13 Days, Family O' 7 $2642 Budget!

[TNKBELL]

Hi everyone!! Our family of 7 includes me, Dh, Ds10, Ds8, Dd5, Ds3, Ds>1.
We will be going to Florida the last week in September and the first week in October. We love Disney, but we also want a relaxing and easy going vacation. This will be our 3rd trip to DW. I admit that the planning is as much fun as the actual trip!!!

I welcome any advice or comments, there is always lots of room for improvement in my plans!!

Minivan Rental from Budget............$606(includes tax)
2 Nights Comfort Suites.................$150(includes tax and federal gov. discount0
Skyauction Resort Rentals.............$464(includes tax for 2 weeks)
Gas Estimation (1300 miles)...........$550(includes tolls)
Food and Spending......................$300
MNSSHP Tix...............................$247(includes tax)
Epcot Tix...................................$312(not including tax)
Restaurant.com GCS....................$12.50(6 GCS)
TOTAL.................................$2642.50

Now on top of that we have earned $76 in Disney rewards from our CC
$50 Mypoints Walmart GCS to buy food

I have been printing off coupons to use for other meals from www.mousesavers.com
I will also have $150 from our normal weekly budget(75 per week)

Trip Plans
We will drive half way to Cookeville TN and spend the night and drive into Orlando the next day where we will check into Summer Bay in a 2bdrm condo.
A week later we will check into Cypress Palms resort also in a 2 bdrm(grill on the patio). We go home the same way and stay at the same hotel.
We plan to eat one meal out per day and eat the other 2 in.
A list of activities we have planned include:
MNSSHP
Epcot
Summer Bay water park
Mini-golf
Beach Picinic
Melbourne Zoo
Chef Mickey's
Resort Hopping
DTD
Pin trading
Pressed Pennies
Autograph Hunting
Resort Family Activities
Ride on the Ferry
Ride the monorail
Watch the electric water pageant
Watch fireworks
Chip and Dale's Campfire
Playgrounds
Arcades
Swimming

Just starting to get a lil' excited!!

 

[mommiepoppins]

Hi everyone!! Our family of 7 includes me, Dh, Ds10, Ds8, Dd5, Ds3, Ds>1.
We will be going to Florida the last week in September and the first week in October. We love Disney, but we also want a relaxing and easy going vacation. This will be our 3rd trip to DW. I admit that the planning is as much fun as the actual trip!!!

I welcome any advice or comments, there is always lots of room for improvement in my plans!!

Minivan Rental from Budget............$606(includes tax)
2 Nights Comfort Suites.................$150(includes tax and federal gov. discount0
Skyauction Resort Rentals.............$464(includes tax for 2 weeks)
Gas Estimation (1300 miles)...........$550(includes tolls)
Food and Spending......................$300
MNSSHP Tix...............................$247(includes tax)
Epcot Tix...................................$312(not including tax)
Restaurant.com GCS....................$12.50(6 GCS)
TOTAL.................................$2642.50

Now on top of that we have earned $76 in Disney rewards from our CC
$50 Mypoints Walmart GCS to buy food

I have been printing off coupons to use for other meals from www.mousesavers.com
I will also have $150 from our normal weekly budget(75 per week)

Trip Plans
We will drive half way to Cookeville TN and spend the night and drive into Orlando the next day where we will check into Summer Bay in a 2bdrm condo.
A week later we will check into Cypress Palms resort also in a 2 bdrm(grill on the patio). We go home the same way and stay at the same hotel.
We plan to eat one meal out per day and eat the other 2 in.
A list of activities we have planned include:
MNSSHP
Epcot
Summer Bay water park
Mini-golf
Beach Picinic
Melbourne Zoo
Chef Mickey's
Resort Hopping
DTD
Pin trading
Pressed Pennies
Autograph Hunting
Resort Family Activities
Ride on the Ferry
Ride the monorail
Watch the electric water pageant
Watch fireworks
Chip and Dale's Campfire
Playgrounds
Arcades
Swimming

Just starting to get a lil' excited!!

