‘Never Go Into Debt for Disney,’ George Kamel Warns

On a recent Smart Money Happy Hour episode titled “Ritzy vs. Regular: Reacting to Social Events in Every Class,” co-host George Kamel laid down a one-line rule for bachelorette weekends, destination weddings and family Disney trips: “Never go into debt for any of these experiences.” The line landed because of the anecdote that followed. Kamel said that while filming at Disney, parents told him they were “$180,000 in debt and this trip costs us $5,000 on a credit card on top of that.”

The stakes here are concrete. If you put a $5,000 to $10,000 Disney trip on a card carrying around 24% APR and pay the minimum, the magic kingdom keeps charging you long after the suitcases are unpacked. The financial concept underneath Kamel’s rule is the difference between a sinking fund and revolving consumer debt, and it deserves more than a wagging finger.

The Verdict: Kamel Is Right, and the Math Is Brutal

The advice is sound. Financing a vacation on a credit card at roughly a quarter interest rate per year is one of the worst trades in personal finance, because the asset (a memory) does not appreciate, generate cash flow, or hold collateral value. Compare that to a mortgage, where the underlying house at least has a chance of keeping pace with inflation.

Walk through it. A family books a $5,000 Disney trip on a card at 24% APR. Make only the minimum payment, and the balance compounds monthly at roughly 2% per month. Carry that balance for years, and the interest paid can rival the cost of the original tickets. Disney’s sticker prices already sting at $119 per person for a one-day basic ticket and up to $380 for three days. Layering 24% credit on top transforms a budgeted experience into an open-ended liability.

The alternative Kamel offers is a sinking fund, and the math runs the other direction. Putting $100 a month away builds a $1,200 event fund within a year. A high-yield savings account paying around 4% turns that same monthly contribution into slightly more than $1,200, with the bank paying you instead of the other way around. Same trip, opposite cash flow.

The macro backdrop makes the warning more urgent. The personal savings rate has dropped from 6% in the first quarter of 2024 to 4% in the first quarter of 2026, even as per capita disposable income climbed to $68,617. Households are earning more and saving less. Recreation services spending hit $856 billion in March 2026, up from $799.8 billion a year earlier, while consumer sentiment sits at 53.3, in pessimistic territory. Stressed consumers are spending more on escape, often with borrowed money.

Who Should Listen, and Who Can Ignore the Rule

This advice is built for the household that would carry a balance. If you cannot write a check for the full trip cost today from cash savings (not from your emergency fund, not from next month’s paycheck), the rule applies to you. Specifically: families with consumer debt already on the books, anyone whose card balance does not zero out monthly, and anyone whose savings rate is already below the national 4% average.

The rule matters less for the household that pays the statement balance in full each month and uses a rewards card as a payment tool. Running a $7,000 Disney trip through a 2% cash back card and paying it off on the due date is pure logistics. The trap is the revolving balance itself.

What To Actually Do Before You Book

1. Price the real trip. Add tickets, lodging, food, and Lightning Lanes. Kamel’s point that it is “worth doing it well” with upgrades is fair, but only if the upgrades are inside the budget you set before you booked.
2. Build the sinking fund. Open a separate high-yield savings account, name it for the trip, and automate a monthly transfer. $100 a month gets you $1,200 in a year; $400 a month gets a family to a $5,000 trip in roughly the same window.
3. Check your existing balances first. If you are carrying revolving credit card debt at 20% or more, the highest-return investment available to you is paying that down. A trip funded while interest compounds against you is borrowing from your future self at usurious rates.
4. Pick a cheaper alternative if the math fails. Holiday celebrations, potlucks, and block parties work at any paycheck level. A staycation funded in cash beats a Disney trip funded on plastic every time.

Kamel’s one-line rule is the right one. Experiences are worth paying for, and worth saving for. They are not worth borrowing for at 24%.