How can you afford it?!!!

M

magicwand

Active Member
I just looked over the individual prices on the website and now I am in shock. How can anyone, especially people with children, afford to go? I was looking at the Beach Club for next year because I have been wanting to stay at this resort but there is no way I will pay that much a night. That's just crazy! Sorry Disney, but unless you can lure me in with a great PIN code or some other offer there will be a few less guests at Disney World this year. :cry:
 
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ShareBDwithMickey

ShareBDwithMickey

Active Member
A somewhat loaded question, but as with anything you really really want, you find the means.

Now I understand that coming from the UK we are often able to access offers that you guys don't have access to such as better length tickets up to 21 days to your 10, but add in our flight costs, insurance etc Disney is not a cheap option, typically off site comes in at about $3000 plus food. Onsite delux with the best offers (free dining, 14 day ticket for the price of 7, $200 gift card) for 14 days around $7000 to $8000. This includes car hire & one day at Discovery Cove as the only extra. I also anticipate a further $3000 for additional hard ticket events, x2 MNSSHP, fuel, reservered flight seating, extra food outside Disney, tips & souvenirs etc.

Its a chunk of change but its what I choose to spend my money on, we don't smoke, rarely drink & only eat out occassionally, plus we book at least 12 & anything up to 18 months in advance.

Now if I can just find UK fuel at USA prices I would be coming twice a year. 40 litres of diesel $75 minimum, it has been as much as $90! Our single largest outlay bar none, two cars, two tanks of fuel a week adds up to way more than the holiday every two years and thats just back & forth from work! How do we fund that, the same way, its essential so we find it.
 
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JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Being on this site I cant remember hearing from members who are rich, can just book a trip because theres money overflowing from a money tree and they have nothing else to spend it on. We all have homes, kids, school payments, bills that are due, and many other things our hard earned money goes to. Instead of focusing on how you cant go because the prices are too high, do what most of us do. Scrimp, save, budget, plan for the trip in advance, you work it out somehow. If I want it bad enough I'll find a way to do it. Maybe my trip wont happen for a year, couple of years or several years but by God I'll eventually get there with a lot of hard work and then my trip will be all that more pleasant because I worked my a** off to do it.
 
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PrincessNelly_NJ

PrincessNelly_NJ

Well-Known Member
Also,
we pretty much find Free Dining the best offer for us. So if we can book the free dining bounceback to guarantee free dining, we do.
If we do travel without it, we have a select list of places in each park that are "disney affordable," where we can eat for less than $15 per person or share meals. (Via Napoli/Teppan Edo, 50s Prime Time/HBD lunch specials or lounge, The Plaza, House of Blues, and/or Tusker House/Rainforest Cafe.)

We always wait til the last minute to by flights (we bought our flight 3 weeks out for our next trip, but most times we wait til we are 1-2 weeks out) & we always get amazing last minute deals. Our roundtrip flight from NJ to Orlando was $280-$350 each for the last 7 months. We only ended up paying $135 each including our baggage & upgraded seating for our non stop flight. In Sept of 2013 we paid $106 RT including baggage, bought our tickets 3 days before our trip! lol.
 
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sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
The resort you looked at was the most expensive tier of resorts. We personally stay in those Deluxe/Deluxe Villa, but to save money you stay at the lower tiers Value and Moderate. Also avoid peak season when prices are highest, and try to go when there is a room discount/ or free dining. We know plenty of families that are not "rich" that make trips to Disney and do what is mentioned above. The biggest misconception of Disney is that you have to spend a fortune on it, and that's not true. :)
 
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Chernaboggles

Chernaboggles

Well-Known Member
We cheat. With no kids and work that is 100% remote (no office presence required), we can do really long trips. We stay off-property but within 2 miles of the parks, for 3 weeks or more at a time. When you stay that long, rental prices drop dramatically, you end up getting whole weeks for free. We drive to Orlando so we have a car and get APs so we can go to the parks as much as we want. We take a week or two of "official" vacation (no working days) sometime during the trip, and the rest of the time we just hit the parks on weekends and evenings.

