Anyone else considering passing on WDW this yr?

[sndral]

There is a lot of competition for vacation dollars right now, and much as I enjoy Disney, I'm hesitant about booking this year, anyone else feel this way? My feeling is - I have several thousand vacation dollars that will go somewhere this year - what has disney done to earn it v. others?
Probably just a passing feeling, but wondering if this whole economy thing has affected others in this way.:unsure:

[DizneyRox]

WDW is always on the choping block. I'm looking for value for my vacation dollars. And you're right. I'm seeing a ton of all inclusive commercials, cruise lines are pushing hard, etc. With DVC, I can always bank points for next year, rent them, etc...

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We weren't 100% sure we'd be headed back to Disney, but with the 4/3 deal, we couldn't pass it up.

There are so many places we'd love to go/go back to though...I need more money and more vacation time :thumbsup:

[LauraleeH]

Hahaha! IF, and that's a big if, I had money for a vacation, it would go towards bills. Sadly, I won't be at Disney at all this year.

[jrkcr]

We have this really inexpensive trip to DL next week-2 free hotel rooms using "points" DH has acumulated from travel for work, and free airline tickets aso using frequent flyer points, and adults get in for the kids price. So DHs 40th b-day trip is a great deal!

But after this trip, we won't be going to WDW or DL for a year or two. Hopefully no longer than that, but who knows. I won't be spending my usual amount of Disney vacation money on any vacations. I'd rather pay off my car with the money!

[ibrowse17]

We will not be going to Disney this year, as we want to travel to other places instead. I was very lucky as a child to travel to many places, but my DW never went anywhere. The first time I took her to Disney was a great time for her, as were the ones since. I want her to see so much more, which is the only reason we will not be going to Disney for the near future. It feels strange to not have a trip booked, but we plan to return to the world for Christmas 2010.:thumbsup:

[dmosher]

We thought about it for about 10 minutes then decided against NOT going! IN fact this year we are adding DW to the mix, same amount of time as our usual trips (around 2 weeks) but taking a few days form WDW and going to DL on our way back home (New Zealand). It would take a lot to keep us away and the current economy isn't enough. Plus the more people worry and don't spend $$ the worse the economy gets, so you can thank us from overseas for helping to keep your economy up. We accept written thanks, IOU's and paper and coin donations... no checks please.
:pipes:
D

[DawsonAR]

We usually take a few trips per year. Not this year. We weren't going to take one at all until the "deals" came out. We are now going this year, but only once.

[javamama]

We/dh and I did but not for financial reasons we have a 2.5 year old:fit::cry: so that's why the terrible two's. Dh and I are both scared, but here goes:mickey:

[tinktude]

We skipped the family trip last year, just my DH and I went on a 3 day disney cruise on DVC points.

So we saved for a whole year to do 3 days at WDW, then a 4 day cruise, then back to WDW for 3 more days. Taking our neighbors with us for their first trip to WDW. We are taking care of the hotel by using our points, and they are taking care of the rental cars.

[AHOTE]

Real simple, No Job, no vacation :(

[disneyboundagain]

We/dh and I did but not for financial reasons we have a 2.5 year old:fit::cry: so that's why the terrible two's. Dh and I are both scared, but here goes:mickey:

You'll regret it. Both of our kids have been there every year since they were less than a year old, and BELIEVE me, our kid's are far from being the most behaved.

They may be too young to remeber it, but he/she will still really enjoy it. There are millions of kids there, and you can find one throwing a fit every minute of the day. Its not a big deal, at all. If you have the means, IMO, you should definately go.

[vizsla]

DW and I talk about it every night. It is looking like we will be putting of our yearly trip this year for the first time ever. The problem is airline rates for us. We cannot find affordable airfare even if we travel to the bigger cities for a flight.

[Dsnygirl]

We have been looking forward to taking our girls this upcoming October since October '07, but as we did get to take them this past December, we're having a tougher time justifying another "close" trip with the economy being what it is, and knowing there are so many more things we could do with our Disney dollars, even if they put out a killer deal. It's just not worth it, with airfare being what it is, to go for a short trip... and even a 7 day trip with either free dining or AP rates would run us about $2500, and that's w/o souveneirs. :blush: So, we'll see... but as hard as it is for me to believe, I do think we may be pushing our trip out a bit, maybe even a long bit. :(

[BugeyedMuggy]

DW and I talk about it every night. It is looking like we will be putting of our yearly trip this year for the first time ever. The problem is airline rates for us. We cannot find affordable airfare even if we travel to the bigger cities for a flight.

I dont know how far White Plains, New York is for you but you could get a direct flight on Jet Blue for $70 each way.

