The View from Scopa Towers

Have you seen the recent television commercial aimed at families thinking about going to Walt Disney World?

You know, the mom is at her computer and calls to her husband with, “Honey? Look at this!”
Dad comes over and looks at the screen and asks, “For all of us?”

Then the rest of us are informed that these two were looking at a screen that had information about a vacation package for a Walt Disney World family vacation for (US) $1696....not $1700. but $1696.

Now before you pick up the phone and make that call let’s take a closer look at exactly what this $1696 really means.

According to the WDW site this package includes the following:

• 7 days and 6 nights at a Walt Disney World Value Resort
• The price ($1696) is based on a traveling party made up of two (2) adults, one (1) junior, and one (1) child.
• The quoted price includes a standard room.
• The offer is good between Jan. 11th and Feb 12th, April 19th and May 21st, and Aug. 9th and Dec 17th...all in 2009.
• According to the site the package also includes “Theme park admission to one Park per day.”

For a family who has always dreamed of going to Walt Disney World but never has due to the thought of it being too costly, this does sound appealing and if anything, at least it gets them to say to themselves, “Hmmm, this may be doable.”

So I decided to look at this offer and think about what those first time families need to realize before taking that leap..

Well, we know that you are limited to going only certain times of the year and depending upon the school year (and of course how you feel about taking your children out of school ) you may have even more limitations as to when you can go.

Keep in mind that this package includes a Value resort (All-Stars and Pop Century) and that means different type amenities than you would experience at a Moderate or Deluxe resort.

Then again, if you’ve never been to Walt Disney World or have never stayed at a Walt Disney World resort this may be a moot point.

One key point I’d like to address is the admission media included with the package. The tickets that come with this package offer each person in the travel party the ability to visit one (1) theme park per day. That means if you go to The Magic Kingdom today then that is your theme park for the day. It does not mean you can visit The Magic Kingdom in the morning and then visit Epcot later on to watch Illuminations.

So, if you want the park-hopper option then the price of this package would then go up approximately another $212 dollars.

We are now at $1908...and we have more to cover.

Let’s not forget that not included in this package is the cost of meals for the family. It’s always difficult for me to suggest to those who ask what they may expect to spend on meals at Walt Disney World. Eating habits vary from individual to individual and family to family.

Let’s assume that each member of this four person traveling party enjoys one quick-service meal, one table service meal and one snack per day as defined by the basic Disney Dining Plan.

To try and be as realistic as possible I’m going to attach a price range to each particular meal.
For the quick-service meal I’m thinking about an entree, a beverage, and a dessert and I am assuming the cost would range from $12 to $15 a person. So for the whole traveling party that would amount to between $50 and $60 per day...just for one quick service meal.

Table service meals are quite tricky and the price range can be very wide. I may be under pricing but my estimate would be that for a table service meal the range would be from $25 to $40 per person. This amounts to a range of $100 - $160 per day for one table service meal.

Snacks can also vary. I will apply a range of $2.50 - $5.00 for snacks. This translates to between $10 and $20 per day for snacks.

Let’s add these all up.

We are looking at a range of between $160 and $240 per day for meals for this family of four. For the sake of argument let’s hit a “midpoint” and says the average daily food expense is $200.

Now, in the interest of trying to be as fair as possible let’s say this family replaced their one table-service meal with a second quick-service meal.

Now the daily range falls between $60 and $140 per day or an average of $100 per day.
Now let’s take the two averages...add them together and then divide by two (2) to come up with an “average” average for the cost of feeding a family of four per day at WDW.

The number I come up with is $150.

Now I realize there may be many of you who are looking at this and are saying, “Mike, that is still too high.” Or even some of you that see it as too low. Keep in mind this is an average daily cost and it amounts to about $38 a person. Ironically, that’s about the cost of the Basic Disney Dining Plan. Go figure.

Let’s see...we already added $212 for the park hopper option and now $150 per day for seven (7) days...$900.

