Month: September 2025

Addressing the tens of thousands of faithful filling Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday for the Mass with the canonization of Pier Giorgio Frassati and …

“We had a big, I don’t know, existential crisis among students a few years back,” Jure Leskovec told Fortune, “when it kind of wasn’t clear what our role is in this world.”

Moscow’s forces fire 805 drones in one night, striking government building in Kyiv

• Disney vacations can be expensive, but there are many ways to save money.
• Families should look to visit during quieter seasons to score deals, cut costs, and dodge crowds.
• On-site housing and Lightning Lanes can be worthy investments, but there are tourist traps.

Disney parks may feel like a magical bubble, but they aren’t cheap.

“You get what you pay for,” said Lucas Lozano, a Disney superfan who loves the parks.

However, Disney vacations don’t have to cost a fortune. Business Insider spoke with two Disney-focused travel agents and three so-called “Disney adults” about how to make the most of the Magic Kingdom, even on a budget.

These five Disney aficionados shared everything from when to go, to what luxuries are worth the money — on-site housing and Lightning Lanes — and what expenses can be tourist traps.

When to visit Disney parks

The best time to visit Disney parks is when others aren’t, Disney devotees said. It’s the best way to save money on tickets and lodging while avoiding crowds.

September is one of the best months at Disney World, said travel planner Rob Stuart of Creating Magic Vacations. He said students are just getting back to school, but not yet on fall break.

January and February are also wise months to aim for, Stuart said. Three Disney Parks employees also recommended going early in the year, and one recommended going the week before Thanksgiving.

“You have to try to avoid the school breaks,” said Jenn Novotny of Upon A Star Travel.

Stuart said the most expensive nights in any season are Friday and Saturday, which is why he advises guests on a budget to stay from Sunday to Friday.

There can be some deals in the middle of summer if the heat is bad and crowds are lighter, Novotny said.

Disney superfan Shae Noble said she checks Disney’s parks app to see when wait times are low and looks to stay at resorts during quieter times for big discounts.

With lodging, convenience can be worth it

Staying at Disney’s resorts can be worthwhile, since guests can save on Uber rides or parking, which starts at $30 per day at Disney World or $35 at Disneyland. That adds up quickly.

It can also save time. Even the 30 minutes it might take to travel from a hotel, find a parking space, and walk to the park entrance could keep families from making the most of their visit.

“You have to look at what your time is worth,” Novotny said.

Noble said she and her husband use vacation rental sites to save at Disney’s high-end resorts. She doesn’t think staying outside Disney is worth it.

For food, skip meal plans

The easiest way for budget-minded Disney guests to save is on food.

Visitors can bring food and non-alcoholic drinks into the park, which is far cheaper than a Disney meal plan or one-off purchases. Staying disciplined on impulse buys can save families a pretty penny.

“It is very easy to just be like, ‘Oh, I want this, and I want that, and I want a churro — I want five churros,” Disney fan Max Traughber-Crismon said. Instead, he brings peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so his family can spend money elsewhere.

One Disney World hack is ordering groceries from Kroger to a hotel, Stuart said. While there aren’t Kroger stores close to the park, he said their nearby distribution center offers delivery.

Otherwise, Disney guests should prepare to pay up for in-park food.

“In the parks, there are no real deals,” Stuart said.

Lightning Lanes can pay off

Disney enthusiasts were divided over whether the Lightning Lanes, which let guests skip lines instead of waiting hours, are worth it. There are both full-day and single-use Lightning Lane passes, most of which require purchasers to book a specific time slot in advance.

Prices for these fast passes vary by park, ride, day, and time, though a day of skipping all the rides at Magic Kingdom can cost up to $449 extra per person. There’s also a “Premier Pass” that doesn’t tie them to a specific time slot.

“The middle-class problem got worse when they increased the prices for Lightning Lanes,” Noble said.

Still, many Disney fans view them as a necessary evil.

“If you’re going out for a nice steak dinner, you’re already going to spend money,” Lozano said. “What are you really saving by getting a soda instead of a glass of wine?”

Stuart and Novotny, the travel planners, said Lightning Lanes are worth it for anyone who’s not on the tightest budget.

“If you can afford it, do it,” Stuart said. “Our No. 1 motto when it comes to a Disney vacation: time is money.”

• I toured an $85 million and $18 million home in the Hamptons.
• More than the surprising decor, I was struck by how strongly I felt the Wall Street boom amid broader economic uncertainty.
• Real estate agents told me luxury prices have been especially strong this year.

