Disney World and Other Vacations

[Belle61513]

We go on 2+ vacations a year in addition to trips home to PA (from GA) to visit our family. We've typically go to Disney annually or bi-annually, plus a more relaxing beach trip. We've been going to Jamaica (a few different locations) and the Bahamas the past few years and this year we'll be going to Disney in a week, the Jersey Shore for week in July and hoping to go to Disneyland (never been!) for a quick weekend in the fall + a quick Jamaican trip in December...we have the Southwest airlines companion pass so we're trying to take advantage as much as our vacation days will allow!

 

[Shmily01]

We go to WDW every other year in September. My kids are 8 and 12. We live in SC, so we make frequent trips to Gatlinburg, TN (maybe 3-4 times a year), Myrtle Beach, SC (1-2 year) and Charleston, SC (once a year). We are thinking about taking a trip soon to DC and NYC. Hopefully in the next few years!

 

[Flamingeaux]

We started going to WDW when the kids were 8 & 9. They are now 19 and 20. For several years we would go two to three times a year. We have had two APs where we made 7 trips total. Now we go around every couple years. DW and DS just aren't that interested anymore. DD and I hope to be take a trip without DW and DS. We live in Baton Rouge and we drive to save money. We also stay at one of the values. We were more into more trips than staying at a nicer resort.

 

[Raenstoirm]

We are disney freaks. We honeymooned there and have gone at least once a year together since then. We both also spent a considerable time there as children. We try for 2xs per year, but other vacations call to us. We take 4 large trips a year (one each season). The summer trip is 9 days in OC Maryland (we live in maryland about 2.5 hours away from Ocean City). The fall trip is WDW. This past year we did 6 days in WDW and 4 days on the dream. That was our first DCL cruise. Over new years we spend a week in NY. We have been doing that since the millennium. This year we had to skip it since I was 7 months pregnant with twins and considered high risk and not allowed to travel. We really missed it! In the spring we take a cruise on Royal Caribbean. This past cruise we left out of florida (RCL Freedom) for the first time and being that close to WDW, we had to spend 2 days there. We usually leave out of San Juan or other locales. Because you can't cruise with infants less than 6 months and they are only 2 months, we had to skip that as well this spring. We are majorly itching for a vacation! Two skipped vacations are really weighing on us. I am currently trying to put together a last minute WDW trip for next month since the summer trip is so far away (but already booked).
I will add though that the vacations are our "weekends" all put together. We are both self employed and we (my husband especially) often work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. We don't do "weekends", so trips are the only time for us to be together. So we technically vacation a lot more than most people, but in the end we have less time off than pretty much every other person.

 

[caroline1851]

Recent vacations were:
Disney 2008
Ogunquit Me 2009
Disney 2010
Universal 2012
New Hampshire 2012
California 2013
OBX North Caroline 2014
Disney World 2015 (but just DS and me). DD is going to Canada with my mom

 

[pigletgirl]

I've only been to Disney a handful of times. DH and I went for our honeymoon and then we didn't get back to WDW till last September with our DD. This year is a funny year. DH has an amazing opportunity to go to Alaska for 10 days with my dad, his dad, brother and 2 cousins. It's a guys trip. Knowing that, my mom had the marvelous idea to have a girls trip to WDW. The only takers were my mom and I! DD of course is coming too.

DH, DD and I are headed to AZ in 3 weeks for her birthday and family visit. We will be there for 5 days.

Then for 2016, DH and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary so I'm hoping we can go in the fall for a F&W trip. In July we'll be heading up to the rocky mountains for a week.

2017 will be our first trip as a family of 4! DD will be 3.5-4 and new baby will be around 18 months.

 

[Frozen2014]

We are disney freaks. We honeymooned there and have gone at least once a year together since then. We both also spent a considerable time there as children. We try for 2xs per year, but other vacations call to us. We take 4 large trips a year (one each season). The summer trip is 9 days in OC Maryland (we live in maryland about 2.5 hours away from Ocean City). The fall trip is WDW. This past year we did 6 days in WDW and 4 days on the dream. That was our first DCL cruise. Over new years we spend a week in NY. We have been doing that since the millennium. This year we had to skip it since I was 7 months pregnant with twins and considered high risk and not allowed to travel. We really missed it! In the spring we take a cruise on Royal Caribbean. This past cruise we left out of florida (RCL Freedom) for the first time and being that close to WDW, we had to spend 2 days there. We usually leave out of San Juan or other locales. Because you can't cruise with infants less than 6 months and they are only 2 months, we had to skip that as well this spring. We are majorly itching for a vacation! Two skipped vacations are really weighing on us. I am currently trying to put together a last minute WDW trip for next month since the summer trip is so far away (but already booked).
I will add though that the vacations are our "weekends" all put together. We are both self employed and we (my husband especially) often work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. We don't do "weekends", so trips are the only time for us to be together. So we technically vacation a lot more than most people, but in the end we have less time off than pretty much every other person.

