For the seven of us to spend a week on the Oregon coast cost a fair chunk of change. We rented a house for the week and it is not cheap. Nearly $1500 – but compare that to a couple of hotel rooms that would provide us with enough beds and the cost is comparable, if not in favor of renting the house. Add on to that the expense of eating out which you do not need to do when you have a full kitchen, and you can see where affordability comes in.
One of the absolute “classic” family vacations used to be a trip to The Magic Kingdom. My first time going to Disneyland there were still paper tickets with the letter designation for each ride. “Big ticket” rides were more expensive, but eventually this system went away and one price for the whole park was adopted.
While great in theory, the flat rate simply keeps going up and up. A recent article by The Washington Post shows how Disney is pricing its attractions out of reach of many families, despite rising attendance. With that increased attendance comes increased waiting times at the various rides and attractions. While Disney has made strides in addressing this, it has gotten to the point where it is no longer possible to go to Disneyland for a day and do it all. This isn’t a problem for locals, necessarily who can buy an annual pass and go whenever the fancy strikes them, but families will need to purchase multiple tickets for multiple days. And what if you have multiple children?
That’s just to get in the gate.
Once you are in the offerings of food have become painfully expensive. And staying there? I challenge you to find a decent hotel that has more than one bed at any sort of reasonable price. What if you have 3 kids? How will you sleep? On the floor? Or will you shell out $200 a night for a suite where everybody can have a bed? What about staying in a Disney owned property that has a shuttle directly to the gates? Those are certainly not cheap.
I have been twice, once in the late 70s as a kid, then in 2000 when we took our oldest son to Walt Disney World as part of a package with my sister-in-law and her husband. And it was pricey then. Now? With as many kids as we have?
No, a once iconic family vacation is out of the question, and it is a shame.
Do I feel bad about it? Yes. It doesn’t change things. We simply can not afford to go as a family – and I’m not even thinking about air fare.