how expensive is WDW?

[disneydad78]

This will probally be our last trip to WDW for awhile.

Fam 5.
airfare -------------------------------------------$2000
moderate resort,8day tickets,free dinning --------- $2800
MVMCP!O YEA------------------------------------ $300
rental car (i hate wdw trans)----------------------$00
breakfast items extra food for room----------------- $50
souvenirs ----------------------------------------$150 if im lucky!
--------------------------------------------------------------
$5600 for family of 5
3 kids and 2 adults. Resort POR

 

[HubbDave]

$17000 would definitely be out of my range

How about Fort Wilderness? Would that be a possibility? I grew up in a family of 10. We never could do Disney back then

Last year we spent about $5500 for a week at WL, free dining, 7 day parkhopper, and airfare from New England

And that was just a family of 4

Good luck

 

[WaltD4Me]

This will probally be our last trip to WDW for awhile.

Fam 5.
airfare -------------------------------------------$2000
moderate resort,8day tickets,free dinning --------- $2800
MVMCP!O YEA------------------------------------ $300
rental car (i hate wdw trans)----------------------$00
breakfast items extra food for room----------------- $50
souvenirs ----------------------------------------$150 if im lucky!
--------------------------------------------------------------
$5600 for family of 5
3 kids and 2 adults. Resort POR

If my math is right...and it's very possible that it's not, I work that out to $140 a person a day. Considering your food and entertainment are totally covered in that, it doesn't seem quite as bad. I'm not saying Disney is cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but unless you are camping in a tent and catching your own food, I think alot vacations are comparable. I'm not sure, but from what she told me, that is probably about what my sister spent taking the kids to Washington DC ($140 a day each) with food and everything. I think the difference with Disney is you see it all ahead of time, where as on many other trips you dole it more daily once you get there and aren't seeing it all up front like this.

 

[luke]

Ya, airfare can kill it for some people. Flights are cheap in the U.S. of A, but even if you're coming in from Canada, you aint gonna get no $300 airline ticket to Orlando.

You know that's right! From the uk it's even worse!!
Our vacation next year has two of us adults and an 8 month old:

Not to include our cruise (as that's a different discussion), our 6 nights stay at Saratoga Springs, including dining plan, length of stay (actually 14 day as the costs were the exact same) park passes (which include water parks and more as well as park hopping), and a $500 Disney gift card = $1900 (approx.).

We see this as decent value.

Our airfare however is about $4380!!! That's with our infant sitting On our lap too!!!
Madness

 

[MomofKatie]

For us, WDW is still a pretty good deal, compared to other vacations. A week at the beach (where all you do is lay around on the sand) is more expensive than a week at Disney for us.

Granted, we are lucky in that we are close enough to drive without overnight stops. We also only have 1 child, so we can fit in a single Value room or one hotel room offsite. We buy basic MYW tickets and don't do a lot of extras like tours, hard ticket parties, or non-Disney parks like Universal or SeaWorld.

For a 5 night stay this November for 3 adults (Value resort, Free Dining, 5 day non hopper tickets), we are spending a total of about $1700, including gas and spending $$.

WDW can be an affordable vacation option, if you are willing to economize.

 

[ShesAPirate]

Like a previous poster said, pretty much every vacation is expensive. I don't think Disney has raised their prices any faster than anyone else has (I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem so to me).

 

[missycj96]

Have you looked into yes tickets. Thr individual enrollment tickets are reasonable and consider renting a vacation home. Or remt dvc points.

 

[Jskbr]

You can get a condo or house off site for $700 or less for a week...

 

[Jskbr]

This will probally be our last trip to WDW for awhile.

Fam 5.
airfare -------------------------------------------$2000
moderate resort,8day tickets,free dinning --------- $2800
MVMCP!O YEA------------------------------------ $300
rental car (i hate wdw trans)----------------------$00
breakfast items extra food for room----------------- $50
souvenirs ----------------------------------------$150 if im lucky!
--------------------------------------------------------------
$5600 for family of 5
3 kids and 2 adults. Resort POR

Im taking a family of 5, staying off site, doing MVMCP and not near that much and we are driving.. 19 hrs! Yikes!

