My wife and kids just got back.

Maybe us Brits are just poor but it seems so overpriced.

How does the average American family afford it?

41 comments

  2. The average family doesn’t afford it with any regularity. For many that’s a once in a lifetime if ever sorta deal.

    …well, twice. Once as a kid and once with your kids.

  3. Both are true. The average American family does have more money that the average British family, but it is overpriced. I would think a lot of families have to save for awhile to go. I only went once when I was a kid and I’ve been once as an adult. I didn’t think the prices were astronomical. I actually expected it to be worse by the way people talk, but it is still a lot if you have to pay for a whole family. I hope you had fun, though!

  4. >How does the average American family afford it?

    They don’t.

    It’s been the recent complaint about the parks recently. Even though America is more well off, the middle class would only go to Disney once or twice when the kids are the right age.

  5. The average American family doesn’t go. I’ve never been and don’t personally know anyone who has.

    It also sounds like a terrible time to me. Lol. Hot, standing in line and children. No thanks!

  6. > How does the average American family afford it?
    >

    It’s generally a once in a lifetime experience for those who go.

    I have friends that live locally, getting a pass for the year is pretty affordable for the value received and you don’t have to worry about hotels, etc.

  7. The one family I know that goes regularly lives in that area, so I imagine when you cut out airfare costs, it gets (slightly) more reasonable. They don’t seem to vacation anywhere else, so I’m guessing that’s part of it. I’m guessing for a family with children living right next to Disney, the park has enough entertainment to make it worth being your go-to.

    I know another family that has gone a couple times, even though they live across the country from Disney. In their case, I know both of the parents have good jobs where they make serious money.

    For everyone else I’ve known who has gone to Disney, it’s been a once-in-a-lifetime type trip, where they wait until the kids are old enough to remember it and enjoy it properly. Because for most people, it absolutely is a massive expense.

  8. Disney has become obscenely expensive, especially so in recent years.

    It is not a regular occurrence for most.

  9. On average, most Americans make more money than their Brit counterparts.

    However, most middle class families are not going to Disney regularly.

    Of note, they went to Disney World. Disney Land is in California.

  10. The average family doesn’t. But there are many tens of millions of families who make above average money who do.

  11. After pricing out a Disney vacation, I concluded there were so many other places we could for less money and have a good time. I am not spending north of $10,000 to ultimately go to a theme park.

  12. ex disney here and I have been to them all.
    pro-tip: never go to the US parks. fly to Tokyo and do those two instead. they are much much better. and Tokyo Disney Seas is The Best Park.

  13. >it seems so overpriced.

    It is

    >How does the average American family afford it?

    We don’t.

    For your average middle class family that’s a once or twice in a lifetime kind of trip if they can go at all. The only people who go with any regularity are relatively well off.

  14. No, it is just overpriced. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure even most Americans never go to Disney World either because it’s so expensive.

  15. Parents just came back from universal and said it was 100$ a person. Not that bad considering I’ll spend 100$ going out to eat somewhere on the 3 of us so an all day thing for 300$ is doable. I think it starts getting really expensive when actually staying there. Friend of mine spent over 20k for his family of 5 to go and spend a week but that was meals and the Disney hotels.

  16. They don’t! I’m assuming you went this past week. Just a guess, but I would say that most of the people you saw were likely from Florida. This past Monday schools were out for some teacher workday. Lots of people just take a little day trip to Disney. So lots of people wouldn’t need to pay for somewhere to stay.

    Anyone who lives in the area would receive a random text or phone call from someone who they haven’t spoken to or even thought about in 20 years. They would ask to crash at your place to go to the parks. Oh btw they are bringing their 6 kids and wife who you’ve never met.

    Or simply drive a few hours and spend the day at the parks, and drive home.

  17. The one in Florida is Disney World.

    And we don’t afford it. It used to be a once in a lifetime family vacation, but these days it’s more of a place to be used for comparisons. As in “Yeah, going to <other theme park> later this year is going to be expensive, but it’s not as bad as Disney.”

  18. 60 million people visit a year, so people are clearly affording it. Reddit loves to over exaggerate this stuff.

    Disney is a vacation where the more time you plan, the more you can save. Disney parks let’s you bring in food, drink, lunch etc. not eating or staying in park can save a family literally thousands. You don’t have to spend a dime in park outside passes.

  19. For a lot of Americans a trip to Disney has become a once in a lifetime dream vacation. I believe they keep increasing prices in an effort to bring visitor numbers *down*, but Disney’s cultural stranglehold means people just keep going.

  20. There are ways to do Disney World without completely bankrupting yourself, but it’s difficult and sacrifices quite a bit.

    I go often, as a local. You can get a fairly inexpensive hotel/Airbnb off property, bring snacks in, drink mostly free water (it’s Florida, you need to drink more water than you are used to drinking anyways), eat quick service and kids meals, compare day tickets to annual pass (discounts can make it worth it), etc. It’s possible, but takes time, research, and sacrifice (it’s waaay easier to hop on a monorail and go to MK than drive on one of the most dangerous highways in the US).

  21. This sub is always weird with anything wealth related.

    Most people don’t go to Disney every year because they’re just not interested in going to Disney every year. There’s a difference between not being interested in something and not being able to afford it.

