repeat offenders

[headinsouth]

I mean that in a nice way! We are planning our 1st family trip to WDW .... my question is.. am I doing something wrong? I priced out during free dining for 3 adults, 1 paying child & 1 under 3 .... coming in around $3000 for 9 nights. While that is actually what I expect for a big trip .. I don't think it's the deal of the century and can't afford it yearly, much less several times a year. I see that a lot of you are traveling w/ families. Is this amount about what you pay, is it way over ... what does your average trip cost? I've seen several people comment about what a great deal WDW is w/ specials and discounts.

 

[tigger51276]

Honestly I don't find that free dining is much of a discount for everyone. Depending on whether you are big eaters or not you can do much better taking a room only discount and paying out of pocket for your meals. With really little kids, sit down restuarants can be really stressful for parents especially when their kids are having a meltdown and so they prefer to do QS meals instead. Also most QS meals are large enough to split therefore saving money also.
I would say to check into how much your package would be with a room only discount and then price out your park passes and see what you come up with. Often you can find 20-45% discounts on rack rates depending on the catergory room you choose.

 

[hambirg]

I think the thing to remember is that the MYW package to get free dining is a full price package. Many people here buy APs which can translate into significant discounts with repeat trips. . .or even buy 10 day passes that can be broken into 2 trips for not that much more. Back when we took our first trip, before the days of free dining, I bought an AP for me. We got a very good discount on the hotel room and stayed for 10 days. Later that same year, I took my DD9 at the time back for her birthday trip. All I needed to pay was for her pass, and half of the discounted hotel room, because my Mom went that time too. Usually most people work it so that they are not paying for a full price package every time they go. HTH

I wanted to add that the $3000 sounds about right.

 

[neatokimmo]

We paid $1910 for 2 adults and one under three with regular free dining at a value. Add in your extra $25 for your third adult in the room, then two more sets of tickets and it is easy to see how the 3K adds up.

 

[DisneyWisher]

Was parkhopping and waterparks automatically added to your tickets? That would add about $110 per person per ticket.

 

[Darcy03231]

If you break it out daily it comes to about $85/per person per day for food, lodging and entertainment. I don't think that's bad at all. In fact, its a lot less than some other vacations.

Also, keep in mind that you're going for 9 days. A lot of people on these boards only go for 4-5 when they go. While it may translate to more per person per day, they aren't going for as long so the overall cost is less.

 

[Darcy03231]

I also forgot to add that some people (like myself) have more disposable income than others so can afford to travel more frequently.

DH and I both work and both make large salaries. We only have one dependent child (he's 17). We have no debt other than our mortgage and when we bought our home we didn't buy into the what the bank would lend us, we decided how much we were comfortable spending and made it work. As a result our mortage is less than what a lot of people pay for rent.

We love to travel so we economize in other areas. We drive cars until they die, we don't own a flat screen tv, TIVO, DRV, Blue ray, etc. We rent movies from RedBox for $1 and don't each out much. Other than a new living room set a couple of years ago, we haven't bought new furniture since we got married.

Other people prefer to buy the lastest and greatest gadgets, electronics and new cars , eat out/go out a lot and spend less on travel.

All of our economzing means several big trips a year!

 

[Marionnette]

You have to remember that not everyone who makes multiple trips has a group the size of yours. And they dont stay on site for nine nights. Alot of people who go often have annual passes. And they own vacation club. Or they stay off site in a place that has a kitchen. People who live close enough will drive rather than fly. So they dont end up renting a car or paying for airfare. Three thousand dollars for the trip you have planned sounds about right. Its not the cheapest way to see disney even with free dining.

 

[mistysue]

We are your group minus one adult- our 9 night with hoppers/WP&M and free QS during value season was just under $2000.
I could see $3000. Is that in a moderate hotel? (I would guess, value would be a bit crowded even if the LO is young enough to get in)
Are you in the cheapest value season? If not, if you can switch your dates that changes it a bit.

We decided to try a non-disney vacation next year and I can't come up with anything to do that even comes near that budget. With Disney throwing in the food, providing transportation and having the endless entertainment- we are looking at 2-3 times that cost to do activities that only half of us will enjoy. With food and hotel costs, we are already easily at the cost of going to WDW and all we have planned is sitting in the hotel room for 10 days! Plus we have to drive to have the carseats etc.
I didn't realized how spoiled I made myself by doing Disney as our first big family trips.

 

[budbeerlady]

When we stay over a week we do it with the Aps. Often we stay value and upgrade to the regular dining plan during free dining offerings. Used to be just a 1 day base ticket got you free dining and we would save the 1 days for another trip.

IF we wanted to stay moderate the % off discounts were often better than free dining. We would go the first week of September in year 1 and then mid to late August in year 2, sometimes fitting in a trip between there around Christmas.

IT seems like a deal to me when we go other places like Great Wolf Lodge. That weekend trip of 2 nights was over $600, I look at that and think I could get 6 days at All Star Movies in August at Disney. Its a dollar value to fun value thinking or funny Disney math.

We are coming from MI but dig out cheap flights and go during off seasons to save money.