Why Middle Class Can't Afford Disney

[kydisneyfans]

We didn't spend much during our trip to DC either.
The hotel was $99 a night and had free breakfast. Most admissions were free. The bus loop was $1 or 2. The subway didn't cost much either. DC is one of the cheaper trips out there to "do things".

One angle nobody has taken is what would you spend the week you are gone by staying home?
Let's say a Disney trip is $3500 total.

If you stay home, you may have the following costs:
Daycare $150
Groceries $200
Transportation $50
Eating out/Starbucks, etc $100
Water/electric usage $50

The true cost of you vacation is $3,000, not $3,500 as you would have spent $500 to not go on vacation.
That is the way we budget things, we take out our expenses for the week and put them into the vacation budget.

It doesn't seem as bad once you update the calculations.

 

[tvguy]

My husband grew up in NC and some of the schools he attended didn't have air conditioning either. Sometimes they had to cancel school because it was too hot. So while they survived, it was obviously less than ideal.

LOL. I grew up in Sacramento, where 100 degrees is not unusual at the beginning and end of the school year.
K-6 school, no a/c.
Middle school 7 & 8th grade, the 2 portable classrooms where the typing classes were taught had a/c, the rest of the school, no
High school, no a/c
College. None of the dorms had a/c. One classroom building had a/c, the two main classroom buildings, built in 1923, no a/c.
Somehow I survived.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I get so frustrated with these articles about how Disney trips are too expensive for anyone to afford. Where in the world they come up with their numbers baffles me. Maybe if you go during the highest priced parts of the year with no discounts, but sheesh, $6360 for 4 nights? There's no way I would pay that... So I don't. You can go during cheaper times of the year, use discounts and promos, stay at cheaper hotels, not buy all the extras and still have a great trip for much cheaper. Our trip for 12 nights at the end of August totals $4740 (plus $600 airfare). We did receive a complimentary upgrade from CBR to a 2BR Villa at SSR, but even for a mod for 12 nights (which is technically what we are paying for), that's far cheaper than the $6360 the article quotes for 8 fewer nights. The $4740 includes the regular DDP (free), Memory Maker, 5 day PH+ tickets, MNSSHP, and the FEA Dessert Party for 2 adults, 1 kid, and a toddler.

It took me exactly one year to pay for this trip spending absolutely nothing from our regular income, with the exception of the $600 for plane tickets. I spent a year taking surveys online, reviewing products, etc to make money in my spare time, as well as saved grocery and credit card rewards to buy Disney gift cards. All the gift cards were bought at a 10% or more discount, which really made the cost of the whole trip closer to $3500. All of it was paid with extra money that was earned online or through discounts/ coupon savings.

By being away from home for 12 nights, I estimate we are saving around $200 in gas, $150 in groceries, probably at least another $100 in eating out, at least $100 in water, utilities, etc. That's $550 that we are not spending that will cover tips and alcohol. The kids have received Disney gift cards for their birthdays and Christmas so they have souvenir money.

Point is, it's totally doable to get a WDW vacation for much cheaper than sticker price if you put forth the effort. Now, there's no way we would have been able to afford the trip if it came out of our paychecks, so that aspect of the article I can somewhat understand. But there are ways to maximize discounts and promos and earn money online to pay for a trip if it is something people really want to do.

 

[tvguy]

I get so frustrated with these articles about how Disney trips are too expensive for anyone to afford. Where in the world they come up with their numbers baffles me. Maybe if you go during the highest priced parts of the year with no discounts, but sheesh, $6360 for 4 nights? There's no way I would pay that... So I don't. You can go during cheaper times of the year, use discounts and promos, stay at cheaper hotels, not buy all the extras and still have a great trip for much cheaper. Our trip for 12 nights at the end of August totals $4740 (plus $600 airfare). We did receive a complimentary upgrade from CBR to a 2BR Villa at SSR, but even for a mod for 12 nights (which is technically what we are paying for), that's far cheaper than the $6360 the article quotes for 8 fewer nights. The $4740 includes the regular DDP (free), Memory Maker, 5 day PH+ tickets, MNSSHP, and the FEA Dessert Party for 2 adults, 1 kid, and a toddler.

