How much do you spend on vacation?

[MSWR0319]

I'm in the process of planning a summer vacation. DH came home and wants us to go to FL with him when he goes to a conference in Orlando. Well, after booking all of the hotels for the first trip, I'm balking at paying the tickets to go to Discovery Cove in Orlando. That's really the only thing we'd do down there, as the rest of the time we'd stay at the hotel (JW Marriott) and explore the resort. But still. I just feel like we're throwing money away for all of this stuff. How much do you spend on a typical vacation?

[HannaAddict]

Now, quite a bit. If you have hotel payed for I wouldn’t sweat tickets to events and doing fun stuff as lo g as you can afford it. It is vacation and different experiences. Orlando isn’t really cultural so have fun and leave the hotel to explore. ETA - I wouldn’t do a Sea World product though or at least watch Blackfish and read about the stress and awfulness to the mammals that are subjected to tourists as part of dolphin “experiences.” It is horrible. I would not participate in that. Does Orlando have a regular zoo or spend a day at Universal and go on rides and see Harry Potter land. Much easier than a day at Disney.


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[TwinFoxes]

How much is there to do at the resort? I mean, I've stayed at a lot of JW Marriotts and Marriott Marquis, and none would entice me to stay and explore for more than 1/2 a day if there's outside stuff to do. I haven't been to the Orlando one though. How old are your kids? If they're on the youngish side, Legoland would be fun and not that expensive (compared to WDW). You can also just walk around Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney). There are street performers and the Lego Store is cool and has activities. And I agree, if your hotel is paid that's a big chunk of a typical vacation budget.

And there's always Gatorland...

[marymoo86]

It depends.

We generally do a beach week every year ~$2k. A couple of long weekend trips ~$6-700, and every couple of years add in a bigger trip $3-5k.

I'm a little confused - isn't your DH's company paying for the hotel? Why are you booking? Wouldn't you just share his room? How long is the conference? Are you paying airfare or driving?

[*myfoursons]

We always end up at $7-10k for our domestic trips. 4 kids add up. We have to get home rentals, family suites, etc. 6 plane fares. Larger car rental.

We also travel overseas every other year to visit dh’s family and that costs way more.

I’m of the mind that vacations are something to splurge on if necessary. The memories and experiences are worth it to me.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Pretty sure I’ve never spent more than $5k (and I think even that trip was closer to $4k). $1-3k is my norm but I admit that I don’t always factor in all the spending that we do on trips.

Discovery Cove is crazy pricey. I don’t think I could do it. :)


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[scrooks]

We usually end up spending $3-5k on a bigger trip every 1.5 years or so. Disney is always $4-5k and even if we drive to the beach it’s $2k at least.
ETA We are a family of 5

[MSWR0319]

It depends.

We generally do a beach week every year ~$2k. A couple of long weekend trips ~$6-700, and every couple of years add in a bigger trip $3-5k.

I'm a little confused - isn't your DH's company paying for the hotel? Why are you booking? Wouldn't you just share his room? How long is the conference? Are you paying airfare or driving?

I'm planning a separate trip right now for this summer, which is what I was booking hotels for. DH's company is paying for his room during the conference. We would be using points for airfare.

We've done Disney twice, the kids have no interest in universal, and I'm not a big fan of venturing out on my own in big cities I have no knowledge of. DH will be in meetings all day for 3 days. The kids thought the kids' program that is available at the Marriott sounded fun, which is 2 hours a day. They have a lazy river that my kids could spend hours in as well. Maybe this isn't as good of an idea as it sounded. It's over spring break so we'd at least get out of the cold winter.

[HannaAddict]

We always end up at $7-10k for our domestic trips. 4 kids add up. We have to get home rentals, family suites, etc. 6 plane fares. Larger car rental.

We also travel overseas every other year to visit dh’s family and that costs way more.

I’m of the mind that vacations are something to splurge on if necessary. The memories and experiences are worth it to me.

