How much we spent.

[KELLY]

Our dining is included (QSDP FREE) with our package so if we break that down over 14 nights it is 56.00 a day per a person.

We do plan on doing a few TS meals and PL so even if we spend another 1000.00 it would be around 74.00 per a person per a day not bad.

I didn't include air we may also add 2 days if the flights will come down in price. Also airport food I didn't add that in either. Last year we went for 10 nights and only spent another 500.00 over are package not sure how we manged that one. My girls will each have there own GC as well.

 

[KELLY]

I can How much time do people actually spend in the resort room. The grounds at POP are beautiful. DH and I like to take walks around there. Not to mention being on WDW property for that long. I'm not sure that would be long enough to even visit each resort and enjoy visiting for a few hours.

And, just think how much use you can get our of your refillable mugs

I know the horror we are a family of 4 and plan on doing 14-16 nights at pop. LOL A room at pop is like a suite compared to a cruise ship room. But really it don't bother us we do stay at the resort some. I have stayed at all levels including a 1 bedroom a couple of times and I would rather stay longer.

 

[shannon006]

I know the horror we are a family of 4 and plan on doing 14-16 nights at pop. LOL A room at pop is like a suite compared to a cruise ship room. But really it don't bother us we do stay at the resort some. I have stayed at all levels including a 1 bedroom a couple of times and I would rather stay longer.

We stayed 11 nights at the POP last year. Me, DH, 2 DD's. We had 2 DS's, but they had their own room. Anyway, I though 12 days in a small resort room would be rough. It wasn't at all actually. We had Mousekeeping everyday, but our room was very organized and clean. We kept the ironing board up from day one for a shelf. We also had those collapsible laundry bins underneath for dirty laundry. The shelf on the sink is extremely handy. Anyway, don't worry about your 14-16 nights. It is definitely doable, without trouble. The one thing I will do next time is bring a shoe organizer to put on the bathroom door for organizing things, not shoes

A funny thing is, on our drive home, we stayed at a Holiday Inn, and when we arrived to our room, we were amazed at how large it was We were so use to the smaller room. I am with you on staying longer in a value vs shorter in a deluxe.

 

[jvptravels]

My solo trip last summer cost around $4300. I spent 7 nights and 8 days on the premium plan. That included all meals (mostly TS and Sig), tips, hoppers, tours, airfare, rental car, etc. I stayed at POR.

The best part was I brought $400 cash for misc. spending, and returned home with more than $300 of that. My spending habits at the parks have changed. On past trips I would easily spend more than $1000 on souvenirs. And that was with a 35% CM discount. I don't purchase merchandise anymore because it's pretty much all crap these days. All-in-all, I had blast last summer, and the vacation was well worth every penny spent.

 

[mgdisney]

Are yearly trips to WDW are 3 weeks as well, this coming May we will be spending 3 nights at HRH at universal, then 14 nights at POR, then 7 nights at the Beach Club, for a total of 24 nights! We bought AP's last year for US, so didn't have to put out money there, but I think the total I've paid out so far for flights, hotels, Disney AP's, and discovery cove tickets is right around $8500 for 2 adults, 1 child, plan on at least another 3 to 4000 for food and shopping.

I believe last May I was right at $10,000 ( maybe alittle higher)for 24 nights at disney, US AP's, flights, food, shopping, etc... We didn't need to buy Disney AP as they were still good from the past year.

 

[2Tiggies]

More like the CMs were like, "These people are STILL HERE???"

We also get that. We haven't done 23 nights - 18 is about our limit because of the max amount of time I can take off from work at one time, but like you, we never feel ready to leave. Usually by the second week we are getting comments from the CMs like "Have you guys moved in permanently?"

 

[joeyandangiesmom]

So what is keeping all of you long time vacationers from DVC????

We have LONG vacations every year....and they are paid for! We did WDW, DL AND DLP last year (along with ABD) with our points!

And...we get a discount on our annual passes!

So...what gives???/

 

[mgdisney]

We have looked into DVC, did the whole tour and whatnot, but we have decided to buy a vacation condo in Florida instead.

 

[Minnesota!]

I can't imagine staying in a tiny hotel room for 23 nights.

I could and I would LOVE it! What more do you need besides a table to eat at, a bed to sleep on, and a bathroom? We have a very tiny house...and are extremely used to tight quarters.

 

[mom2rtk]

I can't imagine staying in a tiny hotel room for 23 nights.

I'd love it for one reason. It comes with HOUSEKEEPING!

 

[KristinV02]

Would absolutely love that length of a stay!! I've debated on the AP myself. Love to hear the amounts you spent! I crunch numbers and estimates every day for our upcoming trip!

 

[jvptravels]

I think anything longer than 2 weeks is a little excessive. Especially if you go to WDW with any type of frequency. I went 11 years between my last 2 WDW trips. The longest I've ever stayed was 11 nights. But by the end of my last trip, I was ready to go home.

I love WDW and DL. But there's a real world out there, and I've only just begun to see it.

 

[osugal]

So what is keeping all of you long time vacationers from DVC????

We have LONG vacations every year....and they are paid for! We did WDW, DL AND DLP last year (along with ABD) with our points!

