Is Disney World too expensive?

[Cmdr_Crimson]

You have to consider when you can go and how to do it...Usually once I finish a trip, maybe 2 to 3 months later I'll book my trip and pay for it for the Year and a half until I return and it doesn't leave me with doing things so quickly.

 

[LoriMistress]

We go to WDW every four years because it's so pricey. I start planning our vacations at least 1-2 years in advance to search for the best deals, and to plan our trips. Yup, my life is that pathetic.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

I know people that spend more each summer to vacation at the Jersey beaches than I would for a week in WDW - yet they still call WDW expensive.

I believe many don't do a proper comparison and have a preconceived notion that WDW is just too expensive.

We know people who spend more on the beach than we do on 2 weeks at the WL b/c of the deals you can find for WDW (if you look hard enough). I'm sure you can find deals for the beach, but I have yet to stumble onto them.

It is expensive but honestly any vacation that is similar to the number of days, dining, things to do, etc. of a Disney trip, it is going to be about the same cost.

Our family of 4 has recently been to Snowshoe, WVa for a 4 night snowboarding vacation. We just got back from a 5 night stay in Chicago to see all the sights. I can tell you what we spent on each of those trips, we could have easily gone to WDW for a week. However, I will say we are a "moderate" resort family and moving up to a deluxe would change the cost dynamics quickly, but for our family Disney is a pretty good deal for what we get out of it compared to equivalent vacations.

As much as my boys have loved our non-Disney vacations, they still ask..."when are we going back to Disney World?"

Was it the price of gas in WV that made your trip so much more expensive? :ROFLOL: No joke - Snowshoe is pricey.

its expensive. but the memories and the time i have far out weigh and pay for the trip....to me, and my husband, this is our beach trip every year...

Ditto!

It's not a question of being able to afford it right now, it's am I really getting what I pay for?

I feel that way about everything I buy.

Many people don't realize that until they sit down and do the math, side by side.

Not many people will do that.

Yes, it is expensive. But then again, so is pretty much anything else in life that is worth having. (this of course excludes the things that give us joy for free). Vacations for us are very important and we will continue to go to WDW as often as we can afford to. . . if that means saving and prolonging a vacation for an extra year we will do it. If it means a les expensive hotel, we will do it. We just want to be there.

Agreed!

Yes it's expensive. But I'm addicted and can't stop myself. I've been brainwashed by Disney and I don't care. :hammer:But then again, it's the price I pay for happiness and to me it's worth it.

Agreed, again!

Sure its' expensive but I'm worth it!:ROFLOL:

I personally feel I get a good value for the money I spend - last year I was checking on taking my niece and nephew to Hershey Park. Not taking plane fare into consideration, the per day cost of Disney was cheaper. Granted I priced out staying out the Hershey Hotel when I could have stayed at a Motel 6, but I feel that the resort is just as much a part of the vacation as everything else.

In March of this year, I looked into taking DD and her boyfriend to Baltimore for a few days. Cost was comparable to a Disney vacation.

So, since I love Disney, and it's really my only vice, I shell out the bucks and enjoy myself immensely.

I like that logic!

 

[TubaGeek]

It is 100% a matter of opinion. I really don't know if you can "do the math" regarding something like WDW. What are you really paying for? A place to live for a week, and a weeks worth of food, plus your souvenirs. All in all, you're not getting that much.

Now, before you start bashing me, what we're really paying for is the experience and the feeling we get when we're at WDW. You can't put a price tag on that. To some people, it's worthless. To most of us,however, it's priceless.

 

[AREM]

The reason I can afford to go as much as I do, is that my CM friend always gets me in for free, and lets me stay with him for free. He lives like 15 minutes from WDW.

So all I have to worry about is getting to Florida, and food. :sohappy:

I take like one BIG trip every April, and one or two smaller trips through out the year. This year, I'm doing something new; I'm going for my birthday! My birthday is December 10, so not only will I get to spend my birthday at the Magic Kingdom, but I'll get to be there during the Christmas holiday season, and will get to see the World dressed up in lights and decorations for the first time! Also, the new and improved Space Mountain (should) be open by then!!!

Lastly, and possibly most importantly, The Princess and the Frog premiers December 11, so after spending a most perfect birthday at MK, me and my friends will head to Downtown Disney and go see the midnight premier of The Princess and the Frog!!!!

You can be sure that I will be investing in a crap load of PatF merchandise while there. :wave:

I'm actually hoping that they will already have Tiana and other characters in the parks while there! I wold love to meet them. How cool would it be if they had Tiana and Prince Naveen at the premier of the movie at DTD??

Also, I'm hoping they have that new Princess and the Frog restaurant open by the time I get there! I would LOVE to eat there.

 

[dvcnut39]

For our family, I don't think the cost is too bad. We only use overtime money for the trips and, depending on how you look at it, we're lucky because my employer won't hire, overtime is always available. So we try to take one great trip a year, with WDW being the destination at least every other year.

 

[scarpiapiano]

I look at it this way. There are experiences that you can have at WDW that you can't have anywhere else. For example, you can eat at the Yachtsman Steakhouse and have a very good steak for a very high price. I live in Houston and there's lots of places to get a good steak closer to me than Orlando. But where can I take my daughters to eat with Snow White, Cinderella, Lilo and Stitch, or Aurora? For some, the Akershus or 1900 Park Fare or Cinderella's Royal Banquet isn't worth it but when you're looking at a totally unique experience, than what can you say - it costs what it costs.

