Holy Crap why is everything so expensive?

[Kurby]

So we're planning a vacation - unfortunatly not to Disney but thats ok.

Patrick works for Hilton and gets employee discounts at all their group of hotels - we thought we'd go check out St. Jacobs, Kitchner, Guelph, London Ontario - so we find a hotel that is in the group, call and they have a room - then we ask if we pay more can we get the king bed room - ya if we pay full price she says while laughing - then she says the employee discount rooms at ALL Hilton group hotels is usually a smoking room over the boiler or beside the laundry room with no views - ok cancel that since i can't stand the smell of smoke.

We had been talking about going out east but put it aside for reasons i can't remember now so then we think we'll go to Nova Scotia for 2 weeks and include NB and Quebec so we start looking at hotels - $175 - $300 a night. hummm ok B&B's $125-$250 a night. PEI? same thing.

What's going on?????? $125 (lowballing) a night for 14 nights = $1750 and that doesn't include lunch and dinner - for that we could go to Disney World on our points and buy an annual pass and the DDP and still come out ahead of the game.

agrrr - so instead of travelling we are going camping - not that i don't like camping but i was looking forward to seeing out east

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

Ahhh yes!! We were asked at a party Sat night why we are going back AGAIN next weekend to Disney afterall we just went in October for 2 weeks and are going again in August for a week. How could we ever enjoy yet another trip to Disney

Even paying for a room at an all star and airfare (already have our AP) it is going to be cheaper for us then going to Great Wolf Lodge for 3 nights - we wanted some fun way to celebrate ds' 13th birthday and Disney won!!

 

[nosnobunny2006]

You just discovered the sad thing about trying to tour in Canada....it costs a fortune.....airport taxes, expensive restaurants, and then there's the price of gas. Unless we have to travel for family reasons, we vacation out of the country. Sad but true.

Beth

 

[SandraC]

Karen ~ I hear ya'

We looked into a Maritime trip and a trip out west. It's far cheaper for us to do Disney!

We are going to do a lot of camping this summer too. We have a tent trailer so it's not a bad trip at all.

I just purchased our Wonderland season's passes online yesterday. So the kids and I will spend lots of time at their waterpark and rides this summer. We also plan to venture to Cedar Point since we can use our Wonderland passes there [only had to pay $20 more for that].

I keep pricing summer Disney trips and it's not too expensive. But my family doesn't want to do WDW again....we just got back from WDW 7 weeks ago.

Have fun planning! S

 

[ChisJo]

I hear ya too....I live in Alberta, and it was CHEAPER to go back to Florida for a week than it was to go to BC!! By the time we factored in gas, hotels, etc, it was actually less money, despite the exchange rate....so sad that the US is getting my holiday money instead of my own country! I cannot justify spending $250/night in a hotel (I refuse to pay that for disney too....), and don't forget the taxes, and with gas being $1.20/lt, I cannot justify driving for 14 hours to get to Vancounver. Regardless, I got a hotel, a car, and airfare for 2 for $1200 for a week in Orlando....I couldn't get that for Vancouver....so sad!!

 

[nosnobunny2006]

We're flying our DD and DGS from Vancouver Island to Toronto and then they'll be flying with 4 more of us from Buffalo to Orlando. Talk about sticker shock!!!!! I'll keep working for Freedom 90.

Beth

 

[dsneygirl]

That's how DH and I totally justify going to WDW so often. Everything around here is so expensive. To rent a cottage in peak summer is $1500+/week. A lodge in Muskoka is hundreds of dollars a night. We really think WDW is good value for your money.

 

[misslissa]

Yep... welcome to my world. I work at CAA and we constantly have people coming in wanting to do that trip. What I personally recommend is buy a good sturdy tent and do what I did as a kid!!! Camp it!!!

You're Canadian, you can handle it

We did the drive through the US and returning through Canada out to PEI. It was a great trip, I still remember it, and all we had was a mini van and a tent. I think we only had to stay in a hotel one night because of rain.

Good luck It doesn't beat Disney magic, but it is a good experience.

