Are you a splurger or saver at Disney?

Gosh, such a subjective thing, really. I know people who would say any Disney vacation is a splurge, really. :)

For me, it all depends on the trip. My honeymoon, a splurge. Then two years later we were back, and we thought it was going to be a more subdued trip, but I found out I was expecting our first child while we were there, and then it turned into a babymoon, LOL! And so we were back to splurging--sort of. We were already booked into an All Star resort, and we did stay there.

After we had kids, all of our trips were more on the saving side, and our next trip is as well. For us, just getting to WDW costs a good chunk of change, so while the amount we spend may still be higher than what other folks are spending, it's still a trip we tried to keep lower in terms of complete cost.

So we're staying at value resorts with the kids; and we eat breakfast & evening snacks in our room and bring some of our own snacks to the parks (Although this has a lot to do with our eating preferences, too.); we eat mostly counter service (again, this also has to do with a fussy & impatient kid ;) not just the cost ) and we don't really buy souvenirs at all. We also didn't upgrade our travel as much as we might if it was just DH & I again. :)

And some of our saving starts at home. We bring ponchos and misting fans from home instead of paying Disney prices for them. We bought fuel rods online to save a few bucks each. Instead of buying personalized, matching Disney outfits, we just pack the same summer time moisture wicking clothes we already owned.

But we do include a few extras...my kids are saving for a droid next trip. We'll be going to an earlier (and therefore less expensive) Halloween party. We do plan on a character meal. So it's not all scrimp and save. Sometimes we spend some of those pennies, too. :)
 
We didn't have much money when I was a kid, so any type of splurge was always done the cheap way. When we would go places like the zoo, or an amusement park, my mom would pack food, and we never got souvenirs. So as an adult, I would rather stay home than not be able to get what I want. Sounds bratty, and I suppose it is to a degree.
If I have to do Disney on a budget, I would rather not go at all. I'm not saying I don't take advantage of discounts, or weigh the cost of a certain resort, park hoppers, things like that. I mean once I get there I want to be able to get what I want. If I want a $35 steak, or a $55 spirit jersey - I want to get it. I can't afford to buy a $35,000 crystal figurine of Cinderella castle, so I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that most things at Disney are uber expensive, so I visit with that in mind.

I'm not knocking my mother for not having a lot of money, and still wanting to show her kids semblance of a good time.
She did what she could afford. But if I can't afford to go to Disney the way I want to go to Disney - I simply won't go.
That's why there was an 11 year gap between trips. As we all know, Disney is a horribly expensive vacation.

We have never spent less than 2k just getting there. I priced Yacht Club for an upcoming solo trip, but just couldn't
wrap my head around spending $2400 for just the room, just for me. I will save it for when my husband comes with.
But my room at CBR is still $280 a night. That's not cheap, it's just cheap-ER. :teeth:
 
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My DH seem to even each other out, he spends and splurges while im pulling out sandwiches and sodas i brought in my bag for our lunch. Seems kinda crazy when an hour later he is buying a fudge square for 12.50
 


I'm a mixed splurger and saver.
1. We bought into DVC, which I consider saving and splurging in one purchase. We cook eggs and bacon for breakfast before hitting the parks. The whole family is fed for less than the price of one breakfast on property.
2. I get kid's sized quick service so I don't get too fat too fast.
3. I love a character meal every couple of days or a nice meal at Disney Springs.
4. I'll pay resort prices for the kid's souvenirs because he's so darned cute and I want him to love Disney the way I do.
5. In the parks, I hate waiting in line for just about anything... so I'll buy overpriced apples to snack on from kiosks and I won't pay $6 for an over-sugared Mickey-shaped treat.

5.a. I will pay $5 for stale popcorn in a themed bucket if said bucket is Dumbo or the train that connects to Dumbo. *facepalm*
 
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I splurge on the things that matter to me. When I’m solo I tend to go budget on the hotel and most dining and splurge on things like EMM And adult beverages in the parks.

With hotels I usually stay Value or offsite. I’ve learned how to navigate the public transit which means I can stay offsite and still thoroughly enjoy events like Food and Wine.

I’m a fan of brownbagging but my lunches are never PB&J. I pack charcuterie or salads or good sandwiches made with high quality ingredients prepared just the way I like them.

