TOTALLY GEEKED!

Yeah, Disney its so unreasonable. For DD and I it just isn't worth it. The only park we like is Animal Kingdom, but how many times does one want to keep seeing the same old?

I don't know.

It's crazy.

I love Disney World.

They really make it hard for an average family to go.

When we went 6 years ago it costs us $10K, including the hotel (not including airfare) which was in Bonnet Creek, not in the resort but had a shuttle to/from. And the boys didn't care for the parks...live and learn.

How many people, DE? This was for the four of us.

Saying $12,000 seemed pricey was due to only having tickets for 4 days and not being on the dining plan.

I guess if one is not a big fan of amusement parks and such it is hard to justify the cost.

My trip to Ireland cost a lot with airfare and food and a few night hotel. I my Bro hadn't rented out the entire castle and paid for it, the cost would have been so much more but worth it, since that is my kind of vaca.

For next year I want to plan a great vaca going either to the Grand Canyon or a really nice resort on an Island I've never been. Paying $2K if including airfare I would consider a great deal.

Domestic Engineer wrote:

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The best thing about Disney it is a whole week that my DD and I spend together. We are smart enough to realize that we need to have separate rooms to keep from killing each other. I’m an early morning person, she’s not. 😂

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   That is me any both kids.  And I like my own room!

Well, we did it and have no plans to return. There just isn't the interest in our household which is fine by me. I'd rather do vacations like IKWTDS. Ireland sounded wonderful! We leave for our cruise in a couple weeks. Boston, Maine, Canada. It will be the first for the boys and they are pretty excited. We have excursions booked....Acadia National Park, Kennebunkport tour and cruise, St. John's highlights tour, marine wildlife tour with lobstering and lighthouses, etc.

It's not cheap either, but at least we won't be fighting crowds and waiting in line in the heat. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it as a kid and wished the boys enjoyed it as much as I did, but they don't and I'm not going to spend thousands to hear them complain and ask to go back to the hotel pool.

Don't get me wrong, I would go to Disney right now if I could.

I was simply surprised at the increase.

I still think Disney is a great place to vacation.

I could go, stay in a nice resort, and never visit a park. There's so much to do at the resorts, and other Disney areas, the parks are not necessarily the biggest draw.

I also love the service at the resorts. You need something, they can usually get it for you. They are great with those with special needs, too.

 

I know what to do_sometimes wrote:

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FNW wrote:

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Well, we did it and have no plans to return. There just isn't the interest in our household which is fine by me. I'd rather do vacations like IKWTDS. Ireland sounded wonderful! We leave for our cruise in a couple weeks. Boston, Maine, Canada. It will be the first for the boys and they are pretty excited. We have excursions booked....Acadia National Park, Kennebunkport tour and cruise, St. John's highlights tour, marine wildlife tour with lobstering and lighthouses, etc.

It's not cheap either, but at least we won't be fighting crowds and waiting in line in the heat. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it as a kid and wished the boys enjoyed it as much as I did, but they don't and I'm not going to spend thousands to hear them complain and ask to go back to the hotel pool.

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 That is my type of vaca.  You are very lucky your kids are on board with it, pun intended.

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 I know, at age 11, I'm not sure how many more vacations they will enjoy with their parents.   Then again, we do try to take vacations with them in mind as well.  

FNW wrote:

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I know what to do_sometimes wrote:

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FNW wrote:

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Well, we did it and have no plans to return. There just isn't the interest in our household which is fine by me. I'd rather do vacations like IKWTDS. Ireland sounded wonderful! We leave for our cruise in a couple weeks. Boston, Maine, Canada. It will be the first for the boys and they are pretty excited. We have excursions booked....Acadia National Park, Kennebunkport tour and cruise, St. John's highlights tour, marine wildlife tour with lobstering and lighthouses, etc.

It's not cheap either, but at least we won't be fighting crowds and waiting in line in the heat. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it as a kid and wished the boys enjoyed it as much as I did, but they don't and I'm not going to spend thousands to hear them complain and ask to go back to the hotel pool.

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 That is my type of vaca.  You are very lucky your kids are on board with it, pun intended.

