Who is cancelling Disney

[eeyorethegreat]

Even though I only have two children, my oldest DD has a disability and requires the use of a wheelchair...so that's where the suburban comes in. We have a lift in the back of our suburban that loads her wheelchair and we still have room to use the third row if we have extra passengers! And you are right...mini vans are lousy on gas, too. (My DH does not like mini vans...that's putting it nicely ) When we bought our suburban four years ago, gas wasn't that big of an issue.

Right as you and I both said there are valid reasons for having a larger vehicle. I find many criticize people for having these larger vehicles without knowing the WHY of it. I am sure both you and I would rather drive more fuel efficient vehicles but our family needs or size does not allow for that. If there was a large safe vehicle that was better on gas mileage I wouldn't have a problem driving it at all. Incidently, the mini van got the same gas mileage as the Yukon XL and my DH hates mini vans too lol!

Back to the original point of the thread, no we are not cancelling our trip I had already saved and paid for it but I think that asking on the DIS if people are cancelling our trips gives skewed opinions most of us are Disneyaholics and will at least try to find a way to keep our trips within our budgets while those who do little planning and/or don't visit sites like this one might be more apt to cancel their plans because the passion isn't there like it is for most of us!

 

[BrianD]

We are probably taking more trips to WDW this year than we have in a long time. Most of them will be shorter trips, but that is a lot of gas. We have just cut back in other areas...buying less junk day to day...buying less extravagantly at the grocery store. But Disney is important to our family (as it is for most of us here, otherwise why are we on the Disboards?), so I'd rather cut out going to Starbucks, or taking less trips to the mall, then cancel our Disney vacations!

And, I really don't want start an argument, but if someone says they have legitimate reasons for owning a Suburban, then can we not just take them at their word? Are SUV drivers going to start getting the smokers treatment? When gas prices were more "reasonable", everyone was buying SUV's because they were fashionable. And now that gas has really increased, folks are stuck with them. And for those SUV owners, spending thousands of dollars on a new fuel efficient car may not be worth saving hundreds at this point. All that said, there still are legitimate reasons for owning a large vehicle. Now my co-worker who has no children (and have no reason job wise) owns two very large SUVs, and now they are complaining about gas prices. No sympathy here.

 

[Karlzmom]

1980 Economy / Prices
Prices

Cost of a new home: $76,400.00
Median Household Income: $17,710.00
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.15
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $1.25
Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.91
Cost of a gallon of Milk: $2.16

I went back to the inflation calculator, and if gas were $1.25 in 1980, on a straight inflation basis the same gallon would be $3.27 in 2008. Interestingly, I did the same for gold (the true tell of what our money is worth, as we used to back $$ with it), on May 23, 1980 an oz of gold = $511.25, adjusted for inflation should be $1337.69 (both the gas and gold have increased in price 261.6% in the last 28 years). However, the close on gold the 23d 2008 was
$927.50, a mere 181.4% gain.

Just for fun, I went back to the CPI (consumer price index) calculator to run the other prices from 1980, very interesting:

COST OF NEW HOME: hard to calculate accurately, as the original doesn't say if its the average or median

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME 1980 = $17,710 2006 (last year data readily available) = $48,000 based on CPI should be $43,329 in short, median income in 2006 was higher than in 1980 based on constant dollar value. So, the median household made progress. Of course, the Federal Tax rate on the $17,710.00 was 24%, the same person would be in the 25% Federal Tax bracket in 2006 (using the adjusted income)...so the progress would actually be less than it appears. Factor in the increased state/property/sales/breathing tax, and you are about the same or a bit behind....

1st CLASS STAMP 1980 = $.15 2008=$.41 based on CPI the stamp should cost $.39

DOZEN EGGS $.91 based on CPI, the same dozen should be $2.38

GALLON of MILK $2.16 per CPI, same gallon = $5.65.

