Middle Class Priced Out???

[TwoMisfits]

I do not understand the "but I could go to X, Y, Z for the cost of just the ticket price at WDW at these prices". I could go to Outback and say "But I just bought a Big Mac, WITH a coupon, for $1.09!!" But that wouldn't make sense, it's two different companies and two different experiences...that I chose! I've gone to many of the major east coast vacation theme destinations but I don't compare them to Disney because of price, I go to them because I want to. Disney can't hold a candle to Six Fags or Bush Gardens' coasters. Just the same I've shopped at Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Ralph's, Winn Dixie, Publix, the local marqueta, but I would never expect them to have the same prices, standards and produce...I choose where to go based on what I need and what I want to spend...I mean, that just makes sense to me

Your family of 7 is not a typical family, so obviously your costs are going to be greater than alot of people. Having said that, a family of 5 can do Disney for a little over $3K. I just priced out 6 nights in a rented condo and 6 day base tickets. I estimated high on gas from NY and used my regular food budget plus extra for onsite snacks.
Are you going to stay in a deluxe villa, eat all TS meals, fly your family of 5 there, and park hop for that no. But yes you can certainly take a WDW vacation for around $3,000. If you have a family with less than 5 people, you make out even better.

Family of 6 - 7 day park hoppers are now $500/each when you include taxes...precisely, 4 Disney adult, 2 Disney kid tickets for $3058 (with water parks $3152.40)...ponder just that cost for a family with 4 kids (none of whom is a "real" adult)...when you compare it to other sites, it's eye-opening at a minimum...

I mean, I have 2 7 day obstructed view Carnival cruise rooms for almost the same total cost ($3350) this summer for a holiday week on a non-crappy boat...this was not booked as a "last minute" fare, but as a normal summer one...

It's okay that Disney is not priced for the middle class anymore - they can price themselves like Tiffany's since many find them as unique as Tiffany's...but let's be honest about their current affordability to the actual middle class family (not the upper class family, not the middle class senior with assets, not the DINK middle class couples and/or single adults)...

Edit to add: So no, you can't do the vacation for $3K if you are ACTUALLY visiting the 4 Disney parks. Just to do 4 days would still run $2193.90, and you have not driven, parked, eaten, or paid for lodging...and you'd have 3 days open with "no entertainment paid."

 

[Sabathamk]

It was an example - there's theme parks everywhere, water parks everywhere, dinner theatres/attractions everywhere, other attractions everywhere. You don't like Dollywood, pick a different family site...you can still swing a drivable vacation for the Disney ticket costs.

Median US household income (50% higher/50% lower) for 2016 was $58,056. When financial advisers mention that a rule of thumb for vacation budgets should be 5-7% of your income, households with 5 members will be spending almost or all of that rule of thumb JUST on the tickets. That's pricing out the middle class. Yes, there is the upper part of that class (which many people on the board and this thread probably are in), which can have have higher incomes (up into the low 6 figures) that can still probably afford them without sacrificing too much, and there are members of that class with similar median incomes with significant assets that they can draw on (or mitigate costs - like having zero rent/mortgage), but that's not the norm. This thread is about pricing out the middle class and Disney has priced out a large portion of them.

But, I posted other vacation options for people priced out who think they can't afford anything fun but a week at a beach/campsite b/c they see those Disney ticket costs (not even the hotels and food) and think that's what every entertainment area is doing - and they aren't. Disney (and maybe Universal) is about the only family vacation destination right now that is still trying to jack prices to the ceiling - others have been doing the opposite...

Give me $2500-$3K (which would be my family 7 day park hopper cost) and I can get your family a 6 night drivable vacation in the US/Canada in nice accommodations having paid fun every day...but in Disney, I can only get you the tickets...unless you are going to Orlando...and then, if you skip Disney, I can probably do the same for you...

