More parents are taking on debt to pay for Disney vacations as prices soar

I'm a parent We're not going to Disney it's a fuckin rip off. If you feel you're a bad parent because you didn't bring your kid to Disney seek therapy.

Ffs, I went to Taiwan earlier this year for a little over a week for like $2k total, plane tickets from the US and everything (granted we stayed in some pretty sketchy hotels but it isn't like the fancy ones were that bank-breaking). I don't understand why people are putting their livelihoods at risk for a corporate hellscape instead of hopping to another country for a bit and seeing all the world has for us

Traveling with children to foreign countries is a lot harder than with adults

Entirely honestly some people have little to no desire to leave the US. I don’t think you could pay me to spend a week in east Asia, that’s just not my idea of fun.

Disney is huge. There’s days worth of things to do, multiple parks and experiences directly marketed for kids (be that good or bad). You don’t even have to stay in the Disney ecosystem with places like legoland, universal studios and a bunch of other theme parks.
- Either way you're potentially bringing a kid through the airport to an unfamiliar area with limited supplies in suitcases. My family brought me to Korea when I was very young and a terrible kid to deal with and they've never said it was worse than bringing me anywhere else at that age. Given the small sample size I have though I'd genuinely like to know which parts in your experience are harder
  
  There is more in the world than east Asia and even just sticking to the US there are huge swaths of national forest and many cities with unique cultures that could be just as fun for a kid and even cheaper to visit than international travel
  
  Taiwan was huge too with lots of cool things, arcades, food everywhere, the crayon factory, a city full of pampered cats. If you need a string of theme parks to come up with a days worth of things to keep a kid entertained than something is wrong
  
  And I don't mean to be entirely against theme parks. I've been to Universal, Legoland, Disney world, Cedar Point, among others, as a kid and with kids. My complaint is simply why would you choose to go into debt for somewhere like that when you can have just as vibrant an experience with your kids for cheaper doing something else? It's depressing
- I try to take the whole family to South East Asia once a year. It's a lot of work and money but totally worth it. It's a freaken experience and my kids get to spend time with that side of the family.
  
  A little memory that sticks out. One night me and my wife were sitting on a porch in Northern Thailand, almost by the border. Rural doesn't come close to describing it. I noticed that the ambient noise of the insects were so loud that it was about the volume of a bar and me and her were talking loud over it.
  
  Where do you get that in the developed world? I am normally a bit amused if I hear a single cricket at night or see a single firefly. And here I am almost shouting over the sound of insects and watching as the grass moves from all the animals hunting each other.
  
  Give me that again over the sanitized fun of Disney. Disney has an animatronic elephant? That's nice. I and my wife and kids got to play in the water with real ones, and the price was under 5 USD.
I don’t know how many people are in your family so I can’t evaluate the $2k.
- The plane ticket was the most expensive part at about $1.2k iirc. If you planned ahead better than me it's not hard to find $1k or even a little cheaper, granted I live in a city with an international airport so ticket prices also tend to be a bit cheaper here. A family of 4 could do $100/night hotels and get places much nicer than what we did and have enough room. Food costs are so low in Taiwan we stopped even tracking it. Maybe if you only want to eat at fancy sit down places in the center of Taipei or something food would start to add up. I'd high end estimate $10/meal/person but realistically it's like half that
  
  So say a family of 4 over a week, that's $4.8k plane tickets, $700 housing, $840 food, total for all big purchase estimates here is $6,340. Cheaper tickets readily knocks $800 off without putting much effort into hunting for deals, another $400 off for food if you aren't being fancy with it every single meal (besides the excitement of street food is probably more fun for a kid than telling them to sit still for an hour while there is so much going on outside)
  
  Because of the disproportionate cost of the plane tickets, if you were to stay longer than a week the cost compared to Disney gets increasingly better. There are also many other international locations that can be cheaper, and thousands of places just in the US filled with unique experiences and culture that can be engaging for kids at an even better price tag
  
  If you can afford Disney go for it. But going into debt over it is like taking a payday loan to hit up a Cheesecake Factory when there's a block full of food trucks with a dozen cuisines just down the road for cheaper

I have a friend who goes with their husband and kiddo who spends the entire year seeking out the cheapest ways to go and it literally takes months but saves them $8k off normal pricing. That still leaves them needing $7k for the week vacation. I couldn't even imagine caring that much about something. I wouldn't mind going but the absolute most I'd spend if $2k for the entire stay which will never happen since the flights alone would be that for me and my family.

That's US dollars right? How on Earth does it cost 7 grand to go. It definitely didn't cost that much in 2018 when I last went.
- Not crazy for a vacation with flights and a hotel involved for 4 people for 7 days.
  
  $2k on flight's
  
  $2k for hotel (and a few cabs)
  
  $1k for food
  
  That’s $5k before any tickets to the park.
- I'd assume that includes flights, lodging and meals. If they have two or three kids I could see it costing that much all in, especially if you go to the park multiple days.
- Maybe they have 14 kids. Tickets are around $200 per person per day now though IIRC.
There are so many better ways to spend 7k on your kids then Disney. Hell, just go to a closer theme park if you really want to go on rides.
- No you don't understand all your "friends" are going so we have to go. Also it isn't the same because it is Disneyworld. And unless it's literally considered the biggest amusement park on earth everything else is shit.
  
  No I am totally not bitter about being dragged into it two years ago and how expensive it was.
  
