What Does a WDW Vacation Cost, Really?

[bshaw96]

Our last vacation was at ASMovies in 2006. We stayed 12 nights, with the Park Hopper/Water Park Add on. Also did Universal 2 days and Seaworld 1 day. That, plus rental car, plus food/spending, plus airfare (2 adults, 2 kids) costed $5000. We're thrifty and spend less so that we can stay longer, but never feel like we miss out. No way we could afford a stay that long in a deluxe, or even moderate, so for us, it's value and longer stay.

[lwhan4]

I guess we probably spend about $3000 for a family of four. We usually stay 8 or 9 days , with rental car , flight costs and park hoppers.
My husband has a harder time than I do spending money on a vacation. Our first trip our youngest son actually looked at the video camera and while wearing his mouse ears unexpectedly said 'I'm so happy I can't stop smiling'. That's all it took to make it worth every penny. I think that we only live once and the memories I give to my kids are priceless. ( and that video still brings tears to my eyes).

[Wells]

Since we only go every five years (during the anniversary years) we have plenty of time to save for a deluxe trip. Our last trip was in Sept of 2006, so we had the free dining plan (an unexpected bonus!) which helped. For the three of us ( Me, DS and DD) we still spent about $5800.00 for seven days / 1st Class air to-from Detroit / Town car to-from Orlando airport / Polynesian concierge, lagoon view / seven day pass hopper W/ water park option. Plus we had $600.00 of Disney rewards from the credit card.
I don’t mind spending the money for a good quality vacation, my father always said “You should always take the best vacation you can, even if you have to borrow the money because these are the times you will remember for the rest of your life…” and I totally agree with that!

[Deesdisney]

I just got back and for 8 nights, 8 day tickets, P&P party, food, 2 rooms at ASMO and souv. for 3 adults and 1 kid came to a $6000 bill. But I would have it no other way. This was the only vacation for this year.

[poohluva]

Our next trip is a land/sea vacation, and breaks down like this:

2 adults and 2 kids (14 & 10)

Hotel (Carribean Beach), stateroom (category 9), and Park hopper tickets: $4,800 (thru AAA)

2 round trip tickets from NH: about $700, we got 2 free from our Southwest Visa points.

Food and souveneers: about $600

We haven't decided on excursions yet, but that could add on another couple hundred depending on what we pick!!

We also had to get passports for this trip so add almost $500 more for those!!

In all so far it's almost $7000, and of course we're picking up some new clothes for the trip!!

But the memories from Disney are always priceless!!!

[mouse-logic]

Most = $14,400 (approximately) for a 5-day, 12 person Grand Gathering at Grand Villa at BWV.

Most recent = $2800 (approx) for 4 day, 5 person President's Day visit in 1 bdrm at BCV

[#1disneyfan]

This year we are doing a land/sea trip, so I know that the $$$ will be far more than we usually spend, but we were expecting that. So here is our approx breakdown for 3:

4 day sea/3 day land (category 6 - deluxe accommodations) with an additional 2 day land add on. Park hopper passes for 4 days, taxes, transfers and insurance - $ 5400.

Airfare from Philadelphia on SW (we have a $160 credit) - $200 (I am holding out for the lowest airfare like last year $49 each way)

Hotel for one night in Philadelphia airport hotel - $110.

Food for the land portion of the trip (4 days) - $500.

Souvenirs - $$$$$ - we have the figure that budget out yet, but I would guess about $300.

Excursions for the sea portion - $ 402.

Passports - $279.

Grand Total approx $7200. GULP!!! Oh well this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Adds up quickly and this is just the approximate total.

[JPooh]

Our last trip was in October for 4 nights and we spent: Air from NY for 4 $595. 4 nights at Pop $260, 4 (2 adults & 2 children) 3 day base & holloween party tickets $950, Trans $0 (use disney transporation) Food & Souveniers $700. Total $2,505. Our next trip will be in August for 8 nights at AKL. It's gonna be a lot more because we have 9 going on that trip an will need 3 rooms.

[cinderellagrl]

New years Eve party for $2,800 please tell me about it. That's sounds like it was fun!

Yes it was a pretty penny, but it was all of our christmas presents. I found a little information about it on intercot, but there is not much else about it online.

It is held in California Grill. The main attraction is the food. Endless buffets of all sorts of edible treasures. We enjoyed lobster, cavier, prime rib, many varieties of shell fish, endless varieties of salads, and much much more. Many things I could not even tell you what they were, as my family is not used to eating gormet food. We did try many things that I had only ever heard of on the food network. The other large draw was the open bar. Although three in our party were unable to drink alcohol, we still enjoyed the endless non-alcoholic frozen drinks!

