How do people afford to stay at the Disney hotels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the hotels sleep 6 so it easy to bring grandma/others to keep cost down

The ones that can sleep 6 are the most expensive.
2 bedroom suites (club level in the deluxe resorts) run at least $2000/night
"Family suites" in All Star Music or Art of Animation run at least $300/night (typically more, but sometimes you can find a discount during value seasons)
2+ bedroom "villas" in the Disney Vacation Club (timeshare) are at least $950/night at the cheapest (Old Key West)

But I don't know how bringing an extra person helps keep cost down. If I'm bringing "Grandma" or someone else and expecting them to share a pullout sofa with one of my kids, I'm not going to ask them to chip in on the costs!
If anything, the extra park ticket, meals, etc. will increase the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the responses, but I have wondered the same as you, OP. We are a family of two lawyers and one child, and I find the Disney hotel prices shockingly high (I’d say the same about the Universal Studios hotels).

My kid is now in high school so we are past the Disney years, but we went once to DisneyWorld when DD was 8 and to Universal once when DD was 10 (focused to see Harry Potter world). Here is what we did:

Disney- Pulled DD from elem school the week after thanksgiving, so rates and lines were lower, and stayed offsite but nearby at a Marriott time share property where we got a 2 BR unit with living room, kitchen, etc. We paid extra for the Disney tickets to include the “fast pass” option. This all worked out great (and we are Disney skeptics) - we saved money and had a more comfortable set up by staying offsite, and since it was a lower attendance week at the parks, we didn’t need to be there the minute the parks opened (we also took advantage of early entry some days by booking character breakfasts within parks). We also saved money on breakfasts by eating at the unit, and several nights we brought in dinner, too. It was easy to get back and forth via lot parking and the tram.

Universal - We went spring break week and stayed onsite because it was the only way to get their equivalent of the fast pass. The hotel situation was an expensive, crowded, unpleasant experience, but worth it for 3 days to get their equivalent fast passes.

But bottom line, I don’t know how people afford the Disney hotels, but plenty of people seem to. I feel the same way about first class tickets on airplanes, especially when I see children in the seats!

Are you sure you are remembering this correctly?
If your daughter is now in high school, I'm assuming she is now at least 14 years old. You said you brought her to Disney when she was 8--so 6 years ago?
Prior to 2021, there was no way to purchase fast pass (or anything similar by another name.) The fast pass selections came free with your ticket. I seem to remember there was some option for those staying club level at Deluxe resorts to purchase an additional selection, but you said you were staying in an offsite Marriott so that wouldn't apply here.

DD is 18 yrs old, but I may not accurately remember how old she was when we went - maybe she was 6 or 7? (I was thinking second grade, maybe it was first?) I know we had fast passes which worked great (vs the Universal equivalent was more of a mixed bag), and I thought we paid extra for them but could be remembering that part wrong, and I know we stayed offsite which was really the point I wanted to emphasize per OP’s question.

DP here and this is another odd comment…Universal Express passes work great and better than Disney’s (then or now and we frequent both places.) At Universal with EP you don’t need a time slot and can ride over and over again.

NP and you Disney people are so, so weird.

[Anonymous]

Breaking news at 11…some people have lots of money. Lots more than you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who works for Disney. We wouldn’t have gone otherwise. She can get us a large % off of the hotels and get the three of us into the parks each day at no cost.

I dream of being a admin assistant/paralegal or something at Disney for like a year and finally getting to do everything in the parks as my first retirement gig.

[Anonymous]

We bought a Disney timeshare 30 years ago to hedge against inflation.

So we pay about $ 150 a night for $800 hotel rooms at places like the Grand Floridian, Beach Club Villas and the Polynesian.

It has worked well for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a Disney timeshare 30 years ago to hedge against inflation.

So we pay about $ 150 a night for $800 hotel rooms at places like the Grand Floridian, Beach Club Villas and the Polynesian.

It has worked well for us.

The maintenance fees are a beast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the responses, but I have wondered the same as you, OP. We are a family of two lawyers and one child, and I find the Disney hotel prices shockingly high (I’d say the same about the Universal Studios hotels).

