August prices

[missiemouse]

Tentatively discussing our first WDW trip as a family. Will probably be in 3 years' time but after a quick read on here I am totally overwhelmed by all the different options! I know it's too early to start planning properly but I have absolutely no idea how much it will cost - I priced up a trip last year using virgin I think and it was £10+k (2ad 3ch) but surely you can do it cheaper?

Anyone got a ballpark figure for me for 2 weeks in August, one week on site (mid range) and one week in a villa? including tickets etc? Just want to know roughly how much we need to save per month.

And what would be the difference btwn that and doing both weeks off site? Is it massively cheaper?

Thanks a lot!

 

[sandshal]

Hi there, no experience of on-site but can guide you on offsite. Cheapest way is to avoid a package and buy all the elements separately. Flights are tricky, bargains come and go each year but if you want to fly Virgin direct I'd probably think £750 each should cover it, we're flying indirect this year and paying £480 each (into Daytona which isn't far) so savings to be had there if needed. A villas a good way to go, 2 weeks in a good area close to Disney will be around £1200 but again if you don't mind a bit more of a drive you could probably get one on the US27 for £800-900. Car will be approx £300 with insurance. Park tickets around £1750 for Disney and Universal.

Realistically id have thought £7000 with directs, a villa for 2 weeks and tickets but this is pretty conservative and could be drastically shaved with indirect flights and a bit of shopping around.

Hope this helps.

Sharon

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I agree with PP. I would estimate:

Flights £4k direct, hopefully cheaper as not sure of child ages
7 nights at moderate WDW hotel £1k, we have just booked CSR for less than that but you will need one of the hotel rooms that sleep 5
Car hire £400
Villa 1 week anything from £400 to £800 depending what you want
WDw ticked for 14 days £1.5k

So £7.5k but probably cheaper with child prices and if you look out for deals. We just booked our room in the Expedia sale and CBR where 5 can sleep was available.

What is your price based on?

 

[micksn]

Port Orleans Riverside do rooms for 5 and they are a moderate. Lovely resort and great for children. If you book early you should also get free Quick service dining. (If they are still doing it by then)
The next best option for 5 would be a one bedroon vila in OKW or saratoga Springs with free full dining package. Lots of space, but obviously pricier!
Have a look on the WDW website or allears.net for photos and reviews of the resorts.
Your cheapest option for direct flights would probably be Thomas Cook or maybe Monarch depending where you are flying from.
Unless prices go up dramatically you won't need to spend 10k, probably 7k especially if your second week is in a villa.
Happy planning

 

[missiemouse]

Thank you, this is just the sort of info I was after. Chdn will be 10, 7 and 4 but we will probably be able to persuade grandparents to come too so one of the kids could share with them if it's cheaper than a room for 5. I like the idea of staying onsite with a dining plan (I think you can get it free if you book in advance?) but not sure if it would be too much for the full 2 weeks, I think a week in a villa might be a bit more relaxing. Would going for 3 weeks be hugely more expensive? If we had 2 weeks WDW tickets and a few days Universal, that would give us a few days to relax/shop etc as well. Presumably it would only increase the cost of the accommodation as flights/tickets would be the same? Happy to fly indirect as long as it's not too inconvenient, and cut costs wherever we can.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We always try to go for more than 14 days, and the price difference is only the extra accommodation, car hire and of course spending money!

 

[DLPDreams]

Just to add, as pps have said, if you want the free dining plan (where you get one table service meal per day rather than just counter service), you will need to book a deluxe - so for your family size, somewhere like OKW or SSR which is going to push the price up. If you are happy with counterservice only and then just pay for any table service meals (i.e. character meals), then you could stay at a moderate onsite. This is presuming they will repeat the same free dining offer. No one knows until it is released in April (from historical data).

Regarding going for 3 weeks being pricier, in my experience it is definitely more money but that is partly our choice as we wanted to fly with Thomson from our local airport. Thomson always charge more for 3 week flights, rather than 2 (this is flight only) someone told me it is because they really don't want to sell 3 week durations - as their holiday packages tend to be in 2 week slots! If we'd gone for 2 weeks our flights would have been a fair bit cheaper . But you can do so much more in 3 and take it a little bit easier. I hear so many people say they try and cram so much in, in 2 weeks and come home feeling shattered! If you are staying offsite for some of it too, then there is a cost associated with extra meals etc.

