Need to vent about how expensive WDW is now

[TheDailyMoo]

With DVC and APs, the cost makes WDW more affordable. It's the flights and added trips that add up for us.

DVC and AP make a huge difference. You're still spending a lot initially (and yearly fees) but the more you go the more the total cost of trips come down. For me I try to plan as far in advance as possible to lower the cost even more by using airline miles for the airfare. Buy the reward tickets early enough and you can get a really low miles ticket. Also throw in the 10% or more savings on accumulated gift cards to pay for food and what not and that lowers the cost even more.

Of course all that being said it still costs a crap ton of money but it sure allows more Disney trips for it. Everything is just too darn expensive these days. Just have to figure out what's worth it to you and spend accordingly. Money is great to a point but you don't wanna be looking at a bank account in the end wishing you had done more with those numbers on a screen. Now go plan that trip! lol

 

[Jack Kerouac]

DVC and AP make a huge difference. You're still spending a lot initially (and yearly fees) but the more you go the more the total cost of trips come down. For me I try to plan as far in advance as possible to lower the cost even more by using airline miles for the airfare. Buy the reward tickets early enough and you can get a really low miles ticket. Also throw in the 10% or more savings on accumulated gift cards to pay for food and what not and that lowers the cost even more.

Of course all that being said it still costs a crap ton of money but it sure allows more Disney trips for it. Everything is just too darn expensive these days. Just have to figure out what's worth it to you and spend accordingly. Money is great to a point but you don't wanna be looking at a bank account in the end wishing you had done more with those numbers on a screen. Now go plan that trip! lol

They really do. I literally walked into the 2BR my parents booked at OKW in 2022 and told my wife we would never be able to afford a stay like that. Well, after that visit and doing some research on DVC resale, I found it would be more affordable and doable for our family. APs were the added juice. Plus, the bank account is meant for something at some point and I realized my boys are young once and Disney offers a great value, at least in my opinion.

For our dues for this year, we were fortunate enough to use a corporate Costco account to buy enough Disney gift cards at a 10% discount to cover all of our dues for the PVB contract. Saved us nearly $200.00.

Other savings included getting 162 DVC points for 2022 that we didn't know about when buying the contract (so we didn't pay the dues nor did we pay a higher cost per point for the contract knowing they were part of the contract), using all of the 2023 and 2024 points, and then being able to sell our contract for $20.50 more pp than we paid less than two years earlier. Then DVC did the OKW direct sale, so we bought 150 OKW add-on points before the PVB sale finalized. Did Magical Beginnings for 2023 OKW points to save $3,000. Bought 160 points at AKV for $90pp and 85 points at BRV for $96pp that had 2023, 2024, and 2025 points.

Our most expensive points per annum for our contracts are BRV, but we bought that because we fell in love with BRV and want access for the holidays at some point.

I feel like we've had a really good experience with DVC in just a short period of time. Just wish we had started sooner.

 

[Chili327]

I Just wish we had started sooner.

Definitely.!!

 

[TheDailyMoo]

I feel like we've had a really good experience with DVC in just a short period of time. Just wish we had started sooner.

It's amazing how DVC feels like a scam until you actually buy in then you're like...huh will ya look at that it really DOES work.

Assuming you go to Disney often enough of course

 

[Chili327]

It's amazing how DVC feels like a scam until you actually buy in then you're like...huh will ya look at that it really DOES work.

Assuming you go to Disney often enough of course

So true.. I mean I’ve been going to DLR all of my life and never knew anything about DVC, and if it wasn’t for DVC I still might not have ever taken that trip to WDW, and realized that it wasn’t just a bigger version of DLR and turns out I’ve been missing out for years!!!

 

[Jack Kerouac]

It's amazing how DVC feels like a scam until you actually buy in then you're like...huh will ya look at that it really DOES work.

Assuming you go to Disney often enough of course

Yeah, I grew up going once a year. My parents had an Interval International timeshare at Resort World in Orlando. We could afford a day at Magic Kingdom and maybe two more at Sea World. Although, I do recall seeing a Dick Tracy action show at MGM Studios around 1992 or so, but that was a special half-day in the park with my mom. I was also the one who had to sleep on two chairs during our stays. It was the 90s and I was a pastor's kid, so I didn't mind.

Now, my boys have no idea how good they have it. And that's okay. Because I want to give them a better life, despite me having a good life.

Some days, I feel frustrated and think they don't deserve the WDW trips my wife and I give them. Other days, I feel like we're not enough and the boys deserve even more WDW trips. So we always end up taking more...

Thankfully, DVC provides them with the best WDW trips so more it is...

