This would be torture for many of you...

Got home last night from a 16 day vacation in Disney World. Yes, my wallet is significantly lighter, but my kids have life long memories that are priceless. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it as much as the kids do. This was our 4th trip there with them in the past 7 years. Now that we moved to GA, it's close enough to drive in one day, making it less expensive than it used to be. While we were there, we converted our tickets to an annual pass. So we'll be spending all the major holidays there over the next 12 months. I can't wait to see it during the Xmas season. Not to mention not having it be 95 degrees and 95% humidity, that can really take it's toll. Got my daughter, who used to be afraid of the kiddie roller coasters, to ride a coaster that flips 3 times (Aerosmith)...and she giggled the whole time even though she was digging her finger nails into my arm. Awesome stuff. Sure, there are other places my wife and I want to vacation at, but with 3 young kids who go ape E36 M3 over Disney, it's money well spent.

We never stay on property, we always rent a condo/townhouse. It just works out better for us. We pack our lunches, and often go "home" for dinner. Plus it's nice to have room to spread out. I understand why people stay on Disney property, but it wouldn't work for us.

I know all you haters are really just jealous...

My wife wants to take the boy while it would still be magical to him so bad. Unfortunately the money keeps getting less and less so it's unlikely to happen.

SWMBO and I plan on doing something like that when the grandkids are older. Currently 3, 4 & 5 years old so have a couple years. Never able to do something like that when our daughters were young.

Klayfish wrote: I know all you haters are really just jealous...

Not hatin', but still jelly.

I can't imagine 16 days, but I don't hate. It's great for kids of all ages. Been before, will go again

Not hating, glad you had a good time. Would be torture for me though

I love amusment parks. I hate lines.

mtn wrote: Not hating, glad you had a good time. Would be torture for me though I love amusment parks. I hate lines.

This ^^

I've been with the "magical age" kids. 16 days of it sounds like it violates Geneva Convention rules for land warfare. Glad you had fun.

Been there done it and it was good for once. So were the theme parks. Me? I am a coaster junky even at 56 years old, so Bush gardens is the only one that gets repeat business.

Never went to Dizzyland or World, but this airplane obsessed kid was taken to Oshkosh for years. By my mom!

I have no regrets. And years of memories. I'm sure your family feels the same.

KyAllroad wrote:

mtn wrote: Not hating, glad you had a good time. Would be torture for me though I love amusment parks. I hate lines.

This ^^ I've been with the "magical age" kids. 16 days of it sounds like it violates Geneva Convention rules for land warfare. Glad you had fun.

Actually, that was one of the positives of being there so long. We were in no rush to try to cram everything in. We did things at our own pace and took our time (sort of). Lines are manageable if you know what you're doing. They have a "fastpass" system which lets you reserve a time to get right on the ride. It's great.

If you're waiting in less than 2 lines (holding one fast pass, waiting in one standby) and you're trying to see everything, you're doing it wrong.

16 days sounds like cruel and unusual punishment until you realize that everyone, especially the kids, are better off if you take your time and enjoy everything instead of waiting in lines all day. There's more to do at the parks than ride the rides.

i would kill myself. the brother in law works at universal and is a disney freak and lives at amusement parks. they do not amuse me, they make me hate people even more than i already do.

Klayfish wrote: Yes, my wallet is significantly lighter... memories that are priceless.

So what exactly was in your wallet then?

Apis Mellifera wrote:

Klayfish wrote: Yes, my wallet is significantly lighter... memories that are priceless.

So what exactly was in your wallet then?

16 days at disney? about 10 grand worth of memories

Yep, we had a blast when we went. We did it for 10 days.

I'd be perfectly willing to go again. Now that the boy child is older, I'd expand it to MGM studios, or whatever it's called.

patgizz wrote:

Apis Mellifera wrote:

Klayfish wrote: Yes, my wallet is significantly lighter... memories that are priceless.

So what exactly was in your wallet then?

16 days at disney? about 10 grand worth of memories

Melted credit cards.

Actually, we do Disney cheaper than most people do. The ticket prices are what they are, there aren't a whole lot of huge discounts available if you aren't a Florida resident. The longer you stay, the less per day cost. So it's more of a "value" to stay longer. That's why we decided to get a season pass. When we did the math, we'd be able to visit often enough to make it worth the cost. Outside of ticket costs, things we do to keep costs down:
Rent a condo instead of staying on property. Besides all the benefits of having a 3 bedroom house, the condo is cheaper. We paid $650/week, which is less than most hotels there...unless you stay at the rent-by-hour motels.

Pack our food. We're health nuts anyway, so we'd pack regardless of cost. But it's much cheaper than eating in the parks.

Limit buying toys/crap in the parks. We let the kids buy a few things in the parks, but mostly small stuff (pins, small stuffed animals). There are a ton of gift shops outside of Disney with lots of the same stuff for 1/2 price.

Disney will never be a cheap trip, but there are things you can do to not make it a budget buster.

I would LOVE to take the family there for 16 days!

Besides the wallet drain, the only drawback would be re-adjusting to reality. We went for 6 nights, 5 days and stayed at Coronado Springs, on site with fast passes, meal plan, yada, yada. I didn't want to leave.

My son was a few weeks away from turning 7 and my daughter was just over a month away from turning 8. If I made enough money we would go at least every year.

Wife actually drained the wallet harder than the kid. She wanted all the pictures. That actually added up to a good bit of money.

We stayed on site, in the cheapest of places. All star resort as I recall. Price was comparable to a cheapie local hotel. Being on site made travel via their busses super easy and wonderful. The car sat and never moved as a result, and I was very happy for it. For ease of travelling the park, the niceness of the room, and the magic hours in the morning and evening, I'd highly recommend staying on Disney proper.

Food wasn't bad expense wise. We breakfasted in our room on the cereal and such that we brought. Nearly zero breakfast cost. Dinner was wherever, and was almost invariably a wonderful experience. We did have a few set places, but mostly we winged it, very easily and not particularly expensively. Lunch was snacked on the fly, as was drinking water. It was hot, so we drank and snacked generally pretty lightly. Food, all in all, was not the expense I expected. That said, we started waddling by the 3rd or 4th day, and never experienced hunger the entire time we were there.

We drove/auto trained down, which meant we carried a tremendous quantity of stuff compared to flying. So no laundry issues, etc. Rooms and amenities were just fine with all this stuff.

Apis Mellifera wrote:

Klayfish wrote: Yes, my wallet is significantly lighter... memories that are priceless.

So what exactly was in your wallet then?

Drugs. Lots of drugs.

16 days is... A lot. Slightly over the top. I'd be bored.

I don't think I could even stand to spend more than 2 days at a theme park with good rides, which Disney World is not. For an adult, a Disney World visit just has one-time novelty value IMO.

Last week me and some cousins went to Wonderland, a wealthy cousin bought us all fast-passes and we blew through nearly all the interesting rides in about 6 hours, including double-riding a few of them.

We've done the Disney thing a few times with the kids. They want to go again so we're planning on heading down in May for ten days or so. Our "kids" will be 22 and 19 by then. We'll likely stay in the resort and do the meal plan again. We understand what Disney World is but we embrace the suspension of reality just enjoy the experience.

Our kids are well travelled and they've been all over Europe but something about Disney draws us back.