It does add up with more than two kids. We have three kids and between airfare (usually. not coach), two or even three hotel rooms or suites (this summer teen had his own room for the first time on trips) and we stay at nice places these days. The larger car rentals and more really do add up. We can afford it and when we were less well off, kids were smaller and we could share a suite though we’ve always purchased each their own seat even as infants. We think travel is a great thing to spend money on though and we do quite a lot of experiences, behind the scenes, private tours, etc. if in a cultural spot and had the private Disney escort to skip all the lines and it was worth every single penny. We stayed at the Hyatt instead and same price as if stayed on site but had to wait in lines.


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[HannaAddict]

I'm planning a separate trip right now for this summer, which is what I was booking hotels for. DH's company is paying for his room during the conference. We would be using points for airfare.

We've done Disney twice, the kids have no interest in universal, and I'm not a big fan of venturing out on my own in big cities I have no knowledge of. DH will be in meetings all day for 3 days. The kids thought the kids' program that is available at the Marriott sounded fun, which is 2 hours a day. They have a lazy river that my kids could spend hours in as well. Maybe this isn't as good of an idea as it sounded. It's over spring break so we'd at least get out of the cold winter.

I don’t think of Orlando as a big city. Much more suburban and not scary. With a lazy river and nice weather, I’d do it. Sleep in, hit the pool and lazy river, eat lunch, if kids want to do kids club do that for a day and get a mani:pedi for you on site for $$$ or look up reviews of best salons nearby. I’ve taken kids to Paris and London on my own before and it would be better to be at a resort than in the cold and entertaining them alone over spring break. Especially if you can use miles for flights. Orlando is easy and I think there are some board members who can give you specific tips.


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[jgenie]

It depends on whether DH is traveling with us or not. If he’s coming along, we’re well over $10,000. We generally do international travel with him and he’s a seasoned business traveler so wants luxurious accommodations wherever we are. If I’m traveling with just the kids we can travel for a lot less. The kids and I can travel the whole summer for considerably less than what we spend on one trip with DH.

[candaceb]

I agree with HA - I would not do Discovery Cover for ethical reasons.
However, if you have a rental car and you're willing to explore a bit there are some off-the-beaten track attractions like Gatorland and Weeki-watchee springs (sp?).

[AngB]

I agree with HA - I would not do Discovery Cover for ethical reasons.

I have seen Blackfish and knew SeaWorld is bad, etc. but what's the deal with Discovery Cove?

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have seen Blackfish and knew SeaWorld is bad, etc. but what's the deal with Discovery Cove?

Owned by Seaworld. Also, using dolphins for entertainment (swim with dolphins, hold onto a fin while swimming with them) is an issue.


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[WatchingThemGrow]

If you do Discovery Cove, include a day at Aquatica. We went a few times this year and loved it. In the winter, the water is heated and they have great water slides! There are 2 lazy rivers. It’s really a nice water park!

Also, the 2 water parks at Disney are fun (not heated) and you can go to BOTH parks with a one day ticket. There’s no shuttle between them anymore, so you’ll need a car.

I never total the amount, but try really hard to get deals. I guess for off-mountain lodging, flights with airline credits and BOGo ski rentals, and lift tickets, we will be spending $5-6k for a week of skiing at spring break. [emoji15]


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[ahisma]

It totally depends. We have 2 adults, 2 kids. We spent about $5K for a month long trip last summer (Nova Scotia and Maine). We're spending the same for a 10 day trip to Kauai this August. I'm spending about $700 for four days in Miami.

We watch for airfare deals, use airbnbs, camp, use credit card points, etc.

[mom2binsd]

For the last two years I have taken my two children to St. Pete Beach. It's the 3 of us. I drive the 17 hrs, we stay at an old school motel with a kitchenette for 100 a night for 5 nights. (it's a 90 second walk to the sand). Total for the week was about 1000 for gas, motel, food, a few souvenirs. We eat breakfast and lunch in the room, go out for dinner. We don't do amusement parks. A friend lives there and we hang with her borrow her kayaks, hang out if they are camping etc. We hang at the beach, the motel has a great pool, it backs onto a canal so DS csn fish whenever he wants. The other motel guests are so friendly, all are Canadian like me and we've gotten to know them, have hapoy hour etc. The motel would surely not meet most peoples requirements, but it's safe , clean, quiet, so I don't mind the 80s decor, tiny bathroom etc.

