Want to go back but.....

[Csaks]

Did a trip itinerary that other day. Very similar to our last few trips of two weeks. Generally it is around 5 thousand Canadian for those fall trips. With our lovely dollar it was around 7 thousand. I have a hard time justifying our normal cost, this just puts it out of reach. Hope this turns around in the next few years. Yikes!

 

[Louiepipbgeeco]

Yes the conversion is not fun ! Hoping for some deals to start coming.

 

[dis_guy]

Same here. We usually don't spend big on our trips, our last stay was a moderate with free dining which was paid off when the dollar was eighty-something cents. Now, I just can't see going back if it's going to cost over 1000 CAD more. Annoying because United still has very reasonable fares for MCO out of YEG. So, cheap to get there, not cheap to be there.

 

[bababear_50]

Did a trip itinerary that other day. Very similar to our last few trips of two weeks. Generally it is around 5 thousand Canadian for those fall trips. With our lovely dollar it was around 7 thousand. I have a hard time justifying our normal cost, this just puts it out of reach. Hope this turns around in the next few years. Yikes!

My thoughts are with you Hon
I am trying to figure out if we can afford a trip in 2017 for extended family.
We would only be doing Disney one day MK and Universal 2 but still the cost is so much more right now when I price it out. We are thinking of doing a split stay at Cabana Bay or Sapphire Falls 3-4 days and OKW 3 days.
Thank goodness it's just me going in March 2016,,I can eat pretty cheaply (starbucks gift cards) and have old passes.
If we do decide to go then we ALL are going to need to budget somehow,mom aka ME just can't foot the bill this time.
I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!
Hugs Mel

 

[MamaLema]

I posted this on another thread already, but our family has decided not to do Disney this year. The cost would be an extra $2000. I work too hard for my money and don't see it as worth it.

 

[mkmommy]

I know it is crazy but have you tried pricing out a vacation in Canada. Have been pricing out a 10 day trip through the Rockies for August and by the time you add in flight, car rental, hotel and meals I am at the same price I would spend at Disney, even with the current exchange rate.

 

[BlueberryPi]

I know it is crazy but have you tried pricing out a vacation in Canada. Have been pricing out a 10 day trip through the Rockies for August and by the time you add in flight, car rental, hotel and meals I am at the same price I would spend at Disney, even with the current exchange rate.

I was starting to look at a Canadian vacation option instead of Disney and Via has their canrailpass which allows 7 stops for $700 or 10 stops for $900 (adult fare) within 60 days. It seems like a cool way to see the country without the wear and tear on the car.

 

[Lesverts]

Traveling in Canada is very expensive. I just budget and cut out things to make it work. The dollar isn't going to be ggetting any better anytime soon. So....

 

[mshanson3121]

I know it is crazy but have you tried pricing out a vacation in Canada. Have been pricing out a 10 day trip through the Rockies for August and by the time you add in flight, car rental, hotel and meals I am at the same price I would spend at Disney, even with the current exchange rate.

This. We can drive from New Brunswick and spend 6 nights in Florida, with 5 day basic passes, including everything right down to $250 spending money for a few souvenirs, allowing 1 nights stay each way driving down, for $3500 CDN. Total time away from home would be 8 nights, and we rent a beautiful 4-bedroom, 2 bathroom off-site house with a private 24' pool. For us to spend even just 5 nights away in Nova Scotia, which is a mere fraction of the distance away, staying in a much smaller 1 or 2 bedroom cottage, and spending just 4 days doing local attractions (which don't even begin to compare to Disney) is around $2000.

 

[Kiren]

I was speaking with my TA yesterday and he was thinking that Disney might be coming out with an at par deal soon. With the our dollar suffering and the US dollar strong, he thinks that a lot of americans are going to take the opportunity to travel abroad. It made logical sense to me so here's hoping! My husband and I are staying in the Contemporary in May and with flights and everything we are looking at about 8000 CDN. It sucks but we can live with it. It'll be our last trip for a while though.

 

[alc571]

I get the complaints, but for us it won't change the fact that we will go to Disney every year. It's the only place our family loves to, and wants to, travel to. Yes, we may cut down from 2 trips per year to one, or from moderate resorts to values, but it won't stop us from going. We have a budget every year for vacations, and will use it all for that purpose. Yes, our budget used to get us to Disney twice a year for 12 days or so each, and now we are going on two trips at 8 days each. I don't look at it as a "waste" or not a "value" - I have my budget and spend it accordingly.

