How do you justify the cost?

[ConvenientTruth]

How do we justify it? We don't feel we need to.

As for how we save...We are annual Pass Holders have been on the monthly plan for a few years now (this allows us to take advantage of many of the discounts that are available to pass holders). It is part of our budget and with how often we go it is well worth it. My wife and I are fortunate enough to receive bonuses from our jobs and use those to book our Room at "The World"....well allow the bonus amount to determine which level of room we stay in. Finally we do not spend a load of money on clothing....I have a very basic flip phone as I personally see no need for a smart phone and we buy a $25 Disney Gift card every time we go grocery shopping (3 times a month times 12 months gets us around 900 in gifts cards) and whatever else we save is used for food.

At the end of the day it is rather simple (especially if it is something you really want to do)...you plan out when you want to go, you figure out the total cost plus 10% and see if you can save that much in the allotted time...if not you push it back a year and evaluate again.

 

[Comeundone87]

This year I justified the trip because I turned 40 and I needed something to help get me through (I know it's silly but this is the first birthday I've struggled with). So I thought Disney would make it all better LOL. (and so far it is helping)

A couple years ago we were looking at taking a vacation to the DC area. DH would love all the museums etc. Flights are crazy expensive so we'd have to drive. When I sat down and looked at the costs for travel, hotel, food etc I said to him that it was crazy and we could do Florida cheaper. He had never been to FL and didn't believe me. When I showed him that we could fly to Florida, rent a van, stay in a villa and do a bunch of theme parks for cheaper than DC he agreed to give it a try.

This will be our 4th year going to FL. (we haven't made it to DC yet we just love FL so much) Now, we've never stayed on site (someday I'd like to) and this will be the first year we've done more than one day at Disney. In the past we did 1 day at disney, 1 day at Sea World & 1 day at Busch Gardens with some beach days scattered in there. This year we are doing 5 days at Disney and 1 day at Busch Gardens. I think this will be our last trip to FL for a couple years so I'm going all out. But who knows maybe I'll be able to talk DH into going next year if I find a good deal...

 

[caselaw3]

I am a WDW newbie. I've been to DL/DCA a couple of times with my 2 girls, (1 and 2 day trips), but we've never been to WDW. DH and I have been contemplating taking our kids to WDW next summer (2014), but after doing some research, the price seems really prohibitive. When you add up air fare, hotel, tickets, food, car rental for a few days to go off site, etc, it's nearing $5k! For those of you who go regularly, how can you afford this? I assume you aren't taking 10 day trips each time, but still... We really want to go but I don't know when we'll be able to justify that kind of money for a 10 day trip.

Thoughts?

ETA: those costs take into account value or moderate priced hotels and only 5-6 days of park tickets, not hopper.

I saved my tax returns - it took two years - cuz I couldn't save the whole tax return - but I saved 1/3 of it last year and this year and that covered the entire cost of our trip - meal plan - 8 days/8 nights in art of animation family suite, bibbidy bobbidy boutique, pirate cruise, junior pirate league, and gas to and from New York...(we are driving cuz it is MUCH cheaper than flying four people) we could have done this much cheaper if we had stayed in a regular value resort but we wanted the extra space - it is expensive but I think it is well worth it!

 

[ToddyLu]

We only go to WDW. It is the spot where DH (who doesn't like to travel) and I are most comfortable. We purchased DVC in 2009 so we pay monthly for the room (mortgage) and maintenance fees, which we knew going into it. We get APs when we can plan 2-3 trips on them. So then we purchase food. We do not golf, play sports, have a boat, hunt, fish, etc....so our fun money goes to Disney. It is our yearly trip tot he beach or mountains. We are committed to getting there and we make it a priority. I know that it is not how some people approach vacation. We work hard and it helps us keep our sanity. It also helps that DH loves it as much as me so we work on getting there together and often provide lodging for my parents and MIL.

DVC has allowed a nurse and fire fighter to stay in Deluxe resorts (important to us since we go so often and are veterans) every trip since 2009.

 

[jodifla]

I grew up going to WDW; I lived about 90 minutes from the front gates. There are always deals for Florida residents.

When I married DH, we started getting Florida seasonal passes -- they were like $99 for three months. We stayed at motels on 192 and drove up. It was a pretty cheap vacation.

Then we bought DVC, and started bring all our friends with us. We still got Florida resident passes -- they were more expensive but good for a lot longer. We brought up food and cooked it in our villa. Then we had our son, and it was the perfect family vacation. We went at least twice a year, once for week and once for a weekend.

Now that were mainly up in Michigan, it's a bigger expense and bigger trip. But we still have our DVC. The biggest expense is tickets, and we do two trips on one annual pass for about 13 days. We get a big villa and our friends join us and help buy the food.

We spend about the same on a week as WDW as we do for a week in Cape Cod. As a PP said, as soon as you have to buy plane tickets and rent a car, you are looking at least $1,000 to $1,500 right there.