Disney Again?!? Sticker Shock
Before I start I feel I have an obligation to to confess the very obvious truth that my family and I are Disney fanatics. You know the people who adorn their home with various Disney decor and random Mickey heads on seemingly common kitchen items, start obnoxious next Disney trip countdowns on Facebook(only 322 days to go), have Disney themed Christmas cards, and regrettably purchased the Frozen soundtrack on iTunes. At one part I even secretly contemplated renaming the dog. So we can pretty much conclude that we are the very definition of Disney fanatics.
So now that I have rambled on for 599 characters, let me get to the the whole reason I sat down to write this. In a recent conversation with a coworker the topic of where we were each going on vacation this year, I mentioned we were going back to Disney again. He gave me a look that was half disgust and half like he was trying to figure out one of those world problems where two trains have to leave different cities at different times and speeds and you are suppose to figure out what time they crash. After he eventually wiped this befuddled look off his face he came out with “Aren’t you tired of going to that place yet?” (7 times in 4 years) to which without a moments hesitation replied “NO”. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why he would think anyone would get tired of going to Disney. Every time we sit down to plan a vacation we come up with all these different destinations but ultimately come up with the unique idea of “we could always just go back to Disney”. His comment through me off a bit so I figured I would level the playing field. I fired back with “well aren’t you tired of going to the beach every year?”. HA! That’ll get him. He replied something to the effect that he likes the beach and just cant justify spending the money that we spend on Disney for his vacations. Our conversation got interrupted by work and I was left unable to defend my beloved Disney.
The conversation got me thinking. I have never looked at Disney as a cheap vacation but I have never looked at it as an overly expensive vacation. Don’t get me wrong the sky can be the limit if you choose with Disney, but that could be said for just about any vacation. But for some reason a lot of people live under this illusion that Disney is expensive. I have several friends that love to take their summer beach trips each year. Personally I think the beach is nice but it’s really not our thing (the sand brings back too many memories of bad golf outings). But to each his own and we all move on our merry little ways arriving at the same bottom line, our bank accounts. No one likes to spend money for sake of spending money (well some people actually do but that is another blog entirely) so we are all out for the mission of making our dollars stretch as far as it can. When I look at a vacation I always look at getting the best value for my money. For a long time I considered a cruise as the best value for my money based on what I am looking for out of a vacation. Three kids later my core value has changed and so is what I look for in a vacation. I now look to build memories I know my family will cherish for a long time so a Disney vacation is what I consider to be the best value for our family. As I stated earlier the sky is the limit if you so choose but it is far from the norm. Tiffany just quoted a family of four $2457 for five days at a moderate resort at Disney World. This includes park tickets and the meal plan. Too me thats a good value considering my beach friends routinely drop $2000-$2500 on a ROOM for a week at the beach. At this point they are into this vacation for $2K and haven’t bought food or drinks, and their primary entertainment is watching water smash into sand. Let us also not forget the added joy of not being able to move for a week due to the lobster sunburn you got from sleeping on a towel for 6 hours a day. Granted I know their are cheaper places to go the beach and not everyone spends that on a beach trip. I am just going with the rates I know my friends are paying. And I am not picking on the beach (ok, I kinda am), just using it as an example. In fact this summer some of our best friends took a weeks vacation to Houston with the family. They did it all, Baseball game, NASA, Aquarium, water park, the works. At the end of their vacation they were able to hang their hat on a $2200 vacation and some good memories (the Astros won!!!). They were able to go to Houston for $257 dollars cheaper than they could have went to Disney for. But the biggest difference in the costs isn’t $200, its sticker shock. A lot of people have a knee jerk reaction to the initial cost of a Disney trip. It’s that sharp pain you feel in you back pocket when someone throws a $2500-$3000 price tag at you. For some reason it hurts less when a vacation robs you slowly rather than all at once. But in the end their is still hole in you wallet no matter how the money came out. I’d personally like to pay it up front and forget it but that’s just me. You can spend it now or spend it later, but either way your vacation is going to cost you.
So now that I have filled you with numbers and analogies it time to compare apples to apples. And for that it just comes down to what you want in a vacation. For some people the beach is heaven. It is their own personal oasis at the edge of the world. So who am I to mess with someone’s happy place. For me it is hard to compare to the magic of a Disney vacation and you will be hard pressed to change my mind otherwise. It is vacation that we start planning the second we get into the car to come home. Maybe its not for everyone it a place that I believe everyone should experience at least once. And for the record I have never left Disney with sunburn.
Nick Poche’
Avid Disney fan, husband to Tiffany, father of three, Brock, Bailey, and Brennan. Lover of travel and blogger for the We Dream of Disney and Beyond Blog.