I think the comparison helps put the whole gas price thing into perspective

 

[Karlzmom]

And, I really don't want start an argument, but if someone says they have legitimate reasons for owning a Suburban, then can we not just take them at their word? Are SUV drivers going to start getting the smokers treatment? When gas prices were more "reasonable", everyone was buying SUV's because they were fashionable.

Yup! If the people running the country can keep us sniping at each-other about what car you drive, food you eat, school you chose, etc. then we really aren't paying attention to the garbage they are pulling in Washington (and I do mean BOTH sides of the aisle, thankyou!) I remember when I was in the army, Congress gave themselves a "cost of living" raise..poor dears couldn't survive without the raise....the raise was MORE than I made all year

 

[OU1247]

WE are still going...can't wait.
However we are very lucky in the fact that we have a company car...and they pay for the GAS!!! Yes even on VACA!

I have the trip paid for...can't wait!

 

[DisneyWisher]

We are going too. I always rent a car to drive up there. This time I'm renting an economy car. Hoping for better gas mileage.

Karlzmom, in 1991-1992(after the Gulf war) I was paying 88 cents a gallon for gas in Valdosta, Ga. and in April 2001 I paid 99 cents in Disney World for a gallon. When our current president took office the price for a barrel of crude oil was $27. Now its over $130. $103 in just 8 years. Kind of ironic that his family are oilmen??

 

[Jesussavedme]

Sadly, we had to cancel our road trip to PA and NY, where Dh and I are from originally.
We go up every summer, but it would cost us around $1000 in just gas.
So we'll spend the week sweltering here at home instead.

But I have to look at the big picture...this is part of the sacrifice for me to be a stay at home mom.

 

[Karlzmom]

We are going too. I always rent a car to drive up there. This time I'm renting an economy car. Hoping for better gas mileage.

Karlzmom, in 1991-1992(after the Gulf war) I was paying 88 cents a gallon for gas in Valdosta, Ga. and in April 2001 I paid 99 cents in Disney World for a gallon. When our current president took office the price for a barrel of crude oil was $27. Now its over $130. $103 in just 8 years. Kind of ironic that his family are oilmen??

Not sure what you mean by "ironic"...are your saying that as oilmen they should have a way of keeping the price down?

$.99/gal..wow! I've never been so lucky to live where gas is that cheap. Heck, we even produce the stuff here in Kern County (anyone who looks at oil prices and sees "Kern River Crude", its pulled out of the ground all over town), we have a couple of refineries locally and we STILL are over $4.00!

 

[KK'sMommy]

We actually just booked our trip about a week ago. Our plane tickets are paid for, but the trip isn't yet. We are cutting back significantly in other areas to make this a dream trip. This is probably going to be a very boring summer! But, we want our kids to experience family vacations and it is worth the "sacrifices" to make it happen. In the long run, our kids will appreciate the memories created by these special vacations over getting to go out to eat once or twice a week.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME 1980 = $17,710 2006 (last year data readily available) = $48,000 based on CPI should be $43,329 in short, median income in 2006 was higher than in 1980 based on constant dollar value. So, the median household made progress.

This is true but income equality is the worst that it has been since the great depression.

If you have 1 foot in boiling water, and the other foot in ice water - are you really comfortable?

 

[DisNorsworthys]

Not sure what you mean by "ironic"...are your saying that as oilmen they should have a way of keeping the price down?

$.99/gal..wow! I've never been so lucky to live where gas is that cheap. Heck, we even produce the stuff here in Kern County (anyone who looks at oil prices and sees "Kern River Crude", its pulled out of the ground all over town), we have a couple of refineries locally and we STILL are over $4.00!

Not sure what the OP meant by "ironic", but I took it to mean that as oilmen they might certainly have an interest in seeing it increase greatly. And boy do I miss driving into Georgia for gas. We live just across the state line in Alabama and until recently gas was significantly cheaper in Georgia. Different taxes I guess. And no we're not cancelling. I just finished nursing school and we have not taken any kind of vacation for two and a half years because of school, and we promised our children we would go back to the world when mommy finished and we are going.

