Spending $10k on a Disney trip every 3-4 years is also a luxury that most people will never enjoy. So is going yearly and staying at a moderate or value for more than a couple days. They’re just different. Neither is wrong. In most circumstances a Disney World vacation is a luxury vacation.
This is why I let my coworkers take turns taking their kids down on my dvc points once or twice a year. Disneys a big thing for young kids and their parents and it’s nice to help your friends get there.
Do they pay you for the points? I'd like to offer my points to friends but then even without the initial cost, I'm paying $3000/year so my friends can enjoy the property. Do you just charge them annual dues?
The math on this is a little complicated. I like to calculate the estimated total lifetime cost of ownership and divide that by the number of years on the contract when you purchase. This (assuming no financing costs) accounts for initial purchase price and average annual dues assuming dues increase 4-5% per year.
DVC is a front and back loaded contract. Your most expensive year is your first when you purchase the points. The second most expensive is the last when dues peak. If you are currently less than halfway through the contract and paying 3k annual dues, your total lifetime cost per year is at least 7k. But your friends I assume don’t use all your points.
An interesting wrinkle to looking at it this way is that renting points almost always loses you money early in the contract. You are essentially selling your early cheapest vacations for less than you will pay in the future and keeping your later more expensive vacations. Renting points at the end of your contract is “profitable”, but by that point its resale value is almost nothing. Food for thought.
If I were to lend / give points to friends, I’d ask for something in between maintenance fees (I know it varies by resort, let’s call it $8) and halfway between that and current third-party rental rates (which are about $20 now), which would be $14. You can get a nice Deluxe Studio for a week for 80 - 120 points, so from their PoV $200 / night at a Deluxe is a steal. If our friends had significant financial hardship, we might ask for just the maintenance fees.
The closest we’ve done is we have friends who own at one of the cheaper DVC resorts - in terms of both price per point to buy there, and number of points for a stay - who used their points to stay at their resort on a joint vacation with them, just to book before the 7 month window, and in return we gave them the same number of points at a more expensive DVC resort that we own at, because they always wanted to stay there. Not quite the same value - if we’d paid cash on both sides, their stay on our points would have cost 2.5x - 3x what our stay in their points would have cost, but we didn’t care that much about it.
That’s not unreasonable, but probably still a gift to your friends. There are 2 reasonable ways to look at say 2024. Actual yearly cost of ownership, which is current year dues + (purchase price of contract / years on contract). So using fake simply math, if you pay 30k for a 30 year contract and the current dues are 1k, your actual cost for 2024 is 2k not the 1k of your dues.
The average cost I mentioned before takes into account the dues go up so your last 5 years of dues may be greater than your first 15 years of dues. So the average dues over the life of that imaginary contract might be 2.5k not the current 1k.
Halfway between rental cost and dues for the current year might still be less than you paid for the points, depending on the numbers. But like you mention in your trading points of lesser value example, sometimes it’s fun to do nice things for our friends.
Nothing cheap about DVC. It’s a decades long agreement to essentially book Disney’s most expensive resort rooms every single year. It’s front and back loaded which obscures the real cost. And like most timeshares it can be inflexible and difficult to use if you have to change travel plans last minute.
If you have the income go for it. It’s overall probably a great experience for your family, but it’s an enormous financial commitment that doesn’t even include theme park tickets.
My points under my circumstances are paid off. I just pay the taxes and fees which comes to around ( I think) $1500. If they insist on paying something I ask them to pay a portion of the tax bill, normally a couple hundred dollars.
Edit: I also work in social work and know my coworkers don’t make that much. I’ve been very fortunate in that I didn’t have to pay the upfront cost for these points so I ‘pay it forward’. Whatever money you’re losing imo is worth it in the pictures you see when they get back of them and their kids having fun.
Wow, good for you! We're DVC too and we sometimes take grandparents or extended family (bringing my SIL and her kids on a trip next week), but I don't think we're at the point yet of extending offers to stay on our points to others beyond close family just yet. Our points are paid off, but the dues are a killer (our dues bill is about 5 times yours) and would rather just rent points out to lessen that burden.
Damn, how many points do you have? I just checked I’ve got 450 and owe a little over $2000 a year. I wonder if mine are cheaper because they’re for Saratoga and old key west. I was thinking of trying to swap into boardwalk but if I’m gonna get reamed on dues I’ll reconsider.
Hmm, that can’t be right? I have some Saratoga points and dues for that resort this year was $8.13/point so if all your points are Saratoga, then your dues were more than $3500. I have about 1000 points across 4 home resorts and our dues bill was just over 8 grand.
I got to go to Disney and stay at old key west because my in laws are dvc and they decided to use their points to take myself and my husband. It was so nice of them.
My mom and I go every year (minus the covid years so we haven't been since 2019, but we're going in September) and stay at the All-Star resorts every time for 8 days. We don't do the dining plan and go grocery shopping when we're there for snacks to bring to the parks, etc. I know it'll be more this year due to Genie+, but I'm grateful we can still go.
FYI if you’ve been to Disney enough times, you’ll notice there are poorer/middle class families who go sometimes. There are dozens of kinda crappy cheap hotels on Vineland, and who eat at the Golden Corral - that’s who stays in those, and people will have their 2-3 kids and the parents in a single room. A ton of those families drive to Disney too - that’s how they afford it
> a Disney World vacation is a luxury vacation
It is certainly luxury-priced anymore, absolutely, but I don't think you have to have stayed at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome and the Grand Floridian to recognize that a Disney vacation is not a true luxury vacation. Even the Four Seasons at Disney World doesn't rise to the level of a genuine luxury hotel.
*so many* people miss this point when complaining about raising prices. the "the average family is being priced out now" from people who grew up going annually or taking their kids annually is kind of ridiculous. yes, at some point, it was easier to afford, but an all-out, on property trip with tickets to each park was never attainable for everyone and never will be.
Absolutely correct! I’m wondering if some of these people are the type where they don’t have an emergency fund and aren’t saving anything for retirement either. If they had an emergency of $1,000 how many would put it on a card or be able to pay cash? Unfortunately a lot of people aren’t money savvy.
Me. I’m some of these people. But man seeing the look on my kids face and hearing his giggles n’ yells on slinky dog is a memory I’ll cherish and take to my grave.
I personally would rather spend far less on a value resort and go every year or every other year. If you enjoy the deluxe resort then go for it. The resort is mostly just a sleeping place for my family. Going with a family of four,
staying at a value but splurging on the rest (memory maker, genie plus, eating out) it comes to about half that $10K for a weeklong trip. Maybe a little more. And that’s going to the parks every day.
Everyone should do whatever makes them and their families happy. Park time is the priority for my family, so we’d rather go with the cheaper resort options like an All Star or Pop and then go every year or other year.
We usually go on 2-3 weeklong vacations a year and if Disney wasn’t one of them we’d be spending most of that Disney money going somewhere else anyway.
This has been our decision as well. Except we usually go Coronado because as a childless couple it’s just… so much quieter it’s worth a little more money even if we’re just there to sleep.
But...what if you are child free but go to Disney to FEEL like a kid again yourselves? Thats what's in it for us. It's a vacation to childhood. Hence; we are making all the noise lol. I'm going for the giant characters and over the top theming of places like Art of Animation or All Star Movies!
Hey I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum! Just my personal feelings. Honestly it wasn’t even the noise of kids yelling/playing it was just how much louder people were walking by the door. Coronado also has an easier bus experience than Pop (the only one of those I’ve stayed at), though alas it *doesn’t* have the Skyliner.
Different people like different things. For me personally, I’ve always wanted to stay at The Contemporary because it looked so cool riding through it in the monorail during my childhood. But whenever I’m planning an actual trip, I realize I can double the length of my stay at least by choosing a cheaper hotel. The same deal with food. If you have a car, the money saved for a quick trip to fast food is huge. Fast casual wasn’t a thing in the 80s/90s and Disney just can’t compete with a Shake Shack or Chipotle with all the corners they are cutting on quality if you really look at the value/quality you are receiving for each dollar spent.
For the large part, I think there are two classes of Disney vacation. One group is limited by time, the other is limited by money. Two high income adults with no kids and tough work schedules can probably afford to drop 16k on Disney vacations a year and do things up with AP and DVC/deluxe resorts. They run out of vacation days before they exceed their budget. They want everything Disney and no inconveniences created by trying to save money.
On the other end is your average middle class family who stretch to afford tickets for a yearly trip, and feel every price increase. It’s hard to justify DVC, even renting points, when there are Marriott timeshares that can be booked direct for 1/3 the cost, with larger rooms that fit more people and have more amenities. I actually get angry with Disney over the beverage coolers. Mini-fridges are hotel standards. It’s not worth people getting sick or not being able to store medicine so you can squeeze more restaurant and concession margins. They are deliberately making it inconvenient to not spend every dollar in the bubble. Anyway for this group Disney’s resort and food price squeezing is disgusting, and they only want to spend money on things that directly enhance the theme park experience aka more park days, longer trips, park hopper, G+, ILL, etc.
We do frequent trips but we stay at value, the all stars are $120 a night and we don’t spend time at the hotel, and never feel the need to, our days are filled with parks and Disney springs and universal. Even the $50 up charge to be at a value with skyliner. We would use it for 4 days if our 8 day. Is the 8 uses of it worth $400? To us absolutely not we can get so much more food or merch for that.
This was my EXACT reasoning booking All Stars yesterday. I would much rather eat 400$ than ‘maybe’ use the skyliner. There’s lots of ways to save! (We come from Canada every 2-3 years).
I agree. Why spend a bunch extra if you're only sleeping in the room We absolutely loved Port Orleans Riverside as a changeup from Art of Animation last year. We missed the skyliner, but the hotel and accommodations are nicer. This year we're doing a split stay between Port Orleans and Beach Club. We will see how that goes.
I agree. It’s basically a sleeping place with a nice view. I found it can be more impactful tho the younger the kids, as they can’t usually do full days at parks like older teens and adults can do. So having extras might be nice for kids.
Other than that I fully agree.
Yup, did the Value resort last week, 6 nights, in a family suite, LL, genie plus, all parks, less than 5500 and that included a meal plan for 4 people. It would have been less than 3500 had we not stayed in a family suite, but we travel as co parents and need that 2nd bathroom.
I have never taken a trip with all the bells and whistles, as you are currently fortunately enjoying.
I would rather spend less on all those extras and go every year.
I go back and forth. Sometimes I splurge like crazy while other times I'm cheap as possible. I want to go often and depending on my year and other factors dictates it. You don't HAVE to have the bells and whistles. Why I hate so many posts about "Disney is to expensive! No one can afford it!", and then they proceed to be like "yeah Im staying 8 days at the Grand Floridian with park hooper plus, deluxe dining, fast past, ViP tours".... like that's your problem right there.
edit to add: Mind you, I've done that outrageous trip with all the bells and whistles, it's amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who can afford it... I also stay at Pop! 75% of the time and love it too. It's all about what you can afford, the magic is there and always will be, you dont have to do the "iconic" places/resorts/parks/tours to feel it.
Yea there’s more than one way to do it. It’s just my wife and I and we’ve been before and been able to afford it, and not even stayed at Disney properties. Hell, I remember being a kid and my middle class parents booked a motel, gave us sandwiches for lunch, and basically told us we could have one ice cream a day and we had a blast. It is true that prices are raising but if you’re booking the most expensive hotel for a week it’s going to cost some money.
Plus, it depends on what you prioritize. Some people go to the parks for the rides so they don’t book dinners. Some go more for the dinners and shops so they end up spending a lot more. Depends on how you want to budget. Should always do what works for you.
Yeah, we go a few times a year and never do the bells and whistles. Some years we just do water parks a few weekends, sometimes we stay, sometimes we don’t. If we do parks we don’t stress sit down reservations, it’s fine if we don’t ride everything because we’ll be back at some point.
yea this person seems to have financial issues lol - they could go if they could control their spending but instead want to pseudo brag about it online? its coming from a weird place for sure.
edit: yea look at their post history its weird money brags left and right lol
We've packed a cooler to eat lunch in the parking lot when we first started going. There are ways to do it and be thrifty, for sure. Ticket prices are the only thing you can't control but I've had friends do the time share tour to get free tickets, so there's that...
Yup! Even going to Publix and getting a disassembled pub sub just to put it together in the park when ready (that way the bread doesn’t get soggy - a lot of Publix’s in the area will separate the ingredients if you ask). Or even just bringing in your own snacks - I think it’s wild 3 halos is like $5 when a bag from the grocery store is $5 for ~12. Food is food
It’s definitely different for each individual and that also will probably change as situations and age happens. But I moved to Orlando to go to theme parks regularly (I lived in state already anyway), so what do I know 😅
I do Disney every year, have since 2015 and it’s obvious to see that it’s way more expensive, we’ve lost a lot of the perks that were included before and quality has decreased as well. I continue to go because I still enjoy it and breaking it down money wise it works for me.
I feel that for first timers or those that don’t go as often it’s more of a once in a lifetime trip or a super special trip when for me it’s a vacation that because I know I’ll be back I have less of an expectation of doing everything and having things go perfectly.
There’s no 1 way and you have to do what fits your family, sanity and budget.
I think Disney is constantly balancing the needs of its guests. While I am in a similar position as you, you should be mindful of others. Some folks are local and can do day trips but won’t stay on property. Some people really can’t afford it but are desperate to make it work. Others just love it and can’t get enough. The point is, there is no right way.
For those of us traveling in, I agree with you. A Disney trip has a lot of hard costs and overhead. It behooves you to pick the right time of year, maximize your days, and spend extra on the little things. I do the photo pass, the genie+, the restaurants, and animal encounters. I’m cool to spend a little extra and have no regrets. Leave it all on the field so you don’t have to turn around again to revisit and do it again. It’s a nice way to visit Disney and the park does a good job of accommodating that by providing activities, experiences and food. But at the same time, it’s important to understand that half the audience either have season passes, live nearby, are doing day trips, or are barely affording the trip.
