Disney is cheaper than going to the beach

[disneysteve]

My boss has a beach condo that he loans out at no cost so we can do a week at the beach for the cost of getting there. We spent $500 on dining out, dining in (some of which we would have done at home), ice cream and video games and had a great time.

I can't do a week at Disney for $500 for 3 people no matter how I slice it!

We've done even better than that. My boss has a house near Atlantic City. We've stayed there for free, eaten at the casinos using reward credits earned while gambling, won money and come home with more money than we left with.

 

[BeachLove]

Yup, Disney is sometimes a more affordable vacation option. My cousin just took her 2 kids to the beach and just the hotel ran just over 2k for two queen beds, ocean view. Daily activities cost her between $100-200 day. It was either $100 on games for a night, $130 per day for a water park. $20 on arcade games, then laser tag stuff and just other little things that added up. She let me know all about the cost....over and over again.

Then again she could have gone to the beach each day instead of finding other things to do.

 

[ilovemk76]

I was speaking with someone today who just got back from a week at the Jersey shore with his wife and son. He was telling me that they had fun but it was so expensive. Between the house rental, meals, Boardwalk entertainment, water park, etc., they spent about $3,500.

I couldn't help but tell him that my wife and daughter and I just got back from a week (actually over a week) in Disney World and spent under $2,500.

I'm always amazed how many people perceive Disney as being unaffordable, only to go and take a trip that is actually considerably more expensive. Of course, Disney won't ever promote this fact because doing Disney cheap involves things like staying off-site and eating at least some meals off-site which doesn't benefit Disney at all.

It's just a shame that folks like this don't take their families to Disney when they actually could perfectly well. Disney can be an affordable vacation. Sure, you can spend bundles of money if you want to but you can also do it for a lot less if you need to. And I'd take a week at Disney over a week at the beach any day.

I am sure they could have done the beach or cheaper too. They could have stayed a mile away from the beach rather than on the beach (on-site vs. off-site). They could have driven for a few mile away from the beach to eat or cooked in their rental house. That may not be the vacation they wanted.

When we vacation at the beach we want to be on the beach with access to a private beach (less crowded and they supply umbrella, chairs, towels and the like). We do not want to drive to go to dinner or to get to the beach.

When we vacation at WDW we want to be on the WDW property with access to EMHs. We do not want to drive to go to dinner or to get to the parks, so we take the bus.

Do you see the likeness between the two vacations?

 

[disykat]

I agree that it's POSSIBLE for WDW to be less expensive than the beach, but it's really about the choices you make.

We are budget travelers. For us, WDW involves an airplane ride, a budget friendly hotel with no cooking facilities, and park tickets. For us, the beach involves driving our own car four or five hours, staying a few blocks off the beach, cooking many of our own meals, and spending most of our time on the beach or hiking - all free activities. The beach is a budget friendly option for us we do often, WDW is something we do every 10 years because it takes up our "once every year or so big trip" spot.

Sure, if you stay at equivalent hotels, eat equivalent meals, and pay lots of individual entry fees to entertainment, WDW can become a good deal.

 

[ceecee]

I guess we've been doing it wrong all these years.

ETA: Actually, I'd love to take a 10K trip to Disney because that would mean we were staying for 4-5 weeks.

I'm with you on that one...we usually stay 10 nights. I would LOVE 5 weeks!!!

 

[Kathi OD]

But if you're renting a place at the beach, you don't have to pay for the beach ALSO, do you?

In a word, yes, but it really depends on who you rent from. Most, if not all, the towns in NJ charge for use of the beach. Homeowners usually get a break if they buy seasonal badges or tags at the beginning of the season. Some rental properties will come with these tags included in the cost of the rental, some not. You must have the tag on your person while on the beach. The towns hire people to walk the beach and make sure everyone over a certain age has one. If you don't have one, you have to purchase one from the person checking for the tags.

If your rental comes w/ the tags, you would leave them there for the next tenant.

There are not many places you can rent right on the beach at the Jersey shore. LBI is the exception to this rule

However, there are very few places on LBI where the houses that are directly on the beach are on private beaches, and so those people also would need a beach badge or tag.

 

[angwill]

Admittedly I am not a huge Disney fan, and consider myself somewhat frugal but when I planned our visit, I wanted the whole WDW experience, which included staying in one the WDW resorts. Sure I could have stayed off-site, but that isn't what I wanted to do, and believe me, I knew my other options.