 

[Kurby]

we bought a season pass to wonderland too - already been twice
it ain't Disney but it'll do - for now

we had a motor home when we were kids - 10 years and we saw just about everything there is to see in Canada and the US - ok maybe not the middle part but really.... how many cows can you possibly stand

we have a 12 man tent - LOVE it - but i'm ready to move up in the world. we've been looking at travel trailers (just can't do the pop ups - i'm doing that now with our tent i want to move up not lateral) but there 20 grand new and the used ones..... well..... scary comes to mind.

we just spend 20k on DVC so we're tapped out for "vacation" extras right now. and quite frankly don't have the room for a trailer - or the right car to pull it.

i'm bit**ing now cause i really want to go back to Disney and would have taken out east as second place but neither are gonna happen but at the end of the summer when i'm sick of Wonderland and we've gone camping 3 times i'll be good again

 

[drag n' fly]

I hear ya too....I live in Alberta, and it was CHEAPER to go back to Florida for a week than it was to go to BC!! By the time we factored in gas, hotels, etc, it was actually less money, despite the exchange rate....so sad that the US is getting my holiday money instead of my own country! I cannot justify spending $250/night in a hotel (I refuse to pay that for disney too....), and don't forget the taxes, and with gas being $1.20/lt, I cannot justify driving for 14 hours to get to Vancounver. Regardless, I got a hotel, a car, and airfare for 2 for $1200 for a week in Orlando....I couldn't get that for Vancouver....so sad!!

It is pretty sad when it is cheaper to go to WDW! With rooms going around 350-600 a night in Banff and well going to B.C (bring cash lol) is the same price as going to POR for a week it really is an easy decision!

 

[Northstar]

Gotta say, Kurby, I NEVER pay those kind of prices for B&Bs in Nova Scotia! Where were you looking? Just did a quick search on http://novascotia.com/en/home/accommodations/default.aspx
and found B&Bs more in the $65 range, which is more my speed.

But hey, who can argue with going back to Disney? Have a great trip!

 

[Kurby]

i was looking on the bbcanada.ca site - i tried every city i knew of in NS, PEI and NB.

part of the problem too is that more then 75% of them put a question mark over kids and when i've called a few they say no infants because they might cry - i'm not gonna argue that Cassandra doesn't because that will be the time she kicks up a fuss and decides to go nuts.

 

[dsneygirl]

My recommendation is to become very familiar with Priceline and how to work the system to get the cheapest hotel rates possible. All the information you need to know is at biddingfortravel.com but it takes some time to learn their system. We just used Priceline last night to book a room for a friend at the Halifax Westin for $45 a night! The rate she would have paid booking on their website was like $160 a night. The Westin is a pretty nice hotel right on the harbour of Halifax and of course they have the heavenly beds. Make Priceline your friend and you'll be better able to afford traveling in Canada - at least to major cities.

 

[PhotobearSam]

If you plan on traveling in late June or after the 15th of August, there are great rates to be found.

We own a motel and Chalet business and I am shocked at how much Hotels and B&B's in Moncton go for.

We have seen a lot of places near here that have end of summer specials.

Let me know if I can help you out.

 

[chasbos]

Do your own research - and you can find very affordable places on the east coast and west coast of Canada.

My family of 6 went out west last year for 10 days - flew into Seattle from Detroit, took the Amtrak train to Vancouver, rented a van, drove to Calgary went to the stampede and flew home to London, Ontario. We went whitewater rafting also - total $ spent on everything was $7500. I was amazed at how little we got it done for and we always stay in very nice hotels that have suites (so all 6 of us can be together) or rent chalets.

This summer we are heading to the East Coast. Again the 6 of us will be going and only staying in suites or chalets. We are flying out and starting in Halifax, renting a Suburban, travelling to Cape Breton Island, PEI, New Brunswick and going whale watching and tidal bore rafting. As I am already booked into everything, I know what it is going to cost us $6500.

I do spend a lot of time researching!

 

[CanadianGuy]

This is why I laugh when people complain about the price of hotel rooms at Disney resorts. I think they're quite reasonable.

For me personally, last summer I looked at :

- New York City
- Cape Cod
- Los Angeles/Hollywood (with a FREE place to stay)
- Orlando/Disney

And by far the biggest bang for my buck -- came from Disney..

Going back for the 3rd time this year in 13 days! WAHOOO!

Knox

 

[Kurby]

Going back for the 3rd time this year in 13 days! WAHOOO!

Knox

take me take me take me hehehehe

i'd love to go this year - just not in the cards

i think we may have found a hotel just out side the walled quebec city we're checking it out tonight - if it's under $70 a night we migh go up for 4 days