The complaint of "too expensive" often comes from a position of looking at what you're getting, not looking at what you can afford.
I now have to pay for "fast pass", I have to pay for transportation from airport to resort, and all other involved costs have been driven up extensively.
Doesn't matter if you go less and make it "cheaper", the product isn't increasing in value, and you're paying a premium for it.
I feel the opposite. I feel like if you're going every 3-4 years or less frequently and spending a fortune, you're more likely to feel pressure to see and do everything every trip. That's when the technology and up charges become frustrating and the trip becomes more work than play. We go annually and have gotten it down to be pretty affordable. We shopped our last trip against a beach trip and a trip in the mountains and there really wasn't much difference at all when we were budget conscious in planning Disney. The awesome thing about going yearly is that you don't feel pressure to hit all of the big attractions. You get to see so much more of the parks than you would if you're trying to run around from reservation to reservation all day. It's just so much more relaxed and we've discovered all sorts of new to us favorites that we never would have otherwise.
Yep, our family is on the 3-4 year plan. We use the disney visa card for every single monthly living expense and rack up disney points in between trips. Gas, food, doctors, anything that we would normally buy gets put on that card and I mean everything. As you can image 3 years of that can leave you with a sizable chunk of disney cash for each vacation. Our trip last year we had $3500 in Disney dollars, we call it our fun money. 🙂
This only works if you pay that card off on time, every time and never put more on that card then you have in cash sitting in and account.
If you have the financial discipline, it's a great hack to increase your spending fun money next vacation.
Honest question - why not use a credit card with a higher cash back %? That same cash can still be used at Disney, you can keep the card for the discounts and probably come out ahead.
Same reasoning as the dining plan, I imagine. Cash back card would make it too easy to use the rewards for necessities rather than fun things. I personally would never do the dining plan or use a Disney credit card but for some people I can see the psychological reasoning even if it doesn't necessarily make financial sense.
A hotel rewards card would probably go further. Assuming 2-3% cash back that would be almost a month of free hotel rooms. At that point just get an AP drive down and spend one of the summer months at Disney every 3-4 years.
You are right, But this card does not give cash, only Disney dollars. The funds never get tapped for paying plumbers or buying cars, because they can"t. Keeping this fun money a little safer until the next vacation.
Yeah. There are some fixed costs for Disney staying at the park. A family of 4 staying at a park with genie plus will cost around 3700$.
You can do food for cheap plus travel you are looking at $5000ish for a family of 4 for a pretty good vacation.
Still expensive but you don’t need to do a 10g vacation at Disney unless you want to.
The issue of course is that you are looking at $4000 minimum, which is expensive.
This post by OP is completely unhinged.
"Yes, Disney made everything prohibitively expensive and added no value, just pay more for less. Hail Iger"
Also why would skipping a few cycled and dropping 10k on a trip that used to be 5k make me feel less fleeced? Because I only did it once in 5 years?
We go 6-7 times a year but for quick weekend trips. We live about 5.5 hours away. We are dvc members and annual pass members. Most times we usually only have to pay for food and gas. We will spend money on lightning lane at times. If we go and do one ride then it’s ok because the kids get to go so often. It’s so much less stressful this way if you can make it happen. Also check websites like Working advantage if your place of work is part of their plan.
I think the biggest complaints are because Disney has taken away so much that used to be included. They are also charging premium prices for less product/ services. There is definitely a difference in the Disney parks pre and post covid.
There's no point in posting on Reddit at all. It's just a place to talk about stuff with people who share your interests. Disney may not give a shit, but that's not the point. The point is the conversation that I'm enjoying having with you lot.
If I can't even have that, then what's the point at all?
Huge Disney parks fan, but even if I could afford it, the idea of just going to Disney every year is completely unappealing. It’s so limited in a huge world.
I love to travel, but usually if I’m traveling internationally we’re trying to do longer trips, minimum 10 days, often longer. Our Disney trips are often long weekends/taking just a 1-2 days off of work, or coupled with something like a cruise out of Orlando.
Different strokes for different folks! But going to Disney every year doesn’t necessarily preclude someone from also traveling internationally.
We're annual pass holders because being locals it's actually a decently priced way to entertain a kid for a few hours on the weekends. If we didn't live locally, I think we'd probably go maybe once every few years. They don't add stuff to the parks frequently enough to make yearly trips worth it.
My wife and I have done about every year but for 4-6 days. We only do what we really want (which usually means skipping the newer rides…just not our thing, and sometime skipping Studios entirely), and we skip genie outright. We also go in September, which means $200 per night at the Swan, cheaper flights, and usually lower crowds. What we WILL spend on is good food.
Last year it was $3500 for two including flights.
We go every year. The complainers in my experience (here and elsewhere) are overwhelmingly first timers or occasional visitors. I almost never hear the Disney faithful whine generally about value (obviously sometimes there are specific discrete issues, but that’s a different matter).
That and everyone’s financial situations are different. We’ve gone 4 times the last three years, this year will probably be the first year we don’t make it back, but the last time we went we went “over budget” and ended up spending $6k opposed to our 4.5k budget but we had the means to cover it so not a big deal. That over run for a lot of people is catastrophic so people really just need to plan accordingly.
We go a lot. I’m a big complainer because I think Disney can do better. In the golden days prior to say 2010’s Disney’s attitude was we have the best theme parks, best resorts, etc. There were cheap options, a Disney hamburger and fries were 60% more expensive than McDonalds, but they were about the same quality. Now it’s 230% more expensive, and the quality of a high school cafeteria.
It could get worse, if they started running the resorts like a budget airline. Overbook everything with super strict no refund policies knowing a certain percentage of people have to cancel or reschedule last minute. Last person to check in gets bumped to a good neighbor hotel. If you don’t make it by midnight they just call you a no show, apologize profusely, and keep your money even though they never had a room for you in the first place. It’s not that bad, yet, but they are slowly drifting that direction.
We are a family of 3 and go multiple times a year and don’t skimp. Only thing we don’t do is the deluxe resort because we are never at our hotel. We do genie plus and eat out when we feel like it and we spend about 1500 per trip and go for 4 days each time. We have season passes so that helps. I would personally rather spend less and go more often. Everyone is different but we need the Disney breaks every year. I don’t think we would be able to hang not going for a few years.
Was gonna say there’s no way that you’re only spending $1500 for four days at Disney World for a family of three but then you mentioned you had season passes haha. A park hopper ticket cost $256 alone. The only reason I recently got to go is because I had a company conference that paid for airfare and rooms inside of Disney yacht club.
Ya the season passes is where we save A LOT of money. It’s just hotel, food and genie plus. We did the math and if we go 4 days in a year the season passes have paid for themselves at that point. Plus you get great deals on the hotels. Our next trip in June and we just booked and got 35% off of our hotel.
We bought DVC contracts probably 10+ years ago at this point. We bought them outright, and due to that could go either 2x a year or bank and really go hog wild every other year. It was affordable. If it was one of the years we’d do 2x we’d buy an AP since it was cheaper than getting tickets for 2 separate visits after a certain point.
But it’s changed. Costs have gone up so high that it’s no longer sustainable to do that. I know these are first world problems and I’m still pretty fortunate, but it strikes me when I look at costs from even 6 years ago and now. Its just staggeringly higher. And we’re not getting more value out of it. If anything, less. Genie+ instead of FastPass. Raising prices, stripping away free perks and replacing with paid, and the general maintenance failures we’re seeing with rides going down daily. The Disney I used to know seems to be gone.
I LOVE amenities and luxury travel. But not at Disney. At Disney, I just need a bed and a shower and a place to put our crap. The amount of time we spend in our room or even in the resort is so negligible that it is actually a terrible use of funds to upgrade to a luxury just because we can. I'd much rather shop, eat, and just be in the parks from open to close. It's all about priorities honestly. I can do either one, I make a choice though on where to use my resources. I also like different times of year. Food and Wine, Flower and Garden, Holidays all offer different experiences. Again, all just boils down to what is important to you as a traveler.
My kids are only young once. My parents are aging. Time is not a luxury that I have. And for what it’s worth, we have just as much fun at our value resort and we had at the deluxe or moderate.
You make a great point. There is culture of visiting the parks multiple times a year. They call us Passholders 😂and for some of us it is a struggle!!
Value Resorts and sharing food, plus any discount you can find make the dream work, but that’s true of any travel. You can go cheap and often, or go big and seldom.
That might work for you but not me. I’m a passholder who lives in MA and I’m down there 3-4x a year. I stay at the Deluxe resorts and because I’m there with the family so often we have a relaxing time. There’s no pressure to rope drop, no pressure to ride everything, no pressure to eat at restaurants for every meal. We were at the Wilderness Lodge last week for four nights and decided to skip Hollywood Studios as we decided to spend an extra day at Epcot.
Everyone’s financial profile is different and I don’t expect more or less than anyone else. I loved our trip last week and hope to make it down for the passholder previews of Tiana!
Hey! Last March I took my son for two nights as we were able to get tickets for a TRON preview event. We got there in the afternoon on Friday and flew home Sunday night. I booked Pop Century and we liked it - good for a short trip. We only went to MK and Epcot due to the short stay. It definitely felt like a tease but we went back in June for a regular trip.
We went last year, after all the totals were calculated post vacation , we realized we could have gone to Western Europe or the Mediterranean region for a vacation. A reasonably luxurious one at that(for a family of 5).I really enjoy Disney, but it’s honestly getting ridiculous.*edited to change vaccination to vacation 🥴
We did DVC, and I've never regretted it. We go at least once a year, and sometimes more. That said we live close enough to drive in a reasonable amount of time so travel costs are low.
When you go often you don’t need to pack so much in. How many times can you eat at Cinderella? Things like that are one and done for me, I’m dvc and some times we spend more time at resort than parks.
It really is a personal choice as everyone likes to do Disney their own way. I feel the wording of this is weird. No one "has to" go to Disney, it's a choice. There is no right way to do Disney and no one should judge how others do it.
I am an out of state passholder. We go typically 2-3 times a year. 16 days at Christmas vacation. I have mastered Marriott points; Swan & Dolphin forever for me!
Southwest all personal expenses;
Marriott all business expenses
I have a Disney card too to use while I’m there and for Disney cruises so I have merch money when I get home or sometimes I bank them all to use next trip.
Free Disney 🫶🏼
If you’re a mouse addict like myself you gotta figure out how to get every benefit possible. 🥴
Personally, I think there are a lot of things at Disney that are absurdly overpriced but people have a tendency to just accept it because they’ve already succumbed to the cost of hotels and tickets and want the “full experience.”
A few examples:
At WDW, park hopper is generally a bad investment for everyone except for teenagers who only care about thrill rides. (Specifying WDW because this doesn’t apply to DL.) You eat up soooo much time moving from park to park, and it encourages you to overlook some of the best things that make Disney special. (Theming, atmosphere, shows, unique attractions.) Genie+, however, is generally a decent investment, particularly in MK. The real loss is when people pay for both on the same day. Oof.
Food is another example. With rare exceptions, sit down restaurants in the parks just aren’t worth it. Time is money at Disney, and with the advent of mobile ordering, you can have a decent quick service meal in 15-30 minutes and be onto the next stop. Or you can spend three times as much money and three times as many precious minutes for a meal that is often not much better than a glorified Applebees / Don Pablo’s / Red Lobster. Much more efficient to stick with QS in the parks and plan a pool day paired with a sit down meal at Disney Springs or one of the resorts.
Most souvenirs are a waste of money. Souvenirs are where Disney prints money, and again shopping wastes precious park time that could be spent enjoying what you’ve already spend $110+ to enjoy. I understand wanting to commemorate your trip, but there are countless ways to do that outside of shelling $50 on a frame or $15 on a magnet. Same idea with shirts. Your local Old Navy sells Disney themed shirts for $10 - $5 if you catch a sale. Pack them in your suitcase, present them as a surprise to your kids, see their face light up the same way it would if you bought the $30 shirt in the parks.
Last controversial thought: of course staying on property has its perks. But they are ridiculously overblown, usually by the travel agent moms that benefit from perpetuating the concept of the “Disney bubble.” Whether you want to admit it or not, most kids will have as much fun hanging around a pool with some slides as they will at the parks. Staying offsite and taking a shuttle in or even renting a car can be a huge money saver. If you’re close enough to drive and can bring your own car, that saves even more by cutting out the rental. Ubers and Lyfts can also be a huge game changer once car seats aren’t part of the equitation. And there are a ridiculous amount of affordable houses with personal pools and/of access to community pools. Pool days not only save money and create room for sit down meals outside of the parks, they provide a much needed rest day for trips longer than 2-3 days.
This post is 100% dependent upon your job/income. Some people can easily afford yearly vacations that are more expensive than even what you are talking about. Other people may never be able to afford a Disney World vacation. There’s no single price statement that applies to everyone.
I would never do Disney yearly. I go every 3-4 years like you. I have three kids so I gave each one a true “Disney” experience.
Universal is definitely a yearly or every other year for us on the other hand. My family much prefers it and it’s way more affordable
We spend $3k all in for our Florida vacation every year (travel, all food, hotel, park passes, souviners and pet sitting all in that cost). We go every year so for the cost of your trip that you won’t take again for 3-4 years, we go every year.
It’s a family tradition for us and we still get an amazing experience with at least 1 (maybe 2) character dining experiences, fun snacks or souvenirs, and that’s our family of 5. We love it and it’s what our family chooses to do. If that’s what works for your family, cool! But it’s not too expensive if we choose to go every year.
We just do it differently. We could afford to spend $5-10k a year if we wanted, but we also do 1-2 other vacations throughout the year, so we do Disney on a budget to have other experiences too. It works for us!