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[ahisma]

For the last two years I have taken my two children to St. Pete Beach. It's the 3 of us. I drive the 17 hrs, we stay at an old school motel with a kitchenette for 100 a night for 5 nights. (it's a 90 second walk to the sand). Total for the week was about 1000 for gas, motel, food, a few souvenirs. We eat breakfast and lunch in the room, go out for dinner. We don't do amusement parks. A friend lives there and we hang with her borrow her kayaks, hang out if they are camping etc. We hang at the beach, the motel has a great pool, it backs onto a canal so DS csn fish whenever he wants. The other motel guests are so friendly, all are Canadian like me and we've gotten to know them, have hapoy hour etc. The motel would surely not meet most peoples requirements, but it's safe , clean, quiet, so I don't mind the 80s decor, tiny bathroom etc.

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I'd love to know what motel this is - it sounds like exactly the type of place we love. We stayed in quite a few places like that in Canada last summer;)

[jgenie]

I'd love to know what motel this is - it sounds like exactly the type of place we love. We stayed in quite a few places like that in Canada last summer;)

Would you mind sharing your lodging in Maine and Nova Scotia?

[KpbS]

I'm planning a separate trip right now for this summer, which is what I was booking hotels for. DH's company is paying for his room during the conference. We would be using points for airfare.

We've done Disney twice, the kids have no interest in universal, and I'm not a big fan of venturing out on my own in big cities I have no knowledge of. DH will be in meetings all day for 3 days. The kids thought the kids' program that is available at the Marriott sounded fun, which is 2 hours a day. They have a lazy river that my kids could spend hours in as well. Maybe this isn't as good of an idea as it sounded. It's over spring break so we'd at least get out of the cold winter.

I think it sounds like a very fun trip!

[smiles33]

It depends on your vacation style and your kids' personalities, but if DH had a work trip, I'm more than happy to just lounge with the kids in a nice hotel. I would find it a stressful to navigate a new city with kids but without DH. Plus, I know my kids would love to spend a couple hours in the lazy river, head back for lunch, watch a movie or read a book, and then head back to the lazy river again. If your kids are old enough and good enough swimmers to not need you in the water with them, then I'd sit in a lounger and have a cocktail while reading magazines or a fun "beach novel" that is an easy read. You can also jump into the lazy river with them, too, but I always had to drag my kids out when they were too young to be left alone as they would happily stay in for hours.

We usually get vacation rentals, so I'm not sure how much a nice hotel resort runs these days. But generally speaking, I try to stay under $300/night for a 2 bedroom. In some cities, it's been easy to stay under $200 and get a decent 2 bedroom in a convenient location but not so easy in very big cities. We generally pay under $500/person for airfare, but we really like to eat so I budget $200/day for food. We don't do tours/activities so almost all of our vacations are under $5,000 for a 5 day vacation.

[pinkmomagain]

We splurge on trips. As our family has matured (2 of my 3 kids are adults now, lol) we value experiences over things. It bring us together as a family.

[123LuckyMom]

We also splurge on trips. We take one vacation a year that’s about $10k, sometimes less, but never much more. The goal for any additional vacations throughout the year is to spend under $5k total, though sometimes we’ve spent more and sometimes much less. Weekends away can add up quickly, especially if they include expensive tickets to shows or multiple museums, but we really enjoy traveling and participating in both cultural and nature-oriented activities. We want the kids to get to see different parts of the world and have lots of exposure to different types of art, architecture, dance, music, and theater as well as to different ecosystems and types of natural beauty. We also love to go camping, and we’ve spent many a night in a cheap motel, too, so many of our trips are not fancy. The kids have stayed both at The Four Seasons and a Motel 6, so, diversity!