Oh man... according to that, I'm not supposed to spend more than $2000Cdn. Which is exactly what the cost is for our family to get into the parks for 6 days (5 people, plus one that is 2yo). We used to do road trips all the time before we went to Disney, and now I've got the Disney bug. I love it there. I'm not sure what it was... I absolutely adore the people and the sheer volume of different things to do and see. Something that most of our road trips lack. Mainly because the areas we've been to don't have much to offer during the times we've been allowed to go (off season for the farm, that is). I told my husband the other day that if I'd known better when we got married, I'd have done Disney instead of what we did do, because it probably would have cost the same amount, and I wouldn't have gotten sick from the food. And we could have done so much more!! Even now, for the two of us, we could easily do a trip with flight for $4000Cdn (flight is easily $500/person. Haven't been able to get anything cheaper than that). Add on more kids and things get more pricey, plus you have to make sure you align to their schedules as well. It is more stressful. So yes, I would agree... Disney is pricing out the average family, especially those with more than 2 kids in theirs, and those who have a longer travel.

My kids told me the other day that they wished we had a portal to Disney world so we could go anytime we wanted like the people who live there. You know... if we lived in Florida, I would actually be willing to take the kids by myself because I love it so much. So yes. Disney offers something special. Something more. Something you don't get from other places. Otherwise, my normally extremely frugal self would never want to go and spend that kind of money.

 

[Hikergirl]

Family of 6 - 7 day park hoppers are now $500/each when you include taxes...precisely, 4 Disney adult, 2 Disney kid tickets for $3058 (with water parks $3152.40)...ponder just that cost for a family with 4 kids (none of whom is a "real" adult)...when you compare it to other sites, it's eye-opening at a minimum...

I mean, I have 2 7 day obstructed view Carnival cruise rooms for almost the same total cost ($3350) this summer for a holiday week on a non-crappy boat...this was not booked as a "last minute" fare, but as a normal summer one...

It's okay that Disney is not priced for the middle class anymore - they can price themselves like Tiffany's since many find them as unique as Tiffany's...but let's be honest about their current affordability to the actual middle class family (not the upper class family, not the middle class senior with assets, not the DINK middle class couples and/or single adults)...

You keep ignoring the fact that a lower middle class family (your figures above are low tier for my area) can afford a vacation at WDW. Is it an expensive vacation, of course. Can a family control their costs, yes, everything expect the tickets. You don't need 7 day park hoppers to have a WDW vacation. Can they go multiple times a year, or even every year, no. But the fact remains it is possible to afford a vacation at WDW.
I priced out a vacation and came out at the top of your $2500-$3000 range. Clearly you don't want to accept that it can be done, I'm not sure why but whatever, you are free to believe whatever you want.

 

[Darcy03231]

I've been looking at prices and trying to figure out how to do this trip for the cheapest I can... as I really want to go and as I said, we scrimped and saved for 3.5 years now to try to get another Disney Vacay in. Going from $5000 for a family of 5 staying at the pop with free dining and going to MVMCP back in 2013 to what I'm finding now... even asking at our travel agent who was able to get us that deal last time, the price for OFFSITE this time, plus we have to figure out a budget for food, parking, vehicle rental, and souvenirs, she quoted us $8000 (this is including flight, which was easily almost $3000). Even if we do food cheaply (buying bread and making sandwiches and snacks from Walmart, continental breakfasts, only eating out for supper and maybe a few snacks at WDW parks), for 10 days, that is still $600 easily or more (family of 6 now), plus rental (I don't even know what that costs as we'd need a van and carseats for two of our kids), plus parking (with the dollar we have, it would be $150 cdn roughly for that alone for only 6 days in the parks). We don't buy souvenirs. We never buy soda. Rarely do we get extras (although now that I'm pregnant, my husband has been picking up stuff that is easier to make which has increased our food budget a lot since I usually make everything from scratch). The trip looks to be $10,000 for one week, only 6 days in the park, if we fly that is, and I just.... can't. Even though we've managed to save up almost that much.

