Disney, is it really that expensive?

[Pookles]

Disney can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. I'm stunned when I hear people say they spend $10k, $15k or more for a one week trip to WDW...and jealous I guess. We do the opposite end of things. I'll keep ticket prices themselves out of the math, because they "are what they are" and not a ton of options.

We're here now and are spending 17 days here. Yes, we're super lucky to be able to stay this long. Again, park tickets aside, we're spending about $2700-$3000...that includes lodging (4 bedroom townhouse), food, souvenirs, etc... But we do it by choice. We'd rather take the same money and budget it so we can stay longer instead of have a shorter trip with more expenses. Our APs expire at the very end of this trip, and for that 12 month period we were able to squeeze 50 park days in. Money well spent, in our opinion.

Wow, 50? That's incredible! If that was something we could easily do, I'd get APs. This is the same as us in terms of thought. I'd rather stay more days with less glitz.

My sister keeps trying to talk us into staying off-site , but because my husband uses an ECV we would also have to rent a big car and then my sisters family of 6 would have to rent a big car and my parents would have to rent a car because the price of renting one large car/van/bus to carry all of us is astronomical . The transportation alone makes staying on site the best option for us right now. We talked about driving but we're in MN. For my family of 3 it's cheaper to fly.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Disney can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. I'm stunned when I hear people say they spend $10k, $15k or more for a one week trip to WDW...and jealous I guess. We do the opposite end of things. I'll keep ticket prices themselves out of the math, because they "are what they are" and not a ton of options.

We're here now and are spending 17 days here. Yes, we're super lucky to be able to stay this long. Again, park tickets aside, we're spending about $2700-$3000...that includes lodging (4 bedroom townhouse), food, souvenirs, etc... But we do it by choice. We'd rather take the same money and budget it so we can stay longer instead of have a shorter trip with more expenses. Our APs expire at the very end of this trip, and for that 12 month period we were able to squeeze 50 park days in. Money well spent, in our opinion.

50 park days? How much vacation time do ya'll get? lol

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Disney can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. I'm stunned when I hear people say they spend $10k, $15k or more for a one week trip to WDW...and jealous I guess. We do the opposite end of things. I'll keep ticket prices themselves out of the math, because they "are what they are" and not a ton of options.

We're here now and are spending 17 days here. Yes, we're super lucky to be able to stay this long. Again, park tickets aside, we're spending about $2700-$3000...that includes lodging (4 bedroom townhouse), food, souvenirs, etc... But we do it by choice. We'd rather take the same money and budget it so we can stay longer instead of have a shorter trip with more expenses. Our APs expire at the very end of this trip, and for that 12 month period we were able to squeeze 50 park days in. Money well spent, in our opinion.

I'm with you. The most I've spent on a Disney trip is $3500 (family of 4 D adults, driving vs flying), and that was our very first WDW trip. I learned about FP, touring plans, rope drop, and Undercover Tourist tickets for that trip. I thought that was still too much, so I scoured these boards for ways to make the future trips cheaper without compromising our Disney experience. I've learned a few more money saving tips since then. Now I'm in the middle of saving for and planning a $10,000 trip as we speak, but it's not to Disney World. It will be 3 days in London followed by 9 days in South Africa for a safari at 3 different lodges/camps. It is a bucket list trip for sure! I'll willingly spend that kind of money for London and South Africa, but I would never spend that much on a Disney trip. Everyone has different spending priorities and different budgets to work with though, so to each his own.

 

[gypsy_at_heart]

I'm with you. The most I've spent on a Disney trip is $3500, and that was our very first WDW trip. I learned about FP, touring plans, rope drop, and Undercover Tourist tickets for that trip. I thought that was still too much, so I scoured these boards for ways to make the future trips cheaper without compromising our Disney experience. I've learned a few more money saving tips since then. Now I'm in the middle of saving for and planning a $10,000 trip as we speak, but it's not to Disney World. It will be 3 days in London followed by 9 days in South Africa for a safari at 3 different lodges/camps. It is a bucket list trip for sure! I'll willingly spend that kind of money for London and South Africa, but I would never spend that much on a Disney trip. Everyone has different spending priorities and different budgets to work with though, so to each his own.

I didn't do South Africa, but I did do Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar for three weeks. Most expensive trip I've ever taken - for some reason, Africa is just ludicrously costly.

That said, the whole cost of my 2 week trip to Egypt was about $1000 less than my last 8 day WDW trip. Same for my 2 weeks in China - including tickets to Shanghai Disney.

