I regularly listen to the Breaking Points podcast. Like all news commentary, it gets a bit histrionic about “what you need to know” and “why people need to be concerned”. But overall, I enjoy listening to the hosts and find their longer form stories at least somewhat information and entertaining.
Yesterday, they were discussing the increasing costs for a family to visit Disney World. They spoke about how an annual vacation to Disney World used to be affordable for working class families and almost a right of passage. Apparently, the prices for everything at Disney have been raised, resulting in fewer, but more profitable attendees. Tickets, hotels, parking, food and upgrades all have gone up. In prepping for this article, I went to Disney World’s website to check prices. For a family of 2 adults and 2 kids in October, it would cost $7K for one “Family” hotel room plus admission to the 4 Disney parks. Food, Flights, Gifts, Upgrades and any other costs would be extra. I figure that would make the total cost $8-10K.
Ouch.
What was most interesting to me was the commentary from the two podcast hosts.
- Saager, who is around 30 years old and recently married said, “Never go into debt for a vacation. If you can’t afford to pay for the vacation, then don’t go.” He suggested visiting National Parks instead.
- Krystal, who is in her 40s, with 2 kids and a 2nd husband, disagreed saying something like: “Vacations are important for creating lasting lifelong memories. I you have to go into debt for it, I’m OK with that.”
You already know who I agree with here.
I have experience with both.
When I was a teen and a young adult, we were broke. Vacations were day trips to State Parks, weekend trips to a friend’s dorm, and cookouts. If we splurged, it was to rent a canoe or rowboat for an hour.
They were a blast.
Then, as I got older and felt we deserved a real vacation, I’d rent a hotel room for a week at a Lakeside Resort or the beach. We’d go out to eat every night. We’d pay for dog sitters while we were away. These are fabulous vacations. At the end of the week, my credit card balance would be $5K higher and I’d struggle to make minimum payments for the entire year just to not go over the limit. It took me decades to pay off this debt because by the time I got a little wiggle room, it was time for the next year’s vacation.
I have great memories from all of our vacations.
I have dreadful memories from the years of stress struggling to pay down the debt amassed during the expensive ones, while still providing for my family.
I have only visited Disney World for work related conferences where my company paid. They have high convention centers and hotels, so it was a convenient location for my Florida and Pittsburgh based employers. The hotels were fine. The food was fine. Our company paid for entertainment like “Harry Potter world” one night and paid for drinks and meals.
I didn’t love it. But I suspect a big part of that was the enforced mandatory feaux-socialization/this-is-fun environment of being at a work conference.
Still, I can think of about 1000 better ways to spend $10K that would be much more rewarding.