Wow. I also agree, they could have done it for half that amount. Some of the things we did (we went twice) we drove down, and got to visit places like Charleston and Savanna going there or back. That became part of the trip. Gas and motels were still less than plane tickets for 4. We DID stay on-site (first a moderate, then a budget) and use a meal plan. But for us we liked that we didn't need to leave the park, and we took advantage of the meal plans to have a lot of character or theme meals that were part of the experience, and also down time at the park. No park hopper, and got theme park tickets 1 day less than time staying so day was spent at the resort swimming/relaxing/doing free things in area. My kids were cool about not wanting a lot of souveneir stuff, though they both did want autograph books so we did do that for them, and after the trip put the photos we took of them with the characters in their books next to the signatures. We did do the Dole whip too : )
Both times, I didn't find really long waits, and in fact at least once got into interesting conversations with people next to us in line. In Animal kingdom we were next to a British family, so my oldest was asking their kids about how their schooling was different from American schooling as well as other things. My oldest also liked talking to park employees especially at Epcot, where they are often from the country they are representing. The longest wait by far, was waiting for Merida's signature. She was a new character, and the line was incredibly long. I was ready to bail, but my kids wanted the signature and were willing to wait. But if it was up to me I would have walked.
The thing is, these type of trips are kind of once in a lifetime experiences, or in my case twice in a lifetime. Even if I asked my kids, they would want to do something different if we were spending that kind of money (which we are not at this time).