New pricey offerings vs. your set budget?

[EdmondD]

Don't most families simply have a set amount they're going to spend on a WDW vacation - say, $5000 - and choosing some of the expensive new offerings (the early morning AK thing, to name one) just means swapping out something else? That's pretty much how we work. We wanted to do Hoop-de-Doo for the first time last year and thus skipped a character meal, for example. Or I'll eat a DW Float and caramel apple and skip lunch.

Thinking this is the case, it makes me question the decisions of all these new offerings. Although granted Disney is obviously the expert and I am not.

Or is it more that people set a budget of $5000 and then see these new events and think, "Well, maybe we can squeeze in another $600.....Okay, yeah, let's sign up for this cause I have some room on the credit card." ?

 

[Trip planner]

We swap things out to stick to our set budget. We go at least once/year so we don't view it as a once in a lifetime decision. I'm sure many people just put it on their credit card. My family is much more comfortable being able to pay cash, even if we have to compromise.

 

[GotLabradors]

When we budgeted for our last trip, we talked about all the different things we wanted to do. Then we had to pick and choose because we could have easily spent way too much money doing all the things we wanted to do. I also took into account some of the feedback from the DIS on things like dessert parties. I am sure some people just think another couple of hundred dollars isn't going to matter when you're already spending a few thousand. I think it's easy to get caught up in the "must do's", especially if you're doing a once in a lifetime trip.

 

[smiths02]

Well, this is true for us in general. We have a set budget that we save for. Of course, DH has been getting more OT lately, so we can sometimes add something last minute or maybe shift something in our vacation OR in our real life (use it as a birthday present, for instance)

Also, when we originally booked, I was projecting room cost for 9 nights to be several hundred dollars more than they are now with the discount. So I could use that money to pay for one of the experiences. I'm not going to, I'm just going to use that money for other expenses in life, but it would be an option.

 

[HM]

We don't set an actual budget, but we do try to keep costs in line and only splurge on pricey extras once in a while. Costs have risen so much that what we've done is make shorter and shorter trips and went from Deluxe to Mod/Value resorts or offsite.

We've done La Nouba, Christmas Party, Halloween Party, (tried to do) Princess/Pirate party (but they cancelled it), Wishes Dessert party, Sea Racers, Parasailing, etc. The new things that have been recently added don't seem worth the cost, so will not be some things we try.

 

[Pesky]

Nope, nope, nope. Now in all fairness, I've made that mistake before and paid the price (literally). But having learned from my mistakes, I've learned to stick with what I've got. Will other people think that and maybe try? Probably. Will I be one of them? Probably not.

 

[TLSnell1981]

The recent across the board increases, really throws a wrench in a "set budget". We inadvertently discovered more increases are coming in July. So, a trip booked 9-11 months out has an "up charge" of 20%-30%. Ouch! It becomes more than swapping one for another...more like cutting something out completely. It reaches a point when it's just not worth the price...e.g. CRT is listed as approx $48 on one site, over $60 on another, but is increasing to $75 for lunch in July. Ressies are made 180 days out. It would be nice to have a more accurate idea of the costs. IMO

 

[minnie mum]

We don't have a set budget, but we don't go hog wild and throw money away on experiences that don't have a real value for us either. We'll happily upgrade from mod to deluxe for a special occasion or add in a signature dinner here or a tour or party there if it's something we know we would enjoy. But these latest "offers"? They just reek of money grabs to us, and instead of finding any kind of value in them, they're actively turning me off. But that's just us. If others think these new things are of value to them, then fine.

 

[HopperFan]

Don't most families simply have a set amount they're going to spend on a WDW vacation - say, $5000 - and choosing some of the expensive new offerings (the early morning AK thing, to name one) just means swapping out something else? That's pretty much how we work. We wanted to do Hoop-de-Doo for the first time last year and thus skipped a character meal, for example. Or I'll eat a DW Float and caramel apple and skip lunch.

Thinking this is the case, it makes me question the decisions of all these new offerings. Although granted Disney is obviously the expert and I am not.

Or is it more that people set a budget of $5000 and then see these new events and think, "Well, maybe we can squeeze in another $600.....Okay, yeah, let's sign up for this cause I have some room on the credit card." ?

I think it's both and more. Some ...

- Future guests will up their budgets and maybe push out a trip to save more.
- Many of these offerings are geared to off-site guests to get more of their money and get more of a commitment to Disney.
- Disney isn't building more hotels for now (DVC) but lots are building off-site, again it's to connect with the off-site guest dollars.
- Not maybe After Hour events but some AP holders like me, buy in to Club Villain and other upsells because I didn't pay for that "gate entry".
- For some of us we've eaten so many times at CRT etc that we have stopped spending that money, they are offering new stuff to hook us.

And there has been no secret that the MagicBand has done it's job in upping guest spending because it's just so easy to do. Lots of blown budgets.

 

[WIcruizer]

No, we don't have a budget at all. We just pay attention for good deals for a resort, and then just play it by ear. If something costs "X" and we don't feel we want or need it at that price, we take a pass.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

We do not do any of the expensive extras, the theme park tickets, onsite resort and meals are expensive enough for us and provide more than enough magic for our vacation. We never did and don't plan to start doing extras now! And even with meals we try to economize if at all possible with breakfast in the room, carrying in own snacks, etc.

