Outrageous pricing

I am booking my vacation for my daughter and myself staying at all star movies with the ddp and tickets for 4 days we are looking at like 2000 not including flights. How do people afford to spend 700$ a night to stay at one of the nicer resorts! Is there a secret I'm missing out on?
The secret is to do DCV rentals 11months before your trip. Disney is expensive, I bet very few people pay full price on the nicer hotels, most use AP discounts or free dining when available.
 
I am booking my vacation for my daughter and myself staying at all star movies with the ddp and tickets for 4 days we are looking at like 2000 not including flights. How do people afford to spend 700$ a night to stay at one of the nicer resorts! Is there a secret I'm missing out on?

I'm sure this has already been said but I'm not reading every response. For us, it was cheaper to stay off site and pay out of pocket for the DELUXE dining plan than to stay on site and get the "free dining". Free dining isn't free.
 
I'm sure this has already been said but I'm not reading every response. For us, it was cheaper to stay off site and pay out of pocket for the DELUXE dining plan than to stay on site and get the "free dining". Free dining isn't free.

How did you get the dining plan if you stayed off site?
 


How did you get the dining plan if you stayed off site?

You don't.

You can't buy a dining plan if you stay off site.

I should have been more clear and I apologize. We stay off site, rent a throwaway campground for our park days, pay OOP for the dining plan, and it was still cheaper than staying at a value and getting the free dining. We are a large group so that makes a difference too. We also share credits. It saved us a few thousand dollars by sharing credits, getting free magic bangs and free parking from the tent site, not having park hoppers, and staying at Windsor Hills for $89 a night for a 3 BR, 2BA condo. We would have had to rent 3 rooms at a value or pay upwards of $1000 a night at a deluxe so yes, a HUGE savings. And for the record, no, none of the above breaks any rules. In fact, we DO use the campsite for a picnic during our stay.
 
I should have been more clear and I apologize. We stay off site, rent a throwaway campground for our park days, pay OOP for the dining plan, and it was still cheaper than staying at a value and getting the free dining. We are a large group so that makes a difference too. We also share credits. It saved us a few thousand dollars by sharing credits, getting free magic bangs and free parking from the tent site, not having park hoppers, and staying at Windsor Hills for $89 a night for a 3 BR, 2BA condo. We would have had to rent 3 rooms at a value or pay upwards of $1000 a night at a deluxe so yes, a HUGE savings. And for the record, no, none of the above breaks any rules. In fact, we DO use the campsite for a picnic during our stay.
According to recent reports, Disney is no longer allowing people to share dining credits. I hope cracking down on throwaway rooms is next.
 


I should have been more clear and I apologize. We stay off site, rent a throwaway campground for our park days, pay OOP for the dining plan, and it was still cheaper than staying at a value and getting the free dining. We are a large group so that makes a difference too. We also share credits. It saved us a few thousand dollars by sharing credits, getting free magic bands and free parking from the tent site, not having park hoppers, and staying at Windsor Hills for $89 a night for a 3 BR, 2BA condo. We would have had to rent 3 rooms at a value or pay upwards of $1000 a night at a deluxe so yes, a HUGE savings. And for the record, no, none of the above breaks any rules. In fact, we DO use the campsite for a picnic during our stay.
Stay informed here on the DIS for your next trip because Disney is changing a lot of those policies. Sharing credits and throwaway rooms are coming to mind for the most recent changes. They already cracked down on MBs and free parking.
 
Stay informed here on the DIS for your next trip because Disney is changing a lot of those policies. Sharing credits and throwaway rooms are coming to mind for the most recent changes. They already cracked down on MBs and free parking.

Throwaway rooms are okay ("okay" as in not being stopped) at this point. What they're (reportedly) making a policy to avoid is people who book rooms, get their FP, and then cancel the rooms.
 
If you’re looking for a few ways to save, consider pricing out your meals and paying out of pocket instead of getting the dining plan. Depending on your eating habits and plans it could be significantly cheaper to pay out of pocket. We saved $500 last trip!
This^

Also we buy our tickets from Undercover Tourist. It's only a small discount but every little bit helps. We use credit card rewards to pay for the flights so that rarely has to factor into our math. We stayed deluxe the past 8 years but didn't always. When our kids were little, we stayed offsite in a rental home and drove to parks. We ate breakfast at the house which saved a lot. Not EVERY day on vacation needs to be a park day; that's exhausting. Our kids have grown a lot since those days and so has our income. I'll never pay rack rate but I can stand to do it with a 20 or 30% off promo code. Sometimes we rent DVC points. Just the avoidance of sales tax makes renting a 12% discount.
Also in the old days, Disney tickets never expired. They were much more affordable. I could save up $200-250 and go buy a ticket at AAA and hold it until I could buy another.
Then they announced Magic Your Way which meant we had to pay extra for the no-expiration option. Still, we could buy a 10 day ticket with water parks & no exp which would give us 20 days of fun. We could easily divide this among 3 vacations if we did some water park days. Now that they've done away with the no-exp option, our trips are short and not nearly as frequent.

