Where do you draw the line of affordable?

[riverscu0m0]

My dad, at the ned of each trip adds 2 non expiration days onto our tickets and we basically work from there. My mom doesn't go to the park with us every day because my brother (he's 5) will only go half day with us and then when we go to another park at the end of the first park they don't come. So, they both have like 10 days built up on their tix from our trips.
My older brother and I, we have one of those big water jugs the ones from those water dispensers in offices and we everyday after school throw our spare lunch money change into it. We restart this after every trip. We had almost $600, we split it each we both had $300 to spend on whatever we wanted. It was nice, my parents paid for food and drinks but if we wanted like a souvenir or something for our friends we paid. My dad said we definitely saved by doing that.

 

[DisDadEddie]

We do all our trips through Disneyworld.com and put our $200 deposit down and pay little by little until we pay it off. We make payments when we get paid then once we pay the trip off we start putting money onto a Disney gift card for our expenses. Flights are the worst part of it all! We kind of got lucky our trip last August. We were in WDW when the Hurricane came up the cost and hit the Northeast. So many people were stranded at MCO that Continental was asking if anyone was willing to delay their flight until the next day. We did so and received $1500 in flight credit as well as hotel stay and food vouchers. So with our annual pass our flights and tickets were already paid for mostly for our January 2012 & August 2012 trips.

 

[draybook]

We save every month for the trip and we go during Free Dining. The Disney portion is never more than $2300, which is very affordable. Add in the other parks we go to, rental car, gas, and other odds and ends, and it adds up to about $4000. Not too bad at all.


I think I would have a heart attack if we had to spend 10k on a vacation that wasn't for a milestone.

 

[JillC LI]

That's not an easy question to answer as there are so many variables. Our two sons are grown with families of their own. In general we live modestly, I'm retired with a good pension income. My wife still works and makes a very good income. We go to Disney generly twice a year for 7 to 14 days. We make it affordable (and remember that is a relative term) by buying annual passes, driving and owning timeshares (non Disney). I think one thing that anyone can do to make any vacation affordable is to not go into debt to pay for it. Don't stay at a resort if you can not pay it off. Don't eat at deluxe restaurants if the meal is going onto a crdit card you can't pay off. Don't go every year if your still paying for last year. You get the point.

I was going to say this exact thing. You can't pick a specific number and say anything above that is not affordable because everyone has different means. In my mind, if I can't pay off my credit card bill in full every month in addition to my usual monthly expenses, then I have bought something that I couldn't afford that month. So I don't do it. Do we have to live modestly elsewhere to pay for our vacations? Yes. Would we rather stay in a Value resort than not go at all? You bet! But we are never in debt (except for our mortgage which we pay regularly on time), so we can "afford" our trips.

 

[DisneyBeatles]

Being new to the board myself, but not new to things overall, I've seen threads go up about how much people spend on their trips. I've seen some who spend over $10k just on airfare to get to WDW.

So my question to ask is this:

For those of us that are just regular people (no fancy jobs and living on tighter budgets, etc), where is the line of affordability?

Let's face it, not all of us are able to go every year or even every other year. The world has come down hard on alot of us, so for those people who are like me, how do you afford it?

For my family (5 people), we drive the 17 hrs to Disney, which saves us a ton of cash on flights. We buy, say, a 5 day, park hopper, no expiration ticket for each of us so then over the next few yrs we can just do a few 1 or 2 day trips. We also always get a hotel on property. Since we have tickets already on those trips, we can now afford a deluxe hotel, but we only book it if it is discounted. So really we only spend a couple grand for 3 yrs worth of trips. We enjoy the couple day trips over a few yrs more than we do one really long trip, because then we have something to look forward to the next yr. I love Disney to death, but I don't think I can do more than 5 days of the parks EVERY vacation, so that why we do this.

 

[DisneyBeatles]

Oh we also just eat quick service meals, or bring our own food. We do MAYBE one nice sit down meal

 

[ddbowdoin]

like most have reiterated here it's all relative to what your standards are... but I can also tell you that people tend to sacrifice in areas that simply don't care about to make up for things they love.

I'm not the best with money and I don't always bring lunch from home or breakfast... which I should. But let's say I need a new pair of jeans, I'm not out buying fashion brands because I simply don't care. I pick up 19.99 wranglers on sale at sears.

All of those cuts make up a huge amount of savings

 

[real mad hatter]

Having just returned from 14 days at PORS our trip including 14 day ultimate park hopper for three adults,flights,pre booked seats,coach transfers,insurance,we spent £3.700 around $ 5.200, but the free dining saved us a fortune,I reckon about $1.700, so if it's still on offer in 2014, we will return, however if it's not,Iam afraid we will be looking elsewhere.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

with 10 days its usually about 3500 with flight and car 900-1000 with tips and souvys 5,000 total plus the 700.00 for the dog hotel for my dogs i end up spending 5,700 usually every year when i go and I would never go over 6,000 unless im there a long time last October we went for 16 days and I think our grand total was 7,500

 

[twinnstar]

I would like to add, that no one should balk at someone who spends a lot of money on a trip to Disney, because that doesnt neccessairly mean they are "rich" some people cut corners, and save, or dont go often in order to spend more later. Some people save and go more affordable, to go more often! Everyone has different prioroties. Growing up, a lot of kids I knew thought my family was rich cause every few years we'd go on a crazy Disney trip for 8 days, and we'd always have the new gadgets and computers! What they didnt know though was all our furniture, clothes, etc was second hand, we drove to all our trips, stayed in motels (unless at disney!) and we never left the east coast and rarely took a plane ride anywhere.