 

[BriarRosie]

how expensive is WDW?

it's so expensive that i'm seriously considering skipping WDW completely when i'm at the hyatt grand cypress this october for a conference.

someone must have spiked my koolaid with a bit of heresy

but it's just insane now...the food prices are astronomical, the tickets, the rooms....

am i the only person who thinks it's getting to the point where they're possibly going to kiss WDW goodbye?

You're at a conference and can't get convention tickets? Many conventions offer them at a special rate. And do they shuttle to WDW or do you need to rent a car?

Food is only as expensive as you make it. You could eat at counter service and spend way less than what you'd spend at a signature restaurant. Or a character meal these days. Those are too expensive for me to justify going.

So are you going to this solo or with other people? How can we determine what expenses you'd have if you didn't share the specifics?

 

[DeltaDiamond001]

WDW holds a special place in my families' hearts, so we will always find a way to make it work.

We can afford to, and have had the pleasure of, being able to stay on property in concierge rooms or suites at deluxe resorts, but with the economy the way it is, I think everyone is reconsidering what is really important, not only in life, but the way they travel.

We are a family of four and usually go with friends or extended family, so staying off site in a private home or condo works out better with the additional space, not to mention, is much less expensive for such a large group. Cooking meals and packing snacks for the parks is another great perk of staying off site.

Now that we've been to Disney many times, it's getting to a point where we only need to spend a few days there. We can take or leave Hollywood Studios and have zero remorse when it comes to skipping Animal Kingdom. Epcot is our "main" park, but we always spend a day at Magic Kingdom too.

I'm a big Universal Studios fan, so spending a few days there is always fun. Sure, it's almost as expensive as Disney, but there are many more attractions and rides that I'm drawn to there than at Disney.

Universal is about thrills, Disney is about memories.

We'll continue to go to WDW, but have significantly cut down on the money we spend on resorts and in the parks. While it's about money, it's also about convenience and what we value in a vacation.

 

[Greenfield1984]

This upcoming trip is going to be costing us 2500 which will include everything. Tickets, lodging, airfare and food. Thats for 2 adults, 1 5yo, and 2 infants. We will be staying at a value for 9 days.

To me that's quite reasonable. However were only paying for 3 people right now. Once those kiddies grow up and we are paying for 5 people, staying onsite will be out of the question. We will likely rent a vacation home, prepare many of our own meals, bring food into the parks, and drive 24 hours down to florida.

So basically it comes down to how expensive or inexpensive you want to make it. And for me it's all about value. I look at how much this trip is going to cost me ($2500), and then ask myself where else I can spend that money for 9 days. I havn't thought of anywhere else I can spend that money that will equal, let alone surpass, the ammount of entertainment and joy that Disney is providing.

 

[jackieinJuneau]

Its all a matter of perspective, I was showing my BF wdw menus the other day and he was shocked by how reasonable they where. That's because where we live is very expensive, McDonald's doesn't even have a dollar menu here So for us traveling to wdw doesn't seem so pricey, our biggest issue is getting a deal on air fair but that's just because only one airline flies into our town so they can charge as much as they like.

I agree that for a big family wdw is going to be big bucks but so are most vacations, considering what you get with a Disney trip I still find it to be worth it. As others have said its not a yearly thing for us, so we don't mind spending a little more when we do go.

 

[ang]

Disney is getting very exspensive. When I went to look at restaurants, I was like wow!! with the prices. I have not been back since the summer 2009.

( we really count are pennies, sometimes I can't justify the dining plan)


I know everyone is counting on free dining but some of us can't go at those times of the year which really sucks. But I am happy for those who can. The only time we can go is in the summer. Until my son get out of high school(4 yrs from now) theres no way we will ever get free dining.

but that is not stopping me planning my next vacation for next year or the next!

