Better trips, or more trips??

[ZehnJahren]

Would you rather have more expensive trips in which your accommodations are better and you stay for longer, or would you rather have several budget trips with less days and more budget restrictions?

Trying to decide whether to take a trip in 2014 and 2015 that are longer and more extravagant vs. taking three or more shorter budget (read: penny pinching) trips in 2013-2015.

What is YOUR opinion?

 

[eliza61]

Would you rather have more expensive trips in which your accommodations are better and you stay for longer, or would you rather have several budget trips with less days and more budget restrictions?

Trying to decide whether to take a trip in 2014 and 2015 that are longer and more extravagant vs. taking three or more shorter budget (read: penny pinching) trips in 2013-2015.

What is YOUR opinion?

definitely a personal choice. I'm normally a penny pincher in real life, I don't want to do it on vacation. I don't want to lug snacks to the parks, I really do need a queen bed and nothing beats sitting on a balcony at night watching animals while the kids are sleeping.
I hate small hotel rooms, so I'd much rather save and blow a big wad on comfort.
So no, I would not take a Disney vacation if the only way to do it was to stay at a value. I'd wait.

 

[chimilady]

I would rather go longer or do more trips than upgrade my accommodations. My girls are only 5 though. If I had two 15 year olds, space may be more of a concern to me. But studies show that while "stuff" doesn't bring happiness, memories do, so I would go for the more happy memories.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I tend to do a mix of both. Some years we'll take multiple small trips, some years longer and more expensive trips. However, I don't pay to "upgrade" my room or anything. The added money goes to more days of vacation or more expensive (in general) locales.

However, if there's someplace you really want to go - it's on your bucket list, for instance - but you'd have to save up for it, and your question is whether to hold off on that and take some smaller cheaper trips instead, I say forget the small stuff. You're not getting any younger! If you can do the big things, do them.

 

[dpswift]

I like to go stay in a value. and save money that way. I do not believe in shipping food to my room nor do I take snacks to parks. On a short trip I will bring soda from home(if driving) rather than buy the resort mug. We do not go crazy on meals but eat what we want. I think that by staying in a value we can do more and eat better.

 

[threeboysmom]

I prefer to take more frequent trips.

If I can only take 1 trip and stay at the GF (which I'd love to do) versus 3-4 more inexpensive but frequent trips, I'd go with the budget trips any day!

I don't like going more than a year without visiting the World. As much as I''d love an extravagant trip, I just don't want to go a long time before my next trip.

 

[Marionnette]

definitely a personal choice. I'm normally a penny pincher in real life, I don't want to do it on vacation. I don't want to lug snacks to the parks, I really do need a queen bed and nothing beats sitting on a balcony at night watching animals while the kids are sleeping.
I hate small hotel rooms, so I'd much rather save and blow a big wad on comfort.
So no, I would not take a Disney vacation if the only way to do it was to stay at a value. I'd wait.

My sentiments exactly! When I vacation, it's supposed to be an escape from the ordinary. I want to be pampered and carefree. I want at least a queen-size bed because anything smaller would leave us feeling cramped. I want to order food that I can't get at home instead of packing a lunch as if I were heading off to work. I would rather go less often and do it in a manner that I love than go more frequently and come home feeling as if I spent the whole time fretting over every nickle.

 

[FLCyndi]

Better!

 

[Ginny Favers]

My choice is made for me-- I only get so much time off for work, so when we go, we go all-out.

If I had the choice, though, I'd probably still do it that way. I like planning for a long time and that feeling of anticipation-- if I went more often, I wouldn't consider it to be as special.

 

[chobie]

More, but I'm within a 3 hour drive so I can go up for a 3 day weekend anytime I want a Disney fix. We occasionally stay moderate, but more often stay value. We often stay at the Hyatt Grand Cypress which is an awesome hotel that I get at a discount. We bring our own alcohol, one bottle of water each to the parks ( buy more drinks as the day goes on) mostly eat at HOB with a restaurant.com certificate, or quick service or offsite at a few ethnic restaurants we have found over the years. Bring food for breakfast in the room.