 

[Disneylover99]

I get the complaints, but for us it won't change the fact that we will go to Disney every year. It's the only place our family loves to, and wants to, travel to. Yes, we may cut down from 2 trips per year to one, or from moderate resorts to values, but it won't stop us from going. We have a budget every year for vacations, and will use it all for that purpose. Yes, our budget used to get us to Disney twice a year for 12 days or so each, and now we are going on two trips at 8 days each. I don't look at it as a "waste" or not a "value" - I have my budget and spend it accordingly.

Same with us. Right now we have a Deluxe/Moderate split stay booked for next summer. But if the dollar continues to tank or not recover, we'll happily switch to a value.

 

[pigletto]

It's not an either/or proposition for us at this point. The vacation budget is what it is, and like everyone else in this thread, we will do with our money what meets our threshold for spending and value.

We are definitely making some changes. We'll be staying offsite (happily). We only stayed onsite for years, but the value isn't there for us anymore when we saw the space and amenities that we could have elsewhere. We had also been so many times that the restaurants were getting a little old and we enjoy eating some meals offsite. We also used to combine Disney and Universal and go on longer trips. We're shortening this one by a few days and we are only going to Disney in 2016. 2017 we will only go to Universal and other Orlando attractions. It will ease up on the wallet and the burn out we were starting to get.
I won't say the exchange doesn't sting.. it really does. And it's forcing us to make some changes, but I'm still excited for our trip. By diligently saving airmiles for one of our passes, shortening the trip, staying in a condo etc, we are coming in around $4000 CDN. It helps that my parents very generously paid for the return portion of our flights as a family Christmas gift though.

 

[Csaks]

-I get the complaints, but for us it won't change the fact that we will go to Disney every year.
-We have a budget every year for vacations, and will use it all for that purpose.

Our budget or less was what I quoted in the original post. So that's why I'm having a hard time with the exchange rate, not Disney's fault but just the way it is. Not so much a complaint but a bummer our hard earned money doesn't go that far, at least south of the border.

Turns out my aunt and uncle invited us down to their place in Ft Myers in March since I wrote the original post. So we decided to stop in Orlando before and have done the unthinkable. With a set budget were planning a few days at Disney and Universal. We found out we could only do one and picked Universal because we had such a blast there on our last trip, not so much at WDW. If it wasn't for the exchange I could have done both I'm sure or at least had a chance to convince mamma bear to do both when you see the numbers before exchange. LOL I guess we were spoiled the last 3 or 4 trips with the dollar either at or close to par.

 

[pigletto]

Our budget or less was what I quoted in the original post. So that's why I'm having a hard time with the exchange rate, not Disney's fault but just the way it is. Not so much a complaint but a bummer our hard earned money doesn't go that far, at least south of the border.

Turns out my aunt and uncle invited us down to their place in Ft Myers in March since I wrote the original post. So we decided to stop in Orlando before and have done the unthinkable. With a set budget were planning a few days at Disney and Universal. We found out we could only do one and picked Universal because we had such a blast there on our last trip, not so much at WDW. If it wasn't for the exchange I could have done both I'm sure or at least had a chance to convince mamma bear to do both when you see the numbers before exchange. LOL I guess we were spoiled the last 3 or 4 trips with the dollar either at or close to par.

We also LOVE Universal and have a blast when we go. This is our Disney year and like you, we can only do one a year now I am thinking. It's great you still get to go, and I hope you have a nice time!

 

[LemonNeko]

I'm doing Universal in January with one non-park day at Disney. I wanted to check out the Harry Potter stuff but had it not been for the exchange I likely would have gone to Disney instead.

 

[sherilaine]

I mentioned this on another thread but I think we got spoiled for a few years there and par is not something any of us should have gotten used to - if I were you I'd compare my costs to if the dollar was 80 or mid 80 cents - as that is likely as good as it's gonna get in the next several years. We are likely going to spend close to $2000 more to go to Disneyland in Feb/March this year but that is the price of happiness and we have to remember all the money we saved our 1st three trips when the dollar was between .95 and 1.05 US.

 

[shaynar]

I'm with you. I usually book my trips a few months out, but since we've gone at the same time for 5 years running, I decided to book 7 months in advance. We're renting points (non-refundable) so I can't back out now. I don't even want to think about how much this trip is going to cost me...