All the Disney greed has finally wrung me out. I'm done for a while. Too expensive and too crowded, even in off peak times. Maybe we'll be back when we're grandparents. ;)
 
We are DVC members with 1400 points at a variety of resorts. We go to aulani once a year and stay in a one bedroom ocean view for two weeks.
We would never pay the 1200 to 1500 that room would normally cost but it seems painless with dvc. We go to DW in March for two weeks and stay in a one bedroom either st old key west or boardwalk or wilderness. Again we would never pay the typical rate for a one bedroom which is close to 700 or 800 a night or more.

But The points are all paid for and while our maintenance fees are close to $10,000 a year, just one of these trips pays for itself. At least that’s how I have to look at it.

wow, but have you added up what you paid overall to DVC? buying pts + maintenance fees? Perhaps you have simply prepaid a lifetime of vacations mostly as a lump sum.
 
Gotcha - although it's not quite as simple as a good credit score. Income factors in too, and it's awesome if your income-to-debt ratio is such that multiple cards are a possibility. It;s also a game that works FANTASTICALLY if you have the self discipline to use those lines of credit wisely....but it can be a dangerous game for a lot of people. I could get into a long discussion about how good credit is often a benefit that is born of privilege for many....but that's a WHOLE other thread :)

I disagree. It's simply a matter of education. My 22 yr old son made sure his student loan payments were never late so as to not damage his credit score. Same with his car payment. Maybe if I didn't warn him of the dangers of the damage from a bad score, he would not be so careful.
It's not an elite club to join. Financial literacy is a graduation requirement in our state.

Comments like this really bother me. Unlike Disney World, out in the real world, no one is going to sprinkle pixie dust and make all your dreams come true. Life is what YOU make of it and no one is going to do the hard work for you. Dh grew up piss poor, one of 6 kids living in SW Philly. They couldn't afford braces and all of his clothes were hand me downs from cousins or came from a thrift store until he was an adult and buying all of his own clothes. Their version of vacation in his childhood meant buying a Sears aluminum garden shed for $100 to sleep in and assembling it in the woods near French Creek, PA. Along with 10 other families from their neighborhood, there were approx. 100 kids there (baby boomers) and they had a blast.
His parents couldn't buy him a car, pay for higher education, our wedding, etc etc. Still he busted his butt to gain more job skills and though he's not setting the world on fire, we're comfortable. Where's his "privilege?"

Earning a higher salary is a matter of supply & demand. 99% of all teenagers can operate a cash register in a fast food joint. Therefore there is a huge supply of people who can do this job. Now if you look at a career such as software engineering or radiation physicist, well now you can't find several of those on every street in the USA so they can command much higher pay.

Some college majors are super hard to find a job in that field. So find something that is in high demand that has a future that employers are willing to pay bigger bucks for.
If you choose to sacrifice $ for job happiness or the feeling of doing something for good for society such as teaching or social worker, that's your choice. Nothing wrong with either of those careers but then you can't blame the world for your choices.

Siren, I don't mean 'you' literally. I see a lot of young people make stupid choices then blame the world for their "bad luck". They spend on stupid things but "can't get ahead".
It's always someone else's fault and when they see successful people, it gets chalked up to "privilege", but never HARD WORK & SACRIFICE.
 
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I disagree. It's simply a matter of education. My 22 yr old son made sure his student loan payments were never late so as to not damage his credit score. Same with his car payment. Maybe if I didn't warn him of the dangers of the damage from a bad score, he would not be so careful.
It's not an elite club to join. Financial literacy is a graduation requirement in our state.

Comments like this really bother me. Unlike Disney World, out in the real world, no one is going to sprinkle pixie dust and make all your dreams come true. Life is what YOU make of it and no one is going to do the hard work for you. Dh grew up piss poor, one of 6 kids living in SW Philly. They couldn't afford braces and all of his clothes were hand me downs from cousins or came from a thrift store until he was an adult and buying all of his own clothes. Their version of vacation in his childhood meant buying a Sears aluminum garden shed for $100 to sleep in and assembling it in the woods near French Creek, PA. Along with 10 other families from their neighborhood, there were approx. 100 kids there (baby boomers) and they had a blast.
His parents couldn't buy him a car, pay for higher education, our wedding, etc etc. Still he busted his butt to gain more job skills and though he's not setting the world on fire, we're comfortable. Where's his "privilege?"

Earning a higher salary is a matter of supply & demand. 99% of all teenagers can operate a cash register in a fast food joint. Therefore there is a huge supply of people who can do this job. Now if you look at a career such as software engineering or radiation physicist, well now you can't find several of those on every street in the USA so they can command much higher pay.

