21 days in DW on Deluxe Dining plan??? Who can afford that???

[camtheriot]

I was just wondering.... How can people afford to stay 14days, 21days, some even MORE... at Deluxe Resorts.... on the Deluxe Dining plans??? I was just over in the restaruant reviews board and noticed a few and have seen a few posts where people have done this. Who are these people?? How can they afford to do this??? Is there some secret society that I should know about that would help me save thousands of dollars for every 3 WEEK vacation I take in DW?? I mean, we are by no means "rich", but we make a "pretty good living"... and there is no way we could stay THAT long on vacation!!! Am I missing something???

 

[DSNY4ever]

I know- isn't it amazing? I am insanely jealous. I have noticed that they are usually from outside the US- the euro and pound make the dollar look like a quarter right now

 

[dallastxcpa]

Having three teenagers that literally eat me out of house and home...

I think the secret is no kids or kids younger than three. It sure did hurt when they hit 10 and were considered an adult. I think it is just ridiculous that they don't have a special menu for juniors.

My DH and I love the signature restaurants but when planning a family trip we just don't book those places because I look at the menu and envision one of my kids ordering a $30 chicken dish and sending it back uneaten because they didn't like it. And yes this has happened before. Actually I wound up eating the chicken and giving my meal to the unsatisfied kid.

 

[secretpantssam]

I know I can't afford that....but if you find out anything about that secret society, let me know!! I want in!

 

[vsimeone]

It can be done!!! We stayed for 14 days over Christmas in '08. We stayed at CSR on the "regular" dining plan. We checked in on the last day of FREE dining and saved over $1500 for our meal plan.

We also had a discount code for our package and applied the free dining when it became available.

We are four adults ("kids" were 17 and 20 on that trip) and our total cost was just under $5000 for the entire trip!

Just watch for sales and specials - you can do it!!!

 

[Colleen27]

A lot of those longer reviews are from people coming from overseas. Shorter trips just don't make much sense when you're paying trans-Atlantic airfare! I think DVC is part of the picture for many of them too, which makes the lodging costs more manageable.

There's no secret to it, IMO, and it doesn't even have that much to do with income. It is all about income relative to expenses. I'm sure there are people making two or three times my family's income who can't afford the trips we take, because they're paying out a lot more in necessary expenses or live a more luxurious lifestyle at home. We have no debt, no housing payment, drive older cars, seldom eat out/shop/go to the movies (living in a small town with limited options helps on that count), and live a pretty modest lifestyle in our little town. As a result, we take GREAT vacations on a very average income. Long vacations to one place aren't our thing, though, because of scheduling issues and the kids' preferences; one or two week-long trips and a few long weekend getaways works better for us right now and has the added advantage of allowing for lots of different destinations.

 

[dizneechic]

Financial aspect aside, I can't imagine the weight gained during that long of a trip! We just did 10 days, paid OOP for all meals but did a character meal or TS meal at least once every day on top of QS meals for the other two and I gained 6lbs and dh gained 10. Two to three weeks on the deluxe plan - yikes!!

 

[Colleen27]

Financial aspect aside, I can't imagine the weight gained during that long of a trip! We just did 10 days, paid OOP for all meals but did a character meal or TS meal at least once every day on top of QS meals for the other two and I gained 6lbs and dh gained 10. Two to three weeks on the deluxe plan - yikes!!

Wow! In 11 nights with deluxe dining, I lost 4lbs. Granted, that was a pretty commando trip, but it is typical for me to lose weight at Disney because I'm so much more active there (on the first DDP trip we ever took, back when it included appetizers, I lost 6lbs in 5 nights). On our most recent, much less commando trip, I lost 2lbs in 8 nights on the deluxe plan. We use deluxe dining to have a lot of signature meals, and the food choices and portion sizes at the sig. restaurants are a little more balanced/reasonable.

 

[camtheriot]

It can be done!!! We stayed for 14 days over Christmas in '08. We stayed at CSR on the "regular" dining plan. We checked in on the last day of FREE dining and saved over $1500 for our meal plan.

We also had a discount code for our package and applied the free dining when it became available.

We are four adults ("kids" were 17 and 20 on that trip) and our total cost was just under $5000 for the entire trip!

Just watch for sales and specials - you can do it!!!

Wait.... I thought you could only use 1 code at a time??

 

[monorailsilver]

My next trip I am hoping for a minimum of 10 days with a maximum of 14. I am not sure yet.

But my next trip is in 2012 (I hope) & my last trip was in 2008.

And yes it will be at a Deluxe. Am I wealthy? No but I will save for it or try to pay a night per month plus every penny helps with me doing the rewards sites & the Disney Visa rewards.

