Freaking out about the USD/CAD exchange!

[Lexx1214]

DH and I go in September and while the trip is already fully paid for we’ve been watching the rates and exchanging every time we see a rate we are comfortable with. We got a US account with RBC for our spending money (ahem, shopping money), so the exchange is at a preferred rate which helps. Right now we’re just keeping our spending money in our regular savings until the rates improve or we get so close to the trip we have to exchange it.

 

[Average Joes]

I remember going in Nov 2015. The dollar swung about 0.15 from when we rented a dvc in dec 2014. It was revenge for going in late 2010 when the dollar was close to peak vs the US.

I disagree about paying in Canadian dollars in advance for most U.S. purchases. For example I could book a US flight on a Canadian website in Canadian. The exchange fees are built in and then some.

 

[Frank4202]

We just bought our MNSSHP tickets. $105ea x 2 plus exchange came to $285CAD. Brutal but its only money and is replaceable. YOLO!

 

[Bowen Family]

We're staying off-site with extended family in late August and will be visiting Universal and WDW. I thought with the resort discounts announced yesterday, it would be nice to surprise my wife and kids with a one-night stay at Wilderness Lodge for our August 28 MNSSHP. The discounted room rate was $330USD. The charge on my credit card (with taxes and exchange) is $500CAN! Plus the new parking fee on top of that? Yikes. Considering cancelling the reservation now.

 

[deedubb]

We're staying off-site with extended family in late August and will be visiting Universal and WDW. I thought with the resort discounts announced yesterday, it would be nice to surprise my wife and kids with a one-night stay at Wilderness Lodge for our August 28 MNSSHP. The discounted room rate was $330USD. The charge on my credit card (with taxes and exchange) is $500CAN! Plus the new parking fee on top of that? Yikes. Considering cancelling the reservation now.

Even with the discounts, it's a ridiculous amount of money to pay, especially for us with the dollar so low. We paid $517 USD a night last Xmas for 8 days in an Art of Animation family suite. We did 7 park days and basically spent no time at the resort. It was an expensive room for basically a bed to sleep in and a place to shower, but I didn't want to stay off site at that time of year. I sure miss those days we were at par.

 

[Sue M]

Even with the discounts, it's a ridiculous amount of money to pay, especially for us with the dollar so low. We paid $517 USD a night last Xmas for 8 days in an Art of Animation family suite. We did 7 park days and basically spent no time at the resort. It was an expensive room for basically a bed to sleep in and a place to shower, but I didn't want to stay off site at that time of year. I sure miss those days we were at par.

Yikes! Yes, I miss the days when we were at Par AND WDW rooms were more reasonable!

 

[starvenger]

That's pretty nuts. Did that at least include the Dining Plan?

 

[deedubb]

That's pretty nuts. Did that at least include the Dining Plan?

Room only. Prices are insane at Xmas. We used Magical Express, but I can't imagine having to pay for parking now in addition to the cost of the room. Flights were another $4K for the 4 of us at that time of year. It was our first Xmas trip to WDW and I thought it would be one and done, so I decided to splurge. Of course, we loved it so much we are going again at Xmas this year (well, this time over New Years as I have to see NYE fireworks!). Disney...it's like doing crack.

 

[starvenger]

Disney...it's like doing crack.

My first thought upon reading this was a Rob Ford joke.

I'm a terrible person.

 

[Magrathea]

We are going in May as well. We have our trip and flights paid for already. I had to rework our budget to get them paid quicker because of the dollar dropping. Unfortunately, the rest of our trip money will have to be exchanged just before we leave, so I am hoping for the best. The up side is that it will only be tips, mousekeeping and a bit for souvenirs, as we are on the dining plan.

 

[Sue M]

Room only. Prices are insane at Xmas. We used Magical Express, but I can't imagine having to pay for parking now in addition to the cost of the room. Flights were another $4K for the 4 of us at that time of year. It was our first Xmas trip to WDW and I thought it would be one and done, so I decided to splurge. Of course, we loved it so much we are going again at Xmas this year (well, this time over New Years as I have to see NYE fireworks!). Disney...it's like doing crack.

We went last Nov/early Dec to see the Christmas decorations. And the resorts had their decorations up. We made a point of visiting all the MK & Epcot resorts, and AKL. Everything was so pretty. Got in just before Holiday prices!