It took me exactly one year to pay for this trip spending absolutely nothing from our regular income, with the exception of the $600 for plane tickets. I spent a year taking surveys online, reviewing products, etc to make money in my spare time, as well as saved grocery and credit card rewards to buy Disney gift cards. All the gift cards were bought at a 10% or more discount, which really made the cost of the whole trip closer to $3500. All of it was paid with extra money that was earned online or through discounts/ coupon savings.

By being away from home for 12 nights, I estimate we are saving around $200 in gas, $150 in groceries, probably at least another $100 in eating out, at least $100 in water, utilities, etc. That's $550 that we are not spending that will cover tips and alcohol. The kids have received Disney gift cards for their birthdays and Christmas so they have souvenir money.

Point is, it's totally doable to get a WDW vacation for much cheaper than sticker price if you put forth the effort. Now, there's no way we would have been able to afford the trip if it came out of our paychecks, so that aspect of the article I can somewhat understand. But there are ways to maximize discounts and promos and earn money online to pay for a trip if it is something people really want to do.

You got a great deal. I figure your park tickets would be $3,384 alone for 12 days.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

You got a great deal. I figure your park tickets would be $3,384 alone for 12 days.

It says they have 5 day hopper plus tickets.

 

[tvguy]

It says they have 5 day hopper plus tickets.

A bit cheaper, but the cheapest I am finding for a 5 day Park Hopper plus ticket is $464 per adult and $442 for 1 child. Infant free.
2 adult @ $464 is $928 times 2 (since they are there 12 days) is $1856
1 child @ $442 times 2 is $884. for a total of $2,740 for just tickets, and leaves you 2 days without tickets. Leaves less than $1,000 for hotel and meals. I must be missing something?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

A bit cheaper, but the cheapest I am finding for a 5 day Park Hopper plus ticket is $464 per adult and $442 for 1 child. Infant free.
2 adult @ $464 is $928 times 2 (since they are there 12 days) is $1856
1 child @ $442 times 2 is $884. for a total of $2,740 for just tickets, and leaves you 2 days without tickets. Leaves less than $1,000 for hotel and meals. I must be missing something?

They only got 5 days of tickets. So no times 2. 1370ish in tickets. They also get 5 entrances into the water parks and other places.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

A bit cheaper, but the cheapest I am finding for a 5 day Park Hopper plus ticket is $464 per adult and $442 for 1 child. Infant free.
2 adult @ $464 is $928 times 2 (since they are there 12 days) is $1856
1 child @ $442 times 2 is $884. for a total of $2,740 for just tickets, and leaves you 2 days without tickets. Leaves less than $1,000 for hotel and meals. I must be missing something?

We are there 12 nights. On arrival night we aren't getting in until semi-late, so it will just be dinner at the hotel and bed. That leaves us with 11 full days. We each have one set of 5 day Park Hopper Plus tickets, so we will spend 5 days in the theme parks, 5 days at the water parks, and 1 night at MNSSHP. That gives us something for all 11 days. Some of our water park days will probably also have some pool time at the hotel. Our departure morning will be Disney Springs. I know people probably think it's crazy to be there for 12 nights and only have 5 theme park days, but it allows us to alternate days between the theme parks and water parks (which is great in the summer), gives us a break from the craziness of the theme parks so we can actually relax a bit, and saves us money. Here is the rough breakdown, as best as I can tell since Disney doesn't actually break down the cost of what I paid.

12 nights SSR (reg rate of CBR)- $2687
5 day PH+ for 2 adults and 1 child, toddler free- $1448
Memory Maker- $149
Free Regular DDP
MNSSHP- $241
FEA Dessert Party- $215
Total- $4740

I then used money from survey sites, grocery and credit card rewards to buy discounted gift cards and really ended up spending around $3500, all made through that side money. Used my Discover for 5% cash back doubled in the first year spent on gift cards at Sam's and BJ's on their already discounted gift cards made for some great savings. Side money paid off my Discover. Plus the gift cards for using the DVA and cashing in Disney Movie Rewards points for gift cards helped as well.

