What COST took you by suprise?

[OldsDr]

I forgot to pack sunscreen for our first park day - I had some in our checked luggage but we used Magical Express so it hadn't come in yet. I went to the Kidani Village shop to buy some baby sunscreen - I can't remember exactly how much it was, I want to say maybe $15? ...

At least yours was unavailable. We reted a car, left our luggage in our car(staying at Wilderness Cabins) while we waited for our cabin to be ready. My wife told me to grab the sun block for our daughter (13 mos at the time). I grabbed it. We don't try to put it on untill we get to MK. Now we have a bus ride, from the fron to the back of FW and a boat ride from FW to MK behind us. She went to put it on and said this is the body lotion. And yes e paid about $15 to buy suntan lotion that if I was paying attention would have ben there.

Do not forget your sun block. it is expensive, and almost medically (long term) necessary so that shocked me, even after all my trips.

 

[yolie912]

When I first was on my own going.......
Any prices AFTER this sign took me by surprise.....

Now? No matter how hard I try NOT to be surprised by them, the cost of drinks (like some have said).

Bring from home I don't have to buy: Every trip we forget one or the others bathing suit. It goes without fail.

Budgeted. Drinks....and apparently, new bathing suits every trip.

StalkerX- Love this! =)

 

[PrincessRhi]

Jellyrolls--the drinks. I'm not much of a drinker at all. I never buy alcohol when I am "out". A margarita (sp?) in a wedding punch sized plastic up (yes, I'm serious) and a white russian were $21, without tip.

We always get whatever comes in the really large red solo cup for like $10. We may not be getting more alcohol for our buck, but we need fewer of them.

If anything, the cover charge here gets me more than anything else. The place could be empty and dead with nothing going on, but they'll still charge the $10.

 

[cancersucks]

Here is a twist on your ?.

I was born and raised in a tourst area in Wisconsin, so I am used to rediculous prices for things at home. (They don't give locals a break)

However, on our trips last Sept and MAy, I was actually suprised by a few things that I expected to be MORE than they were.

#1- I bought a small bottle of bacardi from the gift shop (not the single bottle, but not the full size one.) and it was like $10. Way better than I expected condsidering the sunscreen was $14!

#2- the Pirate boat ride was like $36 @ CBR. Highlight of our ds5's trip. Well worth the $

#3- Pirate's league. Wayyyyy better value than the BBB IMO.

#4- Alot of the toys in the POC gift shop. (Can you tell I have Pirate's fans? ) This was the shop my son was saving his $ for, and was able to get quite a bit of "stuff"

#5- My hubbs desprately needed a new pair of shoes (before I learned about bodyglide and moleskin.) After shelling out $45 for a pair of crocks that he did not care for, he went to DTD and bought a pair of Nike "skater" type shoes. They were "Nike" expensive, but not "Disney" expensive IYKWIM.

After our first trip (before I knew about DIS) we had total price shock at the price of photopass photos. it was too bad, because it was our (then) DS2's first trip, our 1st with kids. But we couldn't afford the pics or the CD. now with the $99 preorder, for how much we use it, I don't think we will go without the CD preorder.

Lastly, although not WDW, We thought the quality of the strollers at both Orlando Stroller Rental, and the other one (which the name escapes me now) with the price and the ease and the service was a suprise. Again, in a good way though.

Just my $.02

 

[Happy Mom2]

Seriously, I'm not surprised by the cost of just about anything at WDW. We just estimate that we'll pay close to double what we'd pay at home, and go from there. That's why we only go once every 2 years now, drive instead of fly, and pack just about everything but the kitchen sink.

 

[danny1649]

For poor quality T shirts

 

[cluvsdisney]

I was shocked when I realized breakfast at Cape May Cafe for 2 adults would exceed $60. There's nothing that will allow me to justify that type of money for breakfast at Disney.

 

[scion5220]

I'll share something that was a pleasant shock...while at DLR I needed to buy a memory card for my camera and I got a 4GB card for less than 20 bucks. While I know this is more than you would normally spend, it was less than I was expecting...with my AP discount it was less than 15 bucks including tax.

 

[Diegosmom]

We found the cutest Tigger zip up for DS...he is a tigger thru and thru...Hubby asked DS if he wanted it and he said no...we looked at the tag and it was $40...so thankful DS said no lol...It was sooooo cute. I so wanted to get it but no way $40...I am lucky to pay $10 for a zip up for DS and that was for a really cute Lighting McQueen one a few years ago (i think at walmart) so no way would I shell out $40 for a tigger one...