 

[disneyholic family]

no time to respond right now, but i will...

but just one example, which will sound ridiculous i'm sure...

i nearly had a coronary at WDW when i had to pay $4 for a tiny itsy bitsy little frozen coke....when a super giant frozen coke at hesse costs 99 cents or thereabouts..

the only reason that frozen coke costs $4 is because of the dining plan where all snacks are $4 (for the most part)..

but if you're not on the dining plan and you have to fork over $4 for a teeny tiny frozen coke....sticker shock doesn't begin to describe it..

ok...i realize that's a silly example, but it really did ruin my vacation the time before last.....last time i PAID for the dining plan just to avoid having that happen to me....even though i knew the dining plan is terribly expensive and not really a good deal at all....but just to avoid getting those shocks i decided it was better to insulate myself from it...so i paid for the dining plan for all 6 of us....
it worked...
but this year, the prices for everything are shocking me before i even get there...well...DD is there now, so i'm feeling it long distance...

anyway, i have to go cook dinner, but when i have more time i'll try to respond intelligently (sometimes a challenge for me )

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Maybe it depends where you're coming from... in Manhattan, we pay similar prices to Walt Disney World's food/drink.

 

[heartsy77]

We are headed to WDW in Oct w/ 9 people. My Dh, myself, DD's 16 & 13, Ds 5 , SIL and 2 nephew's 8 &9. This week My DS (20) put in for leave from the Navy to join us for a week so now we are 9!

We are staying @ FW in the camper and kids in the tent. We have saved $ buy taking 2 years to save and buy things little by little:

We are driving from Upstate NY so at least $1200 rt for gas. Would have been thousands to fly!
$450 for rt airfare for DS from Texas.
I booked campsite w/ AAA discount last summer!
I bought all our park tickets w/ our tax return.
I bought all our Halloween tickets and stashed cash with the profits we made selling some real-estate.
We only have 2 character meals booked, there rest will be at campsite or off site ( can we Cici's?)
We rented a golf cart from Kenny ( only 4 pass) we will make multiple trips.
I have been earning gift cards for two years: I have $1oo in gas gift cards, 300$ in Disney gift cards ( which I'm using to buy everyone resort mugs an to pay for the 3 little one to the Pirate makeover as a surprise).
Each child w/ exception of DS has a Disney gift cards w/ their own $$ on it they have saved returning soda cans.

Now granted DS coming last minute is throwing a wrench in my budget but we haven't seen him since XMAS so it's all worth it!

There are ways to have save $$$ and plan extras. We bought park hoppers, are super excited to go to F&W. We booked the boys Pirate League for the boys, and are going to the Halloween party, and staying for 9 nights.

 

[MomofKatie]

I know everyone is counting on free dining but some of us can't go at those times of the year which really sucks. But I am happy for those who can. The only time we can go is in the summer. Until my son get out of high school(4 yrs from now) theres no way we will ever get free dining.

but that is not stopping me planning my next vacation for next year or the next!

Yes, Free Dining really helps out. DD is going to be a freshman in HS, but we still take her out of school for vacations, since DH can't take time off when she is out. We just try to wrap around long weekends so she will only miss a day or 2.

If we couldn't have booked during Free Dining, we could still go for around the same $$ by staying offsite. To compare:

Onsite w/Free Dining:
Room, Tickets, and Dining for 5 nights for 3 adults @ Value resort: $1415
Gas, round trip from NC, gas @3.50/gal: $135
souvenirs and extra meals/snacks: $150
TOTAL: $1700

Offsite:
Room @ offsite hotel from Hotwire: $40/night with taxes- $200
Tickets from UndercoverTourist: $805
Food: $450
Gas: $150
Parking: $70
Souvenirs: $75
TOTAL: $1745

 

[MelissaS8]

For me personally, we can go there fairly cheaply. I am even looking at possibly staying off site, but it is always a destination.

There is always a way (of course, with the will) but it depends on who is going and what the goals are. You can make souvenirs work, tickets work, food work, transportation work... all with proper planning and realistic expectations.


Good luck!

 

[disneydad78]

Yes i agree with alot of you, staying off site is alot cheaper. We will be looking into this on our next trip. More room, comforts of home, private pool. Sounds better and better.