Splitting the Cost for Disney Vacation

[budafam]

We're planning to go back to Disney in May and my MIL has invited herself along. Originally we had planned to stay at Pop which would have costed her a pretty penny since she would've had to get her own room. She expressed her feelings on the cost and asked if we could get her total down towards the $1500 mark. Well, I've looked into renting a house and have decided to go that way. Now the question is, how do we split that? We're splitting gas on the way down there 5 ways (we're paying for our family of 4 and she's paying 1/5 of the total cost)... same goes for everything except for food and tickets. My view on the house is that she would've had to get her own room at Pop. We should split the cost with her 1/2 and 1/2 (still only costing us $400 compared to over $1,000 each). DH is having a hard time understanding my logic. After all is said and done, her entire trip (including all food which are tons of ADR's, tickets to Disney & Universal & photopass) will be $1300 which is $200 under her "requirement". What do you think?

 

[ancestry]

Seems a bit bizarre to me that you are splitting one item on a per person basis (the gas) and another item on a per family basis (the house). I think it would make more sense to stay consistent -- either per family or per person or even per adult.

Does she get her own room at the house? How are the sleeping arrangements going to be divided? How many bedrooms are there? I'm thinking if there are three bedroom -- one for MIL, one for you and DH, and one for the kids then MIL should pay 1/3 not 1/2.

 

[RMAMom]

I'm afraid I don't understand your logic either. If every where else you are splitting it 5 ways, I would split the house 5 ways also.

 

[DuckMom]

We split everything by adults (except tickets) for our upcoming trip. Makes no sense to me to charge her for half of room and fifth of gas. Have you discussed with with MIL? She might say, divide gas and house by 3.

 

[budafam]

I guess a third would make sense. I was just thinking since she was going to have to pay for her entire hotel room on her own and we were going to have to pay for a room on our own, that splitting the rental of a house would make sense (especially since we're doing it because of her and it's still saving everyone a ton of money). KWIM?

 

[DuckMom]

I totally understand where you are coming from, but I can see how your husband might not understand and your MIL might be annoyed (especially if your IL relations are anything like mine . We are sharing a room with my Mom on our upcoming trip (which is in 2 weeks!!!!!!) because she is solo. We split room by 3 and I'm covering all of my family's tickets and our plane tickets. My Mom has, however, offered to spring for other things (dessert party, Garden Grocer order), so I think, in the end, we are coming out on top. If you have a good relationship with MIL, sit down and go over pricing for everything and your thoughts. Maybe even give her a couple of options.

 

[budafam]

I totally understand where you are coming from, but I can see how your husband might not understand and your MIL might be annoyed (especially if your IL relations are anything like mine . We are sharing a room with my Mom on our upcoming trip (which is in 2 weeks!!!!!!) because she is solo. We split room by 3 and I'm covering all of my family's tickets and our plane tickets. My Mom has, however, offered to spring for other things (dessert party, Garden Grocer order), so I think, in the end, we are coming out on top. If you have a good relationship with MIL, sit down and go over pricing for everything and your thoughts. Maybe even give her a couple of options.

Great idea! I think she would honestly have no problem paying the 1/2 but I really have no problem paying the 2/3's either. The last time we went on vacation, we got a condo with my FIL (her ex-husband) and his gf... we based the split on the fact that we had 3 people (plus my daughter who was under 3 and did not count for the cost of the condo or waterpark tickets) and they had 4 people... my FIL refused to pay for 4 because we only paid for 3. He just didn't get the fact that his granddaughter didn't have to pay for anything.

 

[WantToGoNow]

I'm thinking your MIL would pay the difference between what you would have paid for the hotel and what it's costing for the house.

I am going with my 3 children in October - my dd27, ds10 and dd7. My older dd knew that I really would not be able to finance a trip right now since dh is laid off (he is not going on the trip by his own choice). We split everything in half - half of the package and half of the airline even though my share should/would have been 3/4 to her 1/4.

 

[tlbwriter]

I'm thinking your MIL would pay the difference between what you would have paid for the hotel and what it's costing for the house.

That's what I would do, since she invited herself on the trip. If you had all agreed beforehand to take a trip together, I might have divided it by bedrooms, but if you already had a trip planned and had to increase your hotel expenses so she could come along, it seems logical to me for her to pay the extra amount.

 

[dizneechic]

The variable you need to consider is you are saying everything of hers will come out to 1300, and it looks like you were planning on being on DDP, but when staying off site there is no more DDP so site all meals will be OOP. So saying for sure she will come in at 1300 can't be done... she could eat real cheap and at the house mostly with only your TS meals OOP or she could indulge in the parks. If offsite, you'll also now need to pay for parking each day which can add up ($100 over the course of a week).

That said, I think the house should be split into 3rds OR if staying off site saves you money after the car/parking is factored she shouldn't have to pay for at all, or if an increase she pays the diff. The 5ths for everything and then something different for the house is confusing, I *get it* but its still inconsistent. When we traveled with our MiL and stayed offsite she rented her own car and paid for her meals/tickets/parking, but since we saved money in the end we didn't charge her anything for the house. We did get to enjoy a night or 2 out sans kids because she was there, a luxury we wouldn't have had otherwise.

 

[budafam]

The variable you need to consider is you are saying everything of hers will come out to 1300, and it looks like you were planning on being on DDP, but when staying off site there is no more DDP so site all meals will be OOP. So saying for sure she will come in at 1300 can't be done... she could eat real cheap and at the house mostly with only your TS meals OOP or she could indulge in the parks. If offsite, you'll also now need to pay for parking each day which can add up ($100 over the course of a week).

I figured the parking into the total and I figured "high" on all the meals so if she were to go cheaper or eat at the house with the kids, she would come out even lower on her grand total. I also figured extra for tips and such...

 

[2forMe]

We split everything by adults (except tickets) for our upcoming trip. Makes no sense to me to charge her for half of room and fifth of gas. Have you discussed with with MIL? She might say, divide gas and house by 3.

I do this as well, for gas and accomodations. Tickets are per person.

 

[mwmom]

Have you discussed with her what she thinks is fair? You might start with that question and then suggest what you were thinking (I would go with the third split). I would think if she could afford 1500.00 then she would be willing to pay that since you are changing your plans for her. Of course, that is assuming she is a logical person.

 

[Celidh]

We are travelling to WDW in a few weeks with my mom. There will be me, my partner, my 3 kids and my mom. We wanted my dad to go too but his health isn't good enough to get insurance (he will be 70 this year).

My partner and I are splitting the cost of park tickets, plane tickets, and basically anything else between her and I. The room however, which we have two booked at POP will be split three ways. My partner and I will be paying 2/3 and my mom will be paying one third. Yes, two of my kids will be in the room with her but if it was her and dad, they would have had their own room, so she is paying a bit less than she would have.

So, she is paying for 1/3 of the room, her own park tickets and her airfare. We have fd so food isn't an issue. I intend on paying for mousekeeping and my partner and I are paying oop for all of us to go to Chef Mickeys but that is my choice, mom would have paid for her portion but I wanted to do this for her. My parents don't have a lot of $. I just wish my dad could go. They have never been and they have both thought it would be nice to go.

 

[budafam]

Thanks everyone! We got to sit down and talk today and settled on her paying 1/3 of all the shared things (like house rental, gas, hotel rooms, parking fees, photopass, etc.) and then of course buying our own tickets, food, souvenirs, etc. She is so excited over the fact that we got such a great deal. Only 270 days to go... lol...