Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[eliza61nyc]

I’m not judging those who decide to spend the extra that Disney charges for its own hotels. It’s just that I myself don’t find enough value in the product to pay for it. I’m in the parks all day with no midday hotel break, so all I need is a clean bed for the night.

and that's the beauty of variety. I need way more than a clean hotel and I refuse to stay anywhere that does not have a full service restaurant and bell service. I think for me vacations are my escapes. When I worked, I was the 50 hour a week working gal, along with the normal life stuff , my late husband worked on oil rigs and other long hour, 7 day week atmosphere so we did enjoy the jacuzzi tubs, the balcony outside our bedrooms . for us saving a buck didn't hold any value if we hated the place we were staying. We did off site one time and said, we'd rather stay home than be off site. next trip we purchased our dvc to ensure we could stay where we wanted. Never regretted it.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Some who take these vacations are the slaves to debt mindset group.

I don't know Lilo, now my sampling pool is pretty small. My family, friends and a my two neighbors. NOT one of them goes into debt going to disney. Have people forgotten the old fashioned thing call "save". My sister in law takes her kids about every other year. She literally has a savings account that she pays into every time she gets paid .
those blanket statements pretty much can go to any vacation. cruises, europe etc.

 

[FigmentFan82]

People don’t typically book trips a couple of months in advance. Certainly not the general public.

(sheepishly looks away as my trip was booked a couple months in advance)

 

[Lilofan]

I don't know Lilo, now my sampling pool is pretty small. My family, friends and a my two neighbors. NOT one of them goes into debt going to disney. Have people forgotten the old fashioned thing call "save". My sister in law takes her kids about every other year. She literally has a savings account that she pays into every time she gets paid .
those blanket statements pretty much can go to any vacation. cruises, europe etc.

In my area , some in my gym who are well to do have no desire to vacation at WDW but instead visit Europe and Hawaii. Some that complain about funds still vacation at WDW and FL and say they continue to rack up credit card debt.

 

[donaldtoo]

Post from Trauma is vague. Top 1% still increase their wealth and income - their money ( invested ) works harder than they do.

“Average annual household income” and “I don’t make that much” doesn’t seem vague to me. If Trauma was including both pay/salary and investment income, I would think it would have been stated as such. Maybe @Trauma can clarify.
As far as investing goes, I know it pays off in the long haul, but, it ain’t always pretty.
The architectural firm I’m with now is also the same firm I was with for 20 years and 29 days before my 401K lost about 50% of its value and I was laid off in Jan. of 2009, during that big recession.
I’ve now been back with the firm for over 10 years (they hired me back in Feb. of 2013) and still invest in a 401K.

 

[donaldtoo]

I don't know Lilo, now my sampling pool is pretty small. My family, friends and a my two neighbors. NOT one of them goes into debt going to disney. Have people forgotten the old fashioned thing call "save". My sister in law takes her kids about every other year. She literally has a savings account that she pays into every time she gets paid .
those blanket statements pretty much can go to any vacation. cruises, europe etc.

We’ve never gone into debt for any trip we’ve ever taken. As you indicated, we save in a separate account.
We went on a family Disney cruise with our 2 young granddaughters last December, and didn’t go into debt. We’re going to WDW in Oct., and doing another cruise (same family group as last December) this coming December, and we’re not going into debt for those either.
Going into debt for a vacation is just not how we
roll.
If that means a few less beers, eating at home more often, etc., then that’s what we do.

 

[Piebald]

Let me know if you felt safe with you and your family walking by the stadium in that neighborhood.

That area isn't bad unless you're trolling around at like 3am. During events it's well monitored and crowds are just moving to and from. The people around there are just trying to capitalize on events by selling food drinks and parking.

 

[Trauma]

“Average annual household income” and “I don’t make that much” doesn’t seem vague to me. If Trauma was including both pay/salary and investment income, I would think it would have been stated as such. Maybe @Trauma can clarify.
As far as investing goes, I know it pays off in the long haul, but, it ain’t always pretty.
The architectural firm I’m with now is also the same firm I was with for 20 years and 29 days before my 401K lost about 50% of its value and I was laid off in Jan. of 2009, during that big recession.
I’ve now been back with the firm for over 10 years (they hired me back in Feb. of 2013) and still invest in a 401K.

I just looked at last years taxes. My household was $742k.

I think according to google that puts me in or near the 1%.

That just surprised me because when I think 1% lifestyle it’s private jets, houses around the world, a yacht.

I can afford none of those things.

However I made the choice long ago to live a debt free life. Im a simple uneducated man who made his money working harder than everyone else.
I’m not high on the idea of leveraging what I have to gain more wealth.

In summary I do ok, but I don’t have the lifestyle of the ultra wealthy whom I picture in my head when I think 1%.

 

[Piebald]

As a local I never understand how people spend so much at Disney. We travel a lot and would much rather travel abroad than take a trip to Disney (although to be fair we don't have kids yet). At one point when we went to Japan it was significantly cheaper to do 2 weeks there and Tokyo Disney than if we lived in Nowheresville USA and flew to WDW for the same amount of time. When my wife and I occasionally go to a more premium restaurant like Yachtsmans or Tiffins and I see that family of 6 ordering entrees for everyone while the kid eats one fry and goes back to their tablet, I'm always wondering how much their entire bill is and their total trip cost.

We are a high earning household especially for the Orlando area. I have friends in South Florida who come up for a weekend and they're legitimately in the 1% and even they complain about how expensive Disney is. I'm talking people making 300k+ a year by themselves with a working spouse.