That said, we only make about $30,000 Cdn per year for a family of 6. I'm not sure how I was even able to save up money for a trip (I know people who make double that and have debt like crazy living in the same area we do, and they have no kids). It really is looking like the value just isn't there anymore. Especially for families with more than 2 kids. Flights and hotels... ugh. Although, that said, just about any road trip at this point will cost us a LOT of money. Because hotels. We can't stay in a standard hotel anymore.

Maybe it would be cheaper to buy a used motorhome and truck it? I should look into that......

The cheapest way to do it with a family your size is to stay offsite in a rental home. That's what we do when everyone in our family travels. You can get something like this:

https://www.vrbo.com/15462

You'd have to rent a minivan and pay for gas and parking, but it's still cheaper than staying on-site. If you eat most of your meals in, and bring snack/water into the partks, your food budget shouldn't be much different than at home.

Breakdown in estimated round numbers:

Rental Home $1000
Minivan $400
Gas $100
Parking $80 (4 park days)
Tickets $1900 (4 park days, no hoppers)
Food $200
Misc. $150

You're up to about $4000 without airfare. It might be cheaper to drive over the border to the closest airport. Once in the US you should be able to get airfare for around $300/pp

 

[Uncranky Donald]

Family of 6 - 7 day park hoppers are now $500/each when you include taxes...precisely, 4 Disney adult, 2 Disney kid tickets for $3058 (with water parks $3152.40)...ponder just that cost for a family with 4 kids (none of whom is a "real" adult)...when you compare it to other sites, it's eye-opening at a minimum...

I mean, I have 2 7 day obstructed view Carnival cruise rooms for almost the same total cost ($3350) this summer for a holiday week on a non-crappy boat...this was not booked as a "last minute" fare, but as a normal summer one...

It's okay that Disney is not priced for the middle class anymore - they can price themselves like Tiffany's since many find them as unique as Tiffany's...but let's be honest about their current affordability to the actual middle class family (not the upper class family, not the middle class senior with assets, not the DINK middle class couples and/or single adults)...

Edit to add: So no, you can't do the vacation for $3K if you are ACTUALLY visiting the 4 Disney parks. Just to do 4 days would still run $2193.90, and you have not driven, parked, eaten, or paid for lodging...and you'd have 3 days open with "no entertainment paid."

I am currently a self employed small brick & mortar business owner, single and financially lower class. I long to be considered middle class. I am going to Disney for 12 days in June...I made it work and don't expect any company or person for that matter in the world to make my choices easier for me.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Family of 6 - 7 day park hoppers are now $500/each when you include taxes...precisely, 4 Disney adult, 2 Disney kid tickets for $3058 (with water parks $3152.40)...ponder just that cost for a family with 4 kids (none of whom is a "real" adult)...when you compare it to other sites, it's eye-opening at a minimum...

I mean, I have 2 7 day obstructed view Carnival cruise rooms for almost the same total cost ($3350) this summer for a holiday week on a non-crappy boat...this was not booked as a "last minute" fare, but as a normal summer one...

It's okay that Disney is not priced for the middle class anymore - they can price themselves like Tiffany's since many find them as unique as Tiffany's...but let's be honest about their current affordability to the actual middle class family (not the upper class family, not the middle class senior with assets, not the DINK middle class couples and/or single adults)...

Edit to add: So no, you can't do the vacation for $3K if you are ACTUALLY visiting the 4 Disney parks. Just to do 4 days would still run $2193.90, and you have not driven, parked, eaten, or paid for lodging...and you'd have 3 days open with "no entertainment paid."

Add on more kids and things get more pricey, plus you have to make sure you align to their schedules as well. It is more stressful. So yes, I would agree... Disney is pricing out the average family, especially those with more than 2 kids in theirs, and those who have a longer travel.