And...we get a discount on our annual passes!

So...what gives???/

I have looked into DVC and it I don't understand the appeal. All I read about and hear about are the limits. I hear about people having to split their stays bc they can't get this villa or that villa. Or they can't go when they want. They have to purchase more and add on points. Plus, I want to be able to vacation anywhere from year to year. I don't want to feel that I have to get out what I've already had to pay for.

 

[brucerob62]

did you tell your landlord or mtg company whichever the case maybe..can we skip paying the mtg or rent this month? for the time you stayed. Man the longest ihave gone is 12 days ..but i would like to have enough vacation time to go 3 weeks plus.

 

[brucerob62]

I have looked into DVC and it I don't understand the appeal. All I read about and hear about are the limits. I hear about people having to split their stays bc they can't get this villa or that villa. Or they can't go when they want. They have to purchase more and add on points. Plus, I want to be able to vacation anywhere from year to year. I don't want to feel that I have to get out what I've already had to pay for.

i refuse to buy timeshares...i always rent wherever i stay...most of the time its disney..thats what we like to do.

 

[hops&dreams]

Our first trip (January 2010) was $3313.90 including airfare to & from Indianapolis, hotel, PH tickets and DDP for 2 adults and 1 6yr old for 8 days/7 nights at the Wilderness Lodge. In addition, we brought $300 in cash and came home with over $150. These costs include tips, souveneirs, etc. (cash was mostly cash tips and souvies, the rest was what our hotel bill ended up, after we charged stuff to the room, etc.)

I think we got off pretty cheap - $144.32/person/day, including tips & souvies. It was well worth it for such a magical vacation!

ETA
Out of curiosity, i looked up stuff from our trip in 2012 (Feb - one year ago)
$3873.20 for 11 days, 10 nights including airfare, hotel (WL), PH tickets and DDP for 2 adults and 1 8yr old. Don't know how much cash we brought.

Now, when I look up pricing for a trip this year, I'm getting quotes in the $4,800 range, not including airfare. I don't have any idea why prices seem to have jumped so much!! (even looked at same date ranges as past years and everything). so, for right now, we're waiting for a killer pin code and just saving up the money for a longer trip for when prices aren't so astronomical!

 

[pampam]

I would really like to see the run down of your costs. 25 days at WDW? The 5,000 doesn't include food, does it?

Yes, it is for meals, spending and accomodations.

 

[pampam]

How much did you eat in your room? Packed lunches? Etc??

We averaged 2 meals out per day, and one meal prepared by us.

We try to eat healthy, so this probably isn't what you might choose but here goes. We had chicken stir fries, grilled chicken dinners, garden salads,
salads, fresh fruit for meals or snacks , hamburgers with salads, veg stir fries, steak dinners, bacon and eggs, toast, Hoop de doo, like I said, Mary Poppins buffet too, at 1900 Park fair, beef and broccoli dinners, pork chop dinners, salmon dinners, chicken breast dinners, fresh fruit plates, pork sandwiches, chicken and shrimp dinner in Japan, steak and mushrooms, roast turkey dinners , fried chicken wings, salmon sandwiches, a buffet meal, and no doubt other food and drinks I've missed. If we liked a certain meal , we had it again.

For health issues, we are on the SCD diet, so we don't eat any grain, sugar, dairy or a lot of other things. Because of this, I cooked some things in the microwave in the food court, such as bacon and eggs ( we can't have bacon with sugar in it or powdered eggs) , microwave bread (nut flour) banana muffins, coconut cake, etc., to augment our diet. 3 weeks of restaurant food with a limited selection could be quite a test of endurance. I bought cheese and once in a while a bag of salad, but most of our meals were in restaurants or food courts. Some of our meals were too large, so we might have left overs the next day etc. Of course we made good use of our refillable mugs, and bought coffee, orange juice or other drinks too.

 

[ForMyBoys]

did you tell your landlord or mtg company whichever the case maybe..can we skip paying the mtg or rent this month? for the time you stayed. Man the longest ihave gone is 12 days ..but i would like to have enough vacation time to go 3 weeks plus.

i refuse to buy timeshares...i always rent wherever i stay...most of the time its disney..thats what we like to do.

ITA! Why buy when you can rent points. We have no huge payment and the risk is on someone else. And if we want to do something else instead we are free to do it

 

[ForMyBoys]

Since this is a cost comparison thread and I'm all about numbers I figured I'd share our planned cost and when we get back I can update with actual. We are going from a Sat to Sat (8 nights) in April and will be paying about $5.6k That is for a family of 5. Here is the break down:

minivan rental (plus ins.)- $680 (fixed)
Flights- $1,500 (fixed)
Stroller Rental- $70 (fixed)
Hotel- $1,200 (fixed)(4br rental house w/ private heated pool- 3 miles from disney)
Tickets- $780 (non-expiration- divided cost by number of days we are using) (fixed)
Gift cards for the boys spending- $195 (2 of them we got 5% off at target)
Food- $900 (variable)
Other- $150 (variable)
Gas/Parking- $108 (pseudo fixed)

Total- $5,583.