Posted on 08/21/2024 7:40:50 AM PDT by Cronos
...The vacation cost around $6,000, which included accommodations, tickets and a car rental, and which Ms. Leach charged to her Disney-branded credit card.
Ms. Leach is one of many parents who have taken on debt for a Disney family vacation. In June, LendingTree, a financial firm, published the results of a survey of over 2,000 people that found that 45 percent of parents with children under 18 who have gone to Disney went into debt for the trip.
For a family of four, the cost of a one-week trip to Disney can range from $6,463 to $15,559, not including flights or souvenirs, according to an analysis by NerdWallet, a personal finance site. Many families can’t afford the trip at all. Last week, Disney reported softening demand for its theme parks because families, after years of dealing with high inflation, have less money to spend on amusement.
But Ms. Leach, 38, who works in sales, relies on quarterly bonuses to cover vacation costs. She and her husband earn about $250,000 annually, combined, though that figure can fluctuate each year. Her family doesn’t always have the money to pay for vacations upfront. Instead, she books first, then pays off her balances as the bonuses come in.
For the trip in 2022, Ms. Leach paid the minimum on her credit card for two months, accruing around $382 in interest before she was able to pay off the balance.
...the pressure to visit Disney theme parks and to go all out for what may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip can lead families to spend beyond their means. Often, visitors contend with sticker shock when they arrive at the park.
... He had budgeted about $6,000 for the trip, but overspent by $2,500.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
In particular, there was a cottage we rented by Lake Winnepesaukee one year (NH). We never left the area except to get groceries. We had a grill to cook on and had the lake to swim, canoe, and fish in. The kids never wanted to leave the water. At night, we'd watch movies together. It was the best vacation we ever had as a family and aside from the cottage rental, the cheapest.
so, not worth the price even for amusement park afficionados?
There are books all about planning your Disney vacation.
Which hotels to stay in. When to go. When NOT to go.
As I stated in my previous post, we went prior to Thanksgiving. We actually did not go into the park on Thanksgiving Day. The book I bought showed the attendance throughout the year. Don't go Easter week. Don't go school vacation weeks. Don't go between Christmas and New Years.
IF you pick the weeks when it is less crowded, it is much more enjoyable. IMHO, If I had the money I would stay at either the Grand Floridian Or the Animal Kingdom. The GF is the big fancy hotel on the lake directly across from the Magic Kingdom. I had dinner there one night right on the shore.
So you can sit and watch the nightly fireworks. You have to book these dinner reservations up to a year in advance.
I learned this from reading the book. The other hotel that I would think would be cool is the one at the Animal Kingdom. Where the giraffes and other African animals are walking around right outside your room window. The other key for the hotel is to be on the monorail or the bus route. The most expensive hotels are on the monorail. It makes getting between the parks easier.
The writer makes this sound like a new phenomena.
NO.
I just realized that Mickey Mouse looks like a soyboy.
About 30 years ago, the Meddlesome Mouse proposed building a theme park near Haymarket, Virginia. The politicians thought it was wonderful. The People thought it was an atrocity.
After much fuss and feathers, the project was canceled.
My wife and I were roller coaster fanatics in the 1990s. We used to fly our small plane to Southern California frequently. Disneyland season passes with blackout dates renewed for around $60. Magic Mountain, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and other season passes without blackout dates were $40 to $50 or less.
We burned mostly Autogas in our airplane which was considerably cheaper than buying two airline tickets. We flew to an uncontrolled airport just North of the Los Angeles airspace system where it cost us about $2 a day to park the plane.
Working as a fire fighter I had 4 days in a row off most weeks. My wife worked as an “agency nurse” so she had a flexible schedule as well.
We would fly down and ride our folding tandem bicycle that we kept in the back of the plane to cheap but nice motels that were in the “Entertainment Book” for half price. Our favorite was about $20 a night and included a very nice all-you-can-eat breakfast. We would get up early the next day ride over to Enterprise and rent a car as soon as they opened up and get to which ever amusement park we chose for that day pretty early.
