I know I can google and do some math but appx how much did you pay? I have 3 kids 2 adults from HOUSTON. Maybe 5 days ? On site preferred. Just curious what Texags has to say

$3500-$4000.
well worth it if you have the dough.

Totally depends on where you stay and what time of year you go. Last time we went for a week, I think it was right around $4k for one adult and one child at Animal Kingdom Lodge. That was during spring break - hotels and airfare were more than I'd ever spent during two previous visits (airfare in particular was $$$). With three kids, your hotel options are going to be limited, too, unless the youngest child is a baby.

But as others have said, it's worth it. My son is older now, so our vacations have transitioned into non-theme park destinations, but we had a fabulous time every visit. I had visited many times as a kid, and it was something I really wanted to experience with my son.

Josepi said:

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SoupNazi2001 said:

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To each their own but I really don't think Disney is worth the price. There are so many better places to go now for the exorbitant prices they charge. My kids like our other vacations we have done way better than Disney like beach, skiing, etc. I guess it depends on the type of kids you have though and their interests. It seems like going is required and a right of passage for upper middle class white people now. I know I'm in the minority of upper middle class white people though in this view.

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Thank you so much. My wife seems to think that Disney is a requirement for our children to have a happy childhood. The thought of not taking them and taking a different family trip blows her mind. I would much rather take the family skiing.

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Just out of curiosity...did your wife go to WDW growing up? I know that was a huge part of it for me. We lived within easy driving distance, so we made many trips in the 80s and early 90s. I have lots of many happy childhood/family memories from those vacations. I didn't go back until 2009, when I took my son for the first time, and I was just as excited for the trip as he was. I loved seeing all of the new stuff and also seeing him enjoy the things I did when I was a kid. He's also a really active kid - the beach couldn't hold a candle to WDW when he was 4-10. Now that he's older, we do all different sorts of trips/vacations, but he can also do more (like zip-lining, scuba-diving, kayaking, etc) and is more interested in "historical"-type vacations. But in those early years, WDW was a guaranteed hit when it came to vacations (and, honestly, easier on me).
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I went when I was too little to remember the trip, back in the early 80's. My wife went at least once, and she has also come to the conclusion for our children to have a happy childhood that we need to go to WDW. The thought of spending a bunch of money to stand in lines in the heat does not really appeal to me. I tried to get her excited about a Disney cruise instead, but that was a complete non starter.

TXTrans said:

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Just out of curiosity...did your wife go to WDW growing up? I know that was a huge part of it for me. We lived within easy driving distance, so we made many trips in the 80s and early 90s. I have lots of many happy childhood/family memories from those vacations. I didn't go back until 2009, when I took my son for the first time, and I was just as excited for the trip as he was. I loved seeing all of the new stuff and also seeing him enjoy the things I did when I was a kid. He's also a really active kid - the beach couldn't hold a candle to WDW when he was 4-10. Now that he's older, we do all different sorts of trips/vacations, but he can also do more (like zip-lining, scuba-diving, kayaking, etc) and is more interested in "historical"-type vacations. But in those early years, WDW was a guaranteed hit when it came to vacations (and, honestly, easier on me).
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Yes, she went. She was very small, but she has wonderful memories of riding the teacups with her father. It's why she wants to go back. She wants to recreate those memories for our kids. I also went as a kid, and while I'm sure I liked it, the nostalgia is not really pushing me to go back. I'm sure she will win, and we will go. I'm sure the kids will love it. I would just prefer a different vacation for the family. Maybe I'm just being selfish.

I was pricing out AKL for next March & its 4K just to stay there for a week...no tickets or airfare.

Josepi said:

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TXTrans said:

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Just out of curiosity...did your wife go to WDW growing up? I know that was a huge part of it for me. We lived within easy driving distance, so we made many trips in the 80s and early 90s. I have lots of many happy childhood/family memories from those vacations. I didn't go back until 2009, when I took my son for the first time, and I was just as excited for the trip as he was. I loved seeing all of the new stuff and also seeing him enjoy the things I did when I was a kid. He's also a really active kid - the beach couldn't hold a candle to WDW when he was 4-10. Now that he's older, we do all different sorts of trips/vacations, but he can also do more (like zip-lining, scuba-diving, kayaking, etc) and is more interested in "historical"-type vacations. But in those early years, WDW was a guaranteed hit when it came to vacations (and, honestly, easier on me).
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Yes, she went. She was very small, but she has wonderful memories of riding the teacups with her father. It's why she wants to go back. She wants to recreate those memories for our kids. I also went as a kid, and while I'm sure I liked it, the nostalgia is not really pushing me to go back. I'm sure she will win, and we will go. I'm sure the kids will love it. I would just prefer a different vacation for the family. Maybe I'm just being selfish.

