When does Disney become too expensive?

[stkf]

Is anybody else out there shocked at just how much it is costing to go to Florida/Disney these days (I am talking about during school holidays). Following a change in circumstances we no longer have quite as much money coming in as previously and next years trip may get delayed for at least another year. I firmly believe in living for the moment but we were just about to book when we took cold feet as the cost was going to pretty much clear out most of our savings. Is Disney starting to take a massive chunk out of people's disposable incomes?

 

[wilma-bride]

I think the days are gone when Disney could be done 'on the cheap'. We have noticed a significant difference in what it was costing us 8 years ago, when we first started visiting Florida, and what it costs us now.

Whether it is 'too expensive' is subjective. To me, our Florida trips are important enough that I will gladly forego other luxuries to be able to afford it. However, I wouldn't jeopardise the essentials (mortgage, bills, etc) in order to go. We always save up before our trip and would never dream of putting it on a credit card, but I know there are some people who always do that. As long as you are able to pay it off before the next one, it doesn't really matter but (to me) it definitely isn't worth getting into debt for.

Like you, our circumstances have changed recently. My DH has been made redundant and doesn't yet have another job. We have a Disney cruise booked for October 2013 and have already booked our flights (flydrive) but we have only paid deposits for the flydrive, which we will have to forego if DH doesn't find a job in plenty of time for us to save up. I have already started paying off the cruise and, as long as we have the money to go and DH has a job by the time it comes around, we will go. If not, we won't - I wouldn't dream of wiping out our savings leaving us with no way of paying the mortgage. Our cruise can be moved to a different date, if need be, but having a roof over our heads and food for the kids (and us) is more important than a holiday.

 

[stoneyloon]

I won't be staying on site again until DD is up and away to uni (at least 6 years). The rooms are just too small and impersonal for the price.
I also find the price of alcohol on Disney properties to be ridiculous. I only had an average of 3 drinks a day but the bill was fairly hefty when we checked out.

 

[RJMC]

For me its the flights. They are simply ridiculous now.

 

[Kath2003]

You can get deals. We are paying less this year than last year. Fly indirect, stay offsite, visit the other theme parks (tickets much cheaper than Disney). We got flights, hotel and tickets for £650 per adult this year (11 days) - in the school holidays...Our whole trip will be less than £1000/adult all inclusive - and I think under £100 per adult per day is great for that kind of holiday

 

[marcgiu]

You can get deals. We are paying less this year than last year. Fly indirect, stay offsite, visit the other theme parks (tickets much cheaper than Disney). We got flights, hotel and tickets for £650 per adult this year (11 days) - in the school holidays...Our whole trip will be less than £1000/adult all inclusive - and I think under £100 per adult per day is great for that kind of holiday

Do you mind if I ask what your flight details are - when are you going via and who are you flying with? We want to go next year but I can't justify flying with VA

Flights are stupidly expensive with VA - We are going PE in Dec for 3.5k for 4 people. We booked this nearly a year ago with bundles of Miles. The same dates are now nearly 5k for economy

 

[married2mm]

I think the days are gone when Disney could be done 'on the cheap'. We have noticed a significant difference in what it was costing us 8 years ago, when we first started visiting Florida, and what it costs us now.

i 100% agree. i remember i did not want to spend over £2000(!) as it seemed like sooo much money to spend on one trip. we had previously spent our holidays in the uk or spain. there were 5 of us (3 adults 2 children) and the following year it was closer to £3000 with 1 less adult travelling?!

Whether it is 'too expensive' is subjective. To me, our Florida trips are important enough that I will gladly forego other luxuries to be able to afford it. However, I wouldn't jeopardise the essentials (mortgage, bills, etc) in order to go. We always save up before our trip and would never dream of putting it on a credit card, but I know there are some people who always do that. As long as you are able to pay it off before the next one, it doesn't really matter but (to me) it definitely isn't worth getting into debt for.

having a roof over our heads and food for the kids (and us) is more important than a holiday.

this is so true-we do not live a fancy lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination, but whilst we can still afford to go to wdw- we will.