Also, just to make you aware, your 10 year old will be a 'disney adult' in their eyes so you will have to pay adult park ticket/dining plan prices. However, it isn't a huge amount more, but something to bare in mind. It will be the same if you go to Universal say - again 10 year old = adult ticket price. I think atm, for Universal for our tickets - we are looking at about £10 more for an adult ticket.

We are going in August for 3 weeks and tbh it is costing way more than I expected , but we aren't cutting any costs (other than not having a car for the whole time, but that is genuinely because we don't think we'll need it all the time). We are booking what we'd like to do, PE flights from local airport, accom onsite at both WDW and US, Discovery Cove dolphin swims etc. But, I hate to think we'll want to go back, as there is no way we will ever be able to afford this kind of holiday again - well, perhaps if we left the kids at home !

 

[missiemouse]

My thinking is that we go for a moderate with quick service dining, and have any character meals during the week/s we are off site. The rest of the offsite time we would cook/take pack lunches or eat in cheaper restaurants to keep costs down.
I'd really like to go again when the kids are older teens etc so don't want to blow the budget. Tbh I will only be able to persuade DH if I can come in with a 'reasonable' price (£200 a month for 3 years doesn't sound so bad does it?!)

Thanks so much for all the advice.

 

[ROBEAR84]

Would going for 3 weeks be hugely more expensive? If we had 2 weeks WDW tickets and a few days Universal, that would give us a few days to relax/shop etc as well. Presumably it would only increase the cost of the accommodation as flights/tickets would be the same? Happy to fly indirect as long as it's not too inconvenient, and cut costs wherever we can.

We're looking at going for 3 weeks next year. It's going to cost a bit more but as we're going for a villa for the last 7-10 days that will only be £500-700 which when a two week holiday is costing £8-9k anyway, we thought wasn't too bad! Obviously we'll need spending money for another week but we're planning on having a pretty chilled final week so it shouldn't be a huge amount. Day trips/tickets etc would have cost us the same as we'd have packed what we're doing into 2 weeks as we did last time. We're still only getting 14 day tickets for Disney though. For 21 day tickets it's currently about £30 each more.

My thinking is that we go for a moderate with quick service dining, and have any character meals during the week/s we are off site. The rest of the offsite time we would cook/take pack lunches or eat in cheaper restaurants to keep costs down.
I'd really like to go again when the kids are older teens etc so don't want to blow the budget. Tbh I will only be able to persuade DH if I can come in with a 'reasonable' price (£200 a month for 3 years doesn't sound so bad does it?!)

Thanks so much for all the advice.

We're hoping to book POFQ with free QSDP (if available) and upgrading to DDP. I thought about doing character meals when we're offsite but for us we want to do quite a few so it makes more sense to use our TS credits for that and QS only some days when we've doubled up our TS (for Cinderellas Royal Table etc) also, as we're going for 3 weeks we'd have to pay another £150 (2a3c) to make our park tickets 3 week ones to cover when we're offsite anyway.

Regarding going for 3 weeks being pricier, in my experience it is definitely more money but that is partly our choice as we wanted to fly with Thomson from our local airport. Thomson always charge more for 3 week flights, rather than 2 (this is flight only) someone told me it is because they really don't want to sell 3 week durations - as their holiday packages tend to be in 2 week slots! If we'd gone for 2 weeks our flights would have been a fair bit cheaper . But you can do so much more in 3 and take it a little bit easier. I hear so many people say they try and cram so much in, in 2 weeks and come home feeling shattered! If you are staying offsite for some of it too, then there is a cost associated with extra meals etc.

Sorry to hijack OP but...

I didn't realise this about Thomson flights! I'm still hoping we might be able to fly with them again as had a really good experience with them on the dreamliner last time. I wonder if this is why I can't seem to find flights if I put in for 3 weeks online then? How did you book them?

 

[missiemouse]

Is that £8-9k for 2 weeks onsite? I'm good at penny pinching, and we're not big spenders so I'm really hoping we can do it for nearer £7k if we have indirect flights/cook offsite etc. I need to look into this more and find out where are the best places to cut corners.

