Disney, is it really that expensive?

[kymom99]

Kinda veering off topic, but the people talking about renting off site for $500-700 for a week. When I look at vrbo etc, I can't see any deals that sweet. The fees drive those great prices up over $1000. Anyone have any tips?

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

On the other side of the coin, my opinion is that Disney isn't *that* expensive.

We just got back from a week in Atlanta. Both Atlanta and Disney are driving distance for us so the transportation cost is the same - one tank of gas each way, total of $80-ish.

Costs for our Atlanta trip included (2 adults, 1 teen, 1 preteen):
Season passes for Six Flags & White Water, $300 (we got these on sale for $68 each and when we bought 4 we got a free parking pass)
Admission to the College Football Hall of Fame, $55 (my military husband was free)
Admission to the World of Coke, $52 (husband was free)
Parking in downtown, $17
Admission for an Escape Room one night, $83 (Groupon deal)
Minigolf one night, $35
Hotel for 4 nights, $750
Food for 3 days in Atlanta and 2 travel days, $600
Extra fuel because we had to drive all over Atlanta, $30

Total: A little under $2000

Food at Six Flags was insanely expensive -- more so than Disney. A bottle of Dasani was almost $5 with tax. We ate lunch in the park and a burger/fries combo meal was about $13 plus the soda about $4, and the portions were smaller than Disney's.

When we were planning the Atlanta trip 3-4 weeks ago, I also priced out a trip of similar length at Disney. 4 nights at Coronado and 3-day Florida resident park tickets were $1440. Even adding food in at $150 per park day and $100 per travel day, I come up just over $2000. And we would have done a lot more activities, not spent nearly as much time in our hotel room as we did in Atlanta. We only spent about 5 hours at Six Flags before we all had headaches from the rough roller coasters. There wasn't much else to do. We only spent about 3 hours at White Water on another day before we were tired of the atmosphere and the crowds, and the lines for food never seemed to move. Poorly managed, in our opinion. We would have done a lot more in 3 days at Disney parks. Add in the frustration factor with the horrible congestion on Atlanta roads and how long it took us to get anywhere, I'd rather have been on a Disney bus.

*I realize we are a special case in that we can drive to Disney and qualify for Florida resident deals. We also took advantage of military discounts in Atlanta, however.*

 

[StacyStrong]

It is absolutely THAT expensive.

I wish I could say that a 2k vacation wasn't THAT expensive.

 

[Klayfish]

Well, not exactly - you need to foot $4500 just for APs (5 people platinum pass/taxes included) to get 50 days, right? So, you get a lot less time for $6K-$7K if you include tickets...

Yes, 5 platinum APs are wallet bucklingly expensive. About $4500 like you said. But that buys us 50 days in the parks. I don't even want to think what 50 days in Atlantis would cost...but I'd sure love to know what 50 days in Atlantis feels like.

 

[persimmondeb]

Six Flags food is horrifyingly expensive, and terrible to boot. They frequently offer very good deals on Great Adventure passes, and we did that once. Never again. They don't seem to care about anything but the roller coasters, it's poorly run, and we don't have fun when we're hungry.

Disney food by comparison is reasonable and very good (and we get the dining plan, because the last time we decided we could eat for less than the cost of the dining plan it got ugly).

Disney is the most expensive vacation we regularly take, but we budget carefully and employ a number of strategies to make those dollars stretch. We don't stay on property for the whole trip, and we don't buy tickets for every day (and days when we have tickets we are in the parks open to close--other activities are for non-park days). I usually bring a week for three adults in under $2000, and I don't think we've ever spent more than $3000, but we alternate very expensive things with very cheap things. I might add that non-Disney vacations almost always feature only very cheap things--we're doing 8 days this year for something around $1500 all in (almost every hotel night under $100, sometimes well under, and pretty much the only things we spend much money on are food and gas for the car--we drive to Disney too).

 

[mustinjourney]

On the other side of the coin, my opinion is that Disney isn't *that* expensive.

We just got back from a week in Atlanta. Both Atlanta and Disney are driving distance for us so the transportation cost is the same - one tank of gas each way, total of $80-ish.