A lot of people wouldn't enjoy this model, but for us it ends up feeling like one long vacation even though we were working some of the time. The stress of a workday falls away pretty quickly when you're having Dole Whips and watching Wishes.
 
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LAKid53

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
ShareBDwithMickey said:
A somewhat loaded question, but as with anything you really really want, you find the means.

Now I understand that coming from the UK we are often able to access offers that you guys don't have access to such as better length tickets up to 21 days to your 10, but add in our flight costs, insurance etc Disney is not a cheap option, typically off site comes in at about $3000 plus food. Onsite delux with the best offers (free dining, 14 day ticket for the price of 7, $200 gift card) for 14 days around $7000 to $8000. This includes car hire & one day at Discovery Cove as the only extra. I also anticipate a further $3000 for additional hard ticket events, x2 MNSSHP, fuel, reservered flight seating, extra food outside Disney, tips & souvenirs etc.

Its a chunk of change but its what I choose to spend my money on, we don't smoke, rarely drink & only eat out occassionally, plus we book at least 12 & anything up to 18 months in advance.

Now if I can just find UK fuel at USA prices I would be coming twice a year. 40 litres of diesel $75 minimum, it has been as much as $90! Our single largest outlay bar none, two cars, two tanks of fuel a week adds up to way more than the holiday every two years and thats just back & forth from work! How do we fund that, the same way, its essential so we find it.
Click to expand...

If Congress would relax the export ban on U.S. crude, we'd LOVE to sell the UK some petroleum - always want to take care of our beloved Auntie! ;)
 
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Disvillain63

Disvillain63

Well-Known Member
Disney is our vice. We haven't always stayed at a Deluxe resort. In the early years, it was Values and Moderates. I was a stay-at-home mom, so it wasn't feasible to stay at a Deluxe. Even the years that I worked at the Disney Store and received a discount were usually a Moderate, because we had extracurricular (music lessons, sports teams, etc...) activities that the kids did. Deluxe didn't become our first choice until empty nest. Still, we plan and prepay and/or purchase gift cards to cover our vacation...the experience is paid for before we arrive at WDW.
 
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azox

azox

Well-Known Member
1- We get our flights through southwest. (If you get the credit card it's a real deal. $100 annual fee, but you get 50,000 points if you spend $2k in 3 months.) For us a round trip flight is approximately 14,000 points. We book our flights and then watch the prices. If they drop we rebook (since it's free with southwest and the points go back into your account)
2 - we stay a a 4 bedroom house right off of property
 
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pajammies

pajammies

Well-Known Member
Chernaboggles said:
We cheat. With no kids and work that is 100% remote (no office presence required), we can do really long trips. We stay off-property but within 2 miles of the parks, for 3 weeks or more at a time. When you stay that long, rental prices drop dramatically, you end up getting whole weeks for free. We drive to Orlando so we have a car and get APs so we can go to the parks as much as we want. We take a week or two of "official" vacation (no working days) sometime during the trip, and the rest of the time we just hit the parks on weekends and evenings.

A lot of people wouldn't enjoy this model, but for us it ends up feeling like one long vacation even though we were working some of the time. The stress of a workday falls away pretty quickly when you're having Dole Whips and watching Wishes.
Click to expand...

Love this!!

I agree with others here, it's what you want, so you save or budget or scrimp.
We don't do much of anything during the year, to be honest, in order to get us on a family vacation about once a year. We are not drinkers, nor am I a clothing, shoe or purse junkie, which for some people is a bonkers amount of money. No golfing, movies, weekend trips and we eat out infrequently... Just a family vacation once a year. The kids love all the places we have been able to take them, by cutting back in other areas.

Also another poster mentioned, you picked an expensive place to get a price quote with. Try a moderate and price that out instead, or a value even. Some people don't want to stay there, but we like it there because we don't spend much time at the hotels and choose to spend money on other stuff or put it toward the next vacation.
 
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