How do people do it?

[emmalgin]

You have to have huge coin to live this type of life......

Just take a family of 4..... If a cheap flight $200/person, add tickets @ $50/person/day, Deluxe hotels $200+/day + food..... Hell I watch Food Network and there is a show where poor Rachel Ray is frugal to spend $40/day and certainly has not been to WDW with kids..... Add to that, that the people on-site do not have fridges or carry fruit, snacks drinks and forbid sandwiches.

Thus I can not see getting out for under $4,000-$6,000 per trip.

I am going budget this Friday for a week and expect $4,000 (2 adults +2 kids).

 

[emmalgin]

Of course no one posting drinks alcoholic beverages ever or tips and refuses to pay tax at meals and forget any snacking or beverages during the day...... I'm right aren't I?

 

[beattyfamily]

A Quote:
We make average salaries. However, we do not live above our means in our day to day life. In fact, we hardly ever spend money on anything our friends do.

We do not go out to eat. We take bagged lunches to work. We do not buy new clothes or shoes unless we really need to. We get our haircuts at cheap places. We go out of our way to conserve energy and keep our monthly bills down.

Also, a 5 night/6 day trip at AKL is costing us a total of $775 for May. (We got free airfare; but if we had not gotten free airfare, we'd have scoured the internet for the cheapest fare possible, Jet Blue often has fares as low as $59 from MA to FL). We have annual passes and we never book rack rate at resorts. Our room at AKL is $139 a night.

Most people who go often have APs and are NOT paying what you think they are for rooms. We'll be getting 3 5 night/6 day trips out of this AP (Dec 2004; Pop Century $49/night; May Animal Kingdom Lodge $139/night and October unsure of where we're staying yet).
__________________
My response:
I responded to a post about budgeting a few days ago, and gave all my stats for our last year’s DVC vacation. Much more $$ than this latest post’s.
With all due respect (and I respect ESMERELDAX’s lifestyle spending choices and really try to emulate them in my own life) ( No, actually I have been living like that for longer than she has been around.) I think she has slightly underestimated the costs of her planned trip and are bringing people unnecessarily to tears when they see her numbers.

Her room itself ( 5 days) costs $695 plus tax (8%?) another $56 = $750.

Airfare: SOMEBODY is paying for that, but at its cheapest, she’d pay $118, plus tax (make it $130). If she are lucky.
Plus transportation to and from the airport in Massachusetts ($30 x 2) but to park at the airport, let’s say $10 a day.

No rental car in FLA? Estimate $80 to and from the airport. Correct me if I am wrong.
Magical Express? Then subtract that. Give us a report.
Pet boarding. Last time she said it was double the room cost. 2x 49 – 100. Let’s make that $600. Sorry! Two dogs now! $1200. (Maybe they give a discount for siblings.)

Annual pass? If you are prorating it over three potential trips: $840/3 = 277.20.

Food? Food? I estimate at LEAST $100 a day per person, not counting snacks and all, at Disney restaurants. Let’s make that $150. $1500 for the week. (Well, I hope not…

Any reactions?

Boston airport parking is $22 a day

Food for $100 a day per person!!!???!! I don't think so!

Airfare for me has always been between $150 and $220 from Boston to MCO.

Kennel for my 5 toy poodles is at a discounted rate of $44 per day, thankfully they offer a discount for the big suite.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Boston airport parking is $22 a day

Food for $100 a day per person!!!???!! I don't think so!

Airfare for me has always been between $150 and $220 from Boston to MCO.

Kennel for my 5 toy poodles is at a discounted rate of $44 per day, thankfully they offer a discount for the big suite.

Can I ask which kennel you take them to? Just curious...

 

[beattyfamily]

Can I ask which kennel you take them to? Just curious...

Sure. I take them to Northeast Kennel in Walpole. They are the most reasonable around. I'm sure it's too far for you though!

It's like $40 a day for the suite for up to 3 dogs and then $2 a day for each dog over 3 dogs so my 5 = $44.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Sure. I take them to Northeast Kennel in Walpole. They are the most reasonable around. I'm sure it's too far for you though!