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How old are your kids? I took my son to WDW the year he turned 5, the year he turned 6, and the year he turned 8. He's almost 13 now. My criteria for taking him to WDW was he had to be potty trained and tall enough to ride most of the rides.

We've been back to Magic Kingdom only once since they implemented the months-in-advance fastpass reservation system. That is enough to keep me from wanting to go back. We are doing a 3-day trip to Disneyland in a couple of weeks, though.

In addition to WDW, we've done the Grand Canyon, Universal/Harry Potter in Orlando, two Disney cruises (out of Galveston), a trip to Germany, a trip to Italy, a trip to NYC, and a trip to Hawaii. The international trips, NYC, and Hawai have all been done since the year my son turned 11. I wouldn't have even considered visiting those places with him when he was younger. The cruises are great for younger kids, but isn't even close to the same experience as the theme parks. I suspect my son may ask to go back to WDW when Star Wars Land opens, but he's also expressed interest in going to Normandy, London, Scotland, and Alaska. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad we got WDW in when he was younger.

Mustang1 said:

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I was pricing out AKL for next March & its 4K just to stay there for a week...no tickets or airfare.

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Yikes! Our Spring Break trip was in 2012; I'll look tonight and see if my number is accurate. I know they increase hotel and ticket prices every year, but I think they are starting to jump the shark.

Edit: Looks like that 2012 trip cost about $4700 all-in, $768 of which was airfare. I'm pretty sure that was a 7-night stay at AKL.

My kids have kind of grown out of WDW, but I used to use $1k per day all in (two adults and 3 kids under 10) plus flights a few years ago to stay at wilderness lodge or similar. At the time my littlest kid was under 2 so they didn't really count except for souvenirs and food.

I always planned $1k per person, 6 or 7 nights. Travel was driving and lodging was Wilderness Lodge or Beach Club level on site.

My wife is going to start pushing this goofey shlt in a few years and she's already prepping me for it. I also make a point to ask the rich neighbor kids or relatives what their favorite vacation is in front of my wife and it's rarely WDW. Kids across the street went to WDW last summer and Yellowstone & Hawaii this summer and they said Yellowstone hands down. My daughter has gone with her mom to WDW and she said she likes skiing better (and she's only been to Santa Fe).

I'm sure all yall's kids love and sorry to cast shade.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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I know I'm in the minority of upper middle class white people though in this view.

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I have some not anywhere close to upper middle class relatives that saved for over a year to take their kids to WDW. Everyone was commenting on their FB posts and the whole time I'm thinking how miserable I'd be.

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Everyone was commenting on their FB posts and the whole time I'm thinking how miserable I'd be.

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I think that's my problem. I don't want to go to WDW. Not one thing about it appeals to me. If I'm going to spend 6k on a vacation I would at least like to enjoy myself. I would really like to go to Yellowstone, or go skiing with the family. I would enjoy both of those trips. However, as I said earlier, I'm probably just being selfish and need to suck it up.

What needs to be determined......


What are the dates you are looking at going to WDW?
Are you flying or driving?
What on-site hotel are you wanting to stay at?
What are the ages of your children? Boys or girls?
Will you be park hopping?
When it comes to dining......you need to determine how many meals you will be eating at the park (and if they are fast food or sit down).

We usually average around $5,000 total for a full week at WDW. This includes flights, tickets, hotel, meals, and extras. We eat breakfast in the hotel room (food sent to our room from Amazon), eat a quick service meal for lunch, and a sit down dinner (or vice versa). This has worked out well on all of our trips.

The most important thing is what dates you will be attending. The crowds can jump quite a bit when school is out.

Thank God my 7 year old is scared of mascots and my wife isn't in to Disney crap.

What I DO want my daughter to experience though is the Universal Studios/MGM/Epcot stuff. Lots to be learned there.

I just want to add a few additional thoughts about traveling with kids in general - keep in mind, I do love a trip to Disney, but we have been to many other destinations and still want to go to many more. And I totally get not wanting to spend thousands of dollars on a vacation you hate - this is why we don't go skiing or camping. I don't even know how to ski, hate the cold weather, and have a bit of an obsession staying at unique/fancy hotels (and even if it's not a fancy hotel, sleeping in a tent is the equivalent of torture for me).

My son is at the age where we pretty much have to travel during the summer/school breaks (he's old enough that missing a week of school is just too much of a PITA). This automatically makes travel ANYWHERE both crowded and more expensive. Most of our trips have been in early June - when many schools around the country are still in session - and crowds are still ridiculous.

