Inflation and deciding on a vacation!

[Disneylover99]

We used to go to disney all the time when our children were younger. We had the best vacations, free dining and went during slow times are rarely waited for any ride. My daughter keeps asking when we can go back but I know disney has totally changed from when we were last there (2018) and I really have a problem spending around double for the same vacation when I know it won't be as great as it was before. My daughter is a freshman in college and will have a winter break, so we would be going in January. I am very hesitant to spend so much money, especially with the prices of everything so high but I want to make her happy. Maybe there will be some specials or discounts?

Biggest thing…..get out of the free dining mindset.
You can still have a great time without it.

Bring some snacks/drinks with you or order some for your room. Plan a table service or two if you want but avoid the buffets. Check out some cheaper TS locations that you may not have considered when on the dining plan.

.Also, book an AllStar if you want to stay onsite.

 

[Belle1962]

Hang out on the budget board.
above advice is good
if you don’t already have one get a credit card that offers new users a bonus. then use that card for EVERYTHING. If possible you or your husband get one then use the referral bonus to get the other one a card (Marriott)
or the Disney card is offering 0% APR on vacations
Realize that you can get a suite off site for cost of value resort a lot of the time
I stayed in the Flamingo hotels this past March and they were clean and safe. I did a review on the resort board
if you are looking off site check all discounts you might be eligible for (AAA, government, military, senior, etc) If there’s a goof AAA rate it can be worth joining
using the above discounts you can get a rate around $230 a night at the swan/dolphin depending on time
pack snacks and a water bottle into the parks
price out driving especially with more than one driver you might make better time (plus with all the issues airlines are having do you want to risk flying?)
Check for ticket discounts-Costco, AAA, my electric company, USAA, and Xfinity rewards offer discount tickets.

 

[Miffy]

OP--You didn't say where you were staying in 2018. If it was deluxe, then consider a mod or a value. We used to stay at AKL all the time but it's become prohibitively expensive so now we stay at GDT or POFQ--both great resorts and a heckuva lot less money.

Many posters on this board make staying off-site work in a multitude of ways. I haven't done it in a long time, but I'd consider it if it came down to that...and it could.

Unless it's your park style, consider not getting hoppers. They add a lot to the cost of the tickets.

Do not go around New Year's or marathon weekend. They are much more expensive than later in January. mousesavers.com lists all the seasons at WDW and has rack rates posted, so check it out and see when the best time for you will be.

I don't really believe in the "last chance" scenario. If you and your daughter both love going to WDW and love going with each other, there'll be about a zillion opportunities to do so in the future. Do not feel pressured.

ETA link to mousesavers 2023 resort rates: https://www.mousesavers.com/2023-disney-world-room-rates-season-dates/

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We are getting ready to go down Thursday. 4 people, 7 days, with 1 party, 5 TS meals. Our cost is going to be about $6000 staying at POP. However, at one point this trip was going to include 10 people for another the same price, staying offsite, hopper tickets through Sam’s, and only 1-2 TS restaurants and no party for around the same price. If you figure out a price you can live with, there are ways of making it work. We could have done this much cheaper based on our earlier planning when the other half of our family decided not to go, but we already had that much budgeted and decided to have a little bit of a splurge this trip because we don’t plan to be back for probably 3 years.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

I would price out Universal instead. I think you will find good value in going there, so you’ll be able to give your daughter a great time and feel like you’re not paying more for less.

 

[lainadisney2018]

This thread is timely as I make final purchases for our Nov trip. We also last went in 2018. I wish I had not saved that budget. It would make stomaching the increased costs so much easier.

I think I have just decided to get over the cost, but also accept that we probably won’t be returning for awhile after this trip.

 

[DCLMP]

I decided to go for it and put in a request for SSR preferred room in January. It averaged out to 325 a night tax included. I’ve found renting points in this environment the way to go. It’s been our resort of choice the last two trips.
Eating dinner in Disney Springs seems to save some money. They have a good variety of table service and quick service options. I was always was an Epcot resort person, but even with a good deal at Swan and Dolphin the dining options specifically Epcot have gotten ridiculously expensive. You also need park hoppers for that.

Tickets will be free with cc cash back.I noticed UT is not offering the 50% off cars past the end of year. I’m wondering if that’s permanently ending. Parking is free with a DVC rental that could save some money if you are driving.

There are ways to get the cost down it’s just not simple as the old days when you waited for the discounts to drop and booked the room of your choice.

