To think going to Disney is a ridiculous indulgence?

[thoroughlymodernmummy]

Now, maybe i would feel differently if I could afford to go without completely skunk ring myself but as it stands, we can't and I can't help but think that spending such huge amounts on one holiday is crazy!

We watch Disney and enjoy it, and I'm well aware that it's people's money to spend how they like but I just can't help but think it's a silly wage of money? Anyone agree?

Shit, sorry! Just Sa how my above post looks

Watching this thread with interest, seeing as SIL plans to get married in Clearwater Sep 2017

Hang on- the Paris park is only for children? Are there no rides etc which a 16 yr old boy being dragged along for his sister's birthday would enjoy?

I love disney (hence the user name!). We travel all over the world as well but I'm not ashamed to say next year will be my dd6 third trip to orlando. We love it and can afford it - don't see how it's any different to people loving expensive beach holidays (which totally bore us).

There are rides for 16 year old in Paris. Space mountain, rock N roll roller-coaster. Tower of terror, big thunder mountain all spring to mind.
I have done Orlando and Paris. Paris much more manageable in a few days I really like it and has most of the big rides of Orlando with less walking and cooler weather.

Thank you, newme.

ohdearme - haha, fair enough. Glad you've had such good times, though.

shockers - sorry, I was including teenagers in my description (though I don't think my 13 year old would like the Disney atmosphere any more to be honest). But yes, there are some big rides. Not as many as somewhere like Alton Towers I don't think but that could just be my false memory as I went with a 3 and 7 year old then a few later when they were 7 and 11.

Actually, just seen 2014newme 's post and now not sure I even saw the whole park. Manageable in a few days?? I only went for a day on each visit (in when it opened and out at about 7pm) and it felt like so much more than enough.

LOL @ DL being cheaper than Legoland - legoland costs FA to travel to from anywhere in south of England! We're taking about TOTAL price, shaving a few ££ off a ££££ holiday still makes it a ££££ holiday!!!

You can do DL paris on the cheap, you CANNOT do a USA DL on the cheap - no matter how cheap your accomodation is even the cheapest flights to USA cost a fortune!

Many Brits view of Disney as some sort of magical experience your kids must have is funny though. The Americans we met see it as just another theme park, nice to go but take it or leave it whereas we know people who feel their kids are deprived if they never get to go.

That's exactly it!

I know people who've really over stretched to go because you "have to go when the kids are young, it's once in a lifetime"

It's not compairable to a cruise or a luxury trip because there's no social "thing" that says you have to go on a cruise

sandy you can do Orlando on the cheap if you have family there. A friend of mine took her two young ones when her parents were living there. They were visiting anyway. It's a pity her two were preschoolers at the time! I don't think they appreciated it much.

And FYI there is also a Disneyland in California. That's the one I have been to in the US. They are also in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Paris and Orlando aren't the only Disneylands.

There are some weird assumptions on this thread, like that it's either Disney or a beach, with no other types of holiday possible, or that you somehow 'owe' it to your children to go at least once, which I think is completely ridiculous. DS has a lovely life, and holidays are as much about his parents recharging their batteries/seeing somewhere they want to go, rather than all about him getting a treat. I'm sure he'd have a blast, but we certainly wouldn't, so won't be going to any of the Disney parks. Someone I met recently was absolutely incredulous that we've spent a lot of time in Paris without ever going to the Disney park there, but it had genuinely never occurred to me to.

I just didn't "get" Orlando. Maybe I haven't got the schmaltz gene. I enjoyed the Halloween Horror night, which was very well done, but that was about it.

The parks, to me, were like Alton Towers only much hotter. Busch Gardens was possibly the best? And the shows I went to were toe-curlingly, embarrassingly, awful.

I remember being in a restaurant at Universal that was like a fake Italy, complete with fake plastic Vespas. Everyone was ooh-ing and aah-ing about how "authentic" it was, and I couldn't see past the (really) bad food and the plastic surroundings. It was a bit like being in the food court of the Trafford centre at 10x the cost.
I'm no food snob, honestly, but it was dire. (For the rest of the holiday I stuck to Mexican or Caribbean-inspired food which was generally better!)

Then there was Seaworld. I simply shouldn't have gone. Everyone standing up to the national anthem, showing "respect to our servicemen" before watching depressed animals perform in captivity. Argh!

What did I enjoy? Wet and Wild was a good laugh. The rest was fun if you could leave your cynicism at the door and abandon all thought of how much it's costing, but I'm not much good at that.

Also amazed at the number of posters saying it's Orlando or a beach holiday. Have some imagination!

Maybe I haven't got the schmaltz gene

I dont have one either but I still really enjoy Disney.

Re the food - we don't eat there. We have big breakfast at home as well as afternoon tea then come evening we either have dinner at home or we go out to a proper restaurant, not one of the dressed up fast food places. We're all well past the age of 'oh lets just eat anything, it doesn't matter, we're on holiday'.

