DL AP vs 1 WDW trip

[JayLaLa]

Ok....I know most of you here are WDW peeps, so it might be a biased group...but I'll ask your opinion anyway. We live in AZ and have family near DL. My kids are currently 2, 5, 7, & 9. We've gone to DL the past 2 years and had a blast.

We've been planning a WDW trip for early next year. With air fare for 6 of us, it's meant pinching every penny. We just got back from a road trip out to CA and now that the kids are getting older and there's no babies, it's much more feasible to drive out there. So, on a whim, I looked up annual passes. Looks like for about half the cost of our WDW trip, we could get annual passes to DL and probably make it out there at least 4 times for 3+ days each time. WWYD?

My kids are all set on WDW, but they don't pay the bills. I think I would also prefer WDW, but 4 trips to DL is one year would be pretty great too!

 

[lorijohnhill]

I'm in the camp of the more Disney I can get, the better. I'd go for the AP's to DL.

 

[MillauFr]

You should try Disneyworld once but you will quickly realize that Disneyland is far superior. The rides are far better, far less transportation hassles, much cheaper accommodations, and far better weather. We went once to Disneyworld but now get annual passes to Disneyland. Much better value.

 

[JayLaLa]

You should try Disneyworld once but you will quickly realize that Disneyland is far superior. The rides are far better, far less transportation hassles, much cheaper accommodations, and far better weather. We went once to Disneyworld but now get annual passes to Disneyland. Much better value.

interesting! I went to WDW twice 15 years ago. Long before kids. It was great! I had a DL AP 11 years ago when I lived in Orange County and it was seriously the best year ever! I'm leaning towards the DL AP, but I just have to convince my kids. Two of them are on board. The youngest is 2, so he doesn't get a vote. My oldest will be a tough sell, though. I've been building up WDW for awhile to create excitement for the trip!

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

We have DL Ap's but have done WDW twice. My advice is to do DL now and wait until your 2 year old is 4 to do WDW. One, the 2 year old likely won't remember it and two, they won't be tall enough for the 40 inch rides.

Personally, I enjoy WDW more because I feel much more like I'm on vacation. I LOVE the charm of DL but WDW has more to offer in my opinion. But in your position I'd start with the DL AP's.

 

[damskipi13]

Man, that's a tough call. I had DL APs for two years when I lived in AZ, and I loved them. If you think you can really swing going that often, that might be your best bet. That being said, there's something intangible about WDW that DL just can't match. Maybe you can convince the oldest if you promise a longer WDW trip later?

 

[ryansstitch]

Tough choice, but I think you should try WDW too. I am biased, but considering that the parks just get more expensive all the time, and your little one is 2 (no need for a ticket!), and your big kids are still young enough that they don't eat like horses, if you want to give it a shot, this is the cheapest it will be for your family. At least until the big kids are grown or working to pay their own way! We have family biking distance from DL and I agree, it's a much simpler and less expensive venture to go there. The experience though is like night and day. Some of the attractions are very similar, but most are not. The environment is TOTALLY different and I found DL to not have that "magical" feeling to it. For me, Disney World is like entering a different world. Cut off a bit from reality. I didn't have that experience at DL. Aside from airfare can your family be flexible with reducing other costs? Staying offsite at a resort with a kitchen and packing breakfasts and lunches, made WDW more affordable for my family (6 of us!) growing up. Having just a couple of special character meals and limiting souvenirs are a big help too. Of course, I don't know if you are already planning to do those things!

 

[ryansstitch]

We have DL Ap's but have done WDW twice. My advice is to do DL now and wait until your 2 year old is 4 to do WDW. One, the 2 year old likely won't remember it and two, they won't be tall enough for the 40 inch rides.

Personally, I enjoy WDW more because I feel much more like I'm on vacation. I LOVE the charm of DL but WDW has more to offer in my opinion. But in your position I'd start with the DL AP's.

It's possible the 2 year old won't remember, but my 2 year old talks about her past Disney trips all the time.