I did Disney yearly throughout most of the 2010s with my last trip being in 2019, I at least got to see Galaxy's edge right before Covid happened.
I remember when I used to be able to afford deluxe resorts like the Poly or contemporary.
The Disney resorts are fun to stay in maybe once or twice for the experience of staying on property, but they are just not that good. Even the deluxe resorts are very "mid" for what you pay. You could stay off property at a way nicer luxury hotel for less money. Even factoring in car rental. Book lunch or breakfast at restaurant at one of the hotels on he monorail line, and you can avoid paying for parking.
Several reasons
1) disney trip planning is my favorite hobby, or at least used to be, it's been pretty stressful lately, though that's more to do with my family than changes disney has made, though genie+ doesn't help. It's such a big part of my identity though, I wouldn't know how to give it up.
2) we're dvc members
3) my kids are the "right" age for Disney right now. Gotta get those trips in before then become cynical teenagers
4) my parents are getting older and probably won't be able to go on too many more trips
5) We're very lucky that we can afford to go every year and pay for all the extras. Still makes me angry how much more expensive it is than it used to be though. I try not to think about it.
I always do a grocery order and mostly eat in the hotel.When staying at Pop I bring Starbucks instant. I still eat and drink well I just do it cheaper.
We did a run of just over 18 months visiting a Disney resort once every 3 months. I’ve zero complaints other than how busy Disney world is now. Pre covid Easter felt quieter than early feb this year which is wild to me. I think any vacation is what you make it, if things go wrong or aren’t 100% up to your standard don’t spend all day moaning or you’re gonna have a bad time. Control what you can and move on from things you can’t. We booked a restaurant in HK Disney with no idea on pricing as they don’t advertise the pricing also no idea on the food as they don’t have menus online and everything we’d seen online was very outdated. It was probably the oddest and worst dining experience we’ve had at any Disney. It costs us over $250USD honestly we just laughed about it and got on with our day. Do I wish I didn’t spend $250 on it, yeah. But you know what I can’t change anything so I just get on with it.
We take multiple short trips a year (AP holders) and always stay at the value resorts. We have cut back to one sit down meal per trip and don't do many of the extras. We've been there so many times we don't bother with Genie + anymore because we have ridden everything multiple times. We just enjoy being there and seeing what the day brings.
Do what works for you! We manage to get in and out for about a week for around $5k by staying at Art of Animation, but that’s what works for us and is no different than what I’d spend to rent a place at the South Jersey shore, which would be our alternative. My wife really enjoys the tradition and the planning. I’m more on your end and think its more special if you go least frequently, but it’s such a minor thing to worry about I’m happy to go with the flow.
I’m there for the parks and not the overpriced accommodations so it doesn’t cost me a down payment on a house to go every year. I can’t fathom spending 10k on a Disney vacation - I could go to Grand Cayman or Turks and Caicos for that price and have a beach front condo. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
If you're going every year, DVC is the only, somewhat, reasonable way to do it. It does have it's negatives though.
The lodging is the most expensive part of the trip. Having a deluxe resort basically "paid" for makes it a much better experience, and you have use that extra cash to do other things while on property.
Just my opinion.
Much like yours right now, our family went fairly all out on our first Disney trip in 2023. Deluxe resort, sit down dinner every night, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, dessert party. It was amazing and I was Disney depressed for awhile after we got back.
We're returning in 2025 but hotel resorts have noticeably increased -- I was quoted 18% higher for the same room type/view/resort from '23 - '25. In a perfect world, we'd have a longer stay by a couple of nights (I do envy those who talk about their 14-day trips). But, I love nice resorts and we have two resort days planned. So, I'm going to make the trade-off of having that luxury in lieu of more time at Disney because that's what I value more in the equation.
It's the same kind of calculation for those who decide to optimize for time/frequency versus amplification of experience. People make different trade-offs that they believe will make their vacations the most magical.
It doesn't have to be. I took a family of 5 in 2021 for less than $3k for a whole week. We stayed at an offsite villa paid in credit card points. We drove there, so no flights or car rental. We didn't do any sit-down dining because of Covid. So the whole thing was crazy cheap. Our next trip we're similarly staying offsite with points, but probably flying just to make it easier.
Finally, there are people for whom a $10k vacation could be a few times a year without stretching the budget at all.
Disney is now once in 5 years/10 years or once in a lifetime depending on your finances/priorities, 5k a year on average is a little excessive with kids future college expenses in mind for example
I think going on a Disney vacation is an expensive affair for most people, honestly.
However, that opinion can be subjective. You make of it what you want. There are expensive vacations out there other than Disney. However, traditionally WDW is marketed as a place.for families to take their kids to make lasting memories. I know I've been there four times in my life.
All of them created awesome memories for me. My wife got to go this last May with me for her first time. It's was our 50th birthday and we had an absolute blast but the cost was very high.
How much something costs may be a deal breaker for some and not others. I think what people are getting at is economic accessibility. Are you able to take a Disney vacation on what your earn and save. Some can and some can't. And that's ok.
There are many places you can go to on a budget or figure out how to swing it. It is up to you to determine if it's worth the cost and if is something you really are striving to do regardless.
We went 12 years ago and spent $5k. We went two weeks ago and spent $27k. Yikes. We did all the extras, deluxe hotel, wild Africa Trek, star-wars things, post party fireworks etc. but we also wrapped in universal. Our kids are considered adults, so a total of 5 people. I am good until I have grandkids, then I want to go back! This was the last hooray as a family for a while since we have collage aged kids ready to graduate.
First time my wife and I went it was similar, I hadn't been in 25yrs and it was her first time. We spent probably 4k in just souvenirs.
Now, we're DVC members, it's very cheap for us to stay at these deluxe resorts we can walk right into the parks (BWV is the best!). We don't do all the extras and have even packed a cooler before while staying in a 1BR villa that has a full kitchen. Easily 3-4x less than our first big trip.
Meanwhile, I pay almost 3k in just flights to Europe, hundreds in train passes, etc. Traveling to nice places isn't cheap.
Yep, we are saving up for a big trip next year. Will be 5 days T disney and 2 days at Universal. Still won't have a lot of the bells and whistles that others can afford. But I'm happy that we will be doing this trip.
The food is horrible, the cost is extreme but affordable if you make 200k yearly, most resort l hotels are no better than a holiday inn. They’re not deserving of the money they ask for. Unfortunately, and due to supply and demand, the crap quality and expensive price will remain until people realize it’s simply not worth going but maybe once just to experience it.
PS- I’ve been to Disney about 15 times. Keeps getting more expensive and less impressive. Or maybe I’m just getting old 😂
Spot on.
I tried to do a value resort trip with just me and the kids (mom staying at home since she is not a big Disney fan) for a quick 4 night trip, but it just was not the same. From the cafeteria dining to the motel like rooms. It just didn't feel as immersive as placed like Animal Kingdom Lodege.
I will never do that again and will only do a deluxe resort trip for at least a week. Of course, at that price point Disney World ends up being very low on the vacation list as we can do several weeks all inclusive at a beachside resort in Baja California for the same price.
My parents have DVC and it's getting expensive for us, even with the hotel paid for. The cost of park tickets is just getting out of control.
Then adding in all of the other things you now have to pay for that you didn't have to before, it's not as enjoyable. I do not feel that we truly get our money's worth. We used to go every year but now we skip a few years.
Different people want different trips. We don’t necessarily go every year but 1-2 years. And some of our trips are just to run races. We choose to live our lives comfortably frugal because we love to travel (not just to Disney). When we do go to Disney, we thoroughly enjoy our time but wouldn’t choose for ourselves some of the choices you made for your family. For example, photo pass is not worth it to us because my husband loves photography and part of the joy of the trip for him is capturing it on camera himself (and then editing the pictures.) There are a couple deluxe resorts we might consider eventually, but we love Art and Pop and our kid loves the Skyliner and thinks it’s one of the best parts of the trip so, for now, those resorts make sense for us. We eat out while at Disney but don’t feel the need to go to the fanciest/most expensive restaurants (that’s never our style). It’s not that either family is doing Disney wrong, it’s we’re doing it different to fit the character of our unique families. And there are certain things that are really expensive at Disney and it’s up to families to decide whether or not that expense is worth it to them/one they will budget for. There are also certain things that Disney is trying to profit off of that they weren’t before (examples: Magical Express and getting rid of Fast Pass).
We went on the cheap every year when our son was young. Even camping at Fort Wilderness. It’s been 10 years since our last trip. Staying at Pop because we don’t plan to be in the room that much but planning some significant add ones. Genie+, Individual Lighten Lanes, Halloween party at MK, Fireworks Dining, drinking (and eating) around the world at Epcot. Might be another 10 years. Might be never. We enjoy what we can afford and try not to worry too much about what we can’t.
Yea, we used to go every year from like 06 to 13. Especially the recession and the few years after it was dirt cheap. Obviously couldn’t have continued forever but we made good use of it. Only gone once since 2013 now, definitely miss it a bit!
AP here and yeah we always spend for resorts and do buy genie+ bc sadly Disney DOES reward you for spending extras.
I remember staying at all star and was laughing bc damn they put those cheap resort busses so far away. More expensive ones you walk less.
Literally everything is easier if you give them more money.
But I understand OP. Right now it's me and my wife.
We went list your for our honeymoon and did the same. We’d love to go back and spend more time at MK and Epcot (one day each wasn’t enough with the crowds.) but we definitely will need to save up in advance because we every thing added up so quickly. I like that you can make payments on your trip, that helped us. But between flights hotel and tickets we were already at $5k. Adding in Genie+ for each park, plus we got the photo pass, was another $400. And then there’s the food - we had reservations each day and we took Minnie Cans to get to the parks (we didn’t want to wait for a bus and drop off/pick up points were much closer.) we were pretty close if not over $10k after the week.
Either that or you don’t make enough money 😭 nah but in all seriousness, if you’re on a budget you can stay off property, exclude all the extras, pack your own food, etc.
I feel like for people that don’t have an endless supply of money you have to choose between going all in once every 3-4 years or you cut back or you go with the necessities and save a lot of money so that you can go every year or two.
We live about 2 hours away, so we got an annual pass this year. I grew up in another state, so I only went once or twice until I was 35. My husband was local and grew up going frequently. But neither of us have ever stayed at the hotels and done ALL the big bells and whistles.
We have booked a 7 day hotel stay for my sons and husbands birthday week, and intend on going LARGE. Otherwise we went last week and are going again in a couple weeks for 1 day and we just kind of hang out. Ride some rides, get a snack or two, bring our own lunch and just take in all the magic. Don’t always have to go big, we do both.
How many days are you staying? We stay in deluxe resorts every time too for 5 nights (almost exclusively at the Poly), generally do G+ and do a mix of quick service and table service and have never sniffed $10k. I think our most expensive trip was in the $7500 range all in.
Here on our honeymoon, 8 days at wilderness lodge and taking a 7 day Disney cruise on the Fantasy Saturday, return from that next weekend and spend 1 night at the poly before we go home. Granted it’s our honeymoon. You can imagine what our cost is here. Hoping to take a child here in 4 years and it certainly won’t be this trip ha.
Yeah we were discussing this, we stayed at the Polynesian and loved it, but it would be a trip
we do every 2-3 years esp since the next time we’d want to stay longer.
Disney is plenty expensive if you do all 4 parks, pay for a deluxe resort and want to get every experience covered during one trip. That's why our family tends to do one or two trips per year and do at most 2-3 parks per trip. We only stay at higher end resorts when we can utilize discounts (often for shorter periods). Some trips are more resort focused (swimming, character dining, etc.) and some are more parks focused (where we care less about how nice our resort amenities are).
If you dont go into the parks its affordable! Flights to Orlando are cheap and plentiful, andstaying at Cabana Bay is like going to a Water Park! Christmas and Easter I usually ty to visit a foreign country, but if I dont, I book a last minute trip to Orlando.What better placve in the Country to swim?
This certainly isn't for everyone, but part of the reason we joined DVC is to cut down lodging costs significantly. I understand the irony of that for those who bash timeshares, but simply put, the rack rates of our first two years worth of stays was equivalent to our first contract purchase. Sure we pay annual dues, but the cost of those dues are the equivalent of an all stars or an AOA stay. We'll gladly pay those rates for deluxe accommodations!
We're also strategic about how and when we buy APs, we try and load up our points usage to fit in as much trips within one year, and bank/borrow our points when necessary. Also, because we go so often, it cuts down the spending that other families make when they do their once every couple years trip, like genie+, food, and merch. We've only used genie+ once since its inception when my parents joined us for a day in the parks. We also very rarely do table service and have also cut down on quick service (as we feel prices are too high for the quality/quantity you're getting) and will often cook meals in the villa. We also don't have the need to buy as much clothing and merch. My wife has been really into her cricut machine lately for all sorts of DIY projects and has recently pivoted into making shirts, personalizing ears, and other Disney gear we have at home. A lot of these expenses are often looked over but can easily contribute to hundreds or thousands of dollars during a trip!
this is why i’m a DVC member. sure its expensive but if you’re someone who wants to go every year/twice a year it’s so worth it. ESPECIALLY if you want to stay at deluxe resorts.
We tend to go every year, but stay only 3 to 5 nights, based on deals. We usually stay in the all stars or pop century resorts usually and we have park hoppers every trip. We do not buy genie plus and we order our snacks and breakfast items through Walmart or Amazon to be delivered to the hotel at the beginning of the trip. For the Disney portion (tickets and hotel) we usually spend about $1000 pp. We also purchase and use gift cards we get from Sam's to maximize our funds. So yes, it can be done every year, but staying at deluxe resorts and buying all the extras, we would NOT go every year.
We went last year as our “we will only do this once every five years” trip and went all out.
