If you had $5000 for a week's family vacation, where would you go?

[AnnieW625]

$5,000 will includes airfare, hotel, and car or airfare and initial cruise ship costs. We live near major airports so that helps keep airfare costs down a lot. All other incidentals would be extra. We are a family of 4.

DH and I are in the baby stages of planning a family vacation for 2013 (minimum first potential year, but it will most likely be in late 2013 or early 2014) for our 10 yr. anniversary. We haven't been on a really nice "luxury" style trip since our honeymoon, which for two people air, car, and 4 star+ hotel (Fairmont, Maui) was $3800. We spent about another $1200 on food, helicopter trip (which at $300 was the most expensive thing we did), souvenirs, gas, and snorking (I think that was $150 or $200).

At WDW it could also include probably either at least the quick service dining plan and get a deluxe villa (Old Key West was the cheapest, I think), and regular park tickets. If we did a moderate or value we'd probably get a better dining plan as we'd have no where to cook.

To stay at the same hotel right now in Maui (or the neighboring Grand Wailea) it's about $6700 including air, hotel, and car.

A Western Carribean Disney cruise would be pretty inclusive too and I think we could do that for about the same price as a week at WDW or a week in Maui at a posh resort. I think the LA Disney Cruise is out because DH has no urge to go to Mexico at all, and with the Carribean you get more variety of stops.

Of course all of this isn't even a reality yet and I haven't contacted a travel agent about either option or doing a condo complex in Maui or renting points from a DVC member.

Am I totally off base with only wanting to budget $5K for the essential airfare, hotel, and car?

Also feel free to PM me if you don't want to discuss how much you have paid for vacations in the past on the board.

[khalloc]

Probably somewhere in the caribbean. Like Barbados or Turks & Caicos.

[crl]

We had a great time at WDW. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge (the cheapest of the deluxe resorts), had the dining plus (or whatever it is called when it includes two sit down meals per day) and flew from San Francisco (so not cheap flights). Oh, and we went over Thanksgiving so no discounts or cheap flights. Cost us about $6000.

Catherine

[bubbaray]

I would choose WDW. DH would choose Hawaii (we prefer Kauai over Maui). However, we are never near the $5k mark. Its always at least $6K, usually significantly north of that. We are generally flying out of Seattle, which is likely not too much more than LAX for Hawaii.

We are likely taking the girls to WDW in 2013 or 2014.

[TwinFoxes]

I say WDW, but go before DD2 turns 3. You save a ton of money, because you don't have to pay for her tix, and she eats for free. My girls went at 2.5, and LOVED it. They still talk about it, although I doubt they actually remember much.

[eh613c]

Have you considered going to Costa Rica or one of the islands in the Carribean? The last time DH and I went on a luxurious vacation was our honeymoon. We went to Italy for 10 days. We spent $7K for air fare, hotel, tranportation (trains and subway), food and souvenir. This was about 4 years ago.

[fivi2]

What kind of vacation do you want? You've been talking about WDW for a while, so I think you guys would like that, but it is a very different kind of vacation than, say, Hawaii. I don't know airfare from LA, but I think $5000 is doable at WDW (depending on food, hotel, etc).

[AnnieW625]

I say WDW, but go before DD2 turns 3. You save a ton of money, because you don't have to pay for her tix, and she eats for free. My girls went at 2.5, and LOVED it. They still talk about it, although I doubt they actually remember much.

I've been debating about that too, but I really want DD2 to be able to remember, but really that's what pictures, and videos are for right? As long as we go before April 29, 2013 we'll be fine. I wonder if spring break (usually the week after Easter) is as bad as after Christmas? I kind of refuse to take DD1 out of school so we won't have many options then, unless we go late August next year and deal with the heat and that might be pushing it savings wise too.