The problem that I have with your arguments is that your are assuming that you are average middle class families. That just isn't true. The average middle class family is 2 adults and 2 children. When you had more kids than that, you ceased to be average. I have nothing against larger families, but those families have made a choice. Having more children comes with additional costs, especially at a place like Disney.

Given your situations, stretching your dollar at a place like Disney will be more difficult, especially if you want to stay onsite. An average family of 4 can book a summer stay at a value resort with 6 day base tickets for about $2400. The cost with travel and dining might go a bit over $3000, but it would certainly be doable for many average middle class families every 1-2 years.

 

[tzolkin]

Disney and Universal are different from other vacation destinations. They offer something unique, which is why they can charge what they charge.

I posted earlier about the ticket price increase at Disney (how the tickets alone now cost more than our entire trip did a few years ago), but since you mentioned Universal that also re-emphasizes my point.

We just did our first Universal trip in December. We purchased 5 day park to park tickets for our family for $1271. 5 day park hopper tickets for Disney are $2369. That's over $1000 difference in ticket prices alone, so that was a big factor in our decision to end our annual Disney trips (which were always 10+ days). The other major factor was not needing to plan so much in advance-- staying onsite included the front of the line passes (vs. booking FP months in advance) and we didn't need dining reservations.

Of course, people will argue that Universal is not "the same" and I understand that. But many others on this thread have been posting about how the price increases are making some people re-evaluate whether Disney is still worth the price tag. I love Disney-- there is something magical about it and I cherish the memories of my many trips there-- but it is becoming less appealing because it just doesn't seem like the same value for the cost that it once was for us. I know the prices of everything increase with inflation, but it just feels like the cost has increased at a more rapid rate than is justified by what they offer.

Can I (as a middle class person) afford a trip to Disney? Yes. Do I feel that it's worth the price? Not so much. I think it may be worth the current cost perhaps if I were doing it as a once or twice in a lifetime trip, but it's not worth it to me to return year after year.

 

[TwoMisfits]

You keep ignoring the fact that a lower middle class family (your figures above are low tier for my area) can afford a vacation at WDW. Is it an expensive vacation, of course. Can a family control their costs, yes, everything expect the tickets. You don't need 7 day park hoppers to have a WDW vacation. Can they go multiple times a year, or even every year, no. But the fact remains it is possible to afford a vacation at WDW.
I priced out a vacation and came out at the top of your $2500-$3000 range. Clearly you don't want to accept that it can be done, I'm not sure why but whatever, you are free to believe whatever you want.

I'd love to see 6 day tickets for a family of 5 (3 Disney adults, 2 kids) with a condo (all fees included), gas (both on the drive and onsite), parking, and all food (on the drive and for a week) at $3K.

The problem that I have with your arguments is that your are assuming that you are average middle class families. That just isn't true. The average middle class family is 2 adults and 2 children. When you had more kids than that, you ceased to be average. I have nothing against larger families, but those families have made a choice. Having more children comes with additional costs, especially at a place like Disney.

Given your situations, stretching your dollar at a place like Disney will be more difficult, especially if you want to stay onsite. An average family of 4 can book a summer stay at a value resort with 6 day base tickets for about $2400. The cost with travel and dining might go a bit over $3000, but it would certainly be doable for many average middle class families every 1-2 years.

The 4 person family (2 adults, 2 Disney kids to keep it cheapest) would be $2606 at the best summer offer (All Star Music standard room July 23-30) at base only tickets...they will not have eaten on this plan and with no kitchen/transport, they will have to eat at least 1 meal a day out...they have also not paid to get to the hotel...to do both for 7 days at under $400 for a family of 4 is unrealistic. A realistic food price (which would require strict planning) would be 1/2 the CS plan cost or $480ish (at 7 days, that's less than $70 for 4 people per day)...so you're over $3K and you're still not there. Even if you assume you drive (by far, the cheapest option) and you don't count wear/tear on your car and only count gas and food on the road and drive all the way through no matter how far, you can't do the trip for a family this size under $3K and see the parks every day...I mean, yes, they can all eat PB and bread for 3 meals a day and do CS free water all day and maybe you could drop your food budget to $100 for 7 days...but that's not vacation...