Costs for our Atlanta trip included (2 adults, 1 teen, 1 preteen):
Season passes for Six Flags & White Water, $300 (we got these on sale for $68 each and when we bought 4 we got a free parking pass)
Admission to the College Football Hall of Fame, $55 (my military husband was free)
Admission to the World of Coke, $52 (husband was free)
Parking in downtown, $17
Admission for an Escape Room one night, $83 (Groupon deal)
Minigolf one night, $35
Hotel for 4 nights, $750
Food for 3 days in Atlanta and 2 travel days, $600
Extra fuel because we had to drive all over Atlanta, $30

Total: A little under $2000

Food at Six Flags was insanely expensive -- more so than Disney. A bottle of Dasani was almost $5 with tax. We ate lunch in the park and a burger/fries combo meal was about $13 plus the soda about $4, and the portions were smaller than Disney's.

When we were planning the Atlanta trip 3-4 weeks ago, I also priced out a trip of similar length at Disney. 4 nights at Coronado and 3-day Florida resident park tickets were $1440. Even adding food in at $150 per park day and $100 per travel day, I come up just over $2000. And we would have done a lot more activities, not spent nearly as much time in our hotel room as we did in Atlanta. We only spent about 5 hours at Six Flags before we all had headaches from the rough roller coasters. There wasn't much else to do. We only spent about 3 hours at White Water on another day before we were tired of the atmosphere and the crowds, and the lines for food never seemed to move. Poorly managed, in our opinion. We would have done a lot more in 3 days at Disney parks. Add in the frustration factor with the horrible congestion on Atlanta roads and how long it took us to get anywhere, I'd rather have been on a Disney bus.

*I realize we are a special case in that we can drive to Disney and qualify for Florida resident deals. We also took advantage of military discounts in Atlanta, however.*

But did you escape????

 

[grumpy28]

Kinda veering off topic, but the people talking about renting off site for $500-700 for a week. When I look at vrbo etc, I can't see any deals that sweet. The fees drive those great prices up over $1000. Anyone have any tips?

Glad you asked, b/c I was wondering the same thing. As a family of 5, Disney hotel rooms are getting expensive.

 

[Marionnette]

Kinda veering off topic, but the people talking about renting off site for $500-700 for a week. When I look at vrbo etc, I can't see any deals that sweet. The fees drive those great prices up over $1000. Anyone have any tips?

Sometimes they are doing timeshare stays for cheap in exchange for suffering thru a presentation. Sometimes it's a SkyAuction deal. And sometimes it's a rental directly with a timeshare owner. There are terrific deals out there if you're willing to stay offsite and do some real foraging.

 

[Aliceacc]

For us, it's an expensive vacation. But that's a function of the choices we make:

1. We fly. I figure that the cost of airfare for 5 from NY is still cheaper than the legal fees I would face if we drove. I know for a fact that we could not survive having the 5 of us in the car for that length of time and emerge unscathed. Still, when we vacation at upstate Lake George, we drive.

2. We book Deluxe. For starters, there's the whole "family of 5" thing.. I wish there were a moderate that slept 5. (I would add that I have 2 daughters and a son. My son is 6 foot something with a football players physique. A cutesy little trundle bed won't cut it.) But we've become accustomed to the wonderful park access that the Deluxes offer, in addition to the other amenities. Our Lake George accomodations are $260 per night for a suite with a separate bedroom and 3 Queen sized beds.

3. We have a table service meal every single night. I know, counter service is cheaper. But when we vacation anywhere, we go out to dinner each night. It's family time together, and it's something I cherish. We're not always able to manage it in real life. (For example, last night: my son had a class, so he stopped at Chipotle for dinner. my older daughter is at the Jersey Shore with friends. My younger daughter is sleeping over her cousin's for a few days. My husband had a wake about 40 minutes away, so he had our son bring him a burrito from Chipotle. So I had a tuna sandwich for dinner.) I've done the math... we tend to break even on the DDP. For us, the DDP is part of an enjoyable WDW vacation. But the cost of all food at WDW is far more than we would pay for comparable food elsewhere. (What do you expect, it's a theme park. I get it.)

4. Then again, there are park tickets. Not cheap, no matter how you cut it. Wandering around Lake George village is free; Fort William Henry costs $17 per adult to tour and the House of Frankenstein is $10.28 per adult.

