Ever feel like you can not afford WDW vacations anymore?

[tvguy]

We don't book a Disney vacation until we have the money in hand. I guess it depends on your perspective. Some here go several times a year. In our group of friends we have historically been considered Disney addicts because we go every 2 or 3 years. We went to Disneyland last week, and WDW for the first time ever last year, so we broke our pattern
And, also under the heading of "your perspective", I can't imagine being near retirement and still having a mortgage. We bought a very modest house 35 years ago, and took out a 15 year mortgage for that reason. And again to perspective, we were the first generation in our families to have a mortgage .....and not pay cash for a house. Now, in may parents case, their first house was really a shack, cost $1,500 in 1950, and over 10 years they added on until they had a nicer, but still modest house. My In-laws, my FIL was career Air Force so housing was always included and free until he retired. So he had 27 years to save money to buy his first house for cash.

 

[cinnaminny]

I think there are so many ways to take a Disney vacation it will always be a thing for me. We try to pay cash for everything so we just save for our trips.

 

[MillauFr]

I don't feel Disney is expensive. Compared to the price of lodging and dining out in Seattle, Disney is reasonable. The hotels in Anaheim are less than half the price of hotels here. The fine dining restaurants in Orange County are cheaper than around here.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

We don’t find Disney too expensive, but the value is drastically diminished.

As prices creep upward, the fellow guests we’re forced to endure behave worse and worse. Our last trip was nearly unbearable - not because it was crowded, but because of the crowd itself.

 

[Ensusieasm]

We are approaching retirement age.
We still have a mortgage on our house, so in a few years, maybe downsize and use
the equity in the house to buy a smaller place to live and afford on a limited income.

With the increase tickets and room prices at WDW, we may not be able to afford WDW anymore

Anyone else thinking they can not afford WDW anymore?

We just vacationed two weeks ago at Yellowstone National Park. Our modest 2queen hotel rooms at Old Faithful Inn and Canyon Lodge were $375 per night+tax. These rooms had no TV or air conditioning. Thank goodness the weather was cool as we would have been uncomfortable on a hot summer day. The Park was crowded and there was no free shuttle from the airport or bus, boat, or monorail transportation to see the sights of course. So, it seemed to me that a Disney vacation wasn’t quite as expensive as I had thought.

 

[sk!mom]

I'm also in the camp of "we could afford it but no longer see the value." Our youngest child just graduated college in May and became fully employed with her own insurance in June so DH and I actually have the most disposable income that we've had in many years since our child raising years are over.

I was there this time last year. It was the most affordable ever since it was a girl's trip with my sisters and mom. I only paid 1/4 of the room cost and one of my sisters has a retired military DH so we got a room discount and the military rate on the park tickets. Food was just me and when you're used to Disney with a family, it seemed fine.

All that said though, it wasn't the best trip. It was very difficult to manage the lines and we waited more than in previous trips (and I'm considered an expert among my family and friends for rarely waiting more than 15 minutes or so.) There were a several ride breakdowns that caused us to have to try and change FP's or scramble to do what we wanted. Posted wait times were wildly inaccurate at times. That had us waiting in lines that we never would have entered had we known that the posted 15-20 minutes was really going to be twice that.

And the buses...ugh! We've always appreciated the convenience of Disney transport but that trip it also was overcrowded, slow, late, or seemingly nonexistent etc... Because we could afford it, we used Lyft for most of our stay.

I don't see myself back at WDW in the foreseeable future. There are just so many places that DH and I want to travel that we could do for the same amount or less. DD22 and I are talking about doing a girl's trip to celebrate her 23rd birthday in late Spring or early summer and DisneyLand and SOCal is a possibility. She has never been and I haven't been since I was maybe 13. We could easily stay offsite and we love the weather and could do other things. We shall see...

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

We don’t take any trips we can’t afford. When we do Disney we save for it. It’s on par with any other trips we take so I don’t see a huge difference for us.

 

[_19disnA]

We haven't been to Disney in over 10 years, but plan to go next year with others who have small children. Probably something we will do once in awhile, but there are many other vacation destinations we enjoy that offer greater value and cost less. Disney is becoming a vacation destination for the well-to-do and pricing themselves out the market for many people. We don't intend to spend weeks/months planning every detail as it make it seem like more of a job and less of a vacation. Part of being on vacation for us is the spontaneity of deciding each day what we want to do without being locked into some rigid schedule. All that time spent 'planning' is also a cost to consider.