We have APs and we enjoy going and when we have kids we will see a lot of value in that but at the end of the day we drive back home and sleep in our own bed. A staycation here or there is fun but Disney's hotel prices are outrageous for what you get. Add in ticket prices up front, food, airfare ...it's all mind boggling.

 

[JoeCamel]

Let me know if you felt safe with you and your family walking by the stadium in that neighborhood.

I've never felt safer even at night.

 

[Lilofan]

That area isn't bad unless you're trolling around at like 3am. During events it's well monitored and crowds are just moving to and from. The people around there are just trying to capitalize on events by selling food drinks and parking.

Some homeowners make out cramming 7 guest cars parked on their small lawn in front of their home $20 per car

 

[donaldtoo]

I just looked at last years taxes. My household was $742k.

I think according to google that puts me in or near the 1%.

That just surprised me because when I think 1% lifestyle it’s private jets, houses around the world, a yacht.

I can afford none of those things.

However I made the choice long ago to live a debt free life. Im a simple uneducated man who made his money working harder than everyone else.
I’m not high on the idea of leveraging what I have to gain more wealth.

In summary I do ok, but I don’t have the lifestyle of the ultra wealthy whom I picture in my head when I think 1%.

No offense, but, the fact that your household income was 742K last year and you, apparently, had no idea you were in the top 1% kinda’ blows my mind.
Especially when about 570K/year of household
income puts you in the top 1% (just over 400K for individual income).
The last sentence in your second to last paragraph indicates to me that very little/none of that income was from investments…?
Either way, that is amazing for you, and I hope you continue to prosper from all your hard work…!!!

 

[Lilofan]

No offense, but, the fact that your household income was 742K last year and you, apparently, had no idea you were in the top 1% kinda’ blows my mind.
Especially when about 570K/year of household
income puts you in the top 1% (just over 400K for individual income).
The last sentence in your second to last paragraph indicates to me that very little/none of that income was from investments…?
Either way, that is amazing for you, and I hope you continue to prosper from all your hard work…!!!

In 2019 average net worth of 1% was $11M.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I just looked at last years taxes. My household was $742k.

I think according to google that puts me in or near the 1%.

That just surprised me because when I think 1% lifestyle it’s private jets, houses around the world, a yacht.

I can afford none of those things.

However I made the choice long ago to live a debt free life. Im a simple uneducated man who made his money working harder than everyone else.
I’m not high on the idea of leveraging what I have to gain more wealth.

In summary I do ok, but I don’t have the lifestyle of the ultra wealthy whom I picture in my head when I think 1%.

I think "private jet lifestyle" is more like 0.1%

There are ~125m households in the UA, so top 1% is still well over 1 million households

Plus, some areas of the country have a very high cost of living so you have to make way above th average for the entire country just to have a modest home, etc - so maybe ght not seem like one lives extravagantly or anything but compared to the rest of the country the salary will seem crazy high

 

[DisneyHead123]

Some who take these vacations are the slaves to debt mindset group.

It took me a long time to learn decent money management and when I was younger I struggled with going into and out of credit card debt. I don’t think it’s that people necessarily say “I’ll just charge this vacation!” In my case, it was more about having a poor sense of what kind of reserves I needed. Life always happens and after the vacation I’d get a huge vet bill, need a car repair, find out I needed three fillings at the dentist’s office, and owe money in taxes that year. I always underestimated how much of a buffer I needed in my savings account.

 

[JD80]

I think "private jet lifestyle" is more like 0.1%

There are ~125m households in the UA, so top 1% is still well over 1 million households

Plus, some areas of the country have a very high cost of living so you have to make way above th average for the entire country just to have a modest home, etc - so maybe ght not seem like one lives extravagantly or anything but compared to the rest of the country the salary will seem crazy high

Everyone likes to think they are middle/upper middle class when in reality if you're making 745k you have no idea how the rest of society lives. This usually happens two ways:

1) You're completely ignorant (do not think this is Trauma's case)

2) You've slowly gotten more and more successful in life (and lucky) and the world around you gradually changes from worrying about how to afford a home, or a illness in the family, or paying bills to living comfortably though not extravagantly and your normal bills or repairs or unforeseen circumstances aren't dire or threatening to bankrupt you.

Then you all of the sudden look up and you're shocked at how different things are for most other people.

 

[Splash4eva]

When you start talking numbers and what people are making its also important to discuss where you live as well and discuss taxed and cost of living. I live/work in NYC and i can assure you what i make annually goes way less than someone living elsewhere. Literally was just talking about this yesterday with one of my good friends regarding what we will need to truly retire.

 

[solidyne]

Tangents are nice and fun, but this is not heading in a good direction.

 

[Splash4eva]

Tangents are nice and fun, but this is not heading in a good direction.

100% agreed. Was just adding in something which was relative when talking numbers…

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

When you start talking numbers and what people are making it’s also important to discuss where you live as well and discuss taxed and cost of living. I live/work in NYC and i can assure you what i make annually goes way less than someone living elsewhere. Literally was just talking about this yesterday with one of my good friends regarding what we will need to truly retire.

100% true, I‘m upper middle class on my income in Vegas, the same income would be lower middle class in LA. The $2000 a month difference in mortgage alone (between the 2 cities) would drastically cut my spending power, subtract another 10% due to state taxes… currently I can afford to spend $25k a year on travel, in many markets I’d be struggling just to pay the bills with the same income.