 

[ajwolfe]

We don't really set a budget per say but we also don't go crazy with the extras. Like would we like to try a deluxe one time, yes, but that would mean a bigger gap in trips so we will stay mod.
We've done a couple extras over the years and for us I'm not willingly to pay some of these new crazy prices for the new experiences so it's not even a matter of budget vs no budget as I just think they are too high for what they are.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

We don't have a set budget, but we don't go hog wild and throw money away on experiences that don't have a real value for us either. We'll happily upgrade from mod to deluxe for a special occasion or add in a signature dinner here or a tour or party there if it's something we know we would enjoy. But these latest "offers"? They just reek of money grabs to us, and instead of finding any kind of value in them, they're actively turning me off. But that's just us. If others think these new things are of value to them, then fine.

this is how we go about it. I don't mind paying for things I think we will enjoy, but Disney new extra's do not appeal to us.

 

[Mikie]

We don't set a budget like "we have $4,700, let's plan a trip that fits exactly in that total". More like "we have about $5,000 that we're willing to pull from savings for a trip. Let's see what deals we can get on room, tickets and dining and round out extras from there". We do not do pricey extras (unless you count character meals) but IF one of these appealed to me, I could easily see that I might just increase my total vacation bill or drop a $300 character meal to instead add a $600 extra hours event. Disney wouldn't get the whole $600 additional, but they still stretched my wallet beyond my initial plans. I imagine quite a few people "budget" like that vs locking in to a strict total.

 

[robinb]

Don't most families simply have a set amount they're going to spend on a WDW vacation - say, $5000 - and choosing some of the expensive new offerings (the early morning AK thing, to name one) just means swapping out something else? That's pretty much how we work. We wanted to do Hoop-de-Doo for the first time last year and thus skipped a character meal, for example. Or I'll eat a DW Float and caramel apple and skip lunch.

Thinking this is the case, it makes me question the decisions of all these new offerings. Although granted Disney is obviously the expert and I am not.

Or is it more that people set a budget of $5000 and then see these new events and think, "Well, maybe we can squeeze in another $600.....Okay, yeah, let's sign up for this cause I have some room on the credit card." ?

No, I don't think most families have a set budget. I think most families go to WDW as a "trip of a lifetime" and allow Mickey full four-fingered access to their wallets and credit cards. When given a choice to do "A" or "B", they answer "Yes!" . I see time and time again on these boards where newbies want to make their first trip extrasupercalifragicmagical when they don't understand that any trip to WDW is pretty darn special. They gild the lily and Disney is happy to provide enough paint and pixie dust to go around. These new extras are just another way to separate people from their money.

 

[disneyjunkie]

When I plan a trip (usually a year out), I list all of the things we want to do/include. I add everything up and come up with the rack rate for our trip. That is the amount I try to stick with. I then spend the next year hunting down discounts. Although we only travel during school breaks, I have never paid rack rate for any of our trips. I purchase our tickets from tickets at work. I purchase the memory maker in advance. The only thing I pay full price for are dessert parties, the dining plan (Thank goodness for the BETTER TOGETHER PACKAGE) and fireworks cruises.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Nope. We go every year, so whatever we didn't budget for in this years' trip, we can try to do it next year if we really want to.

 

[loves to dive]

I don't set a budget, I try to get my resort at the best rate and have been known to swap 2 or 3 or 4 times for a better discount. I have an AP, which more than pays for itself (gonna squeeze out 3 trips this year) and for food we just go with the flow. We don't look at prices on the menu, don't decide based on whether it's expensive or not, just what we want. We try to do one really crazy expensive thing a trip, but if we don't see anything we want, we will do 2 not so expensive extras. For example, when we were staying at AKV we did the safari that is only offered to guests, it was $350 or so each. Well worth it. We've been diving in the living seas at least twice, now that one is expensive, I don't remember how much. We've done the keys to the kingdom tour and the one that takes all day and takes you to all the parks and you eat at WL (that was a while ago so maybe they have changed it). We've been to LaNouba a couple of times. We go often, like every other year for over 30 years and lately I've been going twice a year cause I can. My son still usually only makes the every other year trip but he has been able to sneak in an every year every once in awhile. We did the dessert party when it first started and was much cheaper, it was on our arrival day and served as our supper that night. I wouldn't do it again and certainly not at the price it is now. I usually do one dinner and wine pairing during F&W but those usually run around $70 or $80 so that could end up being less than a signature restaurant. I don't do the parties, no reason for me to pay extra when I already have a ticket and won't do the early morning or late evening thing, again I have a ticket and go so often that riding a certain ride just isn't worth paying extra for.

 

[pa. dad]

I think they try to tempt us at every turn with more things that will add to the budgets.

We don't have an exact budget per se. But we went To Le cellier one night and spent a lot so next night we went to Cracker barrel and had a cheap breakfast for dinner. We know that we have to balance things or we won't like looking at the bills when we get home. Cracker Barrel was pretty good too and it was what we were in the mood for.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Nope. We don't have a set budget.

We more have a list of what we want to do then we figure out what we can afford.

If we can't do it this time, we try to fit it in next time.