 

[neverlandsky]

I understand the value argument.

We loved the ease of our first WDW vacation despite the higher costs. Yet we just did the vacation wrong. We focused majority of our time at the parks and realized mid-vacation that just wasn’t our vacation style.

2 vacations afterwards elsewhere this year we found our vacation style is more sloth pace. We found we love luxury resorts. So when we go back WDW next year for our 2nd trip we’re going to mostly resort stay and explore to save $$$.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I really started to feel that way after my last trip a few weeks ago. Then when they did new ticket pricing, and upped the cost of beverages, that sealed the deal. However, I like the atmosphere, and so we're considering making more "non-park" trips.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

We can still afford our WDW vacations, but we never really broke the bank on them to begin with. All our WDW trips had to be pretty budget friendly because they were add on vacations, not our main trips. We've managed to go every other year since 2010. Most of these were 7 -8 day trips; one was a 4 day weekend; the others were 5 day trips. To do this we:

1) drive 12 hours (we've only flown once when just two of us, DD and I, went for the long weekend
2) stay in a timeshare we trade for through RCI
3) only stay Value on site with the Free Dining discount or with a Team discount (DD's 2 HS softball spring training trips)
4) bought tickets years ahead of time before multiple price increases (I still have 4 days left on my 10 day no expire hopper with waterpark fun and more. DH has 6 days left on his no expire ticket and the kids each have 7 days left on theirs. Plus DH and I also have 7 day hoppers that we bought pre Feb 2016.)
5) pre pay for all our onsite food using Disney Gift Cards purchased with a 15 to 20% discount (Kroger 4x fuel points purchased with a cash back credit card, which varies from 1 to 6% back) when we don't have free dining.
6) bring our own water into the parks and eat breakfast in our condo or hotel room most days.

Our most expensive trip was for 4 of us in 2010 (offfsite condo, 4 park days, 2 water park days, 1 Sea World day, 70% of our meals in the parks) for $3500.

Our Easter 2017 6 day trip with 4 days at WDW only cost us $1400 total including transportation/gas money, food, lodging, tickets, parking and ESPN entrance fees. It truly was a budget trip, but it certainly didn't feel like it!

DH and I went to WDW to see DD play in a high school softball tournament. DD stayed onsite with her team (her package price was only $400 due to fundraising!). We decided not to pay for the team parent Disney package at Pop with quick service dining plan for DH and me because we knew we could do better on our own. Instead we drove our car down and stayed off site at a beautiful 1 bedroom condo (Vacation Village at Parkway - $430/week and close enough to see the ESPN fields from the balcony), used $525 in Disney gift cards (purchased at Kroger with 4x fuel points) and $137 in Disney rewards dollars for dining, and used 3 days on our 10 day no expire hoppers with WP fun & more.

We did 3 table service ADRs (Boathouse on our DS day, Tusker House breakfast ROL pkg, Sci Fi for appetizers and milkshakes) and a lunch ADR at BOG. We had drinks with the other parents at Pop's Petals pool bar, and at the House of Blues outdoor patio, complete with live music! On our Epcot day we spent $100 as we ate and drank our way around the World Showcase at the Flower & Garden food kiosks. We ate 3 breakfasts in the room and brought our own snacks to DD's games. All other meals were QS at the parks or WDW resorts.

 

[Colleen27]

I don't feel Disney is expensive. Compared to the price of lodging and dining out in Seattle, Disney is reasonable. The hotels in Anaheim are less than half the price of hotels here. The fine dining restaurants in Orange County are cheaper than around here.

It doesn't hurt that you're comparing costs to Anaheim, not Orlando as most of us are. Without the captive audience factor, DLR costs don't seem to be as out of control - the on-site hotels are expensive but there are off-site choices that aren't substantially less convenient, and people who don't want to spend the Disney premium for meals have plenty of other choices in the area. I could be wrong, because we haven't been yet, but it looks to me like a cost-conscious family could walk to a Dennys or IHOP for a meal in about 10 minutes, as opposed to the 30-45 it takes just to get your car when WDW's Magic Kingdom. With as short as park hours are for much of the year, leaving property for more reasonably priced meals doesn't really work unless you can wait to eat at the end of your day.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I look back at what a WDW vacation was 10 years ago and what it is now & what it was 10 years ago is a vastly superior product IMHO. We can afford it but we'd rather spend our vacation dollars elsewhere.