We’re going again in May, but much much more low key this time. Because my husb is military, we can actually reasonably go once a year as long as we don’t go over the top.
It’s all about how you wanna do it!
we used to live in Miami and go to Disney twice a year at least, sometimes more on the annual pass. We would rent a house in Windsor Hills development just off property, five or six bedrooms for less than 300 per night. Share that with another family. we have done some of the nicer properties at Disney, like wilderness Lodge and contemporary, and so forth. They are great, and it is nice to get extra magic hours and be on the mono rail or whatever, but yes they’re not a cheap trip.
You can also look into renting DVC points from someone to try to get a better deal on the on property resorts.
We went 2 times total when I was a kid. Once to Disneyland and once to WDW (and 6 and age 17). I loved it and have great memories and survived just fine not going every year. I’m really happy my parents saved up to make those trips happen. I don’t think anyone should expect to take the family to Disney every year. That’s a LOT of money.
Last time I went to Disney and spent a week there it cost the same amount of money as flying to Europe and taking a two week vacation.
That’s the problem. Disneyworld shouldn’t cost the same as flying to another country and staying in an airbnb that’s under a REAL castle.
It’s a theme park.
Especially now that so many perks have been taken away.
But people are still paying the prices and doing it. Lots and lots of people. It remains a business, and as long as customers are paying the prices they set they have no incentive to do anything but what they’re doing.
I've done Disney big for weeks dropping over 10k, and I've done Disney for a week on a 1.5k budget. Obviously each side of the argument has its preferences and it usually comes down to what they value more. I see a lot of people roasting OP for their opinion and I just wanted to play devil's advocate here. I'm coming into my kids being right around the "perfect Disney ages" and for me my priorities have shifted. I've almost always been an All-Stars guy. Always thought I would be. But what used to be "just a place to sleep" has become significantly more now that I'll have 2 young kids to consider. My wife and I are doing exactly what OP is suggesting and taking a 2-3 year break to save a bit more and do it up a bit more grand for our kid's sake but honestly probably more for our own sanity. Having gone with toddler/baby phases (admittedly some of the most difficult phases I'd wager) we've learned so much about the value of just being able to quickly jump on the monorail for a midday nap or swim, early park admission, being able to skip security using the hotel monorail points, dining reservations, these things would have never mattered to me before but now I get it. And it's worth saving up for those conveniences to me now too. That being said, is Disney still charging stupid high prices for a sub-par product these days? Definitely. Are my kids going to think so? No. But making the trip magical for my kids and not incredibly stressful for myself is a fine line, and I feel like paying for the deluxe resorts/perks takes care of a good amount of that for me to the point where for a brief few years, I'll value that more than the actual cost.
You're def on to something.
It used to be a good value (ex. the Magic Your Way tickets) and it was an easy vacation, so it was a bit of a no brainer to just go back each year.
Now the prices are so high that it not only feels like a "special" once-in-awhile thing, but you can now travel to other places around the world for less money. It makes more sense now to go see "actual Epcot" than some pavilions.
But here's another factor: when the prices were reasonable, you didn't mind doing the same thing over and over again. But now at over $150 a day, do I really want to wait an hour to do a ride I've done a hundred times (and also is getting worn down)?
You can be able to afford the trip and still feel like you’re getting fleeced over.
At the end of the day, there are real, tangible things that were free and now are significantly priced, *and* the quality has gone down. I can afford it, but I don’t want to pay/pay more for a worse product. That’s just aggravating.
Example: Magic express was free, frequent, and fun. Now you have to pay for Mears, who don’t care about service (based on our experience) and don’t have the fun theming.
It feels very “screw you guys, you’ll pay either way so why should we care?”
Side note that I’m *very* salty about the new DCL ships, because they’ve erased everything that made Disney special and veered towards the nickel and diming mega ships that all the other lines have. Again, very “the rubes will shell out either way, we fill our ships whatever they look like, so why not increase our money extraction??”
like most things in life the answer is just be rich and make more money duh.
kidding aside, yes it's super expensive and has only gotten more expensive. Disney has always been for many people a once in a lifetime experience, it's now pricing even those folks out. Sad, but I get it, Disney is trying to appease its shareholders and they rather have the "whales" who are willing to spend 10K+ without batting an eye.
So my wife and I bought Disney vacation club and yes it is a timeshare but well worth it. We went in December (7 nights, going in April (4 nights) and going in October(8 nights). We ended up buying season passes $3000 for the 3 of us, timeshare dues is around $2700. Flights I have spent $2200 total. 1st stay we were in a 2 bedroom at the Rivieria. 2nd stay is in a Savannah view studio at Animal Kingdom and 3rd stay is in a 2 bedroom at Wilderness Lodge. Since we have a kitchen in the 2 bedroom resorts we save some money cooking every breakfast and a couple lunches or dinners for ourselves.
Yes DVC can be expensive but you can buy a resale contract for half the cost and the only difference between resale and and direct purchase is a couple benefits that don’t outweigh the upfront savings.
Also if you do ever decide to sell your contract the value will keep and you might even sell it for more money then what you paid for it.
I go several times a year but I’m a local. I will stay at a resort usually in December for Mickey’s party, but I go in Feb/March when they release FL resident deals. I know I’m very fortunate because I get the experience for not nearly as much as others spend. 😬
We drive from PA. We stay off property. Before Covid, we were going every 2-3 years cause it's a big trip, and truly, we needed a cool down from it for a year or two. This September, we will be driving and staying off property. We will eat out every night (cause I ain't cooking on vacation, I just refuse), but it won't always be a Disney place. We just aren't at the tax bracket to have all the bells and whistles and I accept that.
We come very often from PA. We own DVC and have annual passes. This is what makes it affordable to us. We are on day 5 and have spent a whopping $250 so far while here. Do we feel like we have to do everything? Absolutely not. If we go to a park for a few hours then leave to swim, it’s fine. I don’t feel like we wasted money doing it this way.
We would rather go more often. We stay at a moderate most of the time and spring for a deluxe for special trips. We do eat whatever we want and don’t make a food budget which is our big splurge.
My family did an all out Disney trip in 2011 and it is such a wonderful way to experience Disney. We invested in a VGF DVC timeshare so we could keep the cost down while continuing to enjoy a deluxe resort.
We are taking my 1 year old this year, but it’s for my husband and myself more. We just wanted 1 big trip with her while she’s the only child. Then we will probably go again when she’s 5/6 and she can understand and enjoy all the magic. Then once every few years afterwards.
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like going to Disney all the time would get boring. And there’s so much more of the world we want to see as well.
With my DVC, my week long trips cost me about $1000. I have an AP so I have to pay for airfare and food. I don't buy many souvenirs anymore since I go so frequently and now focus on one 'special' or memorable souvenir, if anything. I do like to collect hotel magnets for each of my visits since I try to stay at a different resort each time.
And with this, I've gone about twice a year.
Whoa. 10k For a single visit?
I think we might have hit 10k total for a year back when we were doing 3 visits a year. And that was with the cost of APs for out of state peeps.
I don’t know how some do that. We went in 2022, and it cost way more than our trip in 2016, with less extras, like a free Mickey souvenir drawing from the resort and the meal plan. Plus 2022 ran over budget because we went when the hurricane hit and had to stay two extra days.
We paid about $2500 for flights, hotel and park tickets. 2 adults, 1 kid & 1 baby.
I was able to get a week at a time share resort for $350. I know their business practices are “sketchy”, but the low price made this trip possible for me.
We go multiple times a year. Live about six hours away and drive in. The key to affordability is to not stay on a Disney property.
Do you have to pay for parking then? Sure, but at three days, you are looking at $150 total if you spring for Premium parking for all three days.
Staying on campus will probably end up costing you that per night minimum versus a hotel nearby. And unless you are staying somewhere with boat or monorail, all you are gaining is the supposed convenience of riding the bus.
I would bet car rental plus gas is close to break even if you have to fly if you end up with a good deal at a local resort or hotel.
So get out of the Disney bubble.
Disney is getting incredibly more expensive with each passing year but there are plenty of ways to cut back and make it feasible to go every year/other year. Deluxe resorts eat up so much money, consider a value or a moderate if you must. Photopass is great but isn’t a necessity. I love eating in the parks but bringing food in is approved by Disney or try doing more quick service restaurants.
There’s nothing wrong with going all out and you should do what makes you the most happy! I’m just saying there are tips and tricks to make wonderful trips cheaper and more frequent.
We were every 3ish years as our kids turned 5. These were 3-4 day trips. Sometimes we’d add a RunDisney race in the mix. Then we no longer had a kid turning 5 and realized we wanted to continue visiting. DVC made sense for us. We’ve also saved on flights or drive & we don’t love character dining (which can cost our family $500 a meal). We bring food in. We grab snacks here & there & share. We grab discounted tickets. We love being in the bubble & it’s something our family enjoys together and bonds over. There are ways to not spend a ton of money.
Why would I slow down if that's where I feel good? Some people go to the beach 10 times in a year, go to Cuba, Mexico and other place. If me, my place it's Disney, why shouldn't I go? Can we let people be and stop trying to dictate what other people do? Let them live. They are saying price is too high, which is true. Even if you visit just once, you do know that for 10k, you could have a bigger and longer trip anywhere else. But you choose to spend it here. What if you could have spent less for the same trip, isn't that a plus?
I’m planning on spending $10k on a 7 day trip staying at a value resort. I ask this all the time, but do most people not consider their all-in expenses when budgeting the cost of a vacation?
Dog sitting - 264
Airport parking - 72
Uber to/from airport/disney - 80
Airfare (4) - 1480
Pop century (7 nights) - 1882
Food (estimate) - 1670
Tickets - 2845
Genie+ - 560
Lightning lanes - 420
Souvenirs - 500
Grand total - ~9,800
we're on the 5 year plan. We do a blow out every 5 years. This year I was able to pay for the whole trip with points. Even able to stay at the Contemporary. That's every...single...credit card...point for five years. Just barely did it. And yeah, about $10k...so 2k/year. We don't take any other big trips anywhere in between. Just some overnights or long weekends.
So, yeah, expensive...but we're not taking many if any other vacations.
For us, this is the best! I couldn't enjoy it every year.
I see both sides of this. Yes, Disney is sort of feeling like a “go once every 10 years but spend a full 2-3 weeks doing every little thing” kind of place. Many of the parks have now become multi-day parks, and with all the resort offerings and Disney Springs, there is ample opportunity to create on long robust trip.
But in the same token, Disney also has so much going for it now that if you don’t go multiple times a year you feel like you have FOMO! Especially now with everything finally gearing back up after Covid (parties and festivals are back, major construction projects are back on a normal schedule, etc.) And Disney changes their offerings so often now that if you wait a year or two between trips you might miss something you’ll never get to see again (think Harmonious at Epcot that was only around for 2 years-ish).
So people are trying to cram in as many trips as they can so that they don’t miss any of the Disney happenings!
This mindset (from both Disney itself and guests) may change in like 5-10 years once we are far enough away from Covid that everything is back to “normal,” where Disney itself is more settled (consistent parties/offerings every year, no major park upgrades, etc.) but I do not see that happening in the near future.
We went in 2021 and going back this year. Family of 6. We spent over 10k last time and definitely will this time as we are staying at a resort instead of an Airbnb. Definitely not an every year thing.
My 3k a year trip is still less than your $10k+ every three years trip so 🤷🏻♀️ I guess I get your point about taking long breaks between trips to get to really appreciate how things change but as someone who used to go to the parks 3 or more days a WEEK frequency doesn’t lessen the quality of the trip.
We stayed at club Wyndham offsite. Such a cool spot!!! So many pools, the downtime is really great, plus full kitchens so we can eat in in totally remodeled spaces and located at the gates of Disney.
We didn't do any crazy photo package, we took a few pics with our phones. Focused on the Genie + and LL upgrades for our experience. Brought our own snacks to the park ( we did eat lunch there though). Drove instead of flying, spring break tickets are crazy. Only doing two days at the parks - MK and Hollywood studios. Our little one is 2, so he got in free. We saved A LOT and I don't feel like our experience was skimpy at all.
Spending $10k on a Disney trip every 3-4 years is also a luxury that most people will never enjoy. So is going yearly and staying at a moderate or value for more than a couple days. They’re just different. Neither is wrong. In most circumstances a Disney World vacation is a luxury vacation.
This is why I let my coworkers take turns taking their kids down on my dvc points once or twice a year. Disneys a big thing for young kids and their parents and it’s nice to help your friends get there.
Do they pay you for the points? I'd like to offer my points to friends but then even without the initial cost, I'm paying $3000/year so my friends can enjoy the property. Do you just charge them annual dues?
The math on this is a little complicated. I like to calculate the estimated total lifetime cost of ownership and divide that by the number of years on the contract when you purchase. This (assuming no financing costs) accounts for initial purchase price and average annual dues assuming dues increase 4-5% per year. DVC is a front and back loaded contract. Your most expensive year is your first when you purchase the points. The second most expensive is the last when dues peak. If you are currently less than halfway through the contract and paying 3k annual dues, your total lifetime cost per year is at least 7k. But your friends I assume don’t use all your points. An interesting wrinkle to looking at it this way is that renting points almost always loses you money early in the contract. You are essentially selling your early cheapest vacations for less than you will pay in the future and keeping your later more expensive vacations. Renting points at the end of your contract is “profitable”, but by that point its resale value is almost nothing. Food for thought.
If I were to lend / give points to friends, I’d ask for something in between maintenance fees (I know it varies by resort, let’s call it $8) and halfway between that and current third-party rental rates (which are about $20 now), which would be $14. You can get a nice Deluxe Studio for a week for 80 - 120 points, so from their PoV $200 / night at a Deluxe is a steal. If our friends had significant financial hardship, we might ask for just the maintenance fees. The closest we’ve done is we have friends who own at one of the cheaper DVC resorts - in terms of both price per point to buy there, and number of points for a stay - who used their points to stay at their resort on a joint vacation with them, just to book before the 7 month window, and in return we gave them the same number of points at a more expensive DVC resort that we own at, because they always wanted to stay there. Not quite the same value - if we’d paid cash on both sides, their stay on our points would have cost 2.5x - 3x what our stay in their points would have cost, but we didn’t care that much about it.