So we’ve added $1112 to the original $1696 and we are now at $2808...again...an estimate.
Let’s assume the family is using the free Magical Express benefit. That eliminates rental car/limo costs.

What about souvenirs? Another tough line item to budget. Is $25 per person for souvenirs too little or too much? It’s a toughie ain’t it?

It’s even tougher when you think this is someone’s first WDW vacation. So for the sake of argument let’s say this family agrees to spend somewhere in the range of $100-$200 for souvenirs...that gives each person a shot at a piece of clothing and a trinket. Let’s add $150 to our sub-total....we need to add something.

We are now looking at $2958.

Do I dare even attempt to look at airfare? Nope...not going there. The cost range is too widespread.

Okay...so we are looking at a grand total of $2958 for this family of four to spend 7-days and 6-nights at Walt Disney World in a value resort with park-hopper admission, eating, and of course getting that WDW souvenir.

The only other cost which is not included is the cost of getting there.

My point in all this?

It’s simple.

I’m not here to make any snide remarks towards this marketing campaign and say it’s misleading...because it really isn’t.

The Walt Disney World resort is in fact doing whatever it can to let everyone know that there are affordable packages out there. The $1696 deal is a base that they are offering potential guests. It is that portion of the vacation which they are controlling and doing their best to let you know how affordable the vacation is.

What they cannot control is your particular needs for park–hopping, dining, and (souvenir) shopping.

It would not be wise for the resort to make assumptions in this area.

So I guess I want to say to those out there who criticize these commercials and say they are misleading...it's quite the contrary...they are not misleading you.

This commercial gives the bottom line as to an "affordable" base for a WDW vacation. These are the costs they can control to help you get there.

The commercial is saying....here is a basic package we can offer a family of four for a certain amount of time....this includes the basic room and admission.

If you want more it’s in your control.

That’s what this is all about....a vacation plan is a partnership between WDW and you...they can control some costs but for those they cannot they try to empower you to make the decisions that best suits you and your family.

It’s as simple as that.

Now you know where the “Your Way” fits in when you hear or see the phrase “Magic Your Way."

I’ve received many responses from that $1,696 commercial blog I had written a few weeks back. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write and I apologize if I have not gotten back to all of you.

I thought I would put together a mailbag blog filled with some of the notes I’ve received. Here is Part 1 of the Mailbag!

Barbie writes:

“Thanks for your entry about the Magic Your Way commercials. It's great to read a fair commentary on what is and is not included in a very non-critical presentation of facts. We love Disney and vacation there often - "we" are a family of four just as Disney defines it: 2 adults, 1 child, and 1 junior. We have found many ways to make our Disney vacations affordable, so that we can visit multiple times in a year. (We spent a weekend in February, 11 nights in May/June, and will spend 3 nights in December.) We often run into people we know when we visit - I don't know exactly how that happens, but it nearly always does - and when we compare resorts and/or vacation lengths, our friends often comment something like, "How can you afford it?" or "Wow, that's an expensive hotel, isn't it?" or "You must really take Disney World seriously." Well, we work hard to make it affordable and appreciate when all the costs of any particular element of the vacation are well-known to us. Thank you for helping other families know what they are getting into so that they, too, can enjoy and relax without the constant shock of more spending. (We usually end our vacations under budget, and that's the way we like it.)”

Barbie’s point is simple….we all need to work hard to make our vacations affordable. That means always being on the lookout for deals, discounts, and ways to slice expense here and there.

From Crista…

“I will agree on the cost from the commercials. I have a family of four. When we went to WDW the commercial "cost" was $1400. We had two adults, one 7 year old and one under the age of 2. We stayed at the Pop Century for 7 days and six nights. We did get the park hopper tickets and ate at one restaurant a day. We brought snacks or ate once a day at our hotel. We packed suitcases full of food including breakfast. We only drank water at the park and spent an average of $20 a day. We bought souvenirs almost everyday. And last but not least we flew to the Park and parked our car at our airport for the week. So in the end our cost for our vacation was $3432. Even if that seems like a lot, with the right planning it can be the vacation of a lifetime and I would do it all again. This was the first WDW trip for my husband and two boys. My husband felt like a little kid again. Priceless.”

