having second thoughts...

[kevin_cambs_uk]

I have found this thread very interesting. I have been 7 times and love the place, but last year me and the wife did a trip across Canada.

This year, with budgets being tight, cost of living going up like it is, we still have jobs but I have a salary cut coming, we will be okay, but when I look back at the last trip we had, it was over £6K for 4 of us, I just think its never going to happen again.

We have climbed out of debt, and no longer buy things unless we can afford them, but the cost of going again just seems incredible.

The cost of going in school holidays must be crippling.

Its just getting out of hand the cost.

 

[disneyholic family]

I have found this thread very interesting. I have been 7 times and love the place, but last year me and the wife did a trip across Canada.

This year, with budgets being tight, cost of living going up like it is, we still have jobs but I have a salary cut coming, we will be okay, but when I look back at the last trip we had, it was over £6K for 4 of us, I just think its never going to happen again.

We have climbed out of debt, and no longer buy things unless we can afford them, but the cost of going again just seems incredible.

The cost of going in school holidays must be crippling.

Its just getting out of hand the cost.

i agree - whatever way you look at it, the cost is getting out of hand..
both the airfare and everything on the ground..
i guess the thing to do is if you really want to do it, you have to figure on going less often and trying for the cheapest time possible within the constraints of school holidays and the like...

what i have to remind myself is that we haven't gone as a family for 6 years....so what i should do is take the total cost and divide by 6.....
so it's about £18,000, all in (flights, hotel, free dining, tickets, car)...
divided by 6 years, that's £3,000 each year.....actually, that's still pretty expensive when i think about what i'm doing...

i guess instead of going every year, we'll maybe go once in 10 years after this year's trip....

if we lived in the US we'd go more often, but i just can't see it anymore...not with these airfares....it's just impossible....

 

[higgy66]

This has been areally intetresting thread.

I think for us I would look at going in a bog standard hotel and eating offisite if it meant we could still go.

For us a good holiday is a top priority as it's such an important time when ALL the family relax and have fun together.

Last time we stayed at POFQ and this year we're stopping at SSR but only because we got an amazing price which was cheaper than POFQ.

Looking at how flight prices are going up I think the trips following 2011 will be offsite.

We have stayed in Villas in Spain and Menorca in between Disney trips and the cost of that is comparable to staying offsite with park tickets.

We don't smoke or go out much (can't get babysitters!) and thankfully we've made the girls aware at an early age what we're saving our money for. When they ask for something we always say do you really want that or shall we put the money towards Florida and the holiday wins every time!

On our last trip to Florida we had 2 full weeks for well behaved girls and not a single tantrum - that's got to worth a few extra quid!

 

[luchamouse]

This is an excellent thread. I've just emerged from a full weekend of number crunching.

I've knocked out two character meals and Bubba Gumps. Saving about $400.

We take our 12yo dniece with us and we have 2 children ages 14 and 10. That's a family of five and it's blardy expensive!

We've been extremely careful with the budget and have got it in at €6k. (before spends) That includes HRH for two nights, Rental Car, Ultimate Park tickets, Universal tickets and Villa on WH.

We're going with friends, so the villa cost is split.

We missed out last year because I had major buyers' remorse after the huge spend of 2009. I really missed not going, it's the highlight of our family's year. We are now 3 months out and we are socking money away. Going without loads, but after last year, everyone is bought in and fully committed to the savings plan.

But it's tough going alright. And getting tougher.

 

[goingroundthebend]

intresting as i have been number cruncing and keep think can i really justify the costs

Am not even taking 2 of mine (18 and 15 , 15 yo has two expensive school gcse trips coming up this year and next so not feeling to bad ok maybe a tad but there holidays wants are so differnt to younger two )

And its still coming in at £3200 with Dp: .But not including tickets for 2 weeks in September 2012 based on this years prices .

The thought is giving me heart attack as i can take them elsewhere in uk for £300 but figuring that there be of age where its all magical and old enough to remember it before they hit age where taking them out is really frowned on and it will be trip of life for them and i made a promise to my daughter when she was very poorly in itu that i would take her to disney and take her to seaworld as long as she survived , though dont think were be doing universal

Cant do villa option as i dont drive so thats not worth the saving as be paying out for taxis.