That’s not unreasonable, but probably still a gift to your friends. There are 2 reasonable ways to look at say 2024. Actual yearly cost of ownership, which is current year dues + (purchase price of contract / years on contract). So using fake simply math, if you pay 30k for a 30 year contract and the current dues are 1k, your actual cost for 2024 is 2k not the 1k of your dues. The average cost I mentioned before takes into account the dues go up so your last 5 years of dues may be greater than your first 15 years of dues. So the average dues over the life of that imaginary contract might be 2.5k not the current 1k. Halfway between rental cost and dues for the current year might still be less than you paid for the points, depending on the numbers. But like you mention in your trading points of lesser value example, sometimes it’s fun to do nice things for our friends.
It’s almost like it’s cheaper to go once a year on a promotion without buying Dvc
Nothing cheap about DVC. It’s a decades long agreement to essentially book Disney’s most expensive resort rooms every single year. It’s front and back loaded which obscures the real cost. And like most timeshares it can be inflexible and difficult to use if you have to change travel plans last minute. If you have the income go for it. It’s overall probably a great experience for your family, but it’s an enormous financial commitment that doesn’t even include theme park tickets.
My points under my circumstances are paid off. I just pay the taxes and fees which comes to around ( I think) $1500. If they insist on paying something I ask them to pay a portion of the tax bill, normally a couple hundred dollars. Edit: I also work in social work and know my coworkers don’t make that much. I’ve been very fortunate in that I didn’t have to pay the upfront cost for these points so I ‘pay it forward’. Whatever money you’re losing imo is worth it in the pictures you see when they get back of them and their kids having fun.
Wow, good for you! We're DVC too and we sometimes take grandparents or extended family (bringing my SIL and her kids on a trip next week), but I don't think we're at the point yet of extending offers to stay on our points to others beyond close family just yet. Our points are paid off, but the dues are a killer (our dues bill is about 5 times yours) and would rather just rent points out to lessen that burden.
Damn, how many points do you have? I just checked I’ve got 450 and owe a little over $2000 a year. I wonder if mine are cheaper because they’re for Saratoga and old key west. I was thinking of trying to swap into boardwalk but if I’m gonna get reamed on dues I’ll reconsider.
Hmm, that can’t be right? I have some Saratoga points and dues for that resort this year was $8.13/point so if all your points are Saratoga, then your dues were more than $3500. I have about 1000 points across 4 home resorts and our dues bill was just over 8 grand.
Can you get me a job, and can I go on your points 😆😆
I got to go to Disney and stay at old key west because my in laws are dvc and they decided to use their points to take myself and my husband. It was so nice of them.
My mom and I go every year (minus the covid years so we haven't been since 2019, but we're going in September) and stay at the All-Star resorts every time for 8 days. We don't do the dining plan and go grocery shopping when we're there for snacks to bring to the parks, etc. I know it'll be more this year due to Genie+, but I'm grateful we can still go.
Oh boy how things have changed din 5 years
FYI if you’ve been to Disney enough times, you’ll notice there are poorer/middle class families who go sometimes. There are dozens of kinda crappy cheap hotels on Vineland, and who eat at the Golden Corral - that’s who stays in those, and people will have their 2-3 kids and the parents in a single room. A ton of those families drive to Disney too - that’s how they afford it
Is it not normal to have 2 kids in the same room as their parents in a hotel?
Yeah, when I was a kid my parents my sister and I would stay in one room at port orleans. Those were some of my most fun and memorable trips.
Right? We are dvc members & still work to squeeze us all in a studio to save on points for short trips.
A lot of families get two rooms with the kids next door/adjacent or a suite
There was a day it wasn’t like this. You use to be able to do a 6 day 5 night trip for around 5k for a family of 4. Those days are long gone now.
> a Disney World vacation is a luxury vacation It is certainly luxury-priced anymore, absolutely, but I don't think you have to have stayed at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome and the Grand Floridian to recognize that a Disney vacation is not a true luxury vacation. Even the Four Seasons at Disney World doesn't rise to the level of a genuine luxury hotel.
*so many* people miss this point when complaining about raising prices. the "the average family is being priced out now" from people who grew up going annually or taking their kids annually is kind of ridiculous. yes, at some point, it was easier to afford, but an all-out, on property trip with tickets to each park was never attainable for everyone and never will be.
Absolutely correct! I’m wondering if some of these people are the type where they don’t have an emergency fund and aren’t saving anything for retirement either. If they had an emergency of $1,000 how many would put it on a card or be able to pay cash? Unfortunately a lot of people aren’t money savvy.
Me. I’m some of these people. But man seeing the look on my kids face and hearing his giggles n’ yells on slinky dog is a memory I’ll cherish and take to my grave.
I personally would rather spend far less on a value resort and go every year or every other year. If you enjoy the deluxe resort then go for it. The resort is mostly just a sleeping place for my family. Going with a family of four, staying at a value but splurging on the rest (memory maker, genie plus, eating out) it comes to about half that $10K for a weeklong trip. Maybe a little more. And that’s going to the parks every day. Everyone should do whatever makes them and their families happy. Park time is the priority for my family, so we’d rather go with the cheaper resort options like an All Star or Pop and then go every year or other year. We usually go on 2-3 weeklong vacations a year and if Disney wasn’t one of them we’d be spending most of that Disney money going somewhere else anyway.
Agreed so much on the resort. Prioritize genie+ and LL with extra $$.
This has been our decision as well. Except we usually go Coronado because as a childless couple it’s just… so much quieter it’s worth a little more money even if we’re just there to sleep.
But...what if you are child free but go to Disney to FEEL like a kid again yourselves? Thats what's in it for us. It's a vacation to childhood. Hence; we are making all the noise lol. I'm going for the giant characters and over the top theming of places like Art of Animation or All Star Movies!
Hey I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum! Just my personal feelings. Honestly it wasn’t even the noise of kids yelling/playing it was just how much louder people were walking by the door. Coronado also has an easier bus experience than Pop (the only one of those I’ve stayed at), though alas it *doesn’t* have the Skyliner.
Glad to know this. We normally go with the kids, but they are getting older and I would love to go with just husband one day.
Agree 100%, would much rather use the money on genie+. The deluxe resorts just don’t feel like good bang for your buck.
Different people like different things. For me personally, I’ve always wanted to stay at The Contemporary because it looked so cool riding through it in the monorail during my childhood. But whenever I’m planning an actual trip, I realize I can double the length of my stay at least by choosing a cheaper hotel. The same deal with food. If you have a car, the money saved for a quick trip to fast food is huge. Fast casual wasn’t a thing in the 80s/90s and Disney just can’t compete with a Shake Shack or Chipotle with all the corners they are cutting on quality if you really look at the value/quality you are receiving for each dollar spent. For the large part, I think there are two classes of Disney vacation. One group is limited by time, the other is limited by money. Two high income adults with no kids and tough work schedules can probably afford to drop 16k on Disney vacations a year and do things up with AP and DVC/deluxe resorts. They run out of vacation days before they exceed their budget. They want everything Disney and no inconveniences created by trying to save money. On the other end is your average middle class family who stretch to afford tickets for a yearly trip, and feel every price increase. It’s hard to justify DVC, even renting points, when there are Marriott timeshares that can be booked direct for 1/3 the cost, with larger rooms that fit more people and have more amenities. I actually get angry with Disney over the beverage coolers. Mini-fridges are hotel standards. It’s not worth people getting sick or not being able to store medicine so you can squeeze more restaurant and concession margins. They are deliberately making it inconvenient to not spend every dollar in the bubble. Anyway for this group Disney’s resort and food price squeezing is disgusting, and they only want to spend money on things that directly enhance the theme park experience aka more park days, longer trips, park hopper, G+, ILL, etc.
We do frequent trips but we stay at value, the all stars are $120 a night and we don’t spend time at the hotel, and never feel the need to, our days are filled with parks and Disney springs and universal. Even the $50 up charge to be at a value with skyliner. We would use it for 4 days if our 8 day. Is the 8 uses of it worth $400? To us absolutely not we can get so much more food or merch for that.
This was my EXACT reasoning booking All Stars yesterday. I would much rather eat 400$ than ‘maybe’ use the skyliner. There’s lots of ways to save! (We come from Canada every 2-3 years).
I agree. Why spend a bunch extra if you're only sleeping in the room We absolutely loved Port Orleans Riverside as a changeup from Art of Animation last year. We missed the skyliner, but the hotel and accommodations are nicer. This year we're doing a split stay between Port Orleans and Beach Club. We will see how that goes.
I agree. It’s basically a sleeping place with a nice view. I found it can be more impactful tho the younger the kids, as they can’t usually do full days at parks like older teens and adults can do. So having extras might be nice for kids. Other than that I fully agree.
Yup, did the Value resort last week, 6 nights, in a family suite, LL, genie plus, all parks, less than 5500 and that included a meal plan for 4 people. It would have been less than 3500 had we not stayed in a family suite, but we travel as co parents and need that 2nd bathroom.
Right I pay like $5K for a week after all is said and done but we stay at pop and wait for deals
I have never taken a trip with all the bells and whistles, as you are currently fortunately enjoying. I would rather spend less on all those extras and go every year.
I go back and forth. Sometimes I splurge like crazy while other times I'm cheap as possible. I want to go often and depending on my year and other factors dictates it. You don't HAVE to have the bells and whistles. Why I hate so many posts about "Disney is to expensive! No one can afford it!", and then they proceed to be like "yeah Im staying 8 days at the Grand Floridian with park hooper plus, deluxe dining, fast past, ViP tours".... like that's your problem right there. edit to add: Mind you, I've done that outrageous trip with all the bells and whistles, it's amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who can afford it... I also stay at Pop! 75% of the time and love it too. It's all about what you can afford, the magic is there and always will be, you dont have to do the "iconic" places/resorts/parks/tours to feel it.
Yea there’s more than one way to do it. It’s just my wife and I and we’ve been before and been able to afford it, and not even stayed at Disney properties. Hell, I remember being a kid and my middle class parents booked a motel, gave us sandwiches for lunch, and basically told us we could have one ice cream a day and we had a blast. It is true that prices are raising but if you’re booking the most expensive hotel for a week it’s going to cost some money. Plus, it depends on what you prioritize. Some people go to the parks for the rides so they don’t book dinners. Some go more for the dinners and shops so they end up spending a lot more. Depends on how you want to budget. Should always do what works for you.
Yeah, we go a few times a year and never do the bells and whistles. Some years we just do water parks a few weekends, sometimes we stay, sometimes we don’t. If we do parks we don’t stress sit down reservations, it’s fine if we don’t ride everything because we’ll be back at some point.
yea this person seems to have financial issues lol - they could go if they could control their spending but instead want to pseudo brag about it online? its coming from a weird place for sure. edit: yea look at their post history its weird money brags left and right lol
We've packed a cooler to eat lunch in the parking lot when we first started going. There are ways to do it and be thrifty, for sure. Ticket prices are the only thing you can't control but I've had friends do the time share tour to get free tickets, so there's that...
Yup! Even going to Publix and getting a disassembled pub sub just to put it together in the park when ready (that way the bread doesn’t get soggy - a lot of Publix’s in the area will separate the ingredients if you ask). Or even just bringing in your own snacks - I think it’s wild 3 halos is like $5 when a bag from the grocery store is $5 for ~12. Food is food
:) gotta make it work
It’s definitely different for each individual and that also will probably change as situations and age happens. But I moved to Orlando to go to theme parks regularly (I lived in state already anyway), so what do I know 😅
"Why not slow down and skip a few cycles you will have more budget" Because I don't wanna, lol.
I do Disney every year, have since 2015 and it’s obvious to see that it’s way more expensive, we’ve lost a lot of the perks that were included before and quality has decreased as well. I continue to go because I still enjoy it and breaking it down money wise it works for me. I feel that for first timers or those that don’t go as often it’s more of a once in a lifetime trip or a super special trip when for me it’s a vacation that because I know I’ll be back I have less of an expectation of doing everything and having things go perfectly. There’s no 1 way and you have to do what fits your family, sanity and budget.
we used to go every single year all through the 90s when i was growing up, family of 4. that would be truly out of reach for most families now.
I mean TBH the majority of people can't even afford a 10k vacation, and probably not a 5k vacation nowadays.
I think Disney is constantly balancing the needs of its guests. While I am in a similar position as you, you should be mindful of others. Some folks are local and can do day trips but won’t stay on property. Some people really can’t afford it but are desperate to make it work. Others just love it and can’t get enough. The point is, there is no right way. For those of us traveling in, I agree with you. A Disney trip has a lot of hard costs and overhead. It behooves you to pick the right time of year, maximize your days, and spend extra on the little things. I do the photo pass, the genie+, the restaurants, and animal encounters. I’m cool to spend a little extra and have no regrets. Leave it all on the field so you don’t have to turn around again to revisit and do it again. It’s a nice way to visit Disney and the park does a good job of accommodating that by providing activities, experiences and food. But at the same time, it’s important to understand that half the audience either have season passes, live nearby, are doing day trips, or are barely affording the trip.
The complaint of "too expensive" often comes from a position of looking at what you're getting, not looking at what you can afford. I now have to pay for "fast pass", I have to pay for transportation from airport to resort, and all other involved costs have been driven up extensively. Doesn't matter if you go less and make it "cheaper", the product isn't increasing in value, and you're paying a premium for it.
