WDW expense is making me think twice.

[SandraC]

Hi all! We are planning our April trip, actually we are just waiting for prices to go down. As I wait, I am starting to plan our summer vacation. We had a LONG driving trip planned, now we are just going to Ohio and Kentucky. See, we thought about an inexpensive summer vacation and I remembered that our Paramount Canadas Wonderland seasons passes are portable and get be used at other Paramount parks. There is a nice one in Cincinnati so we are driving there in July. I look at it as our *third of the way Disney drive practice*. We are very excited about it. Actually, we've become VERY excited about it. We like the fact that we are trying sometime new. Because we are driving (about 10 hours with stops) we are bringing lots of stuff from home, food etc.,. The hotel we like has a nice continental breakfast and we will enjoy picnic lunches from home at the park. The only real cost is the hotel $100.00 CDN x 4 nights (might stay 5) = $400.00 and gas $200.00 CDN, we are budgeting $60.00 CDN for dinners $240.00 and spending money about $400.00 CDN. The four days at the park are FREE. The total comes to $1240.00 CDN for 4 people! That's great! I look at airfare to Florida going up and over $1000.00 for park hopper passes and the total of Aprils trip is about $6000.00! THATS NUTS! I still want to go to WDW in April, but I seem to be looking MORE forward to OHIO! S

 

[timC]

Sandra... Yes it is NUTS. Even US residents find WDW an expensive vacation, and they don't have the currency exchange (or lower buying power due to higher tax rates). There are plenty of cheap fares to choose from, and most are a reasonable drive to either WDW or DL. It's tough being a WDW fanatic in Canada. I know. I was one.

Two years ago, I threw in the towel, packed up the family and moved to the USA. For us, WDW is now much easier... an easy drive; we paid off our Disney Vacation Club Timeshare (which I purchased while living in Canada); and we're not penalized 45% on everything we buy.

Sorry. I don't want to turn your thread into a rant. Of course there are lots of ideas available to help reduce that $6000 budget... It's sounds like you're pretty good at managing your travel money... and of course the DIS Budget Board is quite helpful.

Enjoy your trips, and good luck with your planning!

 

[SandraC]

Hi TimC, thanks for your post! WOW TEXAS! You're so lucky! Our dd was born very ill and we pretty much lived at Sick Kids for three years so I don't want to leave Canada because of the health care. BUT! I would surely consider it otherwise! I'm only 37 years old, but I have many many old people moments, "IT'S TOO COLD UP HERE!" LOL. Just today I thought how nice it would be to move to FLA! I remember as a kids driving from Montreal to WDW twice, it was a cheap vacation BUT there was only MK park and two resorts that were NEVER an option. We went to Florida as a kid for the ocean, Disney was a day trip. Now, my family loves WDW and we did 7 days of Disney last April and it still wasn't enough. We'll go back April 2002 because (a) I want to (b) I promised my family and I don't go back on promises (c) it'll be the last time for a couple/few years. The $6000.00 comes from $1800 air, $350 car and gas, $700 food, $1600 Disney accommodations, $1100 7 day hopper plus ~ CDN DEAL, $600 spending ~ total $6150.00. This is based on the spending we did April 2002 and ways I thought of saving money. Last Aprils trip was over $7000.

Paramount Kings Island blows the doors off of Disney rides (so does Paramount Canadas Wonderland). They have characters my kids love (same as Disney), there is an awesome waterpark included (same as Disney). Even if we stayed one week it would cost a total of $1820.00 TOPS! A week at Disney World is $6000! I don't mean to go on and on, because I do love Disney so much, but when I started planning a vacation other than Disney, I was soooooo shocked with the costs!

Last summer we bought Paramount Canadas Wonderland passes and we went 29 times! It was sooooo cool! The kids had a ball! We live about 25 minutes away, dh works beside Wonderland so that's great. The beautiful heat we had was great in the water park! We would bring a picnic lunch, get there right at open 10am, do rides until lunch, then stay about one more hour. We'd be home and NOT TIRED by 2pm.

We were going to go to WDW in 2003, but I changed my mind. We'll go to Virginia Beach instead I think. I'm giving WDW a break for a bit. Hate saying it. But if I have to see one more Disney commerical on TV ~ YIKES! Hope you all have a good one! We should plan a DISmeet soon! I STILL LOVE THE MOUSE! S

 

[timC]

Hi Sanda. You're right. You can have as much fun for much less money at Paramount Canadas Wonderland (parking fees aside... don't get me started) . We had season passes for a few years, and always enjoyed them.

Back to your situation.... Looking closely at your numbers, I don't think you're exactly comparing apples to apples. You're WDW has a number of upgrades that you did not make for your Cincinnati trip. Yes, WDW is always going to be more expensive, but to be fair, if you compared similar travel plans, I think you'd find the differences to be less severe.

Here's what I mean:

For the Cincinnati trip you drive, but for WDW you're flying then renting a car. Driving to Florida would be a closer comparison, and would eliminate the $1800 airfare.

For Cincinnati you're staying at a $100CDN hotel, vs. $200+ at WDW on-site. IMO a Disney resort is an upgrade. There are $100CDN hotels available in Orlando.

You were planning to stay 4 nights in Cincinnati, but 7 in WDW. If you drive to WDW then perhaps you'd need to add an extra night or two, for the trip. My brother in-law drives straight through. I don't know how he does it. He's nuts.