 

[fairytale]

I keep an eye on flight prices and am always keeping a watch on any offers advertised on the dis

To me, there still seems to be bargains around that can bring the price down quite considerably but those bargains are to say fly on Wednesday or next friday ie not giving much notice.

Many people can not simply take the time off as and when due to been employed, we dont so much have those restrictions but do have children of school age and are therefore governed by term times etc...

I recall wayne last May time saw direct flights with Monarch for around £240.00, absolute bargain, which as I discussed with DH at the time, is when the benefit of having annual passes come in helpful as, agreed the flights were dirt cheap, but then when adding on the passes it doesnt end up so great

 

[disneyholic family]

ok, now i'm really annoyed....
i just happened to be watching a business news show (clearly nothing else was on at the time ) and they reported how 2010 had "been another year of big profits for the airline industry".....

i am massively annoyed...here i thought the reason we're all facing such high airfares was because the airlines were barely squeeking by...
apparently, i was wrong...

i keep working the numbers, but those flights are just so expensive it's insane...

i spent the weekend at a reunion with a bunch of other expats and all of them were saying how they barely can get back to the states anymore because the airfare has gone so high...

and this trip, because it's 6 adults rather than the 4 i was used to planning for....sticker shock doesn't begin to describe it...

 

[Louisebshp]

Another family having second thoughts here - we cancelled last years holiday to do a big holiday this year for our 25th anniversary, but its now looking too much of a struggle. Plus one job is a Govt one so looking shaky and with everything going up so much...

We've decided to wait until Easter before we decide one way or another - we have only paid deposits on the flights & car hire, so we'll not loose too much if we pull out then.

Such a shame though and maddening as DVCers to know we can stay somewhere fantastic, but the higher airfares are making it so much more expensive. And our points are banked ones already so its use them or loose them -

Louise

 

[2Tiggies]

We've decided to wait until Easter before we decide one way or another - we have only paid deposits on the flights & car hire, so we'll not loose too much if we pull out then.

Who did you book with? Was it a fly drive? I just wondered if you might be able to amend it by changing to a later date, rather than cancel. Amendment fees, if permitted in the T&Cs, are almost always so much lower than the deposit.

 

[Louisebshp]

Who did you book with? Was it a fly drive? I just wondered if you might be able to amend it by changing to a later date, rather than cancel. Amendment fees, if permitted in the T&Cs, are almost always so much lower than the deposit.

Flights2florida - and its a flight and car separately, so amending dates might not be possible, but I will ask - thank you!

 

[disneyholic family]

Another family having second thoughts here - we cancelled last years holiday to do a big holiday this year for our 25th anniversary, but its now looking too much of a struggle. Plus one job is a Govt one so looking shaky and with everything going up so much...

We've decided to wait until Easter before we decide one way or another - we have only paid deposits on the flights & car hire, so we'll not loose too much if we pull out then.

Such a shame though and maddening as DVCers to know we can stay somewhere fantastic, but the higher airfares are making it so much more expensive. And our points are banked ones already so its use them or loose them -

Louise

oh i do hope you can go - i would hate to see you lose your banked points...

 

[tubtruck]

Like many we too are feeling the squeeze though probably in a better position than a lot of people. From a financial position we have no children so number of seats, tickets etc are lower than some people may experience. We own at two DVC properties so we do have the dues to think about each year but no great price ramps that cash payers may see. This year we are taking the MIL along so need a two bedroom. We are staying at BLT, THV and BCV this year. There is no way I would want to pay the going rates for these properties as it would be well over $7000 for the time we are staying. If we didnt own the points we would have to either stay at what seems to be the deal every year of OKW or SSR which to be honest for me would get a little boring year in year out that speaking they are both nice resorts with my preference being SSR out of the two. I think I would have probably gone for two rooms in one of the cheaper deluxes this year if that was the case.

We may have to evaluate travelling business class in 2012 if prices continue to rise, I really cannot see myself paying over £2000 each for flights. This year I was reasonably happy with the £1550 each that we paid. So I suppose if the worst comes to the worst we will at least probably be able to fly for a good few more years before an economy ticket becomes out of reach for us.