[katydid1971]

I got an email a couple months back about a Disney Resort on Hawaii. I really don't know anything about it but I think it sounds like a nice option. You might want to check it out.
http://resorts.disney.go.com/aulani-hawaii-resort/?CMP=KNC-DisAulani_BrandedMSN&s_kwcid=TC-20230-3477567795-e-460999506

[Green_Tea]

If I lived in CA and could do a quick and dirty 3 or 4 day trip to Disneyland, there's no way on God's green earth I'd spend $5K to go to WDW, especially to celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary.

I vote Costa Rica. Or Belize. Or somewhere in the Carribean. Or I'd look for beautiful places with cheap airfare, and splurge on a great hotel, exceptional meals, awesome pampering.

[AnnieW625]

If I lived in CA and could do a quick and dirty 3 or 4 day trip to Disneyland, there's no way on God's green earth I'd spend $5K to go to WDW, especially to celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary.

I vote Costa Rica. Or Belize. Or somewhere in the Carribean. Or I'd look for beautiful places with cheap airfare, and splurge on a great hotel, exceptional meals, awesome pampering.

We live 20 minutes from Disneyland. I kind of refuse to spend money to stay at a DL hotel because even with the annual pass discount it's not that great of deal. I can stay beachfront at the Hyatt in Huntington Beach or drive down and stay at the 5 star St. Regis in Monarch Beach for about the same price or less.

The trip doesn't really have to coincide with our anniversary it's just that we never travel, and we thought 10 yrs. would be a good time to plan a big family vacation, and honestly our kids haven't been anywhere cool and since we like regular Disneyland I think they'd like WDW; plus DH and I have never been, but we aren't Disney junkies either.

[jammytoast]

Greece. Yes, your airfare would be about 1/2 the cost but once there, weekly rentals are cheap and the experience is free! And probably the most kid friendly/tolerant country I've ever been to.

[alirebco]

I personally would not do WDW. I would do a beach destination since it's more relaxing for the adults but the kids will still have a blast playing at the beach.

[BeachBum]

ETA: OOps my bad. :( I didn't read carefully enough. You only wanted hotel, air and car to = $5K. Disregard my comments!

I think you are on the low side for budgeting...especially if you are thinking this is going to be a big special vacation.
We are a family of 5, but my youngest two are twins under three. We recently did a week driving trip where we rented an off season condo. We only did one activity, ate many meals in the room (2 dinners, 6 breakfasts, 3 or 4 lunches), and did not buy any significant souvenir type stuff. I would call it a very unremarkable, (but still fun and enjoyable) vacation. We spent at least $3500.

We've done a Disney cruise (once again, driving) and it was a great time. If you enjoy cruising at all, I do think you would enjoy this. It might be that "taste" of disney, without it being ONLY disney. That said, I think a balcony room is a must. With little kids it is so nice to be able to sit and talk after they fall asleep. I think cruise only is going to run you around $5K depending on when you go. I would like to do this again once my youngest can go to the kids club. Another biggie for any cruise is to make sure your kids are potty trained so they can use the pool.

You could not pay me to take a Disney World Vacation in March or April, June, July, August, or September. Seriously.

HTH.

[fivi2]

I've been debating about that too, but I really want DD2 to be able to remember, but really that's what pictures, and videos are for right? As long as we go before April 29, 2013 we'll be fine. I wonder if spring break (usually the week after Easter) is as bad as after Christmas? I kind of refuse to take DD1 out of school so we won't have many options then, unless we go late August next year and deal with the heat and that might be pushing it savings wise too.

I would wait until the Fantasyland/Toontown construction is done, if I were you. I am not positive when that would be, but I would try to wait for that!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Yeah, nothing around Easter or June, July, Aug, Sept at WDW for me either. Butt sweat is the first thing that comes to my mind...

I think 10 years is a big milestone, and I would like to celebrate it all together - and do something where everyone is entertained. We aren't beach people really (even though I grew up living on the beach and DH has had a beach house his whole life) so doing something fun and active is more our style. Did you say a Disney Cruise is out of the question?