But now I really need to search for the tigger zip up somewhere else cause I loved it lol...

And we drove and I didnt realize there was an outlet...so would have stopped.

 

[mom2rtk]

The $60 chicken nuggets I bought my daughter at CRT. She's a Disney adult at age 11, but didn't want anything on the adult menu. So I shelled out $60 for chicken nuggets. I tell everyone it's about the experience there, but that was a tough one to swallow. I do think we'll try to do breakfast next time.

 

[Virtucomp]

I was really shocked by the photopass photos. We pre-purchased a CD for our anniversary trip since I knew there would be some photos I wanted. The last trip I didn't bother figuring maybe one or two photo might be good. Then I got online to buy a few and my jaw dropped.

I've paid extra for those spur of the moment ride pictures but I never expected the price of simple snap shots to cost so much after the fact.

Sorry Disney I can't justify the cost when most online print shops charge less than $1 a picture.

 

[AshleeH]

I just posted about a questions asking about food budgets and not wanting to be suprised by all the nickel and diming (I wish I could think of a more positive way to put it). That got me thinking about other costs that may take me by suprise.

What cost took you by suprise?

What do you wish you'd brought from home, that you had to buy on your trip?

What cost do you wish you'd budgeted for?

--We thought everything at Disney was reasonable: until we bought the light-up Mickey ears and Buzz lightyear neon toys at the Halloween Party. Price gouging like crazy! We had been impressed with the prices for food, souvenirs, the Photopass CD (I knew we were buying it, so we had well over 100 pictures on each trip) and everything else for two years, but buying those (4 light-up items) at night was around $50.

--Nothing, off the top of my head. We're more 'go with the flow' type of people once we get there, so as long as we had my kids Bedtime Stuff (blankies and stuffed animals for the hotel) everything else was replaceable. The only things I can remember is forgetting my son's floss picks on our first trip - he loves taking care of his teeth, so we had to stop for that. Last year, that same son had a bad cold and we ran out of medicine before we got to the parks, so we made a stop to get the little dissolving strips that stopped the congestion. That's not something we could've really planned for though.

--Again, nothing I can think of. I hate the term "budget" so we don't really budget out our trips. Our first trip, we saved for years because it was the first one with the kids, so we went all out and splurged numerous times. Last year it was a spur of the minute trip and we still had money left over from our first trip, so that was what paid for the majority of it. This year we decided to go 10 months in advance, so we're paying it off now. We might start getting the pre-paid Disney gift cards to ease the brunt of anything we buy there, but for the most part we like to have it all paid for in advance. It's our vacation - stressing over money is not a fun way for us to do it, so we plan accordingly and then enjoy.

 

[Texas Rob]

60$ chicken nuggets? are you being serious?

 

[dzorn]

I was really shocked by the photopass photos. We pre-purchased a CD for our anniversary trip since I knew there would be some photos I wanted. The last trip I didn't bother figuring maybe one or two photo might be good. Then I got online to buy a few and my jaw dropped.

I've paid extra for those spur of the moment ride pictures but I never expected the price of simple snap shots to cost so much after the fact.

Sorry Disney I can't justify the cost when most online print shops charge less than $1 a picture.

I find the photopass to be a great value. Where else can you get professional pictures so cheap. The on line print shops are not taking the pictures nor are they giving you a copy right release.

I do think the pictures taken before some of the meals are a ridculous price.

I would not pay the price for the ride photos.

Not really to much gives me sticker shock at WDW.

Denise in MI

 

[The 6 J's]

So I do most of the planning but on the flight on the way down last March for spring break trip DW mentions how neat it would be to have those Mickey light up balloon inside a balloon things in our room as part of the "party on we're at Disney World!" feeling. She says she knows they are expensive but supposedly they last a long time and we can have my parents, who had driven to FL for another reason and were meeting us later inthe week, take them home as souveniers. We arrive at BLT around 2pm and head to MK. Heading back to room shortly after dinner to unpack then come back for EMH and as we pass the CM selling those balloons I tell DW I'll meet her at the monorail and I tell the CM I want 4 (4 kids so I'm used to buying 4 of everythig). They were $60 bucks! I'm standing there torn between wanting to make the trip magical for DW and kids and my stingy Norwegian background. Disney magic wins out and like a fool I fork over the cash. No, the thought of buying 2 never crossed my mind as I knew these were the only souveniers I'd buy all week since all the kids had their own money to use from their own savings - and that did work very well, highly recommend it. Also, I wasn't going to spend the first night listening to fighting over who "gets" the dang balloons (little did I know what I would end up spending my night doing). So I get the balloons and with the craziness of catching up with the wife and the ensuing excitement over the balloons I never told her what they cost.