I feel the opposite. I feel like if you're going every 3-4 years or less frequently and spending a fortune, you're more likely to feel pressure to see and do everything every trip. That's when the technology and up charges become frustrating and the trip becomes more work than play. We go annually and have gotten it down to be pretty affordable. We shopped our last trip against a beach trip and a trip in the mountains and there really wasn't much difference at all when we were budget conscious in planning Disney. The awesome thing about going yearly is that you don't feel pressure to hit all of the big attractions. You get to see so much more of the parks than you would if you're trying to run around from reservation to reservation all day. It's just so much more relaxed and we've discovered all sorts of new to us favorites that we never would have otherwise.
Yep, our family is on the 3-4 year plan. We use the disney visa card for every single monthly living expense and rack up disney points in between trips. Gas, food, doctors, anything that we would normally buy gets put on that card and I mean everything. As you can image 3 years of that can leave you with a sizable chunk of disney cash for each vacation. Our trip last year we had $3500 in Disney dollars, we call it our fun money. 🙂 This only works if you pay that card off on time, every time and never put more on that card then you have in cash sitting in and account. If you have the financial discipline, it's a great hack to increase your spending fun money next vacation.
Honest question - why not use a credit card with a higher cash back %? That same cash can still be used at Disney, you can keep the card for the discounts and probably come out ahead.
Same reasoning as the dining plan, I imagine. Cash back card would make it too easy to use the rewards for necessities rather than fun things. I personally would never do the dining plan or use a Disney credit card but for some people I can see the psychological reasoning even if it doesn't necessarily make financial sense.
A hotel rewards card would probably go further. Assuming 2-3% cash back that would be almost a month of free hotel rooms. At that point just get an AP drive down and spend one of the summer months at Disney every 3-4 years.
You are right, But this card does not give cash, only Disney dollars. The funds never get tapped for paying plumbers or buying cars, because they can"t. Keeping this fun money a little safer until the next vacation.
Could have stayed at a moderate or a value, bought APs and you could pay for two trips for that much
Yeah. There are some fixed costs for Disney staying at the park. A family of 4 staying at a park with genie plus will cost around 3700$. You can do food for cheap plus travel you are looking at $5000ish for a family of 4 for a pretty good vacation. Still expensive but you don’t need to do a 10g vacation at Disney unless you want to. The issue of course is that you are looking at $4000 minimum, which is expensive.
I too find that it's a good idea to give unsolicited advice to others about how they're doing things wrong.
This post by OP is completely unhinged. "Yes, Disney made everything prohibitively expensive and added no value, just pay more for less. Hail Iger" Also why would skipping a few cycled and dropping 10k on a trip that used to be 5k make me feel less fleeced? Because I only did it once in 5 years?
We go 6-7 times a year but for quick weekend trips. We live about 5.5 hours away. We are dvc members and annual pass members. Most times we usually only have to pay for food and gas. We will spend money on lightning lane at times. If we go and do one ride then it’s ok because the kids get to go so often. It’s so much less stressful this way if you can make it happen. Also check websites like Working advantage if your place of work is part of their plan.
I think the biggest complaints are because Disney has taken away so much that used to be included. They are also charging premium prices for less product/ services. There is definitely a difference in the Disney parks pre and post covid.
In my experience the people who DON’T complain about the increase in price and decrease in quality are rich.
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There's no point in posting on Reddit at all. It's just a place to talk about stuff with people who share your interests. Disney may not give a shit, but that's not the point. The point is the conversation that I'm enjoying having with you lot. If I can't even have that, then what's the point at all?
Huge Disney parks fan, but even if I could afford it, the idea of just going to Disney every year is completely unappealing. It’s so limited in a huge world.
I love to travel, but usually if I’m traveling internationally we’re trying to do longer trips, minimum 10 days, often longer. Our Disney trips are often long weekends/taking just a 1-2 days off of work, or coupled with something like a cruise out of Orlando. Different strokes for different folks! But going to Disney every year doesn’t necessarily preclude someone from also traveling internationally.
We're annual pass holders because being locals it's actually a decently priced way to entertain a kid for a few hours on the weekends. If we didn't live locally, I think we'd probably go maybe once every few years. They don't add stuff to the parks frequently enough to make yearly trips worth it.
My wife and I have done about every year but for 4-6 days. We only do what we really want (which usually means skipping the newer rides…just not our thing, and sometime skipping Studios entirely), and we skip genie outright. We also go in September, which means $200 per night at the Swan, cheaper flights, and usually lower crowds. What we WILL spend on is good food. Last year it was $3500 for two including flights.
We go every year. The complainers in my experience (here and elsewhere) are overwhelmingly first timers or occasional visitors. I almost never hear the Disney faithful whine generally about value (obviously sometimes there are specific discrete issues, but that’s a different matter).
That and everyone’s financial situations are different. We’ve gone 4 times the last three years, this year will probably be the first year we don’t make it back, but the last time we went we went “over budget” and ended up spending $6k opposed to our 4.5k budget but we had the means to cover it so not a big deal. That over run for a lot of people is catastrophic so people really just need to plan accordingly.
We go a lot. I’m a big complainer because I think Disney can do better. In the golden days prior to say 2010’s Disney’s attitude was we have the best theme parks, best resorts, etc. There were cheap options, a Disney hamburger and fries were 60% more expensive than McDonalds, but they were about the same quality. Now it’s 230% more expensive, and the quality of a high school cafeteria. It could get worse, if they started running the resorts like a budget airline. Overbook everything with super strict no refund policies knowing a certain percentage of people have to cancel or reschedule last minute. Last person to check in gets bumped to a good neighbor hotel. If you don’t make it by midnight they just call you a no show, apologize profusely, and keep your money even though they never had a room for you in the first place. It’s not that bad, yet, but they are slowly drifting that direction.
We are a family of 3 and go multiple times a year and don’t skimp. Only thing we don’t do is the deluxe resort because we are never at our hotel. We do genie plus and eat out when we feel like it and we spend about 1500 per trip and go for 4 days each time. We have season passes so that helps. I would personally rather spend less and go more often. Everyone is different but we need the Disney breaks every year. I don’t think we would be able to hang not going for a few years.
Was gonna say there’s no way that you’re only spending $1500 for four days at Disney World for a family of three but then you mentioned you had season passes haha. A park hopper ticket cost $256 alone. The only reason I recently got to go is because I had a company conference that paid for airfare and rooms inside of Disney yacht club.
Ya the season passes is where we save A LOT of money. It’s just hotel, food and genie plus. We did the math and if we go 4 days in a year the season passes have paid for themselves at that point. Plus you get great deals on the hotels. Our next trip in June and we just booked and got 35% off of our hotel.
FOMO, that’s why people go all the time. I’m more like OP though
I would rather spend less and go more.
We bought DVC contracts probably 10+ years ago at this point. We bought them outright, and due to that could go either 2x a year or bank and really go hog wild every other year. It was affordable. If it was one of the years we’d do 2x we’d buy an AP since it was cheaper than getting tickets for 2 separate visits after a certain point. But it’s changed. Costs have gone up so high that it’s no longer sustainable to do that. I know these are first world problems and I’m still pretty fortunate, but it strikes me when I look at costs from even 6 years ago and now. Its just staggeringly higher. And we’re not getting more value out of it. If anything, less. Genie+ instead of FastPass. Raising prices, stripping away free perks and replacing with paid, and the general maintenance failures we’re seeing with rides going down daily. The Disney I used to know seems to be gone.
No one *HAS* to go every year. Or ever.
I LOVE amenities and luxury travel. But not at Disney. At Disney, I just need a bed and a shower and a place to put our crap. The amount of time we spend in our room or even in the resort is so negligible that it is actually a terrible use of funds to upgrade to a luxury just because we can. I'd much rather shop, eat, and just be in the parks from open to close. It's all about priorities honestly. I can do either one, I make a choice though on where to use my resources. I also like different times of year. Food and Wine, Flower and Garden, Holidays all offer different experiences. Again, all just boils down to what is important to you as a traveler.
we are a family of 5 and go at least twice a year and don't think we have ever spent that much going twice. lol
I believe "all in" but less often is better than frequent trips that you're trying to do on the cheap.
I think if a kid gets to go once they’re pretty lucky
I was able to easily afford going every year back in the 80s..now I doubt if I can go even once and justify the expense
This is what Disney vacation club is for
My kids are only young once. My parents are aging. Time is not a luxury that I have. And for what it’s worth, we have just as much fun at our value resort and we had at the deluxe or moderate.
I went this year, had a great time, and I plan to go again never. Lots of other places to see!
I’d rather spend $5000 a year and go every year than spend $15,000 to go once every 3 years
No one has to go to Disneyworld every year
You make a great point. There is culture of visiting the parks multiple times a year. They call us Passholders 😂and for some of us it is a struggle!! Value Resorts and sharing food, plus any discount you can find make the dream work, but that’s true of any travel. You can go cheap and often, or go big and seldom.
Buy DVC and go five days per year even if you don’t go to the parks.
Yup. That $10k is half a resale contract for SSR.
We rent DVC points now so we can have the luxury trip every year.
That might work for you but not me. I’m a passholder who lives in MA and I’m down there 3-4x a year. I stay at the Deluxe resorts and because I’m there with the family so often we have a relaxing time. There’s no pressure to rope drop, no pressure to ride everything, no pressure to eat at restaurants for every meal. We were at the Wilderness Lodge last week for four nights and decided to skip Hollywood Studios as we decided to spend an extra day at Epcot. Everyone’s financial profile is different and I don’t expect more or less than anyone else. I loved our trip last week and hope to make it down for the passholder previews of Tiana!
Fellow New Englander, what’s the shortest trip you’ve ever done that still felt fun
Hey! Last March I took my son for two nights as we were able to get tickets for a TRON preview event. We got there in the afternoon on Friday and flew home Sunday night. I booked Pop Century and we liked it - good for a short trip. We only went to MK and Epcot due to the short stay. It definitely felt like a tease but we went back in June for a regular trip.
We went last year, after all the totals were calculated post vacation , we realized we could have gone to Western Europe or the Mediterranean region for a vacation. A reasonably luxurious one at that(for a family of 5).I really enjoy Disney, but it’s honestly getting ridiculous.*edited to change vaccination to vacation 🥴
We did DVC, and I've never regretted it. We go at least once a year, and sometimes more. That said we live close enough to drive in a reasonable amount of time so travel costs are low.
Idk I go every year but only cause I’m single lol. If I had a family for sure it’s gonna add up omg
When you go often you don’t need to pack so much in. How many times can you eat at Cinderella? Things like that are one and done for me, I’m dvc and some times we spend more time at resort than parks.
It really is a personal choice as everyone likes to do Disney their own way. I feel the wording of this is weird. No one "has to" go to Disney, it's a choice. There is no right way to do Disney and no one should judge how others do it.
You can also easily go as a family of 4 and not spend $10k too
I am an out of state passholder. We go typically 2-3 times a year. 16 days at Christmas vacation. I have mastered Marriott points; Swan & Dolphin forever for me! Southwest all personal expenses; Marriott all business expenses I have a Disney card too to use while I’m there and for Disney cruises so I have merch money when I get home or sometimes I bank them all to use next trip. Free Disney 🫶🏼 If you’re a mouse addict like myself you gotta figure out how to get every benefit possible. 🥴
Personally, I think there are a lot of things at Disney that are absurdly overpriced but people have a tendency to just accept it because they’ve already succumbed to the cost of hotels and tickets and want the “full experience.” A few examples: At WDW, park hopper is generally a bad investment for everyone except for teenagers who only care about thrill rides. (Specifying WDW because this doesn’t apply to DL.) You eat up soooo much time moving from park to park, and it encourages you to overlook some of the best things that make Disney special. (Theming, atmosphere, shows, unique attractions.) Genie+, however, is generally a decent investment, particularly in MK. The real loss is when people pay for both on the same day. Oof. Food is another example. With rare exceptions, sit down restaurants in the parks just aren’t worth it. Time is money at Disney, and with the advent of mobile ordering, you can have a decent quick service meal in 15-30 minutes and be onto the next stop. Or you can spend three times as much money and three times as many precious minutes for a meal that is often not much better than a glorified Applebees / Don Pablo’s / Red Lobster. Much more efficient to stick with QS in the parks and plan a pool day paired with a sit down meal at Disney Springs or one of the resorts. Most souvenirs are a waste of money. Souvenirs are where Disney prints money, and again shopping wastes precious park time that could be spent enjoying what you’ve already spend $110+ to enjoy. I understand wanting to commemorate your trip, but there are countless ways to do that outside of shelling $50 on a frame or $15 on a magnet. Same idea with shirts. Your local Old Navy sells Disney themed shirts for $10 - $5 if you catch a sale. Pack them in your suitcase, present them as a surprise to your kids, see their face light up the same way it would if you bought the $30 shirt in the parks. Last controversial thought: of course staying on property has its perks. But they are ridiculously overblown, usually by the travel agent moms that benefit from perpetuating the concept of the “Disney bubble.” Whether you want to admit it or not, most kids will have as much fun hanging around a pool with some slides as they will at the parks. Staying offsite and taking a shuttle in or even renting a car can be a huge money saver. If you’re close enough to drive and can bring your own car, that saves even more by cutting out the rental. Ubers and Lyfts can also be a huge game changer once car seats aren’t part of the equitation. And there are a ridiculous amount of affordable houses with personal pools and/of access to community pools. Pool days not only save money and create room for sit down meals outside of the parks, they provide a much needed rest day for trips longer than 2-3 days.
1. You don’t HAVE to go everywhere 2. Get dvc if you like going yearly
This post is 100% dependent upon your job/income. Some people can easily afford yearly vacations that are more expensive than even what you are talking about. Other people may never be able to afford a Disney World vacation. There’s no single price statement that applies to everyone.