Crista and her family made choices that helped them make their vacation affordable. Young families should take note of how Crista’s family saved money. There’s a bonus here…teaching the children some lessons on how to be frugal.

I was excited to read this from Chica…

“I was really interested when this post popped up on my feed-reader, as my GF and I are planning our first trip to Disney together right now. For a while, we thought we absolutely couldn't afford it, and we're not exactly the norm (no children) for a Disney Trip, but we crunched the numbers and figured out we could do it.

We're going December 14-20th, flying from Philadelphia and spending one day at each park, with a break one day for Downtown Disney and a movie.

Here's our budgeting:

Package from Disney - $1009.82
This Includes:
- 6 nights Pop Century Standard Room
- 4 days park admission (non park hopper)
- Disney Meal Plan for 6 nights (this was a special promotion that was emailed to us after we signed up for the mailing list)

Flight Round trip from Philadelphia - $365.00 for both (including all fees)

Alcohol and Tip money for expenses not covered by Meal Plan - $150.00

Souvenir money (including our Christmas present budget for friends/family/each other) $300 ($150 each)

Now, we can always guarantee some unexpected expense, so we've built in an extra $150 cushion into our budget

Grand total comes to $1975.00

Now, we like to over budget and have extra left-over. So we doubt we'll max out all our budgeted areas. We also plan to use the envelope system. 7 days, 7 envelopes ($50 for the first and last days, $100 every other day). No credit cards, no charging to the room. Only one envelope out of the safe on any given day. At the end of the day, whatever is left can get moved to the next day or later. But once you empty an envelope, you're done.

Now, for the experienced Disney traveler, our plan might not be ideal. But for two girls going on our first 'real' vacation together post college (because spring break doesn't count...), it's a pretty good plan with a reasonable budget. It works out to just about one paycheck for each of us.

I'll definitely agree that the Disney ads are a bit misleading and that if you're serious about budgeting, double the quoted Disney price is just about what your final cost would be.”

It does come down to choices and how you choose to best afford your vacation.

Chica, please look for me when you are in WDW. It just so happens that while you are there I’ll be there for Mousefest.

Amy talks about her family’s planning process…

“I just wanted to take a moment and say that for our family we find WDW to be a great value for our vacation dollars. We are preparing for our fourth trip and once again, we are really impressed with how affordable it is.

We are staying at a moderate resort (with a discount code) this time and paying out of pocket for the DDP for 8 nights. We don't do park hoppers - just base tickets because with enough days we just don't have the need to hop. All said, including airfare, this trip cost us LESS THAN $3000. Breaking that down for our family of 4 we are spending less than $100 per day for food, entertainment, lodging and transportation.

Our last trip we were on the free dining and we stayed at POP (which we LOVED) - that trip we were spent less than $50 per person per day.

We have a very basic theme park and water park here in the Kansas City area and you can't go to either of them for that little money when you factor in food, gas and admission. When you compare the cost to a trip to a family resort destination like Beaches (which we also LOVE) - WDW is about 1/2 the cost!!

I think that given the magic you are a part of and the memories you create, WDW provides a great bang for your buck. For families that are willing to look for discount codes, don't mind the value resorts and forgo park hopper options; there are very affordable options for planning a great WDW vacation!”

Hmmm, it seems one way most people are cutting costs is to forego that park-hopper option. At $53.25 per ticket, the savings can be significant for a family of four.

Jennifer also opts to not include the park hopper option…

“Mike,

Great comments on that promotion.

I think things like park hopper are not that big of a deal to leave off if you only get to the parks every few years. I know we skip the hopper option because we don't like to waste the additional travel time between parks. We get down there every 2 years or so and just set our own expectations that we'll do one a day and if we get done early (say on our second day at a park) we explore other resorts (free) or Downtown Disney, or our own resort.

