How do you afford it?

[stevechase]

Hi

I know this has probly been done before, but I was just curious, after reading another thread about what it costs for your families to go to this magical place.

And how do (the ones that can anyway) afford to take a family and stay in the AKL or Boardwalk Villas for 2 weeks.

Last year we went to Cuba, 3 weeks all inclusive, fantastic time, Havana, swim with dolphins the whole nine yards. With excursions and a bit of spending we blew just shy of 5000.00.

The year before we had 2 great weeks in Tunisia all inclusive and again with spending about 4500.00

Only going to Devon this year (no, before you Devonites start, Im not knocking it) so next year we are now booked for POR, 3 weeks in July with tickets and spending for the 5 of us (3 kids, 2 ads) its going to knock a whole in what?, 7500.00 say. Which is a fair crack of cash, It will take us a whole year of my wifes part time job to pay for the hols and tickets and part of the spending. I think we have had a good price on the accom, so I was wandering how the hell does a family of 4 or 5 stay in the really top hotels?

Just being a nosey sod really, but when my wife said to me "since we went to wdw in 2002, including next years trip, our last 5/6 hols will have cost about 26000.00" it makes you wander how we all aford it.

Cheers

Steve, ok I am rambling a bit, but you get the point

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

I won't say what ours is costing but for 2 adults a teenager and child stopping at the SAS Radisson at Manchester the night before flying out, Yacht club for 2 weeks, dining plan, tickets, Cirque, MNSSHP then spending money on top is making a big hole in our pockets. We've been saving up since January 2005 never missing a week paying into our building society account. I've worked an extra job as a lunchtime supervisor at school apart from my hospital cleaning job. Its silly really how much work its going to have taken just for two weeks but my goodness are we going to have the most brilliant holiday. I initially thought it would be our only visit but now I'm thinking about the next time stopping at the Poly, even DH who doesn't like spending money is won over by the sound of it.

 

[stevechase]

Sounds fantastic Wendy, hope you have a great time. I would have loved to stay in the akl but the same hols was coming out at about 8k for hols and tickets + spending.

We want to cruise round the carib ina couple of years but we seem to be forced into 2 rooms casue of the 3 kids and that will sting again.

Steve

 

[Frances999]

Everybody has a different household income and everybody has different priorities. Some spend little on other things to afford more extravagant holidays, whilst others may choose to make their spending fairly equal.

Personally, holidays are very special times for us as DH works overseas or away frequently; so they are a time for us all to be together and we don't restrict our spending. Thanks to DH's extensive travelling we accumulate lots of Virgin Atlantic flying club miles for our gold account, which help towards the flights. We also utilise the Annual Pass and AAA discount codes to reduce the cost of accommodation, and car hire codes to lower the car rental fees.

We want to cruise round the carib ina couple of years but we seem to be forced into 2 rooms casue of the 3 kids and that will sting again.

It's very annoying, isn't it? We have three children and so many hotels have maximum occupancies of four, especially in London and big cities. I just appreciate that WDW has some options for families of five.

 

[wayneg]

Personally I don't know why people stay in top hotels around Orlando. We get in every day at 10-11pm sleep and out again 8am next morning why pay £80-£100 per night to sleep?
We could afford 1 maybe 2 trips a year to Florida in top hotel. Staying offsite from now until Easter we can afford 3 trips to Florida and 1 to California total 58 nights in US. but I have a max of £30/night for hotel.
There is an reverse economy with hotels around Disney area. The more you pay the less you get. Our favourite is Best Western Lakeside £24/night incl tax. free wireless internet, fridge, tea/coffee. probably extras in top hotels.
Anyway back to your point how do we afford it I own a florist business that pays very well, wife works part time which is enough to run the house so all I earn goes on holidays and pensions.
Our next trip is costing £2700 for 25 nights that incl hotel, car, flights and 4 nt caribbean cruise for 3 of us. plus spend

 

[stevechase]

Thats a good price Wayne. We are blowing a lot this time round, cause there are so many other places we want to try, and dare I say it, it we might not go back to Disney after next year, so we wanted to stay on site, plus we did when we just had the girls and it seems fair to do the same now we have Boy.