That's awesome that you typically have a big vacation every season. You'll sure have many special memories!
Congrats on your twins and your upcoming vacations. Hope you make that last minute WDW trip.

 

[momof2n2]

Looks like you have a wonderful large family, and great you're able to travel.
I see you like cruising too. As mentioned (I'm OP), we have one planned next year with our kids. So excited as it seems great experience for kids too.
I've heard Sesame Street place is so fun for little kids.
Enjoy your cruise and Disney trip next year. That's the best of both worlds!

Which cruise are you taking?
I've since thought of a few other trips I forgot for our list.
We do love traveling. It isn't inexpensive with this sized family, but we are intentional every day of the year to make vacationing happening, if that makes sense? In other words, I will choose not to buy something I might really want, and we may even technically be able to use, in the name of saving for vacation.

 

[Frozen2014]

Which cruise are you taking?
I've since thought of a few other trips I forgot for our list.
We do love traveling. It isn't inexpensive with this sized family, but we are intentional every day of the year to make vacationing happening, if that makes sense? In other words, I will choose not to buy something I might really want, and we may even technically be able to use, in the name of saving for vacation.

Yes...makes total sense. Every bit of savings helps and can be put towards future vacation.

We'll be going on Royal's Allure of the Seas. Ship looks awesome with DreamWorks characters and shows, aqua shows and tons of activities.

 

[kathy884]

• How often do you go to Disney World? -- annually -- but usually just a three night / two day trip and just one day at Disney (I've been to Orlando 38 times since 1971 when WDW opened).

• How old are your kids (if any)? one son -- age 19

• Where else do you travel? Or type of vacation? -- see below -- We usually do two vacations a year somewhere other than Disney.

I have one son who is 19 and attends our local community college. We usually do two vacations a year that are non Disney and a mini budget trip to Orlando, more like a long weekend. Our big vacations recently: 2013: Sedona, AZ in March, Yellowstone in August // 2014: San Juan and a southern Caribbean cruise from there in March, Kauai, HI in June // 2015: Puerto Vallarta, MX in March and it will be Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park in August (one of my all time favorite destinations, by the way -- can't wait). Also summer of 2015, DS will study abroad 4 1/2 weeks in Florence, Italy taking a "Discovering Florence through Photography" class there -- He's majoring in Photography in college too, followed my a mini five night fun trip in London. I'm not going to Europe, but I'm vicariously excited for him and having tons of fun helping him plan. I think it's so cool to do things like this when you are young. I was an exchange student in France when I was 16,

Our Orlando Disney trips during that time: 2013 We did a three night/ two day Orlando mini trip -- Stayed at the Renaissance Hotel by SeaWorld -- hit SeaWorld day 1 -- evening at the resort and Day 2 hit the MK / Titanic attraction on I-drive / Epcot all on the same day // 2014 was unusual in that our Orlando trip was longer than just three nights -- did a trip the week before Christmas before all the crowds: Stayed at a condo at Cypress Point: Did Resort Day and Titanic attraction day 1 // SeaWorld day 2 // resort day and MK party day 3 // Universal Park Hopper day 4 // resort day 5 // Back to SeaWorld day 6 -- lots of fun visiting with family and resort time. My nephew who is 21 lives in Orlando too, and we had a blast spending time with him. // 2015 -- DH and I won't hit Orlando, but DS 19 will visit with other extended family down there over his short Thanksgiving break -- will fly down Wednesday and fly back Sunday. He'll have a blast with my mom and dad, brother and his girlfriend, and cousins: one age 30 who will have girlfriend there too, one age 25 who will go with husband, and one age 21 mentioned earlier who lives and works in Orlando.

 

[Jfsag123]

Every 2 years. We just went last month, so next trip will not be until 2017. Wah! Kiddos are 7 and 4 currently. We try to take small vacations in the off years, though we have talked about trying for Disneyland in 2016.