Once we had our full, it was time for the entertainment. They had a fortune teller, the live statues (like in epcot) for photo opportunities, a cartoonist, dancing, visits from Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, a fake casino (everyone was given 50,000 dollars in fake money), and a few other things that are slipping my mind! I even got to dance with MINNIE!

The party required men to wear jackets and women cocktail dresses or nice pant outfits. It was really nice actually dinning when people followed the dress code.

Probably the best part of the party was not having a great view for the best fireworks of the year.

The Major downside, once we got done with the party, we like everyone else, sat in two hours of traffic to get back to the resort.

My family and I were really amazed how many people brought their young children to the party. There were many running all over the place, and although we know it is a family place we thought that the party would have been better if they would have restricted it to 16 and up.

Overall we felt like royalty. My father is a farmer, and we have lived in a small town all my life. Treatment like this only comes once in a lifetime.

Ha, just forget one interesting thing that happened at the party. Obviously Disney makes some exceptions for people willing to throw out a little extra money. A women besides us had her two lap dogs with her. At first we thought that she had snuck them in, but her waiter brought the dog a small bowl with some water!

[mjaclyn]

I am definitely one of those people who 'trick' themselves into thinking they're actually spending less - I plan FAR FAR in advance and pay for things right away so it SEEMS like when we actually go, all we're paying for is souveniers. Here is what I think we paid for our most recent trip:

January 2008:
6 Nights at the Beach Club Villas - Renting points from a DVC Member: $924
Basic Meal Plan for 2 Adults and 1 Child: $540
(No ticket costs because we had annual passes from our last trip)
P&P Party: $88
Rental Car for the week: $100
Groceries: $50
Airline Tickets: $430
Extras (Tipping, souveniers, snacks, any travel costs - gas, stuff for the airplane, etc): $600

Total: $2732 - keep in mind that this is not including any park tickets

[Tigger&Stitch]

I'm an accountant, so no fooling myself here! WDW is our only vacation each year (though now we live in NZ, it will be every 2 years).

We went on our honeymoon in 2006, and the grand total of that vacation was $100. Yes! We "registered" our honeymoon - including airfare - and by the time we went, the entire thing was paid for. Also, we had about $100 in Disney visa points, and earned $100 by checking out SSR DVC.

We stayed in a Woods Room at the WL for 9 nights, and had hopper/waterpark tickets. The dining plan was free (September).

We bought very few souvenirs/presents - which were our ultimate cost -around $100.


This year, though, we are flying from NZ.
Airfare to LA: NZ$5144 (US$3900)
Airfare LA/MCO: US$800
Renting DVC points ($10/point) for 12 nights: $2150
Tickets: $681.60
Food: $850(estimate)
Subtotal: $8,381

Cost of Club Lounge in LAX during layover: $110
Transportation to/from WDW: free (Mag Exp)
Keys to the Kingdom Tour: $96
Souvenirs: $200 (approx)
Mini Golf: $30 (est)
Bike/Boat rentals: $50 (est)
Subtotal: $486

TOTAL: $8867
(For 2 of us)

Our flights are now the most expensive part of our trip!

[javamama]

Ok this is our upcoming trip for room, and parks only for 9 adults ,1- 4 yo, and my 1 year old is free. A little under 13k, but we are staying in the Poly Princess 2 Bedroom Suite.
Airfare from ORD to MCO is $1700 for 8 of us, 2 others are taking different flights I think they're paying a little over $500.
So just for flying, staying, and park admissions we're at little over $15k.
We plan on doing the DDP, for all 10 of us, my dd will eat off the menu since she's 1.
Souveniers-I'll go by last years total $100 was "free" from our Disney Visa Rewards, plus another $150---that's just my family so dh, I, ds who was 3, and dd was an infant.
Extras-I'm sure was around $300 again for our family of 4(beers, popcorn, icecream, and Crocs for the kids).
I look at it this way, my now 4 year old still talks about his first Disney Trip at least once a week--so like you said it was "priceless" for me to make him so happy, and see his smile from ear to ear when he met MM for the first time.

[GrmGrninGost]

We try to make one long trip (8 or 9 days) per year. We drive down (800+ miles). We usually drive straight through, rougly 12.5 hours. There are 2 adults and 2 children in my family. The last few years, we've tried to go during the free dining, this helps a lot. Figuring in gas, lodging, food, tickets, souveniers and everything else I can think of, we spend between $3,000 and $5,000 per trip. The variance is due to staying at different resorts, how much we spend on souveniers and whether or not we get free dining. All in all, it's worth every penney!

[Jillirose]

We spent $8,000, for a family of 4 at BC, for 6 nights - half time a holiday rate. We figured out later, we could have saved $500 if we would have enrolled in the dining plan.