Can a family of 6 do WDW for 2000?

[Iott Family]

We are a family of 6.

Dad, Mom, DD 13, DS11, DS5 and DD3

No AAA. 5 days in the parks, no park hopper, no waterparks. Mostly CS meals and carrying in water and snacks. We will use our own stroller. We drive down from Indiana so we have transpo. On or off site, we have done both.

Let me see what kind of magic you budgeters and planners can make!

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

What are your dates?

 

[Iott Family]

What are your dates?

We like to go around week 2 in October. Long before Halloween!

 

[nifferdo]

If you go during free dining for 5 nights and get two value resort rooms with 5 day base tickets (no water, no hopping) you can do it for $2,366.30. I dont think that you are going to get any cheaper than that for a family of 6 (problem is room size)! But that cost will include all your food for your entire party!

Edited to add that you can go at the tail end of free dining (sept 20 -25) closer to your wanted dates. Otherwise you will have to stay offsite and pay for all of your food. Ive heard of people getting condos for as little as $150 (with tax included) but again you will have to pay for your food and buy your park passes.

 

[gabriellyn]

You should try posting this on the Budget Board - they LOVE doing stuff like this!

 

[powellrj]

Park tickets alone would be $1200. Your best bet would be sky auction and get an off-site condo. The Orlando board has great advice for off-site rooms. We have stayed at Cypress Point several times and have always been pleased. You might also see about renting a pool home so you can have your own pool!

 

[PrincessRora]

My dad managed to do something along those lines for us.
He booked this offsight hotel for us: Blue Tree Resort
We've got a 2 bedroom executive suite. There's six of us. Mom and Dad will take the room with the Queen bed, my sister and I will share the room with two twins as well as the crib for my niece, and my brother will have the sofa bed in the living room.
Plus, we've each got a 3 day park hopper, but we're staying at the resort for 4 nights (driving down and back).

 

[Camno's Mama]

I would recommend staying offsite. If the tickets cost 1200, and you find a condo for around 500 and a minivan for 300ish, than you have your 2000. Then, you can make all of your breakfasts at home, and maybe even eat some of your dinners there, as well. Saves a lot of money! Also, so many cheaper places to eat off site...especially if you don't mind fast food.

We found a nice three bedroom condo at Windsor Palms for 500. You guys could definitely swing that with your family size. It would easily sleep six, and some of them have sofa beds as well. Vrbo has lots of opportunities if you start looking now. My favorites are Emerald Island and Terra Verde, so far. We are satying at WP this time, and I've heard wonderful things about Windsor Hills as well. Good luck!

 

[crisi]

Park tickets alone would be $1200. Your best bet would be sky auction and get an off-site condo. The Orlando board has great advice for off-site rooms. We have stayed at Cypress Point several times and have always been pleased. You might also see about renting a pool home so you can have your own pool!

Add $.50 a mile for gas, wear and tear on the car, etc. and you have $1000 in travel expenses. If you want gas only and don't want to worry about the other expenses, I'd assume with four kids you are talking minivan - so probably about $.20 a mile in just gas - which is still $500. So you have $300 left after park tickets and gas to pay for lodgings and food plus anything else.

 

[Iott Family]

If you go during free dining for 5 nights and get two value resort rooms with 5 day base tickets (no water, no hopping) you can do it for $2,366.30. I dont think that you are going to get any cheaper than that for a family of 6 (problem is room size)! But that cost will include all your food for your entire party!

Edited to add that you can go at the tail end of free dining (sept 20 -25) closer to your wanted dates. Otherwise you will have to stay offsite and pay for all of your food. Ive heard of people getting condos for as little as $150 (with tax included) but again you will have to pay for your food and buy your park passes.

Is it too late to book free dining?

 

[meandtheguys2]

If you could get a "getaway week" from skyauction, you could do a condo for about $200. If Crisi is correct, though, you'd only have $100 left for food. We couldn't do that at Disney even off-site. Some could, though.

That would be the WEEKLY condo cost, not nightly.

 

[nifferdo]

No you can still book free dining, although Im sure availability at the value resorts is tight.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

I know I have said this many times before on other threads but what about renting points from a dvc member. That way you can do meals in your room. FW is an option also, the cabins sleep 6. It also depends on if you are planning on doing the parks on your day of arrival and day of departure along with when you are going. Rates differ also. CR rates are different from a dvc points chart so the time of year can make or break your trip.

