Totally dumbfounded WDW is cheaper...

[jlmarr]

Just for grins I did a comparison off of each resorts web site, choosing 6 nights starting December 6th for 2 adults and 2 kids. For DLR @ PPH it came out at $2002, and for WDW @ CBR it came out to be $2564. Doesn't include food or transportation. Seems WDW is more expensive, or am I missing something?

 

[Hound 109]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hound 109
Not disputing that there are deals to be had at WDW (i like WDW).....but I've stayed at POR & would rather stay at HOJO (or CandyCane Inn) than Port Orleans Riverside. (Very pretty grounds though).

really? Just curious if you don't mind elaborating and not tryng to hijack the thread lol
I have stayed at both hojo and CCI, I prefer HoJo but if $ wasn't an issue I would choose a DLR hotel. Having never even been to WDW what is it about POR that you didn't care for?

hound <----thread killer & hijacker.

Lulu's,

POR & HOJO/CandyCane all have their pros & cons. The pros for POR (for me) don't outweigh the cons. Cons at POR:

- If one gets up early (like us) & wants to eat prior to catching the bus, it was a LONG walk to the restaurant area & then normally a wait for the bus & then the bus ride itself. The CCI & HOJO walk to park was much easier in the early morning for us. (Plus we'd grab & go the CCI breakfast or for HOJO's a Mcbreakfast sandwich)

- POR's rooms & buildings have a 70s Holiday Inn feel & also rooms enter from the outdoors (& often looks out over the parking lots).....not a "resort" feel. CCI is similar....but neither CCI or Hojo's are representing themselves as "resort".

- This is a WDW vrs. DLR comparison, but the mid day rest required a bus ride & LOTS of time wasting....plus the humidity &/or the rain contributes to further logistical & comfort challenges that DLR (even the motels on Harbor) doesn't have (for our family).

POR has lovely landscaping & grounds, the disney on site feel & a nice pool....but i still prefer CCI or HOJOs (or other Harbor Hotels) for the reasons above. But all are good, all deliver nice beds & I'd stay at any of them again.

 

[MartinaC]

Not disputing that there are deals to be had at WDW (i like WDW).....but I've stayed at POR & would rather stay at HOJO (or CandyCane Inn) than Port Orleans Riverside. (Very pretty grounds though).

Wow that's funny. I have stayed at both the POR and Candy Cane Inn and I wouldn't say that the Candy Cane Inn is better. I don't remember a lake where you can get a boat ride to downtown disney, a restaurant on site or a nice big disney store were you can buy your souv's to bring home.
It's been a couple years since the stay at Candy Cane Inn but, I don't think they have changed that much.

 

[Disney Fool]

Just wanted to add to all of you who may be tempted to try WDW for the free food time period, check out Virgin America, and JetBlue, they are currently offering $109 each way across country. I'm from Boston area, and I booked a flight to LA for $109 each way on JetBlue--if you can, pick a Tuesday -Thursday (or Saturday) travel date, and stay away from Holidays.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

This is actually very interesting to me. I just priced out WDW vacation the other day for Thanksgiving week (Sat-Sat) and I was quoted $2400 for 8 days at the Carribean Beach Resort, park hoppers (Magic Your Way) plus water parks & free dining -for a family of 4 (technically 5, but #5 is a baby). I do think it's the free dining that makes it seem like such a better value. Unfortunatly for us, coming from the west coast, airfare does us in. Because even at the best value of say around $300/ticket, that's still an additional $1200 (if the baby flies as a lap child). It's still a great deal, IMO for 8 days, but makes it unreachable for us.

For us, going to WDW will be a "big" vacation for us when it happens. So because of that, we're waiting until the kids are all a little older and can really enjoy it...and can handle the difference in ease of getting around

I keep saying I'm going to save for us to do a trip to WDW, but I can't seem to stay away from DL, so I always plan another trip there. If I were to actually skip 1-2 trips to DL we could easily do WDW. But like I said, I have no willpower.

I do want to get my family to WDW though....someday.

 

[Disney Fool]

Here's even MORE incentive to go to WDW (not that I'm recruiting, of course)...but it was just announced that for all the DISNEY CRUISE LINE 3 and 4 day cruises to the Bahamas, kids 17 and under sail for FREE from Jan to April.