TNK you are awesome. I am so glad you are back. i have been trying to look up your threads for insperation

 

[eliza61]

Is that food budget per day? 300 over 13 days is less than $25 bucks a day. Can 6 of you (I didn't count the baby) make it on that. Seems a bit low.

 

[TNKBELL]

eliza61, if you add the 150 from our normal weekly food budget(75 per week) and 50 in mypoints GC for Walmart and 76 from Disney Rewards that can be used in the park..it's not bad, it seems low but it is very doable(???is that a word???) The Restaurant.com GCs help a great deal as well. I pretty much have everything planned as far as food goes for each day. I will be posting a trip report when I return with the details. We won't be eating TS except for a few of the GCS and Chef Mickey's.

 

[punkin]

Wow that's cheap. We are definately not worthy!

I think you need to increase your food budget a little if you will be eating out one meal every day, but overall sounds great to me.

 

[punkin]

eliza61, if you add the 150 from our normal weekly food budget(75 per week) and 50 in mypoints GC for Walmart and 76 from Disney Rewards that can be used in the park..it's not bad, it seems low but it is very doable(???is that a word???) The Restaurant.com GCs help a great deal as well. I pretty much have everything planned as far as food goes for each day. I will be posting a trip report when I return with the details. We won't be eating TS except for a few of the GCS and Chef Mickey's.

You have a normal budget of $75 per week for a famiy of 7? OK. I take my comment back. You'll be fine. I don't know how you keep it so low though.

 

[mommiepoppins]

eliza61, if you add the 150 from our normal weekly food budget(75 per week) and 50 in mypoints GC for Walmart and 76 from Disney Rewards that can be used in the park..it's not bad, it seems low but it is very doable(???is that a word???) The Restaurant.com GCs help a great deal as well. I pretty much have everything planned as far as food goes for each day. I will be posting a trip report when I return with the details. We won't be eating TS except for a few of the GCS and Chef Mickey's.

hey tink I was thinking about getting a resturant . com gc. Now I am a family of 6 what place would YOU suggest? What place have you done?

 

[mommiepoppins]

one more thing tnk. chef mickeys is that going to blow the budget.. my family loves to do a ch breakfast but for 6 of us it is major bucks!!! $ 4 out of the 6 are adult prices. Is your Chef Mickey in your total budget??

 

[mickeyfan2]

Hi everyone!! Our family of 7 includes me, Dh, Ds10, Ds8, Dd5, Ds3, Ds>1.
We will be going to Florida the last week in September and the first week in October. We love Disney, but we also want a relaxing and easy going vacation. This will be our 3rd trip to DW. I admit that the planning is as much fun as the actual trip!!!

I welcome any advice or comments, there is always lots of room for improvement in my plans!!

Minivan Rental from Budget............$606(includes tax)
2 Nights Comfort Suites.................$150(includes tax and federal gov. discount0
Skyauction Resort Rentals.............$464(includes tax for 2 weeks)
Gas Estimation (1300 miles)...........$550(includes tolls)
Food and Spending......................$300
MNSSHP Tix...............................$247(includes tax)
Epcot Tix...................................$312(not including tax)
Restaurant.com GCS....................$12.50(6 GCS)
TOTAL.................................$2642.50

Now on top of that we have earned $76 in Disney rewards from our CC
$50 Mypoints Walmart GCS to buy food

I have been printing off coupons to use for other meals from www.mousesavers.com
I will also have $150 from our normal weekly budget(75 per week)

Trip Plans
We will drive half way to Cookeville TN and spend the night and drive into Orlando the next day where we will check into Summer Bay in a 2bdrm condo.
A week later we will check into Cypress Palms resort also in a 2 bdrm(grill on the patio). We go home the same way and stay at the same hotel.
We plan to eat one meal out per day and eat the other 2 in.
A list of activities we have planned include:
MNSSHP
Epcot
Summer Bay water park
Mini-golf
Beach Picinic
Melbourne Zoo
Chef Mickey's
Resort Hopping
DTD
Pin trading
Pressed Pennies
Autograph Hunting
Resort Family Activities
Ride on the Ferry
Ride the monorail
Watch the electric water pageant
Watch fireworks
Chip and Dale's Campfire
Playgrounds
Arcades
Swimming

Just starting to get a lil' excited!!