Eight bedrooms. A private path leading to the beach. A replica lobster protruding from a replica pool floaty and hanging out from the ceiling.

I saw all of this, and much more, when touring 43 E Dune Lane in East Hampton. The house, which sits on 3.6 acres, is listed for $84,900 million, down from an initial $120 million last summer. According to the listing, it’s been on the market for more than 450 days.

Terry Cohen, the Compass agent showing the property, joked with the staff dotted throughout the eight-bedroom house about being back yet again. She’s shown the property to many potential buyers without luck yet, but said she’s confident it will sell soon.

Even if 43 E Dune hasn’t flown off the market, Cohen and other Hamptons real estate agents I talked to said that the luxury Hamptons market has been hot and prices have soared. Walking around the East Hampton property and an $18 million stone mansion at the tip of Montauk, I could feel Wall Street’s boom despite broader economic uncertainty.

“The last six months have been, in terms of real estate, at least in my world, more explosive than COVID,” Cohen told me as we walked through the house, which now belongs to venture-capital investor Ann Tenenbaum. She’s worked in the Hamptons for 25 years and said that the high luxury market has been especially active.

The $85 million property has pretty much every imaginable amenity: a cinema, a gym with a Peloton and rowing machine, a speakeasy room hidden behind a bookshelf, a sauna, multiple steam showers, a tennis court, a pool, a path leading down to the beach, and enough art to fill a museum wing. In Montauk, at the $18 million home, I was charmed by a vintage sink and the pool lined by hydrangeas, but was more struck by the views than anything. A seal bobbed in the water below us during the tour, and I had a clear view of the lighthouse from inside.

According to Douglas Elliman‘s second-quarter report this year, the average price for the top 10% of sales was up 12% year-over-year, and homes have sold more quickly than during the same period last year. Their threshold for the top 10% of sales was stable, and the number of total sales closed was up only 4%.

Saunders also found that luxury home sales were up in the Hamptons in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024: sales rose 23% for homes worth between $10 million and $20 million, and 40% for those worth more than $20 million. Home prices are up across the country, but unlike in the Hamptons, that’s largely holding buyers back.

Kyle Rosko, an agent with Douglas Elliman, also said prices have been strong this year when he showed me the Stone House, a three-bedroom home perched on the coast at the very end of Montauk. It’s entirely different from the other property — more out of the English countryside than the swanky art world — but I ended up talking about much of the same market strength on both tours.

“This year has been really strong in the luxury over the past month and a half. I’ve showed everything over 10 million that I have in the past month than I showed the entire year of last year,” Rosko told me. He said buyers are cautious, especially when purchasing a second or third home, so his sales volume hasn’t been incredibly high despite the impressive prices.

Dawn Watson, a Hamptons real estate agent with Serhant, told me on the phone that the pandemic “set a high watermark and we haven’t really reset.”

“Prices continue to go up. There’s more money than ever here,” Cohen said. “That’s because there’s more money generated with those same people. Now they’re buying for the kids and grandkids, multigenerational homes.” A new zoning law in East Hampton that limits the size of homes could shake up the market, at least temporarily, Cohen and Rosko told me. The wealthiest, they said, don’t seem entirely pleased.

The agents all said that people in finance continue to dominate the Hamptons market, and Wall Street is generally flying high despite broader economic instability. Stocks have hit record highs this year, and the notorious finance bro confidence is very much alive among Hamptons hopefuls.

“We are kind of in this interesting place where the rest of the rules of the world don’t apply to us,” Watson said.

“Follow Wall Street,” Cohen advised me as we walked through the airy living room. “The numbers are incredible.” Potential shakeups at the Federal Reserve and ongoing tariff negotiations don’t seem to have done much damage, even though some on Wall Street remain uncertain.

In the high-end Hamptons world, Cohen, Rosko, and Watson all told me they’re seeing interest from people in their 40s, especially those with kids. It’s no longer, to quote Watson, just those who are “60 to dead” with the power to buy.

The sense of detachment stayed with me as I walked back to my car with Cohen, who chatted with another Douglas Elliman employee who had joined the tour. They compared the prices at two luxury grocers and dissected the rules of padel, a favorite sport among the ultrawealthy.

There’s no padel court at 43 E Dune Lane, but I wouldn’t be shocked if an eventual buyer puts one in. As Cohen said, the whole property is “under scale. You could add so much more.”

Ishiba had faced calls for his resignation after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party failed to secure a majority in the lower house election on Oct. 27.