Budget for family of six

[tybailey]

hieveryone.I'm new to these boards but you all seem so nice.I have a family of six and have been trying to plan a trip to Disney for the longest time but can't seem to get in my price rangeAnd now on top of that,my husband just got laid off.My family consists of myself,my DH,2 sons(4&6),daughter(1 1/2),and my stepdaughter(9).Everyone keeps telling me that I should wait until my kids get older because they won't remember anything.We live in Indianapolis and would most likely drive(against my husbands wishes)to save money.Airlines are TOO expensive.If anyone has any helpful tips for a hopeful mom and wife,please let me know.Thanks for looking!!!

 

[CEDmom]

Welcome to the board, I'm pretty new myself but thought I'd offer my opinion. I think driving is your best bet to keep costs down. As far as a place to stay here are a few suggestions that I think will accomodate your family:

- Fort Wilderness cabin
- Holiday Inn family suite
- vacation home rental

All of these would allow you to cooks meals which would cut down food costs tremendously.

As far as your children's ages and not remembering the only one that fits this is the 1 1/2 yo.

We've taken our DD at 2 1/2 and 3 1/2. While she doesn't remember everything about the trips she certainly remembers enough things that she enjoyed.

Good luck, I hope you can make it work.

 

[lisajl]

I agree with CED mom.

Remember that younger kids get in free. I believe it is if they are under 2.

Sorry to hear about your DH's layoff. Not a good thing.
My DH was laid off quite a few years ago and we had to cancel out DW trip.
Finally after getting back on our feet and doing great we went last Dec.
WE drove from Ohio and we stopped in Savannah for the night.

Our package cost was $1300 for the five of us.
No, that did not include food or gas to get down there. All in all it was a pretty good price.

I would watch for codes and unless you are into water parks, do not get the Ultimate Park Hoppers. We paid for those and we only went to the parks.

Lisajl

 

[Debbie]

<center>Welcome!</center>

CED and lisa have some really good points. Firstly, the hotel. Having stayed-and loved-BOTH Fort Wilderness Cabins AND Holiday Inn Family Suite, my vote is the HIFS. For this hotel, you will ALL get a free hot breakfast, and the kids will eat free anytime that you eat there. You are close to other eateries, too. The hotel is geared for kids your ages! Yes, you will pay $7.00(?) each day for parking, but remember, pay once, and it is for the day at any and all the parks. The breakfast will more than recover that price. Also, you will have a microwave and mini-fridge at your disposal. Take a casserole dish, soup and can opener and you have a meal! You can check out the hotel HERE. If you can get an entertainment card/rate, the kidsuites are really reasonable and everyone fits very nicely.

For passes, check out Paramount and Ticketmania for what is best for your family. (One thing bought ahead of time works wonders!) Don't forget, kids under 3 are free and your 9 yo is still a child! (Adult passes required at 10 And don't forget, if you buy parkhopper plus passes, whatever you don't use can be saved for another trip!

For souvenirs, we stop at Belz and do the Character Warehouse/ Premiere BEFORE we get to the hotel. That way the kids already have something and they aren't asking throughout the trip for souvies. Funny. When SHE was busy planning our impromptu trip just last week, my 11yo had this as the first thing to do.

With a big breakfast in the hotel, you'll find that 1 other meal a day is probably all that you'll want-with a few snacks in between. You don't have to do character meals-or even sit downs, if you want to save money. The counterservice is fine. We find that we can either split the grown up meals (1 appetizer, and 1 main course) or even eat the kids stuff. Of course you can't do that at a buffet. AND, because you have a car, you can eat at any one of the myriad of restaurants offsite.

As to waiting. You'll have to make that decision yourself. For me, I want the memories and the family time. THAT's the true MAGIC of Disney-it ISN'T onsite vs off-site. I took 2 of my kids as infants and 3 at 2-3. I remember their excitement and glowing eyes, even if they don't!

Whatever your decision-have a wonderful trip, whenever you go!!

 

[crazelion]

Here's some tips.

Stay offsite. The people on the Orlando and attractions board will be more in glad to help. Hotel Reviews

Check out hotelkingdom.com for resorts to sleep 6.

Try Summerfield Suites and Hoilday Inn Family suites they offer free breakfest.

Eat offsite. Pick up tourist guides for coupons.