 

[tvguy]

They only got 5 days of tickets. So no times 2. 1370ish in tickets. They also get 5 entrances into the water parks and other places.

Ah, so not a 100% Disney vacation.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Ah, so not a 100% Disney vacation.

The water parks are Disney parks. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. I think it also lets you into DQ (if it's still open). all Disney places so imo a Disney vacation.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I get so frustrated with these articles about how Disney trips are too expensive for anyone to afford. Where in the world they come up with their numbers baffles me. Maybe if you go during the highest priced parts of the year with no discounts, but sheesh, $6360 for 4 nights? There's no way I would pay that... So I don't. You can go during cheaper times of the year, use discounts and promos, stay at cheaper hotels, not buy all the extras and still have a great trip for much cheaper. Our trip for 12 nights at the end of August totals $4740 (plus $600 airfare). We did receive a complimentary upgrade from CBR to a 2BR Villa at SSR, but even for a mod for 12 nights (which is technically what we are paying for), that's far cheaper than the $6360 the article quotes for 8 fewer nights. The $4740 includes the regular DDP (free), Memory Maker, 5 day PH+ tickets, MNSSHP, and the FEA Dessert Party for 2 adults, 1 kid, and a toddler.

It took me exactly one year to pay for this trip spending absolutely nothing from our regular income, with the exception of the $600 for plane tickets. I spent a year taking surveys online, reviewing products, etc to make money in my spare time, as well as saved grocery and credit card rewards to buy Disney gift cards. All the gift cards were bought at a 10% or more discount, which really made the cost of the whole trip closer to $3500. All of it was paid with extra money that was earned online or through discounts/ coupon savings.

By being away from home for 12 nights, I estimate we are saving around $200 in gas, $150 in groceries, probably at least another $100 in eating out, at least $100 in water, utilities, etc. That's $550 that we are not spending that will cover tips and alcohol. The kids have received Disney gift cards for their birthdays and Christmas so they have souvenir money.

Point is, it's totally doable to get a WDW vacation for much cheaper than sticker price if you put forth the effort. Now, there's no way we would have been able to afford the trip if it came out of our paychecks, so that aspect of the article I can somewhat understand. But there are ways to maximize discounts and promos and earn money online to pay for a trip if it is something people really want to do.

We are there 12 nights. On arrival night we aren't getting in until semi-late, so it will just be dinner at the hotel and bed. That leaves us with 11 full days. We each have one set of 5 day Park Hopper Plus tickets, so we will spend 5 days in the theme parks, 5 days at the water parks, and 1 night at MNSSHP. That gives us something for all 11 days. Some of our water park days will probably also have some pool time at the hotel. Our departure morning will be Disney Springs. I know people probably think it's crazy to be there for 12 nights and only have 5 theme park days, but it allows us to alternate days between the theme parks and water parks (which is great in the summer), gives us a break from the craziness of the theme parks so we can actually relax a bit, and saves us money. Here is the rough breakdown, as best as I can tell since Disney doesn't actually break down the cost of what I paid.

12 nights SSR (reg rate of CBR)- $2687
5 day PH+ for 2 adults and 1 child, toddler free- $1448
Memory Maker- $149
Free Regular DDP
MNSSHP- $241
FEA Dessert Party- $215
Total- $4740

I then used money from survey sites, grocery and credit card rewards to buy discounted gift cards and really ended up spending around $3500, all made through that side money. Used my Discover for 5% cash back doubled in the first year spent on gift cards at Sam's and BJ's on their already discounted gift cards made for some great savings. Side money paid off my Discover. Plus the gift cards for using the DVA and cashing in Disney Movie Rewards points for gift cards helped as well.

___________
First I think it's amazing the dedication you had to do all that extra stuff for the other money you'll be able to use/deduct from over all costs. That's pretty darn awesome!

But I did a bit more looking into the article and the one linked in the OP has a link to Money magazine's article on it. If you click on that you will actually get where they were coming up with the $6360 which TBH I really wished they had done that breakdown in the article in the OP of this thread. Their $6360 is listed as an average Disney vacation but the article (linked at the end of this comment) also has a Cheaper Disney Vacation, Low End Disney Vacation and a Deluxe Disney Vacation figures. So in a nutshell the article in the OP does a very poor job of explaining things at least in my opinion whereas the Time-Money magazine does a better job at least at understand where the figures are coming from and how to do Disney differently.

