The in-laws worked concessions at Wide World of Sports for 20 years as snow birds, so they got us free tickets and had time share condos to stay. Only cost for us was airfare, and we usually did Allegiant. We went every two years for 18 years as the kids were growing up. Started off with the Dumbo/Aladdin/Small World phase, then a couple of trips that were primarily the princesses/character visits. A couple of years when pin trading was the rage, and then a couple more trips where the rides were most important. MIL would take the younger ones back to the condo for nap times in the afternoon and the rest of us would power through. I remember telling our youngest that he was seven when he was six so that he would be able to go on the single rider line at Fast Track. Early years we were cheap so we would eat sandwich lunches in the parking lot, later just said screw it and paid the $75 for food in the park.
Took the kids out of school, either in January or later early December right after Thanksgiving, until they got old enough that skipping a week of school became problematic for catching up on school work.
Now the kids are all college/high school age, we probably did our last trip last January. The fast pass change definitely made a difference, but it didn't really matter too much last year with Covid crowds. They still enjoy it, just would prefer Universal or other thrill ride parks.