Retiring and dealing with your Disney addiction

[KeithVH]

As my retirement looms before me (within the next 2-3 years), DW and I are discussing how we're going to plan to deal with future park visits financially. So I'm very curious how other members here plan on handling this as they also go down that path. Who would have guessed, even a couple years ago, what the economy is currently like? Or what it will be in a few years? Assuming the parks will never get any cheaper - fixed income people are gonna get the short end here.

Regardless of whether you WANT to pay the prices (airfare and hotels too), how many of you see yourselves being shut out in the future? Or at least modifying your thinking to accommodate changing financial situations.

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

I have a sound plan to take an annual trip to WDW after retirement... Mega Millions! I figure that when I cash on one of those $1B+ jackpots, I should have enough to visit WDW every year until death... maybe. I might have to mind the meals for the first few years, but if my health starts to fail as I age, I can probably start eating like a king down there if "until death" ends up being quicker than expected.

 

[Goofyernmost]

At the beginning of my retirement I moved to NC from Vermont and access to WDW became easier. I'd drive down at least once a year for a few days (10 hour drive) and then they changed everything. First it costs more and second they made the process to go more difficult then casually walking into Fort Knox to just touch the gold. When I retired, just 12 years ago, I had daydreams about how I could just decide on a saturday that I wanted to go and hit the road on Sunday. And I did it for a number of years without ever having to worry about if I could even get in, much less afford it.

I currently have no plans to go back. I might go to Universal a few more times or at least until they get complex as well. For me, once almost freaky about my love of WDW, nothing about the thought of going excites me anymore. I miss the feeling but the magic has gone and I don't foresee it coming back. Once you retire and as you get older if you don't have a small fortune in the bank, you also have to worry about having enough money to not have to start eating out of dumpsters so that becomes a joy killer in itself. That may be just me though.

 

[Graham9]

I have only just retired and have been planning our vacations based on the money we have at this time. But decisions of our future trips to WDW are not based on money, they are based on value, and all the changes which have happened to WDW in the last few years have made us think that WDW doesn't give the value and return it once did. The park tickets, Genie+, resorts have skyrocketed and we consider it is no longer a viable option. We can afford it, but we would feel financially violated if we did.

We are planning to come back to Orlando, and we may poke our heads in a park or two, but unlike all the other times we have come, WDW will not be the focus of our time there as we will look to concentrate on other parks and off-site resorts.

 

[Raxel7851]

I retired in 2016. Having worked for the same company for 45 years, I was one of the lucky ones to have retired with a defined union pension. Those are vanishing rapidly. We are still able to visit 3-4 times a year and have been and still are AP holders for at least 10 years. Disney is not our only vacation destination. I totally get the cost of going there being a concern, but we always get excited planning a trip and staying on-site. Everyone has a different situation and opinion, but if you enjoy visiting Disney, then go for it.

 

[jloucks]

I hope to go back after retirement with grandkids. ...if I ever get any.

Odds of my going without any kids is very slim, but never say never. I have some adult friends that like to go occasionally, and that would be fun.

 

[Eric Graham]

Ive thought about retiring and moving to Orlando in the future. The city I live in has became such a burden with its so many lanes of traffic and flyovers etc. I remember growing up as a native here when it was just farmlands. We don't have any children, but we have many nephews and nieces. My Disney room, well pretty much my DIsney house, will travel with me of course!!

 

[LuvtheGoof]

We'll be moving to north Florida just a few hours away as the cost of living is a lot lower there. Being DVC, it's a lot easier for us to visit multiple times every year, and we are also AP holders every year. Our main expense on most trips is simply food and beverage, which we can control, so we'll continue to go after retirement here in a few years.

 

[Worldlover71]

Hope for the kids to take me like I've been taking my mother!

 

[Chi84]

Hope for the kids to take me like I've been taking my mother!

We took my mother, now we take our kids lol.

 

[allgiggles]

My husband plans to retire in the next 3-5 years (he'll be in his mid-50's) and yearly travel is part of our retirement budget. We probably won't go to Disney every year, but I'm sure we'll go every few years for as long as we're physically able to. All 5 of our kids (all adults now) are Disney World fans and enjoy traveling there so I'm sure we'll tag along sometimes. We've also talked about becoming semi-snowbirds and spending a month or two in FL some winters, so we would definitely hit Disney if we do that.

 

[thomas998]

At the beginning of my retirement I moved to NC from Vermont and access to WDW became easier. I'd drive down at least once a year for a few days (10 hour drive) and then they changed everything. First it costs more and second they made the process to go more difficult then casually walking into Fort Knox to just touch the gold. When I retired, just 12 years ago, I had daydreams about how I could just decide on a saturday that I wanted to go and hit the road on Sunday. And I did it for a number of years without ever having to worry about if I could even get in, much less afford it.