My kid is now in high school so we are past the Disney years, but we went once to DisneyWorld when DD was 8 and to Universal once when DD was 10 (focused to see Harry Potter world). Here is what we did:

Disney- Pulled DD from elem school the week after thanksgiving, so rates and lines were lower, and stayed offsite but nearby at a Marriott time share property where we got a 2 BR unit with living room, kitchen, etc. We paid extra for the Disney tickets to include the “fast pass” option. This all worked out great (and we are Disney skeptics) - we saved money and had a more comfortable set up by staying offsite, and since it was a lower attendance week at the parks, we didn’t need to be there the minute the parks opened (we also took advantage of early entry some days by booking character breakfasts within parks). We also saved money on breakfasts by eating at the unit, and several nights we brought in dinner, too. It was easy to get back and forth via lot parking and the tram.

Universal - We went spring break week and stayed onsite because it was the only way to get their equivalent of the fast pass. The hotel situation was an expensive, crowded, unpleasant experience, but worth it for 3 days to get their equivalent fast passes.

But bottom line, I don’t know how people afford the Disney hotels, but plenty of people seem to. I feel the same way about first class tickets on airplanes, especially when I see children in the seats!

Are you sure you are remembering this correctly?
If your daughter is now in high school, I'm assuming she is now at least 14 years old. You said you brought her to Disney when she was 8--so 6 years ago?
Prior to 2021, there was no way to purchase fast pass (or anything similar by another name.) The fast pass selections came free with your ticket. I seem to remember there was some option for those staying club level at Deluxe resorts to purchase an additional selection, but you said you were staying in an offsite Marriott so that wouldn't apply here.

DD is 18 yrs old, but I may not accurately remember how old she was when we went - maybe she was 6 or 7? (I was thinking second grade, maybe it was first?) I know we had fast passes which worked great (vs the Universal equivalent was more of a mixed bag), and I thought we paid extra for them but could be remembering that part wrong, and I know we stayed offsite which was really the point I wanted to emphasize per OP’s question.

DP here and this is another odd comment…Universal Express passes work great and better than Disney’s (then or now and we frequent both places.) At Universal with EP you don’t need a time slot and can ride over and over again.

NP and you Disney people are so, so weird.

You are the one commenting on a thread that supposedly does not interest you. That’s not weird?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a Disney timeshare 30 years ago to hedge against inflation.

So we pay about $ 150 a night for $800 hotel rooms at places like the Grand Floridian, Beach Club Villas and the Polynesian.

It has worked well for us.

The maintenance fees are a beast.

As someone who actually pays them, I can actually say they are not a beast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the hotels sleep 6 so it easy to bring grandma/others to keep cost down

The ones that can sleep 6 are the most expensive.
2 bedroom suites (club level in the deluxe resorts) run at least $2000/night
"Family suites" in All Star Music or Art of Animation run at least $300/night (typically more, but sometimes you can find a discount during value seasons)
2+ bedroom "villas" in the Disney Vacation Club (timeshare) are at least $950/night at the cheapest (Old Key West)

But I don't know how bringing an extra person helps keep cost down. If I'm bringing "Grandma" or someone else and expecting them to share a pullout sofa with one of my kids, I'm not going to ask them to chip in on the costs!
If anything, the extra park ticket, meals, etc. will increase the price.

You’re lumping a $300-500 hotel in with the rest of them. It may not be coming in the DC area, but where I’m from (“flyover country”) it’s not uncommon for grandparents to go in half on a vacation. I did this at a similar destination when my son was young because my parents aren’t wealthy enough to pay for a whole vacation and we didn’t have extra money either. My mother is young. It was
not an issue for her to sleep on a pullout sofa with our son, they had an awesome time. I think a lot of families are like ours in how they travel and many of them go to Disney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a Disney timeshare 30 years ago to hedge against inflation.

So we pay about $ 150 a night for $800 hotel rooms at places like the Grand Floridian, Beach Club Villas and the Polynesian.

