This weeks burning question

[jann1033]

the economy in my area is really bad,especially construction where hub works( lots of businesses that has been thriving for yrs have gone under). It didn't stop us from vacationing this yr but we went cheaper...which rules out WDW till things improve

 

[Flyerfan]

Well, since our house will be paid off in the next week and we have no children, we WILL BE going on vacation this year (for a second time). It would have to get pretty bad for me to give it up. I would eat pasta everyday in order to afford it. Vacation is what I live for!!

 

[DVC Kathy]

DH and I have already cut back some, but it's not connected to gas prices, the downgrading of Disney stock, or the economy.

We have a "special needs" cat, whose care has not been inexpensive. Add to that the fact that we had become Disney cruise junkies (4 seven day cruises between June, 2004 and September 2007). We just needed to slow down for a while.

We still have our annual DVC trip planned for early December (BWV) (more podcast meets, please!!!), but don't have any other pure vacations planned till September, 2009 (another Disney cruise).

Any other trips would be either local or tied to DH's conferences.

The Dis boards are almost a vacation.

Kathy

 

[chirurgeon]

My biggest concern is the fact my union contract ends in August. If I don't go on strike, then I am going to WDW in December. Personally, if the union decides to go on strike it would be the dumbest move I will have heard on in a very long time.

Kim

 

[MomofCKJ]

We already had our March trip long booked, our Maine trip in June is an annual not to be missed trip for us and we are planning a Disney (for the half marathon)/Bahamas trip for January 2009. We will cut back in other areas (eating out, gifts, extras) but vacations are way too important for us and we'll cut in other ways to keep them.

Allyson

 

[crazydisneyman]

We are going to stay at Poly concierge in September for our anniversary. I am so looking forward to this vacation! I am vigorously planning our eight days at WDW, and I am so thankful for the Podcast! Thank you guys very much for all that you do!

 

[Ambassador]

yes, we may opt for other vacations closer to home and less expensive.

But if Disney were to offer discounts, we could easily be persuaded to visit this year.

 

[Goofin' around]

I'm going. We've already booked the resort and have our tickets. Now are we flying or driving?

 

[parrotheadlois]

Our plans are made - we're definitely going! Plus - we're going next year too!!

 

[pjb0216]

We are going on vacation this year too! Unfortunately, no WDW trip this year, but we are already planning for December 2009!

 

[DebºoºS]

Still planning despite the economy just won't go as often. Last few years I tripped every 3 months. This year F&G and F&W. Maybe Star Wars weekend too.. this is tough.

Reality check:
Sell your stocks (they'll crash anyway)
skip the botox (causes brain damage look at those celebs)
no more lattes (not a biggy they don't make em the way they used to)
and pedi's (fungus foot can be costly)
Save $$ skip DDP (you'll lose those extra lbs and feel better)
With what you save you could get that much needed WDW trip fix
Can't imagine a better place to escape a depressing recession!!!!!!!

 

[mickeywatch33]

At least for 2008, My DF and I will be going to WDW for our Honeymoon. Though, I cannot foresee us going more than 18 months without a WDW visit or a DCL vacation! No matter how hard times get, there's always something you can cut out of a budget to make a Disney vacation work. Take food for example!!

 

[Barb]

I can't not have a trip planned! If I don't have something good to look forward to, I'll go nuts. I've got a trip to Austin coming in two weeks. I have at least three small trips to WDW planned, May, October and December. I don't have our summer plans wrapped up yet. But there will be at least one trip to upstate New York and the Thousand Island region.

 

[MrsNick]

We own DVC, so we will continue to go, but airfares are more expensive this year, so we're taking just one trip rather than two. Normally we take one long weekend in the winter and one week in the summer. (Driving really wouldn't help us any since DH doesn't get paid vacation, so whatever we'd save on airfare we'd lose even more in wages. Besides, DH just doesn't "do" long car rides.)

This year we have cut back to going for one week in the spring, in a 1BR rather than the studio we usually use to stretch points over two trips. I needed something to look forward to to get me through the winter since I had to give up my long weekend, which would have been right about now During the summer, we will stick close to home and use our town pool membership in lieu of "going away."

I am so grateful to be able to go at all, however. Without DVC, I don't think we'd be taking any vacation this year. With the demanding jobs that DH and I have, and the fact that we work opposite shifts and don't see each other enough, it would be just so awful if we couldn't spend the one week together.

 

[aprince&princess]

This poll will be very skewed in favor of going to WDW anyway. Look at the audience these boards and podcast attract...mostly Disney obsessives, who would sell their firstborn in order to get their trip to the Mouse. I know...I'm one of them.
But I wonder about how this economy will affect the ORDINARY middle-class vacationing family. I guess we'll only know when Disney starts dropping prices again (or doesn't).

You mean we can sell our first born and get another Disney vacation out of it? Just kidding!

I said no for not being effected by the economy, we have a cruise booked for April with a few days at Disney afterwards that we booked last year. And we just booked an Oct trip for MNSSHP/F&W and than a December trip when our DS should be marching in the parade with the school's marching band. (So I guess we shouldn't sell him off). The Oct & Dec trips were made possible by stretching out our DVC points by staying in a studio.

We usually spend a week at the beach in MD and a few days at Hershey Park before the kids head back to school. Not sure about those yet.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We usually spend a week at the beach in MD and a few days at Hershey Park before the kids head back to school. Not sure about those yet.

I always find it interesting how people from other places travel to PA specifically to go to Hershey Park. We have done the park as a day trip (about 1.5hrs away) before...but it definitely isn't a place that I would take a vacation to go to.

We are even closer to Sesame Place...and I feel the same about that.

FWIW, I would rather go to Dorney Park than Hershey! ...and it's closer to Conneticut!

 

[aprince&princess]

We have been to Dorney Park, but the whole family prefers Hershey Park. Since it is 4 1/2 hrs for us each way, we usually stay two nights. We all love rides and can ride them over and over. We are normally in the park two days but usually stay till the next morning because we find it a little tiring to leave the park at 11pm and then drive home over 4 hours. For us it is just our quick end of summer thing to do before the kids go back to school. There aren't any big amusement parks that close to where we are, so that is what we do.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Vacations are priceless to us with DH's job. He is gone so much that Disney is our place to just disappear from reality. Yes, travel expenses are going up but we need our vacations to reconnect as a family so we tighten the purse strings where ever we can.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We have been to Dorney Park, but the whole family prefers Hershey Park. Since it is 4 1/2 hrs for us each way, we usually stay two nights. We all love rides and can ride them over and over. We are normally in the park two days but usually stay till the next morning because we find it a little tiring to leave the park at 11pm and then drive home over 4 hours. For us it is just our quick end of summer thing to do before the kids go back to school. There aren't any big amusement parks that close to where we are, so that is what we do.

I grew up on Long Island.. our day trips were to Great Adventure, but I haven't been there since I was a teenager (which was WAY too long ago).

Hershey isn't bad, it's okay. We went in December of 2006 for their Christmas season. It was fun, but again...not something I would stay overnight to do. With two small children we've been doing Dutch Wonderland more often than the larger parks.

 

[wildernessDad]

Since I own DVC, it's full steam ahead with vacations!