[BillK]

A week on Nantucket. But we can drive there in a day.

[Raidra]

If the kids are coming, I'd choose WDW, hands down. Yes, it's a lot of work (though it should be relatively easy for you guys, since your kiddos won't be too little), but I just thought it was SO nice not to have to worry about whether something was kid-friendly, and it was ridiculously easy to keep them entertained without having to think about it at all.

We're not beach people, and we don't really care for the heat (we went to WDW in early March), so that affects my choice as well.

[Jen841]

A Disney Cruise/Parks trip. I have no idea of that fits your budget. I have heard great things.

Plan B for me would be Atlantis, but keep in mind I have 2 kids who can swim.

[TwinFoxes]

Greece. Yes, your airfare would be about 1/2 the cost but once there, weekly rentals are cheap and the experience is free! And probably the most kid friendly/tolerant country I've ever been to.

Not from LA, for four people, I think the airfare would be almost all the budget. I think maybe several of these suggestions are basing prices on east coast airports. Like Costa Rica, almost all flights from LA go through Miami. I took a direct flight from LA, but it was hard to come by. And they're not cheap. (I loved CR, but it's a long flight from LA with kids).

OP, what about an Alaska cruise? It's beautiful, but I don't know cost.

Or, how about a National Park lodge? Some are really beautiful. Like Crater Lake, or Grand Canyon.

But honestly, we had a blast at WDW. :)

[spanannie]

I personally wouldn't take a 2 year old to WDW. We've been 3 times -- twice with a 2 year old -- and with child 3, I'm definitely waiting til she's 4 to go again. I know I'm in the minority on this thinking, but I think they get the most enjoyment 4+. It's a big ordeal and expense to do the WDW experience, so I think it's best to go when they can get the most enjoyment.

[justlearning]

honestly our kids haven't been anywhere cool and since we like regular Disneyland I think they'd like WDW; plus DH and I have never been, but we aren't Disney junkies either.

It made me smile to see you write that your kids haven't been anywhere cool. My guess is that they get to go to the beach often, considering where you live. My kids consider the beach to be VERY cool! Your kids have also gotten to go to Disneyland, another place that kids consider cool. And you may have even taken advantage of other "cool" Southern CA places like Sea World or Legoland.

So personally I'd be more focused on an enjoyable, relaxing vacation with DH without kids rather than worrying about the kids having a vacation that they probably won't remember anyways.

As far as the WDW idea, that's not a place that I would spend a lot of money to go to. We were there last spring for my son's Make-a-Wish and we had special passes that allowed us to go to the front of the lines, and we still found it way too crowded. There's NO way that I would have wanted to wait in line 45+ minutes for a silly two-minute ride like Dumbo. And if you're already familiar with Disneyland, then your kids have already gotten to experience many of the same rides that are in Magic Kingdom (the WDW park that would be most interesting to kids your kids' ages).

[ahisma]

I'd rent a cottage in Kauai. In a heartbeat. Hanalei or Princeville.

[Melbel]

We went to Barbados for our honeymoon and Turks & Caicos for our 10 year anniversary (without kids). Both were beautiful and relaxing. We have been to WDW many times (a couple hours away) and have taken family vacations on an Eastern Caribbean cruise (ship - Caribbean princess), Western Caribbean cruise (Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas) and Atlantis.

Note that on most cruise ships, the kids need to be potty trained to go in the majority of pools, and supervised kids' clubs tend to be for kids over 2 as well. Our big kids loved both of our cruises, but we plan to wait until DD2 is 4 to take her on a cruise so that she can participate more. There are definitely other family friendly ships other than Disney that are much easier on the budget. There were literally hundreds of kids in our kids age groups on our cruises and the kids' programs were very well run. We liked using the kids' clubs at dinner time so that DH and I could have a peaceful meal together but we still had plenty of family time too. The kids would have loved more time in the kids' area. www.cruisecritic.com (http://www.cruisecritic.com) provides great info on the family friendly ships. Also note that most Western Caribbean itineraries tend to go to Mexico (Cozumel).