We had our sometimes weekly mini-vacations planned down to the letter for efficiency, economy, and maximum fun. We never had any desire to go to Disneyland on one of their busy “blackout days” ever anyway. All the season passes we purchased included additional free perks that we took advantage of. We didn’t go into debt doing this.
I was shocked at the prices when we went to Disney World in Florida about 20 years ago. We did a lot of research on how to do that for the least amount of money. Fortunately, we had friends and relatives that we were able to because the nearby accommodations were pretty expensive as well. Of course, as the chart shows admission was around $40 a day which we thought was ridiculous at the time, and the roller coasters were not as good as what we were used to.
There are probably still ways to get admission to amusement parks for much less than most people pay, but with the additional nonsense you have to put up with these days... We had a lot of good adventures 30 or 40 years ago; but who would want to go to most parts of California now for entertainment? It is not the same place anymore. Thank goodness my wife and I have memories from what was a great time in our lives.
We went a couple times as kids but stayed at my Uncle’s house who lived in Anaheim. Never been back since. If I want to go hang around with homosexual tranny child groomers I would go to a DNC meeting.
I visited DW for the first time as a kid in 1978. The best memory I have of that trip was the orange groves as far as the eye could see. The orange grove gift shops were awesome too.
No, not in my opinion. The rides are primarily oriented at kids. In fact the Magic Kingdom park was very dated. Again, my information is based on a trip from 19 years ago.
Each park had two premier rides. Those are the rides you had to wait in long lines to ride. Which is where the Fast Pass came in handy. You would go to that ride, check in and it would give you a time slot to come back when you would skip the line. Then you would go do other rides in between.
At Epcot the two rides were Soarer and Test Track. Soarer was a theater where it simulated riding a hang glider. Cool but not scary. Test track was riding in an open Chevy car around a banked track at speeds up to 80 mph. Again, pretty cool, but not really scary. A lot of people go to Epcot and try to have a drink at all the places around the world. They are hammered by the time they are done.
At MGM they had the Rock and Roller coaster(my favorite). It starts horizontally and hits 75 mph within 3 seconds. Then you go into a warehouse where it is pitch black. The only light comes from strobes timed to the music of Aerosmith being blasted at high volume.
MGM also had the Tower of Terror. Which is basically an elevator that lifts you up and then drops you multiple times. Leaving your stomach several floors above you, so to speak. It was scary, and a little sickening.
At Animal Kingdom they had the Yeti Coaster. Which was the highest elevation “mountain” in Florida. It is more like an old fashioned roller coaster. Kind of like the older wooden ones that are made to creek and wobble. Still fun though.
A lot of people who go to Disney World will also go to Universal Orlando. They might also go to Bush Gardens. These parks are more oriented to older teens and adults. Then head to Seaworld to see Shamu.
You couldn’t pay me to go there.
Had great visits to Fl from the 60-s thru 70’s. It sure has grown. I remember when Ft’ Lauderdale was a great place, it’s overgrown now.
I went to high school there, I don’t even recognize the place now. It’s indistinguishable from the rest of South Florida.
As I said in a previous post, my wife and I were roller coaster fanatics in the 1990s. At the time we thought about writing a book sharing what we knew. We thoroughly research how to get the best deals at that time. We paid a fraction of what others spent on similar getaways and had better experiences.
We basically did similar getaways over and over again until we found the best routines to follow to maximize our experiences for the least amount of money. For us it was the most fun to go at times when the parks had less people in them. Who wants to stand in line for hours in the middle of summer with a bunch of unruly people speaking foreign languages who are letting their friends cut in line in front of you.
Baloney. They do it because they are accustomed to getting what they want when they want it. No inner control, no impulse control.
“orange groves as far as the eye could see. The orange grove gift shops were awesome too.”
Hope you got pictures cuz those days are gone.
Screw Disney. I have 3 sons, 19,18, and 13. They’ve never been within a thousand miles of that place and never asked to go. No loss.
and those kids won’t be able to support THEM when they are retired and BROKE
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