So, everyone has different priorities. What they might go all out on - doesnt mean they arent being tight budgeted somewhere else.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

I generally budget for $2000 - $2500 total for my Disney trip. That is just for myself and a good chunk of that is flights. Luckily my travel agency does interest free layaway so I generally arrange a monthly payment and usually (but not always) book several months in advance.

My last trip was in April (I booked in June), I ended up putting down a deposit of $800 and paying around $150 a month until it was paid off. It was fairly easy, even on a tight budget. I just pre-arranged my monthly payments to come directly from my account so no credit card bills or interest to worry about. I always include dining so any extra $$$ I save goes to souvenirs.

Having it fully paid off interest free before I travel is great. No credit card bills when I get back means less stress for me. Affordable for me means does it work with my monthly budget - can I pay all my bills and buy groceries and still afford $150 a month? I may have to sacrfice new clothes or my annual summer cottage rental but I prioritize accordingly.

 

[luv]

Some people can drop 30K without even thinking about it. Some can just afford it. Some save. Some go into debt. For others, a trip to WDW is just a dream.

"Affordable" depends entirely on how much money you have.

Anyone who can take a trip to WDW should class themselves among the lucky.

And how much anyone spends (or doesn't spend) is really, honestly, not any of my business.

 

[woody98]

Some people can drop 30K without even thinking about it. Some can just afford it. Some save. Some go into debt. For others, a trip to WDW is just a dream.

"Affordable" depends entirely on how much money you have.

Anyone who can take a trip to WDW should class themselves among the lucky.

And how much anyone spends (or doesn't spend) is really, honestly, not any of my business.

I agree 100% if a person gets the opportunity to go they are lucky. As a kid my parents could only afford to take me once. I have since returned the favor and taken them six times and in the process of planning a 15 day trip with them. I'm not rich by any means but i love the world and i will go every year possibly more. My thing is ppl will afford what they want. Mine is disney and golf and that is what i spend money on. I dont go to the movies out to eat or to the bar. So i save money by not doing what most do on the weekends.

 

[MrsG]

We are from England and have been going to Disney since 1988. We stayed on International Drive which appearerd to be the cheapest option for us at the time. As the years have past and our children have flown the nest we have found many changes to our Disney Holidays. We feel that we were really fortunate to have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside Resort for our first stay at a Disney Resort.
We found the benefit of the transport was a real bonus (as I do not wish to drive. Im On Holiday. Walt can be my driver) as we had to get taxis to the parks from International Drive or use the free transport but this left at 09:00 and returned at 16:00 only. We also felt that our whole holiday was Disney with being on site. It was easy to get to the Parks at night for the Firework Displays and had no worries of getting back to our resort.
For the past three years we have had the benefit of the Quick Service Dining Plan and $300 Disney Dollers Free for booking early.
We are fortunate that we only use the Quick Sevice plan when we want but this could save a fortune for a family with say two children.
Affordability? Well like RMH stated. Disney is our weakness. We very rarely go out, we dont drink or smoke so all our spare money goes to the Disney Fund. To be honest I could afford to go to the Grand Floridian but would rather go to Riverside for Three weeks than the usual Two weeks we go. In previous years when the kids were younger I had Two jobs to pay for our Disney Holidays so thats how I could afford it.
I know Americans can get cheap rates on rooms at Disney, where we cant, and again it depends when in the year you go. I would say look at what you can get off site and compare with the benefits of staying at Disney. It costs us about £6000 which is about $9000 thats allowing $200 a day spends 14 day Ultimate Disney Ticket and 14 Day tickets for Universal Islands of Adventure and Seaworld. I would never go in debt for a holiday and would rather save up for two years to go to Disney than anywhere else.
I feel very fortunate that we will be back July 2013. I really hope you find a way to get there because you will have a Magical Time. xxx

 

[Cindy'sBruno]

To the op...I have my family of four...hubby, dd(4), and ds(1). We have been going to wdw since 2006. Every year except one. We have credit card dept as most americans do but I do not let this effect our choice to go to the world. Why? Because every moment, every photo, every memory is worth more to me than money. When we get our income taxes back...we pay off the trip. Sometimes we are not able to pay off every dime but we try our hardest. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and it made me realize that the memories that I have of my family in wdw will be cherished forever. This year I decided to give up alot to pay for my sister to go with us. We have an opportunity to reconnect and that is important.

 

[YoungNY]

I've only stayed on property 3 times. The last two I planned and they averaged about $3000 for two people. I research for months and look for the best offer for the right price. I have expensive tastes but I dont have the budget to go with it. To make my Disney trips happen, I do whatever I have to do. I work overtime, I cut back on my usual expenses and I pay for it slowly. I'd love to stay at a deluxe but for right now that's only a dream. If Im lucky enough to take another trip in the spring, I'll probably use my bonus or refund check since I'll be booking short notice. Just for fun I planned out my dream trip on Disney.com, it came out to over $20k without airfare or spending money. One can only hope and dream.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

When costs out weighs satisfaction.