 

[trennr]

I would highly reccomend you stay in an offsite Pool home.

You can fit your whole family in a 3 BR home with your own private pool for around $110 a night.

 

[crisi]

I know I have said this many times before on other threads but what about renting points from a dvc member. That way you can do meals in your room. FW is an option also, the cabins sleep 6. It also depends on if you are planning on doing the parks on your day of arrival and day of departure along with when you are going. Rates differ also. CR rates are different from a dvc points chart so the time of year can make or break your trip.

Since they'd need a two bedroom the cheapest they could hope for would be 22 points a night. At $12 a point thats $264 a night - far too pricey.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Is it too late to book free dining?

We are also a family of 6 and last September we went for Free Dining and saved a fortune - about $1,300.00. We had to connecting rooms at POP for 8 nights, 8 day park hoppers, 48 Table service meals (we had 6 character meals), 48 counter service meals and 48 snacks (you can also use snack credits towards a quick breakfast or just bring quick breakfast snacks with you) and we paid $2,576.00. You said you were going for 5 nights and would go with base tickets. That would keep you around $2,000.00 and you would be on-site with all of the disney perks - free bus transporation (we usually drive and never touch our car while we are there, so that saves on gas), extra magic hours, etc.

 

[DisMayE]

I know you said No AAA but you may want to reconsider, not sure if you can combine free dining with AAA but if so, it would save you a TON! For our trip on 4/30, we joined AAA, it cost $60 (aprox) for a year, and saved us almost $300 on our room alone! We booked a family suite at the all star music resort (the only budget resort with suites). Staying on site would eliminate the need for veh transportation

 

[kelma]

Add $.50 a mile for gas, wear and tear on the car, etc. and you have $1000 in travel expenses. If you want gas only and don't want to worry about the other expenses, I'd assume with four kids you are talking minivan - so probably about $.20 a mile in just gas - which is still $500. So you have $300 left after park tickets and gas to pay for lodgings and food plus anything else.

The gas prices really depend on your car. I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna and I checked the AAA site for gas price estimation for my van. Obviously, I don't know exactly where the OP lives, but I tried Indianapolis to Orlando and came in at 1/2 of your estimate - $255. Not too bad really!

I agree with those who mentioned free dining and getting the adjoining rooms (which are guaranteed) at POP.

Let us know what you choose and have a great trip!!!

 

[dougsmom98]

Free dining sounds like a good option for your family during that time period, but if that doesn't work out I have a few off site suggestions. Comfort Suites Main Gate East sleeps six and has a fridge in the room. It also has free deluxe continental breakfast with make your own waffles, pastries, cereal, yogurt... so you would save money on breakfast. You can get a rate of $72/nt using hotelmartusa.com. I have used them 3 times and been happy with them. You may be able to get it even cheaper through this site:
http://www.orlandoinfo.com/magicard/listings.cfm?searchCategory=accommodations
My mom and sister stayed here and really liked it.

You might also consider staying in a rental home. Here are two really inexpensive condos that might work for you. If you go to the Orlando Hotels and Attractions Board, you will get a lot of advice about renting a condo or home.
http://www.vrbo.com/101631
http://www.vrbo.com/24261

 

[Iott Family]

I did not realise that my thread was still getting replies! Thank you all so much for all these great ideas!

During the free dining period, how crowded is Disney? We really like early October because its warm but not Hades warm and the crowds arent so populas!!!! We went December of 2004 and felt like we were cattle being herded about. We went this past October 2007 and it was much more manageable, still very warm but we rode all we wanted to and most things 2-3 times! Like Soarin' which we fast passed twice and Its a small world which we rode 3 times in a row with no wait. Our then 1 1/2 now 2 yr old DD loved it soo much we just kept getting off and right back on! LOL

For those who have booked two rooms for families with 4 kids or more how was it getting everyone organized? For those who have stayed at the values, how hectic is it with all the other many families floating about? Are the buses ok? We stayed off property this last trip so we had no issue with buses or lugging stroller about. And now that Disney has raised stroller pricing we will be lugging our own everywhere. We had thought to rent this next time because our youngest will be 3 and can walk to and from bus or vehicle so we'd only need the stroller in the parks for her and the small cooler/diaper bag. Maybe WDW will offer free stroller rental as part of their package perks in future package pricing Are you reading this Disney??????