[Kindra178]

The newer universal water park is amazing. Definitely do that!


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[DualvansMommy]

The newer universal water park is amazing. Definitely do that!


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I would do that over Discovery cove any day! DH’s cousin works at universal and told us the new water park is truly great.

For us; staying without venturing out beyond the JV Marriott would get old after 2 days. I can see what you’re doing with our family but it’ll be a day or two max before we get the urge to go and explore. I don’t see Orlando as completely unfamiliar area to venture out on my own with kids. I see that if it’s Hong Kong, Tokyo’s or any of major city in Japan.

Like pp said how much one spend for vacation is really subjective, varied and time of year account for lot of factors.




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[khalloc]

Our vacations vary. Usually in the summer we just go to Cape Cod for a week. House rental is about $2000. Then we might do a whale watch ($150?), and besides that its maybe a couple of lunches/dinners out and mini golf. so maybe another $400 in eating out. the other food is basically what we would spend at home.

If we go away on a trip, we usually go to the Caribbean. This April we are going to Aruba and I guess we spent more than usual. We are going to an all-inclusive for a week and DH refuses to have us all in 1 room so we have 2 rooms which is about $4000. Then he had to buy our airfare which was insanely expensive and then on a whim he decided to upgrade us to 1st class (kids have never flown 1st class, and I only have on my honeymoon or a few other times when we have upgraded with miles). So I bet our airfare cost as much as the hotel.

Normally when we go to the Caribbean we rent a villa for about $2500/week and we get airfare for $500/pp. So that would be about $4500 total + I'd say I spend another $1500 on food/fun. So maybe $6000 for the week for 4 of us.

[SASM]

I agree with the Universal Studios suggestion, especially if your kids are into Harry Potter or like simulation rides, as most of their rides tend to be either roller coasters or simulators. The Harry Potter portions are great.

We went to Discovery Cove in November. It was a neat experience.
POSITIVES: Very laid back; my kids still talk about swimming with the rays (unlimited); the kids just wandered and did their own thing (mine were 11, 13, and 15); people of all shapes and sizes were walking around in their wet suits so great for the body conscious IMO; 2/5 of us lived in the lazy river for most of the day; I'll say it again, it was just easy.

NEGATIVES: Very pricey; the dolphin portion was over in a blink - 30 minutes flew by; the above statement could also be a negative for the body conscious if it takes a while feeling comfortable in the wet suit; the food & beverages were free flowing but not exactly the healthiest of options IMO.

Honestly, I wouldn't do it again BUT my kids loved the place so I am glad that we went. We didn't do any other add-on options. They were content with the dolphin thing and the ray swimming.

My cousin is not a fan of WDW...he swears that Fun Spot is so much better. ;) He is a roller coaster and skinny-ride kind of guy. So...something to look into. There really are a ton of things to do in Orlando on a budget.

Now...onto the actual question. Our budget varies. Right now I am trying to plan a "budget" 7-10 day vacation to Europe for myself and my girls as the boys are going on a 3-wk boy scout backpacking thing. I am having a very difficult time. I can easily just go to a budget all-inclusive Cancun vacation through Costco but I want to expose my kids to some culture instead of having a wonderful laid-back vacation. So...I am currently stressing out.

[TwinFoxes]

He is a roller coaster and skinny-ride kind of guy. So...something to look into. There really are a ton of things to do in Orlando on a budget.



What's a "skinny-ride"?

[Philly Mom]

This is an interesting question. I don't nickel and dime vacations so don't necessarily have a firm grasp. We are lucky that two of our yearly vacation are to my parents who live in warm, vacation spot. The vacation is free, but our cats can cost up to $1000 per trip. We also take one two week vacation to England a year. We stay in the same cottage which runs around $2800 for the whole time. We also use hotel points for one night in London on our flight out. Our tickets are normally free either with Amex points or miles. DH travels a lot so that helps and our credit cards give us miles. If we use miles, we still have to pay for taxes so it's about $800-900 for all four tickets. While we are there, we tend to cook dinner in every night and breakfast most mornings. Lunch is often out. We also do whatever we want while we are there. We probably spend an additional $2000 while there. Plus we also have to pay for our cats care and one needs medical help so that is expensive. That can run us close to $1000 or more depending on health issues while we are gone.

