Disney World and Other Vacations

[Dis703]

We have three kids 6, 3 and 3 and this is our third annual trip in a row plus I did a trip with just my ODS fall of 2014. Before that it was more sporadic but I'd say I've been there every 2-3 years at least.

We live in the Northeast so we mostly fly. Trips with all 5 of us for usually 8 to 10 days are kept under $5,000 as this is our annual vacation budget. For now DW is the only place we go for vacation because we get the most bang for our buck. Around here other families spend 2-3K just for a beach house for a week and that doesn't appeal to me at all.

With the twins starting preschool we might have to skip next year though. It will be a very sad year indeed.

 

[Astridia]

Sorry, but I have to ask. Why do you characterize a visit to WDW or DLR as relaxing? I think they're fun but chaotic.

 

[ejdmomma]

My kids are 12, 10 and 4. We took our first trip to WDW (with kids) in 2010. It was a short trip visiting only MK & HS. Since then we have gone in 2012 (full week), 2013 (full week - surprise trip from my parents) and 2015 (short trip, only MK). Right now we are planning another trip tentatively for fall of 2017.

My inlaws have a condo in Florida, so always take a spring break trip to the beach. We take a couple short trips to other destinations each year as well. We don't typically go the same place twice. We live in the Midwest and like to visit places with in a short drive.

WDW is definitely our big ticket trip. I love it, my kids love it and husband loves that we love it

 

[Goofy'slady]

We try to go every year, to Disney that is.

My girls are both June girls so will be turning 17 & 10 this year.

Our next trip to Disney is this August, the 10th - 19th.

We love to travel and have been fortunate enough to do quiet a bit of it over the years. My girls have been lots of places, especially my oldest daughter who has had her own passport since the age of 3. She's been to several European countries and just last year the reason for us skipping Disney was because for her sweet 16 birthday gift I flew her to Mexico. It was just she and I and we really enjoyed ourselves. Laid by the pool, saw shows, went zip lining, did a bit of shopping and did way to much eating.

Next year both of the girls graduate from their prospective schools (older one from high school and younger elementary) and I'm doing separate trips for the both of them. I'm taking my youngest on a short Disney trip just she and I for about 4nights/5days and I'll be taking my eldest to London. Her name is London and so I thought a great present would be to take her there for two weeks to take in the sights of the place she was named after. She can't wait and neither can I!!!

My parents were big travel people and did a lot of traveling with us kids. I'd be here all day telling you of all the places I personally have been to and the experiences I've had over my 37 yrs but I don't want to bore anyone and since I am at work - I should probably do some work, lol.

 

[MrsJD]

We have one DD, currently 9.
Since she has been born, she and I have averaged a WDW trip every 2 years. DH has only been once and he is not a fan.
Since she has been born we have only done 2 full family vacations(one WDW, one beach), but several trips back to our home state of WV. And a few local trips for long weekends.
On average we spend about $2100 for a 5-7 days trip. Prefer on property at value or mod if there is a discount involved. Have done off site also with use a relative's time share.

Our next trip is our first surprise trip for DD. Her and I will meet my mom. Full on-property trip (no car) with 5 nights and 2 day park passes for MK and EP. We will be doing dinner at 1900 and a lunch at BOG. This is my first FP+ trip and so far I am finding it to be quite easy to manage...but then we aren't trying to accomplish a lot this trip either. Trying to have one of those "relaxing" WDW trips!

 

[LaurenT]

I have a dd12. We do WDW once in the winter spring and once in the summer. We fly.
We also do 4 days at a lake in the Adirondacks and usually do another trip over the summer. This year were doing a road trip to Oklahoma to visit my dad ... On the way we'll stop at the Cincinnati Zoo, the St Louis Arch, the Cahokian Mounds Native American ruins, Memphis, Great Smoky Mountain Natuonal Park and a couple of days in DC (touring the U.S. Capitol and on the list for a tour of The White House)

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

I have a teenage daughter and two school-aged boys. The youngest is finally of an age that we can start doing more lengthy vacations, and so far we have every other year set up for the full-family trip to Disney. Other than that, we've stayed down the shore or done long weekends within driving distance from home: Hershey, NYC, etc.

We've done the Disney drive twice, and after the last one, my husband said "never again." I don't mind it so much, but it can be a haul.

 

[worm761]

We average about once a year. But as Florida residents, this is one of our cheaper options. We drive down and stay on site. Usually we buy the Seasonal AP and get two trips out of our passes. Some years we toss in a short weekend trip too.