So here goes the breakdown:


They are including airfare (that's the Transportation aspect) in there. That is obviously something that will be drastically different for each person. IDK what your transportation costs are though (driving or flying for that matter). But to me that's an important part of the puzzle to understanding where the figures are coming from.

So when you compare stuff they are including airfare and souvenirs/extras in which you are not including in your rate of $4740. Now granted part of the extras could be considered your MNSSHP & FEA Dessert Party.

If you add up their food (which they were doing the Regular Dining Plan cost plus they added an extra $100 per day for food estimate) and hotel part (to get what you are spending rack rate to get the Free Dining Plan promotion) you would get $2,900 which is $213 more than your estimate. However, they were taking the average hotel rate listed in the article according to another source that said it was an average of $388 per night plus the 12.5% tax on top of that and multiplying that by 4 .

Admission they are doing an average family of 4 which includes 2 adults and 2 Disney children (ages 3-9). You are calculating 2 adults and 1 Disney Child for your ticket admission.

*Obviously your overall point is very well taken and one that I agree with but with the additional talk of 'my vacation' vs 'their numbers' I found myself really wanting to know what 'their numbers' consisted of. We could go around in circles too picking apart their numbers but again just wanted it to be known what their numbers were consisting of. The Money magazine article is http://www.time.com/money/4749180/walt-disney-world-tickets-prices-cost/

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The water parks are Disney parks. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. I think it also lets you into DQ (if it's still open). all Disney places so imo a Disney vacation.

Disney Quest closed on July 2nd (that was the last day of its operation). It will now be the NBA Experience as far as we know.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

___________
First I think it's amazing the dedication you had to do all that extra stuff for the other money you'll be able to use/deduct from over all costs. That's pretty darn awesome!

But I did a bit more looking into the article and the one linked in the OP has a link to Money magazine's article on it. If you click on that you will actually get where they were coming up with the $6360 which TBH I really wished they had done that breakdown in the article in the OP of this thread. Their $6360 is listed as an average Disney vacation but the article (linked at the end of this comment) also has a Cheaper Disney Vacation, Low End Disney Vacation and a Deluxe Disney Vacation figures. So in a nutshell the article in the OP does a very poor job of explaining things at least in my opinion whereas the Time-Money magazine does a better job at least at understand where the figures are coming from and how to do Disney differently.

So here goes the breakdown:
View attachment 262072

They are including airfare (that's the Transportation aspect) in there. That is obviously something that will be drastically different for each person. IDK what your transportation costs are though (driving or flying for that matter). But to me that's an important part of the puzzle to understanding where the figures are coming from.

So when you compare stuff they are including airfare and souvenirs/extras in which you are not including in your rate of $4740. Now granted part of the extras could be considered your MNSSHP & FEA Dessert Party.

If you add up their food (which they were doing the Regular Dining Plan cost plus they added an extra $100 per day for food estimate) and hotel part (to get what you are spending rack rate to get the Free Dining Plan promotion) you would get $2,900 which is $213 more than your estimate. However, they were taking the average hotel rate listed in the article according to another source that said it was an average of $388 per night plus the 12.5% tax on top of that and multiplying that by 4 .

Admission they are doing an average family of 4 which includes 2 adults and 2 Disney children (ages 3-9). You are calculating 2 adults and 1 Disney Child for your ticket admission.