 

[IndyToThere]

Upatnoon mostly covered it, but another way to think of the major expenses and what you can control:

- Travel to WDW (Fly vs drive)
- Where to Stay (Disney onsite = most expensive; 3rd party resort = middle expensive; offiste condo/house or cheap motel = least expensive)
- What to Eat (all Disney dining = most expensive; prepare breakfast in room, snacks at park, dinner back at resort/condo = cheaper)
- Park Tickets (hardest expense to cut back on, but Base Tickets are cheaper than Park Hopper; don't double-dip in ticket costs with an after hours Party Ticket if you already are paying for 5+ days in the Park)

You can pull the levers in different areas to potentially make the vacation financially viable. It all comes down to your priorities for the trip and what you are willing to spend extra for vs save and do without.

 

[NavyDad]

We used to go to disney all the time when our children were younger. We had the best vacations, free dining and went during slow times are rarely waited for any ride. My daughter keeps asking when we can go back but I know disney has totally changed from when we were last there (2018) and I really have a problem spending around double for the same vacation when I know it won't be as great as it was before. My daughter is a freshman in college and will have a winter break, so we would be going in January. I am very hesitant to spend so much money, especially with the prices of everything so high but I want to make her happy. Maybe there will be some specials or discounts?

We absolutely love going in January. Best time of the year IMO.

I wouldn't count on any discounts any time soon. Disney has no incentives to offer any discounts right now. They keep raising prices and people keep going to the parks.

When our kids were young, we did lots of character meals and spent lots of money on many sit down dinners. Now that they are high school and college aged, they just want to go, go, go and balk at the idea of taking 2 hours of park time to sit down for a meal. We do much more QS now which saves a lot of money. My teen daughters love to eat but they don't eat much at a time so they do a lot of meal sharing with each other or my wife. Mobile ordering at the QS locations has made this easier for us because they love to look at the app on the phone and order what they want a la carte, instead of my wife and I ordering them a big meal they were only going to eat 35% of. We also buy lots of snacks to have in the room.

Another way to save money is to stay off-site, stay at a value resort or maybe try renting DVC. There is a budget board with lots of good tips.

As far as trips not being as great as before - we just took our teen daughter on a trip in April and she said this was the best trip she's ever had to WDW. She loves all of the new rides and new lands in the parks. We did pay for Genie+ and some $ILL but we never had to wait in any lines and we rode more rides than any previous trip so it worked out great for us.

 

[juxtapose]

Start with realizing that any trip you do in the next year is going to cost significantly more than in 2018. I've been researching so many trips to different locations both in the US and in Europe and flights are double, food and hotels up 25-40% from our trips in the 2017/2018 time period.

We do love several of the moderate hotels at WDW, we love that Caribbean beach has access to the gondola and is walking distance to the restaurants at the Riviera. Don't do too many sit down restaurants, most the parks have some good quick service options. Chances are your daughter will have as good of a trip as before even if you feel like it isn't as good of value.

 

[DisneyFive]

and I really have a problem spending around double for the same vacation when I know it won't be as great as it was before.

If this provides any hope, we walked away from our WDW vacation this summer feeling like we had our happy place back. The parks felt close enough to how they did pre Covid that we found very little to complain about. We felt like the CM's, food, entertainment, rides (especially all the new ones) were just as good as they were pre covid.

However you are absolutely correct that sadly, frustratingly, the cost is so much higher per day now.

We did pay for G+ every day, and that was a big part of why we felt we had our parks back. With it we were able to ride all the headliners we wanted with short waits, every day. We had time again to shop, enjoy the park atmosphere, etc... We couldn't justify the cost of $ILL, so we did stand in line for FOP, ROTR, etc.. but that was only one ride per park and was palatable for us. I'm not telling you what you have to do, just telling you our experience versus summer 2021 when it was all standby only. That WAS a much worse experience for us.

The affordability, or value, of a WDW vacation has greatly diminished. The product itself is pretty dang close to what it's always been, but with a much higher price tag.

Free dining was an amazing savings for us too but with the strong demand for WDW vacations, few discounts are being offered. We've visited almost annually since 2010 but the high cost is now having us looking at other options next year. Sorry I can't help much with the affordability. Sadly this year we had to reduce our number of days, and remove park hoppers to get our overall cost in line with what we were willing to spend. However the trip itself was amazing.

Dan

 

[disneyseniors]

I think the important question is, What does your daughter think about all the changes? Have you two talked about what has changed? If she still wants to go, then she will have a heads up to the new challenges at WDW.

 

[kandb]

I think the important question is, What does your daughter think about all the changes? Have you two talked about what has changed? If she still wants to go, then she will have a heads up to the new challenges at WDW.

I was actually going to surprise her with a trip. I didn't even want to bring the idea up to her unless it was a definite. Don't want to get her hopes up!