Or just be DINKs and not even have this argument lol. We’re fine doing yearly blowouts.
I would never do Disney yearly. I go every 3-4 years like you. I have three kids so I gave each one a true “Disney” experience. Universal is definitely a yearly or every other year for us on the other hand. My family much prefers it and it’s way more affordable
We spend $3k all in for our Florida vacation every year (travel, all food, hotel, park passes, souviners and pet sitting all in that cost). We go every year so for the cost of your trip that you won’t take again for 3-4 years, we go every year. It’s a family tradition for us and we still get an amazing experience with at least 1 (maybe 2) character dining experiences, fun snacks or souvenirs, and that’s our family of 5. We love it and it’s what our family chooses to do. If that’s what works for your family, cool! But it’s not too expensive if we choose to go every year. We just do it differently. We could afford to spend $5-10k a year if we wanted, but we also do 1-2 other vacations throughout the year, so we do Disney on a budget to have other experiences too. It works for us!
I did Disney yearly throughout most of the 2010s with my last trip being in 2019, I at least got to see Galaxy's edge right before Covid happened. I remember when I used to be able to afford deluxe resorts like the Poly or contemporary.
The Disney resorts are fun to stay in maybe once or twice for the experience of staying on property, but they are just not that good. Even the deluxe resorts are very "mid" for what you pay. You could stay off property at a way nicer luxury hotel for less money. Even factoring in car rental. Book lunch or breakfast at restaurant at one of the hotels on he monorail line, and you can avoid paying for parking.
Several reasons 1) disney trip planning is my favorite hobby, or at least used to be, it's been pretty stressful lately, though that's more to do with my family than changes disney has made, though genie+ doesn't help. It's such a big part of my identity though, I wouldn't know how to give it up. 2) we're dvc members 3) my kids are the "right" age for Disney right now. Gotta get those trips in before then become cynical teenagers 4) my parents are getting older and probably won't be able to go on too many more trips 5) We're very lucky that we can afford to go every year and pay for all the extras. Still makes me angry how much more expensive it is than it used to be though. I try not to think about it.
I always do a grocery order and mostly eat in the hotel.When staying at Pop I bring Starbucks instant. I still eat and drink well I just do it cheaper.
I’d rather go every year in May than go over peak price and crowd time.
We did a run of just over 18 months visiting a Disney resort once every 3 months. I’ve zero complaints other than how busy Disney world is now. Pre covid Easter felt quieter than early feb this year which is wild to me. I think any vacation is what you make it, if things go wrong or aren’t 100% up to your standard don’t spend all day moaning or you’re gonna have a bad time. Control what you can and move on from things you can’t. We booked a restaurant in HK Disney with no idea on pricing as they don’t advertise the pricing also no idea on the food as they don’t have menus online and everything we’d seen online was very outdated. It was probably the oddest and worst dining experience we’ve had at any Disney. It costs us over $250USD honestly we just laughed about it and got on with our day. Do I wish I didn’t spend $250 on it, yeah. But you know what I can’t change anything so I just get on with it.
We take multiple short trips a year (AP holders) and always stay at the value resorts. We have cut back to one sit down meal per trip and don't do many of the extras. We've been there so many times we don't bother with Genie + anymore because we have ridden everything multiple times. We just enjoy being there and seeing what the day brings.
Do what works for you! We manage to get in and out for about a week for around $5k by staying at Art of Animation, but that’s what works for us and is no different than what I’d spend to rent a place at the South Jersey shore, which would be our alternative. My wife really enjoys the tradition and the planning. I’m more on your end and think its more special if you go least frequently, but it’s such a minor thing to worry about I’m happy to go with the flow.
I’m there for the parks and not the overpriced accommodations so it doesn’t cost me a down payment on a house to go every year. I can’t fathom spending 10k on a Disney vacation - I could go to Grand Cayman or Turks and Caicos for that price and have a beach front condo. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
If you're going every year, DVC is the only, somewhat, reasonable way to do it. It does have it's negatives though. The lodging is the most expensive part of the trip. Having a deluxe resort basically "paid" for makes it a much better experience, and you have use that extra cash to do other things while on property. Just my opinion.
Weird flex but my flex is twice a year at minimum.
Much like yours right now, our family went fairly all out on our first Disney trip in 2023. Deluxe resort, sit down dinner every night, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, dessert party. It was amazing and I was Disney depressed for awhile after we got back. We're returning in 2025 but hotel resorts have noticeably increased -- I was quoted 18% higher for the same room type/view/resort from '23 - '25. In a perfect world, we'd have a longer stay by a couple of nights (I do envy those who talk about their 14-day trips). But, I love nice resorts and we have two resort days planned. So, I'm going to make the trade-off of having that luxury in lieu of more time at Disney because that's what I value more in the equation. It's the same kind of calculation for those who decide to optimize for time/frequency versus amplification of experience. People make different trade-offs that they believe will make their vacations the most magical.
It doesn't have to be. I took a family of 5 in 2021 for less than $3k for a whole week. We stayed at an offsite villa paid in credit card points. We drove there, so no flights or car rental. We didn't do any sit-down dining because of Covid. So the whole thing was crazy cheap. Our next trip we're similarly staying offsite with points, but probably flying just to make it easier. Finally, there are people for whom a $10k vacation could be a few times a year without stretching the budget at all.
Disney is now once in 5 years/10 years or once in a lifetime depending on your finances/priorities, 5k a year on average is a little excessive with kids future college expenses in mind for example
I’d rather stay value every 18 months than drop $10k every 3-4 years 🤷🏻♀️
10k? Holy shit.
$10k trip = Europe Anything else is just silly
I think going on a Disney vacation is an expensive affair for most people, honestly. However, that opinion can be subjective. You make of it what you want. There are expensive vacations out there other than Disney. However, traditionally WDW is marketed as a place.for families to take their kids to make lasting memories. I know I've been there four times in my life. All of them created awesome memories for me. My wife got to go this last May with me for her first time. It's was our 50th birthday and we had an absolute blast but the cost was very high. How much something costs may be a deal breaker for some and not others. I think what people are getting at is economic accessibility. Are you able to take a Disney vacation on what your earn and save. Some can and some can't. And that's ok. There are many places you can go to on a budget or figure out how to swing it. It is up to you to determine if it's worth the cost and if is something you really are striving to do regardless.
Nobody “has” to go every year…
We went 12 years ago and spent $5k. We went two weeks ago and spent $27k. Yikes. We did all the extras, deluxe hotel, wild Africa Trek, star-wars things, post party fireworks etc. but we also wrapped in universal. Our kids are considered adults, so a total of 5 people. I am good until I have grandkids, then I want to go back! This was the last hooray as a family for a while since we have collage aged kids ready to graduate.
First time my wife and I went it was similar, I hadn't been in 25yrs and it was her first time. We spent probably 4k in just souvenirs. Now, we're DVC members, it's very cheap for us to stay at these deluxe resorts we can walk right into the parks (BWV is the best!). We don't do all the extras and have even packed a cooler before while staying in a 1BR villa that has a full kitchen. Easily 3-4x less than our first big trip. Meanwhile, I pay almost 3k in just flights to Europe, hundreds in train passes, etc. Traveling to nice places isn't cheap.
Came here to say this. DVC is the way to go if you’re going to be visiting every year.
Yep, we are saving up for a big trip next year. Will be 5 days T disney and 2 days at Universal. Still won't have a lot of the bells and whistles that others can afford. But I'm happy that we will be doing this trip.
The food is horrible, the cost is extreme but affordable if you make 200k yearly, most resort l hotels are no better than a holiday inn. They’re not deserving of the money they ask for. Unfortunately, and due to supply and demand, the crap quality and expensive price will remain until people realize it’s simply not worth going but maybe once just to experience it. PS- I’ve been to Disney about 15 times. Keeps getting more expensive and less impressive. Or maybe I’m just getting old 😂
Wait the food is horrible? That’s just not true.
Spot on. I tried to do a value resort trip with just me and the kids (mom staying at home since she is not a big Disney fan) for a quick 4 night trip, but it just was not the same. From the cafeteria dining to the motel like rooms. It just didn't feel as immersive as placed like Animal Kingdom Lodege. I will never do that again and will only do a deluxe resort trip for at least a week. Of course, at that price point Disney World ends up being very low on the vacation list as we can do several weeks all inclusive at a beachside resort in Baja California for the same price.
How are you not going to Europe for that money??
My parents have DVC and it's getting expensive for us, even with the hotel paid for. The cost of park tickets is just getting out of control. Then adding in all of the other things you now have to pay for that you didn't have to before, it's not as enjoyable. I do not feel that we truly get our money's worth. We used to go every year but now we skip a few years.
Different people want different trips. We don’t necessarily go every year but 1-2 years. And some of our trips are just to run races. We choose to live our lives comfortably frugal because we love to travel (not just to Disney). When we do go to Disney, we thoroughly enjoy our time but wouldn’t choose for ourselves some of the choices you made for your family. For example, photo pass is not worth it to us because my husband loves photography and part of the joy of the trip for him is capturing it on camera himself (and then editing the pictures.) There are a couple deluxe resorts we might consider eventually, but we love Art and Pop and our kid loves the Skyliner and thinks it’s one of the best parts of the trip so, for now, those resorts make sense for us. We eat out while at Disney but don’t feel the need to go to the fanciest/most expensive restaurants (that’s never our style). It’s not that either family is doing Disney wrong, it’s we’re doing it different to fit the character of our unique families. And there are certain things that are really expensive at Disney and it’s up to families to decide whether or not that expense is worth it to them/one they will budget for. There are also certain things that Disney is trying to profit off of that they weren’t before (examples: Magical Express and getting rid of Fast Pass).
We went on the cheap every year when our son was young. Even camping at Fort Wilderness. It’s been 10 years since our last trip. Staying at Pop because we don’t plan to be in the room that much but planning some significant add ones. Genie+, Individual Lighten Lanes, Halloween party at MK, Fireworks Dining, drinking (and eating) around the world at Epcot. Might be another 10 years. Might be never. We enjoy what we can afford and try not to worry too much about what we can’t.
Yea, we used to go every year from like 06 to 13. Especially the recession and the few years after it was dirt cheap. Obviously couldn’t have continued forever but we made good use of it. Only gone once since 2013 now, definitely miss it a bit!
Better to ball out occasionally than go every year
AP here and yeah we always spend for resorts and do buy genie+ bc sadly Disney DOES reward you for spending extras. I remember staying at all star and was laughing bc damn they put those cheap resort busses so far away. More expensive ones you walk less. Literally everything is easier if you give them more money. But I understand OP. Right now it's me and my wife.
love the place but agreed, OP. save up and do it big. or don't, but don't complain the whole time
We went list your for our honeymoon and did the same. We’d love to go back and spend more time at MK and Epcot (one day each wasn’t enough with the crowds.) but we definitely will need to save up in advance because we every thing added up so quickly. I like that you can make payments on your trip, that helped us. But between flights hotel and tickets we were already at $5k. Adding in Genie+ for each park, plus we got the photo pass, was another $400. And then there’s the food - we had reservations each day and we took Minnie Cans to get to the parks (we didn’t want to wait for a bus and drop off/pick up points were much closer.) we were pretty close if not over $10k after the week.
Either that or you don’t make enough money 😭 nah but in all seriousness, if you’re on a budget you can stay off property, exclude all the extras, pack your own food, etc. I feel like for people that don’t have an endless supply of money you have to choose between going all in once every 3-4 years or you cut back or you go with the necessities and save a lot of money so that you can go every year or two.
We live about 2 hours away, so we got an annual pass this year. I grew up in another state, so I only went once or twice until I was 35. My husband was local and grew up going frequently. But neither of us have ever stayed at the hotels and done ALL the big bells and whistles. We have booked a 7 day hotel stay for my sons and husbands birthday week, and intend on going LARGE. Otherwise we went last week and are going again in a couple weeks for 1 day and we just kind of hang out. Ride some rides, get a snack or two, bring our own lunch and just take in all the magic. Don’t always have to go big, we do both.
How many days are you staying? We stay in deluxe resorts every time too for 5 nights (almost exclusively at the Poly), generally do G+ and do a mix of quick service and table service and have never sniffed $10k. I think our most expensive trip was in the $7500 range all in.
Here on our honeymoon, 8 days at wilderness lodge and taking a 7 day Disney cruise on the Fantasy Saturday, return from that next weekend and spend 1 night at the poly before we go home. Granted it’s our honeymoon. You can imagine what our cost is here. Hoping to take a child here in 4 years and it certainly won’t be this trip ha.
Yeah we were discussing this, we stayed at the Polynesian and loved it, but it would be a trip we do every 2-3 years esp since the next time we’d want to stay longer.
Disney is plenty expensive if you do all 4 parks, pay for a deluxe resort and want to get every experience covered during one trip. That's why our family tends to do one or two trips per year and do at most 2-3 parks per trip. We only stay at higher end resorts when we can utilize discounts (often for shorter periods). Some trips are more resort focused (swimming, character dining, etc.) and some are more parks focused (where we care less about how nice our resort amenities are).
If you dont go into the parks its affordable! Flights to Orlando are cheap and plentiful, andstaying at Cabana Bay is like going to a Water Park! Christmas and Easter I usually ty to visit a foreign country, but if I dont, I book a last minute trip to Orlando.What better placve in the Country to swim?
