I have not been yet, that is being planned/budgeted for 2026. That being said, depending on the time of year and being flexible on dates i have found flights for around $500 per person round trip. I figure food costs in Aulani are a bit more than Disney in my research. With everything i think that my aulani trip will be comparable to a Disney trip for my family. Park tickets we buy would often be around 2000+ for my family of 4
My car is currently 10 years old and my husbands is 12 we have had mine since May of 2018 and it has been paid off for a year and we got my husband's in September of 2020 it will be paid off by December
Food at Aulani itself is significantly more and significantly more limited than WDW, imo. They have only one QS location which is probably on par with WDW QS in terms of pricing; however, it is really small menu. They do have one table service (that does carry out), Off the Hook, that is your more reasonably priced menu but I found it to be more pricey than a comparable restaurant at WDW. The other two main restaurants are in the Signature dining price point, with one being significantly cheaper than the other. The more expensive one is prixe fixe if I'm remembering correctly.
Thanks @crvetter!! That helps a lot. My wife's biggest concern with Aulani is boredom. I think it would be really fun, but with 10 hours of travel each way (possibly broken up by a short stop by DL), I almost have to book a week and a half for it to make sense.
. We "joked" that we spent my new car money on DVC, but it's really not a joke...When we sold our PVB contract in May, I received the proceeds and thought, I can pay off the Kia (we already had the money available to do so, but the interest on the cash is about the same as the loan) but no, we just spent it all on more DVC points.Mine's a late 16 year old Corolla. I'm never ever ever getting rid of it
Yes to all of this - my last car was 17 years old when it was finally time to say goodbye...and if I'm being honest it still had (at least) another 3 good years leftMine's a 16-year-old Corolla. I'm never ever ever getting rid of it
My husband has a honda oddysey is is going nowhere soon and mine is a mitsubishi mirage i got for 7k 6 years ago lol. People love to talk about the money we spend on vacations without realizing the things we do to afford it lolMine's a 16-year-old Corolla. I'm never ever ever getting rid of it
Honestly my little Mitsubishi has almost 120k miles on it and it has needed no repairs just regular maintenance (except and AC fan because I live in the south and when the ac fan went out i was done for but that was a $50 part my husband plugged in himself lol)Yes to all of this - my last car was 17 years old when it was finally time to say goodbye...and if I'm being honest it still had (at least) another 3 good years left
I’m keeping my car until the wheels fall off. That being said, I may or may not be planning to use some of my replacement car fund money to pay off my RIV purchase when my 6 month 0% Disney offer is up.When we sold our PVB contract in May, I received the proceeds and thought, I can pay off the Kia (we already had the money available to do so, but the interest on the cash is about the same as the loan) but no, we just spent it all on more DVC points.
Better than paying all that interestI’m keeping my car until the wheels fall off. That being said, I may or may not be planning to use some of my replacement car fund money to pay off my RIV purchase when my 6 month 0% Disney offer is up.
The interest on my loan is 13% so i am trying to pay it as fast as humanly possible. I get a mileage check at work as a reimbursement for using my car that is usually 300-600 a month and that is going on the loan on top of the regular payment as well as any extra I happen to have. The loan was 14,000 and this month i managed to put an extra $700 on it with my mileage check and eating food from home for lunch instead of buying lunch 
but it will be worth it when i get this thing paid off in 18 months or so instead of the72 it is supposed to be. This month is the first month having it and instead of 72 months my counter is currently down to 67 lol
Great prioritization your parents must be very proud. Sounds like we have a very similar philosophy in life. We prioritized family as well and made sacrifices for our vacations and time together. We had the smallest house in the neighborhood when they grew up. But it was often the go to house because we had basement that let kids be kids (nerf toys can break things too). When we moved, I had to replace the drywall from the dart torments during those teen years.
I have a way to go before retirement that is for sure. I am hoping to be able to retire around 55-60. I work a job with guaranteed retirement at 62 (and with the number of years of service i will have i will get 75-90% of my pay) so I need to float myself for a few years before that to be able to do it. I am also hoping that I can help my kids with legs up that my family could not afford to do for us. When the kids get older i want to take them to DC so badly but it is a 16 hour drive and i am not willing to tackle that one yet. I am hoping to make enough memories that they forget some of the countless mistakes I know i will make as they grow. We also want to do a cruise but my son saw an ad for a disney cruise so now he only wants to go on the "big mickey boat"
This is basically an echo chamber for crazy Disney fanatics and we're running the facility...
Mickey boat! Mickey boat!
Were all mad here
39k seems super reasonable. Me choosing VGC is what made my $$ amount so unreasonable, but in the end I want my vacations to be amazing and not meh so ponied up the cash.
I live near a port for cruises (used to have disney but they apparently pulled out this year) and I can find carnival cruises for about $1500 for my family for 6 nights but disney cruises are quite a bit more especially since now i will have to travel to get to a port. the closest port with disney cruises is now 5 hours away in Galveston.