I helped a friend book a Disney trip and she picked an offsite hotel that cost more than the Disney deluxe resorts. I even told did price comparisons for her. She wanted to keep it cheap but ended up paying a small fortune and then had to pay for parking on top of it. Her number one excuse was she wanted to be able to smoke on her room balcony. She could have bought herself and her husband cigarettes for a year for the price difference to not have to walk to a smoking area. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Nayan]

I am sure they could have done the beach or cheaper too. They could have stayed a mile away from the beach rather than on the beach (on-site vs. off-site). They could have driven for a few mile away from the beach to eat or cooked in their rental house. That may not be the vacation they wanted.

When we vacation at the beach we want to be on the beach with access to a private beach (less crowded and they supply umbrella, chairs, towels and the like). We do not want to drive to go to dinner or to get to the beach.

When we vacation at WDW we want to be on the WDW property with access to EMHs. We do not want to drive to go to dinner or to get to the parks, so we take the bus.

Do you see the likeness between the two vacations?

Yep. It depends on what kind of vacation you want. I know we could do Disney cheaper but we too don't want to drive or cook, so we pay more for staying onsite and eating out. That's what we like so that's what we do .

 

[kydisneyfans]

Went to Panama City Beach in July-for 3 of us we spent around 2K. This included eating out 1-2 times a day plus some cooking in. It included the usual mini golf, go cart, etc.

For Disney in Oct-7 nights at Pop with free dining and 2 day tickets is just under $1400. We bought YES tickets for just under $600. Our meals are paid for, we have park hoppers/waterparks/DisneyQuest, etc for the same price range as Panama City, plus we have 2 day tickets to use on a future trip since we aren't activating them upon arrival.

 

[njmom47]

As a former badge-checker in Seaside Park, I didn't even realize there WERE free beaches in NJ. I remember anyone from away was SHOCKED to see us charging to use the beach. And it's not cheap. A lot of times, though, badges come with your rental.

We used to vacation in Wildwood for years when I was a kid, so I was aware of free beaches. And Wildwood was a beautiful beach...haven't been in years, so not sure if it still is although I'm guessing "yes." I don't even go to the beach around here anymore during the summer although my dkids do. And yes, badges probably do come with a summer rental.

 

[mjkacmom]

Well, we spent over $4000 just for a condo at the shore last year, but, with a family of 7, airfare alone to WDW is over $2000. Park tickets alone are insane for us, and a sit-down dinner costs hundreds. We only went to the boardwalk once, got discount tickets online, and cooked in our condo. For us, WDW is one of the most expensive vacations we can take.

And, my kids prefer a week at the beach over WDW.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

About three years ago there was a thread in either this forum or TPA&S (I forget which) from a family of four living in New York City. They complained that through their TA a week-long Disney vacation was going to cost about $16,000 and asked for help for a lower cost. I think that it was Platinum Plan as well as first class air fare.

 

[crisi]

For us "the beach" is the cheapest vacation we take every year, because its a friends cabin on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Four hours worth of gas, food that we bring in (the nearest grocery store is half an hour away - you don't do a lot of dining out up there), and there isn't anything to do except hang out, play games, read books, and hike. (You don't tend to swim in Lake Superior just South of Canada).

Disney is a 24 hour drive for us - that's a non-stop 24 hour drive. So while I know people do drive it, its a big commitment in time, and not a small commitment in gas money, wear and tear on the car, and a night each way in a hotel room. (And we get close to $2000 with four of us - Minneapolis St. Paul is not a bargain airfare town). Once we get there, we tend to take expensive Disney trips - but that is what we choose to do with our money and the goal for us is not to take a cheap trip, but to take a trip we enjoy.

However, I get that a lot of people don't know that Disney can be done, if not cheaply, reasonably - if you choose to make the choices that enable that. Like considering offsite, eating in, skipping hoppers for day tickets But many of those choices include a trade - park time and flexibility. If you are going to Disney once or twice in your kids lives, your purpose is to spend time in the parks - not to drive offsite to get a deal eating at CiCis. I wouldn't encourage people to indulge in false economy.

 

[crisi]

About three years ago there was a thread in either this forum or TPA&S (I forget which) from a family of four living in New York City. They complained that through their TA a week-long Disney vacation was going to cost about $16,000 and asked for help for a lower cost. I think that it was Platinum Plan as well as first class air fare.

Here, I think. If I remember, though, it was two weeks and she needed to stay at the Beach Club. If its the same thread I'm thinking about, I feel sorry for the TA, the guest wanted to make compromises on cost, but not on quality. If you insist on the Beach Club and flying first class - its going to cost a eye melting amount of money.