We confuse people who "plus up everything" and people who just want a "base vacation." Disney has made the "plus everything up" unaffordable for the middle class long ago. Now, they've done the same for most for the "base vacation." At this point, it becomes the "trade off vacation", where you can only have some of the vacation while you have to look elsewhere for a cheap way to have the rest.

 

[kymom99]

The problem that I have with your arguments is that your are assuming that you are average middle class families. That just isn't true. The average middle class family is 2 adults and 2 children. When you had more kids than that, you ceased to be average. I have nothing against larger families, but those families have made a choice. Having more children comes with additional costs, especially at a place like Disney.

Given your situations, stretching your dollar at a place like Disney will be more difficult, especially if you want to stay onsite. An average family of 4 can book a summer stay at a value resort with 6 day base tickets for about $2400. The cost with travel and dining might go a bit over $3000, but it would certainly be doable for many average middle class families every 1-2 years.

Actually the average household size in the US is 2.6 people. However, if you look at families in different configurations, I'm sure a lot are bigger than 4 people. Especially if you look at blended families. I know you talked about averages but I'm not sure many "families" fit the 2 parents/2 children mold anymore.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I'd love to see 6 day tickets for a family of 5 (3 Disney adults, 2 kids) with a condo (all fees included), gas (both on the drive and onsite), parking, and all food (on the drive and for a week) at $3K.


The 4 person family would be $2606 at the best summer offer (All Star Music standard room July 23-30) at base only tickets...they will not have eaten on this plan and with no kitchen/transport, they will have to eat at least 1 meal a day out...they have also not paid to get to the hotel...to do both for 7 days at under $400 for a family of 4 is unrealistic. A realistic food price (which would require strict planning) would be 1/2 the CS plan cost or $480ish (at 7 days, that's less than $70 for 4 people per day)...so you're over $3K and you're still not there. Even if you assume you drive (by far, the cheapest option) and you don't count wear/tear on your car and only count gas and food on the road and drive all the way through no matter how far, you can't do the trip for a family this size under $3K and see the parks every day...I mean, yes, they can all eat PB and bread for 3 meals a day and do CS free water all day and maybe you could drop your food budget to $100 for 7 days...but that's not vacation...

We confuse people who "plus up everything" and people who just want a "base vacation." Disney has made the "plus everything up" unaffordable for the middle class long ago. Now, they've done the same for most for the "base vacation." At this point, it becomes the "trade off" vacation, where you can only have some of the vacation while you have to look elsewhere for a cheap way to have the rest.

So I chose the last week in June as my estimate for 6 nights/7 days with 6 day base tickets using the Summer Room Special. I think a $600 food budget could be reasonable, especially if they ate breakfast in the room (pastries, breakfast bars, applesauce, etc.) and had CS meals for lunch and dinner in the parks. So that would just leave travel. You were making the assumption that the family would be within reasonable driving distance and so to me that means 5-6 hours or 360 miles. Though this estimate is high, I would say they would need $100 for gas round trip (20 mpg average at $2 per gallon for regular). And eating one meal on the road each way would cost $50 or even less if they pack a lunch on the way to Disney. So for just over $3,000, this family could have a week long Disney vacation.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Actually the average household size in the US is 2.6 people. However, if you look at families in different configurations, I'm sure a lot are bigger than 4 people. Especially if you look at blended families. I know you talked about averages but I'm not sure many "families" fit the 2 parents/2 children mold anymore.

The average household size is 2.6, but the average family with children under 18 has 2 children. This is for the United States.

 

[Hikergirl]

I'd love to see 6 day tickets for a family of 5 (3 Disney adults, 2 kids) with a condo (all fees included), gas (both on the drive and onsite), parking, and all food (on the drive and for a week) at $3K.

