[lisalovesmickey]

Ok. Here is a weird question but I'm gonna ask anyway.

How much do you think a WDW Vacation will cost in 5 years.

Example: In September 2005 for a family of 3 to go to WDW and Stay at AK for 7 nights with the Ultimate Park Hopper Ticket and Insurance costs $2656.66. How much do you think that price will change?

The reason why I am trying to get a general idea is (sniff, sniff) my next opportunity to go to WDW will be in 5 years for my son's birthday. I am starting to save now and I would like to get an idea of how much is needed just to get there.

I hope this makes sense!

Thanks a bunch!

Lisa

[rlander]

Here's my guess. I think Disney will keep up with inflation and the cost of living. If the increase follows the rate of inflation, which is around 2.14% per year, then the increase in five years would be around 10.7%. So my guess is a vacation that costs $2656 today, will cost $2940 in five years.

Here's the chart I used:
2004 1.000
2005 1.016
2006 1.035
2007 1.058
2008 1.082
2009 1.107

[mickey]

I agree with rlander to a point. It is possible the vacation may not bee much different than what you listed. With the cost of tickets for 7 day stays decreasing a bit with the recent announcements, the increased ticket cost over 5 years may bring that cost up to the Ultimate price for 2005. The room cost may vary wildly though. For years, Disney was raising room prices 10% - 15% per year. The last three or four years, they haven't changed much, just $5 here or there. It is possible we may see those 15% increases again, and maybe not.

If I had to guess, I would think it would be around $3,000 to $3,500, in that range. If things continue as they are, the price should be towards the lower end, if the economy really picks up, might be towards the higher end.

[MerlinMatt]

It's difficult to answer because there's no doubt that WDW will continue to tweak it's packages.

That said, I think it's fair to assume a 4% annual increase, just to be safe. So, if you target $3150 (which reflects 4 years of increases assuming you'll make reservations about 6 months in advance), you'll have plenty.

You should call someone at your banking institution to find out if they have a vacation club account of some sort. Usually it's a money market that pays somewhere on the order of 3-4% per year.

At 3.5%, if you put away $60/month, you'll have nearly $3400 in the account in 4.5 years. If you can find a plan which pays better than 5%, then you could spot it say $500 now. At 5%, if you start with $500 and put away $47/month, then you'll have about $3350 put away.

The opportunities are endless!

[MerlinMatt]

Hmmm.. isn't it great when great minds think alike?

Hopefully, the consistency between Jeff's, mine and mickey's posts means that we might actually know what we're talking about.

[lisalovesmickey]

Thanks everyone! I am going to look into that "vacation club" account. I am so bad with figuring things out and those prices are a lot lower than I was expecting. I am gonna focus on $3500 for airfare also.

Thanks a bunch!

Lisa

[vitha1]

lisalovesmickey, the vacation club account is definately a good idea.

To be overly cautious eg: overvalue the holiday in case things do go well with the US economy (hope not for my sake:)

I would recommend increasing the figure to $4000 as an initial savings plan -
eg: $4000 / 12months / 5 years = $66.6666 (round up to $67) per month

Find a vacation account but when you do, as suggested look around for the highest interest rate - maybe locking the money into an account that allows deposits but no withdrawls

Have fun !!!

[craziebabie1]

It seems like it just gets worse every year. I remember just 10 years ago, a family of 5 stayed at the Poly for just over $1500 for a 5 night package.