What are the quick service restaurants like? Is it all fast food or are there buffet style restaurants (like plaza gardens at DLP)? Not sure I could do fast food for a whole week but if it's buffets as well that would suit us better than table service to be honest.

Do the 14 day tickets have to be used within 14 days or can you use them within a longer time period? Pretty sure when we went last time (admittedly about 12 years ago) we could use the days anytime within the year. So if we were there for 3 weeks could we use the 14 days throughout that time period or do they have to be used within 2 weeks? (does that make sense?!)

 

[DLPDreams]

Sorry to hijack OP but...

I didn't realise this about Thomson flights! I'm still hoping we might be able to fly with them again as had a really good experience with them on the dreamliner last time. I wonder if this is why I can't seem to find flights if I put in for 3 weeks online then? How did you book them?

Yep - they are known for it with regard to 3 week flight only. Also, if you book a package with them, they include your luggage charge (not sure about seat - think you may still have to pay to book that!), whereas flight only it's about £70 per case now isn't it? Also, you have to pay when you book FO, with a package you can pay a deposit! We looked at doing a fly drive (priced on the telephone), so that we could pay deposit, but it was more expensive than the FO price. Then we looked at doing a basic package and just not taking the hotel, but again, it was a bit more.

I had to telephone to book our flights - took a gamble and literally booked the morning they came out. I haven't seen them cheaper at all than what we paid - in fact the ECY price is now over what we've paid PE - that is based on two weeks though as I can't get a 3 week price online. Sometimes they do release them online but it depends on how many seats they've sold. As we are going August, I expect the flight to be full and booked up a fair bit already. In fact, when I last looked in November time, there were only 4 PE seats left .

But, you may find it's not an issue in October as it sounds like you will be flying over term time (but spanning half term) anyway .

HTH

 

[bex7583]

Thank you, this is just the sort of info I was after. Chdn will be 10, 7 and 4 but we will probably be able to persuade grandparents to come too so one of the kids could share with them if it's cheaper than a room for 5. I like the idea of staying onsite with a dining plan (I think you can get it free if you book in advance?) but not sure if it would be too much for the full 2 weeks, I think a week in a villa might be a bit more relaxing. Would going for 3 weeks be hugely more expensive? If we had 2 weeks WDW tickets and a few days Universal, that would give us a few days to relax/shop etc as well. Presumably it would only increase the cost of the accommodation as flights/tickets would be the same? Happy to fly indirect as long as it's not too inconvenient, and cut costs wherever we can.

we went for 3 weeks as our flighst were such a huge percentage of the budget wheras we were only paying £350 a week with breakfast for our offiste accomodation we are also a family of 5

the cost to upgrade tickets from 2 to 3 week is minimal in my opinion but if you do disney and other parks you could overlap them and easily spread your park days over the 3 weeks

virgin has always been way over the cost of any other agents i have looked at !! they quoted me over 20k for our 3 week holiday with tickets !! i did it all myself and the total cost was around 11k that included our spending money !!! we had a week onsite one week off then road trip and lots of extras bbb top package , dine with shamu etc, car upgrade

 

[ROBEAR84]

Is that £8-9k for 2 weeks onsite? I'm good at penny pinching, and we're not big spenders so I'm really hoping we can do it for nearer £7k if we have indirect flights/cook offsite etc. I need to look into this more and find out where are the best places to cut corners.

What are the quick service restaurants like? Is it all fast food or are there buffet style restaurants (like plaza gardens at DLP)? Not sure I could do fast food for a whole week but if it's buffets as well that would suit us better than table service to be honest.

Do the 14 day tickets have to be used within 14 days or can you use them within a longer time period? Pretty sure when we went last time (admittedly about 12 years ago) we could use the days anytime within the year. So if we were there for 3 weeks could we use the 14 days throughout that time period or do they have to be used within 2 weeks? (does that make sense?!)

At the moment, I've worked it out at around £8.5k for flights, 10 nights onsite with DDP upgrade, WDW and Universal tickets, 3 weeks car hire (DH wants an MPV again as he loved the Chrysler Town and Country we had last year - but a 5str would do us!) and 10/11 nights at a 3 bed villa offsite.