Like many we have cut back, I have sold my car which was financed and bought one of those fiat 500s for cash that are much cheaper to buy than the mini cooper s I was running. We are lucky in the fact that we still have jobs though my pay rise this year was very poor and the DWs will not be getting one for two years as she is a secondary school teacher. I imagine because of this things will get tougher before getting better for us but hopefully a few little changes that don't cause too much pain and hopefully we should get by.

 

[disneyholic family]

Like many we too are feeling the squeeze though probably in a better position than a lot of people. From a financial position we have no children so number of seats, tickets etc are lower than some people may experience. We own at two DVC properties so we do have the dues to think about each year but no great price ramps that cash payers may see. This year we are taking the MIL along so need a two bedroom. We are staying at BLT, THV and BCV this year. There is no way I would want to pay the going rates for these properties as it would be well over $7000 for the time we are staying. If we didnt own the points we would have to either stay at what seems to be the deal every year of OKW or SSR which to be honest for me would get a little boring year in year out that speaking they are both nice resorts with my preference being SSR out of the two. I think I would have probably gone for two rooms in one of the cheaper deluxes this year if that was the case.

We may have to evaluate travelling business class in 2012 if prices continue to rise, I really cannot see myself paying over £2000 each for flights. This year I was reasonably happy with the £1550 each that we paid. So I suppose if the worst comes to the worst we will at least probably be able to fly for a good few more years before an economy ticket becomes out of reach for us.

Like many we have cut back, I have sold my car which was financed and bought one of those fiat 500s for cash that are much cheaper to buy than the mini cooper s I was running. We are lucky in the fact that we still have jobs though my pay rise this year was very poor and the DWs will not be getting one for two years as she is a secondary school teacher. I imagine because of this things will get tougher before getting better for us but hopefully a few little changes that don't cause too much pain and hopefully we should get by.

it's so interesting that even those of us who really didn't ever give it a second thought have come to this...

we flew as a family in business class for many years, but this year it's going to be economy....the business prices have gone statospheric....
true, we normally only had to pay for 4 tickets and this year it's 6....but even if it were only 4 this year, i just wouldn't be able to justify putting out that much money for a business class seat...
they used to let us upgrade using points on the cheapest economy seat...now an upgrade is only on the most expensive seat....so that doesn't pay at all...
even economy is far more than i ever imagined it would be....granted it's august, which is a high rate, but still it's high...

 

[akadada]

Late to the party here. . .

Disney is ridiculously expensive. We're not Disney koolaid drinkers though. We like it there, but we're not insane about it and so we don't assign as much value to a trip there.

We booked a trip with a Pin thinking we were getting a deal, but three months later, we're canceling our Disney reservations and staying off site. With the reservations, air, car, food, house sitter (mandatory), etc, etc we were looking at $8,125 for a week at Disney. That's just stupid. We could go to Italy for that price. So anyway, we're currently planning on staying off site and it's still going to run $6,000. This just seems nuts. The airfare, by the way, was cheap. . . $250 a person. We were there three years ago and we paid about $4,500, which included four nights at GF and four nights off site.

Even at that price, we're entertaining cancelling the whole thing and rebooking a trip to Southwest Florida. The prices are simply not worth Disney.

 

[disneyholic family]

Late to the party here. . .

Disney is ridiculously expensive. We're not Disney koolaid drinkers though. We like it there, but we're not insane about it and so we don't assign as much value to a trip there.

We booked a trip with a Pin thinking we were getting a deal, but three months later, we're canceling our Disney reservations and staying off site. With the reservations, air, car, food, house sitter (mandatory), etc, etc we were looking at $8,125 for a week at Disney. That's just stupid. We could go to Italy for that price. So anyway, we're currently planning on staying off site and it's still going to run $6,000. This just seems nuts. The airfare, by the way, was cheap. . . $250 a person. We were there three years ago and we paid about $4,500, which included four nights at GF and four nights off site.

Even at that price, we're entertaining cancelling the whole thing and rebooking a trip to Southwest Florida. The prices are simply not worth Disney.

interesting -- you're in the states and having issues with the cost - imagine if you have to add on top of all that the cost of crossing the atlantic...which is now much higher than it used to be....

i'm still having second thoughts....and i definitely am a disney koolaid drinker...
and i know that DD and DS really really want to go there for the one final family trip there together...
but it's crazy crazy crazy....it will cost $20,000 for 2 weeks (including airfare)....$12,000 just for the disney part of it - hotel room, tickets and food....$12,000.....doesn't that sound like a lot of money for 2 weeks???
that's simply insane...

and my real issue is i really feel that disney has begun to price gouge....they didn't do that in the past....at least i never felt they were doing that...
but on my last trip there in june i really really felt it, and it really bothered me....that they had raised prices and reduced the quality of the service...even the CMs - many of them just weren't the same as in the past......