I dont earn a big wage by any means, its ok, its my wifes part tiem job that covers our extras, like hols and cars. And as you have pointed out some people spend it on other stuff like cars and things. We are not like that we are not outrageous people, but our hols mean a lot to us. I only have to watch the girls being called out into the parade in April 2002, to realise, as the the advert says "To see you girls enjoying their first WDW holiday.......priceless"

Cheers all (i'm filling up again, I cant even watch the video) sad git!
Steve

 

[florida sun]

Im a single mum and I get asked this all the time, how can you afford to keep going back to Florida, well I tell them, I work full time, plus do part time work when I can get it, I save really hard, I dont have a full social life, when I do go out its normally as a special occasion or round to friends houses where little or no money needs to be spent, I buy myself very little throughout the year, my daughter now has a Saturday and Holiday job before she starts college and is also saving every penny she gets for our next holiday. I wouldnt change it for the world as its a precious time for me to spend 2 weeks with my daughter in a relaxing atmosphere without the worrys of normal life.

I know that in the next couple of years, my daughter will move on to wanting to go on holidays with her friends so I am making the most of every year that she is with me and indeed wants to holiday with me.

 

[stevechase]

Thats nice Sue

I have a friend who is divorced (dont worry I am not matching u up ha ha) and he keeps puting off taking his daughter who is now 8 to Disney.

I have told him to just bite the bullet and go, he is very sceptical about it, going on his own with her.

But one day, I know he will regret not going.

Hope you have a great scarey time

Steve

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

The reason we are spending a lot on the hotel is because we do spend a lot of time in it. We're not people out from the crack of dawn till its time to drop, we just would not enjoy that. Will spend a few hours in the mornings in the parks returning for a swim and relax a bit before heading back out for dinner and the fireworks.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We have no social life whatsover, don't drink, don't smoke, don't go out in the evenings, little bit of shopping and my Liverpool season ticket are our only interests outside Joshua - who takes up a lot of our time.

Hence a holiday is something to look forward to, we can afford to go each year but do find the escalating summer prices mean it costs more each year.
Although to be fair when he was younger we did have a few holidays that were bargains by Florida standards.

We both work full time....to be honest with Joshua being Autistic we don't know what the future holds for him , so we try and get to Orlando every year so that we can have good holidays and a good time whilst he is still fairly young.

Apologies for the frequent use of the words Joshua or Josh on my posts - just cannot be avoided sometimes

 

[Kevin Stringer]

Everybody has a different household income and everybody has different priorities. Some spend little on other things to afford more extravagant holidays, whilst others may choose to make their spending fairly equal.

Exactly so Frances. Tam and I both work full time and have a reasonable income between us, but we choose to spend all our free cash on holidays. We live in a 3 bed semi, drive a car which costs less than some people pay to insure their vehicle each year and are not extravagant when it comes to eating out etc.
That's not to say that I don't consider us very lucky. We are in a position to make choices about these things. I'm just trying to point out that many people I know say things like 'You must be rich, going on holiday again' and then drive off in their expensive car to their expensive house.

How do we afford to stay at the Boardwalk for 2 weeks? DVC! After our initial payment (which I now consider long gone) it costs approx £500 in annual dues. 500 quid for 2 weeks in a lovely resort seems like a good deal to me.
Oh yes, booking Virgin flights using Miles Plus Money or Companion flights helps a lot too.

Kev

 

[Kevin Stringer]

We have no social life whatsover, don't drink, don't smoke, don't go out in the evenings, little bit of shopping and my Liverpool season ticket are our only interests outside Joshua - who takes up a lot of our time.

I was with you all the way there Johnny until the 'no drinking' bit!