Yeah, unfortunately, that is a bit of a drive for us. Sounds like a great place though!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

You have to have huge coin to live this type of life......

Just take a family of 4..... If a cheap flight $200/person, add tickets @ $50/person/day, Deluxe hotels $200+/day + food..... Hell I watch Food Network and there is a show where poor Rachel Ray is frugal to spend $40/day and certainly has not been to WDW with kids..... Add to that, that the people on-site do not have fridges or carry fruit, snacks drinks and forbid sandwiches.

Thus I can not see getting out for under $4,000-$6,000 per trip.

I am going budget this Friday for a week and expect $4,000 (2 adults +2 kids).

Our trip this past January for a family of four - DH, me, DD7 and DS7 - cost us $1721 for 6 nights/7days at Pop Century, MYW base tickets and MYW dining plan booked through AAA with their discount. Airfare cost $220 (because we had a $240 credit and prices were $49 each way on SWA). Our bill on checkout was $118 mainly for souveniers; no food bought. Car rental was $135 -our choice but not necessary to have.

We did go in value season and we did get base tickets, not hoppers. But sometimes those may be things you can look at to keep your costs down. That was our family's Christmas gift to eachother (see cancer reference above) so we didn't buy presents other than a few small items and stocking stuffers (though their extended family got them a couple of nice gifts each). The kids didn't miss any "stuff" they didn't get from Santa: they were quite happy with what he left them under the tree instead. We'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

You have to have huge coin to live this type of life......

Just take a family of 4..... If a cheap flight $200/person, add tickets @ $50/person/day, Deluxe hotels $200+/day + food..... Hell I watch Food Network and there is a show where poor Rachel Ray is frugal to spend $40/day and certainly has not been to WDW with kids..... Add to that, that the people on-site do not have fridges or carry fruit, snacks drinks and forbid sandwiches.

Thus I can not see getting out for under $4,000-$6,000 per trip.

I am going budget this Friday for a week and expect $4,000 (2 adults +2 kids).

• This family of 4 uses frequent flier miles....cost = $5 per ticket for 9-11 fee
• Tickets may be $50/day if you buy single-day passes but they're closer to $22/day if you purchase a 10-day MYW base ticket, even cheaper if you buy an AP and spread the cost out over multiple visits...1 adult AP = $420.68, spread out over 21 park visits (3 7-day vacations) = $20/day
• Deluxes only cost $200+ if you don't know when to travel or how to get a discount. People who make multiple trips know how to do this.
• All deluxes and moderate now have free refrigerators in the rooms.
• I've never had a problem bringing my own snacks and beverages into the rooms or parks.

Of course no one posting drinks alcoholic beverages ever or tips and refuses to pay tax at meals and forget any snacking or beverages during the day...... I'm right aren't I?

You couldn't be more wrong. You can eat cheaply or eat richly. We do just fine on our budget of $125/day for 2 adults + 2 juniors...and that includes at least one sitdown meal per day. And that includes the occasional beer or wine. We are not big consumers of alcohol to begin with. Payment of taxes is not an option but a requirement. And while tipping is considered to be optional, I always tip 20% unless the service has been exceptionally poor. We snack between meals by bringing what we like in our fanny packs. We also bring our Brita water bottles along with us because we actually prefer water to soda.

If you're spending $4,000 for a week at Disney and you're happy with that price, then I say have a wonderful trip! But I know there are people on this board who could take $4,000 and make 3 trips happen.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

....

Excellent post!

 

[emmalgin]

Good for you. Hope all is well..... However the original post were to those who do 3-4 trips per year and go deluxe. Even now they are advertising family of 4 @ value resort for $1,500 for 5 or 6 days. To me costs add up after fixed costs of flight & accomodation once you get there (particularly food if money is no object). Food for 4 even budgeted has to be minimum $150/day for family of 4 ($1,000/wk).