as i stated above though, the price does seem rather excessive now to say the least.
the first 4 times we travelled to florida we flew from our local airport and we booked with ta. ranging from aoa villas to named properties-much more preferable!
i then dipped my toe in the diy pool and booked accommodation separately, but still kept car hire and flights-as a flydrive option. then discovered we could have saved several hundred £££'s by using va as oppose to vh. so the next trip we definitely saved money-but i was nervous(!)-doing the whole trip diy.
after several trips offsite, and hearing so many stories about the fun of being onsite at wdw we made the leap and booked okw in a 2 bed villa-with fd- this was wonderful. we were sucked in completely. the following year we booked ssr, again with fd. although we liked ssr, we preferred okw-so we decided we would return next year-or so we thought until we saw the prices had risen, not by hundreds, but thousands-unbelievable. we a) could not justify paying this price, b) did not want to pay this price. so not only did we find airfare had risen dramatically-we won't fly indirect-but also, our 'chosen' resort had too.
so to cut a long story short-sorry, i tend to waffle! we booked a vh package, por for fd and emh, free parking etc, but also booked a townhouse offsite for the extra rooms and facilities. this worked a treat and we are doing the same next year. and although we are practically repeating our booking from last year, it is costing quite a bit more. we have also had to forego booking with virgin as their costs were just too much.

 

[saddler andy]

I think we are having a Villa next year 3weeks(12/09/12 onwards) for the family 2 weeks for me and the missus.

I've broken it down to the following;

- £1000 for flights and accom
- £300 for dolphins @ discovery cove (me and her)
- £300 ish for tickets


Then spending money.

if thats excessive let me know!!!

 

[marcgiu]

I think we are having a Villa next year 3weeks(12/09/12 onwards) for the family 2 weeks for me and the missus.

I've broken it down to the following;

- £1000 for flights and accom
- £300 for dolphins @ discovery cove (me and her)
- £300 ish for tickets


Then spending money.

if thats excessive let me know!!!

That's a great deal - I think it helps that your dates aren't during the School Hols. The prices in Easter/ Aug and Oct next year are outrageous

 

[LeaversOnTour]

Our cost seems to go up each year to - But to fair every year for the last 3 years we have had a child turn 2 just before the flight!!! Thats an extra £500 without even trying.

Also our eldest turned 3 this year so there is another £300 on tickets!

We have paid
£1900 for flights 2 adults 2 children and an infant with VA
£3000 for 2 weeks at OKW (studio) - includes tickets and dining
£500 for 2 weeks in Sheraton 4 points on I drive
£350 - Universal Tickets

++++ spends

We booked as we have been lucky to retain our previous house which we rented out - Thought with the extra income we could easily afford it - Unfortunately the "lovely" tenant has paid any rent for the last year and its cost us money to evict her

Things are a little tighter but we will still make the magic!!1

I'll be damned if she'll cost me and the kids our mickey mouse fix as well

 

[LeaversOnTour]

Our cost seems to go up each year to - But to fair every year for the last 3 years we have had a child turn 2 just before the flight!!! Thats an extra £500 without even trying.

Also our eldest turned 3 this year so there is another £300 on tickets!

We have paid
£1900 for flights 2 adults 2 children and an infant with VA
£3000 for 2 weeks at OKW (studio) - includes tickets and dining
£500 for 2 weeks in Sheraton 4 points on I drive
£350 - Universal Tickets

++++ spends

We booked as we have been lucky to retain our previous house which we rented out - Thought with the extra income we could easily afford it - Unfortunately the "lovely" tenant has paid any rent for the last year and its cost us money to evict her

Things are a little tighter but we will still make the magic!!1

I'll be damned if she'll cost me and the kids our mickey mouse fix as well

 

[dmdelight]

Our cost seems to go up each year to - But to fair every year for the last 3 years we have had a child turn 2 just before the flight!!! Thats an extra £500 without even trying.

Also our eldest turned 3 this year so there is another £300 on tickets!

We have paid
£1900 for flights 2 adults 2 children and an infant with VA
£3000 for 2 weeks at OKW (studio) - includes tickets and dining
£500 for 2 weeks in Sheraton 4 points on I drive
£350 - Universal Tickets

++++ spends

We booked as we have been lucky to retain our previous house which we rented out - Thought with the extra income we could easily afford it - Unfortunately the "lovely" tenant has paid any rent for the last year and its cost us money to evict her

Things are a little tighter but we will still make the magic!!1

I'll be damned if she'll cost me and the kids our mickey mouse fix as well

i like how it's posted twice to emphasise your determination to holiday with mm

 