Kev

 

[shingle]

our holidays mean everything to us from the planning to the actual trip we have friends who go to the pub every weekend and do the same things every week.we dont drink our money away,we save it to take our 2 children to orlando or other wonderfull destinations so they will have treasured memories and experience different cultures.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I was with you all the way there Johnny until the 'no drinking' bit!

Kev

Well I do like the odd drink on holiday, but rarely whilst at home.

 

[Lisash]

Like many of the others DH & I are so busy working throughout the year we have no time for a social life and see our holidays as our only extravagance. Our attitude also changed a few years ago when we lost DH's mother at a relatively early age and we very much 'live for the day' nowadays. We value every second of quality family time we can spend together and can think of no better place than WDW to do just that

 

[gilld]

Like some of the others have said, we spend a lot on holidays, having a cruise or two every year and a long haul holiday as well as a couple of expensive long weekends. DH has an excellent income but works very hard, he has worked as much as 130 hours a week - for the first 10 years or so of our marriage. Even now, 2 years from retirement he still works over 60 hours a week when his compulsary "on call" is considered. I work 10 hours a week which pays for us to upgrade our flights.

We have only had really expensive holidays the last 10 years or so, we had three children to put through University, which cost us going on for £90,000 --over the whole 6 years. And to a much lesser degree we are still supporting them.

We all choose how we spend our money - however much or little there is. We like "nice" accommodation and comfortable flights so that's how we spend some of our money - a lot of it

 

[wayneg]

You got me thinking with this one how much do we actually spend on holidays in a year? wish I hadn't started looking.
7 nts Italy
3 nts Amsterdam
2 nts London
1 Day London
25 nts Florida
8 nts Cali
1 nt London
11 nts Florida
14 nts Florida

Estimate £12,000 for 3 of us plus spend
Maybe we should look at Blackpool next year, maybe not

 

[Girlsontour]

I only work part-time, but DH works a lot of hours including every weekend. When i book Florida, with Virgin, i pay by Direct Debit, so most of my wages go on that. Had a really bad week last week at work and nearly walked out....thinking i don't really need this money....was actually sat in my car and then remembered about Florida and went back in!!!

Like other people have said - rest of my life is spent not drinking or going out (sorry, i do smoke but only duty free!) so we deserve a few good holidays. I can actually remember, not so many years ago when we couldn't afford the kids a famous take-out meal, so you have to make the best of your time and we certainly do that! Off to Ibiza next week!!!

A lot of the girls at work spend, what i spend on the direct debit, in clothes for themselves and named brand clothing for the children.....not me!

 

[Claire L]

You got me thinking with this one how much do we actually spend on holidays in a year? wish I hadn't started looking.
7 nts Italy
3 nts Amsterdam
2 nts London
1 Day London
25 nts Florida
8 nts Cali
1 nt London
11 nts Florida
14 nts Florida

Estimate £12,000 for 3 of us plus spend
Maybe we should look at Blackpool next year, maybe not

Thought my annual leave allowance was good until I looked at yours over 70 days away!!! But glad you enjoy the time off, we would go away more often if we could

Claire

 

[Hilary]

In common with others here, we earn decent money, and over the years have choosen to spend a good portion of it on family holidays we hope our DDs will remember as fondly as we do. Yes, we also have fond memories of camping weekends in the rain in the Lake District, but Florida takes a lot of beating in our opinion.

It doesn't seem long ago (although it was rather longer ago than I care to remember!) that we earned very little and could no more have imagined a foreign holiday than a trip to the moon (not a cue for a Monty Python motorway central reservation sketch! ). Maybe that's helped us to appreciate what we have now, and there still comes a point where I'll stop and say "I'm not paying that much" whether it be for a 5 star hotel room or a pricey ice cream!

Apologies for the frequent use of the words Joshua or Josh on my posts - just cannot be avoided sometimes

I don't think you should be apologising for one moment