What is the most $ you would spend?

[3girlsfun]

We are leaving in 20 days for our first "family" vacation to WDW. We have rented two rooms at Pop, because my grandmother is also traveling with us for this trip.

We are also looking to book our next trip to WDW for Thanksgiving week 2011. My DH wants to go all out. He wants to stay at AKL/CL, and get 6 day passes. He would also like to do the Sunrise Safari.

So, I priced out the vacation online. I did a value, mod., and then also deluxe. The prices for the trip, 6 day Magic your way tickets, dining plan, range from $2500-4900.

The thoughts of the AKL/CL trip are very appealing to me!!! I can't deny that, however, it is a lot of money $$$. We can afford to do the trip either way, I guess I just have a hard time wrapping my head around spending that much. (Although, our Cruise we are going on in June is costing almost $5000, so I don't know what is so shocking about it to me.

I know we have to decide what is best for our family, I am just curious, what is your threshold?

 

[twirler324]

We are heading there in December and are going super budget friendly (as much as we can the week between Christmas and New Years)- staying in MIL's timeshare, eating some meals in and may not even go to more than 1-2 parks because of the crowd. DD will only be 18 months old at that point, so we plan to go again when she is older.
When we go the next time, we know we will end up going "all out" and probably spend around $5000. This isn't crazy for us since we go on 1 big trip per year, but never thought we'd end up paying that much to stay IN the country! We'll see how it goes between now and then, but I'm pretty sure we will start saving now so we can really do it all!!

 

[shortbun]

I think you have to decide what experience you want and not how much money you want to spend. IF you can afford the AKL experience(and it IS really wonderful) then that's what you should do. Vacations are about the whole experience, not just the fact that you are leaving home. Your husband really wants this right? Then have him propose some expense cuts to make up some of the difference-like cutting his golf game one a month or him cooking dinner when you don't feel like it instead of going out. Just an idea. My DH cooks three nights a week to avoid expensive nights out and we use that money for vacations. We seriously would go out to dinner those nights though so it has to be a real saver.

 

[stich1fan]

Well we were in your shoes and decided it would be cheaper to buy into dvc. We bought into AKV and they are great, we could not afford to stay there otherwise. Because it is quite expensive. We now go twice a year and stay in rooms that view the animals plus can buy season passes at a discount rate.

Perhaps it is time to think about it.

 

[laliwalden]

If I could afford it and not have to suffer with anything else, I would do it. Right now, 5000 would be too much for me, but it sounds like it is okay for you.

Some day I will stay at the Poly, so I can grasp the idea of the money, I just don't have it right now!! LOL

 

[3girlsfun]

So funny you say that! We are going on the tour on our "rest" day! I am very excited about the tour, as I am already convinced, now it is just DH's turn.

(And you see ticker I just added, DH said AKL/CL, or bust!)

 

[Aggiegrl]

I can see staying Deluxe, but CL just isn't worth it to me. I think with some of the recent cutbacks, the offerings just aren't there anymore.

Have you considered renting DVC points? This would be a great option for you since you are considering AKL. If you are uncomfortable renting on your own, check out DVCrequest.com.

Honestly, we are doing quite well for ourselves and we try to limit our Disney trips to around $2500-3000 (for the two of us, plus baby's seat on plane). We book airfare super early and we never pay rack rate for Deluxes.

 

[stich1fan]

We did our tour and were not completely sure, went home and threw numbers around and it was worth it. The only think I can recommend is after you sign up you might want to consider getting a loan elsewhere to pay it off. DVC is like 11% interest. we took a home equity line of credit and paid it off. So now we have a loan at 4%.

Just a tip. Also I would def put a name down of who you were referred by, even if you were not. I think that person and maybe you get a Disney gc. I know when we did I put our dvc friend down and they got a cg but we did not. Someone should get it if Disney offers it, right!

Hope you do it, it is great.

 

[quentina]

Well we were in your shoes and decided it would be cheaper to buy into dvc. We bought into AKV and they are great, we could not afford to stay there otherwise. Because it is quite expensive. We now go twice a year and stay in rooms that view the animals plus can buy season passes at a discount rate.

Perhaps it is time to think about it.

This

 

[SamSam]

Since you are interested in DVC, consider renting AKV for the fall trip so you can really see the resort (it's wonderful). Right here on the DVC Boards, there is a rent/trade board for DVC.

We've owned DVC since 2002 and have never had a moments regret, in fact, we've added on a couple of times.

 

[nboicepardee]

i have never done the concierge level, but i have friends who have and they say it is a lot of food so you may not want to do the dining plan on top of that...perhaps one or the other. i agree with pp, we have never regretted buying dvc and often stay at akv. we love it there.

 

[mafibisha]

I think you have to decide what experience you want and not how much money you want to spend. IF you can afford the AKL experience(and it IS really wonderful) then that's what you should do. Vacations are about the whole experience, not just the fact that you are leaving home. Your husband really wants this right? Then have him propose some expense cuts to make up some of the difference-like cutting his golf game one a month or him cooking dinner when you don't feel like it instead of going out. Just an idea. My DH cooks three nights a week to avoid expensive nights out and we use that money for vacations. We seriously would go out to dinner those nights though so it has to be a real saver.

We could afford *better* WDW trips, but there are too many other places in the world we want to visit!

And not just the Epcot version LOL

Will never give up our WDW trips but to see the rest of the world too, we'll always be content with WDW values.