Remember this is for on-site. I know off-site you have people who bring all food to the parks, eat in condo and cut every corner. I remember howling out loud at what corners some people cut just to go to Disney. Even some people on-site at deluxe hotels, brag about their coolers, indoor grills, even microwaves to save food $'s.

It is on site where the $'s add up quick.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Of course no one posting drinks alcoholic beverages ever or tips and refuses to pay tax at meals and forget any snacking or beverages during the day...... I'm right aren't I?

We have the occasional drink but we don't drink a lot every day of our trip. If we did, we'd probably get sick.

Tax is not a choice, at least not in this country.

Tipping, we always tip 20%. So far, it's never added enough to the bill to make or break us...

We do snack during the day. Mickey bars cost about $2.50. That's not going to break the bank even if we had a couple a day, which we wouldn't because we'd get sick eating that many snacks. We also bring granola bars from home. They cost about $3 for a box of 12 at my grocery store.

 

[crisi]

The median household income in the U.S. is $43,527 (U.S. Census department). If anyone here is making the median income or less and taking multiple long trips to Disney each year in deluxe hotels without a lot of personal (non income) wealth or generous family or huge credit bills, I'll fall off my chair. Relative to that figure ($43,527) I have money out the wazoo and am loaded, and I'd guess many of us are.

This is America, everyone here is Middle Class - regardless of if you make $250,000 a year or $23,000 a year.

 

[crisi]

For reference, you would statistically speaking have money out the wazoo when you are in the 5% top category. We can (and do) define these things (although I don't think you'd find a lot of professionals talking about income in terms of wazoos).

Househould Income Quintiles:

Lowest Fifth $0-17,983
Second fifth $17,984 -33,999
Middle fifth $34,000-54,439
Fourth fifth $54,440-86,859
Highest fifth $86,860-154,119
Top 5% $154,120-up

 

[emmalgin]

Close to your definition of money out the wazoo (LOL), and certainly don't think we are living large, but I gulp hard everytime I pay for Disney tickets and $4 waters, Turkey Drumsticks, a pop or anything in the park.......

 

[skiwee1]

For reference, you would statistically speaking have money out the wazoo when you are in the 5% top category. We can (and do) define these things (although I don't think you'd find a lot of professionals talking about income in terms of wazoos).

Househould Income Quintiles:

Lowest Fifth $0-17,983
Second fifth $17,984 -33,999
Middle fifth $34,000-54,439
Fourth fifth $54,440-86,859
Highest fifth $86,860-154,119
Top 5% $154,120-up

Wow we are in the top 5% according to those figures so we most definitely have it coming out the wazoo. Never heard it put that way before though. LOL!

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Wow we are in the top 5% according to those figures so we most definitely have it coming out the wazoo. Never heard it put that way before though. LOL!

We're in the 4th 5th so we must have at least a little coming out the wazoo too....except we live in MA, so we lose most of it to taxes and insanely high living costs...

 

[pearlieq]

It's not hard at all to spend $100/pp day on food--especially if you drink, but even if you don't. You'd be splurging, but it's not a stretch.

Breakfast (around 7am) - Food Court - about $20 for two combo plates and two juices - add more if you want coffee. Or, if you're at the Yacht and Beach club and there isn't a practical food court, figure about $40 for room service.

Mid-morning break (around 10am) - 2 waters and 2 pieces of fruit. $8

Lunch (around 1pm) - Cinderella's Royal Table - Soup or Salad, 2 entrees, dessert to split, 2 sodas ($9 + $28 + $6 + $5 = $48 + tax & tip =$63.00)

Water (3pm) $5

Afternoon Snack (5pm) - 2 frozen cokes, 1 ice cream, 1 box popcorn $12

Water (7pm) $5

Late Dinner @ Resort (9pm) - Appetizer for the table, 2 entrees, dessert to share, 2 sodas ($7 + $44 + $6 + $5 = $62 + tax & tip = $77)

So, for three meals, two snacks, and water that's $190 for the two of us each day. If we had gotten a room service breakfast, had a beer or two in the parks, or had a cocktail or wine with dinner we would have easily surpassed the $200 mark. Or if we'd chosen to go to nice restaurant for dinner (I used Kona Cafe to estimate, but what if we'd gone to Shula's, Palio, California Grill, Narcooses?) the bill would easily have topped $200 for the day. And this is not even considering the dinner shows at $50 a pop!

