I Have A Dream.

[real mad hatter]

Good Morning Everyone..Well today I saw my friends off as they travel to WDW for 14 nights,staying at POFQ.They got free QS dining so that's saved a good bit.Theres two adults and a DS (12) But as he said to me,it's our third and possible last trip as its getting so expensive..Their total package including flights,transfers,park hopper tickets,was £5500.( $8250 ).. Now to me that's a lot of Dosh..Our vacation this year is 10 nights at a 4 star Hotel & Spa in October based in Andalusia ( Spain ) with a price tag of $1350.Thats flights,transfers,but on a self catering basis..However I still have a dream to visit WDW one more time,and hopefully 2016 will be the year..Now I know most of my American buddies here do not stay on site for 14 days,and also your travel is not as expensive as your already in the United States..Do any of yourselfs have a target of how much money you would spend on a Disney vacation.? I don't mean spending money,just a total of the complete package vacation.

 

[MissingDisney]

My DH once told me that he would never spend more than $5000 (hotel, tickets, and airfare) on WDW trip. Well, that worked for the first few trips with our kids. We stayed at Deluxe resorts, got the DDP, etc. As the kids hit school age, we can only go over school vacations (since we don't want them to miss too much school) and everything has gone up so much in price, especially airfare. So we go over Thanksgiving with no discounts, stay at a Moderate Resort (which I still love), and still get the DDP (which my oldest daughter is now an Adult for). Our trip this Thanksgiving is costing us $5500 for 9 days, 8 nights, at POR in a Princess themed room. Due to the price increases in recent years though, we may need to wait a few years after this trip to go again.

We second your dilemma. Now that our Schedules are dictated by the school calendar, it's much more difficult to keep the vacation cost efficient. The trouble is, my husband keeps comparing today's prices to the prices we paid several years ago when we were traveling in off months, low crowds, with two kids on the dining plan. Not so much anymore. When he starts adding it all up, I go get him a big drink.

 

[KCheatle]

I budget between $4,000-$5,000 for 8 days/7 nights at a Deluxe with Park Hoppers. That's just the hotel/tix/dining plan. That's not including merchandine and extras. I plan about an additional $1,000 for that. No, the airfare, I don't pay for. We use frequent flier miles. If I did, that'd be an additional $1,200. We go every 18 months or so. It's a long time to wait, but $5000 for a vacation is pretty pricey.

 

[Gabe1]

Good Morning Everyone..Well today I saw my friends off as they travel to WDW for 14 nights,staying at POFQ.They got free QS dining so that's saved a good bit.Theres two adults and a DS (12) But as he said to me,it's our third and possible last trip as its getting so expensive..Their total package including flights,transfers,park hopper tickets,was £5500.( $8250 ).. Now to me that's a lot of Dosh..Our vacation this year is 10 nights at a 4 star Hotel & Spa in October based in Andalusia ( Spain ) with a price tag of $1350.Thats flights,transfers,but on a self catering basis..However I still have a dream to visit WDW one more time,and hopefully 2016 will be the year..Now I know most of my American buddies here do not stay on site for 14 days,and also your travel is not as expensive as your already in the United States..Do any of yourselfs have a target of how much money you would spend on a Disney vacation.? I don't mean spending money,just a total of the complete package vacation.

We annually spent 14-16 days on property at WDW. Our way of putting our hectic work/family life behind.
No TV or newspapers, minus my DH for sports updates. It was our family bonding time. Our first stay on property with 2 kids was 1991 at Port Orleans and the following year we opened Dixie. I want to say the room was rack rated at $89 for fall and we were comp'd any table service breakfast daily including character meals.
My son love Mickey on the Empress Lilly. I think that trip was around $2500 for room, breakfast, car for 2 weeks and admission. We allowed around $75 a day for meals. Our last family of 4, 2 weeker was upwards of $6500 + around $150 a day in extras. That was a reality check for us. We love Disney but we had college knocking on the door and over $8000 was a bit much when we needed to educate our kids.

My son for the time being is a CM and my last several trips have had 50%-60% discounts and free admission.
Yes I am blessed however it is sick funny that my room rate with a 60% discount was still more than what we paid when we first stayed on property as a family. The increases are far outpacing our income increases.
While our airfare is substantially cheaper, your room rates and dining offers are better than ours and over a longer period of time, so for a family it kinda balances out. For now I'll enjoy my sons discount.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

My record is 19 days...and we stay the two weeks every August!

I don't think my parents have a "price ceiling" that they reach. We're just careful how we spend money. We mix cheaper dining with the more expensive, don't get a ton of souvenirs (though we've indulged on the artwork). Since we're using our DVC points, the room is paid for. Airfare is cheep. Our annual passes last for two to three trips.

Also, @real mad hatter: Spain? SPAIN! You have nothing to complain about! I speak Spanish with a Castillian accent...and have never been to Spain. So want to go. Never have left the US. It's sad.

 

[Jessica Meier]

Well our first trip with our daughter in 2007 for 6 days and 5 nights at the Pop Century and free dining cost us just at $2000. This trip in September for 5 days and 4 nights with a stay at the Contemporary (thanks to a 35% PIN) and the regular DDP we owe Disney $2850. Booking 9 months out was key. We had our goal from our invoice and have saved that much so will be able to pay it off without charging it on credit card. We did not have a vacation in between and now I know I can save the $50 a week no problem, so am hoping to be able to go every year or have longer stays every other year if the husband will agree to it.