[Diznee4Me]

The DD starts college this fall so the DW and I are thinking of doing a shorter trip together - more adult oriented fun. Cirque, segway, maybe a few fancy :D restaurants, no park hopper. Just get away for a few days but still get our Disney fix. Trying to go on the cheap.:thumbsup:

[TheMartellFamily]

We have too. Even though we have friends that want us to go with them. New job, unknown future for others. We can just not do it this year. Maybe we will scrimp and save for a trip next year. I think that is a better idea than going this year and have to pay for it on credit.

[BMan62]

"She who must be obeyed" decided that this year, our vacation trip was to be a cruise. Of course, shortly after saying that, she found a 3-night DVC stay being offered on eBay for less than the cost of one nights stay, so we ended up going the first week of January for just the three nights.

Out next Disney trip will, unfortunately, probably be September of 2010.

[RedSoxFan]

We were not planning on going back to WDW this year. But DH mentioned over the weekend that he wants to go back in October. We won't make any definite decisions for a couple of months as I am still waiting for the school calendar to come out for next year. Plus we're going to Baltimore for 4 days to see the Red Sox in June. And having 2 boys in college is a big expense.

[Ian]

Having just come back from a weeklong cruise that was one of the best vacations I've ever had, WDW's failings are even more apparent to me than they've ever been.

We have two trips to WDW planned for this year ... one in September that we basically had to take because we got incentive DVC points for buying into BLT. They have to be used by 10-1-2009, so we had no choice but to go then.

And then we have a Christmas trip planned, but we are seriously considering cancelling that trip and replacing it with a cruise instead. I'm going to look into the possibility of trading some of our DVC points for a cruise.

We will most likely never have a year in which we don't go at all (barring financial disaster), because the kids love it. But I can almost guarantee that the days of us going 3 or 4 times in one year are over.

We just don't feel like we're getting value for our money. The constant cuts, cuts, cuts, compounded by the lack of any good new attractions means that our money will be spent elsewhere until Disney wakes up and earns us back as guests.

[divinedi]

We just got back on Feb. 3, and to be honest, I'm not that anxious to go back. While we had an okay time, it wasn't the greatest:(. The weather wasn't that great, but that for sure isn't Disney's fault, but when you go from the freezing north to Florida to get warm and it's cold there, it makes you question spending the money. The other is the crowds at Disney these days. I honestly appreciate that Disney is a business and they are hurting too, and are therefore trying to promote more business during their quiet times, but that's when we like to go. And I wouldn't even necessarily mind the crowds, but it just seems to me that people are just getting more and more impatient, and rude in their impatience:mad:. The amount of rude, shovey (sp?) people has increased tremendously(I've spent my money and I'm going to get every penny's worth, don't care if anybody else has a good time!!), and I don't care to spend that much money to experience something that I can get at the local mall for free.

[Tick-Tock]

But I can almost guarantee that the days of us going 3 or 4 times in one year are over.

We just don't feel like we're getting value for our money. The constant cuts, cuts, cuts, compounded by the lack of any good new attractions means that our money will be spent elsewhere until Disney wakes up and earns us back as guests.

:ditto:

We only went once last year, and that was just because we had friends going. I don't see us going back this year. There isn't enough to draw us back (especially when I read posts about multiple attractions in different parks breaking down on the same day). I'm just not feeling that the experience is worth the money. We have a lot of other places we want to go that also are offering great deals this year to get us there.

[eandrsmom]

We went twice last year, but we're not going back until 2010. With the uncertainty of the economy, we don't feel like it would be wise to spend a bunch of money on a vacation. A big condo at the beach will cost us MUCH less than a Disney vacation.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

We aren't going this year. We are doing a cruise out of Boston instead. I didn't have any passes left and it would have cost a lot more to do WDW instead of the all (basically) inclusive cruise. But we are already discussing going back next year. I want to buy an annual pass and get two trips out of it. We'll see what life and the economy brings.

[Tink#64]

Regretably we're not going back this year either. :( But we went last year so that will have to hold us for awhile. I had origanally booked the 4/3 deal back in December when I thought it was a more limited time offer, with both DH & myself knowing that it was going to be a big "If possible", but I was so sad when I called & cancelled the ressie this week. :( After figuring our tax returns, lots of new twists in that scenario this year including some unemployment for DH from lat year, and after seeing the numbers we decided it's just not the right thing for us to do, financially speaking that is. Instead we're taking DS's for a beach vacation & I know that we'll have a great time, spend about half as much, but in the end we always miss WDW the years that we don't visit. :( But I told DS's that we'll go back ASAP and that WDW isn't going anywhere! It'll be there when we're ready to go back. :)

[Magic Smiles]

We won't be going to WDW this year, but not because of the economy. DH is bugging to go back, but I have planned a trip out to the west coast. Since I do all of the research and bookings, I guess he will go where I book. :blush: 2 1/2 weeks to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Disneyland. I love WDW, but want to start to see other parts of the world, even if it is only another Disney park. After this trip the next Disney park on my agenda is Disney Paris! WDW should have something new by then, so we will look at WDW after that.

