I’ve been reading hodg’s Starcruiser report and despite being a die-hard Star Wars/role player fan I’ve concluded that it is probably not for me and might never be despite checking every single one of my fanboy boxes. The cost of $6,000 for a family of four is just too expensive for us to just spend on a whim. Now, this might seem contradictory because we will be going on an actual cruise on the Disney Dream for Thanksgiving and will spend just as much but I also know that trip will be multiple times more rewarding (5 nights instead of just 2 for starters).
On the Disney Dish podcast, as part of his review of the Starcruiser, Len suggests different places to visit first before plunging $6,000 in travel money.
I’m starting a list and I would like to know what are your top places to visit for $6,000?
Are you talking Disney locations/activities or anywhere in the (real) world? If anywhere, I personally would rather spend $6000 anywhere else than 2 nights role playing. I’m a Star Wars fan too, but the price for 2 nights is just not worth it to me.
For instance:
We took a 13 day road trip out west this summer, with the Badlands, Rushmore, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons being our major stops (with a few other smaller stops too). We spent less than $6000 for a family of 5 over those 2 weeks. And I’m certain the ROI was much greater too.
ETA- now if I won the lottery, I would spend the $$ to do the Starcruiser!
I’d think you could go anywhere in the US, and maybe parts of Canada and Mexico for that price. We basically never spend that amount when we travel with a few exceptions (family of 5). Hawaii and skiing are the exceptions I can think of, but both could have been done for cheaper.
Our April Disney trip was barely more than that and we were there for a whole week.
Of the places I’ve been (and I truly enjoyed the Starcruiser) here are the ones I enjoyed more and I’m even gonna try and order them:
French Polynesia (even gonna order the islands I visited by order of preference)
a) Huahine
b) Rangiroa
c) Moorea
d) Tahiti
e) Bora Bora (yup last on my list…most overrated and most expensive)
Greece
a) Santorini aka Thira
b) Athens
c) Mykonos
New Zealand
a) Queenstown/Milford Sound - Great Walk
b) Nelson/Abel Tasman - Great Walk
c) Wellington and surrounding area
Grand Canyon (we did the rafting/camping tour and it was life changing)
Alaska
China
a) Sichuan
b) Guilin
c) Beijing
d) Hong Kong
e) Shanghai
Italy
a) Assisi
b) Sorrento
c) Venice
d) Florence
e) Rome
f) Naples
Hawaii
England
France (I only stayed in northern France near Paris)
California
a) Northern Cali like San Fran and Muir woods and Southern Cali like San Diego
Any Disney Cruise
Florida itself including beaches, NASA, WDW, Universal
I’d go all of those places again before doing the Starcruiser…however I loved the Starcruiser too. It was truly unique.
Our recent 7-day Viking Rhine River cruise cost us $6000 for two in a veranda cabin and they threw in free airfare. I would do that again over two nights in the make-believe starcruiser.
In 2021 we did our Western Trip, me, my sister and the kid. Yellowstone to Grand Canyon (north rim). Some 4,000 miles round trip. First time for DS and DK to some of the half dozen National Parks/Monuments, etc, we visited. Two week trip was a success.
For six grand, the next location would be a circle trip around around New England. Depending on time available, maybe even Maryland/Delaware seashore. The thing about DS and DK - they’re ok to hit the high spots and move on.
I read about your safari trip, really looking forward for more but no, it wouldn’t just be me be the family. I have very unique/weird ideas about traveling and it is all four of us together or no travel at all.
An uncle would solo-trip all the time. After 15 years of soloing he, of course, never came back one day and left my aunt to start a new family with a much younger woman. We all saw it coming a mile away but my aunt never listened, she was just giving him some space. For some reason that event marked me, I might be old school but no solo travel for me.
Great list but I wish there were more US places as airfare can get expensive.
A few months ago we did a 3-day rafting trip to Klamath River with O.A.R.S. and it was wonderful. We fell in love with Northern California. It’s a class I rapid so very enjoyable. We started the roadtrip in San Fran also spend a couple of nights in Legett and visited Mendocino wine county, simply awesome.
This is my DH too. I want to travel more often/do more than he does while we are traveling, but I would miss him if he wasn’t with us and be sad I couldn’t share things with him at the end of the day. It’s probably good that he reins me in a little bit, but don’t tell him that.
When people say Hawaii, which island do they mean? My head starts spinning whenever I start research Hawaii as a destination, so many places that I don’t know where to start looking!
It was a great trip, and I miss it every time I look at my pictures! I didn’t do any kind of trip report, but would be glad to give info/answer any questions you may have!
I’ve been to other local places but I don’t think those trips cost anywhere near $6K but I loved them. Most especially New York City, Chicago, Lake Michigan from the Michigan side, Lake Eerie/Cedar Pointe, Cincinnati, and Madison, WI. And in my home state I’d recommend San Antonio and Big Bend National Park. Oh Another great one was Assateauge/Chincoteague Island in the Outerbanks of VA. Oh yeah Colorado also spectacular but not $6K. Well if you don’t go skiing it isn’t.
And OH MY GOSH I forgot my favorite city in the world: NOLA. Please everyone must go.
Cheap Mexican trips are also great fun. I’ve been to Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Cuernavaca (actually preferred to the beaches, the mountain town was lovely nearby and I got all these one of kind handicrafts like homemade bead, and knit purses and bead earrings.)
I’ve done a lot of these trips already and I’d like to repeat them with my kids or when I’m retired!
Vancouver Island
Vancouver + Whistler
Skiing in the Banff area
Calgary + Rockies in the summer
Churchill, MB (did this summer)
PEI (doing next summer, with Bay of Fundy in NB)
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Quebec City + surrounding area
Toronto(DH will probably take DS10 next summer to visit family & take in a Blue Jays game)
Ottawa (want to take my kids once they’re old enough and have studied some Canadian history)
My ultimate dream is a northwest passage cruise. Only 30k a person so out of the budget.