 

[ProTraderColin]

I've tried doing other vacations but I find myself getting bored and them I'm like, "when am I going back to Disney again?"

 

[Frozen2014]

I've tried doing other vacations but I find myself getting bored and them I'm like, "when am I going back to Disney again?"

Ha ha...you sure can't get bored at Disney

 

[Frozen2014]

P.S. - interesting as was expecting to see a bunch of responses mentioning Disney Cruise. Have only been a couple of those.

 

[kangamangus]

We would love to go every year but due to our family size and preference to stay on-site our trips are around 11,000-12,000 dollars. We do every other year. Next trip is planned for October 2016!! In the off years we do other projects with that money, like finish the basement, add on a deck ect....we also camp twice a year in the summer and do weekend family get aways.

 

[ilovebassets]

We go on average once a year, but I know that will slow down once my oldest starts Kindergarten in 2016 as we are opposed to pulling the kids out of school for vacations. (Plus we live in a school district with a big truancy problem so unexcused absences result in calls from Child Protective Services. Happened to a colleague of mine who pulled her child out for a week to attend a surgery conference with her.) Our usually 8 night trips trips are probably somewhere around $5500 or so since we live close enough to drive. Our trips have not always been so expensive but they became more expensive after we moved up from staying the mods to a Fort Wilderness Cabin after our second was born to have more space. My kids are 2.5 and 4.5 years old.

Our other vacations include cruises--we have done two DCL cruises as a family and DH and I have done 8 cruises together since 2003. We also enjoy road trips around the South to either visit friends and family (Tuscaloosa, Asheville) or just to stay and visit a while (Hilton Head Island, Jekyll Island, Chattanooga). Next month we will take our first plane flight with the kids to Boston for 3 days and then drive up to Portland, ME for 3 days. Now THAT is an expensive trip. Had to go because of a family wedding, so figured since we're shelling out so much for flights that we may as well make a real trip out of it.

 

[TempleOT]

Since our 5 year old was born (2010), our vacations as a family:
-myrtle beach with my parents and sister, 2011
-WDW with hubby, daughter, sister and sis in law, Oct. 2011
-WDW May 2014, justt he 4 of us
-Sea Isle City NJ with my parents and sis, July 2014
-WDW May 2015, just the 4 of us

My hubby is a cast member, so I am trying to get in as many WDW vacays as possible before he decides he wants to work elsewhere ;-)

 

[writur]

My kids are 4 and 2, and our trip to WDW in October will be our first big family vacation. We're rented shore houses for a week the past two summers (NJ, SC, and will again in August) but I really dislike the beach so I'm excited to do something different. DH and I traveled extensively around the US and internationally before kids. With little kids, it's just so much easier to go somewhere contained, with interesting things for them. We have lots of plans to travel other places as the kids get older, but for at least a few more years, WDW will get a lot of love from us.

Also, DH's sister lives in Orlando and his parents near Tampa. We're in Virginia, and we did the math -- for the cost of buying 4 plane tickets to visit them at Christmas, we can do a WDW vacation, staying onsite, with plane tickets, in the off-season. So I think we'll be suggesting that our annual trips to visit his family happen in October at WDW!

 

[CinderElsa]

I go to Disney about 2x per year. No kids yet. If I look at my vacations from the past few years...

October-November 2015: WDW/Universal
May-June 2015: Fukuoka/Nagoya/Kyoto/Kobe, Japan
May 2015: WDW
December 2014-January 2015: Heidelberg, Germany
December 2014: WDW
May 2014: WDW
December 2013: Bahamas cruise on NCL
May 2013: Venice, Italy
December 2012: Caribbean cruise on RCI
August 2012: WDW (NEVER AGAIN IN AUGUST!)
I really want to fit in another cruise. Not on DCL, though... blasphemy, I know! NCL, most likely.

 

[momof2n2]

I go to Disney about 2x per year. No kids yet. If I look at my vacations from the past few years...

October-November 2015: WDW/Universal
May-June 2015: Fukuoka/Nagoya/Kyoto/Kobe, Japan
May 2015: WDW
December 2014-January 2015: Heidelberg, Germany
December 2014: WDW
May 2014: WDW
December 2013: Bahamas cruise on NCL
May 2013: Venice, Italy
December 2012: Caribbean cruise on RCI
August 2012: WDW (NEVER AGAIN IN AUGUST!)
I really want to fit in another cruise. Not on DCL, though... blasphemy, I know! NCL, most likely.

We're doing NCL Getaway 5/2016.