Is Disney crowded for much of the year/during popular vacation times? Most definitely - YES. But, in my opinion, it's no more crowded than any of the other destinations we have visited. Germany, Italy, Hawaii, NYC, and the Grand Canyon were all crowded when we visited. We even drove up to Page, AZ during our Grand Canyon trip (if you've been there, it's kind of the middle of nowhere) to do a rafting trip at the Glen Canyon Dam. We pulled up to the one decent hotel in town only to have a huge tour bus full of foreign tourists pull up right behind us. The breakfast buffet the next morning was a disaster like none I've ever seen. And the Grand Canyon itself was packed with people - even finding a spot to watch the sunset was a challenge. One of the hotels we stayed at in Maui this past June was so packed that finding even two adjacent lounge chairs at the pool was practically impossible. Popular attractions in Europe (Neuschwanstein, the Vatican, the Colosseum, and the entire city of Florence) are elbow-to-elbow packed in the summer months. After 5 days in NYC last November, I was totally over the traffic and subways and icky "street" smell that had permeated everything we owned. Not to mention it was unbelievably cold and windy (and it even snowed!).

But, every one of those trips above was an amazing experience for both myself and my son. I could focus on the negative, but none of it mattered, because those were all places we wanted to see with attractions that we wanted to visit. I can't name a single vacation where, at times, I have not been overwhelmed by the crowds. And, as I said above, traveling anywhere popular and doing the "fun" stuff there is going to be expensive. But I've come to expect those things, so they don't diminish the experience for me.

The thing about Disney is, you don't have to spend the entire time waiting in hours-long lines (I've spent way more time waiting in lines at non-Disney tourist attractions). You don't have to stand in the heat waiting so your kid can shake hands with a teenager dressed up in a mouse costume or fight over expensive-but-mediocre buffet food at a character meal. Just like any popular vacation destination, there is so much to do that you really can control your experience. And while you will know you are at Disney, some of the best attractions aren't even based on a Disney movie (or the attraction has since become a Disney movie) - Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, pretty much everything at Animal Kingdom Park, etc. Heck, you can even camp at Disney World - I've heard great things about the Fort Wilderness Campground there!

I'll be honest - vacations with my son aren't what I would call "relaxing" vacations, regardless of where we go. In an effort to maximize our time at each destination, our days are typically scheduled with back-to-back activities (which is what we enjoy).

As far as prices go, if you want to stay on-site, you're pretty much locked into their hotel prices, which are high. But, if you look just at tickets, a 7 day child's ticket to a single park is $410 (before tax, $485 if you add the park hopper option); that's $59 a day for an entire theme park's worth of rides, entertainment, and activities. I have yet to find another vacation destination where you can experience so much for that low of a price. The cheapest activity we did in Hawaii was rent a two-person kayak, and that was about $89 for the day. Zip-lining was $169 per person (for a 3-4 hour experience). The cheapest attraction we visited in NYC was the USS Intrepid Museum, and it is $33 for adults and $24 for kids to just get in the door (I spent a little more to do a guided tour, and we were done by lunch time).

Anyway, I've made my point. And I'm only sharing because traveling with my son the past few years has really opened my eyes to what it takes in time, effort, and resources to visit popular vacation destinations (not just Disney).

...just want to say I share your thoughts. However, I love skiiing in Breckenridge, CO, but we have not taken our kids yet. That is quite the cost!

lil99chris said:

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...just want to say I share your thoughts. However, I love skiiing in Breckenridge, CO, but we have not taken our kids yet. That is quite the cost!

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Just an FYI...I've taken my daughter to Santa Fe a couple times and it's a lot cheaper. Lift tix are around $60 for kids (and grownups too if you get a 6 day package and split it up) and there are cheap hotels in the city as well as restaurants.

Breck is way better but still, but kids can still have a great time in the snow for cheaper.

It's about $1000 a day for (4) people if you drive and stay on property with a meal plan.

A Disney vacation requires extensive planning or you will absolutely not have a good time. Which is why there are so many haters.


We like Wilderness Lodge the best.

We just took our kids to Disney for the 5th time in August. We always stay onsite because of the extra magic hours at the parks. My kids are 10 and 13 so according to disney they are both adult tickets and adult menu prices for character meals or special meals. This last time for accommodations at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness for 7 nights and tickets for 5 days in the park was $3400.

We have stayed at All Star sports, Polynesian, Beach Club, Orleans Riverside, and The Cabins at Fort Wilderness. All different price levels between those resorts.

In the years we don't go to Disney we take a family trip somewhere else. When I add up everything at the end of a trip like hotel, airfare, food, tickets for places/activities it seems like it always comes out to about $1000 a day for our family of 4. So it doesn't matter if it is Disney, Boston, San Diego, Hawaii, skiing, cruises, etc it always come back to that same number.

You can go on Disneys website and price out vacations without actually booking so you have an idea about prices at different resorts and time of year.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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$1,000 per day for a family of 4 is really high for family vacations unless we are talking international or Hawaii. You guys spend a lot of money on vacations. Are you staying at the Ritz with your kids?

