How do people afford to stay at the Disney hotels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen All star resorts as low as $98/night.

A lot of off site hotels will charge a steep resort fee or parking fee, so keep that in mind.

I do not recommend All star. It was nasty and as a woman I did not feel safe staying alone there. I was at a business conference.

What exactly were you afraid of? I have never felt unsafe in all of my years taking my kids to Disney alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can afford it, but have no interest in spending $20k+ for standing in lines and going on rides.

+1 MILLION

And please don’t compare waiting in line for a man-made ride to waiting in line for the Colosseum or pyramids or something.

Why are you on this thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can afford it, but have no interest in spending $20k+ for standing in lines and going on rides.

+1 MILLION

And please don’t compare waiting in line for a man-made ride to waiting in line for the Colosseum or pyramids or something.

The good news is, you don't have to. You are under absolutely no obligation to ever visit Disney, ever. You weren't even obligated to open this thread or comment on it. Yet, you did. It's bizarre.

You’re not the thread police so I’ll just comment as much as I want, thanks!

No one wants to read your non sequiturs...

[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.

NP. No... we pay about $5 per point. So less than $1500 per year.

[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.

NP. No... we pay about $5 per point. So less than $1500 per year.

For a two week timeshare? Plus 150$/night? You'd be better off having the flexibility to go wherever you want rather than being locked in.

[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.

NP. No... we pay about $5 per point. So less than $1500 per year.

Nobody in 2024 paid less than $7.92 a point in fees and 2026 will be more. It takes 120-234 points for a week in a resort view studio at GF. So the maintenance fees on those points would be $950-$1850/year.

To buy 120 GF points today would cost $22,200 plus any interest if financed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

NP. No... we pay about $5 per point. So less than $1500 per year.

For a two week timeshare? Plus 150$/night? You'd be better off having the flexibility to go wherever you want rather than being locked in.

No it is not $ 150 a night plus dues.

You pay the dues only. Only Hawaii and Disneyland hotel cost a separate fee of the taxes. The municipality won't let Disney roll in the taxes at those properties.

I gited two nights to a friend to Animal Kingdom Jambo House because I has some extra points.

She accepted but called me a bit panicked because she looked up the rack rate, which was $750 a night.

But was nothing like that expensive for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

NP. No... we pay about $5 per point. So less than $1500 per year.

For a two week timeshare? Plus 150$/night? You'd be better off having the flexibility to go wherever you want rather than being locked in.

We don't feel remotely locked in. We have a modest amount of points, and if we don't go one year we roll our points over to the following year.

Or we take a cruise.

Or maybe Hilton Head, or Vero, or Hawaii or California.

Lots of flexibility for us.

And it great upscale our level of accommodations.

Best purchase we ever made.

[Anonymous]

People used discounts, rewards points, and packages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

NP. No... we pay about $5 per point. So less than $1500 per year.

Nobody in 2024 paid less than $7.92 a point in fees and 2026 will be more. It takes 120-234 points for a week in a resort view studio at GF. So the maintenance fees on those points would be $950-$1850/year.

To buy 120 GF points today would cost $22,200 plus any interest if financed.

The OP asked how people can afford it. We are just responding to the question.

Many of us who bought DVC decades ago realized Disney prices were marching up. So buying in let's us access accommodations that would not be in our reach otherwise.

We plan to retire next year. Our monthly dues of $175 a month are budgeted in.

And we will be in those $750 rooms several times a year on our Social Security plus a small pensions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People used discounts, rewards points, and packages.

We have a Disney Visa and rack up a lot of points on that. Pays off most of our meals in the parks.

[Anonymous]

yes its way too expensive in this economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen All star resorts as low as $98/night.

A lot of off site hotels will charge a steep resort fee or parking fee, so keep that in mind.

I do not recommend All star. It was nasty and as a woman I did not feel safe staying alone there. I was at a business conference.

What exactly were you afraid of? I have never felt unsafe in all of my years taking my kids to Disney alone.

Yes I am curious about that as well.

I feel safe all over Disney. Never had an issue in 100+ trips

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This just reminded me. A coworker who was a really big Disney fan and visited at least once per year - retired and became a fairy god mother cast member at DW. She had said that was her dream retirement job and she did it. Her retirement party they had a photoshopped picture of her in character.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

NP. No... we pay about $5 per point. So less than $1500 per year.

For a two week timeshare? Plus 150$/night? You'd be better off having the flexibility to go wherever you want rather than being locked in.

No, that's not how Disney Vacation Club works. You buy points. But thanks for the advice

We've used ours for 20 years so far.