Some college majors are super hard to find a job in that field. So find something that is in high demand that has a future that employers are willing to pay bigger bucks for.
If you choose to sacrifice $ for job happiness or the feeling of doing something for good for society such as teaching or social worker, that's your choice. Nothing wrong with either of those careers but then you can't blame the world for your choices.

Siren, I don't mean 'you' literally. I see a lot of young people make stupid choices then blame the world for their "bad luck". They spend on stupid things but "can't get ahead".
It's always someone else's fault and when they see successful people, it gets chalked up to "privilege", but never HARD WORK & SACRIFICE.
And for some, the opportunities are not in their location, and life circumstances make it impossible to relocate. It's a VERY complicated answer once you get past the simple statements of, "Work Hard and Life Will Come To You". After only one generation of poverty, things can get way beyond the definition of complicated. But that's off topic!

The on-topic reality that we are discussing is that, Disney continues to increase its pricing because they know that most of the demographic will pay. Whether that's Club Level or dessert parties or $8 Mickey Bars. And there are a variety of ways to "save money" - BUT only if you are in a certain demographic (DVC, AP, if one can rent DVC points, people with great rewards on their CC, guests/certain memberships, military, etc.) If you are just Plain Jane and Nobody Joe, the answer on saving money for Disney is, "Save money for Disney".

We don't know what changes will happen in the future - I suggest Disney will just give us a slot to stick our wallets into when Galaxy's Edge opens LOL

I suspect the "saving for Disney" will become more of the middle-class norm again, and the nouveau riche will take over Disney for awhile with $$$$$$$ Upscaled Everything, and then eventually there will be a New Reality of promotions to lure the crowds in, even if they have to finance and put it all on their VISA/MC/Amex.
 
I am booking my vacation for my daughter and myself staying at all star movies with the ddp and tickets for 4 days we are looking at like 2000 not including flights. How do people afford to spend 700$ a night to stay at one of the nicer resorts! Is there a secret I'm missing out on?

For many families Disney is a once in a lifetime trip for them and they save up the money for years in order to pay for a trip that includes rooms on the higher end. Some of us like to go to Disney once a year or even twice a year or even more and for the most part not everyone can afford to stay in the higher end rooms for a week or even a few nights. It really depends on each group and their financial outlook. Some people may not have the expense of a mortgage payment, car payment, etc. so therefore they have extra money to burn. Everyone is different and Disney World certainly has become a very, very expensive trip to take and with prices getting higher and higher every year it's only going to get more expensive in the future.
 
According to recent reports, Disney is no longer allowing people to share dining credits. I hope cracking down on throwaway rooms is next.

You may wish to read the thread dedicated to that. Disney is, in fact, confirming in writing that its fine to share credits and patrons are having no issues at all doing so.
 
Stay informed here on the DIS for your next trip because Disney is changing a lot of those policies. Sharing credits and throwaway rooms are coming to mind for the most recent changes. They already cracked down on MBs and free parking.

There is an entire thread dedicated to the sharing credits issue. In fact, it doesn't appear to be an issue at all. It's widely accepted and Disney has even confirmed in writing (via emails) to these folks that it is perfectly fine to do so. We'll have a means to pay OOP should something catastrophic happen but it is very clearly and widely still acceptable to share credits at this point.

I do too, especially at the campgrounds. People who actually want to stay there shouldn't be shut out because of people who have no intention of being there.

We do use ours :-) We just don't sleep there.

Throwaway rooms are okay ("okay" as in not being stopped) at this point. What they're (reportedly) making a policy to avoid is people who book rooms, get their FP, and then cancel the rooms.

Yes, this is a very unfair use of the system and I'm glad they are cracking down on that. If a person pays for something they can use it (or not use it) as they see fit but this is clearly paying for something, using it, then getting refunded without having to "give the item back" per se.
 
We were actually considering booking a room for a day in the middle of our offsite trip to have a 'resort day' to swim, have a character breakfast, and hoping to get a better chance at a FPs for SWGE for my son's birthday in December. Let me be very clear, it would not be a throwaway room, we would be staying in it 1day/night. I am wondering though, if I am only able to make fastpasses for that day of the stay 60 days out? I only ask because the topic of making a reservation for FP purposes was brought up and this was the motivating factor for us and we're thinking about building a day around it. I am pretty desperate to get him on/doing as much SWGE as we can for his birthday.
 
We were actually considering booking a room for a day in the middle of our offsite trip to have a 'resort day' to swim, have a character breakfast, and hoping to get a better chance at a FPs for SWGE for my son's birthday in December. Let me be very clear, it would not be a throwaway room, we would be staying in it 1day/night. I am wondering though, if I am only able to make fastpasses for that day of the stay 60 days out? I only ask because the topic of making a reservation for FP purposes was brought up and this was the motivating factor for us and we're thinking about building a day around it. I am pretty desperate to get him on/doing as much SWGE as we can for his birthday.

Yes you can only book FP for the length of your hotel stay at the 60 day mark. Any other day covered by your tickets would have to be booked at the 30 day window.
 

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