It has worked well for us.

The maintenance fees are a beast.

As someone who actually pays them, I can actually say they are not a beast.

My brother did this too. I'd actually be curious to see an analysis -- if you took the buy in fee, and invested it in the stock market 30 years ago, then also factor in the annual maintenance fees (and investment interest lost year over year), then compare that to the relative hotel prices year over year....do you come out ahead or behind? My guess is you come out slightly ahead, but that you've also given up some flexibility in your vacation planning over the years, which maybe has an intangible value.
My family members all bought into either Marriot VC, Disney VC, or Hilton VC, decades ago. I never did because I put a high premium on flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the hotels sleep 6 so it easy to bring grandma/others to keep cost down

The ones that can sleep 6 are the most expensive.
2 bedroom suites (club level in the deluxe resorts) run at least $2000/night
"Family suites" in All Star Music or Art of Animation run at least $300/night (typically more, but sometimes you can find a discount during value seasons)
2+ bedroom "villas" in the Disney Vacation Club (timeshare) are at least $950/night at the cheapest (Old Key West)

But I don't know how bringing an extra person helps keep cost down. If I'm bringing "Grandma" or someone else and expecting them to share a pullout sofa with one of my kids, I'm not going to ask them to chip in on the costs!
If anything, the extra park ticket, meals, etc. will increase the price.

You’re lumping a $300-500 hotel in with the rest of them. It may not be coming in the DC area, but where I’m from (“flyover country”) it’s not uncommon for grandparents to go in half on a vacation. I did this at a similar destination when my son was young because my parents aren’t wealthy enough to pay for a whole vacation and we didn’t have extra money either. My mother is young. It was
not an issue for her to sleep on a pullout sofa with our son, they had an awesome time. I think a lot of families are like ours in how they travel and many of them go to Disney.

Can you explain what you mean by the bolded? What is "the rest of them?"
A pp said that some of the hotels sleep 6, so I was merely listing all of the types that do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the hotels sleep 6 so it easy to bring grandma/others to keep cost down

The ones that can sleep 6 are the most expensive.
2 bedroom suites (club level in the deluxe resorts) run at least $2000/night
"Family suites" in All Star Music or Art of Animation run at least $300/night (typically more, but sometimes you can find a discount during value seasons)
2+ bedroom "villas" in the Disney Vacation Club (timeshare) are at least $950/night at the cheapest (Old Key West)

But I don't know how bringing an extra person helps keep cost down. If I'm bringing "Grandma" or someone else and expecting them to share a pullout sofa with one of my kids, I'm not going to ask them to chip in on the costs!
If anything, the extra park ticket, meals, etc. will increase the price.

You’re lumping a $300-500 hotel in with the rest of them. It may not be coming in the DC area, but where I’m from (“flyover country”) it’s not uncommon for grandparents to go in half on a vacation. I did this at a similar destination when my son was young because my parents aren’t wealthy enough to pay for a whole vacation and we didn’t have extra money either. My mother is young. It was
not an issue for her to sleep on a pullout sofa with our son, they had an awesome time. I think a lot of families are like ours in how they travel and many of them go to Disney.

Can you explain what you mean by the bolded? What is "the rest of them?"
A pp said that some of the hotels sleep 6, so I was merely listing all of the types that do.

You said "The ones that can sleep 6 are the most expensive." and then listed one relatively low cost hotel with other expensive ones. I'd say they don't belong in the same category. You can get a room that sleeps 6 that doesn't fall into the most expensive category.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the hotels sleep 6 so it easy to bring grandma/others to keep cost down

The ones that can sleep 6 are the most expensive.
2 bedroom suites (club level in the deluxe resorts) run at least $2000/night
"Family suites" in All Star Music or Art of Animation run at least $300/night (typically more, but sometimes you can find a discount during value seasons)
2+ bedroom "villas" in the Disney Vacation Club (timeshare) are at least $950/night at the cheapest (Old Key West)

But I don't know how bringing an extra person helps keep cost down. If I'm bringing "Grandma" or someone else and expecting them to share a pullout sofa with one of my kids, I'm not going to ask them to chip in on the costs!
If anything, the extra park ticket, meals, etc. will increase the price.

