I am very sad

[CJDDS]

There are plenty of other places to go for much less money than Disney. A couple years ago we went to Pigeon Forge and had a great time for a fraction of what a Disney vacation costs. Look outside the Disney box. They aren't the only game in town.

[buzznwoodysmom]

There are plenty of other places to go for much less money than Disney. A couple years ago we went to Pigeon Forge and had a great time for a fraction of what a Disney vacation costs. Look outside the Disney box. They aren't the only game in town.

Wow! Our one and only trip to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area cost us as much as our Disney trips!!!! As a matter of fact lately we have found it hard to vacation anywhere for much less than we spend in Disney.

Heck 3 nights at the beach last weekend ended up running us around $2000! That's crazy when you consider we are currently booked for 7 nights at POR, 4 day tickets, plus free dining Thanksgiving week for just $2800!

[TheVBs]

Love the idea of a Retro Year Celebration! They could have fun with that in so many ways. Actually, I think it would be cool even if they just did it for a few days one year. I am so sorry that you haven't been able to book a trip though. That would be hard for us too. Think of different ways you could save, or alter a trip to make it work. You never know!

We've been "vacation poor" too. We take our trips very seriously (Disney every other year, somewhere else in between). I'm not joking when I say they're vital to our mental health! We had a very rough time at the end of last year/beginning of this year, and I can't tell you what it means to us to know that at the end of summer we'll be visiting family in Montana and getting to see Yellowstone for the first time!

I also agree that we cannot seem to vacation anywhere else for less. We ended up spending more on a trip of just a few days to the Wisconsin Dells than it would have cost us for a WDW trip!! We love visiting new destinations, but we're under no illusion that it will save us any money, and we rarely get more bang for our buck somewhere else.

[disney obsessed]

I find it is a combination of things that limit my ability to go to the world. This is what I have done to make it possible.

Scour the web for airfare. We do not like to drive. We have many times when the kids were young, but i have grown too impatient to be in the car for 14 hrs. We have an airline called allegiant that occasionally has great prices. It flies into sanford and we have to rent a car and we cannot use magical express, but we are in disney. I have opted to stay off site several times over the recent years. It is not my favorite but again, I am at disney. When it comes to park days, we have been fortunate to go to the parks over the years, so we know what we like and what we don't. If I am staying for 4 days I would opt for a two day hopper. We also love to roam the property.

I remember getting 5 day adult park hoppers for 148.00 in the nineties. They say that hind site is twenty twenty vision. I should have bought a bunch of no expiration tickets and kept them for the future.

[Terra]

I find it is a combination of things that limit my ability to go to the world. This is what I have done to make it possible.

Scour the web for airfare. We do not like to drive. We have many times when the kids were young, but i have grown too impatient to be in the car for 14 hrs. We have an airline called allegiant that occasionally has great prices. It flies into sanford and we have to rent a car and we cannot use magical express, but we are in disney. I have opted to stay off site several times over the recent years. It is not my favorite but again, I am at disney. When it comes to park days, we have been fortunate to go to the parks over the years, so we know what we like and what we don't. If I am staying for 4 days I would opt for a two day hopper. We also love to roam the property.

I remember getting 5 day adult park hoppers for 148.00 in the nineties. They say that hind site is twenty twenty vision. I should have bought a bunch of no expiration tickets and kept them for the future.

This is the best advice! To be honest if we lived out of state we'd probably never be able to go in our currently income bracket OR do it like this poster said!

I'm one of the rare ones that agree with you and do believe that it is very expensive [though worth every penny]. Our combined [DH and mine] income yearly is under $35K [which will be bumped by another 10K this coming year with a promotion for me at work!]

Anyway, even living close we still have to budget. I'm so thankful that for Florida Residents we can pay monthly for the passes. And when we go, often I pack drinks/snacks/even lunches for the kiddos since they don't fully appreciate the yummy food yet
When we *do* weekend get away to WDW it is generally off property in one of the many hotels on 192.
When we did our official vacation last year for a week, we had a friend, who worked at Disney, get us the Friends/Family hotel discount so we paid $300 for the whole week at a value and that was great!!!

I love Intercot, lots of great people and great info! I do find that I feel like I'm on the "poorer" end though and sometimes have a hard time grasping when others share opinions and insights.
By the way I see you are new to Intercot so let me say WELCOME!!!!!