I travel to WDW from Louisiana solo 4-5 times a year and watching the pennies enables me to afford this. When I go with family the hotels are nicer and the eating out skyrockets.
Can you make me a sandwich? ;)
 


Both?

Hotel - Values

Food - Counter Service, expect maybe one or two splurges

Misc. - I will allow myself a special splurge (a dessert package or similar), I do not buy much in the way of "stuff" while I am at the parks but will spend on someone special.
 
We spend on things we value and save on things we don't. We stay at lower end hotels, bring drinks into the park and drink water at most meals but won't bat an eye at buying a shirt or a nice meal. We get 99% of the experience we value this way while spending a fraction of the money.

For reference, our last trip to disney was under 1k for a week with all expenses included. Flights/hotel/transportation and 1/2 of the tickets were covered by CC rewards.
 
I enjoy WDW overall, but have to say they've done a good job of removing all temptation to splurge for me the past few years. Before the existence of dining plans, (talking '80s/90s!) eating a TS dinner at WDW = high quality. It was pricey then too, but we'd love splurging and looked fwd to it. We rarely eat TS now - the prices are way beyond reasonable for such poor quality. We do most of our TS meals outside the park - but we drive in, so not beholden to WDW transport.

I used to splurge by staying onsite every single trip, but was so annoyed by the new parking fees on top of high room increases, that I now stay at DS and get the same 60 day FP and EMH benefits.

Just 2 examples of things I used to gladly splurge on at the parks that - due to declining quality or just stupid nickel and diming - I've discontinued.

We do enjoy sampling fun adult beverages in world showcase and my DH loves the fancy specialty coffee drinks -and that gets pricey, so I'd label both a fun splurge. :drinking1
 
We're mixed, I guess. Going to WDW is a splurge vacation even when done cheaply. Our first trip we drove to save money, but our second and third we didn't have the extra time (1.5 days each way) and had to fly. We buy one park per day tickets, stay Value, and don't buy many souvenirs. We do get the Dining Plan, and that's worth it for us. Breakfast is in the room. Our next trip is just me and DH. It's our first kid-free vacation in years, so we wanted to treat ourselves. We're staying moderate and booked 1 dessert party, but all other saves/splurges will be the same as when we go as a family.

Our usual 6 night, 5 park day trip for 5 people (all Disney adults) is about $5000 plus flights. Our adults only trip is 3 nights and 4 park days, and it's about $2500 plus flights.
 
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I suppose I'm also a mix of splurge and save.

My last Disney trip was in 2003 when my high school marching band was in a parade, so for my first adult trip in 2021 I'm planning to buy and do anything that makes me happy.

I'm saving by using Swagbucks to earn money towards Target giftcards and our trip will coincide with a conference my husband is attending in Orlando (fingers crossed it's actually at one of the Disney convention hotels) so his flight and our hotel room will be covered.

I'm going to splurge by buying multiple pairs of ears to match outfits, buying Disney themed clothing, and buying any snacks or souvenirs that catch my eye.
 
I'm a mix too, as are many here it seems.

First trip: offsite through MIL's vacation club, cheap rented car used google maps to avoid tolls, No park hopper, Hit outlets for souvenirs, ate very little in the parks. I think we had only two table service meals: Plaza and Via Napoli, all the rest was QS or fast food/groceries outside parks. Total was about 1700$ for us including flight and car and everything for four park days five nights including souvenirs.

Trip I'm planning now? Onsite Pop Century seven days and nights, park hopper, dining plan, full ADRs at one TS every day, reservations for Savi's for both of us. So about 3000$ + two lightsabers at 200$ each + one extra TS meal. Factor in dining tips and flight and it's 4000$ for the two of us.
 
I get an unbelievable amount of grief from the Disney web-o-sphere for carrying a lunch Including, “I’d rather stay at home (go to the dentist,clean port-a-potties at Jazz Fest, pick something truly awful) than lug a peanut butter sandwich around Disney.” I tend to get a little defensive :-)
I personally would not pack a lunch at Disney, but it's absolutely wild to me that people feel a need to tell you that you're somehow wrong for bringing sandwiches. What a bizarre thing for people to get up in arms about.