So we don't do WDW every year... and with double college tuition starting, this may be our last trip for a while. And that's OK.

My daughter is always talking about how she loves the way we "do Disney." And I agree-- our choices have worked out very well for us. But it's never a cheap vacation.

 

[Darcy03231]

Kinda veering off topic, but the people talking about renting off site for $500-700 for a week. When I look at vrbo etc, I can't see any deals that sweet. The fees drive those great prices up over $1000. Anyone have any tips?

Here's a few that come in around the $700 mark. Sometimes it depends on the time of year. I used August 11-18th.

https://www.vrbo.com/203102ha

https://www.vrbo.com/4487482ha

https://www.vrbo.com/13071

https://www.vrbo.com/4037588ha

 

[Klayfish]

Sometimes they are doing timeshare stays for cheap in exchange for suffering thru a presentation. Sometimes it's a SkyAuction deal. And sometimes it's a rental directly with a timeshare owner. There are terrific deals out there if you're willing to stay offsite and do some real foraging.

No foraging needed. It's very easy to find a 3 or 4 bedroom townhouse on VRBO for $100/night...all in. Just sort by price and you'll find tons of places. Not going to give away my top one or two places, because I don't want anyone snagging dates we want. But here's a great example. As noted by a PP, prices can vary depending on time of year.

https://www.vrbo.com/390675ha

Never stayed in this unit, but we've stayed in this community, very recently in fact, and it's wonderful.

 

[kymom99]

No foraging needed. It's very easy to find a 3 or 4 bedroom townhouse on VRBO for $100/night...all in. Just sort by price and you'll find tons of places. Not going to give away my top one or two places, because I don't want anyone snagging dates we want. But here's a great example. As noted by a PP, prices can vary depending on time of year.

https://www.vrbo.com/390675ha

Never stayed in this unit, but we've stayed in this community, very recently in fact, and it's wonderful[/QUOTE

It looks nice but the dates I chose (end of April) put it at $920 and $280 of that is fees. I like the space and the kitchen.

I read where owners using vrbo were upset they raised the fees and also do not allow renters to contact owners directly through their site anymore. Owners apparently pay a fee to advertise through vrbo.

 

[Klayfish]

It looks nice but the dates I chose (end of April) put it at $920 and $280 of that is fees. I like the space and the kitchen.

I read where owners using vrbo were upset they raised the fees and also do not allow renters to contact owners directly through their site anymore. Owners apparently pay a fee to advertise through vrbo.

OK, then here's one for end of April. I just chose random dates in late April. For 6 nights...check in Sat, check out Fri, your "all in" price is $546. I'm also familiar with this community. We've stayed all around WDW over the years...haven't stayed in this one, but know it quite well, it's our favorite area. In fact, I'm sitting just a few miles away as I write this.

https://www.vrbo.com/981760ha

Correct, as far as I know owners aren't supposed to set up deals outside VRBO, but at the end of the day it's not a big deal. I like the extra security VRBO gives in that your money isn't just going directly to an unknown person. Once you build a rapport with an owner and get to know them, you can find ways to communicate outside of VRBO if you want.

 

[kymom99]

OK, then here's one for end of April. I just chose random dates in late April. For 6 nights...check in Sat, check out Fri, your "all in" price is $546. I'm also familiar with this community. We've stayed all around WDW over the years...haven't stayed in this one, but know it quite well, it's our favorite area. In fact, I'm sitting just a few miles away as I write this.

https://www.vrbo.com/981760ha

Correct, as far as I know owners aren't supposed to set up deals outside VRBO, but at the end of the day it's not a big deal. I like the extra security VRBO gives in that your money isn't just going directly to an unknown person. Once you build a rapport with an owner and get to know them, you can find ways to communicate outside of VRBO if you want.

That's a good point.

i guess the fees are a percentage but the fees on this one are much less.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Kinda veering off topic, but the people talking about renting off site for $500-700 for a week. When I look at vrbo etc, I can't see any deals that sweet. The fees drive those great prices up over $1000. Anyone have any tips?