 

[PinkBudgie]

This is actually very interesting to me. I just priced out WDW vacation the other day for Thanksgiving week (Sat-Sat) and I was quoted $2400 for 8 days at the Carribean Beach Resort, park hoppers (Magic Your Way) plus water parks & free dining -for a family of 4 (technically 5, but #5 is a baby). I do think it's the free dining that makes it seem like such a better value. Unfortunatly for us, coming from the west coast, airfare does us in. Because even at the best value of say around $300/ticket, that's still an additional $1200 (if the baby flies as a lap child). It's still a great deal, IMO for 8 days, but makes it unreachable for us.

For us, going to WDW will be a "big" vacation for us when it happens. So because of that, we're waiting until the kids are all a little older and can really enjoy it...and can handle the difference in ease of getting around

I keep saying I'm going to save for us to do a trip to WDW, but I can't seem to stay away from DL, so I always plan another trip there. If I were to actually skip 1-2 trips to DL we could easily do WDW. But like I said, I have no willpower.

I do want to get my family to WDW though....someday.

See, this is us exactly. Except our kids are teen but we are still waiting for the "big" vacation. Because getting there is so much, you want to stay a awhile, and you want somewhere nice. And like you said, we can't stay away from DLR long enough to save because they have all these new things coming up!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Here's even MORE incentive to go to WDW (not that I'm recruiting, of course)...but it was just announced that for all the DISNEY CRUISE LINE 3 and 4 day cruises to the Bahamas, kids 17 and under sail for FREE from Jan to April.

Ok I just had to add this. But look at the dates. Kids are in school during that time. No deal for parents who keep their kids in school, or for couples without kids who can go during that time... Now if they offered that during the summer, it would awesome. We just never have taken our boys out of school for trips. In every grade, they would just get so far behind and have so much make up work, it isn't worth it.

 

[arilvdc]

I just came back from WDW, our airfare was $200pp rt. LAX to MCO

 

[cccdisney]

I just came back from WDW, our airfare was $200pp rt. LAX to MCO

which airline? Did you have a lot of layovers?

 

[cccdisney]

See, this is us exactly. Except our kids are teen but we are still waiting for the "big" vacation. Because getting there is so much, you want to stay a awhile, and you want somewhere nice. And like you said, we can't stay away from DLR long enough to save because they have all these new things coming up!

This is our situation also! We are also in the Bay Area and long to go back to WDW. We took the family to WDW in Oct. 2005 when I was pregnant w/ my youngest. My 6 yo was only two then so we were paying for a family of four. We go to DL a few times a year - maybe if we could stay away from there we could save $$ faster!

We REALLY want to go back to WDW and are tentatively planning to go the week before Thanksgiving 2010. (My kids have the whole week of Thanksgiving off so they would only miss one day of school.) However, we want to do it right this time. If we are going to spend SO MUCH $$ to fly everyone there we are going to stay 8 nights and stay in a deluxe resort. (Stayed in CBR last time and wasn't that impressed, have also been to POP with some girlfriends and will NEVER do that again! LOL)

Anyway, with airfare we figure this is going to cost us close to 10k. Just hoping they release some kind of special to help lower the costs some!

 

[PinkBudgie]

This is our situation also! We are also in the Bay Area and long to go back to WDW. We took the family to WDW in Oct. 2005 when I was pregnant w/ my youngest. My 6 yo was only two then so we were paying for a family of four. We go to DL a few times a year - maybe if we could stay away from there we could save $$ faster!

We REALLY want to go back to WDW and are tentatively planning to go the week before Thanksgiving 2010. (My kids have the whole week of Thanksgiving off so they would only miss one day of school.) However, we want to do it right this time. If we are going to spend SO MUCH $$ to fly everyone there we are going to stay 8 nights and stay in a deluxe resort. (Stayed in CBR last time and wasn't that impressed, have also been to POP with some girlfriends and will NEVER do that again! LOL)

Anyway, with airfare we figure this is going to cost us close to 10k. Just hoping they release some kind of special to help lower the costs some!

Yep! I want to stay at the Poly or maybe Contemporary. November should be a good month to go. That's what we want to do too. I believe hurricane season is over by that time. Just reading about all the busses and crowds at a POP makes me realize I don't want to do that. I want a monorail connection.