 

[Klayfish]

50 park days? How much vacation time do ya'll get? lol

Trust me, I know how lucky we are. I only get 17 days of vacation per year, and I actually use several of them for my racing hobby. DW works for a school district, so she has all kinds of time off. We go around holidays and my job also is very flexible in allowing me to work remote. For example, we're here now. We drove down Thursday, June 14th. I worked on the 15th, 18th and 19th. We hit parks each night (plus we had the weekend of the 16th and 17th). Then I take 8 PTO days for the rest of the trip. Thanksgiving '17 we drove down the Thursday before. I worked Friday, Mon-Wed the following week and we did parks at night. Xmas we did something similar but stayed longer because I used the rest of my PTO.

We'd love to do something else for our annual vacation, but for our money we just can't beat the value we get at WDW. Honestly, our first choice is Atlantis which is in the Bahamas. But it's insanely expensive, so we just come back to WDW. Next year, we don't want to spend the money on 5 APs, so we'll just come down here and spend 2 weeks doing water parks, day trips to Daytona Beach, Disney Springs, etc...

 

[GreatLakes]

If you stay offsite and eat the majority of your meals offsite you can make it less expensive but Disney will cost more than most alternative vacations. I go to Disney almost every year at least once and take a few other trips a year. Disney is always more than the alternatives for me. YMMV.

 

[tink89]

Did my Disney 4 night 5 day vacation with a stay at DLH for 2 adults 2 kids cost the same as my Cabo all inclusive right on the beach vacation for 4 adults 3 kids? YES. Would I do it all again? YES in December.

Of course there are places less expensive that you can end up paying much less for much more. But there is only one place like Disneyland. To me the $$ I spend at Disneyland is well worth it for our family.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If you want to stay value, eat QS, not have alcohol and not buy many if any souvenirs it isn't "that" expensive. Now if you want to stay deluxe with a view, eat TS and signatures, buy some souvenirs, drink around the world, etc. it's going to be costly.

We are staying at a 4 star hotel in Mexico with an ocean view, all inclusive for 6 days the week of July 4th. Flights included it's 1K per person for the week. We will take some money for excursions. We will be eating at amazing restaurants and not pay a dime once there, except for tips and our excursions. I'm taking $800 for two people and expect to come home with about $200.

Last year we did Dominican Republic for 4 people, all inclusive, 4 star resort, 6 days, with flights it was about $3400. We spent another $700 once there on excursions (we did 4), souvenirs and tips. We ate at amazing restaurants, hit the clubs and bars every night and all we did was tip.

We did DC for 4 days once and spent 1K. Free museums, uber rides, decent food and a discounted room.

I'm doing a week with DD at BWV (renting points so not even paying rack rate!) without a dining plan and I'm expecting it to cost about 5K. Including flights, hotel, park tickets, food, HDDR, HEA dessert party and MVMCP.

So yes Disney is expensive. That's why we only go every 3 or so years. We get so much more value for our money elsewhere but we still enjoy Disney.

 

[disneyseniors]

I think it's all relative to exactly what you want!

My daughter stayed at a lake front cabin, sleeps 10, on a lake in upper Mn. It cost over $4000.00 for the week. There was a beach, small game room, snacks,and the accessibility to the lake. They fished, swam, and relaxed.

I thought it was a lot of money for a lake cabin vs a week at WDW with all the fun, exciting things to do there. We love being entertained at Disney and being in the bubble. For us, the cost is worth it. I would never pay that much for a cabin, but they loved.

It just depends on whether you are a beach type person, or someone who likes many options such as at WDW. To me, there is no other place like it, so we will pay their high prices until we feel the ROI is not there anymore. I really can't see that happening.

We went to Universal and it ended up costing more than WDW, so nothing is cheap anymore anywhere you go, IMO.

 

[goodeats]

I'm curious to see what DH thinks of the "value" of our trip when it's all said and done. We ski and those trips can be as costly as Disney due to the cost of lift tickets/lessons/resort food, but DH loves those trips and thinks they are worth the cost for the experience and family togetherness.

I feel our hotel and park tickets are "reasonable", but I think the food is going to be astronomical. DH would probably prefer to stay offsite and cook more, but frankly that doesn't interest me at all. I would rather go less often and do it up right. I know others disagree.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

We just got back yesterday from a mother/daughter trip and gosh has food gotten even more expensive from the last time we were there 3 years ago. We stayed value and only did 3 parks plus we got a great deal on direct flights from Canada so that part was decent money wise. If you are paying oop for food be prepared for sticker shock. As an example, a small single serving bottle of orange juice was almost $5 at the Music food court. Our last night there I decided to make 2 pb sandwiches for the next morning as the ME bus was picking us up at 4:00 a.m. I went to get four slices of white bread (small/thin) and the cashier rung them up at $4.50. On her own she said "just give me $2, the prices are crazy!" I can say though that we thought the kid's meals were quite generous with the drinks and sides and more than enough food for us for about $8-10 per person.

