Has economy changed peoples current vacation plans?

[bmalonef45]

I just returned from a business trip to Orlando where I was able to visit DTD and took a few of my colleagues to WL and all the monorail resorts. While we were there on a Tuesday afternoon and the weather wasn't great I did notice that DTD was really empty as late as 4:00 in the afternoon. The resorts seemed somewhat active but not busy. Has anyone else noticed this? Are the numbers in the parks/resorts at WDW down? Or is it just the time of year?

We also were at Universal's Citywalk a couple times and it was DEAD and that was with a convention of 30k people a mile or two up the road. I'm sure there has been an change but are any DVC members altering their plans?

I'll be back over the Thanksgiving week and It will be interesting to see if things continue as they have how busy it will be.

 

[Disneypirate85]

Well so far we have not had to alter our planned vacations, we live within our budget and save our extra pennies.

 

[SamSam]

So far we haven't changed any vacation plans, but it's certainly on our minds.
We are at WDW right now and have found it too be more crowded than usual for October. We've been coming every year during this time period for a number of years and were surprised at the crowds during the week.

IMHO, peoples vacation to WDW have been planned (sometimes paid for) months in advance and the affect of the economy won't be seen until '09.

 

[DaveH]

We have not canceled anything. We may make one longer trip than a couple of shorter ones. We have done it both ways. We have not decided anything for next year yet. Our normal time for a longer trip is right after Thanksgiving.

 

[PatsMom]

We have not cancelled or changed our vacation plans. We have a week scheduled in December and a week in February. And we are starting to plan my 50th birthday trip for next September.

 

[marvali]

It hasn't alterred our plans yet. We have trips planned around New Year's and for next summer. Having DVC helps and when we went last summer, we went ahead and used the DVC discount to get APs and DDE, which will still be good for both of the upcoming trips. All we will basically have to worry about for those trips is gas and food.

After that we will probably make some adjustments as needed. Not sure what that will mean until the time comes.

 

[CraftyMouse]

I think you'll find that changes to WDW vacation plans will be more widespread among non-DVC owners. As members, we already own the points and have to use them or lose them. Some members will rent their points out rather than travel, but I think most will go as planned.

We, personally, have no plans to change/cancel our scheduled trips. We'll be going for NYE this year, for the F&W early next October and then again for Thanksgiving (gotta get the most out of those APs, right!). 2010 will (hopefully) bring a trip to Europe.

Honestly, our DD16 going off to college, and the bills that will create, will affect our travel plans more than the economy will.

 

[db78]

We are heading down in two weeks for our bi-annual trip for F & W Festival. Next year a Christmas trip planned. Probably won't change our WDW annual trips. As others have said, your accommodations are paid for so a big chunk of a vacation budget already covered. However, we usually take one other non WDW trip each year and that we are not doing next year. I think this will hit the travel industry hardest in 2009.

 

[vermontgirl]

Hasn't changed our plans at all. In fact we just bought the other day. I was asking Jeff, our DVC rep if they are seeing a difference yet. His answer was "no, in fact I think we are a bit busier, people know that Disney is a safe investment, so they are putting their $$ into DVC instead" His answer came after he already knew we were buying in!

Anyway, just thought I would throw that out!

Have a great day
Jeanette

 

[dzorn]

The only thing we have changed it we are driving instead of flying. Of course if airfare comes down that might change.

Denise in MI

 

[theoarn]

Actually we haved added some vacation plans.
Since there should be less people in the parks We are going the last week of October and we are going to try to get back in to the parks around Christmass as well. Normally we try to avoid peak seasons.
Theo

 

[DVC Mike]

Hmmm. Isn't there already a thread on this topic?

We haven't and won't change our vacation plans due to the economy.

 

[minnierealtor]

I had the same thought. We scheduled our trip for this weekend at the end of August before our 401ks tanked. Thank god we have 15 years before we retire. We were on the waitlist for October 12th and it came in only about a week ago. While I was jumping for joy because I didn't have to move to another resort I thought someone may have had to cancel due to financial hardship. I know if either my husband or I had been laid off before we left for Disney, we would cancel the trip. I like to think that whoever had to cancel their 1 bedroom at SSR decided to take a Disney cruise at the last minute instead.

 

[DisFlan]

We're still planning on our trip next fall, but our extended family trip in 2010 will hinge on the "extended" contingent of the group. With everything that's going on in the economy, the 2010 trip doesn't seem as close, predictable or easily planned as it did just a few months ago.

DisFlan

 

[Laneychris]

He we haven't cancelled our trip, we leave June 2009

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Not cancelled but maybe just push it back to Dec rather than May so we can have all expenses paid upfront first.

 

[corpcomp]

We moved our normal April Spring Break vacation at WDW to Feb because airfare was so much cheaper than Easter week. We still plan to spend as much as normal during the vacation.

But, based on the stock market, we have stopped any plans to buy any more points at DVC. We have 240 and that gives us a nice vacation.

 

[kimberh]

We have two major trips next month, just not to Disney. One is to Europe. We are scheduled for Disney next May. So far, I am not changing my travel plans.

 

[jarestel]

Until "the economy" becomes "my economy" no changes are anticipated.

 

[Yen Sid]

Funds are not as good as they use to be but still going on all planned trips, we are just going to try something new this trip; actually cooking a few meals in the room to save a little money for other things.