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 I know, at age 11, I'm not sure how many more vacations they will enjoy with their parents.   Then again, we do try to take vacations with them in mind as well.  

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 My kids still enjoy vacationing with me.

The last trip we went on was probably our best yet.

 

I think the key to everyone enjoying time together, no matter if you are on vacation or in the backyard, is respect.

That, and remembering their age.

I have truly enjoyed every second of my kids growing up. Even the tough times.

There were things I really wanted to share with them. 

Like Disney World, my mom started talking about going to Disney when Caitlyn was 5, but my boys were only 3 and 1. No way they would remember it, nor would they be able to do very much. And someone would have had to take care of them while others rode things. I wanted to wait till they met all the ride height requirements. 

Meantime, I took them to smaller parks. Luckily we have a great, small, family amusement park just about 25 minutes from us. You can ride everything in the park in about 2 hours, and that's with wait times. It's great.

 

And on trips, I always gave them some control. They each got a day of choosing where we ate, and what we did. Yes, that meant we had McDonald's a couple times, but it was vacation.

As they got older, their choices changed.

I don't know. I know I've been blessed. 

I would keep checking and watching for deals. That seems really high. We went last fall and it was about $5000 total. 2 adults, 2 kids, 8 days (6 days of park tickets) budget hotel. Mid level dining package, Mickey's Halloween party, bippity boppity boutique. I didn't think that price was bad for being almost all inclusive.

That included our airfare, but we drove to Denver and flew out from there, so it was much less expensive than it would have otherwise been.

The boys have a voice when it comes to our trips, too. We're actually doing this one because they wanted to go some place where the weather was cooler. They enjoyed the parks last year, but it began and ended in cities with really hot weather (Vegas, St. George UT). And they have seen Royal Caribbean commercials and thought a cruise looked like fun so.....

Sadly we had to cancel our trip to Cancun we had planned for November. With their new school comes a new schedule and they would miss too much. We lost our $800 deposit but school is more important...

lilyofcourse wrote:

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NOAW, first, hey, girl, hey! How's every little thing?
Second, I think a lot of why it was higher is the moderate resort, and the handicap accessibility needs.

But, yeah, I'm going to keep shopping.

Lindley, I loved the Space and Rocket museum in Huntsville, and Kennedy Space center in Florida. But my kids were not impressed with the one in Huntsville, so I never took them to the one in Florida. 

 

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 I would love to visit both Kennedy and Huntsville someday.

Loved Kennedy space center. Bonus was staying on Cocoa beach! Love that place!

-- Edited by Southern_Belle on Saturday 3rd of August 2019 09:52:20 PM

Yeah, Kennedy is great.

IKWTDS, I've done the same thing.

I just priced out 2 kids 2 adults for 4 nights and 4 days tickets with "free" dining, and it was $5000.

Tignanello wrote:

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Yikes - that's a lot of deposit to lose! I'm so sorry. I've bought extra travel insurance for my trip to Indonesia because I feel like any little thing could go wrong and I'd have to pay for everything.

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 Travel insurance is a rip off.  It would have cost us nearly that much for it anyway.

Thanks, one of our excursions includes a trip there! I'll look for you....ehehe

I like Alisson's REstaurant and The Clam Shack!

FNW wrote:

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I hope my kids will always enjoy our family vacations. My mom thinks they will, given the kinds of trips we take. We'll see....

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  Even though my kids has families of their ow, they still like to take vacations with us.  I’m sure yours will too

Tignanello wrote:

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FNW wrote:

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Tignanello wrote:

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Yikes - that's a lot of deposit to lose! I'm so sorry. I've bought extra travel insurance for my trip to Indonesia because I feel like any little thing could go wrong and I'd have to pay for everything.

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 Travel insurance is a rip off.  It would have cost us nearly that much for it anyway.

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 I've been burned enough.  Especially when going through customs or other points of entry.  Not taking any chances.  The last time I took a vacation out of North America I was still using a film camera.

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  We had travel insurance for our trip to Hawaii, just a couple of days before we left had to cancel because my dad was dying, was able to reschedule to a later time.