I'm headed back in September 2019 and I can't believe the price difference from when I fist visited in 2013
In 2013 I got SSR studio villa for 8 nights with tickets, free dining and $100 gift card for around £1600? In 2014 I went with a friend who booked on US site and got ASMu with free QS dining for a week with tickets for £1100 for the both of us!
In 2018 I booked for 2019 for 8 nights POFQ with QS, $200 gift card and tickets for 2 adults for £2300! I've still got to book my flights so I think it'll be around £3100 for this trip.
It is expensive but since my last WDW I've been lucky enough to do Paris (which was nearly £1000 for 4 nights anyway!), Japan
Disneyland/Disney Sea and California Disneyland since last going to WDW over the years and none of them compare to WDW so I am happy to pay the price this time in order to go back, yes it would have been cheaper at an All Stars or go elsewhere, but not by much when you weigh up the QS dining plan thrown in, this will probably be our last trip to WDW for a long time so I know I'll have to skimp and save for it this year given the £ v $ rate but I think most people sacrifice a lot in order to go and accept that's part and parcel of it!
I found Cali and Japan just as expensive as WDW but in other ways - you aren't going to fly all the way to Japan for a week (12 hour flight from the UK) and you are certainly not going to find a weeks worth of stuff in Japan to keep you entertained - so you're factoring in money for other adventures, we did 10 nights in japan but only 2 of those around Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea, a full day in each was plenty. There is no where near as much to do as there is at the world, and Disneyland California was the same, 3 days and we'd done the lot - whilst it was incredible we tied it in with a 3 week tour of California from San Deigo upto San Fran which in itself was the most expensive holiday I've ever done!
Granted we don't take any children, having none of them, so I can completely understand the implications of cost taking a family and probably why my parents never took me and I had to wait until I was old enough to pay for it myself but I think that meant I appreciated it more anyway! If you're going to go, you can do it practically, staying off site is always cheaper, booking flights with points or taking 1/2 stop flights instead of direct.
Its never ever going to be as cheap as a week in Benidorm, but you aren't even going to find the magic like WDW anywhere else!