Money Article Concerning WDW

[MUFFYCAT]

That article was so misleading. He talks about the high cost of $5,000 due to staying at a monorail resort which he said added a few hundred. Try a few thousand! It 's a few hundred a night.


You can stay at the POP for under $100. There is no hotel in the New York area that is cheaper. We go to Upstate NY every summer and pay Disney deluxe prices for resorts that haven't been updated since the 80's.

 

[taitai]

The point of the article was NOT that Disney for his family is going to cost $5000. The point of the article was questioning if that was the best way to spend $5000 on vacation. He was not questioning the amount of money but rather whether returning to the same place was the best option for his family's budget or if going somewhere new would be better. He could have planned a $1000 vacation at Disney and written the same article posing the same question. Additionally, he could have written the EXACT same article discussing spending $5000 on a vacation to Paris if they family had gone to Paris previously. Or the Jersey Shore. Or Dollywood. Or the Grand Canyon........Disney was really just peripheral.

I read his column regularly. He writes about family finances in terms of decisions made and the rationale behind them. Similar to all the articles about moving for his wife's job, the move to Asia, remodeling the house, should his wife be a stay at home mom or go part time, etc.

This was NOT a how to vacation at Disney article. It was how do you make and value your choices article.

 

[mom2aredhead]

WDW is expensive, much more expensive than the beach.

When I was planning our first family vacation for this past summer, I was planning the beach. I ended up looking at WDW for S&G's and it looked like I could do Disney for 4 days for the same price.

So, we went to Disney, but the trip did grow. I didn't factor in the drive (gas money, and a 1 night stay) when first pricing out Disney. I figured I would have about $1500-2000 at the beach (full week) and when all said and done, Disneyworld cost us $3000 (the trip grew to a full week and $1000 difference is not chump change.)

The difference between vacationing at Disneyworld and the beach is, you pay for a room at both places, then you pay for the parks where you don't have to pay for the beach. I don't think you should have to pay so much for park access if you are staying at a Disney resort. That would be the equivalent of paying $1000 for hotel at the beach, then having to pay another $1000 to go on the beach. Sure if you stay off-site, you would have to pay for the parks, but on-site, you are paying to be in Disneyworld's property. It shouldn't be separated.

I also have to disagree. We're near the Jersey Shore, so no flights involved. But because it is such a short season, things are ridiculously expensive. $200-$250 a night for a run of the mill hotel, $2500+/week for a small condo, $100+ a night for an average dinner for 3 of us, (add breakfast and lunch if we're not in a condo) and most beaches charge $5-$7 PER PERSON PER DAY for beach access. (Wildwood beaches being the exception). Add to that any entertainment (boardwalk rides/games) and yes, it costs about the same for me to go to the beach for a week as it would to go to WDW and stay at a moderate, with the exception of the flights. This is for our local beaches here - if I drove 8+ hours to the Carolinas it would probably be cheaper, but its just not worth the ride to me.

 

[RachaelA]

Hopefully people remember its an op-ed piece. But then again maybe we want people to think its expensive then less people go and disney releases more discounts!

We just went for 6 days/5 nights and including airfare, room, tickets, $200 in souvenirs, rental car, and the free meal plan we spent less than $1600.

 

[jodifla]

The point of the article was NOT that Disney for his family is going to cost $5000. The point of the article was questioning if that was the best way to spend $5000 on vacation. He was not questioning the amount of money but rather whether returning to the same place was the best option for his family's budget or if going somewhere new would be better. He could have planned a $1000 vacation at Disney and written the same article posing the same question. Additionally, he could have written the EXACT same article discussing spending $5000 on a vacation to Paris if they family had gone to Paris previously. Or the Jersey Shore. Or Dollywood. Or the Grand Canyon........Disney was really just peripheral.

I read his column regularly. He writes about family finances in terms of decisions made and the rationale behind them. Similar to all the articles about moving for his wife's job, the move to Asia, remodeling the house, should his wife be a stay at home mom or go part time, etc.

This was NOT a how to vacation at Disney article. It was how do you make and value your choices article.

But the funny thing to me is that no on seems to question going to the same cottage on the lake year after year, or to the same beach house year after year after year. It's considered memory-building.

But do it at WDW, ans somehow you are wasting your time and money.

It's what I'd expect from this writer, who doesn't "get" WDW at all.

 

[Acklander]

But the funny thing to me is that no on seems to question going to the same cottage on the lake year after year, or to the same beach house year after year after year. It's considered memory-building.

But do it at WDW, ans somehow you are wasting your time and money.

It's what I'd expect from this writer, who doesn't "get" WDW at all.

I get WDW. But I also understand what the writer is saying. He's not knocking WDW. If the writer and his family went skiing every year, or a beach trip every year or whatever he could still write the exact same article and change the word WDW for ski resort.
Yes, Disney is easy, especially when you have small kids, but are we doing our kids any favors because we take the easy Disney way out for planning our vacations?