 

[OhanaCuz]

All I know is that I almost had a heart attack when I asked for the rate sheet that showed how much rooms at the Polynesian were going for.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

Honestly, our first choice is Atlantis which is in the Bahamas. But it's insanely expensive, so we just come back to WDW.

I've done many vacations at both Disney and Atlantis. I want to comment on the cost thing.

First, remember that your room at Atlantis includes access to Atlantis amenities (Aquaventure, aquariums, etc.). At Disney, you're facing around $50-$100 more per person per day for park tickets after you pay for a room.

Second, breakfast and lunch at Atlantis is quite comparable cost-wise. But you have to compare apples-to-apples. Several of Atlantis lobby bar area covert to continental breakfast bar in the morning, with prices quite comparable to a counter service place at Disney. Atlantis has several large buffets that are a little on the expensive side, but are cheaper than Disney's full breakfast buffets (since pretty much every Disney breakfast buffet is a character meal).

Lunch at Atlantis is probably cheaper than at Disney. Here's a menu board from a typical pool-are counter service venue (note the value meals that are $9 - $14):

Dinner is where some people are surprised at Atlantis prices. This is probably because the mix of casual versus fine dining venues is weighted toward fine. And there aren't any counter-service dinner places, other than the pizzeria.

But there are a good number of casual places that are moderate cost. Here's a menu with prices from Margaritaville, which is a 3 minute walk from the Marina Village at Atlantis:

The prices here are quite comparable to several of Atlantis' casual sit down venues, like The Point, Murray's' and Frankie Gone Bananas.

The bottom line is Atlantis isn't necessarily more expensive than a Disney trip....it really depends on how you vacation at each place.

I have an older thread about how to do Atlantis for less.

 

[firefly_ris]

For us a lot of it comes down to flight prices. If I am able to bank enough Rapid Rewards points to pay for 5 round trip flights, then our options are a little more open. Then it's really just park tickets that are the pricey thing, but if I start setting aside money early enough, that's fairly attainable. I have come to accept the fact that I'm just never going to be able to afford to stay at The Grand Floridian, or go on an Illuminations cruise, but fortunately I have plenty of very affordable lodging choices for Disney.

There are a lot of other places I would like to see in the US that I haven't been to yet, the big ones being New Orleans and multiple states out west for parks/hiking (Oregon, Wyoming, Arizona, to name a few), but flights to any of those places from Buffalo are pretty much always more expensive than a flight from Buffalo to Orlando, which Southwest often runs deals for. Plus it's not a really long flight so it's doable with small kids. Everywhere else we take the kids we drive to -- visit my parents in Maryland, drive 12 hours to Outer Banks, camping in nearby state parks, etc.

 

[ClapYourHands]

For us a lot of it comes down to flight prices. If I am able to bank enough Rapid Rewards points to pay for 5 round trip flights, then our options are a little more open.

There are a lot of other places I would like to see in the US that I haven't been to yet, the big ones being New Orleans and multiple states out west for parks/hiking (Oregon, Wyoming, Arizona, to name a few), but flights to any of those places from Buffalo are pretty much always more expensive than a flight from Buffalo to Orlando, which Southwest often runs deals for.

Flights to bigger airports are often less expensive. Have you looked into flying into Vegas? We usually fly from downstate (LGA or JFK), for really reasonable prices, but I imagine there'd be decent flight options from Buffalo, too. For spring break, we flew into Las Vegas, rented a car, and did a road trip down into Arizona and New Mexico. The Grand Canyon is a totally doable drive from Vegas. Denver is another city that gets quite a bit of air traffic, so chances are good you can snag a deal going there, especially if you search low-cost carriers like Frontier and are careful with your add-ons.

 

[Klayfish]

I've done many vacations at both Disney and Atlantis. I want to comment on the cost thing.

First, remember that your room at Atlantis includes access to Atlantis amenities (Aquaventure, aquariums, etc.). At Disney, you're facing around $50-$100 more per person per day for park tickets after you pay for a room.