 

[RMulieri]

The gas prices , though high are not cancelling my trip.It has been paid for since last year, and I saved a long time for it.BTW,I drive 2 SUVS , I live 5 mins from work, and other than that I only drive to the grocery store.I gas up every 2 1/2 weeks.The prices stink but are not going to go down anytime soon.pretty soon we will be longing for the days gas was $3.26 a gallon instead of the $3.99 a gallon it is now and will soon be well over $4.00.We considered trading in the one suv, but at this point many car dealers are offering peanuts as a trade in on an suv because nobody wants them.

 

[Pooh Bear Hugs]

I'd love to be only paying $4 a gallon instead of the $15 we are paying at the moment in Rip off Britain.

 

[superbird]

Not us. Even with gas prices, its a drop in the bucket compared to how much we are spending on the resort, ddp, and tickets.

I agree we are going in August

 

[Karlzmom]

This is true but income equality is the worst that it has been since the great depression.

If you have 1 foot in boiling water, and the other foot in ice water - are you really comfortable?

I suspect that by "income equality" you mean the top to bottom spread. I question your source, other than the old saw about "rich getting richer." Pre-depression we had Astor, Getty, Rockefeller, etc. Today, its Gates, Buffet, Wynn.

Perhaps the seeming change is that as we have moved from an agrarian/industrial based economy, there is less well paid employment for the non-skilled? This I would certainly agree with. Someone who finishes an advanced degree will certainly be able to find a higher paying job than someone with a high school or lower education. Pre-depression, people went to college, but not in the numbers you see today. There has been an "unequal" income structure since this country was founded, but by the grace of God we all have the opportunity to make choices that move us upward in the economic strata. In view of the fact that even the "poorest" American is still far better off than 85% of the rest of the world's population, I believe a lot of the class envy in this country is based on the readily available mass media pointing out the "good life" that someone else is living.

While we are on *old saws*, isn't there one about the guy who makes $10 more than you is "rich"?

 

[Karlzmom]

I'd love to be only paying $4 a gallon instead of the $15 we are paying at the moment in Rip off Britain.

Ah, the joys of a collective economy! I lived in Germany for 3 years while in the service, and would never consider buying gasoline off-post! I would rather not drive, than exceed my ration and have to pay Euro prices...

On the other hand, you have a number features where you are that we Americans can only dream and romanticize about....We have to go to WDW to see castles!

 

[Love the Mouse!]

I don't have the heart to cancel a Disney vacation, luckily for us, our vacation was paid for with our tax return, I will be saving the stimulus check for a rainy day. I might as well do Disney now that I can, just in case we can't in the near future.

 

[bigbabyblues]

This makes perfect sense, when you put in all in perspective. Please know that I wasn't being argumentative. I take public tranport to work each day, and I guess I don't realize it. I can do $20 of gas for 10 days.

I didn't think you were being argumentative, just asking! There is no public transportation here at all, so the increased gas prices, along with everything else going up is very noticeable here.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I'd love to be only paying $4 a gallon instead of the $15 we are paying at the moment in Rip off Britain.

I didn't know it was that high, I thought a gallon was around 5 pounds which would be equivalent to about $10.00 US?

Even it were $15.00, we all are envious of your mass transportation that you have available to you. The US has long loved the Automobile (and the inefficient gas engine over diesel) and have consistently let mass transportation of trains to fall to the wayside.

 

[debelfish]

to a beach trip that is 200 miles closer. My sister and I splitting a house which will save about $2,000 dollars off of our vacation. I won't lie and say that I still didn't wish we were headed to Disney. It just didn't feel right taking an expensive vacation this summer. You just don't know what the next year will be like. We are just hoping to make it back next summer.
Elizabeth