[LeaversOnTour]

i like how it's posted twice to emphasise your determination to holiday with mm

Yeah not quite sure what happened there

 

[Kath2003]

Do you mind if I ask what your flight details are - when are you going via and who are you flying with? We want to go next year but I can't justify flying with VA

Flights are stupidly expensive with VA - We are going PE in Dec for 3.5k for 4 people. We booked this nearly a year ago with bundles of Miles. The same dates are now nearly 5k for economy

Delta - 1 stop each way (3 hour connections each way) - £417 plus cash back @ 1% so just over £412 each. In the school holidays. Good times too - leave the UK in the morning, arrive in Orlando at 6pm. On the way home, leave at 1pm and back in the UK around 11am the following day.

 

[stkf]

The flights do seem to be extremely expensive now and apparently there is some sort of airport tax increase next year as well(?). It used to be the case that Florida was a "once in a lifetime" holiday and maybe I have been spoiled going frequently over the last ten years, it now looks like it will be a trip we will take once every four or so years.

 

[Holstar]

I hate even thinking about how much this holiday is costing us...

I don't have the breakdown as we've booked as a package but here goes...

For me, my partner and our three nieces (15, 12 and 9):

- Disney 14 for 7 Ultimate Tickets
- Manchester - Orlando Flights, Economy
- Yacht Club Water View Room, 11 Nights
- Disney Dining Plan x 12 days

= a grand total of £7,900.

Plus:

- Villa off site, 6 nights, £450.00.
- Car hire, 18 days, approx. £400.00.
- Insurance, £50.00.
- ESTA's, £36.00.
- Discovery Cove, approx. £750.00 ($229 each).
- Wet 'n' Wild, approx. £150.00 ($45ish each).

Plus (and by this time, I'm pretty much in tears):

- Spending money, about $300 per child (ours is going on the credit card!)
- Money for food and eating out the week we're in the villa, approx. £500.00.

I'm not even going to add it up! I'm too afraid of the total

... Basically, we knew it was going to be expensive. However, as we're starting to save for grown up things (mortgage etc) next year, we wanted one big last holiday... and it was hard to say no to things once we got going!

Hollie x

 

[stkf]

You have the right attitude Hollie. There is no doubt that as expensive as it is a trip to FLorida does give so many magical memories. Maybe as I am getting older I am starting to worry too much about savings etc

 

[KayTom]

I'm with you Hollie, we're splashing out before saving every penny we can scrounge up for the mortgage, lol.

I'm treating this as once in a lifetime for us as a couple. When we have kids, we would like to go back once with them, but otherwise, that's it.

My holiday is booked as a package with Virgin. 9 days leaving on 10th January.
-Flights with VA
-Villa for 9 nights
- Pool heating
- Car hire
- Fully inclusive car insurance

= £1800

Holiday insurance £27
ESTA's £18

La Nouba £110

Orlando attractions 14 days unlimited Disney and Universal tickets = £694

Photopass Plus = £87

Spending money £2000

Total = £4736

I'm guessing with the spending money, but want to do a good deal of shopping. £2000 gets us a little over $3000, so we're thinking $1000 each and $1000 for food and petrol.

Does everyone think this sounds ok? Have i forgotten anything? xx

 

[OhanaSam]

We're the same too, when we get back we have to save for grown up things so this will be our first and last big holiday

Our Disney package cost £3,300 for:
Economy flights with VA
14 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter
Free QSDP
Park tickets

Then everything else will add up to about another £1,800 or so, that includes:
Universal
Photopass +
Spending money
ESTA
Cirque Du Soleil

We got the $200 gift card with our package so that will cover our photopass

 

[stubb]

I think a trip to Florida can range so much in price. We have never stayed on site ( with the exception this year of one night at the swan and dolphin which was a free through our American Express card)

We always travel economy, I remember going one year and the flights being about£150 alas those days are gone. We do use the airport lounges as they are included with our bank.

We have annual passes although I have a feeling that we may not bother to renew with seaworld this year, it will depend on the price.

For universal my dh will have the ap which includes free parking and myself and ds have the ordinary ones.

We used to own a condo on Venetian Bay but had to sell.

This time we are staying on Venetian Bay and have got a really good rate.

We buy the non expire disney tickets which include the water parks

We sign up to the shops restaurants we know we will be going to.

I look on the dis boards for ideas.

We love going to Florida and want to be able to keep going back.

Michelle