We also travel other places but keep it family friendly. DD is only 5. We went to St. Augustine last year and would love to go back to do some more exploring there. This summer we are going to upstate NY to visit some of DH's family. We will do a week at Disney this fall for Food and Wine and DH's birthday. Next year I want to go to Hiddenite, NC and New Orleans in addition to our annual Disney trip.

I think travel is important and I love doing it. I tend to travel on a budget though. I rent homes and cook in and pack lunches. I am still looking for a good backpack cooler. I have the Igloo one from Target but I want something that isn't just a cooler.

 

[starsweeper]

We're a family of 6 and live about 12 hours from WDW. We've driven for all but one trip. Our visits have been in 2009, 2010, 2013, & 2015. We plan to visit more often now I feel confident handling all 4 kids on my own. We'll go fall break most years and occassionally spring break as well going forward.

My kids are 8yo (son), 8yo (daughter), 4yo (son) and 3yo (daughter).

We want our kids to experience more of the US and Europe than we did growing up, so each summer we're planning a 2-week trip. This year it's Badlands/Mt Rushmore (SD) & Yellowstone/Grand Tetons (WY). For 2016, we're looking at Acadia in ME and other areas of the upper Northeast. We hope to have our house paid off in several years, and we'll use the extra money to plan trips to Europe.

 

[kmoore7]

We have five children- oldest is 23, youngest is 14-so flying is out. We live in PA and driven four times. Can't go often enough for me. DW would disagree, but kids agree with me. We do small-scale vacations every summer. Niagara falls, D.C., occasional four day weekend at the Jersey shore. I'm not a big beach fan though. Went one summer for a week, hotel right on the beach, cost me more than a Disney World vacation. Factoring in the boardwalk every night, it's more.

Mentally, I'd rather be at Disney World than any where else for vacation. I know it's a lot of money, IMHO, it's worth every penny. There's just something special about being there. I am already planning our trip in December of 2017.

This summer, no real plan yet.

Next summer, no plan yet.

Sad but true, if I'm not in Disney, I'm thinking about our last trip or dreaming about our next trip.

 

[Ginny Favers]

We've gone every summer for the past 5 years (my kids will be 9 and 6 for the next trip), and every year we say, "Next year we'll do something different!" But we don't. I find that it gets better every time, knowing what to expect and what to avoid, and how to save money. We've been able to cut our trip costs in half over the years so that it's now relatively cheaper than most other vacations we'd want to go on. We can also really relax at our resort because we don't HAVE to do it all, we've done it before.

That being said, my mother had a health scare and then suddenly decided to take us all on a cruise, so we're also going on RCL this November, too. I'd like to say that means we'll be vacationed out, but we have family we want to visit next year, in Colorado. So this year MAY mean the end of our yearly Disney trips, but I'll never say never.

 

[amylevan]

Lately we are average visiting WDW every other year (currently planning for winter 2016...). But it is by no means the only place we vacation, there is just too much in this world to see and do.

We have a camper and always spend at least a week somewhere each summer, along with shorter long weekend trips to places like Knoebels. We also have been all over the US to various locations from Alaska to Maine (some in our camper, some not, 1 cruise). This summer we are going to Baltimore and 2 different week long camping trips to 2 different lakes.

Our kids are currently 6 and 2.

 

[SJSloan]

I grew up visiting Disney every year during my middle school and high school year for a basketball tournament.

After high school I didn't return to Disney until I met my DH and his 3 kids. We visited in 2011 for a short trip and (thankfully) they have been hooked ever since. DH and I honeymooned in 2012, we took the kids in 2013 and are returning this June. We plan to make it a yearly thing, or at least every other year. The only reason we missed 2014 was before we bought a house. But it is honestly the only place we want to go.

 

[Jeannie in NJ]

We live at the Jersey Shore so our summers are one big vacation. But we have gone on other vacations. Dh and I went to Disney World dozens of times before children and in 2014 when our kids were 9 and 7, we took them on a 4 day trip to WDW, in Oct, great weather. The next year we went on a cruise with extended family and then the next year, dh had a conference in Sodona, Arizona. We went out a few days early, flew into Los Angeles for 2 days, then went to Grand Canyon for a couple of days and then to Sedona (rained all 3 places and even flash flooding the entire time we were there, oh well). Back to WDW Dec. 2010, freezing cold the entire 7 days, highs in the 40's. Then our last trip was Jan. 2012 for 9 days, great weather, pool every day. Hoping to go this next Jan. 2016. And then will be moving to Disney area in 2 or 3 years, exciting.