Like you, I have an eye for a deal so I'm hoping to shave around £1k off of this (which in turn will pay for ticketed partys, other day trips etc) but I've over budgeted for now to ensure it doesn't end up being way over my initital estimate - so fingers crossed!

I'm pretty sure the buffets there come under table service - dining plan wise so you wouldn't be able to use your QS credits there. We didn't really eat much at wdw other than our character meals so I can only go by reviews etc here but I think I'd get pretty sick of QS, hence why we're planning on pay the additional to upgrade it to include TS. All this is based on the free dining coming back though, we won't bother otherwise.

The 14 day tickets have to be used with 15 days (I think!) you can't carry over days anymore. A shame as the 7 day ones can be used within 14 so you'd think it'd be the same.

Yep - they are known for it with regard to 3 week flight only. Also, if you book a package with them, they include your luggage charge (not sure about seat - think you may still have to pay to book that!), whereas flight only it's about £70 per case now isn't it? Also, you have to pay when you book FO, with a package you can pay a deposit! We looked at doing a fly drive (priced on the telephone), so that we could pay deposit, but it was more expensive than the FO price. Then we looked at doing a basic package and just not taking the hotel, but again, it was a bit more.

I had to telephone to book our flights - took a gamble and literally booked the morning they came out. I haven't seen them cheaper at all than what we paid - in fact the ECY price is now over what we've paid PE - that is based on two weeks though as I can't get a 3 week price online. Sometimes they do release them online but it depends on how many seats they've sold. As we are going August, I expect the flight to be full and booked up a fair bit already. In fact, when I last looked in November time, there were only 4 PE seats left .

But, you may find it's not an issue in October as it sounds like you will be flying over term time (but spanning half term) anyway .

HTH

I seeeeeee.... what a palava! I'm assuming flights become available at the same time as the holidays? ie May? I think we'll have to wait anyway as we won't have saved enough for our flights until the end of the year.

Thanks so much for all the info though, very helpful!

 

[Elise79]

Is that £8-9k for 2 weeks onsite? I'm good at penny pinching, and we're not big spenders so I'm really hoping we can do it for nearer £7k if we have indirect flights/cook offsite etc. I need to look into this more and find out where are the best places to cut corners.

What are the quick service restaurants like? Is it all fast food or are there buffet style restaurants (like plaza gardens at DLP)? Not sure I could do fast food for a whole week but if it's buffets as well that would suit us better than table service to be honest.

Do the 14 day tickets have to be used within 14 days or can you use them within a longer time period? Pretty sure when we went last time (admittedly about 12 years ago) we could use the days anytime within the year. So if we were there for 3 weeks could we use the 14 days throughout that time period or do they have to be used within 2 weeks? (does that make sense?!)

The QS restaurants are ones were you order at counter and collect your own food generally however it isn't all fast food - there are some really nice choices.

The food court at POR for example has a make your pasta, make your own salad, carvery type section etc

There is sunshine seasons in Epcot that does spit roast chicken, pork chops, asian style noodles, salads

You might need to have a look at some of the menus but there are lots of people who go and do the QSDP for 2 weeks and come back and say they didn't eat one burger

The 14 day tickets have to be used within 14 days from first use. The upgrade to 21 day tickets is only about £20 normally so well worth doing if you are looking at more than 14 nights

 

[DLPDreams]

I seeeeeee.... what a palava! I'm assuming flights become available at the same time as the holidays? ie May? I think we'll have to wait anyway as we won't have saved enough for our flights until the end of the year.

Thanks so much for all the info though, very helpful!

No, it was April - around 22 I recall as just before DD's birthday. Best thing you can do is ask TA to give you a call the morning they go onsale. When I rang, the TA said she had a list of people to call that day with FO prices - the actual prices didn't upload online for about another 4 days or so, by which point, flights had gone up .

I am not saying booking early is always the way to go but our PE flights are now more expensive - ecy is in fact more too. And our WDW break (which we booked on opening day too) is now almost £600 MORE using the current 'free nights' offer and NO food! So, overall I am pretty happy.

