How much do you spend????

[danpam1024]

While this may be a very personal question, we were curious if anyone would mind sharing how much they spend annually on Disney visit(s).

We budget over 10% of our annual gross income for our single, 12 night visit. This includes hotel, tickets, food and spending money.

Is this way out-of-line when compared to others participating on this site?

 

[TurboCaroline]

Well the last few years we spend about $1500 and that is for 4 day base tickets, value resort, food, gas and souvenirs. BUT my husband switched jobs last July and he makes a lot more money so we are upgrading to the moderate resorts!:sohappy:

 

[Ravenclaw87]

Hmm... I guess I don't spend that much at all, then!

7 nights with free dining at Pop in September is costing us $1200--- so, $600 a person.

And I'm kinda sorta planning on having my dad buy my plane tickets for my birthday.

But, then again, I am a poor college student, and if I spent as much on WDW as I did on school, I could take one HECK of a vacation!!! :ROFLOL:

 

[wdwforus]

Our trip in Dec 2005 was about $10k. Its expensive to fly out of Maine for a family of five. That trip was 1 night at AKL, 11 days at Pop, hoppers, rental car for 1 week and we went to Sea World and Universal one day each. It was Christmas and we splurged and spent what we wanted. Last year we drove down with our RV. Its a 28 footer with bunks and a slide and I towed it with a 99 Suburban. We spent 5 days going down, 3 back and was at FW for 10 days. We figured that one cost us about $5k. The gas alone was $1100. I think the tolls down and back were about $100. But the plane tickets would have been at least that much and we ended up spending 16 days together and really enjoyed the ride. Our next trip is in the planning stages for June 2010 and we are taking the RV again. We are planning on $6k, the plane tickets will be close to $3k by then I imagine. I think we spent about $4k in 02 for 7 days at CBR.

 

[redfive13]

I leave tomorrow morning and here's what this trip cost:

2 adults - Car. Beach, 5 nights/6 days, park hoppers, DDP
$1986.00
Airfare
$279.00
Spending cash
$600

Total
$2865.00

I think that's pretty good...

 

[wdwforus]

I just priced Delta for next Feb vacation in 2009 and the price for 5 is...drumroll please.......$3500.....thats if we dont want to fly in the middle of the night or have 3 hour layovers.....:hammer::brick: Airtran is $2k for Jan, Jet Blue is the big winner at $1200 for Jan.

 

[Disneykidder]

Wow, guess we don't spend all that much, then. In August our trip will cost about $2000 for 2 adults, a 14 year old and a 4 year old for 8 days at a value resort. Airfare will cost us the bulk at about $350 each. We don't spend all that much when we are there on "stuff". I purchase a lot of stuff throughout the year and we take lots of day trip and little trips here and there. (NYC, Hershey, Great Wolf Lodge, zoos, parks, etc.,)

 

[kimmychad]

lets see, 3200 for the disney hotel with deluxe dining and 7 day park hoppers, 1200 for the condo and anywhere from 450-800 for the airfare for 4 people

 

[Hrudey3032]

My typical costs
airfare-used to be $200 or less but betting on $250 the next time(Indy to Orlando)
room/board-free stay at dad's house
Park tickets-We tend to go for 2-3 days so $200
Food-$150-250(3 days at Disney x2meals a day = about $70 then rest of trip $80-180 depending on how often we eat out or make food at dads)
Rental Car(if we rent)-$135+$75-100 for gas
Souvenirs-$100-200

Low total-$850
High total-$1100

I will start saving when I get my stimulus money.I will most likely put about $350-400 in savings then start putting $50-100 in a month from paychecks.
8 months still left til January I should have around $1100-1200 in savings by then.My only hope is next time I go I will bring my girlfriend so it may be more if we rent a hotel instead.

 

[danpam1024]

OP here...

I appreciate the several cost breakdowns, but since all of us have different annual income, I wanted an annual percentage as a gauge to understand how much of everyone's potential funds are used towards vacation. In other words, spending $5k to one family may mean less to those if its only 2% of their annual income, but will be more significant to those when it's 20%.

10-13% (us) of gross annual income, no matter how much you make, to me, seems to be a large portion of a family's money. Does anyone agree, or is it considered the norm to commit so much towards Disney?

With all things considored, despite what we discover in this thread, we're still going and spending too much money!

 

[frankd1962]

Last year it cost me around $2600 USD for the premium package (meals include), Pop Century and air fare for just myself. And I took down around $2000 for spending money.

The way I do it now is I have between $30 and $50 direct deposited into a vacation club account at my bank. I save for two years for the trip itself and then the year of the trip the money I get is the spending money. So around this time next year I should have more than enough for another trip to pay for it in Oct. when the rates for 2010 come out and then in 2010 I'll have the spending cash for all the stuff I really don't need but want so badly. :ROFLOL:

 

[Montyboy]

Our last trip cost about 4% of my annual income, but we have a family of two.