And some of our saving starts at home. We bring ponchos and misting fans from home instead of paying Disney prices for them. We bought fuel rods online to save a few bucks each. Instead of buying personalized, matching Disney outfits, we just pack the same summer time moisture wicking clothes we already owned.
Yeah, for things that one can buy elsewhere, it just makes sense to bring it from home. The big one for me recently is that I found myself looking at the Droid Depot backpack and thinking--man, I don't really want to pay $60 for that. It's not quite the style of bag I want for carrying my droid when I've made it, I've been worried it'll be out of stock when I get there, and $60 is a lot for a single purpose bag. So last night I hunted through Amazon and found a cross-body bag of about the right size (I'll pad the bottom and maybe the sides with one or more towels to make sure the droid's head pokes out the top) and paid less than $30 for something that I'm hoping I'll actually like better than the official product (I don't want the droid on my back--I want it on my hip where I can see it react around Galaxy's Edge).
 
It depends on the occasion. Some trips are more splurge heavy, like birthday or anniversary trips. Some trips are just quick budget friendly trips. But we try to have a budget, but round WAY up. That way, if we do spend a little more than expected (and who doesn't get surprised with things costing more than you expected at a Disney park?), we still have wiggle room in the budget. And if we don't encounter any surprises, we get to use any money leftover as seed money for the next trip. :) We try not to be frivolous and wasteful, but it is Disney after all -- so when there are so many times in life when we have to say 'no,' we try to say 'yes' when we can (within reason!) in the parks!
 
As we travel from England a flight is a must (Virgin Atlantic), but we definitely splurge on staying in Disney deluxe accomodation (through renting DVC points) with the usual stay of around 17 nights. As for dining it's 2-3 signature dining, 2-3 character breakfasts per trip, and an abundance of Disney snacks/treats.

Souvenirs are usually limited to mug, cup, writing pad, fridge magnet etc, some Disney souvenirs are just too expensive for me to splurge on. We never drink alcohol during WDW holidays so that's a saving.

Total outgoings is definitely affected by the exchange rate so sometimes it's out of our control.
 
It depends on trip and mood. When we know we will make more use of the room during run weekends we go for concierge level, otherwise we stay value.
Sometimes we decide that this trip we will do a nice(r) table service, either we have something to celebrate or we are in the mood for it this trip, or we want to have a place to take it a step back.
I do usually bring a bottle of water or soda, because those prices are ridiculous.

I am not a person for souvenirs or Disney wear, so that's not something I splurge on in the park. However, I have splurged on a Disney bound outfit.

Other things I might 'splurge' on is to fly as direct as possible, or with good departure/arrival/transfer times. I am happy to pay a bit more for that. Or specific seats in a plane, a gourmet meal in Economy etc.
 
Do you guys usually try to make it cheap or just have fun and splurge? Or half/half by splurging in certain areas?

Informal half-and-halfer... and that goes for travel everywhere.

I never set a budget, but will opt for the cheaper thing most of the time. Eg, I’ll eat a sandwich or hotdog if I’m not craving a fancy meal. However, if I do want a fancy meal, I’m probably going all out. I like to think it averages out.

Those splurges are generally unplanned and opportunistic. So, I’ll discover something I didn’t know about, or there was a rare opening that meant I didn’t need a reservation. So, now-or-never kind of stuff.
 
Agree--this is a great thread.

My first trip was a huge splurge: a once in a life time trip. I rented DVC points to stay in a Savanah room at AKL, ate at Cinderella's Royal Table, signed the kids up for a pirate activity. It was too fun--since then I think I've been back 5 times....

Like the others, I've figured out what I like, I prioritize that. For example, I'm all in for extra ticked events, like Disney After Hours or the Halloween Party.

As for resorts I think it can depend. When I go with a friend, it's all park, so we never spend on the hotel, but we eat where the belly takes us. With the kids, we do spend more time at the resort, and I like to enjoy that. The kids like to eat at nice places, however, we disagree on what is a "nice" restaurant, so that's probably the most difficult thing to overspend on, but I do.

The last trip with the kids, we stayed at the Boardwalk. During the week, we visited Art of Animation and all I heard was "Why didn't we stay here??? Next time can we stay at Art of Animation. Is it too expensive? That hotel is so cool!!!". Next trip we'll stay at the Pop (walk to AA, but queen sized beds). It'll save ~$1800 over a deluxe--that's a lot of splurge to reallocate.
 

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