I can not believe the difference in price between Disney uk and us

[captain-codeye]

Originally Posted by Andybear

I'm a Brit and I'm astounded at that!

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Easy, we’re not much different, but i work 6 days a week for most of the year to build up 8 weeks paid holiday

Horses for courses, works for some not for others.

[MrFish]

This is one of the reasons I could never live in the US (along with the healthcare and gun control situation).

I like spending a month in Florida every year (in two stints) and it's great to have so much annual leave!

[YLL]

Originally Posted by AtLast

I work for an IT company in London and there's lots of pressure not to take your holidays. The people who get the promotions and the transfers to the US are the ones who are in the office morning, noon and night and live only for the job.My cousin in Boston works for a marketing agency and she gets to Europe for 2 weeks every summer plus several ski trips through the year and she can work from home - and she earns almost twice as much as the same position over here!

These days it's as much the industry or the individual company as US v UK, I think. I'd love to find a job in my industry in London that expects their employees will want to have lives outside of work.

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I work for a software company in London, I have 30 days paid holidays (not counting bank holidays) and it is very much frowned upon NOT to take them all. If I were you, I'd start looking for a new job!

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Mazbar

So w have just installed a vpn recently and I decided to look at the difference between our holiday we booked with Disney uk and Disney us.
We have 14 nights in a 1 bed at okw, free dining, photo pass and 2 weeks park tickets for 3 we paid about £6000
The us site was in $ and the tickets where only for 10 days and we had to pay for the dining plan and photo pass this came out at $14000 about. When you factor in the exchange rate it was over £10000
I know we have paid a lot but god help the Americans.

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The US Disney site does free dining deals at different times to the Disney UK site. So you can get free dining with a package booked through the Disney US site. You'd need to compare the price when the US site is offering free dining to get a better comparison.

Personally, although Memory Maker is a nice freebie, I wouldn't pay for it. And, anyway, only one in your party needs it (so hopefully your equivalent price didn't assume everyone in your party paid for Memory Maker).

Our 14-day tickets do tend to be a good deal compared to the 10-day tickets. I know a lot of people complain about the price of the UK tickets. And, yes, they are expensive. But, in comparison, they are relatively cheap compared to how much US guests have to pay.

So, instead, it might have been interesting to compare just the room prices between Disney US and Disney UK to see what the difference was and remove the other variables.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by scooby99

Yes, our US friends & family are astounded when we say we’re there for 3 weeks, have already been over for 2 weeks earlier in the year, and will be back for another 2 weeks later in the year and will have a mini break in Europe somewhere plus a few long weekends to Ireland! 😎

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I am also astounded by this.

Firstly, it sounds like you will have at least around 8 or 9 weeks annual leave from work (7 at Disney, 1 week at California, 1 week in Europe - assuming that's what you mean by a "mini-break"?). That's much longer than most people in the UK get. I'm pretty lucky and get 6 weeks off; most people only get 5 weeks leave from their job.

Secondly, I'm astounded that you managed to afford having 5 holidays in one year (including the California trip but not including the long weekends) - 3 of which are long haul, relatively expensive holidays to Disney World. I can only just afford one holiday to WDW every couple of years. Most people can't afford that.

The vast majority of people do not have 4 or 5 foreign holidays a year and do not visit WDW three times a year. It's fabulous that you can - and, hey, if I could I'd be doing the same as you so I'm not knocking it nor you in any way. Good on you, I say. But it is by no means typical for people in the UK at all. Therefore it shouldn't be a surprise to you if people are "astounded", or at least somewhat surprised, by how many holidays you take each year - it's very atypical and you are pretty fortunate.

[scooby99]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

I am also astounded by this.

Firstly, it sounds like you will have at least around 8 or 9 weeks annual leave from work (7 at Disney, 1 week at California, 1 week in Europe - assuming that's what you mean by a "mini-break"?). That's much longer than most people in the UK get. I'm pretty lucky and get 6 weeks off; most people only get 5 weeks leave from their job.

Secondly, I'm astounded that you managed to afford having 5 holidays in one year (including the California trip but not including the long weekends) - 3 of which are long haul, relatively expensive holidays to Disney World. I can only just afford one holiday to WDW every couple of years. Most people can't afford that.

