The Cost of a Disney Vacation

[Deleted]

www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/how-much-does-a-disney-vacation-really-cost/ar-BBo8SU4?ocid=ASUDHP

Wow.  It makes the cost of DH's and my vacation to Iceland look pretty reasonable.  One family from Hilton Head makes multiple trips every year and buys annual passes.  Crazy.

[cael]

This just turns me off of Disney even more than I'm already turned off by it... I'll maybe try it once (maybe could even stay in my SIL's FIL's condo down there and save on some lodging) but holy damn. We could buy plane tickets to visit Greece for a family of 4 for less than all of those totals, and in Greece we have family to stay with for at least some, if not all, of any trip we would make. I'd much rather spend that kind of money to take my kids to international destinations for them to experience than take them to stupid Disney.

[garion2003]

I've only ever been to Disney when I was attending a conference on the property. Got flight, hotel and food covered, I just had to pay for theme park admission, and since I could only go after 5 PM I could get a cheaper ticket. The only downside is I just can't "go " whenever I want...I have to wait for a conference

But since I'm single with no kids it's not like I NEED to do Disney every year!

[Deleted]

Jan 4, 2016 13:41:16 GMT -5 garion2003 said:

But since I'm single with no kids it's not like I NEED to do Disney every year!

My dentist in NJ had a couple of patients, married to each other, no kids, who went several times a year. I guess there's someone for everyone.

Another friend posted on FB after a Disney cruise. Spectacular customer service. Every company could learn from them, etc. I pointed out that that level of service came at a very high financial cost, and was provided on a non-US flagged ship so they could hire people from developing countries and avoid US wage and labor laws. He didn't have an answer for that.

[Deleted]

Yes, you're right, but it's just one more way Disney cheaps out on its employment costs while charging premium prices.

DH and I love Uncruise.com, which does sail US-flagged vessels.

[Value Buy]

How about just doing the timeshare thing and get the one day tickets for $39 each?
Plenty of signs advertising the deals along the interstate.

[Deleted]

You can do Disney much cheaper by staying outside the park and driving in each day.  You can also eat outside the park for breakfast/dinner and save money that way.

I have been to Disney World 3 times, I think the parks are worth the cost but the hotels staying on Disney property and eating there are not.

[swasat]

Meh.

Like many other articles, this one is not telling the entire truth.

We have been to Disney World 4 times with kids. No, it did not cost us $7-8K each time. You can stay off the Disney resort, bring your own food , avoid buying overpriced crap, don't pay for all the "extra" experiences, and you can still have a very fun and fulfilling vacation.

No one put a gun to these peoples head that they just HAD to buy a $17 autograph book or $50 stuffed animal. They did it for themselves, not for Disney !

Disney is fun for the people who like it. I don't care what the haters say. Not everyone has the same tastes or interests, so not everyone wants to go on historical vacations. To each his own.

[Deleted]

Jan 4, 2016 18:51:00 GMT -5 swasat said:

You can stay off the Disney resort, bring your own food , avoid buying overpriced crap, don't pay for all the "extra" experiences, and you can still have a very fun and fulfilling vacation.

No one put a gun to these peoples head that they just HAD to buy a $17 autograph book or $50 stuffed animal. They did it for themselves, not for Disney !

DS and I stayed outside the park when we went there about 25 years ago. It worked out just fine except they got that little "lower-class" thing going on, where you can't get into the park as early or get the hottest reservations. I remember they offered me a 9:30PM reservation to the Hoop-de-Doo Revue dinner show. I'm sure other parents dragged their 6- year olds to it, but DS and I weren't in attendance.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The last time we went to Disney, I didn't pay anywhere close to what those families paid.  Granted, my employer took care of my room cost (I seem to remember it being about $200ish/day) at the Dolphin.  So for 6 days, about $1200.  My airfare was whatever it cost from KY to Orlando, probably not too bad so say around $300.  TD joined me 3 days into the meeting and we went to Epcot one day and Disney the other, so about $400 for those entrance tickets.  Meals were expensive, but they were good.  <shrug> I've been in areas where I paid a comparable amount for a lousy meal (like the hotel in Chicago where we had a lousy meal, but were a captive audience there too - not much time to leave the hotel between sessions).  I doubt we paid much more than a about $300 for food.  The one advantage was that by staying at a Disney property, we either could get into the parks early, or stay late.  At Epcot, we stayed until early morning and it was great.  The crowds were way down.

Would I go back?  Nope.  I can't do that kind of walking anymore.  But I'm not going to dis others for wanting to go.

I WILL say (as I mentioned in the thread on YM) was that that meeting was probably one of the best run research meetings that I have ever attended.  The facilities were fantastic, everything worked the way it was supposed to and it was organized to a gnat's ass.  

[steph08]

My mom and I are going to Disney at the beginning of February. We are using my parents' timeshare for the room on Disney property. Flights from PA are costing us $150/each. Park tickets are costing us $350/each. So our vacation is going to run us each around $500/each plus food, which won't be a lot. 

That's a pretty good deal to me. 

[Deleted]

We are back. It was more than I wanted and not as 'awe'some as I think I was hoping. But we had fun. It was rather exhausting Not regretting it, but no need to repeat it again either ... Maybe when I have grandkids some day

[Deleted]

I got a Mickey T shirt mostly because I got the flu/bad cold before we left and packed horribly, lol and it was hot!

We actually did Disney and Universal so spent more on Harry Potter stuff than Mickey

[vonna]

We had a great Disney vacation last year during my daughter's spring break. Matched up with her 10th birthday.

But, I am not a very good YMer, because I don't really know how much we spent on this vacation overall. I only know that we were able to pay off our monthly credit card bills, and that is really all I care about.  Vacation was paid for before we ever went, but we really didn't spend much above that when we were there.  We did take advantage of some pretty good military discounts when booking the vacation.

THEN, they surprised us by upgrading our resort stay to the concierge level.  All I can say is we can never go back, because it was awesome.  And we would never pay for such an upgrade ourselves.

I am not a big Disney fan, but this was my daughter's first visit (and probably only paid by Mom and Dad).  I lived in Florida for years, my first job was in Orlando, and I roomed with a high school friend that was Pluto.  So, I had been to Disney so many times as a young adult that I was burned out. 

I'm glad I took my daughter (and DH, who had never been).  We had a lot of fun!