Did your beach vacation cost more than your Disney vacation

[plutospalforever]

We have found Disney to be much more expensive the past few years, and because of this, we have traveled elsewhere. Last year we traveled to hawaii for 2 weeks, and including airfare, car rental, and accommodations (studio apartment), it was much much cheaper than the same two weeks at disney (without car rental and in a smaller hotel room). We also had a kitchen so we were able to make breakfast and lunch in the room when we were around, which saved us more money.

Wow! I would have never guessed that. That's great! If you don't mind me asking how many people could you fit in a room? And how close to beach? That is my oldest DD's dream vacation. I just don't know if I can get over flying that far.

 

[Bob NC]

Did your beach vacation cost more than your Disney vacation?

Not until my son and his friend cracked up the rented wave-runners.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Not until my son and his friend cracked up the rented wave-runners.

Bummer, did they actually crash into each other?

 

[disney1990]

Many years ago, we rented condos in Ocean City, Maryland. Then I found we could go to Disney for less that OC, so we made the switch.

 

[MrsPete]

A beach vacation is SO MUCH cheaper that I find this idea laughable. A beach (or mountain) vacation costs about 30-40% the cost of a Disney vacation.

At Disney you pay whatever Disney charges for the room, and even at the value hotels, that's pretty high. Tickets, restaurant meals, etc. If you do free dining, they make it up on the hotel cost. Disney is one of the most expensive vacations we ever take. Cruises are in the same ballpark, but everything else we do it cheaper.

In contrast, at the beach you can get a really nice condo or house from any number of sources, which'll include a money-saving kitchen and washer/dryer. Beach activities are largely free: Walking on the beach, lounging with a book at the pool, board games and movies in the condo/house in the evenings. In a one-week vacation, we'd go out to dinner a couple times, but mostly we'd enjoy cooking big meals together.

If you've paid more at Disney, something's unusual about your situation: Either you didn't have to buy tickets or something else . . . or you seriously over-paid at the beach.

 

[vicki_c]

A beach vacation is SO MUCH cheaper that I find this idea laughable. A beach (or mountain) vacation costs about 30-40% the cost of a Disney vacation.

At Disney you pay whatever Disney charges for the room, and even at the value hotels, that's pretty high. Tickets, restaurant meals, etc. If you do free dining, they make it up on the hotel cost. Disney is one of the most expensive vacations we ever take. Cruises are in the same ballpark, but everything else we do it cheaper.

In contrast, at the beach you can get a really nice condo or house from any number of sources, which'll include a money-saving kitchen and washer/dryer. Beach activities are largely free: Walking on the beach, lounging with a book at the pool, board games and movies in the condo/house in the evenings. In a one-week vacation, we'd go out to dinner a couple times, but mostly we'd enjoy cooking big meals together.

If you've paid more at Disney, something's unusual about your situation: Either you didn't have to buy tickets or something else . . . or you seriously over-paid at the beach.

People have different experiences, depending on where you go and what you do. No need to make people feel foolish because they have a different set of experiences.

 

[lovedonald]

Thank u Vicki! U r nice.

My point was that staying at a hotel and doing activities cost us more at ocean city md than it will at disney this year. Obviously renting a house or camping would cost us less. I was comparing apples to apples.

 

[shells4]

The biggest draw for us with the beach is we don't have to go out and find things to do to entertain us. Being at the beach is the whole point. We can spend all day, everyday, swimming, fishing, looking for shells, and critters and still not want to leave. We love having uninterupted family time with no technology. We don't even like to leave to go out and eat. Some of our favorite memories are making simple meals together and eating them at the beach. Your right, everyone has different expectations and that will definately affect the price of your beach vacation. IMO less is more sometimes.

 

[Dizisfun]

The biggest draw for us with the beach is we don't have to go out and find things to do to entertain us. Being at the beach is the whole point. We can spend all day, everyday, swimming, fishing, looking for shells, and critters and still not want to leave. We love having uninterupted family time with no technology. We don't even like to leave to go out and eat. Some of our favorite memories are making simple meals together and eating them at the beach. Your right, everyone has different expectations and that will definately affect the price of your beach vacation. IMO less is more sometimes.

My kids are all grown now, but when they were younger and we went "on vacation" they were up at the crack of dawn and expected to be on the move. Boardwalk, henna tattoos, hair threading, jet skis, arcade, parasailing, etc all cost individually. And if I'm on vacation I don't want to cook and clean. So we eat out or they snack. Maybe sandwich fixings in the room.

Then we went to WDW and found that we could do that cheaper than Ocean City. We now own a time share at Orange Lake. The maintenance fees are half of what we have spent on rooms at the ocean.

If we wanted to just hang out we would have stayed home and the kids would have just hung out with friends in the pool that was in the back yard, slept in and watched tv and played board games at the picnic table. Nothing wrong with that. (we have done that too)

So like the PP said I was comparing apples to apples.