[arivecchi]

I have a hard time spending on vacations too! We do a lot of travel for sports now so our only real vacation is spring break and we spend a few grand at most. We don’t splurge on resorts. We pay a lot for plane tix and rent a nice place and eat good food. I cannot stomach paying lots for a resort type vacay. Just can’t do it.


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[Philly Mom]

I have a hard time spending on vacations too! We do a lot of travel for sports now so our only real vacation is spring break and we spend a few grand at most. We don’t splurge on resorts. We pay a lot for plane tix and rent a nice place and eat good food. I cannot stomach paying lots for a resort type vacay. Just can’t do it.


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I agree with some of this too. It's why I can't imagine doing any of the Orlando things or going to some other resort. The cost for a manufactured experience does not work for me. However, I don't even think about how much our annual trip to England costs or how much a road trip to Maine might cost. We will go see my brother in WA state later this year. I won't think about cost for everything we may do.

[ahisma]

I agree with some of this too. It's why I can't imagine doing any of the Orlando things or going to some other resort. The cost for a manufactured experience does not work for me. However, I don't even think about how much our annual trip to England costs or how much a road trip to Maine might cost. We will go see my brother in WA state later this year. I won't think about cost for everything we may do.

This is us. I cannot justify the resort cost because we really just don't like resorts. We do pay for experiences (and lately, airfare). We tend to split our meals between DIY (easier and more convenient) and nice meals. I have no desire to go out to eat 3x / day, I'd rather grab toast at our Airbnb, pack a lunch so we don't have to stop exploring, and grab a nice dinner somewhere.

[AnnieW625]

Probably between $1500-$2000 a year and the bulk of that is hotel or Air B N B if, and try to keep airfare at $200 or less per person or we drive. We stay on the west coast so that helps keep airfare prices lower. The only west coast states we haven’t done for vacation are New Mexico, Idaho, Washington, and Montana. We usually end up spending a day or two with family.

We are spontaneous travelers so I am pretty sure that Disney World wouldn’t be an ideal vacation for us. We would have fun as we love the rides, but the stress of having to trip plan excessively would drive us all nuts especially DH. I could see us road tripping for 3-5 days in Florida and then spending 2-3 days at Universal over Disney just because that seems less stressful overall.

This summer we are going on a cruise with my dad’s family to Scandinavia (just DH and myself) so that will be something special and the kids are going to Wyoming with my in-laws for 3 weeks. I haven’t set a spending budget for that trip as my Grandma is “spending our inheritance” on the trip so it isn’t costing us anything but spending money, but we have already bought tickets for Wyoming (the in laws are picking the kids up in their RV and driving there via Vegas, and then DH and I are flying there and picking them up after our trip) and those tickets will be paid for this month. We stay with my in-laws in Wyoming as well, and will be there for 5 days over 4th of July.

I am hoping we can pull of Hawaii in the summer of 2020. We will be moving and will have a lot going on and DD1 will be graduating from 8th grade and she has been wanting to go to Hawaii for years.

Dd1 also wants to go on the Washington DC trip that some classmates families are planning over spring break in 2020 and I really don’t want to deny her that option.


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[SASM]

What's a "skinny-ride"? sorry...Autocorrected “Spinny ride”. 😉

[mom2binsd]

This is an interesting question. I don't nickel and dime vacations so don't necessarily have a firm grasp. We are lucky that two of our yearly vacation are to my parents who live in warm, vacation spot. The vacation is free, but our cats can cost up to $1000 per trip. We also take one two week vacation to England a year. We stay in the same cottage which runs around $2800 for the whole time. We also use hotel points for one night in London on our flight out. Our tickets are normally free either with Amex points or miles. DH travels a lot so that helps and our credit cards give us miles. If we use miles, we still have to pay for taxes so it's about $800-900 for all four tickets. While we are there, we tend to cook dinner in every night and breakfast most mornings. Lunch is often out. We also do whatever we want while we are there. We probably spend an additional $2000 while there. Plus we also have to pay for our cats care and one needs medical help so that is expensive. That can run us close to $1000 or more depending on health issues while we are gone.I don't understand how cats cost 1000 dollars ??? That's my budget for our entire Spring break trip for 3 humans?