The food too can be controlled if appetizers and dessert are left off. We eat almost entirely at table service for lunch and dinner as we use these times as our breaks from heat/being on our feet. We've been able to eat at table service restaurants for 25 per person or less 80% of the time and it usually works out to about the same or less than we would have spent a la carte at counter service.

Not ideal for everyone, I know, but I thought I'd concur that it can be done if people are serious about Disney AND serious about having to budget...

Keep up the great blog!! Jennifer”

Jennifer adds another great tip…forget the appetizers and desserts. They too can add up quickly. If you crave for something sweet there’s always a counter service somewhere offering a decent snack....like a Dole Whip.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of the Reader Mailbag on Disney's $1,696 Commercial!

Recently I blogged about Disney's Magic Your Way commercial.

Yesterday I shared Part 1 of the emails I received as a result of that blog.

Today I share with you Part 2 (and the final part) of your feedback. Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

Kelly draws a great analogy between putting together a WDW vacation and purchasing a car…

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for printing what I've been preaching for years. I go to Disney every other year; we usually stay for 10 nights and 11 days, park hopper/water park/more tickets for 9 days, dinning plan, at a value resort for $1249 a person. (If we're lucky, we sometimes get an upgrade for free - free dining plan or park hopper is free) I tell people how much my trip will cost and they flip out.

They can't figure out that it's like buying a car. You can get a standard car (basic ticket/value resort hotel) for around 16,000. But if you want leather interior (Deluxe hotel) it’s more. Or Satellite radio (dinning plan) a few more dollars. Chrome wheels (park hopper) its more. Lifetime extended warranty (no expiration of tickets) its more. So you can drive off the lot with a standard car for 16,000 or drive off the lot with all the extras for 36,000 or somewhere in between. Same with Disney you decide (standard - moderate - deluxe) but you will pay for your extras. You will have a great time at the standard level, so don't think you have to upgrade. You just need to sit down and decide what you can handle financially.”

Great note Kelly…wish I had thought of putting it that way.

Marc sees another car buying analogy…

“Hey Mike,

I look at the "$1696" just like the car commercials where you can buy a Honda for 15k. As they show a nice looking accord drive by the fine print at the bottom says Vehicle shown is 22k”

From Lesa…

“I never see comments on going cheap - and meaning it - from those of you experienced Disney visitors. We went last year for our first time. We drove in from Dallas (it was a beating, but a quarter of the cost to fly). Instead of spending our time standing in lines and eating in nice restaurants that would bore our children, we stopped at Wal-Mart and I bought a week's worth of groceries for $100. We stayed at Pop Century (and we didn't care - it was Disney!) where we only played in the kiddie pool and slept.

Our smartest decision was packing a microwave and ice chest, and eating in the room. There was no way, after a day of being in a park, tired, hungry and dirty, that we would have taken the kids back out for a full service meal, even if it had been free. We ate and fell into bed, every night. That $100 included food, drinks, snacks for the park, plates, bowls, utensils, and liquor for 5 days. We did eat at the Castle one evening with the Fairy Godmother. The 4 of us for $130. My kids were ages 4 & 2, so I don't think the 2 year old counted. That was our big splurge and the food wasn't that good.

We packed a soft sided cooler every day. It was juice boxes, bottled water, peanut butter crackers, grapes, bananas, and one day, microwave popcorn. We were inspected and told to have a great day. No problem bringing it in the park. We went back to the room to nap and have a late lunch.

If someone is new to Disney, they're probably happy to be over stimulated in one park per day. We certainly were. I'm not convinced that we'll do a park hopper next time either.

Please realize that you go so often that you are a bit immune to the magic. You have a great job. There's far more to be appreciated, and spend time on, than eating or being choosy about which park to attend in the morning vs. evening. Those things are all extras, and probably won't be appreciated by the first-timer anyway. Just try, once in a while, to consider those of us who mean it when we say "Budget."

Love this website!

Lesa”

For those of us who frequent WDW a lot, sometimes the ways we save money does not translate well to others.

In the first place, many of us go solo. That means we always try to stay at a value resort.