 

[AdamsMum]

Try visiting 18 years ago when the exchange rate was $1.54.

That was painful.

I remember a while later, being excited when my U.S.$ only cost my $1.41, bought up as much as I could! LOL On another note, even if it does go up to .80, 2 cents on the dollar is $20 on $1000. It has to seriously rebound to save any real money.

 

[ChisJo]

I'm stressing a bit too. We leave soon for 2 weeks, doing a land and see Disney trip. I have been diligent in trying to get the best deal for everything, but holy moly, the exchange rate is going to kill us. Normally, we buy a ton of clothes in the US for the boys because we just cannot get the same deals here, but not this trip...won't be worth it after the exchange. We've prepaid tickets, house rental (was not worth the price to stay onsite), cruise, hotel for night before the cruise, flights, and purchased tons of Disney gift cards to utilize both on the ship and in Disneyworld for parking, eats, drinks, and small souvenirs and I'm still petrified about the final cost of everything with the exchange rate. I too was in disney when the exchange rate was 1.46. It was my very first time travelling without family and the first time I had ever crossed the border. I was very naive and ill prepapred for the cost of everything. I remember my credit card bill when I got home and I swore I would never make that same mistake again!

 

[roxysmum123]

Honestly, we're probably killing the cruise portion of our land and sea trip this fall. The price of a DCL cruise is a major factor, and the CDN dollar is an even bigger factor. We're getting more and more comfortable with the idea of killing that and doing a few nights at universal instead. I'm really hoping legalizing marijuana turns the dollar around, but I'm not holding my breath and I'm definitely not waiting to see if my pay in full date for the cruise comes before the dollar turns around.

 

[mousetrailer]

We're going in May, land and sea, and the 3 day cruise portion turned out to be almost as much as 7 days hotel + 5 days at the park. I've dropped some of the ADR we had, because it's just a bit too much. This is our first family trip, and I really wanted to see all we could, but that exchange rate is just brutal.

 

[Sue M]

We just bought our MNSSHP tickets. $105ea x 2 plus exchange came to $285CAD. Brutal but its only money and is replaceable. YOLO!

Ouch! We are buying the Starwars after Dark tickets for DL when they go on sale, same price. Eek.

 

[mab2012]

I remember a while later, being excited when my U.S.$ only cost my $1.41, bought up as much as I could! LOL On another note, even if it does go up to .80, 2 cents on the dollar is $20 on $1000. It has to seriously rebound to save any real money.

On our honeymoon trip to Costa Rica in August 2002 (where most places set rates in USD), the spot rate was $1.59. Our buy rate was closer to $1.65. That hurt.

I agree that an increase of a couple cents doesn't save much, but the flip side is that a slide from the low eighties into the high seventies doesn't make a huge difference either. Just last May the CAD was down around 73 cents. Compared to that, today's nearly 78 doesn't look so terrible.

I'm fairly comfortable with anything over $0.75. Over $0.80 is a nice bonus. I would love to see a return to par, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[bankr63]

Reading this, I went to my exchange app to look at the recent chart and see how we are doing. Just guess which period coincides with our Ontario march break trip?

Screenshot_20180326-123046 by Munro Ross, on Flickr

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

Oh, I hear everyone loud and clear! I just booked a mother/daughter trip with the summer special. Because of the exchange rate I decided to go with a value resort (Music Standard) but even then it posted on my Visa at $175 CDN from $131 US per night. We are staying 7 nights but only doing 3 parks to cut costs. I bought 3 day base adult from Undercover Tourist for $610US with exchange over $800CDN! Flights with AC are decent at $900 non-stop. We are doing OOP for food and I have slowly been saving over the winter so at least that is taken care of.

We considered doing the factory outlets one day (and we still might) but after factoring in a taxi/uber back and forth and the exchange rate is it really worth it?
Like someone else posted money is replaceable but the memories are forever! Happy vacations to everyone.

 

[TheBig2na]

I remember going in Nov 2015. The dollar swung about 0.15 from when we rented a dvc in dec 2014. It was revenge for going in late 2010 when the dollar was close to peak vs the US.

I disagree about paying in Canadian dollars in advance for most U.S. purchases. For example I could book a US flight on a Canadian website in Canadian. The exchange fees are built in and then some.

I think we had the same trip as you. locked in December 2014 and paid $3000 for the exact same trip we took in 2013. Will suck this May as well.