 

[DLR29]

Count me in as another Bay Area resident looking into WDW vacations. We are going in June, but it's a "special occasion trip" because I'm graduating from high school and my brother is promoting from middle school. We also aren't paying for hotel because through a Worldmark exchange (Worldmark is a vacation company like DVC), we could get a 2br place at SSR (Saratoga Springs) for not very much.

We still will have to save up for tickets and airfare, and we're thinking of the Quick Service dining plan. But not having that hotel expense (especially for what a nice room we're getting) is a good deal.

 

[disney_dreaming_mom]

Our family loves both parks. On our last trip to DL my husband kept comparing it to Disneyworld and it is true there are differences. We live close to DL and have annual passes but still there is just something so magical about Disneyworld. The cast members we have encountered there are so amazing. We found ourselves asking questions like, Why does WDW have re-fillable mugs and DL doesn't? We were celebrating a birthday at DL but unable to get a cake like at WDW. The ambiance is just almost difficult to explain...just magical. Little special things like that spoil a person at WDW but both parks are still wonderful. We were able to find a very decent price on airfare ($225 p/p) from the west coast on Northwest Airlines. I am also in shock how much less a trip to WDW can be. Disney makes it affordable for almost anyone. We are by no stretch of the imagination well off financially but with mindful spending and saving even our family has been fortunate enough to go to WDW. It just takes very careful planning and budgeting at least for us.

 

[daneenm]

If we are going to spend SO MUCH $$ to fly everyone there we are going to stay 8 nights and stay in a deluxe resort. (Stayed in CBR last time and wasn't that impressed, have also been to POP with some girlfriends and will NEVER do that again! LOL)

Anyway, with airfare we figure this is going to cost us close to 10k. Just hoping they release some kind of special to help lower the costs some!

This is what we did too. Airfare is a killer from the Bay Area so we decided if we were going to do it, we'd do it right. Stayed 10 days at the YC. It was BEAUTIFUL! Great location, fantastic pool, friendly staff, lovely rooms...the list goes on and on. It was expensive, but since we are not sure when we will get back there, we thought we should do it up.

I hope someday we will get a WDW PIN code. Received one for DL recently (our first PIN code ever!), which is why we are visiting Labor Day weekend.

 

[bumbershoot]

For those who like pricing out flights for fun, kayak.com is really good for that! It does not show you Southwest prices, but it shows all the other airlines.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Trip Advisor also seems to show all the big airlines from what I could tell.

 

[Disney Fool]

Not really familiar with school schedule for west coast, but here in the east, we have Feb. school vacation for a week, starting with President's Day.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I must agree that WDW is very affordable......I have flow there maybe 14 times, and never paid over $300 for airfare. For the dates i am looking at in Dec it has been sitting ay $256 for months. I am waiting for it to go down a little. We have 1 or 2 stop overs, but I don't consider that a big deal, as long as we get there the same day we leave home!
POR is a lovely resort.
Anyone DL veteran who is visiting WDW for the first time, usually ends up spending more time at Epcot and Studios that MK, so I reccomend staying in that area. The Swan and Dolphin have great rates, and is walking distance to Epcot.

Also i took my DD out of school for a week at WDW every year from K-10th.....but that is a whole nuther thread! But it certainly helps financially to travel off times.She will be starting college next fall.....didn't hurt her a bit, plus we have so many great memories.

 

[Mugglemama]

we're another family that does frequent trips to DLR, and are waiting to do a "big" trip to WDW.

we homeschool, so school schedules don't hold us back. we'll be driving though (all the way from Idaho), because i always add any educational stops that i'm able to during our trips. none of us have ever been to the southeast or florida, so we'll do places like Carlsbad Caverns and New Orleans along the way. unfortunately, once you add in hotel stops and various attractions along the way, we won't be really saving any money as opposed to flying, lol! but it will likely be our only trip through the southeast, ever, so i want to make the most out of it.

needless to say, we're waiting till our kids are a bit older. my youngest is 4 and i'm thinking i'd want him to be at least 7 or 8 before we embark on that road trip.

i hope we can drive during a time of year when we can take advantage of the free dining...that is, if they're offering it the year we end up going. my goal is to do it during the month of september.

i had priced it all once too, and remember feeling that WDW could actually be cheaper than DLR. that's, of course, with the free dining, and the fact that you can stay in on-site hotels for a reasonable price.