You need to look. The condo I priced sleeps 6 and that was around $647 for the week (give or take a few bucks). Your tickets aren't going to change, and with a larger family that is going to be the bulk of your costs. Gas, well depends on what you drive, with 6 probably not going to be in a car. We could go in dh's car, gets almost 40MPG highway at 1100 miles away. Food doesn't have to be much more than your home food budget for a week unless you want it to be much more.
Your larger family may not be able to get it to $3000 but the typical middle class family can (I'm not even typical with a family of 5). So you keep arguing but there is nothing to argue about. It can be done.


We confuse people who "plus up everything" and people who just want a "base vacation." Disney has made the "plus everything up" unaffordable for the middle class long ago. Now, they've done the same for most for the "base vacation." At this point, it becomes the "trade off vacation", where you can only have some of the vacation while you have to look elsewhere for a cheap way to have the rest.

No, they haven't. I think the problem is that alot of us here are used to vacationing WDW a certain way. Our "base" may not be the same as someone elses.
Base to me, driving, because airfare alone is half of a $3000 budget, renting a condo with a kitchen so I can make my meals, maybe splurge on one out. It means no hoppers, no water parks, and maybe not even a ticket for every single day at a park. Maybe I'm there for 6 days/7 nights but only get 4 day tickets. It also means I don't visit every single year, it may take a couple years to save for it.
That is still a WDW vacation, and it can be affordable.

 

[TwoMisfits]

No, they haven't.

Mathematically, they have. Emotionally, maybe they haven't...

 

[Hikergirl]

Mathematically, they have. Emotionally, maybe they haven't...

I'm middle class, they haven't priced me out mathematically. I see alot of other people on this thread saying the same thing. You even gave numbers and told people you can get them a nice vacation in the US/Canada for that. However when someone shows you can do WDW for that same amount you say its not affordable? Its clear you believe something and that is ok, but believing something doesn't actually make it true.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

No, they haven't. I think the problem is that alot of us here are used to vacationing WDW a certain way. Our "base" may not be the same as someone elses.
Base to me, driving, because airfare alone is half of a $3000 budget, renting a condo with a kitchen so I can make my meals, maybe splurge on one out. It means no hoppers, no water parks, and maybe not even a ticket for every single day at a park. Maybe I'm there for 6 days/7 nights but only get 4 day tickets. It also means I don't visit every single year, it may take a couple years to save for it.
That is still a WDW vacation, and it can be affordable.

I think it is completely reasonable to have a 6 night/7 day trip and just buy 5 day base tickets. I would do Disney Springs in the afternoon/evening on my day of arrival. I would do 2 parks, then have a pool day with some resort hopping, then do 2 more parks. And on the 5th day, my family would decide which park we wanted to return for the last day of our trip.

ETA: And honestly, you could do similar with 4 day base tickets and on the last day you could have a character breakfast and then head home. It wouldn't have been a full park day anyways.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

No, they haven't. I think the problem is that alot of us here are used to vacationing WDW a certain way. Our "base" may not be the same as someone elses.
Base to me, driving, because airfare alone is half of a $3000 budget, renting a condo with a kitchen so I can make my meals, maybe splurge on one out. It means no hoppers, no water parks, and maybe not even a ticket for every single day at a park. Maybe I'm there for 6 days/7 nights but only get 4 day tickets. It also means I don't visit every single year, it may take a couple years to save for it.
That is still a WDW vacation, and it can be affordable.

This sounds exactly like my middle class vacation! Drive to off site condo for a week, 4 day tickets (sometimes hoppers, sometimes not, usually with water parks), breakfast in the kitchen, mostly counter service lunch & dinner with a couple of table service meals during the week, only go every 2 years or so. Totally doable on a middle class budget.

