split the schedule). DH said in a joking way "Guess we'll have to go to Disney" and I was practically booking from my cell phone the moment the "D" word left his mouth Yeah, can't take that back, buddy-boy!

Over any trip, I will always choose a Disney Destination if possible along with visiting my family

 

[kkmcan]

Value for us is huge! We feel we get really awesome value out of a Disney vaca. We get to be together as a family doing something everyone enjoys. We leave the regular world behind and forget about everyday life. Everything is so simple and easy at Disney. You ride, you watch, you eat and your sleep all in one place.

Our family has made priceless memories together that we will all have and cherish forever!

As far as monetary value, ya the tickets are quite costly but still Disney raises prices and we still continue to go. I'm not sure at what point it will be too much and we'll stop going, probably never! Our trips may not be as frequent any more but if I still get to go every year to DL or even every 18 months I'm happy. That's what Disney Reward dollars do for us now, help us offset the rising cost of tickets.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

We asked ourselves a similar question in the car on the way home in Feb. The answer? It's where we go to be a family.

Sure, we are a family at home but we are always running and our quality time is limited. Violin lessons, baseball, Boy Scouts, dance, the gym, 2 jobs, out with friends... I could go on. Even when we visit with extended family our quality time is limited. We are always trying to please everyone else and not ourselves. When we go to WDW it is for us not someone else.

So, while we are together as a family at home, we never really spend quality time together. We could go tons of other places but all 4 of us love Disney. The feeling we all get when we first step onto Main Street USA is priceless. It's just our happy place.

That's exactly it for us! Having that time together, having fun and worrying about just us! I sometimes feel bad that I don't invite my mom or sis or inlaws with us, but that's my time with my husband and kids. If they want to experience disney with them, they can take them themselves. LOL

So, yes I'm selfish, and it's just about US having fun together!

 

[Junebugwv]

Our value is looking forward it, enjoying it and savoring the memories.

When the kids were younger and we traveled as a herd, we liked to stay at roomy, 3-bedroom condos offsite. With the younger guys (now 15 and 20) we have valued onsite stays where they can safely travel the World and enjoy their evening activities while the old fogey parents rest in peace.