 

[TheDailyMoo]

So true.. I mean I’ve been going to DLR all of my life and never knew anything about DVC, and if it wasn’t for DVC I still might not have ever taken that trip to WDW, and realized that it wasn’t just a bigger version of DLR and turns out I’ve been missing out for years!!!

Yeah, I grew up going once a year. My parents had an Interval International timeshare at Resort World in Orlando. We could afford a day at Magic Kingdom and maybe two more at Sea World. Although, I do recall seeing a Dick Tracy action show at MGM Studios around 1992 or so, but that was a special half-day in the park with my mom. I was also the one who had to sleep on two chairs during our stays. It was the 90s and I was a pastor's kid, so I didn't mind.

Now, my boys have no idea how good they have it. And that's okay. Because I want to give them a better life, despite me having a good life.

Some days, I feel frustrated and think they don't deserve the WDW trips my wife and I give them. Other days, I feel like we're not enough and the boys deserve even more WDW trips. So we always end up taking more...

Thankfully, DVC provides them with the best WDW trips so more it is...

I'm feeling all this lol

 

[Willow Ufgood]

We also have DVC. Almost 1000 points spread across 4 resorts. Loved it at the beginning. Got APs and visited mutiple times each year. We use it less now. In fact it will be more than 2 years since our last visit when we take our next trip.

Thank goodness the points rent out easily! We used the cash from the rentals to take a cruise last year and Europe this year. There just hasn't been enough "pull" on Disney's part to entice us to visit again. In fact they offer so much less than they used to that we wonder why we're going back for the length of time that we're taking later this year.

Where costs are concerned, we're spending $3700+ in just dues for the 2BR. The tickets for 4 adults and 1 child were north of $4100. And then the flights with pre-selected seats ran $3250. Just typing that makes me ill. We haven't even included ground transportation, food or any upsells like party tickets or LLMP.

We're fortunate that we can afford to spend that much on a vacation. But when it comes to value for the dollars spent we can get a lot more from a cruise vacation than a visit to the parks.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We're fortunate that we can afford to spend that much on a vacation. But when it comes to value for the dollars spent we can get a lot more from a cruise vacation than a visit to the parks.

This is our philosophy lately as well. Visiting the parks is just way too much work to call it a vacation. I never thought I’d see the day when I felt that way.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

We have been going yearly since 2010, and bought dvc in 2011 when I had a 2yr old, and another contract in 2017 when kids were 4 and 8. We would go for 2 weeks starting in 2017 bc we had enough points.

Now kids are 11 and 14, and while the younger one is still crazy about Disney, the older one is starting high school and has outgrown Disney.

It’s still a special place to my soon to be in high school son, but he’s more interested in new experiences. It’s not fair to stop Disney altogether for my 11yr old but it’s also not fair to the older one do our only one huge vacation in Disney every year. My husband is in medicine and he only gets 4 weeks off a year, with two weeks dedicated to Disney and his inability to arrange that his vacations align with school breaks severely limit our vacation planning.

That being said…. We love boardwalk. We like bay lake. But boardwalk is our first love….. so maybe sell bay lake!?

Planning on Asia summer 2025 (4-6 weeks) then Disney over Xmas for one week. Then we shall see. Don’t need this many points!!

 

[THicks863]

Can I please just vent for a minute?
I am in the very beginning stages of planning a Spring Break 2025 Disney World vacation. This week I decided to start looking into how much things will cost so we can set our budget and start saving for it. Boy am I glad I did that because it is definitely going to take over a year to save up for this trip.

The most astonishing thing to me is that we went to Disney World for Spring Break in 2021, and according to the notes that I have from planning that trip, it will cost us $3,500 more this time to do the EXACT SAME VACATION for the same number of park days (5) at the same hotel (Contemporary). That is crazy to me. 2.5 years later and the price has gone up by 38%. How do people afford to do this more than one time every 5 years?

This is going to be a special vacation for our family. My oldest will be a senior in high school and it will be our last big vacation before she graduates and moves to college. I want to splurge. I want to make it extra memorable. But I am feeling discouraged by the fact that it will cost us more than the first 2 cars that my husband and I bought after getting married-- combined.

I just did a side-by-side price comparison for the Contemporary resort. Resort only, no park tickets. The parameters I used were:
Family of 5 - 2 adults, 3 kids
1-bedroom Villa
Dates: March 16-20, 2025
The lowest price I could get on the Disney Travel Agent's web site is $5,012 for the 4 nights.
Renting DVC points from a DVC member, same parameters, would cost a minimum of 144 points. The lowest current price I'm seeing is $18/point, which would be a total of $2,592.
There are opportunities to save, if you know where to look.