I invested in 10 day no expire hoppers with water park fun a few years ago. If we can't get a really good discount (free dining, team discount, etc.) we use those. Unfortunately, after my trip next month, I will only have one more trip left on those tickets. I will have some water park entries left, so any tickets I have to buy later will only be base tickets. I am REALLY bummed that they did away with the old no expire tickets! It was a big cash outlay at first, but it made WDW so much more economical for my family. I wish I'd had money in the budget to buy another set before they discontinued them.

 

[StaciaRae]

We took our first (and only up to this point) WDW vacation in 01/2016! We expected it to be a one and done trip so we went overboard on a lot of things - dd did both BBB and Pirates League, we stayed Savannah view AKL, did at least one character meal a day, custom matching shirts for our two kids for every day - and for our 8 day stay, that trip cost us over $8000 including airfare from NY.

We are lower to middle class - but (for the most part) we live frugally. It takes us a few years to save up enough money for a Disney vacation, and even then a large part of it comes from tax returns.

We had such an amazing first trip, that I begged DH to take us back again! He gave me the option of remodeling our kitchen or going to Disney. My kids are still young, they'll be 5 and 7 on our next trip, so I chose Disney - we'll deal with our full-fuctional, just a bit outdated, kitchen some other time. I have 3 children, right now they are 21, 6, and 4. I look at my beautiful 21 year old, who's out of the house living his life, and I wonder how the years passed me so fast! So I personally feel that making these memories with my little kids is so important and I prioritize that over construction projects at our home - and I'm thankful that DH understands how much money we have and lets me decide what we spend it on.

Our next trip is in January 2018. We have spent the last year and a half saving for it, putting money every week into a disney vacation savings account. It's once again going to be probably close to $8K. Yes, I could cut that down a bit by not staying deluxe and not eating at the $200 character buffets, but those are the things we really enjoy - so we're going to find a way to do it.

I think after this next trip, we won't come back to Disney until Star Wars Land opens up, and then we'll choose to find other places to vacation as the kids get older.

Yes, its incredibly expensive - and my parents would argue that it's irresponsible for us to spend so much money on these vacations - but these times with our kids is priceless and I love that we have these memories together.

 

[runwad]

This sounds exactly like my middle class vacation! Drive to off site condo for a week, 4 day tickets (sometimes hoppers, sometimes not, usually with water parks), breakfast in the kitchen, mostly counter service lunch & dinner with a couple of table service meals during the week, only go every 2 years or so. Totally doable on a middle class budget.

I invested in 10 day no expire hoppers with water park fun a few years ago. If we can't get a really good discount (free dining, team discount, etc.) we use those. Unfortunately, after my trip next month, I will only have one more trip left on those tickets. I will have some water park entries left, so any tickets I have to buy later will only be base tickets. I am REALLY bummed that they did away with the old no expire tickets! It was a big cash outlay at first, but it made WDW so much more economical for my family. I wish I'd had money in the budget to buy another set before they discontinued them.

Me too!! We have 5 park admissions left on our last 10 day no expiry tickets :-(. We're going in May but we are using 2 of those days so we have 3 left for the new lands coming in DHS. We have hoppers so we very easily do all 4 parks on 2 days worth of tickets. And then you throw in a water park day because we have lot of those left and a downtown Disney day and a couple days to just chill at the condo pool and there's our 7 day vacation. In fact we only stayed on site the first time we went and did the parks all 7 days. After that we got the 10 day non expiry tickets and went on those for about 5 trips doing the way I outlined above.

I'm just grateful my kids are grown and we got to go on so many economical trips when they were young. They won't have the same luxury when they have kids of their own. To me making the tickets expire is what made a Disney trip expensive for our family.

 

[Sabathamk]

The cheapest way to do it with a family your size is to stay offsite in a rental home. That's what we do when everyone in our family travels. You can get something like this:

https://www.vrbo.com/15462

You'd have to rent a minivan and pay for gas and parking, but it's still cheaper than staying on-site. If you eat most of your meals in, and bring snack/water into the partks, your food budget shouldn't be much different than at home.