I believe your food budget is too little. That CM meal will be costly.

Also you have not accounted for the stuff in red. They will cost money too.

Do I get you correct and you will do only one day at Epcot and then MK for MNSSHP?

 

[TNKBELL]

Summer Bay's waterpark is free and they have free mini-golf several mornings a week listed on thier family activity list and the Melbourne zoo is reciprocal with our zoo so it's 50% off(we have a membership here). Yes, CM is included in the 300 budget, I know it's a chunk...but it's sooo worth it!!! Have faith my compadres!! We have done it before and we shall do it again!!! Can't wait!!!

One thing I forgot to mention is that our Dks will have thier own spending money earned from www.kidzeyes.com and allowance they have been saving.

As far as Restaurant.com we are partial to Shorty Smalls because Monday is Kids eat free night so even with 4 kids eating it's free for them and Dh and I get a ton of food with lots of leftovers!! Yum!

 

[SueInBoston]

I remember your last budget vacation! Glad you're planning another one! I have complete faith your family will do it again.

 

[robinb]

Is that food budget per day? 300 over 13 days is less than $25 bucks a day. Can 6 of you (I didn't count the baby) make it on that. Seems a bit low.

I was a huge skeptic of TNKBELL's back in 2005. I admit that I was 100% wrong. She is the QUEEN of the budget Florida vacation! Her family doesn't spend days and days at WDW, but you know what? Her kids don't miss a thing .

 

[meandtheguys2]

Hey there! If you don't mind my asking, what skyauctions did you get? It seems everything I'm seeing is higher than that. We'll have two weeks in January...

Thanks!

We will

 

[TNKBELL]

Hey there! If you don't mind my asking, what skyauctions did you get? It seems everything I'm seeing is higher than that. We'll have two weeks in January...

Thanks!

We will

Hi, it was the get away weeks one and you can add a week when you pay and guess what? You only have to pay the $20 fee once!! Before we have used www.getravelop.com but this was a better deal.

 

[formernyer]

I think your $300 food/entertainment budget is vastly underestimated.

Chef Mickey's is going to run you close to $175 after tax and tip.

I don't know how familiar you are with FL, but the Melbourne Zoo is not anywhere near WDW. I have a lot of family that lives in Melbourne, so we always combine our Disney trips with visiting family. It takes an hour or more (depending on how fast you drive) to get to Melbourne. I think it's about 70 miles each way, give or take. There are also tolls involved. Figure on adding about $30 to your trip for the gas to Melbourne. Now for the cost of the Melbourne Zoo. I love zoos and animals, so I thoroughly enjoy that zoo; however, I think it's the biggest rippoff I've ever been to as far as zoos go. It's small...if you spend 3 hours there it's a lot. The last time I was there (March 2007), I think it cost us about $35 for four people to get in. Since you'll be paying for 6 people at half price, figure on another $25. That brings the cost of your zoo trip to around $50 (gas and admission)...this assumes you bring all of your food with you!

You're down to only $75 left on your food/entertainment budget after just these two expenses.

Pressed Pennies...you included this as an activity, so I assume you aren't planning on just letting each kid make one penny each. At $.51 each, pressed pennies for 4 kids is going to add up pretty quickly.

Even if you're only planning on spending a grand total of one hour at the arcade, it's going to be AT LEAST $10 to entertain 4 kids for that hour. That's assuming you only let each kid have 10 tokens (and very few games these days take only one token each!)

Another thing I'm wondering is if you are going to run out of things to do. It doesn't seem like you have enough things planned to fill two weeks, unless you're planning on just relaxing at the pool on most days. This is just my preference, but I'd probably swap out the MNSSHP and Epcot tickets for some Universal Studios Tickets. It would cost you LESS to get the US tickets, and they would be good for unlimited use for the entire week. The Epcot and MNSSHP tickets would only give you one day plus one evening of entertainment.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

So you will only be in the parks 2 days- one for Epcot and once for MNSSHP? I think the $300 for food for 13 days is a little too low.

