What's your one week GRAND total?

[obnurse2003]

For anyone who has ever kept the GRAND TOTAL from trips here's a question:

What's the GRAND TOTAL NOT counting your room cost?

We are a family of 4 and I would love to see a rough estimate of the amount I should take. I know that I need to sit and write a budget but was interested in the average cost! Thanks for your responses if you're willing to share!

 

[homber]

With the room cost (65.00 @ nite 4 adults@All Star Sports0 our trip cost 150.00 @ day for everything.We drove 9.5 hours(no rental car)

 

[homber]

Per person

 

[undertheradar]

Costs will vary based upon eating style(full service, fast food, 2 or 3 meals per day). You are staying offsite, so your costs will be different. Per day costs must factor in tickets, parking, transit, snacks, meals, souv., etc. My family is 5 and we factor $250.00 per day admission, $250.00 meals per day a hotel. This cost will vary greatly.

 

[primax]

July 20 - 27, we left Disney property at 7:00PM on the 27th

2 adults, 1 child.

Child spent $212
1 Character breakfast, 1 Italy meal, parks, and ASM resorts food drinks (we had a cooler for water parks). $275
Mugs - $50
Driving Gas from NJ to FL $120
Soveniers - $150 + tax
PAL Mickey $50 + tax
FTP $1209 room/tickets/print & pin

we cut alot of cost out. We are buying a home in two weeks

 

[MOMKKK]

my wife & i & 8mo. old went at the all star movie, room really not to bad, for 1 week =7 days we spent. $2,000.00 air fare, transportaion from air port , food, ect. i think the food court at the all stars, best of all of diney, convent, cheaper,
we packed as much as we could like water, pop, snacks
best to go dec 12th?? feb 12th?? room rates, air fair, much cheaper then, not near as hot either, was great 65 at night highest it got was 85
have a great trip
ken & deann

 

[bornwiththeears]

Your per day costs are really going to depend on the type of dining you choose. We usually spend about $150 a day for the four of us on food, snacks, etc. Breakfast is usually just a pastry and a cup of coffee (we buy the refillable mugs.) Lunch is our splurge (but you can eat the same food considerably less at lunch than dinner) and then we eat pizza, sandwiches or snacks for dinner.

You can cut costs by bringing snacks and breakfast items with you.

Hope you have a great trip.

Annette

 

[mickeysaver]

2 Adults
Traveling by car
Staying 7 nights at Value Resort in Value Season
12/03 budget

Misc on Road Hotel $200 (just in case)
Hotel $680
6 Day PHP $585
Gas $75
Food $1200
Misc Tips $75
MVMCP $75
LOTR Return of the King $30
Pet Care $150
Film and Video Tape $50
Developing Film $120
Emergency Fund $500

This is what we have planned as our operating budget of must have money. We also have an additional $1200 in spending money for the parks that is just to be spent on goodies. I usually over budget, but this makes sure that in case of emergency, we are covered. This budget is for roughly $5000 total. Mickey

 

[EthansMom]

Our budget for an upcoming 7-night trip in Sept. for two adults and 1 two year-old:

Hotel (7 nights): $372
5 Day Park Hoppers with Plusses (2 adults): $514
Food: $700
Airline Tix: $351.50 (two tix purchased with miles)
Souvenirs: $200
Car Rental (2 days): $65
Grocery Run: $50
New Stroller: $33

The best thing to do is try to save as much in each category while getting what you want. I saved quite a bit of money by using miles to purchase two of our airline tickets. Also, changed from All-Stars to Courtyard by Marriott in DD to save some money. And renting a car at the airport and checking it back in at the Dollar counter at the Marriott to save money over the cost of a towncar. We also don't go in the souvenir shops until the last day or two -- so we don't spend much time or money on souvenirs. We do like to eat well, so that is one place I tend to pad our budget.

Best of luck with your planning!

EthansMom

 

[girlsx2]

I thought we did very well for our first trip to the world in Feb. But after looking at everyone's budget, I could have done much better. Even without our hotel cost we spent about 1900.00. We had no airfare (drove 12 hours), no rental car and spent one night on the road on the way down. Rest was for food and souveniers (which we kept to a minimum - 2 per child). We even made a trip to the store for our morning meal items and had a cooler for milk, juice etc. I'll have to watch more closely from now on. Thanks for the great tips!!


Sherri

 

[beattyfamily]

Wow, I'm feeling like we are in the minority!

We are DVC members so my spreadsheet doesn't even have the resort cost in it. My total is still always around $4000 TOTAL!!

Here's why:

We're a family of 4 with girls ages 3 and 6.
$200 per air ticket
Passes for 5 days at WDW
Split our stay with Universal for 2 nights so that will add the cost of that resort and passes...
Spending money...we spoil each other with souveniers! Approx. $100 a day budgeted
Food...we eat a least 2 character meals and at least once we get room service for breakfast. Mostly counter service for the rest.
Rental car...this year it's $110 but I've paid $180.
Airport parking...$200 for the week.
Dog's kennel $350 for a week
Tips for room service and at the airport etc...
Boat rentals at the monorail resorts.
extras like MVMCP or MNSSHP.
Our total would be quite a bit higher if we were also cruising! But then we wouldn't do Universal.