Back to the room and we are settling in. We decide I'll take the2 older kids back to MK for a few hours and she'll put the little ones to bed and finish unpacking with her mother. We head back and as we are in line for our first attraction I look at my phone - 7 missed calls from her and we're next on the flying carpets. Not good. I call her back and she tells me the 2yo jumped off the back of the kitchen seating area booth and she things he broke his leg. Long story short - ambulance, she was right, at ER until 5am. Get back to the room and 2 balloons have lost half their helium and a third is popped (courtesy of the 2yo before he broke his leg).

At this point I couldn't have cared less but when I finally got around to telling DW how much the balloons cost she said I was nuts to have paid it and that it was the worst money we've ever spent at Disney.

 

[rafiki14]

Pin collecting!

We started our first set of pin collections this past trip and boy did that add up quickly!

 

[MinniesYooHoo]

MEDS!!!! I got a nasty sinus infection 1 trip and of course they had nothing strong enough to help so I had to place an order with a phamracy that delivered. Taught me to always pack a mini pharmacy every time we go. (Especially childrens meds.) I can treat everything from fever, to cough, to burns, to headaches, sinus headaches, to cuts and scrapes, to chapped lips, to nausea and diarrhea! My family used to pick on me until one disastrous trip my husband needed the Pepto. He bows down to my obsessive over packing now!!!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I guess tips are the biggest surprise when we are on the dining plan. You think of tips as being nominal, BUT the Disney food prices plus meals over a week make these cost add up.

I tell Disney newbies to look at the food prices and make peace with it before you leave home. If you can't make peace with it. Don't go!

Over the years, I've seen MEN, yes MEN get all unravelled because something cost more than they thought it was going to cost. They get all wrapped up in a tizzy, and try to ruin the trip for everybody!

 

[DisneyB]

On the side of surprised by how expensive something was I would say Sunscreen at MK. We forgot to put it on the kids prior to leaving our room and didn't bring it in our bag and I didn't want to risk the kids skin in the August sun so $15 later I had a can of sun screen.

On the opposite side of surprise we were there for a wedding in December and my daughter was the flower girl. We called a salon at the Yacht Club and they wanted $60 to do her hair for the event. My wife decided to just take my daughter to the Harmony Barber Shop for a simple up do and when they were done the total bill was $5. We tipped more than the actual hairstyle cost. Her hair looked just as good as if we spent the $60 (plus a tip) and we got to get a few rides in before hand too.

 

[a742246]

So I do most of the planning but on the flight on the way down last March for spring break trip DW mentions how neat it would be to have those Mickey light up balloon inside a balloon things in our room as part of the "party on we're at Disney World!" feeling. She says she knows they are expensive but supposedly they last a long time and we can have my parents, who had driven to FL for another reason and were meeting us later inthe week, take them home as souveniers. We arrive at BLT around 2pm and head to MK. Heading back to room shortly after dinner to unpack then come back for EMH and as we pass the CM selling those balloons I tell DW I'll meet her at the monorail and I tell the CM I want 4 (4 kids so I'm used to buying 4 of everythig). They were $60 bucks! I'm standing there torn between wanting to make the trip magical for DW and kids and my stingy Norwegian background. Disney magic wins out and like a fool I fork over the cash. No, the thought of buying 2 never crossed my mind as I knew these were the only souveniers I'd buy all week since all the kids had their own money to use from their own savings - and that did work very well, highly recommend it. Also, I wasn't going to spend the first night listening to fighting over who "gets" the dang balloons (little did I know what I would end up spending my night doing). So I get the balloons and with the craziness of catching up with the wife and the ensuing excitement over the balloons I never told her what they cost.

Back to the room and we are settling in. We decide I'll take the2 older kids back to MK for a few hours and she'll put the little ones to bed and finish unpacking with her mother. We head back and as we are in line for our first attraction I look at my phone - 7 missed calls from her and we're next on the flying carpets. Not good. I call her back and she tells me the 2yo jumped off the back of the kitchen seating area booth and she things he broke his leg. Long story short - ambulance, she was right, at ER until 5am. Get back to the room and 2 balloons have lost half their helium and a third is popped (courtesy of the 2yo before he broke his leg).

At this point I couldn't have cared less but when I finally got around to telling DW how much the balloons cost she said I was nuts to have paid it and that it was the worst money we've ever spent at Disney.

If there was a contest for this thread, I would vote for you!

You are a good hearted soul........