    Americans do make more than Brits on average but Disney also has options for basically every price point. There are expensive and inexpensive options for hotels, dinning, souvenirs, etc. Even the price to enter the parks will vary depending on if you’re in a value, regular, or peak season. You also don’t have to go to the parks every day either. There’s all sorts of YouTube channels and websites dedicated to having a fantastic trip at Disney for as cheap as possible.

  22. We went twice my entire childhood and my parents (middle class) saved for years before the visit. People who go regularly are either locals, wealthy or are in debt.

  25. We wanted to go for a week like we did for our first wedding anniversary. (That cost is about $2500 and we stayed at a Disney hotel.) We planned for months and had planned to go this week actually. But for a family of three it was close to $5000. And that’s without staying on Disney property and the two year old getting in the parks for free.

    Life happened and it just couldn’t be justified right now. We’ll have to try again in a few years and hopefully by then the meal plans with be back.

  26. We live in Florida about 40 minutes from Disney world.

    We can get a 4 day WEEKDAY ONLY Florida resident pass for $253 per person.
    So $1000 for 4 days, no hotels, no food.

    Since our youngest daughter has never been there despite living here her entire life and the dates line up with our school holidays, we decided to go. It was a sacrifice of some other things to make it happen. We decided to go based on the ability to go to Food and Wine at Epcot (you pay for the food separately) and see the decor at the Holidays in Magic Kingdom.

    The idea that every middle-class American goes off to Disney for a week of fun is completely absurd. Additionally, the parks can be extremely crowded and Florida weather is ridiculously unpredictable. More than once, we have looked out our window on a Mid-August day where it is 97 degrees and 90% humidity and then it starts to storm and felt bad for the people who pay obscene amounts to be here.

  27. It’s always been outrageous. When my stupid senior class decided that’s where they wanted to go for our senior trip, it took a year of fundraising and doing odd jobs to save up for it. And a parent still had to chip in $6,000 to make it work. The size of the class? Four kids and two chaperones. This was 15 years ago.

    I could literally fly to Europe, stay in decent hotels and eat at decent restaurants, and it would *still* cost less than a trip to Disney World.

  28. I’m just curious what would lead you to believe that it was affordable in the first place.

  30. There is a rather large difference between the amount of money that Americans earn and the amount of money that Brits earn

  31. For most families it’s a once or twice over a lifetime, for some it’s an annual or common thing. I know families who went every year but that was the *only* traveling they ever did. I grew up with kids who had been to Disney 10 times before high school but never had a passport. It’s just different strokes. I’m from the NYC area though where flights are plentiful and cheap, and people tend to make considerably more money than other regions. Some insane people will do the drive but I would never consider that.

  32. Yeah it’s definitely a racket. I just got back and I live in Ohio. We booked it through a travel agency and made payments for months.

    Then you got food and souvenirs.

    Last we had went was 14 years ago.

    It was fun as hell though. 😎

  33. A lot of people cannot afford it. Frankly, Disneyworld is very overpriced and these days the cost isn’t really obtainable for a lot of folks. It’s something they save up for. Frankly, I’ve been to both Disneyworld and Universal and if I had to pick between the two I’d say go to Universal. It’s better and it’s a bit more affordable.

  34. The average US household income is roughly $20,000 more than the average UK income. Add in our tax rate being ~16% vs 23% in the UK… We have a lot more money in our pockets which tends to make things much more affordable.

  36. Lots of Floridians have annual passes and go quite often. They offer monthly payments for the passes.

    My wife and I had Universal Orlando annual passes. They have specials all the time for things like get an extra 6 months. With our annual passes we had free parking and discounts on food and merchandise. I think we paid $700 at the time for both passes. We went at least once a week for the time we had the passes.

  37. I live in Florida and I have a few friends that have passes, but they are all single and they pay the monthly plan. Any families I know of going, are visiting from out of state. Those people save up for a year in advance to do it. Now, we are a family of 5 and have Universal passes, but it’s a little cheaper and we paid a chunk of it with taxes while paying a monthly fee for the rest. This year we splurged. Pretty sure next year won’t be able to do it again.

  38. Just for clarification, DisneyLAND is in California. DisneyWORLD is in Florida

    And i know very few people who can afford to go. It’s almost more a once in a lifetime thing in my social bracket.

  39. The first time I went to Disney was when I was 26. It was for my honeymoon.

    Most American families don’t get to go to Disney World.

  40. We went once. It was a huge splurge. Ranked up there with the most expensive international trips we’ve ever taken, and it was just Texas to Florida for a week. This was about 8 years ago and I understand it’s way more expensive now just in that relatively short time since.

    I’d love to go back someday, but there are so many other places I’d like to see if I’m going to spend that kind of money. The following year, we spent 2 weeks in an Airbnb smack in the middle of Paris and I’m pretty sure that trip was cheaper. And the food was *much* better.

  41. We don’t. A box of 6 mediocre donuts there costs 20$, in the state where people used to retire to. That was like 4+ years ago.

    Disney is absurdly expensive just because they can. Only reason I went was cause it was a middle school summer trip across states, so i got to go with friends and have a few rides to ourselves like space mountain with/without the lights off.

    If you haven’t raised your child on Disney, take them to universal studios like 20 minutes away from disneyworld, especially if they are older than 10 years old.

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