Missiemouse - in our position, it has definitely paid to book early - it has also given us more time to save. Some people think I am mad to have booked a holiday 16 months or so in advance! I agree with pp about packages. I was really worried about booking DIY and doing it all myself but so far, it's been OK as most things are staggered and everyone on here is so helpful and always answer your silly questions (well, in my case anyway!) . I couldn't get quotes from all TAs as we are staying at OKW and not all agents sell accom there, but I did manage to get a quote from Virgin and Kenwood (I think) and it was coming in at around £19.5k for the 6 of us for 3 weeks - that was with flights from Manchester so we would also have had to sort out travel/hotel for that. That included Disney tickets and free DDP but no other tickets or anything. I haven't done a proper total just yet but we are at around £16k DIY but this included US accom (4 nts) as well as WDW and local PE flights (so no hotel or anything to get). I am really pleased with that!

But, agree you can do it much cheaper. I personally would budget £8k and anything less is a bonus. I've already had a stern word with myself and said we won't be going back as we just can't afford this kind of holiday again !

 

[missiemouse]

Thank you so much for all the info I won't show DH the £16k figure as he would totally freak out! Going to budget to save £8k and hope that it comes in under that. If we're looking to go Aug 2018 I would book the hotel in April 2017, is that right? (sounds a long way off when you put it like that!) and flights would be Sept 2017?

(sorry to be thick but what are PE flights?!)

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

PE is premium economy for flights.

I just booked our WDW for this July a few weeks ago in the sale. It depends if you want free dining (if it is offered) , then you will have to book earlier

 

[DLPDreams]

Thank you so much for all the info I won't show DH the £16k figure as he would totally freak out! Going to budget to save £8k and hope that it comes in under that. If we're looking to go Aug 2018 I would book the hotel in April 2017, is that right? (sounds a long way off when you put it like that!) and flights would be Sept 2017?

(sorry to be thick but what are PE flights?!)

Mrs Doubtfire has answered now about PE flights .

I think you won't be far wrong with £8k if you do an onsite and offsite stay to keep costs down slightly.

Re time to book - it really depends when you want to book. If free dining continues as it has in the last few years then it will be released in the April the year before you want to go. You will pay a deposit and then balance will be paid (is it 8 weeks??) before you go. So it gives you a long time to save. But it's not for everyone booking so far in advance, especially as some people don't like to book and not have flights sorted out as scheduled flights will be released 11 months before you go.

I also forgot to say, if you book early, they often offer something like a free gift card - we got the $200 free card. We plan to use it to pay towards our tips. It won't totally cover it with there being 6 of us, but it will pay a huge chunk off. Again, no-one knows if the gift card offer will continue or if it does, if it will be in the same form etc.... But it's worth watching out this year in April to see what is offered - it will give you an idea .

 

[jothp]

Hi, we are also a family of 5 going this August. We are paying £8500 for direct flights and two weeks onsite at OKW including Disney park tickets and free dining. We could have saved on that by booking indirect flights or staying offsite but chose to splash out this time. We also go £191 cash back via quidco for the disney part of our booking so that could be extra towards the holiday cost.

 

[Portugal1000]

I still haven't booked flights yet as hoping they will still come down. We booked on 6th Feb last year and paid £600 each for 6th to 29th August. Indirect but great flights on American. This year we are budgeting the following for the three of us for 21 nights from 11th August
Flights £2000. (Hopefully cheaper)
Car hire. £500 (paid £450 last year for 24 days 4x4)
Wyndham Bonnet Creek 21 nights at $140 a night. 2 bedroom deluxe villa. So assume £2100 if dollar gets worse and goes down to 1.40 ( hope not) wouldn't stay anywhere else now.
One night Universal Lowes Pacific hotel. £165
Universal Tickets (including Wet n Wild) £420
Discover Cove non swim with Busch £435
So without spending money £5620.
No Disney this year, been 11 times on the trot and with no new rides, going to give it a miss and save £1000.
Hoping that flights a bit cheaper and the dollar improves. Thankfully have $2000 left over from last year that I changed at just under 1.70. Kicking myself that I didn't change up more now as we always have the money saved for next holiday before we get home from current holiday so should have.
We assume we need $200 a day spending money so only need to change another $2100.
We probably spend about £8500 for three weeks for three of us. Can be done a lot cheaper if you don't go in school holidays. Can also really cut down on spending money on meals out. The first year we went we were so exhausted each day I think we only went out for dinner about 4 times. We stayed at a Homewood suites which was great for a first trip as included good and refreshments four nights a week.