 

[eliza61]

I also think we have to remember that many folks simply walk into their local travel agent or liberty travel, book the plan and think that's it. It's been a while since I've used a TA but for our first trip with the kids I don't think any ta told us about offsite options.

So a mom walks into AAA, wants to do disney during Christmas break and gets a price, it definitely could make her eyes bulge.

For example, I hadn't heard about yes tickets until well after I started travelling to the world and even after it wasn't some thing I thought worth what we had to do to get them.

I think Europe is a fantastic vacation value but I know the tricks. going during shoulder seasons, signing up for airfare alerts, researching inexpensive hotels and being flexible allows us to go for about what we spend at disney.
But if I want to go to Rome during Easter or summer vacation, stay in the middle of town, fly direct, I know that it's going to cost as Crisi just said an "eye melting amount of money".

 

[disneysteve]

If you are going to Disney once or twice in your kids lives, your purpose is to spend time in the parks - not to drive offsite to get a deal eating at CiCis. I wouldn't encourage people to indulge in false economy.

Agreed, but at the same time, if you can show a family that thinks Disney is very expensive and only a "once in a lifetime" trip that they could actually comfortably afford to do Disney maybe once every 3 or 4 years, that changes the whole nature of the planning and the whole mindset about what needs to be accomplished and experienced each time.

Getting back to my original example, if the family that has not yet taken their kid to Disney (he's 6, by the way) because they perceive it as being too expensive learns that a trip to Disney would actually cost less than what they spend on their annual beach vacation, where's the harm in that? Actually, since they spend $1,000 more than we spend for Disney, they could stay onsite and not need to go to Cici's (not that there's anything wrong with Cici's - I love their dessert pizzas).

 

[disneysteve]

I also think we have to remember that many folks simply walk into their local travel agent or liberty travel, book the plan and think that's it. It's been a while since I've used a TA but for our first trip with the kids I don't think any ta told us about offsite options.

Good point, though to be fair, it was my TA who introduced me to renting homes in Lindfields as an alternative to staying in hotels when we went to Disney and we've never looked back after that.

So a mom walks into AAA, wants to do disney during Christmas break and gets a price, it definitely could make her eyes bulge.

Also a good point. Going during peak season between airfare and hotel rates can result in a greatly inflated price tag.

 

[ceecee]

My first Disney vacation, I called AAA and it was expensive. My girlfriend told me about these boards. I ended up booking our room (same as AAA quoted) for 7 nights and buying tickets (5 day hoppers from the Disney Store) and it was almost $800 cheaper than the AAA cost. The next year, we got a code for $49 a night at ASMo and went again....that was years ago of course.

 

[crisi]

Agreed, but at the same time, if you can show a family that thinks Disney is very expensive and only a "once in a lifetime" trip that they could actually comfortably afford to do Disney maybe once every 3 or 4 years, that changes the whole nature of the planning and the whole mindset about what needs to be accomplished and experienced each time.

Getting back to my original example, if the family that has not yet taken their kid to Disney (he's 6, by the way) because they perceive it as being too expensive learns that a trip to Disney would actually cost less than what they spend on their annual beach vacation, where's the harm in that? Actually, since they spend $1,000 more than we spend for Disney, they could stay onsite and not need to go to Cici's (not that there's anything wrong with Cici's - I love their dessert pizzas).

Do they want to do Disney every few years? I think that honestly, MOST people are better off with two trips to Disney that are more expensive, rather than regular cheaper trips to Disney. And then take cheaper, local vacations, and expensive other vacations as well.

And yeah, having a conversation with your friends, should they want to have it, where you say "you know, if you want some help, I think I can give you some advice that would make Disney just as affordable as that beach trip" is perfectly appropriate. But its also appropriate to understand that not everyone wants to drive to Orlando where they can drive to the beach in a few hours - that's going to add to cost. And that a lot of people think that eating out is part of vacation. So that the "drive down, stay offsite, cook your meals" vacation makes Disney very doable for the same cost as a New Jersey beach vacation, but may not be the vacation they want. And getting the vacation that they want might jack up the price beyond their ability to afford it - even once.

We spent years paying an extra $200 for airfare to get direct flights. Worth every penny not to do what we did last trip when I saved $200 - but arrived 20 minutes late and RAN through Atlanta with my two kids to connect. My kids are teens and run better than I do and we made the flight - but only because it, too, was delayed.

 

[Planogirl]

I had someone tell me that they couldn't afford to go to WDW one time. I asked if he'd checked into the price and he said no without much interest. I think that sometimes it's just an excuse.