We've used SkyAuction, TripBeat, eBay, and vacationcentralflorida.com for our offsite stays. These do NOT require a timeshare presentation:

$559 for a 2 bedroom at WBC on eBay for August, 2014
$600 for a 3 bedroom at Grand Beach on eBay for Christmas, 2014
$770 for a 2 bedroom at Vistana on eBay for Thanksgiving, 2015
$506 for a 2 bedroom at Silver Lake on SkyAuction for April, 2016
$271 for a 2 bedroom at Cypress Palms on SkyAuction for August, 2017
$351 for a 2 bedroom at Blue Tree Resort on SkyAuction for August, 2017
$409 for a 2 bedroom at Summer Bay Resort on TripBeat for August, 2018; and
$464 for a 1 bedroom deluxe (sleeps 6, as opposed to 4) on TripBeat at Silver Lake for Thanksgiving, 2018.

The deals are there. You just have to know where to look.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

But did you escape????

Yep! With 12 minutes to spare.

 

[kydisneyfans]

The fact is, everywhere is getting expensive.
Disney remains "cheap" to us, but that may be due to no room costs (DVC), and DVC Gold annual passes(just over $500 by bridging tickets from UT).
Disney quick serve is cheaper than Kings Island-and the quality is better.
DVC allows us to cook if we want to save $$.
We could save a ton by driving (13 hours) instead of flying.

We looked at a week in a 2 BR in Panama City and was finding the room alone to be nearly 2K, before food, entertainment, and transportation.
We looked at Seattle-3 nights downtown and 4 in outlying areas was 2K, and flights were over $400 a pop. That trip was coming in at $5500. We said no.

I can see a family of 5 having problems. I can see expense costs if you want character dinners daily, load up on Disney goods, and do princess makeovers. We just like to stroll the parks, watch the entertainment, ride some rides.

Yes, Disney is getting expensive, but what isn't anymore?

 

[tvguy]

Just booked a Disneyland trip. 2 adults, 3 nights at the Grand Californian, 3 days park hopper tickets, shuttle to and from the airport, $2,200. Caught a Southwest sale so air fare is $220 on top of that..

 

[Shanti]

Okay, this is probably the cottage cheese and pineapples talking, but is Disney really all that expensive? *Spoiler alert, it is.*

BUT, I was thinking about this today. The flight, hotel, EVC rental and food are all about the same as what I would pay if we went somewhere else instead. The souvenirs might be a bit more, you can only get so many t-shirts at Mount Rushmore. But the price difference of going somewhere else is really just the cost of admission isn't it? For 8 days in the parks it runs about $55 a day per person. My local amusement park is about $40 per day per person.

In conclusion, as you can see by my work above that for the 3 of us we are only paying a price difference of $15 a day to go to Disney World. So really, Disney World is very reasonable.

Also these may be the rum soaked pineapples for the BBQ tomorrow.

There are ways to cut costs, but it is a lot more expensive than other destinations if you want to stay onsite the whole time while maintaining your standards for hotel & food that you'd have elsewhere. And the tickets are pricey: few people tour the parks for 8 days per trip (there frankly isn't that much there to fill 8 days without doing lots of repeats), so that consideration raises the daily ticket price considerably.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Trust me, I know how lucky we are. I only get 17 days of vacation per year, and I actually use several of them for my racing hobby. DW works for a school district, so she has all kinds of time off. We go around holidays and my job also is very flexible in allowing me to work remote. For example, we're here now. We drove down Thursday, June 14th. I worked on the 15th, 18th and 19th. We hit parks each night (plus we had the weekend of the 16th and 17th). Then I take 8 PTO days for the rest of the trip. Thanksgiving '17 we drove down the Thursday before. I worked Friday, Mon-Wed the following week and we did parks at night. Xmas we did something similar but stayed longer because I used the rest of my PTO.

We'd love to do something else for our annual vacation, but for our money we just can't beat the value we get at WDW. Honestly, our first choice is Atlantis which is in the Bahamas. But it's insanely expensive, so we just come back to WDW. Next year, we don't want to spend the money on 5 APs, so we'll just come down here and spend 2 weeks doing water parks, day trips to Daytona Beach, Disney Springs, etc...

Atlantis, yes crazy expensive! We stayed at the Comfort Suites across the street, HUGE money saver! Guests there have free access to Atlantis & the usual free Comfort Suites breakfast buffet which, in the Bahamas, is a real help to the budget.