Secondly, since we are frequent visitors we all hold Annual Passports, which offer many opportunities to save money…room discounts…restaurant discounts….souvenir discounts…and so on.

Also, at least for me, I stick with the same airline and car rental agency every time and my loyalty is usually awarded with free flights and free days.

It all adds up…or I should say “adds down.”

For myself, my upcoming Mousefest trip includes a free flight to Orlando, a discounted rental car with a free day, a discounted room AP room rate at a value resort, and oh yes, through my Annual Passport I have a Disney Dining Experience discount card. All this plus I plan to use my Annual Passholder’s discount when I shop at the World of Disney in Downtown Disney.

One comment on Lesa’s note. I am not sure if guests are allowed to have microwaves in guest rooms so I would call the resort before lugging the oven to WDW.

Finally, I saved the best for last…from Tim…

“Just read your – ‘Magic your way’ article and I think if people look at a Disney vacation alone or not in comparison to other vacations, it may seem expensive. I took my family (wife, kids, 4, 2 and 9 months) in April 2008. We stayed at a moderate resort, purchased the deluxe dinning plan (which I am completely sold on by the way) and had all the bells and whistles added on. It was not a cheap trip – about $3,500 to $4,000 before flight, but what I discovered months later, was that 1) you can do it cheaper and 2) there isn’t much else out there that is even comparable!

Because we had such a great time, we began looking for other places to visit in 2009. All- inclusive resorts are extremely expensive for a family of 5, as we were looking at $8,000 to $10,000 just to ‘sit on a beach’ and eat the same food for seven days. Other family vacation spots (i.e. amusement park locations) couldn’t beat the amenities, food options, or even price! A local indoor water park up here in Canada for a one night stay was pricing at $400 a night! No food included. Even our ‘bargain’ vacation – renting a cottage for a week, although it didn’t have the transportation costs, by the time we paid the rental fee, bought groceries, rented boats and everything else, it wasn’t much cheaper than a value resort stay at Disney.

The end result… We’ve booked our Disney Vacation for November 2009. We took advantage of the ‘return trip’ discount, low attendance season and decided to stay at a value resort in a suite. We loved the Moderate resort, but having stayed at a value resort in my pre-kid days, didn’t see any deterioration to our FPM stats (fun per minute). Our kids, even at home, are much like their father – they get stir crazy if they are at home – so we don’t need the ‘luxury’ of a moderate resort, and quite frankly if the pool water is wet, then it meets our needs. We again opted for the deluxe dinning plan, park hopper etc, and even with paying for an extra kid (the ages will be 6, 4, and 2 this time) were able to keep the price under $3000. There is not a vacation out there that includes, hotel, admissions, food (and probably the largest variety of dinning experiences available in the world at any one resort) and entertainment for a family of five for that price. Disney is not only a great vacation and my personal favorite place to visit – it is also one of the cheapest. The only downside is trying to keep the plans secret for over a year – it’s especially hard when your kids ask if they can go to Disney every weekend…In about 370 days I’ll be able to say ‘sure – let’s go’.’

Basically, Tim is saying several basic things.

First, go with what works for you. Extra amenities are very nice but they should be looked at it terms of necessity. If you don’t need them then go with a different resort which may not have them but also offers a cheaper rate.

Secondly, look at all your line items for your vacation and carefully determine which of these line items can be tweaked to make the most out of your vacation dollar. For Tim and family the Disney Dining Plan makes sense…it may not for you and your family…but the point is to find what woks for you.

Lastly, and I’m glad Tim pointed this out…although everyone is quick to comment on the cost of a WDW vacation, if those same people looked closely and compared a WDW vacation to other type vacations they may find that the cost is quite comparable and that the quality of the vacation experience usually always falls in Disney’s column.

I think that the overall lesson learned here from all the folks who took the time to write is that it’s up to us to figure out how to do a WDW vacation in an affordable way.

That’s where WDW becomes our partner. We have options…we can customize our trip to fit our budget….we can create the Magic….our way.