Breaking Point for Disney Cost

[kathy884]

Cost is fine still -- but my interest has waned. // I'm right now going to other places that are more expensive than Orlando, but that appeal to me more at the moment. Orlando, though, for much of my life to date was a big favorite and I've done more vacations there than any other place. At the moment, though, the love is over.

The way we do Orlando it's a pretty economical vacation and less expensive than other types of vacations we typically take. Offsite condo owner rentals are such a great deal, we can get cheap air, etc. // I've been a frequent Orlando visitor pretty steadily since 1971 when the park opened. Usually I'd do two vacations an year and one of those really for most of the past decade has usually been Orlando. It was just such a fun place to go with my son when he was in elementary school, junior high, and high school. And my extended family loves Orlando, so often they would meet us there -- another great reason to go. Recently, though, -- maybe I'm just getting old or maybe it's that my son is in college and that we are in a different life stage or maybe 38 visits to Orlando is just more than enough for one lifetime for me personally -- I'm totally burned out on the theme park experience -- that includes Disney, Universal, SeaWorld -- my previous favorite, Discovery Cove, Cedar Point -- I used to be a roller coaster junkie and used to adore this place, Silver Dollar City, etc. // What I'm doing instead of theme parks are city get-a-ways and National Park get-a-ways. Everyone in the family is enjoying these a lot. They are more costly than Orlando, but are more my "cup of tea" for the moment. My husband doesn't like theme parks, but likes these. And my college aged son who does love theme parks is in love with the city and National Park trips too (He's a photographer too which helps I think.). I'm more into these at the moment than the beach, Caribbean cruise, and tropical vacations which we've certainly done a lot of in the past too. -- The last three years we did Kauai, a Cruise out of San Juan, and Puerto Vallarta -- great places, but for some reason tropical isn't really appealing to me at the moment either.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

After the parties this year I'm gonna be officially burnt out of the Orlando parks for at least 5 years I need a break.

 

[mom2my3kids]

We love love love Disney, but next year we are taking a break..We are going to go to Dollywood and Pigeon Forge next spring and then maybe the beach and universal for a day next summer..who knows I may change my mind but as of right now we are good on Disney for a while..

 

[jnjhuddle]

Well, after our trip to WDW last December, we reached our breaking point, and we are DVC members. We stayed at POFQ and paid OOP for food, with a Candlelight Processional package ($$$$). We are 4 adults. 5 day PH tickets. We drove from Buffalo, NY to Orlando. It cost us a small fortune.

Anyway, we have found we can spend a whole lot less money and
1. go to Puerto Rico for 5 days and go on a cruise (did this in April)
2. go to Cancun for 10 days (going here in September)
3. go to Disneyland in California (we are doing this in November)

We priced out Disneyland and with the cheap hotels available right across the street, tickets that are reasonable, cheap eats near the parks, reasonable flights and a new experience, we are very excited. With WDW seemingly ignoring Hollywood Studios, AK being a mess of construction and the parks being taken over by all things Frozen, and the crowds, we need a very long break, I think. For people who used to be AP holders, this is significant.

By the way, if any of you are thinking about our DVC, we are using all our points to go to Aulani in Hawaii next year. We have booked free flights for 4 (though our AA Advantage card) and our only OOP expenses besides our yearly dues will be a couple of nights in Waikiki, a rental car and food at the grocery store. Yes, cheaper than WDW!

You are not comparing apples to apples on a Disneyland trip staying off property vs a cash trip during the most expensive hotel season in WDW. We did Disneyland a couple years ago but stayed on property. We LOVED it. We spent just as much $ (Actually probably more) on this trip than WDW trips, but definitely no regrets. We decided to try to "save" on a meal one day and walked out of the Disney bubble to one of the local restaurants off property. The moment we stepped off and walked along the strip of hotels nearby, it validated my decision to stay on property. Couldn't justify walking past all the riff raff and beggars on the street every day just to save $ staying off site. Not my idea of a nice "vacation" and sometimes you get what you pay for. We also found that the overall food cost on west Coast is much more than East Coast. The hotels "across the street" may be slightly closer walking distance, but for me, and I'm not above staying at a value WDW resort, it would have ruined my vacation. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and just loved the ambiance of walking through Downtown Disney to the parks each day. Downtown Disney in California is much more like a downtown type atmosphere than its Florida counterpart. You are going to love it, I would just suggest really researching your hotel choice well.

 

[momof2n2]

We love love love Disney, but next year we are taking a break..We are going to go to Dollywood and Pigeon Forge next spring and then maybe the beach and universal for a day next summer..who knows I may change my mind but as of right now we are good on Disney for a while..

Dollywood is a great vacation. I hope to get back in a year or so. ❤

 

[pbarager]

We will take a break after this year's trip. I'll wait until Star Wars land and Pandora is completed. We have never been on a beach vacation or a cruise so we will give those a try. As long as we can stay in the $6k range for vacation, I'm willing to try some other places.

