Debating another Disney trip

ateam79828592

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
me, DH, DD4 & DS1 went on our family disney trip in September. We had WONDERFUL time. Better than anticipated. I'm just now able to get on the disboards again...it was just too depressing before this. :D Before our first trip we said "how can people go to disney every year?". we thought probably every 5 years would be good for our family. then we went to disney...and we understood. however, we thought the soonest we would go back again would be in 2011 (right before DS turned 3). however, i'm ready to go back this fall...so we're talking about it. this time we would have DD5, DS2, and a baby (due early june - souvenir from our first disney trip. :D) who will be 4 months.

so i'm debating going or not...maybe we should stick with the every other year plan??? we can afford it, but i'm not sure we should spend THAT much money on it. if we go this year, i'm sure i'll want to go next year as well. :D

i know "disney boards" isn't probably going to be very balanced advice...but i thought i would ask for opinions.

also...for those of you that go every year or even multiple times a year...how much do you spend per trip? and/or what percentage of your gross income do you spend on each trip?

thanks for "listening" to my ramblings...i SOOOO would love to plan another trip for fall 2010. :D
 
Welcome back! I'm glad you had a good trip!pixiedust:
I know exactly how you feel, we thought our first trip would be our only one- that was 6 trips ago!

I agree that you will definitely find more people who go to WDW often on these boards, than you would in the general public.

Whether and when you should go again this year- and next- is really up to you and your family. As far as the cost, only you can decide. There is a huge range of how much a WDW can cost. There are ways to save- stay in a value, don't get park hopping privliges, see if you can go during free dining, etc. If you do another vacation instead, how much will that cost? It may not be too much cheaper.

If you are worried about whhat other people will think about you going again, don't worry about it- most of us here have long stopped caring about what other folks think of our vacations. We know other disssers will understand! :thumbsup2


Plenty of families go to the same beach year after year- no one says anything to them.

As long as you have it in your budget and you and your DH are on the same page about it, go for it!
 
One more thing....going into your first trip you may have wanted to try to do everything since you wouldn't be back. That can cause a little stress. A benefit to knowing you'll be back again is that you are freed from trying to do it all. Even if you don't go every year, but only every other year. If you miss something, you can do it next time. Makes for a more relaxing trip.
 
If your whole family enjoys WDW together and you can afford it, what's the question again? ;-)

I suppose it comes down to opportunity cost: what would you have to give up by spending this time and money at WDW? A cruise? A week on the beach? For my family's money, there isn't a more relaxing and enjoyable vacation around. Good luck with you "decision." :-)
 
Fall is a great time to go, so you might as well take advantage of your oldest not being in elementary school yet and book a trip!
 
It would depends on the kids for me. If I had kids the ages of yours and had to choose between sooner or later, I'd pick sooner. If you add on a year, you'll have two mobile kids who might have trouble with reason and still have some meltdowns. Enjoy being able to sling the baby and having the third child just along for the ride. However, I try to avoid the mobile-but-can't-reason stage for Disney so I don't take my kids at 2. I did take one at 3.0 and it was tough. 3.5 was much better. (I've also taken a baby at 2 months old and 9 months and will be taking an 11 month old).
 
I am kind of like you, so I had to respond to your question. Here's my story: 3 years ago we went to WDW for the first time as a family of 4. My DH and I had gone on our honeymoon, but hadn't been back since then because we were living in CA, so it was pretty far, plus we had Disneyland. Anyway, we moved to TX in '05 and are much closer to WDW. We went in 1/07 and thought it was wonderful, and the kids really enjoyed it. (back then, my DDs were 6 & 2 11/12ths=free admission). We too thought we would go every 3-5 years after that. Then I got a call from Hilton timeshare, and we wound up going again in 3/09. Now we want to go again! It's like we're addicted! We have to fly, so that is another part of the equation. If you can drive, that makes it a little easier to plan.

The advice part - since your kids are still so young and you don't have to get the guilt trip from the school district about missing school yet, and you have some free admission/under 3 kids, I say go for it. Now my kids are 9 and almost 6, and both in elementary school. I refuse to go when it is crazy busy, so I will only go off-season, so we really can't go every year w/ that kind of restriction. If your family is up for the trip physically at their young ages, do it! There are still plenty of good deals out there, so go and get 'em!:goodvibes
 


Welcome to the insanity, OP :goodvibes We first went when my oldest DD was 1 and have gone once a year since then. But then last year we ended up going two times! The obsession just gets worse and worse! Sometimes I think I am really crazy and I'm sure there are people who think I am. All of DH's coworkers do :rotfl:
We have the money to spend, but I will tell you it's hard for me to spend it. I am really frugal. We have been able to keep each trip under two thousand dollars, because I'll stay in the values. We did spend around $2500 and did a split stay at the Poly and loved it! But when I got home, the price tag kind of made me shudder. This includes, food, airfare, hotel, everything. Well I'm pregnant with our 4th and the vacations won't be as economical anymore since we won't fit in a value resort. But my family loves it so much! We don't get sick of it, so I figure while we still enjoy it so much, we might as well keep going. If I thought my kids would love the Grand Canyon, then sure I would change it up, but I don't think they would. Maybe when they're older, but for the ages of my kids, Disney World is perfect for us.

ETA: We went for the first time at the end of October this year and it was my favorite time to go! The weather was perfect!
 
. We have been able to keep each trip under two thousand dollars, because I'll stay in the values. We did spend around $2500 and did a split stay at the Poly and loved it! But when I got home, the price tag kind of made me shudder. This includes, food, airfare, hotel, everything.

wow!! Under $2k for everything is impressive! How long do you stay and during what time of year for that amount?
 
We usually go during a Value season, but we've done it during May/October, too. We usually stay for 6 nights/7 days. We either go during Free Dining, or have some kind of Pin code or Disney deal. Plus we have only had to buy 2 adult tickets and 1 child ticket. Another DD has just turned 3, so it's going to be harder :)
 
We go twice a year; DH would go more often if he could get away from work. :). It's hard to resist the bounceback offers every time we go. 45% off villas is amazing! I'm sure once the kids are older, we'll go other places, but for many reasons, WDW is our vacation of choice at this point. Go for it and enjoy!!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top