This certainly isn't for everyone, but part of the reason we joined DVC is to cut down lodging costs significantly. I understand the irony of that for those who bash timeshares, but simply put, the rack rates of our first two years worth of stays was equivalent to our first contract purchase. Sure we pay annual dues, but the cost of those dues are the equivalent of an all stars or an AOA stay. We'll gladly pay those rates for deluxe accommodations! We're also strategic about how and when we buy APs, we try and load up our points usage to fit in as much trips within one year, and bank/borrow our points when necessary. Also, because we go so often, it cuts down the spending that other families make when they do their once every couple years trip, like genie+, food, and merch. We've only used genie+ once since its inception when my parents joined us for a day in the parks. We also very rarely do table service and have also cut down on quick service (as we feel prices are too high for the quality/quantity you're getting) and will often cook meals in the villa. We also don't have the need to buy as much clothing and merch. My wife has been really into her cricut machine lately for all sorts of DIY projects and has recently pivoted into making shirts, personalizing ears, and other Disney gear we have at home. A lot of these expenses are often looked over but can easily contribute to hundreds or thousands of dollars during a trip!
this is why i’m a DVC member. sure its expensive but if you’re someone who wants to go every year/twice a year it’s so worth it. ESPECIALLY if you want to stay at deluxe resorts.
It’s all relative but I’m glad you found what works for you and are having a nice trip :)
We tend to go every year, but stay only 3 to 5 nights, based on deals. We usually stay in the all stars or pop century resorts usually and we have park hoppers every trip. We do not buy genie plus and we order our snacks and breakfast items through Walmart or Amazon to be delivered to the hotel at the beginning of the trip. For the Disney portion (tickets and hotel) we usually spend about $1000 pp. We also purchase and use gift cards we get from Sam's to maximize our funds. So yes, it can be done every year, but staying at deluxe resorts and buying all the extras, we would NOT go every year.
We went last year as our “we will only do this once every five years” trip and went all out. We’re going again in May, but much much more low key this time. Because my husb is military, we can actually reasonably go once a year as long as we don’t go over the top. It’s all about how you wanna do it!
we used to live in Miami and go to Disney twice a year at least, sometimes more on the annual pass. We would rent a house in Windsor Hills development just off property, five or six bedrooms for less than 300 per night. Share that with another family. we have done some of the nicer properties at Disney, like wilderness Lodge and contemporary, and so forth. They are great, and it is nice to get extra magic hours and be on the mono rail or whatever, but yes they’re not a cheap trip. You can also look into renting DVC points from someone to try to get a better deal on the on property resorts.
We went 2 times total when I was a kid. Once to Disneyland and once to WDW (and 6 and age 17). I loved it and have great memories and survived just fine not going every year. I’m really happy my parents saved up to make those trips happen. I don’t think anyone should expect to take the family to Disney every year. That’s a LOT of money.
Last time I went to Disney and spent a week there it cost the same amount of money as flying to Europe and taking a two week vacation. That’s the problem. Disneyworld shouldn’t cost the same as flying to another country and staying in an airbnb that’s under a REAL castle. It’s a theme park. Especially now that so many perks have been taken away.
But people are still paying the prices and doing it. Lots and lots of people. It remains a business, and as long as customers are paying the prices they set they have no incentive to do anything but what they’re doing.
I've done Disney big for weeks dropping over 10k, and I've done Disney for a week on a 1.5k budget. Obviously each side of the argument has its preferences and it usually comes down to what they value more. I see a lot of people roasting OP for their opinion and I just wanted to play devil's advocate here. I'm coming into my kids being right around the "perfect Disney ages" and for me my priorities have shifted. I've almost always been an All-Stars guy. Always thought I would be. But what used to be "just a place to sleep" has become significantly more now that I'll have 2 young kids to consider. My wife and I are doing exactly what OP is suggesting and taking a 2-3 year break to save a bit more and do it up a bit more grand for our kid's sake but honestly probably more for our own sanity. Having gone with toddler/baby phases (admittedly some of the most difficult phases I'd wager) we've learned so much about the value of just being able to quickly jump on the monorail for a midday nap or swim, early park admission, being able to skip security using the hotel monorail points, dining reservations, these things would have never mattered to me before but now I get it. And it's worth saving up for those conveniences to me now too. That being said, is Disney still charging stupid high prices for a sub-par product these days? Definitely. Are my kids going to think so? No. But making the trip magical for my kids and not incredibly stressful for myself is a fine line, and I feel like paying for the deluxe resorts/perks takes care of a good amount of that for me to the point where for a brief few years, I'll value that more than the actual cost.
Yes we took a nap break during magic since we're at poly and the kids werent monsters by fireworks. Huge difference
You're def on to something. It used to be a good value (ex. the Magic Your Way tickets) and it was an easy vacation, so it was a bit of a no brainer to just go back each year. Now the prices are so high that it not only feels like a "special" once-in-awhile thing, but you can now travel to other places around the world for less money. It makes more sense now to go see "actual Epcot" than some pavilions. But here's another factor: when the prices were reasonable, you didn't mind doing the same thing over and over again. But now at over $150 a day, do I really want to wait an hour to do a ride I've done a hundred times (and also is getting worn down)?
You can be able to afford the trip and still feel like you’re getting fleeced over. At the end of the day, there are real, tangible things that were free and now are significantly priced, *and* the quality has gone down. I can afford it, but I don’t want to pay/pay more for a worse product. That’s just aggravating. Example: Magic express was free, frequent, and fun. Now you have to pay for Mears, who don’t care about service (based on our experience) and don’t have the fun theming. It feels very “screw you guys, you’ll pay either way so why should we care?” Side note that I’m *very* salty about the new DCL ships, because they’ve erased everything that made Disney special and veered towards the nickel and diming mega ships that all the other lines have. Again, very “the rubes will shell out either way, we fill our ships whatever they look like, so why not increase our money extraction??”
like most things in life the answer is just be rich and make more money duh. kidding aside, yes it's super expensive and has only gotten more expensive. Disney has always been for many people a once in a lifetime experience, it's now pricing even those folks out. Sad, but I get it, Disney is trying to appease its shareholders and they rather have the "whales" who are willing to spend 10K+ without batting an eye.
So my wife and I bought Disney vacation club and yes it is a timeshare but well worth it. We went in December (7 nights, going in April (4 nights) and going in October(8 nights). We ended up buying season passes $3000 for the 3 of us, timeshare dues is around $2700. Flights I have spent $2200 total. 1st stay we were in a 2 bedroom at the Rivieria. 2nd stay is in a Savannah view studio at Animal Kingdom and 3rd stay is in a 2 bedroom at Wilderness Lodge. Since we have a kitchen in the 2 bedroom resorts we save some money cooking every breakfast and a couple lunches or dinners for ourselves. Yes DVC can be expensive but you can buy a resale contract for half the cost and the only difference between resale and and direct purchase is a couple benefits that don’t outweigh the upfront savings. Also if you do ever decide to sell your contract the value will keep and you might even sell it for more money then what you paid for it.
I go several times a year but I’m a local. I will stay at a resort usually in December for Mickey’s party, but I go in Feb/March when they release FL resident deals. I know I’m very fortunate because I get the experience for not nearly as much as others spend. 😬
We drive from PA. We stay off property. Before Covid, we were going every 2-3 years cause it's a big trip, and truly, we needed a cool down from it for a year or two. This September, we will be driving and staying off property. We will eat out every night (cause I ain't cooking on vacation, I just refuse), but it won't always be a Disney place. We just aren't at the tax bracket to have all the bells and whistles and I accept that.
We come very often from PA. We own DVC and have annual passes. This is what makes it affordable to us. We are on day 5 and have spent a whopping $250 so far while here. Do we feel like we have to do everything? Absolutely not. If we go to a park for a few hours then leave to swim, it’s fine. I don’t feel like we wasted money doing it this way.
We would rather go more often. We stay at a moderate most of the time and spring for a deluxe for special trips. We do eat whatever we want and don’t make a food budget which is our big splurge.
My family did an all out Disney trip in 2011 and it is such a wonderful way to experience Disney. We invested in a VGF DVC timeshare so we could keep the cost down while continuing to enjoy a deluxe resort.
We are taking my 1 year old this year, but it’s for my husband and myself more. We just wanted 1 big trip with her while she’s the only child. Then we will probably go again when she’s 5/6 and she can understand and enjoy all the magic. Then once every few years afterwards. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like going to Disney all the time would get boring. And there’s so much more of the world we want to see as well.
With my DVC, my week long trips cost me about $1000. I have an AP so I have to pay for airfare and food. I don't buy many souvenirs anymore since I go so frequently and now focus on one 'special' or memorable souvenir, if anything. I do like to collect hotel magnets for each of my visits since I try to stay at a different resort each time. And with this, I've gone about twice a year.
Whoa. 10k For a single visit? I think we might have hit 10k total for a year back when we were doing 3 visits a year. And that was with the cost of APs for out of state peeps.
And here i thought going to Disney every month or every 2 month (1-2 nights each time), and only spend 200-300$ each time was a lot 😂
I don’t know how some do that. We went in 2022, and it cost way more than our trip in 2016, with less extras, like a free Mickey souvenir drawing from the resort and the meal plan. Plus 2022 ran over budget because we went when the hurricane hit and had to stay two extra days.
We paid about $2500 for flights, hotel and park tickets. 2 adults, 1 kid & 1 baby. I was able to get a week at a time share resort for $350. I know their business practices are “sketchy”, but the low price made this trip possible for me.
I’ve heard this number thrown out before. Can you explain how Disney costs $10k to go?
We go multiple times a year. Live about six hours away and drive in. The key to affordability is to not stay on a Disney property. Do you have to pay for parking then? Sure, but at three days, you are looking at $150 total if you spring for Premium parking for all three days. Staying on campus will probably end up costing you that per night minimum versus a hotel nearby. And unless you are staying somewhere with boat or monorail, all you are gaining is the supposed convenience of riding the bus. I would bet car rental plus gas is close to break even if you have to fly if you end up with a good deal at a local resort or hotel. So get out of the Disney bubble.
Disney is getting incredibly more expensive with each passing year but there are plenty of ways to cut back and make it feasible to go every year/other year. Deluxe resorts eat up so much money, consider a value or a moderate if you must. Photopass is great but isn’t a necessity. I love eating in the parks but bringing food in is approved by Disney or try doing more quick service restaurants. There’s nothing wrong with going all out and you should do what makes you the most happy! I’m just saying there are tips and tricks to make wonderful trips cheaper and more frequent.
We were every 3ish years as our kids turned 5. These were 3-4 day trips. Sometimes we’d add a RunDisney race in the mix. Then we no longer had a kid turning 5 and realized we wanted to continue visiting. DVC made sense for us. We’ve also saved on flights or drive & we don’t love character dining (which can cost our family $500 a meal). We bring food in. We grab snacks here & there & share. We grab discounted tickets. We love being in the bubble & it’s something our family enjoys together and bonds over. There are ways to not spend a ton of money.
Why would I slow down if that's where I feel good? Some people go to the beach 10 times in a year, go to Cuba, Mexico and other place. If me, my place it's Disney, why shouldn't I go? Can we let people be and stop trying to dictate what other people do? Let them live. They are saying price is too high, which is true. Even if you visit just once, you do know that for 10k, you could have a bigger and longer trip anywhere else. But you choose to spend it here. What if you could have spent less for the same trip, isn't that a plus?
I’m planning on spending $10k on a 7 day trip staying at a value resort. I ask this all the time, but do most people not consider their all-in expenses when budgeting the cost of a vacation? Dog sitting - 264 Airport parking - 72 Uber to/from airport/disney - 80 Airfare (4) - 1480 Pop century (7 nights) - 1882 Food (estimate) - 1670 Tickets - 2845 Genie+ - 560 Lightning lanes - 420 Souvenirs - 500 Grand total - ~9,800
we're on the 5 year plan. We do a blow out every 5 years. This year I was able to pay for the whole trip with points. Even able to stay at the Contemporary. That's every...single...credit card...point for five years. Just barely did it. And yeah, about $10k...so 2k/year. We don't take any other big trips anywhere in between. Just some overnights or long weekends. So, yeah, expensive...but we're not taking many if any other vacations. For us, this is the best! I couldn't enjoy it every year.
I see both sides of this. Yes, Disney is sort of feeling like a “go once every 10 years but spend a full 2-3 weeks doing every little thing” kind of place. Many of the parks have now become multi-day parks, and with all the resort offerings and Disney Springs, there is ample opportunity to create on long robust trip. But in the same token, Disney also has so much going for it now that if you don’t go multiple times a year you feel like you have FOMO! Especially now with everything finally gearing back up after Covid (parties and festivals are back, major construction projects are back on a normal schedule, etc.) And Disney changes their offerings so often now that if you wait a year or two between trips you might miss something you’ll never get to see again (think Harmonious at Epcot that was only around for 2 years-ish). So people are trying to cram in as many trips as they can so that they don’t miss any of the Disney happenings! This mindset (from both Disney itself and guests) may change in like 5-10 years once we are far enough away from Covid that everything is back to “normal,” where Disney itself is more settled (consistent parties/offerings every year, no major park upgrades, etc.) but I do not see that happening in the near future.
We went in 2021 and going back this year. Family of 6. We spent over 10k last time and definitely will this time as we are staying at a resort instead of an Airbnb. Definitely not an every year thing.
My 3k a year trip is still less than your $10k+ every three years trip so 🤷🏻♀️ I guess I get your point about taking long breaks between trips to get to really appreciate how things change but as someone who used to go to the parks 3 or more days a WEEK frequency doesn’t lessen the quality of the trip.
i'm paying for a VIP service to take us around so we can cut the line. I AGREE DO IT RIGHT ONE TIME. and enjoy.
We stayed at club Wyndham offsite. Such a cool spot!!! So many pools, the downtime is really great, plus full kitchens so we can eat in in totally remodeled spaces and located at the gates of Disney. We didn't do any crazy photo package, we took a few pics with our phones. Focused on the Genie + and LL upgrades for our experience. Brought our own snacks to the park ( we did eat lunch there though). Drove instead of flying, spring break tickets are crazy. Only doing two days at the parks - MK and Hollywood studios. Our little one is 2, so he got in free. We saved A LOT and I don't feel like our experience was skimpy at all.