 

[5kidsmommy]

I don't know mostly because each trip we take now gets less expensive but only because our kids are getting older and last year one left home, next year another will, etc. etc. So it makes it easier to absorb increased costs as we have less people. Plus we are getting older, in our 40s now and more secure in our income so we can afford more.

 

[mousehappync]

For us-- probably never. However, I paid right at $200 for MNSSHP tickets a few years ago. This year it's over $300-- we are not going. Mi think the more often we go the less magical the add-ons become. I will continue to go at least once a year unless it begins to seriously impact our ability to do the other things that are important to our family.

 

[JimmyV]

The moment we stepped off and walked along the strip of hotels nearby, it validated my decision to stay on property. Couldn't justify walking past all the riff raff and beggars on the street every day just to save $ staying off site. Not my idea of a nice "vacation" and sometimes you get what you pay for.

Different strokes, I guess. I always stay in the Disney bubble at WDW. But I recently went to DLR for a few days. The Disneyland Hotel started at $375. I stayed at the Sheraton, which was a very comfortable walk to the parks for $131. For 4 days, that is over $750 less after taxes and fees are accounted for. I walked to the parks at 7:00 in the morning, and on some days, walked back at midnight. I didn't encounter a single beggar or riff raff (unless I was one, and I am simply not very self-aware!). As far as "good" food goes, the best food at DLR is at the resorts and at Downtown Disney, and I was a comfortable walk from those places as well. So I didn't really save any money because Disney got most of my dining dollars, other than the $5 or so that I spent at the CVS for Arizona Ice Teas to put in my hotel room fridge. But the $750 savings was real. As much as I love (and I mean LOVE) staying on site at WDW, it is hard for me to recommend staying on site at DLR. Not with a Sheraton one block away that has more square footage per room than the Disney hotels. And as a "good neighbor" hotel, you get early admission to Disneyland during one of your days there. I just don't see the downside.

 

[Micca]

I dunno, we go to WDW. It's a thing like paying the mortgage, insurance, food, utilities. I guess if the price of our trips got to the point we couldn't afford the other things, we'd have to reconsider. As it stands now, we have DVC, AP, and frequent flier miles. For us, Disney is a huge part of our lives, it can't be compared to going to the beach, Europe, etc.

 

[epcotty]

Dollywood is a great vacation. I hope to get back in a year or so. ❤

I haven't gone there but remember my jerkish former neighbor loudly talking about it outside while smoking cigars, (something he usually did): "Yeah when I was at Dollywood 25 years ago I spent the whole day smokin' like I do now" lol

Although my parents also went there and seemed to like it, and I've seen footage on youtube of Adam The Woo going there (watched his videos for a while)

 

[Nilsifjel]

For us, it is likely to be the flights that make us hit breaking point, unless Disney drop their special offers for UK guests.

We are booked for next August, 14 nights staying at Coronado Springs, with a free QS Dining Plan, 14 day tickets (the UK tickets include both park hopping and the water parks and more option), a free $200 gift card and free Memory Maker. It works out just over $3900. That's for two adults, and for us, that's great value. We're unlikely to venture offsite, so that's all our transport thrown in. That's around $140 per person, per night, all inclusive. That's great for us.

We're looking at needing to spend another $3200-ish for the flights for the two of us. When we went last summer, we $2200 on flights, but they've shot up, and bargains on direct flights from London to MCO during school holidays are few and far between. That's what will break the budget. That's for economy class flights- no frills there! And that's what will break us, unless Disney withdraw the free dining offer. Our offer is significantly better than the one on offer to US guests, but without it, the trip becomes unviable.

I'm going from the UK next August on the same offer (CBR though). I've budgeted £900 each for the flights because they're just stupidly expensive. Looked at Virgin (out of Manchester) and was shocked. I'm limited to the school holidays too being a teacher. My usual plan is Newcastle to Amsterdam and then fly out of there but even that is seeming more expensive than usual! Fingers crossed that when the flights are released next month I'll get something at reasonable price!

I agree about the packages. Without that I wouldn't have been going as the cost car hire for under 25s is sky high and while staying on I drive and using Lynx is perfectly possible, in the summer it's not pleasant and it's very difficult to stay for the night time shows!

 

[kydisneyfans]

I'm budgeting just over 3K for 5 folks-we are DVC members, 2 adults and 3 teens. That's driving part way, then taking a flight from Atlanta in to Orlando since they were dirt cheap. We spent just under that for a 4 day weekend in Vegas in Feb, and in that ballpark for 5 days in Phoenix/Grand Canyon. I still think Disney is one of the cheapest vacations out there, but we don't do sit down meals in the park, buy expensive trinkets, etc. I can find ways to keep transportation and food costs low, it's the ticket prices that are more difficult to control.