We save up so we don't have to charge and so we can splurge!

Basically everything's paid for by the time we go and we usually bring $350 in Disney Dollars and $500 in cash and then charge the rest to our room (pay it all back when we get home). We have always been very close to the spreadsheet I have with EVERYTHING I can think of plugged in. We've been as close as $100 which I think is pretty good.

 

[momto4obkids]

Last February we went for 7 nights. Satyed in a vaction home which we shared with my mom and mother-in-law. Total cost

5-4 day hopper plus passes
gas for the drive down and back
one hotel stop each way
one sit down lunch in the park each day and dinner out every night
groceries
two new tires on the way home
and everything else i`ve missed came to just under $3000
I think that`s pretty good considering we blew out a tire and had to get both front tires replaced


This next trip will be from Feb 29-March 7

$251 Condo for 1wk. Won through Skyauction

$1026 6-4 day hopper plus passes

$200 Gas cost (we drive)

$0 Hotels for the trip down and back(earned $160 marriott gift check)

$200 Souviners (we don`t get alot of these)

$700 food budget (this is for the entire trip,yes we can do this budget,see answer below

$176.00 Mideival Times Tickets

$122.00 Kennedy Space Center Tickets
________

$2675

Minus $35 gas cards earned from rewards programs=$2640

My food budget is for 6 people. Because i use the rewards programs and surveys,i do to pay for alot of the food for the drive down and back,also the nights we don`t go to parks i use gift certificates i earn to pay for those meals. I am including what i have earned below so far and i still have about 6-7 months left of earning!

$100 Rainforest Cafe
$60 Planet Hollywood (paid for with survey money,purchased from connections so i only paid $48)
$50 Bahama Breeze
$40 Macaroni Grill
$40 Pizza Hut
$21 Disney Dollars
$5 McDonald`s

Amanda

 

[Straitlover]

This is my tentative budget for my October trip w/ my sister (my portion only):

Room $130.50 (half of 2 BR Orange Lake condo won on SkyAuction)

Tickets:
WDW 199.00 (4 day hopper from AAA - price on website, subjet to change)
Univ 49.00 (one day from AAA - price subject to change)

Rental Car 245.XX (I am paying the entire rental car bill because we drove her new truck last time to Pigeon Forge, so i think that's only fair ; can't recall the exact amount, but that's for 9 days)

Gas $40.00 ($30 of this will be paid by gas cards earned thru MyPoints)

Food $300.00 (most meals will be at the condo; most everything else will be counter service except a visit to Trails End for the buffet and viewing the MK fireworks from the campground lakeshore)

Souvenirs $60.00 (don't need a lot of dustcatchers or tshirts! Plan to visit the outlets for fridge magnets and a couple of other things; hope we get one good ride pic together that I can buy)

Misc $50.00 (for whatever I'm sure i've forgotten!)

Total $1,073.50 - wow! that's a lot of money!!!!

If we decide to stay another day to hit some of the malls, will need to add another $20-25 for a cheap, clean room, maybe $20 for food, and $XXX for shopping????

 

[ALostBoy]

Hi obnurse2003,

We are a family of 6 (4 kids) and
we went to WDW from July 9 thru
July 20, 2003. We stayed at WDW
for 9 nites. Our cost including gas,
food, sovuniers, etc. came to about
$1,500. We have annual passes so
that cost is not figured into the total.
The cost of our lodging is also not
included this total. Hope this helps.

 

[TEK224]

Purchased FTP (3 Adults, 3 kids) = $2100
(actually had ASMovies booked, 2 rooms for 7 nights, and 6 day PHP passes = $2650. Switched to FTP when it came out. Now I have 6 PHP to use at a later date)

Airfare = $1020

Minivan Rental = $255/week includes all taxes

Mousekeeping (2 rooms) = $140 ($5per room per day)

I already purchased 10 Connections Q&C vouchers and 5 VKL vouchers = $270
I have a $25 RFC coupon I got through rewards program

Additional food/snacks/refillable mugs = $400

Sea World Tix (for 6) = $275

Souvenirs = $400

Miscellaneous/Emergency Expenses = $200

Total: $1965 (with FTP and airfare $5085) Not bad for a week at WDW for 6 people.

I also have $300 in Disney Dollars (every time I go to the mall I buy $5-10 worth and put them in an envelope to save for the next trip. It does add up)

Terri

 

[tonysgal34]

We are trying to keep our trip under $3000.