*Obviously your overall point is very well taken and one that I agree with but with the additional talk of 'my vacation' vs 'their numbers' I found myself really wanting to know what 'their numbers' consisted of. We could go around in circles too picking apart their numbers but again just wanted it to be known what their numbers were consisting of. The Money magazine article is http://www.time.com/money/4749180/walt-disney-world-tickets-prices-cost/

I guess that makes sense seeing it all written out and explained, so thank you for that. I guess the point is that sure you can spend a lot of money on a 4 day vacation, but it doesn't have to be that expensive. Someone could check into All Star Sports on a Monday in value season, stay for 4 nights, check out Friday and get the room for around $106/ night, including tax- with no discounts. At 4 nights, that's $424. If they kept the same tickets at $1660, that takes them to $2084. Now, realistically, they would probably be able to get some sort of discount, so that number could be less. As for travel, yes, everyone's travel expenses can differ, but I'm betting that most people living in the US could either drive for less than $1400 or get cheaper airfare. We are in MI and spent $600 on 3 round trip tickets. Obviously not everyone will be able to get a great deal, but they are out there. In regards to food, there really isn't a need to add $100/ day on top of the cost of the dining plan as most people could use a snack credit for breakfast plus have 2 meals and another snack throughout the day and be fine. If someone couldn't afford that, they could bring sandwiches into the parks. Souvenirs and extras aren't necessities either. The math in the article does make sense now that you've explained it, but again, if someone's on a budget then there are so many ways to cut costs to make things cheaper.

 

[kymom99]

I guess that makes sense seeing it all written out and explained, so thank you for that. I guess the point is that sure you can spend a lot of money on a 4 day vacation, but it doesn't have to be that expensive. Someone could check into All Star Sports on a Monday in value season, stay for 4 nights, check out Friday and get the room for around $106/ night, including tax- with no discounts. At 4 nights, that's $424. If they kept the same tickets at $1660, that takes them to $2084. Now, realistically, they would probably be able to get some sort of discount, so that number could be less. As for travel, yes, everyone's travel expenses can differ, but I'm betting that most people living in the US could either drive for less than $1400 or get cheaper airfare. We are in MI and spent $600 on 3 round trip tickets. Obviously not everyone will be able to get a great deal, but they are out there. In regards to food, there really isn't a need to add $100/ day on top of the cost of the dining plan as most people could use a snack credit for breakfast plus have 2 meals and another snack throughout the day and be fine. If someone couldn't afford that, they could bring sandwiches into the parks. Souvenirs and extras aren't necessities either. The math in the article does make sense now that you've explained it, but again, if someone's on a budget then there are so many ways to cut costs to make things cheaper.

Saving on transportation also depends on how many you have going with you. If I was going solo, driving wouldn't make much sense. But with 3 of us, driving is much cheaper. If you break things down as cost per person the figures mean more.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I guess that makes sense seeing it all written out and explained, so thank you for that. I guess the point is that sure you can spend a lot of money on a 4 day vacation, but it doesn't have to be that expensive. Someone could check into All Star Sports on a Monday in value season, stay for 4 nights, check out Friday and get the room for around $106/ night, including tax- with no discounts. At 4 nights, that's $424. If they kept the same tickets at $1660, that takes them to $2084. Now, realistically, they would probably be able to get some sort of discount, so that number could be less. As for travel, yes, everyone's travel expenses can differ, but I'm betting that most people living in the US could either drive for less than $1400 or get cheaper airfare. We are in MI and spent $600 on 3 round trip tickets. Obviously not everyone will be able to get a great deal, but they are out there. In regards to food, there really isn't a need to add $100/ day on top of the cost of the dining plan as most people could use a snack credit for breakfast plus have 2 meals and another snack throughout the day and be fine. If someone couldn't afford that, they could bring sandwiches into the parks. Souvenirs and extras aren't necessities either. The math in the article does make sense now that you've explained it, but again, if someone's on a budget then there are so many ways to cut costs to make things cheaper.

True true. When I first read the article I was like...well where in heck are they getting the numers? Like I wasn't even delving into "is that too high or too low?" I just wanted to know where they were getting them from lol.

For us RT on SWA cost us $297.90 PP so for two people it would cost around the same as what it cost you for 3 people ($595.80 vs $600) but those prices are the cheapest that I saw on SWA for our travel dates (we're using pts for 1 ticket and a companion pass so we're only out security fees this time).

For us driving would be 2 day travel there and 2 day travel back...sure if we drove our own car we would save even if adding in gas but 4 days in travel alone is hard to stomach for us at this point and PTO usage goes into that as well (I have made the drive before when I was growing up but it's not ideal for us at all). Besides that I'm not even sure we would want to put the wear and tear on our vehicle. My car....yeah it's not up for that long of a trip and it would add at least 2,500 miles RT for just getting there and back not any additional driving. So a rental car would probably be what we would do (though we already get a rental car when on vacation anyways).