 

[Shanti]

I don't feel Disney is expensive. Compared to the price of lodging and dining out in Seattle, Disney is reasonable. The hotels in Anaheim are less than half the price of hotels here. The fine dining restaurants in Orange County are cheaper than around here.

This thread is about WDW, not DLR. DLR actually is a much better deal as it hasn't been manically cutting the way WDW has been lately, and as a PP mentioned, there are more convenient affordable food & lodging options available at DLR's doorstep than you can easily get while vacationing at "the World".

 

[Shanti]

And, also under the heading of "your perspective", I can't imagine being near retirement and still having a mortgage.

Different life experiences, different perspectives. For some people it is possible to buy & pay off a home well before retirement. For others, it is not.

 

[Scifidiner]

It seems each subsequent year more and more people are asking this same question. Now this is merely my personal observation, but over the last decade it seems more people are going less frequently and when they do choosing less expensive accommodations. We can afford to go to WDW, we go every 3 years or so mainly because we have other places we want to go. WDW is expensive but then it's always been expensive. I suspect depending on where you are from, the prices can seem high. I imagine there a lot of folks who love WDW but don't frequent Disney forums, that have simply been priced out.

 

[MillauFr]

This thread is about WDW, not DLR. DLR actually is a much better deal as it hasn't been manically cutting the way WDW has been lately, and as a PP mentioned, there are more convenient affordable food & lodging options available at DLR's doorstep than you can easily get while vacationing at "the World".

The onsite hotels are WDW are far cheaper than DL. I like the Grand Californian but no way I am going to pay $600 to $700 per night. At least WDW you can get the travel agency deals where you can stay at the Deluxe Hotels for 50% to 60% off. There are no huge discounts at DL. I found the fine dining restaurants at WDW and DL priced similar. They are both charging less than restaurants near our house.

I was looking into joining the Disney Vacation Club. The prices they are charging in points at the Grand Californian are far higher than similar properties in Florida.

 

[Shanti]

The onsite hotels are WDW are far cheaper than DL

But you can be a 5-10 minute walk to DLR and stay & eat at a cheap offsite hotel. Most DLR guests don't stay onsite because you can very conveniently stay offsite, unlike at WDW.

 

[disneyseniors]

I look at it with a slightly different perspective: My husband and I are in our late 60's early 70's, with some health issues.
We love Disney, it's our safe, still magical place. We go once a year (and twice this year, yea) I feel fortunate to be able to go to our favorite place to vacation. We are slowing down and things are a little harder to do now, but that doesn't stop us. We still do it all, but just slower I never thought I'd be thinking with each trip, "this might be our last one". But I am. I don't mean this to be a downer, just a different outlook.
Sure it is expensive, but it's where we feel safe to wander, feel pampered, enjoy the atmosphere, the resorts, and of course the parks.
So, we will keep going to Disney each year and pause to enjoy it even more now. When and if we feel there is no value for us anymore, then we will probably quit, with many fond memories of Disney.

 

[Hrhpd]

We are approaching retirement age.
We still have a mortgage on our house, so in a few years, maybe downsize and use
the equity in the house to buy a smaller place to live and afford on a limited income.

With the increase tickets and room prices at WDW, we may not be able to afford WDW anymore

Anyone else thinking they can not afford WDW anymore?

While we can still afford theme park vacations, the value is no longer there. For the price they demand, there is a whole big world out there to be explored for the same price or less now. We appreciate real culture over fake more and more. But then, we have never been the family that sees "magic" in a for profit business. The "real" themeing of the Roman Colosseum, imagining the history, or the quirkiness of Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona is where we see the magic. We went because it was fun for the kids, but don't see it as an adult destination for us.

We have never limited our vacations to Orlando, but now we are Orlando'd out. It is just not worth the expense for what we can get elsewhere. I will take real Norway over some silly building in Epcot any day.