You’re lumping a $300-500 hotel in with the rest of them. It may not be coming in the DC area, but where I’m from (“flyover country”) it’s not uncommon for grandparents to go in half on a vacation. I did this at a similar destination when my son was young because my parents aren’t wealthy enough to pay for a whole vacation and we didn’t have extra money either. My mother is young. It was
not an issue for her to sleep on a pullout sofa with our son, they had an awesome time. I think a lot of families are like ours in how they travel and many of them go to Disney.

Can you explain what you mean by the bolded? What is "the rest of them?"
A pp said that some of the hotels sleep 6, so I was merely listing all of the types that do.

You said "The ones that can sleep 6 are the most expensive." and then listed one relatively low cost hotel with other expensive ones. I'd say they don't belong in the same category. You can get a room that sleeps 6 that doesn't fall into the most expensive category.

Oh ok. Yes, you're right about that. But the ones that are less expensive (the family suites at the value resorts) are much less spacious than the DVC 2 bedroom villas or 2 bedroom suites on the club level. The value family suites consist of one queen "real bed" and the other beds are pull out sofas or murphy beds. Personally, I wouldn't be able to ask someone (like an elderly grandma) to shell out money to sleep on a sofa bed on my vacation. But as you mentioned about your own families, some grandmas are still young and don't mind.

[Anonymous]

1. We went off-season
2. We only stayed 2 nights and different times of the week are different prices, so we went when prices were lowest
3. We only went once

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the responses, but I have wondered the same as you, OP. We are a family of two lawyers and one child, and I find the Disney hotel prices shockingly high (I’d say the same about the Universal Studios hotels).

My kid is now in high school so we are past the Disney years, but we went once to DisneyWorld when DD was 8 and to Universal once when DD was 10 (focused to see Harry Potter world). Here is what we did:

Disney- Pulled DD from elem school the week after thanksgiving, so rates and lines were lower, and stayed offsite but nearby at a Marriott time share property where we got a 2 BR unit with living room, kitchen, etc. We paid extra for the Disney tickets to include the “fast pass” option. This all worked out great (and we are Disney skeptics) - we saved money and had a more comfortable set up by staying offsite, and since it was a lower attendance week at the parks, we didn’t need to be there the minute the parks opened (we also took advantage of early entry some days by booking character breakfasts within parks). We also saved money on breakfasts by eating at the unit, and several nights we brought in dinner, too. It was easy to get back and forth via lot parking and the tram.

Universal - We went spring break week and stayed onsite because it was the only way to get their equivalent of the fast pass. The hotel situation was an expensive, crowded, unpleasant experience, but worth it for 3 days to get their equivalent fast passes.

But bottom line, I don’t know how people afford the Disney hotels, but plenty of people seem to. I feel the same way about first class tickets on airplanes, especially when I see children in the seats!

Are you sure you are remembering this correctly?
If your daughter is now in high school, I'm assuming she is now at least 14 years old. You said you brought her to Disney when she was 8--so 6 years ago?
Prior to 2021, there was no way to purchase fast pass (or anything similar by another name.) The fast pass selections came free with your ticket. I seem to remember there was some option for those staying club level at Deluxe resorts to purchase an additional selection, but you said you were staying in an offsite Marriott so that wouldn't apply here.

DD is 18 yrs old, but I may not accurately remember how old she was when we went - maybe she was 6 or 7? (I was thinking second grade, maybe it was first?) I know we had fast passes which worked great (vs the Universal equivalent was more of a mixed bag), and I thought we paid extra for them but could be remembering that part wrong, and I know we stayed offsite which was really the point I wanted to emphasize per OP’s question.

DP here and this is another odd comment…Universal Express passes work great and better than Disney’s (then or now and we frequent both places.) At Universal with EP you don’t need a time slot and can ride over and over again.

NP and you Disney people are so, so weird.

So weird.