I currently have no plans to go back. I might go to Universal a few more times or at least until they get complex as well. For me, once almost freaky about my love of WDW, nothing about the thought of going excites me anymore. I miss the feeling but the magic has gone and I don't foresee it coming back. Once you retire and as you get older if you don't have a small fortune in the bank, you also have to worry about having enough money to not have to start eating out of dumpsters so that becomes a joy killer in itself. That may be just me though.

I suspect it is more about the BS of Disney than the money. Over the years I didn't see my income drop so that I was forced to make cutbacks, but the fact that Disney has only become more crowded and more of a pain to enjoy has made me cut back. If they cut the prices in half I wouldn't go more often, I know that going with the crowds, poor service, walmart level merch, and garbage food has just made it 1 step above a state fair. Even my kids have pushed more for Universal than Disney. Disney has lost it and I see no signs of it turning around.

 

[marni1971]

We still hope to travel. Just to places worth the asking price with better value for what we will be able to afford.

 

[KeithVH]

We'll be moving to north Florida just a few hours away as the cost of living is a lot lower there. Being DVC, it's a lot easier for us to visit multiple times every year, and we are also AP holders every year. Our main expense on most trips is simply food and beverage, which we can control, so we'll continue to go after retirement here in a few years.

We've actually discussed that area of the state also. Maybe Gainesville? Still close enough to Jax for the airport and such but not a crazy big city. Cost of living does look enticing. But still trying to figure out the state's political climate.

 

[KeithVH]

At the beginning of my retirement I moved to NC from Vermont and access to WDW became easier. I'd drive down at least once a year for a few days (10 hour drive) and then they changed everything. First it costs more and second they made the process to go more difficult then casually walking into Fort Knox to just touch the gold. When I retired, just 12 years ago, I had daydreams about how I could just decide on a saturday that I wanted to go and hit the road on Sunday. And I did it for a number of years without ever having to worry about if I could even get in, much less afford it.

I currently have no plans to go back. I might go to Universal a few more times or at least until they get complex as well. For me, once almost freaky about my love of WDW, nothing about the thought of going excites me anymore. I miss the feeling but the magic has gone and I don't foresee it coming back. Once you retire and as you get older if you don't have a small fortune in the bank, you also have to worry about having enough money to not have to start eating out of dumpsters so that becomes a joy killer in itself. That may be just me though.

I am on my way down the same road. We started cruising in 2016 and stopped going to the parks for a few years. When you're swimming with the sting rays in Grand Cayman, you wonder why anyone would stand in line for 7DMT. Let alone the food.

But costs increases at the parks are nothing compared to what happened at sea. In several cases/itineraries the costs doubled in 6 years. I think it's that change over time that really upsets me the most. Which always amazes me when you see the number of older people on the ships - someone must have done well earlier in life.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I retired end of 2021 & I set up my retirement plan knowing I would always be traveling, i have a travel budget and that is a necessity for me. I still very much enjoy going to walt disney world & that has not change so far. We've got a 10 day trip coming up in September and we can't wait.

I can't predict the future, lol I would have never imagine eggs costing 6 bucks a dozen or me paying over 12K a year in property taxes so I can't say what I'll be doing or where I'll be going in 10 years. right now my dvc helps offset some of the cost of vacationing at the world. I guess that's a long winded way of saying, as of today

Right now I'm focusing more on staying healthy as I age than whether I still want to go to wdw, lol 2 knee replacements will do that to you.
I doubt I'll go every year though, not because of any problems with disney but mainly because there are simply too many other things I want to do.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I am on my way down the same road. We started cruising in 2016 and stopped going to the parks for a few years. When you're swimming with the sting rays in Grand Cayman, you wonder why anyone would stand in line for 7DMT. Let alone the food.

But costs increases at the parks are nothing compared to what happened at sea. In several cases/itineraries the costs doubled in 6 years. I think it's that change over time that really upsets me the most. Which always amazes me when you see the number of older people on the ships - someone must have done well earlier in life.

there's a lot that goes into that. Number one as an older adult I don't have child care cost nor a mortgage anymore, while the stock market sucked last year, it was on fire for a good 8 years prior and depending on where you worked many of the over 65 still get pensions.

 

[HauntedPirate]

We hope to move somewhere in Florida for retirement, but as things stand right now, I'm not seeing myself visiting the parks much, if at all, except if/until grandkids come into the picture and even then, it won't be a frequent thing. I'd rather spend my money where the company makes me feel welcome and acts like they want my business.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

There wasn’t an option for move to Orlando and work part time for Disney, Universal, or a nearby hotel a couple days a week to get out of the house.

We love Europe and that’s one of the appeals to retiring in Florida… 8 hour flights to Europe sound so much better than 12.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

Retirement is a couple of decades away. However, chances are we have grandkids by then. If neither one of us are working I see no reason why we couldn't do a Florida trip once a year. There wouldn't be the handcuffs of work. Our parents' time share would be passed onto us. So no issues I don't think. So yeah, I actually think the chains will be broken a bit more in retirement, we'd have more time, so I could see an Orlando trip once a year.