 

[honeydiane1953]

around 7000 would be the most.

 

[jimmytammy]

After our 1st trip, (stayed offsite) DW and I were determined to stay at the Contemporary. That is til we checked on prices and decided it was beyond our budget. Afterall, at that time, we werent going to spend that much time in the resort/room anyway. So we justified. We stayed at Sports, worked great as we were up early, stayed late, and did it all again next day.

Time passed, we realized commando vacations needed to be a thing of the past, so we joined DVC, get bigger rooms at deluxe hotels because we now relax more and do spend time at the resort.

As appealing as AKL is, or any other deluxe, it boils down to what you feel you can afford, what you will gain by staying there vs a value. Either way, you will enjoy cause its Disney!!

 

[Liberty Belle]

We are leaving in 20 days for our first "family" vacation to WDW. We have rented two rooms at Pop, because my grandmother is also traveling with us for this trip.

We are also looking to book our next trip to WDW for Thanksgiving week 2011. My DH wants to go all out. He wants to stay at AKL/CL, and get 6 day passes. He would also like to do the Sunrise Safari.

So, I priced out the vacation online. I did a value, mod., and then also deluxe. The prices for the trip, 6 day Magic your way tickets, dining plan, range from $2500-4900.

The thoughts of the AKL/CL trip are very appealing to me!!! I can't deny that, however, it is a lot of money $$$. We can afford to do the trip either way, I guess I just have a hard time wrapping my head around spending that much. (Although, our Cruise we are going on in June is costing almost $5000, so I don't know what is so shocking about it to me.

I know we have to decide what is best for our family, I am just curious, what is your threshold?

Well, I'm not working right now and we're going in two weeks banana. We've really had to scrimp and save and this is a budget vacation - free dining (though we did pay to upgrade to DDP instead of QSDP) and AllStar Movies. We are spending an extra day to go to Universal and that's adding about $500 to our budget. Plus we've got the gas to pay down there and back up (though sharing it with my parents who are going with us) and an extra night in a cheap motel, so we can actually use full days with all our tickets.

So - right now I'd say this is definitely as expensive as we can go. The rooms and tickets were $1888, plus gas (250) and Universal (500), and cheap motel (40), plus whatever we spend on souvenirs, equals greater than $2638. That is pushing it for us financially right now. However, none of it will be put on charge cards, so that's a good thing.

When I was working, I'd say about $5000 would be the most we'd probably pay, possibly a little less.

 

[crisi]

We have DVC and we still spent more than $6000 last trip for a week.

First there were the dues on the points - that was about $2000 - we did have a two bedroom though, you wouldn't need that.

Then we had to fly four people from Minneapolis to Orlando = $1200 - driving would take two days each way.

Then we bought passes for four - my kids are "adults" at Disney - $1800.

Did La Nouba this time - $500.

Then we still bought food, souvieniers, a sweatshirt at the airport for my daughter who was going to freeze on the plane, paid a neighbor kid to feed the cat, etc.

 

[jenseib]

If I could afford it, I would do it in a heartbeat

 

[MEM]

i have never done the concierge level, but i have friends who have and they say it is a lot of food so you may not want to do the dining plan on top of that...perhaps one or the other. i agree with pp, we have never regretted buying dvc and often stay at akv. we love it there.

We just came back from a 12 day stay at AKL Concierge using our DVC points. The amount and type of food available in the Lounge has been cut way, way back from when we stayed there 2 years ago. They used to have soup and items from Boma that you could make a meal out of at dinner time. This time they had a few cheeses, some flat bread, a few olives and one, sometimes two hot hors d'oeuvres but they put out like 12 at a time and some folks would pile 6 on their plates so you either got none or had to ask (and wait) for more. We felt CL was not worth the extra DVC points this trip - we had already done the Sunrise Safari two years ago and weren't going to spend the money to do it again.

 

[Debbie Jean]

We just came back from a 12 day stay at AKL Concierge using our DVC points. The amount and type of food available in the Lounge has been cut way, way back from when we stayed there 2 years ago. They used to have soup and items from Boma that you could make a meal out of at dinner time. This time they had a few cheeses, some flat bread, a few olives and one, sometimes two hot hors d'oeuvres but they put out like 12 at a time and some folks would pile 6 on their plates so you either got none or had to ask (and wait) for more. We felt CL was not worth the extra DVC points this trip - we had already done the Sunrise Safari two years ago and weren't going to spend the money to do it again.

Well, I don't believe that CL offerings were ever intended to let people "make a meal" out of them.

FYI, for those who don't know, you must be staying CL to take the Sunrise Safari... haven't done it myself yet, but definitely want to in the future

OP, the price you suggest sounds reasonable for the trip you have planned... if this is the type of vacation you enjoy, then DVC is definitely something to seriously consider

 

[MEM]

Well, I don't believe that CL offerings were ever intended to let people "make a meal" out of them.

FYI, for those who don't know, you must be staying CL to take the Sunrise Safari... haven't done it myself yet, but definitely want to in the future

OP, the price you suggest sounds reasonable for the trip you have planned... if this is the type of vacation you enjoy, then DVC is definitely something to seriously consider

No need for the snide remark and the eye rolling. I understand the offerings were meant to be a snack but a PP mentioned that CL offered so much food that the dining plan is not necessary. That is no longer true.