[dtootsie42]

We have a trip planned but are concern about the air fare from Seattle. I watch every day but the fares are still pretty high. Of course we are not going till December so hoping that they will start coming down.

We've been saving since our last trip because we decided that this will be the last trip for a while. Come January of 2010 we will have three in college and just count justify the cost.

This time around we were not going to do Concierge but our girls each have devoted a portion of their paychecks to the trip because they really wanted to do concierge once again.

Dec. 1997---Contemporary
Dec. 1999--Poly
June 2000--Disneyland
Dec. 2001---Poly Concierge
Dec. 2003---Poly Concierge
Dec. 2005---Poly Concierge
Nov. 2007---Poly Concierge
Oct. 2008--DisneyLand
Next trip Dec. 2009--Poly Concierge

[princessjojo]

Our family would love to go this year, but I don't honestly see it happening. We were forutnate to have the opportunity to go twice last year, thanks to DVC & AP's, but we borrowed points last year for a larger villa and kinda stuck ourselves so oh well. With so much to do in our area of the country that is much less expensive, it's not even an option. I would love to go, but financially even if we could, I don't know if we would go. We'll just save up and plan for a great 10 day trip next year. Something to look forward to...

[Cinderelley]

We won't be going this year, but it isn't due to the economy. I am not happy with the changes they've made. So, we're heading to Alaska on a cruise. It certainly isn't cheaper, but I'm sure we'll have a great time!!!
DH does want to have his family reunion trip there next June, but I'm having trouble getting excited while planning. They've taken away so many favorites that we like to do, I don't even know what to plan now. I just console myself with the thought that he'll love seeing the look in his grandkids' eyes no matter what we do.

[kemps@wdw]

We're still debating. We really want to go down this year for our 30th wedding anniversary. (we went for our honeymoon, our 10th, and our 25th, and 15 trips total). However, on our last trip, we had our laptop stolen out of the "secured" luggage storage area by a WDW CM, and was pretty well blown off by the rest of the staff. So, we'll have to think long and hard before we decide to go again. Not to mention, tighter finances. If we could find a great discount package, it would definitely help our decision!

[d_m_n_n]

We are going this year, but only because we are getting the resort for free and the park passes were our Christmas presents. DH told me last time we weren't going back until we had grandchildren and I think it will be tough to get him there. But, honestly, as much as I LOVE WDW I *think* I am ok with it. There are so many other places I want to take DSs to see. I may have a change of heart after our trip, but I've decided to make this one the best ever so it will hopefully hold us over for a while.

[Hull-onian]

We couldn't stay away. We need some fine dining please. We are looking forward to our trip this spring. Can't wait. No recession here yet. We just :spend: it.

[Mickey91]

We might have to :(. I am already having withdrawal symptoms!

[hokies4life]

We originally weren't going to go which would make 2 years since I've been down there. But then BF got a confrence opportunity down in Orlando, so we'll be going in a couple weeks. Then when we priced it out with his gov't discounts and staying offsite, we could do another trip at a (somewhat) less busier time and still afford it by staying offsite and not doing many TS on property.

I'm excited though, because I'm hoping to get him in the mindset that its much easier to stay on property for our later trips. So hopefully this is the start of something for later years.

:chipdale:

[Nini5055]

Hmmmm...as a single mom, WDW is one of the few places I feel most comfortable travelling with my dd7 (high functioning autistic). That said, I have been taking her since she turned 5...actually she turned 5 while at WDW!!! It is now our "special trip" to go to WDW and I save like a mad person all year long to do so. I book packages directly with WDW when one comes out that suits us...last year it was Free Dining...this year 7 for 4 deal. I book airfare on SW and now (due to price decreases) have a $180 credit towards future airfare. I have my eyes peeled for a short weekend trip somewhere...not sure if it will be WDW or not.

I'm not sure why or how...but we are even staying at the GF (always stayed value w/dd). So I guess I am doing my part to boost the economy????:blush:

[AllDisney]

We have planned for our December 2009 trip for 5 years. We are going with very good friends (actually they are more family than friends). They wanted to go when WDW is all decked out in Christmas decorations and the weather isn't hot & humid. Plus, they want to make sure their daughter is all settled into college before heading to Florida.

I LOVE going to WDW because when I get there I leave the outside world behind and that is good for body & soul:thumbsup:

[texasteacher]

I save and go every other year. As long as I have a job and my health, I will continue to do it! I drive from Texas.