 

[Betty_Baylor99]

I'm in the camp of more Disney due to the ages of your kids so IMHO hands down I'd go with the DL APs. DL is just as magical as WDW and making those memories with the kids more times would weigh more for me than one visit to WDW IMHO. We used to have DL AP's when we were stationed in San Diego and those are one of the things I miss the most about not living in SoCal anymore. Obviously, DL doesn't have the full shebang as WDW, but the layout of Disneyland is very similar to MK and your kids aren't quite old enough to really notice a huge difference between the two (aside from the older ones probably knowing it's bigger and there's certain rides there at WDW vs. DL)

 

[gottalovepluto]

DL APs are my vote. See it in all the seasons! You have quite a group to corral there, might be easier to do WDW a couple years from now when they're a bit older. DL is just SO much easier.

 

[endy]

DL hands down. 4 trips instead of one trip. Who knows maybe you could squeeze one or 2 more trips. You didn't say where in AZ you are but if it's within 5 or 6 hours you could almost go every month. There are a couple of campgrounds nearby that would cut your motel costs way down if you don't mind a tent.

 

[kathy884]

I'm a big fan of the shorter mini trip to the theme parks. But that's probably because it's just me and DS that like the theme parks. I just love going with DS, but for me a couple days is perfect/magical, but I'm not inclined to do more than three theme park days. For our main family trip each year we do something that we all love including DH and that's usually a summer trip to the mountains. DS is 20 now and lol and we are so excited to be doing our first Disneyland trip in January of 2017. He has been to WDW 15 times, but never Disneyland and would really like to see the original park Walt put together. We'll throw in some thing in LA/Hollywood too, as although he has been to New York City and Chicago multiple times and London once, he has never been to LA and would like to see the be a tourist in LA/Hollywood too. So our next trip is a mini four nights/four and a 1/2 day get-a-way to Hollywood/Disneyland.

For us it's just way cheaper to do WDW (air is about $150 pp less). We can get great deals on offsite condos at WDW -- much less expensive and much nicer than the good neighbor hotel suites (although being walking distance to the parks will really be great. We don't know what we are missing on that yet.).

I too am one too that loves to do a vacation or two or a vacation and a mini trip every year, but I don't want to have to penny pinch to do that, so tend to be happier with a more modest options that fit easily with my annual vacation budget vs. putting aside what seems like an obscene amount of money for one trip. That's just me though and I do have a bit of a bean counter personality -- am into budgeting, tracking expenses, savings goals. Lots of people have bucket list places. That's not me so much. For me where I go is just really more of a back drop for having some fun with family or extended family. (e.g. We are going to Colorado and hanging in the mountains there rather than an Alaskan cruise or cruise tour, for example, and I can cover three great mountain based trips -- Colorado this summer, South Dakota summer of 2017, and Bar Harbor/Acadia summer of 2018 for what one Alaskan Cruise/Cruise tour would cost.) We did a few years back let DS pick a place to travel to for high school graduation that would be a little more exotic and higher priced than our normal main vacation trip and he picked Kauai, HI. It was really, though, just the air that was the killer, and the trip was about $2300 more than what me spend on a week long trip typically, not that much over the top.

With six of you your air is a real budget buster and I would in your shoes be really tempted to do some driving trips if they were things that sounded like the would be fun options that we could all get excited about. // If you are all, though, really keen on WDW it's definitely your choice. I've been there, done that, and already bought the T-shirt, so not really in your shoes.

 

[JayLaLa]

Thanks everyone. I think we're pretty sure we're going to do the DL AP. Total will be around $4k + tax. Even with using our timeshare, our WDW trip was looking to be $6k+. We're quite frugal when it comes to dining on vacation and hotel is covered with timeshare. So our DL trip will end up being pretty darn cheap after the initial purchase. The kids are mostly on board because I said we'd be able to do some more extras this way like Bibbidy bobbidy boutique (or however you spell it) and maybe some tours.

My husband and I had APs to DL the last year we lived in CA and it was seriously the best year ever. I'm getting excited! My tentative plan is to do DL for the year, take a year off to save, then do WDW when my youngest will be closer to 4.5-5 years old.