But I won't be doing the Deluxe dining. I will continue to bring boxes of cereal/pop tarts/bagels for breakfast in the am. If anything we will do the QSDP if that is still around.

 

[RachaelA]

Yeah I bet most of them are from overseas. And don't forget for people in Europe and especially in England the conversion rate makes it much cheaper.

 

[tinkmom2]

I think a lot of planning is involved to stay for 21 days.

For us we had a bounceback cruise on the Wonder in November. That was $99/4 of us. Our total with fees and taxes and insurance was $800.00 We stayed at WDW for 3 nights with free dining at Pop for under $1000.00 and including a one day park ticket. We paid OOP for the MVMCP tickets which were $250.00 and a few dollars extra to have on TS meal a day added to our plan. We originally were paying for our dining but when free dining became available we were able to apply that to our package.

For us Deluxe dining is too much food. We were very happy with one TS and one QS per day. I made sure all our info is current on the Disney website and get pins for special promotions to stay at WDW for a week but so far we are going on another cruise in 2011 on the Dream and probably will stay at POP again. I am not booking my hotel until about 6 months out.

I suppose you could stay at WDW for a long time if you had the money or watched for special promos. My DH has 5 weeks of vacation each year and also works everyother week so he really could take 10 weeks off if he needed to and still get paid for it. We are happy with staying there for just a week

 

[minniebeth]

I know that Europeans and other cultures give much more vacation time or "holiday" than American companies do too which is a factor. My DH gets 3 weeks vacation per year, but would be very frowned upon to take it all at once. He doesn't even take his full three weeks most years and when he is on vacation, is never really "off".

 

[cglaura]

Alot depends on how a person lives too. My in-laws lived in a very small (900sqft) home for most of their working years. They drove modest cars, etc. He was a bus driver, she an office mananger. They had everything they needed, lived comfortable but not luxury, and invested their savings wisely. They have a net worth of over some-odd millions now. They took nice vacations every 2 or 3 years, and people did comment how they could afford that, because on the surface they didn't appear wealthy. Wealth has alot to do with how much you spend as much as how much you earn.

As for time off, hard to say, maybe they have alot of vacation time, maybe self employed?

 

[3boymthr]

So we're talking about $15,000 for a deluxe vacation in a deluxe location with deluxe dining for 4 people. Uh, huh. I know people who can afford that. I can name probably 10 off the top of my head. Would they? Not really. Could they? Yes - no problem. And most of them are not uber rich people Just people who can afford to do what they want with their time and money.

I can also name several uber rich people in my personal acquaintance - who could afford it for about 100 people - would they no - but that's why they're uber rich. (They live in a modest 4 bdrm colonial the next town over and drive a 4 yo Jeep Wagoneer - and the other lives in a slightly more ostentations mcmansion but they too don't live to the extent of their wealth - the third lives in her late husband's child hood 2 bdrm farm house - all three are worth more than Paris Hilton).

However; each person is different and will spend their money in different ways.

 

[minniebeth]

As for time off, hard to say, maybe self employed?

This too...

 

[wdwfan16]

I never do the DDP or the DxDDP. I have done 12 days trips to WDW. It can be done, minus the DxDDP, by getting an AP, getting the 40% of AP deluxe discount rate and getting and using the TIW card.

 

[camtheriot]

I never do the DDP or the DxDDP. I have done 12 days trips to WDW. It can be done, minus the DxDDP, by getting an AP, getting the 40% of AP deluxe discount rate and getting and using the TIW card.

TIW card is something you automatically get when you are AP holder? How much of a discount do you get?? Just wondering if it's worth the price of the AP..

Thanks everyone who has commented so far..

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I am jealous of those who can afford it, as we can't (though I wouldn't trade my life for all the money in the worrld.) We save hard for the one week of vacation we get every other year. We don't eat out much, live in a small house, and only buy sales, but we made the choice for me to be at home so that is our choice.

I am also jealous of those who can take 3 weeks or even 2 off at a time. My DH is not allowed to take more then a week off at a time. We only take a week every other year to go to Disney and he will take a here or there day off for a kids' school activity or to spend the day with us in the summer and maybe a couple days at Christmas to go to grandmas or something.

I am glad though for the poeple who do, especially the overseas travelers who are helping our economy.

 

[susieq76]

We're far from "rich" but we could. We wouldn't simply because we like to have a 2nd vacation and a few long weekends thrown in. However, when we're planning a trip I take a $100 a week of our disposable income and put it aside for the trip. We just pretend we don't have it and don't go out to dinner a second time ect. If its really what you want you can do it.