For WDW, it is definitely crowded post Easter/spring break time and it can be very hot. It is not our favorite time of year to go, but it is not nearly as bad as the summer months IME. Given your experience with Disneyland, WDW would not be at the top of my list for a special trip.

If Atlantis is in your price point, I would definitely recommend checking into it further. All three of our DC (10, 8 and 2 at the time) loved it there. We paid about $4,500 total travelling from Florida and staying in a junior suite in the Reef (with a family of 5, it was important to have more room).

Turks and Caicos has a Beaches resort, but it is pricey (well above your budget when we have checked in the past).

I would LOVE to take a family vacation to Hawaii, but dread the travel from the East coast.

[StantonHyde]

For something special, I would shoot for Costa Rica!! I guess you have to decide some priorities--is lux lodging worth it or are you ok with decent lodging in an awesome place? I think you could get a condo in Hawaii for less than a lux villa in Disney.

I can't stand Disney but that's me. I honestly would rather go where stuff is REAL vs. fake. And I have been to DL and WDW (I will never go to Florida again except Dec-Feb, waaaaaay too hot and humid for my family)

I would look at cruising in Alaska during the summer--that is a dream vacation for me!

[crl]

Oh, how about Yellowstone? I will not go with dd until she is older because I am paranoid about the geothermal features. But I love it.

Catherine

[AnnieW625]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

We do go to the beach quite a bit, but honestly the water quite dirty because there is a breakwater and the LA River flows into the ocean and then the breakwater kicks it back to the beach. So we usually don't go more than a few feet in the water, but it is fun to go down there. Once the girls can swim better we'll drive down to San Clemente or Carlsbad for a weekend or even the day.

A Disney Cruise is definitely on the short list of things to do we have friends who have been on them and loved them. We have never cruised before, but I would definitely wait until DD2 is 3 or 4 to go so both girls could do the kids club. I agree that if we went I would want a balcony. If I could talk DH into doing one of the Mexican ones from Long Beach it would seriously save us some cash because all we'd need is a taxi ride to and from the port or a relative to drop us off and pick us up. DH's family however immigrated from Mexico in the 1910s and DH seriously has no urge to ever go there; he says they left for a reason.

I have thought about Nantucket, and Cape Cod too. Our last vacation (where we didn't visit family for the entire trip) was in Oct., 2008 and we stayed in Boston and we had a great time. We went to wedding on the SE corner of MA and we had a great time. We did go to NY and see DH's grandma so we didn't have any extra time to spend in the area otherwise we would've probably checked out Cape Cod. That trip costs us just under $2,500 including airfare, car, meals, some light grocery shopping, and a VRBO rental (which we'd stay at again).

A friend of mine's dad has a place to rent in the Outer Banks of North Carolina too so that would be another option and we've never been there before.

My in laws live 90 minutes south of Jackson Hole (you pass right by their house getting there from most of the western US if you are going through SW Wyoming). We went to Yellowstone for the day in 2007 and it was nice, but crowded, and it was hot. Old Faithful was really cool as were the geothermal pools, DD1 stayed in her stroller the whole time because she wasn't walking yet. I am not much of a camper so I'd probably splurge and stay at the hotel overnight if we go again. I think we'll most likely end up in Wyoming next summer because it will have been 5 yrs. since we had last been there. My in laws say that September is a great time to go to Yellowstone, but we'll probably end up there again in June or early July.

[citymama]

Kauai. Oh yeah.

[Tondi G]

I would do Maui or Caribbean.