 

[Chili327]

We also have DVC. Almost 1000 points spread across 4 resorts. Loved it at the beginning. Got APs and visited mutiple times each year. We use it less now. In fact it will be more than 2 years since our last visit when we take our next trip.

Thank goodness the points rent out easily!

That being said…. We love boardwalk. We like bay lake. But boardwalk is our first love….. so maybe sell bay lake!?

Planning on Asia summer 2025 (4-6 weeks) then Disney over Xmas for one week. Then we shall see. Don’t need this many points!!

Id say it sounds like you both could/should sell some points, unless the contracts are too big to sell just some?

 

[Willow Ufgood]

Id say it sounds like you both could/should sell some points, unless the contracts are too big to sell just some?

We've considered it. We've owned the contracts so long that they have already paid for themselves so it's really the annual dues that come into play. It's so easy to rent the points and recover more than our dues whenever we don't want to go to Disney. And there's also the hope that things will turn around at the parks if they ever wake up and realize what side their bread is buttered on.

 

[Chili327]

the hope that things will turn around at the parks

Gotcha, but don't hold your breathe. lol

That's why I was thinking selling might be a good idea, if you're not happy with going to the parks, that probably wont change, but if renting (and making a little on the side) is working then might as well hold on to them & see if you change your mind. (Disney isn't going to lower their prices)

 

[BaybeeYoda]

Gotcha, but don't hold your breathe. lol

That's why I was thinking selling might be a good idea, if you're not happy with going to the parks, that probably wont change, but if renting (and making a little on the side) is working then might as well hold on to them & see if you change your mind. (Disney isn't going to lower their prices)

The annual dues do hurt, and we ended up staying in bigger and nicer accommodations, for longer, than we would have but if not for Dvc. That being said, we have made some good memories. Now it’s time to spread our wings, and go elsewhere.

I guess renting it out makes more sense. I would rather just transfer the points this year and be done with it. We only have 200/200 blt/bwv so they aren’t huge (nor small) contracts. Haven’t rented in years, and when I last did (2019) they were small weekend and under 100pt reservations.

We won’t be at Disney for 1.5yrs, and only for a week (so we are planning). We shall see after that.

 

[SL6827]

Disney has not always been this expensive of a vacation. But there have always been some who couldn't afford it regardless of the price. (as I never went as a child)

I also remember when the Dream came out with DCL, it was not over the topped priced as some was expecting. Now both DCL and the parks division seem to be the whipping boys and wallet for the entire company.

 

[MartyParty]

Disney has not always been this expensive of a vacation. But there have always been some who couldn't afford it regardless of the price. (as I never went as a child)

I also remember when the Dream came out with DCL, it was not over the topped priced as some was expecting. Now both DCL and the parks division seem to be the whipping boys and wallet for the entire company.

Agree with this. Disney's been using these two businesses as cash cows to feed other ventures. I know businesses have to strike a balance moving funds around, but I sometimes wonder what the parks would be like if they plowed more of that money back in.

Lower ticket prices
More staff for services and maintenance
Etc...

 

[Lilikoi25]

I don’t know how people afford WDW anymore. The ticket prices alone are insane. $500 per person for a 3 day non park hopper for March. You would think that people would be priced out, but when you go to the parks, they are still packed.

OP, we stopped going to Disney and started cruising on the Disney fantasy. We just sailed on a 7 night for $3200 on an OGT rate. So much more affordable than the parks and so much more relaxing. Good luck with your trip!

What is OGT?

 

[BaybeeYoda]

Agree with this. Disney's been using these two businesses as cash cows to feed other ventures. I know businesses have to strike a balance moving funds around, but I sometimes wonder what the parks would be like if they plowed more of that money back in.

Lower ticket prices
More staff for services and maintenance
Etc...

Agreed. the ticket prices are what’s hurting us the most. $750-850 for 5 day hopper…. I get it. Park city ski lessons were more ($460/day per kid) but we only do 2 children (and Disney tickets are x4 for family of 4) so it is like 4 days of ski lessons for 2 kids.

So, 4 days ski lessons in park city and airfare prices + hotel are the same.

Or, we can go overseas (Asia) for two weeks for the same the price of the entrance tickets + airfare. Hotel prices are the same. Kids getting old enough for overseas at 11/14.

If they made it so Dvc can buy the lower tier Florida passes, then sure. We would recalculate our trips. Go back and use our Dvc more often without stressing about the constantly increasing price of the park tickets. But access to sorcerer pass isn’t enough for us.

So now I’m seriously considering selling our … blt (?) contract. Or bwv? One of them. Not yet ready to give up both. But I dunno. Or neither. But, will the rental market continue its strength? No crystal ball….

 

[cvjw]

What is OGT?

Ocean view guaranteed cabin. Discounted fare. DCL picks your cabin.