 

[disneyseniors]

I was actually going to surprise her with a trip. I didn't even want to bring the idea up to her unless it was a definite. Don't want to get her hopes up!

I'm surprised she hasn't heard at least something about what's going on at disney. It's been on the national news, talk shows, and the internet. Even my brother who is not a disney fan, brought it up to me. I hope all goes well whatever you decide to do.

 

[Gentry2004]

I totally feel your pain - the price increases are very frustrating. I'm in the minority on this board, but we've switched to offsite stays. The benefits are not that worthwhile (to us) any longer and the money we save (almost) makes up for higher ticket prices and paying for Genie+/IAS. While I do love staying onsite, I'd rather stay offsite than shorten my trip or go less often. YMMV.

 

[stinkpickle]

I'm saving money. I quit bringing my wife.

 

[js]

Tomorrow is promised to no one. If you afford to go and still come home and pay your bills, book your trip.

Expectations are your dd will graduate college and get a job. Taking a week off to hang with mom may not be what every 25 year old wants to do.

Go make the memories while your dd is still wanting to hang with you!

 

[snikki]

I would scale back and try my best to go. She is growing up and her wanting to go to Disney, or any trip with Mom, probably isn't the norm.

DD is 16 and we are going in two months. She will be leaving to college in two years. We discuss going on trips once she's in college. She's open and excited about it but I know it could all change. I really don't like some of the changes at Disney right now, especially the cost, but I know it would be worth it to have that quality time with her at our favorite place and making memories.

 

[leebee]

Everything is a trade-off, it seems. If you fly, you have to pay to get from MCO to your hotel, or rent a car $$$. If you drive and stay at a Disney resort, you don't have to pay to park at the theme parks (or you can bus) but you DO have to pay, per night, to park at your resort.

Take a look at the Disney Springs hotels. Doubletree often has good rates (and they are suites). We stayed at the Hilton Disney Springs and could be at Earl of Sandwich within 10 minutes of leaving our hotel room. We found a rate that waived the resort fees (look at online travel agencies like DreamsUnlimited, sign up for Mousesavers, etc, to find deals) and as we took an Uber from the airport, we didn't have to pay for a rental car or pay to park at the hotel. The bus from the hotel ran regularly to the parks, and if we wanted to stay out longer we took the bus to Disney Springs and walked to the hotel from there (last bus to DS runs at 11:30 or something like that). If you book a room with a fridge, stock up on breakfast items and park snacks, which will save you some money and time. Being near Disney Springs is convenient in the evenings, too. They have GREAT restaurants, quick service options, and lounges/bars (a big consideration now that DD is 21+), and we could walk "home" after an evening out.

If you are close enough to WDW to drive, definitely look off-site. We have stayed in beautiful resorts for $100 a night or less. No resort fee, no parking... look at Orbitz, airbnb, etc to see what's out there. Check Marriott and Hilton for deals (AAA member rate, senior rate if you qualify, etc). NOT staying onsite isn't the end of the world.

Park tickets? Consider what you want to do before purchasing. Recently DD and I went to WDW for 5 days and got 3 day park-hoppers. We went to MK, AK, or DS during the day and hopped over to Epcot for dinner (Food&Wine Festival). I would never have bought park hoppers normally, but it was cheaper to get 3 day PHs than a 4 day ticket, and gave us access to F&W for supper several nights (no way to try everything on one trip). We also had a few "down" days which gave us a chance to explore other parts of Disney (rode the Skyliner, rode the monorail, went to resort lounges, etc) and also to have dinner at a couple of new-to-us restaurants (Toppolino, Toledo, Olivia's) that wouldn't have fit in with a park-day schedule. Yes, dinner was expensive, but the travel agency I used gave us a $100 Disney gift card as a thank you, and I had $200 in Disney VISA rewards to help with the rest of it.

Best "deals" we've found is by juggling credit cards, but you have to be responsible with credit and it can take awhile to build up enough points for freebies, so that's probably not going to help you a whole lot at this point. Also, if you have a Disney Visa card, quite a few of the older resort restaurants will give you a 10% discount if you use the card to pay for your meal (Boma, Olivia's, Ale&Compass, Grand Floridian Cafe come to mind, but there are more... Biergarten too, I think, check the Chase website).

Anyhow.. think about how you will want to visit the parks before you buy your park passes. None of it is cheap anymore, but there are "cheaper" ways to do Disney World.

 

[nolatravelgirl]

If you are waiting for 2018 to come back then you will be waiting a long time. It isn't coming back. Disney does not want the middle class dollars. They are going to continue to hike prices to balance supply and demand. The DIS covered this in their livestream. WDW profits are up but attendance is down and they like it. They want the higher paying guests.