 

[JasonCajun]

Moderates are still reasonably priced when you take into account what you get. Deluxes are way too expensive in my opinion, but I've never stayed at one. I just can't justify the cost when I'm spending most of my time in the park.

 

[Mikester71]

Considering I just paid $200 Canadian for my son to go to Toronto today for his class trip, I don't think that WDW is TOO expensive. And all they did was go see a Jays baseball game, go up the CN Tower and eat dinner at some Medieval Dinner Theatre. $200 for him to have one day of fun when our family of four can usually go to WDW for 10 days for around $2000 (during March Break too - peak season I believe).

We have been going every 2 years since 2005, and that way it gives us 2 years to pay off the trip and save up some spending money. We have stayed at Pop all 3 previous trips, and will be again in March 2011. We drive down, and even taking into account the money we spend on gas, food, hotels and other things on the way down and back, I still don't think it is THAT outrageous by any means.

Could it be cheaper...sure, but so could everything else in life too! :ROFLOL:

 

[Susan Savia]

We go once a year and we save all year long. Disney is definitely expensive, but with planning and saving it always works out for us. We go for 8 days in the parks and we are able to see and do everything we choose too. We also take other trips thru the year, beach for a week in July; Memphis, TN for 11 days in August and a long weekend in September. Also, we dont go for the frills, just for the experience.

 

[sueuk]

It's all to do with context and what's available. Does Disney cost quite a bit? Yeah, is it expensive? I don't think so. Coming from the UK I think the prices are fairly reasonable however I could understand that someone in the US would notice more.

I agree - if I take away the airfare (which we would have to pay for ANY holiday) and the money that we pay to visit other attractions while we're there; the WDW cost is high but more than worth it for the total '24/7' experience that we can't get here.

 

[dsnyfreak]

im my opinion I think it depends of where you live and where you work. someone is say kansas may not make as much money as someone in like new york city for doing the same job like say working at a mcdonalds. I know that here in Clearwater Florida, you can start as a regular crew member for like $7.50/hr with no experience while someone in Tampa would start at $8.00/hr. If I had it my way id move back home with family so I could go on a really lonnnnnnnnng disney vacation and stay at the grand floridian!!!!!!:lol:

 

[tiggerzgirl83]

The shopping and dining can get really expensive..the food/beverage prices are ridiculous but when it comes to your actual trip i think its worth every penny. I go in Nov every year and they run specials and last year it only costed me $500 to stay at POFQ for a week with a 6 day park hopper. Thats awsome!! Airfare can be pricey.

 

[dznygirl64]

For us personally WDW is still a deal,we go four times a year.We have annual passes and stay at a moderate Disney resort usually under $100.00 a night.Airfare from Illinois on Airtran is a deal just booked $76.00 down and $81.00 back per person.We rent a car from National always have some sort of Orlando sale going on.Now we are thinking about buying DVC for the next 50 years that will put us at 94 years old when the DVC runs out.

 

[dznygirl64]

Forgot to mention the food,Food costs are a little high but you get large portions.And the food is always very good on property.Eating at Disney world is one of the main resons why we go so much.

 

[gspin2k1]

Given I live in Seattle. Airfare (unless free) is always going to cost at least $600 for two people, but more like $700-900. Given the time spent travelling (almost a full day round trip), I gotta plan to spend at least 4-5 days in Disney World. So yeah trips for me are always gonna be somewhat spendy because there is no short annual pass trip for me. THe sad thing is it'll be even worse if/when I move back to Guam =(...we're talking $1200-1800 in airfare alone...PER PERSON!

~G

 

[majorrfb]

Las Vegas vs. Disney World

When my wife, 20 year old son and I go to Vegas, we go for the top line shows. Each show ticket is around $95 per ticket. We usually stay for 6 nights and see 5 shows. Add the expense of 3 airline tickets (from Mass.), hotel (Ceasars' Palace), food and tips, DISNEY becomes a great deal. Show's are one and a half hours long, while disney parks per day are 10 to 14 hours a day, depending on the time of the year. We take one week long vacation a year, Disney beomes a bargain in comparison to many other places. :sohappy:

 

[Glasgow]

Its a luxury item, no doubt about that. I think Disney does a good job with having several pricing categories so that they cater to most income levels.

You could ask the same thing, though, about anything thats cost more than the average price though. Take cars for example. You can get a perfectly fine automobile for about $20k but then again you can buy one for many times more which doesn't offer any more general functionality - its still got 4 wheels and an engine.

Point is, as long as the person spending the extra money feels there is value in spending the extra money, then to them its worth it. With the expensive car, that may be name cache, performance, gadgets, whatever. With Disney, that may be the intangibles like the emotions you experience, the convenience of having so many things to do in one place, etc.

Having said all of this, I don't think it's cheap but I do think it's worth the price

 

[coltow]

We had planned on taking a trip to NHs White Mountain area. The cost of staying there for a week (including accomodations, tickets for local attractions, gas and food) equaled the same as WDW vacation. The only thing extra we had to pay for were our flights. That's why we decided to go this year, especially were youngest is still free.

 

[JiminyandTink]

It's definitely expensive but I don't necessarily ever feel like I'm being ripped off or anything. The food and some merchandise is a little expensive but it's the airfare that kills me more than anything