My DH is hell bent on doing a caribbean cruise with our boys on RCCL Allure of the seas (we honeymooned on a southern caribbean route). We have done 2 mexican riviera cruises with our children and loved both of them. It was so convenient to leave right from San Pedro, no packing restrictions cause we didn't have to fly and no airfare costs! Bummer that Royal Caribbean pulled their ships from the west coast / mexican riviera. Don't miss out on other cruise lines besides Disney. We really enjoy RCCL. Their new ships Allure (and Oasis) are HUGE and have a ton onboard (zip line, H2O zone, flowrider, mini golf, carousel, rock climbing wall etc), great stuff for the kids and cruise the Caribbean. Oh and yeah, Balcony Cabins are the way to go!

Other than that I would keep my eyes open for a great deal on the Beaches resort in Turks and Caicos. I have heard nothing but good things about it. Sounds like an amazing family vacation.

[AnnieW625]

Bummer that Royal Caribbean pulled their ships from the west coast / mexican riviera. Don't miss out on other cruise lines besides Disney. We really enjoy RCCL. Their new ships Allure (and Oasis) are HUGE and have a ton onboard (zip line, H2O zone, flowrider, mini golf, carousel, rock climbing wall etc), great stuff for the kids and cruise the Caribbean. Oh and yeah, Balcony Cabins are the way to go!

Other than that I would keep my eyes open for a great deal on the Beaches resort in Turks and Caicos. I have heard nothing but good things about it. Sounds like an amazing family vacation.

Really that is a bummer because we have heard great things about RCCL too, and yeah San Pedro is pretty darn convenient. My best friends did the 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise for their honeymoon in 2005 and loved it. I refuse to go on Carnival because of the recent issues with people getting stranded in 2009 so now I am not sure what else is out there. I do have caviar dreams (I would love to go on a Crystal Cruise, even though we'd be the youngest people or the only people on the boat with kids!) when it comes to traveling though. Now I have to find out what other lines are available in our area too.

I would love to do an Alaska cruise too. I wanted to do this for our honeymoon, but DH didn't want to postpone the honeymoon to June or July, and we got married in February so that was a no go.

[daniele_ut]

Unless you book REALLY far in advance or on a "kids sail free" promo with Disney Cruise Line, I don't think you would be able to meet your $5000 budget when you factor in airfare from the west coast. We looked into a 4 night cruise on the Disney Dream in an Oceanview (we wanted inside but it wasn't available) for a cruise this August and the quote was well over $5000 before tips. Another member of this board had booked the same cabin class on the day booking opened for that sailing using the past guest discount and I think she paid in the neighborhood of $2800.

We are going to WDW for 7 nights instead and taking a 4 night cruise on Carnival and the breakdown for cost for our trip looks like this:

Airfare: $820 (used a companion ticket for 1 and FF miles for 1)
First night at Hilton DTD: $70.00 including taxes on Last Minute Travel
Rental car for 12 days:$303.00 using carrentalsavers.com with Enterprise
Gas for the week: $100.00
7 day park hopper plus Water parks tickets for all 4: $819.00 using the Disney YES Individual enrollment program
Exchange fee for 7 nights in a 3 bedroom timeshare condo: $140.00
Food for the week: $700
Parking at WDW: $100
Parking at Port Canaveral Park N Cruise: $20
Cruise totals for 4, inside cabin: $1136.00
Tips for 4 on cruise:$160.00
Planned excursions: $250.00 (Beach days in both ports)

That puts us at $4618.00 with some wiggle room in the $5000 budget we allotted. This is by far the most expensive family vacation we've ever taken and we won't do another like it for a number of years.

[mom2binsd]

I know a lot of friends from Canada go to Dominican Republic and stay at some family friendly resorts, and it's pretty reasonable and very safe.

[clc053103]

I was at grand wailea last year. We didn't bring DS, and we made the right decision. there really isn't much for kids to do but sit on the beach and play in the mini watermark area- which is ridiculously overcrowded, they rope drop at 7 am for chairs. the coworkers who brought kids quickly regretted it. They did find some sort of train ride for entertainment but not much more As a family, we would much rather do WDW (6 yo ds is going on his 5 th trip this year) or Disney cruise (April 2012!)