Sandypantz

The comparison was that for one day at Legoland it would cost me £120 just for tickets, a 9 hour drive and about £200 in petrol plus accomodation.

I had the choice of 10 parks a day for £40 cheaper and you can do more than one in a day if you want to and guarenteed sunshine.

Yes it costs to fly there BUT if you have budgeted and saved or can simply afford it on your income then its not doing anyone else any harm, if its what you want to do its got sod all to do with anyone else how much it costs. I have seen people quoting £1k each for indirect flights ours were £500 each direct!

I dont know anyone who has been 'because I have to go, everyone told me I had to take the kids there' they chose to go. My kids never mentioned it, ever, as they know I have scrimped and saved just to have uk hols last 2 years, I surprised them, they were over the moon!

What's with some people claiming the food at the Orlando Disney to be spectacularly good and others calling it really grim? I mean, I get that people have different food tastes, but it sounds incredibly polarised!

We love Disney - have taken our DC three times and save for 2 years between each trip to be able to afford it. Reckon on £5,000 for a 2 week holiday (usually a villa in Davenport which is amazingly close to the parks) and £1k a week spending money. It's not for everyone, but for us, while we can afford it, it's worth every single penny spent. And the adults enjoy it just as much as the DC.

P.S.Some of the food was crap, most of it was really lovely, (lots of 'burger' type stuff but there were alternatives too) just the same as in UK. Portions were huge, I often just had a bit off the kids plates and didnt order for me so saved money!

We ate out locally some nights or got stuff in to eat in appartment.

In my experience, the food was generally much like you'd get at TGI Fridays, or the higher-end buffet-type restaurants (ie Cosmo, not Taybarns!)
Fine if that's your thing, and it's certainly child-friendly.
So that's probably why opinions on the food are polarised. I generally don't like chain-restauranty food, but these places are so popular that it's clear millions of people do. (I know that makes me sound a food snob, but i'm honestly not. I shop in Lidl!)

Food at the Hard Rock Hotel, for example, was ok - I ate several tacos IIRC - but not a patch on the tacos I had in Mexico that cost a fraction of the amount. At the parks, it's generally mass-produced, middle of the road food to feed a wide audience, on a huge scale, quickly. Which is completely understandable.

Running & spaghetti, I couldn't agree more.

We did dlp in march this year for 1100 for flights to charles de gaule airport, 3 nights in newport beach disney hotel, full dining package and 4 days in the parks, for 3 adults one child (our 17 yo is classed as an adult)

I thought it was a great price and will now look into disney hongkong as never knew they had one until i read this thread and also the park in holland, both sound reasonable.

The only thing tostop me doing disney is the weight gain, put on 9 poundsin 4 days, weall ate so much and loadsa treats like pause gormande were free.

We bought drinks for evening if in the room and non meal times at local shops and we bought our 7 yo a disney present (locally and ebay) to open each day and three outfits to wear, so a disney dress may cost €55 a matalan one which is betted £8-12, they also choose one thing each in thedisney shops.

There are so many ways to save money, it would have cost us 700-900 to stay in other hotels and drive not fly but flying was so easy compared.

We took €500 including the taxis to and from airport and bought home €200.

I love Disney, dh and I went there for our honeymoon, pre kids and loved it. So much to do. Magic Kingdom was for kids, and we just spent a day there, the Epcot centre was fantastic, and was the other wildlife type park and MGM, both suitable for children and adults. There is Universal islands of adventure, as well as Busch Gardens, Cape Canaveral and other attractions. We love it, and are waiting for the kids to get a little bit older and to save, before we go again.

Wow some of you are utter miseries

You can get a private ensuite 3 person room in a hostel for £600

I'm sure you can, but "hostel" doesn't scream holiday to me...

We have done Disney once, and are going back to Orlando next year. first time we stayed in a private villa which was lovely but quite away from everything, next time we're staying in an apartment complex close to the parks, but not owned by Disney.

We are not chucking money away left right and centre when we go to Disney, but if you're going to have that sort of holiday it would be miserable to do it on an absolute shoestring, watching every penny. We did things like taking our own food into parks (Disney fine about this), and soon realised that Walmart had a great selection of souvenirs at a third of the price as in the parks - $8 for a t-shirt, if I remember compared with $25 in Disney. But we did splurge a bit too - and even though it cost a fortune, lunch with Cinderella in the castle is something my daughter will never forget.

But with the best will in the world, doesn't a lot of it just involve queuing for long periods for rides that last a fraction of time of the queueing?

Someone once linked to a site (Dibb?) that gave live queuing times for the various Disney parks and I clicked through for some reason and there were lots of rides with a 45 minute queue...

Spaghetti - yes. I was there in October and it was HOT - so hot I passed out at Busch Gardens. They have cold water sprinklers around to cool people down but, still, there were families queueing for hours in the searing heat and getting v tearful and miserable.