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[smiles33]

I don't understand how cats cost 1000 dollars ??? That's my budget for our entire Spring break trip for 3 humans?

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I bet it is to pay for specialized cat boarding at a vet hospital or an expensive house-sitter to accommodate her cats' medicine dosing schedule. Our dog's boarding facility charges $50/day (per pet!) and if we're gone for 6 days, that is $300 right there. If I had 2 dogs, that would be $600. But he doesn't need special medicine/attention so he's in a large facility. Specialized care will be even more expensive. A local dog walking service that we used to use charges $25/visit (and minimum 2 visits/day). We paid for 3 visits/day when we first adopted our dog as he wasn't used to being home alone for 12 hours at a time.

[Philly Mom]

I bet it is to pay for specialized cat boarding at a vet hospital or an expensive house-sitter to accommodate her cats' medicine dosing schedule. Our dog's boarding facility charges $50/day (per pet!) and if we're gone for 6 days, that is $300 right there. If I had 2 dogs, that would be $600. But he doesn't need special medicine/attention so he's in a large facility. Specialized care will be even more expensive. A local dog walking service that we used to use charges $25/visit (and minimum 2 visits/day). We paid for 3 visits/day when we first adopted our dog as he wasn't used to being home alone for 12 hours at a time.

That is correct. We have to medically board one cat because she needs insulin twice a day and she won’t allow cat sitters. Weekends and holidays cost extra at the animal hospital. She has been sick before while there so that is extra. We also have another cat who is home. We still have to have our normal sitter come in and feed her at our house. It is ridiculous but since two of our vacations are free when we see my parents, it isn’t as awful as it could be.


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[marinkitty]

We travel a lot. And travel is my first love, so I'll always put dollars there at the expense of other things that I don't care as much about. We have trips where we splurge and trips where we don't and lots and lots of trips that are a mix of both. I'd travel on a shoestring over not traveling at all. And I'd forgo buying any new clothes or a new car before giving up our travel plans. But I know that's probably a minority view.

With that all said, I remember our vacation to Disney back when the kids were small made me choke on the expense. It's so much money for what you are getting (IMO, I know Disney is the happiest place on earth for many). So I totally understand OP's hesitancy. That said, I also think going all that way and then sitting in the hotel would make for a miserable trip. If you are there, might as well go for it and then your kids will have the memory and you don't necessarily ever need to go back (we won't!). Seek out a mix of high and low cost activities - there is a lot more to do than just the parks, so focus on the one they will love the most and then find some other free or cheap things to do to go alongside and then use the resort to fill up the rest.

[SnuggleBuggles]

If the weather in Orlando had been warmer, we were thinking of a spur of the moment trip a few weeks ago. We wouldn't have gone to any parks. We were simply planning to hang at a great resort. We'd have probably stayed at a Universal hotel and hung out at the pool, played poolside games, went bowling, played some mini golf, and just relaxed and enjoyed some warmer weather. I don't see anything un-fun about a non park visit. I didn't want to drive otherwise there are plenty of things I could add (love Kennedy Space Center). In OP's case, she'd be tagging along on a work trip not just having randomly picked somewhere. That's just making the best of things- and making it easy. Relaxation+ warmth + a good book and fun= a great time. :)

[jgenie]

I would jump at the chance to tag along with DH. I’m used to having the kids on my own due to DH’s travel schedule so we wouldn’t have any trouble finding stuff to do. Having our lodging paid would take a huge chunk of the expense out.