 

[KKB]

This morning I read an op-ed piece from a writer from the Wall Street Journal. He basically complained about his upcoming 4 day trip to WDW for his family of four that was going to cost almost $5,000. I felt that article was very misleading and might discourage families from looking into a Disney vacation. I responded to the author in an email. For anyone that 's interested, his column is called Love & Money. I'm not including his name because I'm not sure if that's permissible.

We did both our WDW trips for 8 nights for 7 for no more than that--with free dining!! (no, we weren't on the monorail...I'll take it, tho!)

 

[jodifla]

I get WDW. But I also understand what the writer is saying. He's not knocking WDW. If the writer and his family went skiing every year, or a beach trip every year or whatever he could still write the exact same article and change the word WDW for ski resort.
Yes, Disney is easy, especially when you have small kids, but are we doing our kids any favors because we take the easy Disney way out for planning our vacations?

But most of us who aren't monorail snobs can take his 5 grand, go to WDW for a week, another destination for a week, and have a weekend getaway or two in there as well.

He's creating his own problem.

 

[klacey1]

I get his thinking, I do. Even yesterday, I had a panic attack and called DBF at work and suggested maybe we cancel our 2011 FD package and go to San Diego (place neither of us have been) instead. He talked me out of it, but we will go to California in 2012 or 2013. There are so many places to go in this world. Growing up, we went to Ireland every year because that's where my dad grew up. Travelling to England or Spain or Portugal or many other places in Europe is/was so cheap from Ireland and I still resent that we had to spend our entire "vacation" just sitting in my grandparents house, while my father went to bars every day/night. We could have seen a lot more, and we didn't.

 

[ceecee]

I read this and it totally annoyed me. I'm tempted to email him and tell him if it is going to cost him $5000 for 4 days at Disney, I seriously question any financial advice he gives!

I do not think Disney has to be that expensive!

Someone should email him. I didn't read the article but there are ways to do it cheaper! My neighbor always complains they can't afford it, I make suggestions but they want to "do it right" or not do it at all. Monorail resort, etc. When we went to Europe it costs a lot more than our Disney trips and it isn't as easy either.

 

[crisi]

But the funny thing to me is that no on seems to question going to the same cottage on the lake year after year, or to the same beach house year after year after year. It's considered memory-building.

But do it at WDW, ans somehow you are wasting your time and money.

It's what I'd expect from this writer, who doesn't "get" WDW at all.

I live in Minnesota - home of lake cottages, and yes, it gets questioned. "why would anyone invest all that money in a lake cottage when they could show their kids so much more?" So do families who take ski trips every year, year in, year out.

 

[crisi]

But most of us who aren't monorail snobs can take his 5 grand, go to WDW for a week, another destination for a week, and have a weekend getaway or two in there as well.

He's creating his own problem.

That assumes that the family has TIME to do that as well as money. For a lot of people, the vacation barrier isn't money, its limited time. They have to take vacations at this time - their kids are in school and they don't believe in removing them - they only have a few weeks - they have to, in addition to vacationing, spend a week with Grandma in Arizona and another with the other Grandma in South Carolina.

 

[dfchelbay]

This morning I read an op-ed piece from a writer from the Wall Street Journal. He basically complained about his upcoming 4 day trip to WDW for his family of four that was going to cost almost $5,000. I felt that article was very misleading and might discourage families from looking into a Disney vacation. I responded to the author in an email. For anyone that 's interested, his column is called Love & Money. I'm not including his name because I'm not sure if that's permissible.

Perhaps the WSJ might like to know that the person assigned to be the money guru isn't very good with his money in this particular case...lol. Did the article mention how much of this $5,000 is for airfare for the entire family? What, exactly is the breakdown? He probably failed to mention that he is taking a very high end vacation. How many people have gone to WDW numerous times and never stayed at a monorail hotel and have spent far less than $5,000, for a much longer stay...all I have to say to the author is...do your homework a little better next time and you wouldn't be paying what you're paying!

 

[crisi]

Perhaps the WSJ might like to know that the person assigned to be the money guru isn't very good with his money in this particular case...lol. Did the article mention how much of this $5,000 is for airfare for the entire family? What, exactly is the breakdown? He probably failed to mention that he is taking a very high end vacation. How many people have gone to WDW numerous times and never stayed at a monorail hotel and have spent far less than $5,000, for a much longer stay...all I have to say to the author is...do your homework a little better next time and you wouldn't be paying what you're paying!

If the Wall Street Journal was teaching you how to make the most of your money - you wouldn't go on vacation AT ALL. Once you decide to go, wasting it at Pop or wasting it at the Contemporary is just relative.

Yes, they are taking a high end vacation. Its the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The average income of a Wall Street Journal reader is $191,000.

 

[jodifla]

That assumes that the family has TIME to do that as well as money. For a lot of people, the vacation barrier isn't money, its limited time. They have to take vacations at this time - their kids are in school and they don't believe in removing them - they only have a few weeks - they have to, in addition to vacationing, spend a week with Grandma in Arizona and another with the other Grandma in South Carolina.

Yes, but this particular family has a lot of time. And they aren't even staying a whole week, just 5 days, which is pretty easy to create with a weekend, a couple of school days off, and just one missed day of school.