Jrb1979
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2018
How can you have a discussion of if it's worth it if you can't compare it to other places?All this talk of Europe, when we were told to put it back on track! This thread needs to be “cleaned up” again!
How can you have a discussion of if it's worth it if you can't compare it to other places?All this talk of Europe, when we were told to put it back on track! This thread needs to be “cleaned up” again!
The topic of the thread is whether Disney is worth it. Since many people have concluded that it's not worth the money its only natural to discuss alternatives.All this talk of Europe, when we were told to put it back on track! This thread needs to be “cleaned up” again!
You obviously did not book your cruise through Adventures by Disney. LOL...or did you? I'd love to do a river cruise, but haven't found a good price on one.Agreed! Rhine river cruise with airfare cheaper than 10 days at WDW
…or if those discussions get “cleaned up”?How can you have a discussion of if it's worth it if you can't compare it to other places?
I'm lucky to be somewhat close to Boston, so it's easy enough to get international flights without needing to connect inside the US. I'm excited that Aer Lingus is coming back to Hartford in the spring, as that's even more convenient.It's even better if you can start there. I know several folks who've driven from here to Toronto (about 4.5 hours from here) to save real money on an international long-haul round trip on AC. I've been tempted to do it a time or two myself.
My most recent trips have been around $775-875 per person (Spain, France, Belgium - Belgium would've been about $100 less if my mom had confirmed she could go just a few days earlier). About 5 years ago we got round trip direct flights to Paris for about $400, that was awesome.
The $775-875 was just the flights for those trips. Aside from the flights, nothing else was super expensive. I haven't seen the $400 flights post-covid.A. - $400 round trip to Paris would be amazing! I would book that in a heartbeat.
B. - is that $775-875 a person including $400 airfare? If so, that's impressive. I'm not sure how many days you are talking, but between flight, lodging, food, alcohol, tours, admission tix for sites and maybe a wee bit of shopping - I can't seem to get anywhere near that for any vacations for my family. I'm not going to deny - I'm not a budget traveler. I'm not a deluxe one, but I like to enjoy myself...so somewhere in between. I don't feel like my family of 5 (kids are 20, 18 and 15) can go anywhere for $5K.
I see several folks saying Disney was never a cheap vacation and I have to totally disagree.
I was actually a very good value right up until the second or third year of the Disney Dinning Plan.
Hotels were reasonable - especially if you had an AP - 40-50% off was not uncommon.
The cost of an AP was reasonable - not much more than a 5 day ticket.
You could buy a 10 day never expiring ticket.
The quality of the food was very high for a theme park IMO.
Epcot restaurants were run by actual Chefs and had daily specials based on what they could source for ingredients.
The F&W festival was reasonable priced and had quality presenters
At some point they started standardizing the ingredients and every restaurant was just variations of the same ingredients
Quality went down and prices went up - to maximize value of the DDP
IMO this is where it started and Disney has continued to provide less for more.
I went from going 2-3 times a year to once and a while every few years for maybe 2 days - now I frequent Universal.
Costs at Universal are starting to go up no doubt - but nowhere near the rate of Disney.
I also find the staff far more friendly at Universal
For me its less about the cost - but the quality of what you get for the price and for me Disney is not providing anything I feel is worth paying for.
The travel agent won't be getting up at 6:45am to pre-pay for Genie+ then hitting refresh at 7:00 to try to get a decent time to ride. And then checking throughout the day for the next ride/experience availability. Or trying for the ILL you really want for ROTR, etc. Or arranging for me to nap somehow because I didn't get to do my usual park style, which was hit it early but do enough to leave the park in the after noon for some relaxation before coming back after dark for dinner.
Those were my biggest beefs. That my vacay was requiring early morning and continual management to provide the type of day I wanted to have, while keeping at the park all day in order to do those things. (though it does gall me that I have to PAY to do these things on top of what you pay just to be there.)
We actually had a travel agent/Disney consultant for this last trip, as her services came as a gift with the condo we we had. She did snag some dining reservations for us, but other than that, there wasn't anything she did that I couldn't have easily done, and there were several things she could not do (make the daily reservations, G+, etc.)
Wherever you are staying in London or Paris for $100/night I am not staying, LOL. Heck, I'm not staying in Orlando for $100/night. I did a $150 Orlando airport hotel once, and it was fine.Round trip to London or Paris starts@ $700 for my desired dates.
Lodging @ $100 a night
We had trips with flights under $100 round trip and Pop at like $75/night. I remember when drinks at the Dawa bar were $5-6, now they're $15.Yep--- totally agree with this--- when the APs were less expensive, we used AP discounts, and could get value resorts for around $89-99 per nite------ (and this was for the week of Thanksgiving--- the only day blocked out from the discount was Thanksgiving day, (and possibly the Friday as well, but the entire next week was discounted) - and the airfare was no where near as expensive as it is now--- Food costs were not even close--- especially CS--- so much less expensive...
The topic of the thread is whether Disney is worth it. Since many people have concluded that it's not worth the money its only natural to discuss alternatives.
Maybe it's just me but I'm amazed at all this Europe talk for vacations. Maybe my family is unique but we don't have much interest in Europe or cruises for vacation. Do any of you do low end vacations? Meaning places like Myrtle Beach or other amusement Parks?
Airlines run sales to Europe. You can sign up for their rewards programs and they’ll send you emails. There’s also tools like sky scanner that will alert you. AirBNB is great for families. Hotels in Europe rarely accommodate 4 guests much less five. We rented an Airbnb in Athens that slept 8 for under 200 a night. Booking.com will also list a lot of apts and homes.A. - $400 round trip to Paris would be amazing! I would book that in a heartbeat.
B. - is that $775-875 a person including $400 airfare? If so, that's impressive. I'm not sure how many days you are talking, but between flight, lodging, food, alcohol, tours, admission tix for sites and maybe a wee bit of shopping - I can't seem to get anywhere near that for any vacations for my family. I'm not going to deny - I'm not a budget traveler. I'm not a deluxe one, but I like to enjoy myself...so somewhere in between. I don't feel like my family of 5 (kids are 20, 18 and 15) can go anywhere for $5K.
Unfortunately based on the Disneyland annual pass debacle this week it seems that all this talk about people dropping Disney is just that talk.
Can be under 100 euro depending on time of year, but I've stayed at a couple different hotels in this chain in Paris and they're very nice.Wherever you are staying in London or Paris for $100/night I am not staying, LOL. Heck, I'm not staying in Orlando for $100/night. I did a $150 Orlando airport hotel once, and it was fine.