 

[TNKBELL]

I think your $300 food/entertainment budget is vastly underestimated.

Chef Mickey's is going to run you close to $175 after tax and tip.

I don't know how familiar you are with FL, but the Melbourne Zoo is not anywhere near WDW. I have a lot of family that lives in Melbourne, so we always combine our Disney trips with visiting family. It takes an hour or more (depending on how fast you drive) to get to Melbourne. I think it's about 70 miles each way, give or take. There are also tolls involved. Figure on adding about $30 to your trip for the gas to Melbourne. Now for the cost of the Melbourne Zoo. I love zoos and animals, so I thoroughly enjoy that zoo; however, I think it's the biggest rippoff I've ever been to as far as zoos go. It's small...if you spend 3 hours there it's a lot. The last time I was there (March 2007), I think it cost us about $35 for four people to get in. Since you'll be paying for 6 people at half price, figure on another $25. That brings the cost of your zoo trip to around $50 (gas and admission)...this assumes you bring all of your food with you!

You're down to only $75 left on your food/entertainment budget after just these two expenses.

Pressed Pennies...you included this as an activity, so I assume you aren't planning on just letting each kid make one penny each. At $.51 each, pressed pennies for 4 kids is going to add up pretty quickly.

Even if you're only planning on spending a grand total of one hour at the arcade, it's going to be AT LEAST $10 to entertain 4 kids for that hour. That's assuming you only let each kid have 10 tokens (and very few games these days take only one token each!)

Another thing I'm wondering is if you are going to run out of things to do. It doesn't seem like you have enough things planned to fill two weeks, unless you're planning on just relaxing at the pool on most days. This is just my preference, but I'd probably swap out the MNSSHP and Epcot tickets for some Universal Studios Tickets. It would cost you LESS to get the US tickets, and they would be good for unlimited use for the entire week. The Epcot and MNSSHP tickets would only give you one day plus one evening of entertainment.

We plan on doing CM for breakfast. The kids are bringing thier own spending money and I hope they choose not to spend it all at the arcade and save some for thier favorite DTD store, LEGO!! As far as pressed pennies we got so many in 2005, it will be a hunt just to find ones we don't already have. Oh trust me, there will be plenty to do, we were there 17 days in 2005 and we had plenty to occupy our time. As far as Melbourne goes, Diser, LisaLovesPooh told us about a great beach and park and it's less than an hour and soooo worth the drive(for the shells alone). We plan to have a picinic there and then go to the zoo after. Gas is included in the budget as well as tolls. With MNSSHP tix you can get into the park at 4 PM until Midnight, that's 8 hours of fun!! I consider that a day. We love Disney and I know we could do Universal cheaper but we are just partial. We are going on vacation, not a marathon. Sleeping in will be a much needed activity!! Thank you for your concern, bear with us and watch for the trip report.

 

[mommiepoppins]

tnk I could not find 'short smalls" on rest.com.

 

[TNKBELL]

tnk I could not find 'short smalls" on rest.com.

That's the only restaurant.com GC we can get in our city. When we went to DW in 2005 We ate at the Starlight Grill(very good). This time we purchased 6 and they include, 2 for the Cosmopolitan Grill in Cookeville, MugShots in St. Cloud, JT's Sports Bar in Kissimmee, Kool's Open Pit Grill in Kissimmee, and American Pie Pizza in Clemont. I'll let you know how they are. I've only used the GCs a few times, so I'm by no means an expert!

 

[formernyer]

As far as Melbourne goes, Diser, LisaLovesPooh told us about a great beach and park and it's less than an hour and soooo worth the drive(for the shells alone).

Do you mind sharing which beach you're talking about and where it is?

The kids and I hit the beach whenever we're in Melbourne, but we've yet to find one with "good" shells. Sure, we find some nice ones, but most are very small and generic. I'd love to find some really nice ones!