 

[jcano]

We prefer longer trips at with nicer accomadations and do more extras then budget for smaller trips. I agree with other posters. When I take a vacation I want to do things I can not do during the year. I do not want to bring my own meals or cook or clean. I want to experience more of Disney than just the parks. Those have been great memories.

Of course if I lived closer I think I would go more often and be able to do the extras since we lived closer.

 

[scrapquitler]

Would you rather have more expensive trips in which your accommodations are better and you stay for longer, or would you rather have several budget trips with less days and more budget restrictions?

Trying to decide whether to take a trip in 2014 and 2015 that are longer and more extravagant vs. taking three or more shorter budget (read: penny pinching) trips in 2013-2015.

What is YOUR opinion?

Personally, my opinion, staying in a 'better' hotel or eating in 'better' restaurants doesn't make for a 'better' vacation, especially at WDW. I'd rather stay longer or go an extra time and do it in a budget way. Staying longer and going less frequently is more budget for my family than several shorter trips because the main cost we have is a. getting there and b. hotel. We don't care about the room as long as it is clean because we only stay in the room to shower and sleep. Staying longer can be cheaper ticket wise, too because of the pricing structure of additional days. A 10 day ticket is a lot less expensive than two three or 4 day tickets, unless you are buying annual passes, longer stay tickets works better money wise.

There's no better, just personal preference.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I will gladly give up the frequency of Disney, but not the frequency of vacation. And I don't mind cutting some corners on vacation.

 

[fr spodo komodo]

Why not both?????

 

[rdevine10]

Its a combo of both. Some vacations are budget (like camping- not at Disney btw), some are more upscale. Usually its one "nicer" vacation- but not usually 5 star, and one more budget. I have no issues cutting corners on food / restaurants and cooking in (in a condo), especially after I felt we wasted a ton money on food on our april disney trip.


Typically Im all about the experiences. Id rather do 2 -3star vacations than 1 five star. Everyone is different!

Example: for my favorite vacation of a cruise, Id rather have an inside cabin and spend more on excursions (aka experiences) than have a balcony and not have a huge excursion budget.

 

[MomToOne]

Put me in the "more" camp - although in my case it's really more of a "longer" situation. It's either stay more basically but longer, or stay more lavishly but shorter.

A hotel room is a hotel room is a hotel room to me, as long as it's clean and not completely falling apart. It's a bed, a bathroom, and a place to store my clothes. Frills just don't do much for me. I don't need a balcony - I can go sit by the pool (near the bar, ahem) if I want to be outside. And I'd rather pack some snacks from home because then I am assured of having the things I want, not having to make due with what's available.

But my sister is different - she is ALL about the ammenities. Heaven forbid she doesn't stay on a club floor with an amazing view and free happy hour snacks in the lounge.

To each his own!!

 

[worm761]

I would rather have more experiences than one big experience unless it is a bucket list trip. That I would save up for and give up all the small trips for.

Disney specifically though I would rather go budget multiple times than one blow out. I love all the different themes they do throughout the year. One day I will get to all of them.

 

[Pakey]

For my Disney vacations, I don't care. For my international vacations, I want better vs longer.

 

[DawnM]

We prefer to stay off site anyway because we want a 2 bedroom condo with SPACE and staying on-site for one night in a 2 bedroom is about the cost of an entire week off-site.

So I vote for longer time there and cutting back on accommodations and food, but if it meant fitting in a small hotel room either way I would probably not go.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

For us, we'd rather take more frequent trips than go all out on a lavish hotel at Disney and do less trips. Our Disney trips are about being in the parks the majority of the time, a little pool time each day, and also DTD too. We don't spend much time in our hotel room other than to sleep and shower. As soon as we wake up in the morning, we get ready and get out to the parks early. If it's a non Disney vacation, like our Aruba trip-- we choose the nicer hotels w/ all the amenities.

Because of how we budget, we were just in Disney this past April and now have another planned for Sept. When the kids are older we might choose to stay at a deluxe hotel, for now the value is fine.