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Not really, depending on what type of activities you like to do.

We did NYC "on the cheap" last Thanksgiving. I rented an Airbnb (which you can't get anymore because the city made short-term apartment rentals illegal), and I think it was $220 a night, not including fees. I think airfare was around $300 per person.

While we were there, we did an all-day guided tour of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island/lower Manhattan and the 9-11 museum, took in a broadway show (The Lion King), did a guided backstage tour of broadway, went up the Empire State Building and to the Top of the Rock, and went to the Intrepid museum. The all-day guided tour was around $100 per person, I think the show tickets were around $100-$150 per person, the guided broadway tour was around $80 per person, Top of the Rock and Empire State Building were $30/$50 per person, and the Intrepid was about $30 per person (and I paid extra above that for a guided tour). Add on one or two nice meals per day (we did eat in the room for most breakfasts and a couple of dinners, but you can't go to NYC and not enjoy the food), subway tickets, and Uber to/from the airport, and we easily hit $400-$500 a day for two people. I think the total for the trip was between $2-$2.5k, and that was arriving Saturday and leaving Thursday.

I did a day at Disneyland with my wife and two daughters (4 & 2 at the time). It was fun, and we spent the rest of our vacation at Torrey Pines/San Diego. We'll probably go back for 1-2 days in a year or two.

I know DisneyWorld is bigger, but I can't imagine doing a week there. I'd also never choose to spend time in FL over CA unless it was a beach.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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TXTransplant said:

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SoupNazi2001 said:

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$1,000 per day for a family of 4 is really high for family vacations unless we are talking international or Hawaii. You guys spend a lot of money on vacations. Are you staying at the Ritz with your kids?

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Not really, depending on what type of activities you like to do.

We did NYC "on the cheap" last Thanksgiving. I rented an Airbnb (which you can't get anymore because the city made short-term apartment rentals illegal), and I think it was $220 a night, not including fees. I think airfare was around $300 per person.

While we were there, we did an all-day guided tour of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island/lower Manhattan and the 9-11 museum, took in a broadway show (The Lion King), did a guided backstage tour of broadway, went up the Empire State Building and to the Top of the Rock, and went to the Intrepid museum. The all-day guided tour was around $100 per person, I think the show tickets were around $100-$150 per person, the guided broadway tour was around $80 per person, Top of the Rock and Empire State Building were $30/$50 per person, and the Intrepid was about $30 per person (and I paid extra above that for a guided tour). Add on one or two nice meals per day (we did eat in the room for most breakfasts and a couple of dinners, but you can't go to NYC and not enjoy the food), subway tickets, and Uber to/from the airport, and we easily hit $400-$500 a day for two people. I think the total for the trip was between $2-$2.5k, and that was arriving Saturday and leaving Thursday.

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New York is one of the most expensive cities in the country, not a good comparison. We do lots of trips without a lot of tours or activities. Trips to the beach at a condo where we hang out and maybe snorkel, outdoors trips to a cabin in the mountains with a lot of hiking and enjoying nature. These aren't that expensive. Of course if you only do trips that involve a lot of tours and paid activities and stay at really nice hotels eating out every meal, it is going to be a lot more expensive , but there are other ways to do it and to equate the cost of Disneyworld with most other vacations a family can take is simply false.

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I would argue that to do an true apples-to-apples comparison, you have to compare a vacation to Disney World with one to Hawaii or New York or Europe. Going to those destinations is simply not the same as spending a week at Gulf Shores beaches or hiking in the mountains, simply because the level of activity/entertainment isn't the same. That's not to take away anything from either of those types of vacations, but it's not a Disney (or Hawaii or NYC equivalent). To truly compare, you have to take into consideration activities/shows/entertainment. The bottom line is, popular tourist destinations are expensive. Certainly there are less expensive/more "laid back" places where you can have a great time, but it's not the same type of vacation.

I would say the same about cruises - from a value standpoint, and all-inclusive cruise can be an extremely affordable vacation. But the trade off is you may be stuck on a boat with limited options of things to do (or bad weather or rough seas or whatever) for several days. So, I wouldn't compare that to a popular tourist destination vacation, either.

And as far as nice hotels go, we did not stay on one in NYC. We rented a one bedroom/one bath apartment with a full kitchen for about the same price as the cheapest hotel room. It's difficult to stay anywhere decent at any popular tourist destination for under $200 a night.

We're going to Disney in early March and I'm dreading it. My wife's a doctor that makes 10 times more than what I do as a teacher, so she wears the pants in the family. 8 nights (wtf) at the park, flights for 3, meal plans and fast passes for $16k. My jaw hit the floor when she told me how much this was going to cost. This is going to cost us more than our trip to Napa a few years ago.

You must be staying at grand floridian or similar.

Mustang1 said:

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You must be staying at grand floridian or similar.

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