 

[dvcnut39]

While this may be a very personal question, we were curious if anyone would mind sharing how much they spend annually on Disney visit(s).

We budget over 10% of our annual gross income for our single, 12 night visit. This includes hotel, tickets, food and spending money.

Is this way out-of-line when compared to others participating on this site?

We are in the DVC so I tried to include dues and the points cost while doing the math to answer your question. I would say that our trips cost 10% of our annual income as well. So I'd say we are in the same boat.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

OP here...

I appreciate the several cost breakdowns, but since all of us have different annual income, I wanted an annual percentage as a gauge to understand how much of everyone's potential funds are used towards vacation. In other words, spending $5k to one family may mean less to those if its only 2% of their annual income, but will be more significant to those when it's 20%.

10-13% (us) of gross annual income, no matter how much you make, to me, seems to be a large portion of a family's money. Does anyone agree, or is it considered the norm to commit so much towards Disney?

With all things considored, despite what we discover in this thread, we're still going and spending too much money!

Agreed! :sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

But it's worth it...

 

[wdwforus]

We cant afford to go annually so thats why I gave what we spent. If you had asked that in your original post I couldnt have answered as my annual income has increased about 45% since we started bringing our kids back in 02. It also depends on the purpose and extent of trip which has varied. Your original post and follow up are confusing because if family A makes 100K and spends 10k and family B makers 50k and spends 10k then the percentages dont matter. What it does boil down to is what are people willing to spend and sacrfice to go. My in-laws think we spend too much but what they spend on booze a year could pay for my family to go every other year.

 

[Laura]

We spend about $7-$10 thousand annually on Disney vacations. Usually 1-2 big ones and a couple little ones. (on a military salary - we have great tax credits each year - lol)

 

[wired]

My 2 Cents (Ok, a little more)

We try and go once a year, or should I say once a given year, my son collects the matchbox buses with the year on them...

Now that my children are at the charge age, it now costs us about $2500 to $3500 each trip. Now compared to some of the amounts we have seen, ours is pretty little for the 3 adults and 2 kids. We try to always go off season, get any specials we can find, do the dining plan, and yes purchase enough stuff to fill any extra space in the van we drive down with.

We always manage to have a great time, and still feel good that we did not break the bank. We could certainly spend more, but I think a vaction should never set you back so much that you have to look at on a statement for the next few months. I do envy you all that can go for 7+ days, and can stay at the higher end resorts, but at the end of the day, we get to see the same World and share the same dream.

Wired

 

[Jellyfish]

Mum sorted out all the booking for the hotel and such last year, she just took the money from me :lol: but spending money on just souvinirs [sp?] i spent about £150 [approx $300] and i thought i did really well spening that little lol.

 

[RissaB]

You want the % for just Disney travel or on all family vacations per year? We try to do one major trip a year which averages about $10,000 plus 2-3 little mini weekends. On top of that we fly West to see family on average twice a year. I guess in an average year we spend 10-15% of our household budget on travel and I wouldn't THINK of lowering that.

 

[Phonedave]

While this may be a very personal question, we were curious if anyone would mind sharing how much they spend annually on Disney visit(s).

We budget over 10% of our annual gross income for our single, 12 night visit. This includes hotel, tickets, food and spending money.

Is this way out-of-line when compared to others participating on this site?

Its tough for me to say, because the DVC tends to skew the numbers. Also, I end up in Orlando somtimes for work, so that's almost like a "free" trip (work pays for airfare, and hotel (offsite) and food on the days I am there for work) and I have an AP. Then if I stay extra I cover my own food and lodging (on points if I have any left)

I just got back from 7 days / 6 nights with my kids. We do one "major" trip like that a year. Airfare was $1,500, food and other assorted spending was $600 and figure the room was about $800 based on DVC maintence fees. Now we all have AP's (me because of travel, the kids because they also go with my ex-wife at times) so I am not sure how you would add that in. Still, all told it comes in well below 10% gross.

But again, you are on a 12 night stay. If you have a budget and it works for you, then thats fine.

-dave

 

[Elonwy]

I would considered in a fairly low income bracket because I work retail (not even full time but full/part time - approx 30 hours per week) But I have been able to save for Disney trips

Last year (March) staying at POR including flights and dining plan was about $2200 for myself with about $200 spending money for souvenirs

This year staying at Pop Century in Sept with flights and dining plan will be about $1300

So it really can depend on time of year and resort. I decided that I could go again this year because I like to think I'm not spending $1300 I'm actually saving $900. Right? I'm actually saving money. Right? :lookaroun