  Ffs a great family meal will set you back about a $100 dollars at a restaurant. You could have one amazing meal with your family at a reasonable distance, per week and still come out ahead. Every try Mongolian food? Guess what you can. I have never had it. I can have it 70x instead of going to Disneyworld for three days.

"Morons that are bad with their money continue to act like morons"

I've been to Disney in Orlando dozens of times growing up. Haven't been there for 10 years or so....so took a few days and went to the park.

Wow, sooooo many people, like sooooo many people you can't walk down the paths without doing the New York shoulder to get through. I didn't know about the phone thing.... It's a new smartphone system where you reserve spots in rides at certain times, but all reservations are gone 5 min after opening time for the app. The entire park was filled with people staring at their phones trying to get in on a canceled reservation. Well I didn't know about this....so I was in the stand by lines. 1 to 2 hours per ride and a non stop stream of fast pass people kept walking right in. The New Tron ride was fast pass only.

All day there and I think we got on 4 rides. Peter Pan standby was 3 hours long.

For all the money paid to get in, the crowds, the stupid new smartphone thing.... I will never go back to Disney. Let the stupid international tourists have it.

Cape Canaveral visitor center was sooo much better.

The crowds vary wildly at Disney World. First time I went with my kids we did the first week of November. Not many people at all, and we could get on a lot of rides without much of a wait and it wasn't too crowded. Bonus: We got to see the Halloween decorations the first day we were there, and then Christmas decorations for the rest of the time. 10/10, would go again.

The second time we decided to do a Christmas trip. There were two days where Magic Kingdom literally told people there wasn't enough room. Even Epcot and Hollywood Studios were crowded, and we didn't get on many rides. The hotels were loud, too. 1/10 would not recommend.

However, I haven't bothered looking at prices because my kids are grown and I'm happy being at home, but if I had to pay 50% more for the first experience it would have been worth it, and the second I wouldn't have taken even if it was free.
That sounds horrendous
- Yeah, I don't understand it. I went as a kid in a literal back brace and wheel chair, skipped most of the lines, and I still thought Universal was better.
  
  Branding just ruins some people's brains.
Disney World lines in the 80s and 90s were always 45 minutes to 2+ hours. 45 minutes for the rides no one wanted and 2+ hours for the popular ones.

I always went for free because my mother worked there or a friend's mom did. It was worth free.

FUCK Disney

Saw a kid puke in the pool once on a Disney cruise. You shoulda seen those cast members come running in full hazmat suits and shut down the entire deck! A finely tuned machine, like swappin tires at the Indy 500. If Disney ever got into the military-industrial complex they would take over the world. Worth every penny.

Now I want to go there just to puke in different areas and see how the cleaning team works
I took my kids in lieu of them having birthday parties one year. We told the person when we checked in and they gave us a few stickers that said "It's my birthday!"

Everyone in every park who saw that sticker stopped and wished my kids a happy birthday. The guy sweeping up trash on Hollywood Boulevard, the cashiers at Epcot, the housekeepers at the hotel, everyone. Even Cinderella stopped marching in the Main Street parade to come over and say "Happy Birthday!"

I get that they're a horrible, soulless corporation but damn do I appreciate how special they made my kids feel.
- So give your kid a birthday sticker if you go. Got it.

The place is crowded and they'll keep charging more pushing out lower income people.

When we used to go they had a meal plan, a bus to bring you from the airport for free and the little NFC watch was free to make all you purchases. I think it cost twice as much now and you get less.

Jimmy! Just for you Jimmy! Just for you were taking on a second mortgage! You deserve the Walt Disnay experience Jimmy! Were not good parents unless you see Mickey In person Jimmy.

Are you hearing us Jimmy it's important you know the Disnay experience!!

What's that you just want to play Minecraft Jimmy? You failed abortion of a kid! You are going to see Disney world if I have to sell my fucking Kidneys, I swear to god!

Jimmy it's gunna be rice and beans for a bit, You'll understand when you're our age.

Sorry Jimmy I know you thought you were to inherite this home, but remember that Disney trip we took when you were two. No, well no matter we have pictures we haven't look at in 30 years. But the bank owns this house so you'll still need pay the mortgage when we are gone.

To be fair, you could stop that sentence after the word “debt”.

I feel bad for the parents because I bet so many of them are unaware of the totally greedy changes Disney has put in these last 5 years. Their parents took them to Disneyland so they just do the same for their own kids.

Anyway, they monetized their "fast pass" system in a way that they have an economic incentive to keep lines long. - despite everyone having smartphones, and despite Disney already having a park app for people to use. I won't be visiting while that's in effect, that's for sure.

I'd like to go there, but flight + 10 days of hotel+park+food is something like 12-15k$, insane.

The only reason I ever took my kid to Disneyland was because we lived in southern California and knew somebody who worked there that gave us free passes.

It was a great day that my now adult daughter doesn't remember at all.

I loved my own childhood trip to Disneyland in 1979 when it was a much, much simpler and cheaper affair.

If I had kids today, Disney would be completely off the table.

Was the same way for me and Disney World. I don't understand paying to wait in lines. 🤷

Tf is a disney vacation? Is this the onion?

There are 4 theme parks and 2 shopping/eating areas in Florida alone and over a dozen resorts. You can book a whole weeks vacation, do something different each day, and never leave Disney's property.
- This sounds like fucking hell.
- You forgot the part where you hear kids screaming all day, and the extra money you spend to pay for food and souvenirs.

Why would people pay to go to a to a corporate soulless pseudo amusement parrk?

Their spawn sees the character walking around/ they have attachment to things other than the memories surrounding the things.

But why take on debt to go on expensive vacation?