We have ASMovies booked for Nov. at $86/night(can't seem to get a discount/break on that!), so x 6 nights......$516

We just bought our park hoppers-4, 5-day hoppers, bought at AAA to use discount........total $855 (thank you IRS)

We are looking into flying.........probably be around $700 total

We need to reserve car service....will be around $100

We plan to stop at the grocery store on the way to the hotel to pick up breakfast/snack items that we couldn't pack-prob. $50

We will eat out at the kingdoms for lunch each day and then dinner at the food court.........approx. $100-$150 per day

We have decided that our children(ages 12 and 9)will have $20 per day spending money(when it's gone, it's gone).....$200

We want our own spending money, so we'll try to bring about $500 with us for extras, etc.

We want to pay for everything that we can before we go and charge as little as possible so we can still do Christmas when we get back(we're travelling 11/2-11/8)

This total being around $3000, we're hoping to stay on budget for this trip, but want to allow for some extras as we won't be going again. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Any tips would be appreciated to cut back on this. This total obviously doesn't include all the clothes, food, water bottles, etc. that have to be purchased before this trip.

Jeepers, seems to be a whole lotta money!!

Tonysgal

 

[C.Ann]

Well...this is what I'm looking at right now...but hoping to go lower by catching more deals..

Me (the "Grandma"), grown DD, and 5yr. old granddaughter - with me paying for everything except their meals and souveniers.. (It's a Christmas gift for them..) We will be there 11 nights, 12 days..
-------------------------

Airfare for three - $696

Hotel for 11 nights - $632.50 (Country Inn Calypso Cay)

Rental Car - compact, Dollar - $316.29

Disney Hoppers - 5 days - 2 adult, 1 child - $675

MVMCP - 2 adults, 1 child - $107.22

Island Of Adventure - 2 adults, 1 child - $146.85

Sea World - 2 adults, 1 child - $132.15

Pal Mickey - $50

Food and spending money for me (on the "high" side 'cause I eat like a bird, live on coffee, and usually buy very small, inexpensive souveniers) : $75 a day
--------------------------------------

My "total" comes to $3,656.01 for 11 nights and 12 days - BUT - I know I'll get it down lower than that before we actually go!

---------------

I figure DD will need about $100 a day - for food and souveniers..

--------------------

If ANYONE sees where I can "cut back" more, PLEASE feel free to say so!!!

 

[Cindy B]

We did about $600 once (you said excluding room!) for a about a4/5 day stay.

That was driving down, hoppers, food, everything but the 4/5 days at an All Stars room!

C-Ann=== you can cut back by avoiding the mcmcp. wE Went back in 2000, and we felt a little ripped off. It was ok, but not anything worth extra money for. Sure the photo is nice, but not worth an extra $100.

All day long there are Christmas decorations, and rides, my kids aren't parade or show fans, so it that. They were disappointed in the ride selection that was open.

The one thing I did like was we did get to see the Princesses all out, and the carriage was out all lit up.

DH said we would never do it again.

 

[Cindy B]

Here's another ticket optioin that you may want to explore, to fill up your days, and get more for you money with regards to Islands of Adventure and Seaworld.


The Orlando four park Flexticket. It allows you 14 ays of unlimited entrances to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure/Seaworld and Wet n Wild.

Instaed of paying just one day/one park, this gets you 14 days, and all four parks for a little bit more. I noticed that you have a five day park hopper, and those two days.. this would give you the option of coming to Universal Studios (excellent in my own opinion) and you aren't committed to just one day at those other parks.. (we can't do one day at Seaworld, usually 5 or a6!) Andyou get Wet n Wild, while no Blizzard Beach, it is nice, and does offer some good stuff that the Disney parks don't have!


It would only be a little more per person that what you are paying now.. if you use a day for Universal that extra cost is covered., ior even park hop between IOA/ and Universal on one day.. f that makes sense.. Instead of paying $50 plus for two entries you could absorb the cost. The two park Universal price is what $85/90 a person? You can park hop now, and get extra days at Seaworld AND get Wet n Wild for a little more.

The only caveat is that the flextickets expire, after 14 days of first use... since you have park hoppers remember they don't. You could activate the Flextickets early in your trip.. and then go over there.

You do have to pay for parking with the flextickets, but after 6 pm the Universal/IOa PARKING garage is FREE!
AFter 6 pm the Seaworld parking attendents aren't there either.

Since you have a car, you could drive there easily down I4, it only takes about 15-20 minutes. and you can do other stuff after WDW things close.

Here's the link for prices

http://www.usoinfo.com/parkinfo/tickets.html

 

[C.Ann]

Thanks for the suggestions, Cindy B. !!

We've already been to Universal and we're not big on rides, so that's why we're going to IOA for a day.. Mainly so my granddaughter can see the Dr. Suess area and Toontown..

Of course Sea World is a must (we go every time we're in Florida) and again, because we're not big on rides it's easy for us to do the whole place in one day..

MVMCP got thrown in there for two reasons: one is we've never seen it before - and the other is because we LOVE being in the MK during the evening and with the current schedules, that would be about our only chance to do so..

Activity-wise (including MVMCP) we have 8 days scheduled.. The other days will be spent "exploring" the area; a drive to the beach; and of course some time at the Disney Outlet Stores!!