 

[Pappa Bear]

It's either the Outer Banks of NC or Disney for Momma Bear and me. The NC are trips for just the 2 of us as the OBX, as wonderful as it is, cannot hold the GrandGirls' attention as well the World does. When we to the World with the family it gives our DS and DDIL a chance to do some adult things that they miss out on when we don't.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

We go to Disney about every other year, and we tend to alternate with international travel. We have one DD, age 2, and our upcoming Disney trip will be her first. Tentative plans are: 2016 - three week road trip out West, 2017 - Disney, 2018 - British Isles, 2019 - Disney, 2020 - Central America (?)....The schedule starts breaking down after you get a few years out, but I have tentative plans through 2024.

 

[KEVD]

Great thread!

My family consists of myself, my wife and two boys... 9 and soon to be 13. Our first family trip to WDW was a short 4 day stint with some family friends. I was pretty much clueless for that trip and our friends did all the planing. After that we were hooked and I quickly became a passionate Disney planner! Since that first trip in 2006, we have gone three times as a family on our own. We just got back from our latest trip this past week and we're planning on going back in 2016, which will be our first time going back-to-back years. We absolutely love Disney and love it more and more each time we go!

We stay off property because we are budget conscious. We just can't say no to a lovely 2BR / 2BA condo with an awesome pool for $700/wk. HOWEVER.... we really would like to stay on property some time to take advantage of the on-site perks. For our 2016 trip we are hoping (fingers crossed) to book a DVC resort by way of our RCI Timeshare exchange that we purchased last summer. But if a DVC is not available for the week we're going, we'll end up off property again.

As far as other vacations: we live in MA so our trips usually consist of partial week visits throughout New England to places such as Cape Cod, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. We are also skiiers so take a few ski trips to NH and Maine during the winter months.

 

[loves to dive]

As a family, DS, DIL and myself, we go to Disney every other year. That started because my parents lived in Clearwater for a while and as a single mother vacations were hard. We live in Georgia so we would drive down and spend the week with parents and go to Disney for a day or two with them. My son fell in love with it so I would save for two years and splurge, 6 nights/7 days - deluxe Disney resorts. On the year we didn't go to Disney we would go to the beach somewhere. We are lucky in living in Georgia there are a lot of things to do over long weekends so we would do a couple of long weekend trips every year as well. As my son got older, I met my DH and we became scuba divers, DH and I would take a dive trip every year and DS and I would still do our Disney every other year. Sometimes my DS would go diving with us, sometimes not, according to his school/work schedule. That is still pretty much the normal now, DH doesn't like to travel so he is content with a dive trip once a year or every other year. I raised DS to be a traveler and history nut so he and I still go on loads of trips together. He was in the Navy so he was unable to get off as often, so last year when I needed a short get away, it turned out Disney was less expensive than my normal get away places so I've actually been solo twice, last April and Sept. and DS, DIL and I are going for 5 nights 6 days early May. He is out of the Navy now and back in college here in Georgia (go dawgs) so I imagine there will be lots more weekend trips to other places in our future but we will always do the at least every other year long Disney trip together.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My daughters are currently 9 & 14. We made one trip to WDW in 2012 & while we hope to go back "someday", we have no such firm plans.

This year: Universal/IA/SW/Aquatica
Next year: Yellowstone

We've also done full vacations at:
Branson
South Dakota/NE/KS
Wisconsin Dells
Panama City Beach (3 times)

And long weekends to:
Branson
Springfield, MO
Nashville
Chattanooga
Bull Shoals Lake

Disney is about a 20-hour drive for us from West of STL. We always drive on vacation.

DW & I did take one Orlando vacation pre-kids, spending one day each at AK, Universal, Sea World, & Daytona. Travelled many other places as well, both before & after marriage. DW did not travel before we met - at all.

 

[bjscheel]

We are shooting for Disney every other year at the moment, and other vacations between. Although, when we did Disneyland/San Diego in 2013, we still felt we needed WDW in 2014.

Since we started taking family vacations in 2005, we have done the following:
2005: WDW
2006: WDW
2008: Colorado, and WDW
2009: WDW
2010: Wisconsin Dells
2011: WDW
2012: Branson
2013: DL/San Diego
2014: WDW
2015: Utah

Looks like a lot of WDW...but DH drives for a living all day every day and loves letting Disney take the wheel. And at this point, it's a very comfortable vacation for us as we're so familiar with the place and the process. And everybody has a great time. My kids are very into Disney! I'm nervous about Utah just because it's the unknown! But we've had a good time anywhere we go, so far.