Finally. You're planning 4 park days in Cincinnati, and 7 at WDW. Again, apples to apples would require you have 4 park days at WDW. I wonder if you could get a better deal on tickets, say a straight 5-day hopper.

In summary, I think the difference would be the added cost of gas, the extra night or two in a motel while in transit, plus the Hopper. Pixie dust is free

That said.... Fly. Stay on-site. Stay for 7. You'll have a blast!

 

[SandraC]

Thanks TimC, you are right, I know. I'm just overwhelmed with the cost. I save all the money ahead of time so I don't in debt for a vacation. I think I need a little Pixie Dust Disney magic to get me back into the mood for Disney. See my post regarding AIR TANGO, they don't fly to Florida at all now. So I can see our airfare climbing too. I NEED PIXIE DUST! Have a great day!

 

[hockey mom]

Sandra, I used to feel the same way as you about the money being spent on vacation in Disney. But my DH made me realize that even though it is a huge sum, it is a vacation that we all enjoy immensley. We pay it off in stages and piece by piece put it out of our minds, that way we don't feel that huge crunch. Now someone has already suggested this and I need to say it also-Fly out of Buffalo. I think you are making it way more complicated than it is. The cost for us last year was 1225 CDN(5 of us), and everything could not of went smoother. I am just waiting for the sale prices now-so far they are out for March 17, then I am booking.

 

[MikeJ]

Sandra,

Having just returned from a trip I understand your feelings regarding costs. We charged a lot of our big meals to the credit card, and I went online at our bank's site yesterday to check things over. Our average exchange rate for the week was around 1.622, but there are things you can do to cut costs (which we didn't ).

1) Drive. Our drive down for 4 of us (from London) cost about Cdn$500 for the round-trip - hotel ($100 x 2), gas ($90 x 2), meals and snacks ($60 x 2). We stay at Holiday Inn Express while travelling, which includes a continental breakfast. Never had a bad experience doing that. Half the cost of flying (at least) plus you save the cost of the rental in addition.

2) If you must stay on-site, go to the All Stars. I know we'll not likely stay there again, but that's just our personal preference. We paid US$100 (Cdn $165) for 2 nights with a special AP rate. Depending on what the rates are, you might want to consider getting 1 AP for a member of the family - you can very likely make up the difference in cost between that and a hopper in discounted room rates. The Budget Board is a wealth of information, as you're likely aware.

3) If you stay off-site, look at something like the Buena Vista suites, which are advertised elsewhere on the DIS, or rent a vacation home. Depending on the season they can have low rates plus you get a full kitchen to prepare your own meals. If the kitchen isn't that important, very inexpensive rooms can be had along 192. Check the DIS home page.

4) Prepare your own meals. Many people take sandwiches into the parks and even with the enhanced security at the parks, I saw no instances of people having their large Rubbermaid containers of sandwiches confiscated at the gate. If you're in a regular hotel room and don't have a fridge, keep milk and cold cuts in a cooler (for breakfasts and lunches). We have a Koolatron (with AC adapter) and it works great in the van or in the hotel room. And avoid the parks for supper - there are a ton of restaurants within spitting distance of WDW which won't require you to remortgage your house to eat.

5) If the CAA is still offering their at par passes for Universal, consider spending a day or two there or at Sea World instead of focussing on WDW exclusively.

A WDW vacation can cost you an arm and a leg, but it doesn't have to. What you need to do is balance what kind of vacation you'd prefer to have (economy, luxury, etc.) against what you can afford. That will help to determine whether or not you should go now or wait.

Yeesh. I've rambled long enough.

- Mike

 

[SandraC]

WOW! Mike, thanks a bunch! I must be having post-Xmas let down or something, because I am unusually down on Disney ~ usually I chat about Disney all day with a silly grin on my face. You know what I think, I am spoiled. Last April's trip took 3 years to save for. I told my family to SPURGE and buy anything they wanted before and during the trip! It felt very luxurious. We stayed at CBR instead of a deluxe as a cost saver. We loved CBR very much. We ate at several character meals and other costly restaurants. I, like you, was floored to see our VISA bill was $100.00 for Crystal Palace and over $100.00 for Tony's. That's for two adults, dd was only 7.5 years old and ds was only 15 months old. Good thing ds eats lots, he's free! I just got off the phone with my TA (different TA from last year). She can get me a reasonable airfare with lots of restrictions. We will book DOLLAR RENT A CAR as a change, in Florida on other trips, we booked Alamo twice, Budget and Hertz other times. Pretty happy with all rental car places, Alamo had one really long line once. We loved the CDN 7 day hopper pass last year, the freedom to come and go was soooooooooo far out! But back to meals, we are only booking a couple of expensive MUSTS like Cindy's and Crystal Palace, the rest of the meals will be counter service or I'll prepare them myself. I was happy to see the wonderful set up CBR had in their food court. They had a microwave and lots of extra goodies. The CM's that work there were very nice, even gave dd a free straw. CBR was nice! I paid $300.00 CDN per night YIKES! I didn't know about codes until I got back and noticed a code for our dates! I could have saved a bundle, but, that's the past. I am looking at the future. The park hoppers will cost us over $1100 this year, but it includes one breakfast. We think we'll cool it with Disney trips after this April. We are planning other summer trips and I am enjoying those plans as much as planning Disney! Again, I thank you for your post! You did a lot of work ~ PIXIE DUST WORK! THANKS! S