Second, breakfast and lunch at Atlantis is quite comparable cost-wise. But you have to compare apples-to-apples. Several of Atlantis lobby bar area covert to continental breakfast bar in the morning, with prices quite comparable to a counter service place at Disney. Atlantis has several large buffets that are a little on the expensive side, but are cheaper than Disney's full breakfast buffets (since pretty much every Disney breakfast buffet is a character meal).

Lunch at Atlantis is probably cheaper than at Disney. Here's a menu board from a typical pool-are counter service venue (note the value meals that are $9 - $14):

Dinner is where some people are surprised at Atlantis prices. This is probably because the mix of casual versus fine dining venues is weighted toward fine. And there aren't any counter-service dinner places, other than the pizzeria.

But there are a good number of casual places that are moderate cost. Here's a menu with prices from Margaritaville, which is a 3 minute walk from the Marina Village at Atlantis:

The prices here are quite comparable to several of Atlantis' casual sit down venues, like The Point, Murray's' and Frankie Gone Bananas.

The bottom line is Atlantis isn't necessarily more expensive than a Disney trip....it really depends on how you vacation at each place.

I have an older thread about how to do Atlantis for less.

We used to own a timeshare at Harborside, so we're definitely familiar with Atlantis...which is why we love it so much. Yes, we see Atlantis as FAR more expensive than WDW. I haven't looked in a while, but a 2 bedroom at Harborside is about $4000 per week. There are 5 of us, we can't stay in one hotel room. I can get a 4 bedroom 1200sq ft house just off WDW property for $750/week. Yes, some of the restaurants are similarly priced, but many aren't. We pack the vast majority of our food, and buying groceries in the Bahamas is much, much more expensive. Plus, we'd have to fly there obviously. We drive to WDW. A week at Atlantis would easily cost us $6000-$7000. We can get 50 days of WDW for that money.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

We used to own a timeshare at Harborside, so we're definitely familiar with Atlantis...which is why we love it so much. Yes, we see Atlantis as FAR more expensive than WDW. I haven't looked in a while, but a 2 bedroom at Harborside is about $4000 per week. There are 5 of us, we can't stay in one hotel room. I can get a 4 bedroom 1200sq ft house just off WDW property for $750/week. Yes, some of the restaurants are similarly priced, but many aren't. We pack the vast majority of our food, and buying groceries in the Bahamas is much, much more expensive. Plus, we'd have to fly there obviously. We drive to WDW. A week at Atlantis would easily cost us $6000-$7000. We can get 50 days of WDW for that money.

Understood.

But for a for a typical family of 4 who stays on-site at WDW, flys-in, eats at WDW venues, and only comes once a year (so no AP), the costs are very much in the same ballpark.

 

[TwoMisfits]

We used to own a timeshare at Harborside, so we're definitely familiar with Atlantis...which is why we love it so much. Yes, we see Atlantis as FAR more expensive than WDW. I haven't looked in a while, but a 2 bedroom at Harborside is about $4000 per week. There are 5 of us, we can't stay in one hotel room. I can get a 4 bedroom 1200sq ft house just off WDW property for $750/week. Yes, some of the restaurants are similarly priced, but many aren't. We pack the vast majority of our food, and buying groceries in the Bahamas is much, much more expensive. Plus, we'd have to fly there obviously. We drive to WDW. A week at Atlantis would easily cost us $6000-$7000. We can get 50 days of WDW for that money.

Well, not exactly - you need to foot $4500 just for APs (5 people platinum pass/taxes included) to get 50 days, right? So, you get a lot less time for $6K-$7K if you include tickets...

 

[mustinjourney]

Understood.

But for a for a typical family of 4 who stays on-site at WDW, flys-in, eats at WDW venues, and only comes once a year (so no AP), the costs are very much in the same ballpark.

no doubt. Our trip in 2016 we did 3 nights POR and 4 nights GF club level (studio). Dining plan first 3 nights with a family of 4 (but only two park tickets since DDs were both under 3), and for the week, we dropped close to $7000.
Flights were $1000, room was about $750 for POR and about $2800 for GF. Tickets were about $850 and food was another $650 or so. Add in a few drinks, some souvenirs, autograph books, photopass (~$200) and other miscellaneous things (probably $35 in baggage tips), and it approached $7000 by the end of the trip.

After enjoying GF much more than POR -- I decided DVC was the way to go if we wanted to go more than once every 3 or 4 years.

 

[mustinjourney]

Well, not exactly - you need to foot $4500 just for APs (5 people platinum pass/taxes included) to get 50 days, right? So, you get a lot less time for $6K-$7K if you include tickets...

no kidding! 50 days on vacation for $7000 would be impressive. It'd be tough to find any rental place for less than $2000 a month for a short term lease.