DD was just saying how much she wants to go to alaska - so i'm going to price up an alaska trip and see how that compares...just for the halibut so to speak...

 

[fd1972uk]

Yes I do think it's ridiculously over-priced as well and it's every worse flying from Scotland with the flight extras.

Mind you I could only dream about those kinds of figures that your throwing at the holiday.

Obviously your wanting a particular part to stay in DW and stuff so unfortunately that's going to be the problem.

I'm debating whether to spend £3.5k to stay on-site at a value resort, but if I want to go that bad I'll have to cut out possibly staying in Disney even though it would be our first visit with our little girl. All going well we can get there and if it has to be off-site then so be it, it certainly won't put a dampener on my holiday because we can't be 100% surrounded by Mickey and Minnie.



FD

 

[disneyholic family]

Yes I do think it's ridiculously over-priced as well and it's every worse flying from Scotland with the flight extras.

Mind you I could only dream about those kinds of figures that your throwing at the holiday.

Obviously your wanting a particular part to stay in DW and stuff so unfortunately that's going to be the problem.

I'm debating whether to spend £3.5k to stay on-site at a value resort, but if I want to go that bad I'll have to cut out possibly staying in Disney even though it would be our first visit with our little girl. All going well we can get there and if it has to be off-site then so be it, it certainly won't put a dampener on my holiday because we can't be 100% surrounded by Mickey and Minnie.



FD

i've priced it a few different ways and they all come out pretty expensive...
i've looked at onsite and offsite, but in the end the price difference doesn't make up for the loss of convenience of being onsite..

my problem is i'm pricing for 3 couples...(our "kids" are 26 and 23 and both are married)...
so onsite i have to have 3 rooms....plus the tickets for 6 adults, plus all the food for 14 days......and they're all big eaters...(they're all very tall and very thin and eat a lot just to stay standing on their feet)....so we'll need 3 solid meals a day...

all of that adds up....just the tickets for 6 people is a small fortune...

and of course, the kids will want to see harry potter as well, so that's at least a one day ticket to see that...

i can get us a villa with 3 br and 3 bath....and have some of the meals at home...so i can probably lop off $2000 from my total...

but the flights for us - 6 adults - is very expensive now...(we come from further away so it's almost double what it is from the UK)..

all of that together.....it's just not really affordable for 6 of us...
and i lay a lot of that cost at the doorstep of disney.....their rates are sky high...they've raised their prices way out of proportion with inflation...in fact, there's been no inflation, yet they continue to inflate their prices..

and then you get to WDW and it's so massively crowded.....last year i thought it really wasn't as well done as in the past....and here they're taking so much money for it all....

and as i mentioned, i am a psycho disney person, but i'm very disappointed in them...i don't think they're at all as well run as they were in the past....yet they charge more for it...

 

[Lizzybear]

I think the US in general is becoming less and less affordable as a holiday destination. Me and my mum were planning on a week in Orlando last October but the flight prices (had to be direct as mum has mobility and health issues) were really prohibitive for just a week. We ended up going to Italy instead which turned out to be a great decision Me and my bf are off to Germany for our holiday in September (5 nighter) and I have a week earmarked in November to go away with my mum again and it may well end up being somewhere else in Europe, Lisbon looks good... Yes the Euro exchange rate is awful for us in the UK at the moment but the flights are so much more affordable and I do find I tend to spend less when there are no theme parks involved (I guess others' mileage could vary there!) Me and my bf are saving up for a house at the moment so combined with the increased cost of living my holiday fund isn't as healthy as it once was, i'm sure it'll be worth it though I'm crossing my fingers for a 2012 return to the US, we'll see!!

 

[fd1972uk]

Tbh, I don't think the Park Tickets are over-priced for what you get, it's the flights and accommodation.

However I even think the same of Disneyland Paris which is shockingly expensive too.

As mentioned above the general cost to get to Orlando is way OTT for me.


FD