And of course realistically souvenirs aren't (edited) neccessities but heck if I'm going to WDW and I'm not going often...I'm getting at least something and most people who go infrequently are probably the same in that they want something to take back and remember the trip from. You could always say "I'll go to MNSSHP instead of getting souvenirs (using your trip for example)" or something like that too. But honestly it's probably better to include in a budget souvenirs or other misc. extras..just something budgeted in just in case.

The extra $100 part I didn't quite get but they made the comment that it wouldn't be enough food to cover all the days with the regular Dining Plan...IDK I haven't been on the Dining Plan before so I really don't know enough to compare.

But even then remember their numbers we're talking about were for the Average Disney vacation. They had numbers for the Cheaper (came in at $4,885) and the Lower End (came in at $3,564 and part of what they did was remove park hopper add on and reduce tickets to 3 day vs 4 day and stay off site) vacation too. Check out the article if you want a play by play of each way though.

And I agree the trip doesn't have to be expensive which is why I like Time-Money magazine's article better. It more clearly lays out things that you may be able to do. Personally I can't focus on 'their vacation' as far as the numbers because they aren't going to match my actual vacation but I would think it would be helpful for someone to remember to think about transporation costs, theme park ticket costs, lodging costs, food costs, costs related to getting a rental car and/or gas costs, any additional misc. costs.

 

[Klayfish]

Yep, the article is just a bunch of baloney click bait (and we were dumb enough to click it). $6360 for a 4 night trip? You've got to be kidding me. Sure, you can spend that if you've got the cash, but you don't have to. Also, saying that when WDW opened in 1971, tickets cost the equivalent of $21 in todays' money is only telling half of the story. When WDW opened in '71, it was MK. That's it. Even that was 1/2 of what it is today. So yeah, it's going to be more expensive. Can you imagine what Disney spends in operating costs per day at WDW? I bet the numbers are mind boggling. And as mentioned before, Disney is not a charity. It's a for profit company....CMs like to get paid and put food on their table.

We just did a 17 day trip and our costs were something like this.

Passes - roughly $4200 - that part is the killer. We bought APs, which is why it cost so much. But that will allow us to go to the park any time we want over the next 12 months. We plan to get 50 park days out of that.

Lodging - $1250. We rented a 3 bedroom single family home, it was awesome

Food - $850 - all in. That fed our entire family of 5 for 17 days. We don't eat in the restaurants, we bring our own food

Misc - $200 - Souvenirs, other odds and ends

Total cost - $6450. For 17 days...plus, with our AP, we get to come back over and over for "free" (since I'm counting the AP price in the first trip). Our trip next summer will also be 17 days. Figure food and lodging costs will be the same, so we'll spend $2300 on that trip...for 17 days.

Is Disney cheap? Heck no. But can it be done on a budget? Heck yes.

 

[dreiwhit]

FWIW, I agree with many of the points in the article.

I was born and raised in California in the early 1970s. Since my grandmother lived in San Bernardino, we went to DL every time we visited her. So much that I got sick of going to DL as a little kid. My dad worked for the Air Force as a civil servant and my mom was a stay at home mom with two little kids. Even so, they were able to take us to DL quite often.

Fast forward to today. My family and I are in almost the same situation as my parents - I work and my wife is a stay at home mom. When we go to WDW, we get either a free condo through my father-in-law, or a greatly reduced price (@$50 a night) through my employer. So, like staying with my grandmother years go, lodging doesn't cost us anything or very much at all. However, going to WDW now really taxes our middle class finances so much that our trip in 2018 will be our last trip for a very long time.

On our last trip in 2016, we checked into staying on property. A week at a value resort, with low end "free" dining, and 6 day non hopper tickets would have cost us $4400. Needless to say, we did not go that route. We ended up doing WDW on the cheap, for about $2300. A big chunk of that was just for tickets.