The vast majority of people do not have 4 or 5 foreign holidays a year and do not visit WDW three times a year. It's fabulous that you can - and, hey, if I could I'd be doing the same as you so I'm not knocking it nor you in any way. Good on you, I say. But it is by no means typical for people in the UK at all. Therefore it shouldn't be a surprise to you if people are "astounded", or at least somewhat surprised, by how many holidays you take each year - it's very atypical and you are pretty fortunate.

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Yes, we realise we are incredibly fortunate to be able to do these holidays each year. They're our vice; no kids, smoking or drinking; we do holidays instead.
We don't do Disney or Orlando on our Florida trips; we do the Gulf Coast so no Disney/Universal/SW tickets etc.

I typically start each year with 37 days annual leave and can accrue extra leave as flexi-leave (usually another 12-13 days or so).
DH starts with slightly less leave each year but his company offers staff the opportunity to buy some extra leave at the start of each year and they also allow him to take extra days as unpaid leave if needed.
We also plan our holidays around bank holidays, we're away over Easter, May bank holiday & Christmas/New Year so that helps a little.

As long-time frequent renters of the condo we stay in at the Gulf Coast, the owner gives us fabulous discounts; half the advertised web rate in some cases.
We always book in the BA sales and make good use of the 2 BA Amex 2-4-1 companion vouchers we earn each year.

The joke in my office is "It must be time for 'scooby' to go away soon; been at work for at least 6 weeks now"; our record was 8 holidays in 1 year; mix of US, European & UK!

As said above, we're incredibly fortunate and we know it; we want to do it whilst still able; who knows what's around the corner for anyone?.

[scooby99]

Originally Posted by AtLast

Probably because unless you're retired it's rare to have both the time off and the money. Many people have the time but not the funds and vice versa. lol. I don't think think your lifestyle is representative of the average British worker and most people would be surprised to hear how frequently you travel.

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Me and DH both still work full time.

[munmun]

Originally Posted by scooby99

Yes, we realise we are incredibly fortunate to be able to do these holidays each year. They're our vice; no kids, smoking or drinking; we do holidays instead.
We don't do Disney or Orlando on our Florida trips; we do the Gulf Coast so no Disney/Universal/SW tickets etc.

I typically start each year with 37 days annual leave and can accrue extra leave as flexi-leave (usually another 12-13 days or so).
DH starts with slightly less leave each year but his company offers staff the opportunity to buy some extra leave at the start of each year and they also allow him to take extra days as unpaid leave if needed.
We also plan our holidays around bank holidays, we're away over Easter, May bank holiday & Christmas/New Year so that helps a little.

As long-time frequent renters of the condo we stay in at the Gulf Coast, the owner gives us fabulous discounts; half the advertised web rate in some cases.
We always book in the BA sales and make good use of the 2 BA Amex 2-4-1 companion vouchers we earn each year.

The joke in my office is "It must be time for 'scooby' to go away soon; been at work for at least 6 weeks now"; our record was 8 holidays in 1 year; mix of US, European & UK!

As said above, we're incredibly fortunate and we know it; we want to do it whilst still able; who knows what's around the corner for anyone?.

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Well planned and organised. Enjoy.

[scooby99]

Originally Posted by YLL

I work for a software company in London, I have 30 days paid holidays (not counting bank holidays) and it is very much frowned upon NOT to take them all. If I were you, I'd start looking for a new job!

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It is also very much taboo in my company for staff NOT to take their full leave allowance.
Staff start getting hassled around September if they still have lots of leave left/unbooked.
I have yet to receive one of those emails!

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by scooby99

Me and DH both still work full time.

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I figured, that's why I added that most people would be astonished not just the Americans because you made it sound like this was a 'normal' British lifestyle and only Americans would be astonished. I think 95% of people everywhere would think 'wow' about your schedule.

I think it's great btw that you're living well and enjoying the fruits of your labour. I also agree that people should make the most of their health because there's no guarantees so please don't think I'm being negative towards you or anything like that. I'd loive to be able to do the same, someday - fingers crossed. But yeah I think making it seem like very many Brits are living like this will get more than a few gasps of shock