Breakdown in estimated round numbers:

Rental Home $1000
Minivan $400
Gas $100
Parking $80 (4 park days)
Tickets $1900 (4 park days, no hoppers)
Food $200
Misc. $150

You're up to about $4000 without airfare. It might be cheaper to drive over the border to the closest airport. Once in the US you should be able to get airfare for around $300/pp

Thank you! Yes, we are looking offsite this time around as onsite even at budget levels are just too much for what we saved. I am hoping to drive (even though it is 30hrs one way) because flying stresses me so very much that I dread the entire trip because of it, and it is just too costly.

The problem that I have with your arguments is that your are assuming that you are average middle class families. That just isn't true. The average middle class family is 2 adults and 2 children. When you had more kids than that, you ceased to be average. I have nothing against larger families, but those families have made a choice. Having more children comes with additional costs, especially at a place like Disney.

Given your situations, stretching your dollar at a place like Disney will be more difficult, especially if you want to stay onsite. An average family of 4 can book a summer stay at a value resort with 6 day base tickets for about $2400. The cost with travel and dining might go a bit over $3000, but it would certainly be doable for many average middle class families every 1-2 years.

My thing with this is that with adding the cost of only one more child to our trip than the 'two' that makes it average, we more than doubled our trip cost. yes, some of that is due to the Cdn dollar as well, but my goodness! Double the cost to add one child on? In only 3 years? Yes, we can still do the trip, but we doubled the price even with staying offsite this time as opposed to onsite last trip. Then with all the changes they made to make it more difficult to save like the tickets expiring, or the free dining plan being almost impossible to book as compared to 3 years ago...

I think after this next trip, we won't come back to Disney until Star Wars Land opens up, and then we'll choose to find other places to vacation as the kids get older.

Yes, its incredibly expensive - and my parents would argue that it's irresponsible for us to spend so much money on these vacations - but these times with our kids is priceless and I love that we have these memories together.

My parents say the same. My dad thinks we are insane to scrimp and save for years in order to go to Disney with our kids, but he never took us on vacations and I want different. My mom thinks it is great and wants to go with. And I really want to go when Star Wars Land opens, but I feel that will be impossible as we will have 5 kids at that point. I feel like this May is my last ditch effort to go with all my kids ever again. Perhaps this is why I am desperate to go, even with a huge price tag.

 

[Scifidiner]

We just did our first Universal trip in December. We purchased 5 day park to park tickets for our family for $1271. 5 day park hopper tickets for Disney are $2369. That's over $1000 difference in ticket prices alone, so that was a big factor in our decision to end our annual Disney trips (which were always 10+ days). The other major factor was not needing to plan so much in advance-- staying onsite included the front of the line passes (vs. booking FP months in advance) and we didn't need dining reservations.

Of course, people will argue that Universal is not "the same" and I understand that. But many others on this thread have been posting about how the price increases are making some people re-evaluate whether Disney is still worth the price tag. I love Disney-- there is something magical about it and I cherish the memories of my many trips there-- but it is becoming less appealing because it just doesn't seem like the same value for the cost that it once was for us. I know the prices of everything increase with inflation, but it just feels like the cost has increased at a more rapid rate than is justified by what they offer.

Can I (as a middle class person) afford a trip to Disney? Yes. Do I feel that it's worth the price? Not so much. I think it may be worth the current cost perhaps if I were doing it as a once or twice in a lifetime trip, but it's not worth it to me to return year after year.

As much as we love WDW, I must admit we really have enjoyed US. Is it the same as Disney? No but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Express pass is great, and not having to worry about ADRs is also a benefit. It ends up being a more relaxed vacation. Our next vacation to Orlando will probably be in '20 or '21 after SW & TS open. I'm thinking seriously about staying at US & driving to AK for Pandora, & HS for SW & TS. Spending the rest of the time at US. We haven't seen Diagon alley yet. Staying at US has more to do with not having to plan every minute of our day and less to do with cost for us.