Not all people want to eat like this, and it certainly doesn't NEED to cost this much, but it's definitely not impossible.

 

[disneyfan5]

Hi, just wanted to add my thoughts. We are a family of 5, Me-almost 30, DH-36, DD-13, DD-11, and DS-6. We live 7 hrs away so yes we drive.. We get season passes, and we use them.. We will go 3 to 5 times with them. The trips we go that we have to get our passes, yes its more, but after that the trips are much much less. I dont think we have missed a year since 1998, infact the trips have gotten more frequent. We are not rich, I dont know what you have to make a year to be called wealthy or rich, lol. We do ok, we own our own truck (semi) and my husband is the driver, He is not a over the road driver but works long hours. Most days he works 14 or 15 hrs a day. I am a stay at home mom, and I keep up with our bookkeeping also. My husband works very very hard, and I told him every 3 months or so, I want him to take off a week for us as a family to go on vacation together. I live to vacation, and we as a family love disney.. I save money and my kids also save, each trip they have their own saved money to take for what they want. We bought a camper a few months back and so now we are ft. wilderness campers and love it.. I love having my own stuff, and all the luxuries that go along with having a camper.. We dont eat 3 meals a day. Normally one big meal, and a snack or something little.. We take a backpack in to the parks, and I take some water and drinks, some candy, suckers, and a few snacks, which helps alot. If we want popcorn, ice cream or whatever we get it.. but having them things really help. We do eat our big meal pretty much wherever we want.. People always say, how can you go so much.. why again... they just dont understand, you either have the magic or you dont, and thank goodness we do.. I guess if you add up over a year what we spend on our trips, yes we could do alot with that, but we chose to spend time together and have fun doing it, you just never know what tomorrow can bring.. My life and priorites are so different from some. We are not full of money we just do what we have to to make it happen.. and enjoy it..

 

[crisi]

Wow we are in the top 5% according to those figures so we most definitely have it coming out the wazoo. Never heard it put that way before though. LOL!

Isn't it enlighting? We are also in that top 5% and I can honestly say I've never felt money coming out my wazoo - quite the opposite when I'm at Sam's Club stocking up on tomato soup or filling out my Walgreens SuperSaver rebate form or planning meatless meals. It really does make me wonder how half our population makes ends meet - much less manages trips to WDW. Because while we can afford vacations, drive decent cars, have a nice home - we don't live in a Faux Chateau or drive Mercedes or send our kids to private school or go on vacation more than once a year and we still watch our grocery bill and how much gas we use and how much we spend at Christmas time and try to limit our eating out and keep our change jar and the temperature down in the house. (We do tend to save a good deal more than average).

Sitting here from my "we make (relatively) a lot of money" I wonder the same thing as the OP "Who ARE these people that manage to book multiple WDW trips in a year staying conceirge at Deluxes?" Because even if I trade in our nice(r) cars and drive beaters, even once my mortgage is paid off, even if I clip coupons like a madwoman and eBay all my possessions, and take advantage of every code and discount out there, I couldn't manage it for long before I'd be in debt. (Plus I'd run out of vacation time at work). We own DVC - like many people here - but that was a huge check for most people to write - and we don't have a whole lot of points.

Yes, some people can stretch a buck farther than others. But when you have $154,000 or more of them to stretch in a year, they go a lot farther. (And then there are the people who can't stretch that $154,000+ to cover their basic expenses - we've all met them, too).

 

[emmalgin]

Yes $100/person/day is not a stretch for adults. Have a sweet tooth, enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner, maybe hit Pleasure Island 1-2 X's and then you're in trouble.....

I especially then love the rationalization and I don't question anyone, it is just people not answering the OP.

As for my wife, she is always adament that we feed our kids at least 3 meals a day (and they are both average to skinny), so it add up.