For us Brits 21 nights in there would cost £3617 for the accomodation alone thats $6909 you lot must get paid well cuz added to £2000 ($3820) worth of flights things are stacking up a bit and we still havent got any food into us let alone any tickets for the Magic.
I'm sure you will all tell me about the cheaper ways of doing it but none of you all go on annual trips there costing $15000 a year.
Well, I guess this *does* point out one major difference between the "typical" American vacation and those of our friends from across the pond. The majority of American vacations are for one week, sometimes a few days more if you are able to play with the dates to include the weekends or a holiday. A week (Sat-to-Sat) at the Polynesian in Value season is $1480. If you can afford that level of hotel, that's not a VASTLY unreasonable amount for a week-long stay. Compare that to your typical British vacation of 2-3 weeks, add in the immense cost of plane fares, and you can see where the problem lies.
Personally, I will try my best to ALWAYS stay on-site. I can't afford the Deluxes, but I'm quite content to stay at the Values or the Moderates.
In 2005, my friend and I were doing a "cheap" trip down. We already had Annual Passes, so we didn't have to worry about admission costs. My parents had a timeshare week banked in the RCI network that was "use-it-or-lose-it", so they gave it to me. We traded into a condo at Orange Lake Country Club, which is just west of WDW. (The new Western Beltway actually runs through the OLCC property)
The condo was nice, and it was convenient to have all the extra space and full kitchen, washer & dryer, patio, etc but it just wasn't the *same* as staying on-site. It took me the better part of the week to figure out just what it was... Even though we were close to the WDW property (including the shortcut in through Sherbeth Road), we still had to drive a distance down Route 192 to get there. Though it was brief, it was still a jarring return to the "real world" for those few minutes in the morning and evening. It took away from the overall vibe of the trip. It made it seem like we were driving to just another amusement park, and not being on VACATION at Disney World.
Even a friend who's only gone to WDW a couple times with us, and has ONLY stayed on-site has told me (without any prompting from me) that staying at the Disney hotel was relaxing and kept the magic going 24/7. That it was an integral part of the WDW "experience".
A bunch of friends and I are taking a road trip next month out to Cedar Point in Ohio for our first visit. We'll be staying at one of their on-site cabins (similar to the Fort Wilderness cabins). It will be interesting to see if we can get a similar "on vacation" feel from that as we do staying on-site at WDW.
-Rob
(wow, that turned into a long post....)