Pertaining to middle class finances, the last 10 years have not been kind to my family and I. I've taken two paycuts, one to keep my job, and the other to change to a more stable job. My gross salary is about the same as what I made in 2007, but the net is a huge amount less. The costs of everything, except for gasoline, have gone up significantly during that time. So significantly, that our discretionary income is almost next to nothing.

I agree with the person who said that no one is entitled to a trip to WDW. That is true. However, its not good business strategy to price yourself out of the market, and i'm afraid that Disney is starting to do exactly that.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Yep, the article is just a bunch of baloney click bait (and we were dumb enough to click it). $6360 for a 4 night trip? You've got to be kidding me. Sure, you can spend that if you've got the cash, but you don't have to. Also, saying that when WDW opened in 1971, tickets cost the equivalent of $21 in todays' money is only telling half of the story. When WDW opened in '71, it was MK. That's it. Even that was 1/2 of what it is today. So yeah, it's going to be more expensive. Can you imagine what Disney spends in operating costs per day at WDW? I bet the numbers are mind boggling. And as mentioned before, Disney is not a charity. It's a for profit company....CMs like to get paid and put food on their table.

We just did a 17 day trip and our costs were something like this.

Passes - roughly $4200 - that part is the killer. We bought APs, which is why it cost so much. But that will allow us to go to the park any time we want over the next 12 months. We plan to get 50 park days out of that.

Lodging - $1250. We rented a 3 bedroom single family home, it was awesome

Food - $850 - all in. That fed our entire family of 5 for 17 days. We don't eat in the restaurants, we bring our own food

Misc - $200 - Souvenirs, other odds and ends

Total cost - $6450. For 17 days...plus, with our AP, we get to come back over and over for "free" (since I'm counting the AP price in the first trip). Our trip next summer will also be 17 days. Figure food and lodging costs will be the same, so we'll spend $2300 on that trip...for 17 days.

Is Disney cheap? Heck no. But can it be done on a budget? Heck yes.

Just doing a quickie calculation on your park tickets, that works out to ~$17 per park day per person. That's a pretty good deal! Personally, I miss the days when you could buy extra park days for just a buck or two over the first day ticket price.

 

[neatokimmo]

Where did you find a house that large so cheap? That is a great deal.

Yep, the article is just a bunch of baloney click bait (and we were dumb enough to click it). $6360 for a 4 night trip? You've got to be kidding me. Sure, you can spend that if you've got the cash, but you don't have to. Also, saying that when WDW opened in 1971, tickets cost the equivalent of $21 in todays' money is only telling half of the story. When WDW opened in '71, it was MK. That's it. Even that was 1/2 of what it is today. So yeah, it's going to be more expensive. Can you imagine what Disney spends in operating costs per day at WDW? I bet the numbers are mind boggling. And as mentioned before, Disney is not a charity. It's a for profit company....CMs like to get paid and put food on their table.

We just did a 17 day trip and our costs were something like this.

Passes - roughly $4200 - that part is the killer. We bought APs, which is why it cost so much. But that will allow us to go to the park any time we want over the next 12 months. We plan to get 50 park days out of that.

Lodging - $1250. We rented a 3 bedroom single family home, it was awesome

Food - $850 - all in. That fed our entire family of 5 for 17 days. We don't eat in the restaurants, we bring our own food

Misc - $200 - Souvenirs, other odds and ends

Total cost - $6450. For 17 days...plus, with our AP, we get to come back over and over for "free" (since I'm counting the AP price in the first trip). Our trip next summer will also be 17 days. Figure food and lodging costs will be the same, so we'll spend $2300 on that trip...for 17 days.

Is Disney cheap? Heck no. But can it be done on a budget? Heck yes.

 

[Klayfish]

Where did you find a house that large so cheap? That is a great deal.

VRBO. They're sort of hard to find, but if you dig enough, they come up. This place was in a community called Vista Del Lago. It's a manufactured home, sort of like a double wide trailer home, so it wasn't anything fancy. But it was clean, a safe area, had all the amenities we needed. Had a covered carport so our car didn't bake in the sun, which was great. There are plenty of places that have 3 bedrooms that can be rented for around $600/week.