 

[EagleScout]

For us a beach vacation also saves airfare (and airport parking, etc)- we drive to jersey shore. That is a thousand Right from the start.

 

[holden]

Our beach house rental in Ocean City, NJ costs $3000/week. We'll eat in most breakfasts and pack lunches for the beach. I'll cook dinner maybe 3 nights out of the 7. Then there's Boardwalk tickets for rides (bought at 1/2 price pre-season) and other activities (bike rentals, beach tags, etc).

I think Disney/beach for us cost about the same. The beach might be a little more expensive, but if we stopped to add up all the souveniers and extra stuff we do at Disney, it might be equal.

This summer we are doing the beach. We visited Disney last Nov.

 

[disney1990]

A beach vacation is SO MUCH cheaper that I find this idea laughable. A beach (or mountain) vacation costs about 30-40% the cost of a Disney vacation.

At Disney you pay whatever Disney charges for the room, and even at the value hotels, that's pretty high. Tickets, restaurant meals, etc. If you do free dining, they make it up on the hotel cost. Disney is one of the most expensive vacations we ever take. Cruises are in the same ballpark, but everything else we do it cheaper.

In contrast, at the beach you can get a really nice condo or house from any number of sources, which'll include a money-saving kitchen and washer/dryer. Beach activities are largely free: Walking on the beach, lounging with a book at the pool, board games and movies in the condo/house in the evenings. In a one-week vacation, we'd go out to dinner a couple times, but mostly we'd enjoy cooking big meals together.

If you've paid more at Disney, something's unusual about your situation: Either you didn't have to buy tickets or something else . . . or you seriously over-paid at the beach.

Wow. Cheapest room we would even consider staying in, in Ocean City 4th of July week is $1,500. Room at Disney, same week with discount is $790. We have annual passes & we go to Disney at least twice a year. So 1/2 the cost of our passes (which we bought with discounted Target Gift Cards) is $550. So far, Disney is now costing us $1340 for the week. We have to buy food at both locations & at the beach we have to find entertainment. My car gets 35 mpg - so even if I add in the cost of our gas to drive both directions, we are still cheaper at Disney. Maybe it doesn't work for you; but it definitely works for us.

 

[shells4]

My kids are all grown now, but when they were younger and we went "on vacation" they were up at the crack of dawn and expected to be on the move. Boardwalk, henna tattoos, hair threading, jet skis, arcade, parasailing, etc all cost individually. And if I'm on vacation I don't want to cook and clean. So we eat out or they snack. Maybe sandwich fixings in the room.

Then we went to WDW and found that we could do that cheaper than Ocean City. We now own a time share at Orange Lake. The maintenance fees are half of what we have spent on rooms at the ocean.

If we wanted to just hang out we would have stayed home and the kids would have just hung out with friends in the pool that was in the back yard, slept in and watched tv and played board games at the picnic table. Nothing wrong with that. (we have done that too)

So like the PP said I was comparing apples to apples.

No there is nothing wrong with that. We have stayed home for vacations before also. Just seems like friends are stopping by, telephone constantly ringing, TV on, etc. Beach time is quiet and relaxing for us with no interuptions. We do usually do one day of activities, but certainly not expected. I guess when we stay home for vacation I just need to take away the phone and TV. lol

 

[shoney]

our last beach vacation was cheaper than our last Disney vacation.

Beach:
7 nights
Dreams Riviera Cancun
all inclusive...all food, drinks, entertainment included.
$3,800 w/airfare
(still some tip $, but not as much as Disney!)

Disney:
7 nights
POR - 6 day hoppers, free dining plan
$4,000 w/airfare
(still had additional food, drink, tips and some entertainment ....renting boats, horse and carriage ride, etc)

Our room at Dreams was gorgeous with a personal plunge pool.

Our room at POR was a cheap hotel room!

While we do have fun at the parks, to me, there is much more value for the money at all inclusives....and much more relaxing to hang out on the beach! Just depends on what we want out of the vacation!

adding:
Yes, I do agree that an "ala carte" beach vacation such as Ocean City can definitely cost more than Disney. The cost of entertaining 2 kids and paying for each and every event gets more costly than a multi-day pass. We haven't stayed in Ocean city in about 10 years, but even back then the 2 bedroom condo was over $3k for the week, then all the food and entertainment on top of that. The boys were very young so it wasn't so bad. If we were to go back, I'm sure it would be more than the Disney vacation listed above.

 

[blessedby3]

I should have checked into this before we bought Kings Dominion Season Passes... had no idea that the Busch Gardens Williamsburg pass was good for all of those other places!

The basic BG season pass is not good at the other parks. We have the fun card ($70) for each of our family members which gives you admission throughtout the summer. I bought our son a season pass which gives him admission to BG for one year ($120). I did that to get the free parking and park discount on food and shops.
You have to buy a much more expensive pass to get the admission to the other parks in FL ($360).