Try Wal-mart for cheap sounviers.

Make a list of parks you want to visit. Then decide on what ticket to buy. Ticketmania.com is a good place to try.

Pack a snack for the parks to save money. For example: bottle water, chicken and tuna saland packets and pringles for a lunch.

I don't like cooking on vacation so I buy things that don't have to be cook for a snack.

Bottle water and sodas that brought from will save at least a 100.00 dollars alone.

With those tips you should only have to buy dinner out everyday. Here's a cheap a couple places Fazznoi, Golden Corral, Ci Ci Pizza, and Ryan's.

I hope this helps.

 

[funhouse8]

I vote with the hifs also. We have stayed at both and even thou they are both nice hifs have the wilderness homes beat because of the price. You can sign up on the hoilday inn web page and every now and then they will email you deals. When we went we paid forone night and got the next night free. We stayed for 12 days and only paid for 6. They also have deals if you are a AAA member. I can't say enough nice things about this resort & you will not believe how close u r to the parks. It was easier to get to the parks from here then when we stayed inside Disney. The breakfast is great and with six of you, will save you alot of money. You get a kitchen and can freeze water bottles to take with you into the parks for the day. It also had a great pool area and activities for the kids. I think you will have a great time here, check out their web page.

 

[zurgswife]

I vote for Summerfield Suites...we stayed in a 2bdrm in March for 83.00...if you search long enough you can find similar (well not much more) rates. This includes 2 bathrooms and a full kitchen.

Tickets will be your largest expense. I would look for specials that provide additional flex features. This will allow you to spend days at the water parks. Ticketmania & Paramount are good places to start.

Food....Breakfast is provided at the hotel or you can do cereal and doughnuts in the room, Lunch you could do at the park...remember to share meals my kids 5, 9, 10, 11 still currently share meals...as most meals are large you could probably do counter service lunch for between 25 and 40 . dinner I would do at the hotel and take full use of the kitchen. we carry our own snacks, water and soda into the park.

Parking...the fee is $7 per day but you can use this for all the parks just remember to show your receipt.

souveniors...purchase at outlets or make sure relatives give kids Disney Dollars for birthdays and other holidays.

I planned a trip for my really good friend who is a widower with 4 kids (6,7,10,12) stayed at Summerfield, tickets 5day hopper 4flex features, character meal, used hotel transportation, airfare and meals and he only spent 3800 for an entire week...And they did feel cheated at all.

My youngest dd started her trips at 3months old...like the above poster...I remember that trip more then most of all my other trips..it was truly magical....

 

[tebright]

My family and I are going to Disney in December. We also are dealing with a budget. We are staying at the HIFS for 5 nights and have a 4 day hopper pass for 4 of us. Keep in mind my children are over 9 years old so they are charged the adult price to get in the park. We are traveling by auto train and taking our vehicle. The total cost is $2300. We are traveling from Pennsylvania.

We went to Disney 2 years ago and actually spent more money driving with meals and hotels. It was weird.

Good luck

 

[4disneyfans]

HERE IS ANOTHER VOTE FOR SUMMERFIELD SUITES. WE HAVE HAD P PEOPLE TO A SUITE AND HAD PLENTY OF ROOM. THE 2 BDR./2BTH ALSO HAS A SOFA SLEEPER. THE BREAKFAST WAS NICE AND WE WERE ABLE TO TAKE FRUIT BACK TO OUR ROOM TO ENJOY LATER AT THE POOL. AS FAR AS CHILDREN TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER, I HAVE BEEN TAKING MY CHILDREN SINCE THEY WERE A YEAR OLD. THOSE ARE SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF MY LIFE SO FAR !! NOT TOO MENTION THE PICTURES AND VIDEO OF THEM AT THE TIME. THEY LOVE TO WATCH THERE FIRST REACTIONS TO THE CHARACTERS ON VIDEO !!! GOOD LUCK!

 

[funhouse8]

Just got a flyer in the mail now you can have dinner too for free a the hifs all summer long. Now that's a savings.

 

[scanmom]

you may want to think about going to DLR in California. It is a truly magical place, DL is far superior to the Magic Kingdom. CA is alot of fun too. The passes are ALOT cheaper, and alot of very affordable offsite hotels are within walking distance to the parks. The DLR is smaller in scale than WDW, so it would be easier to navigate with small kids. We went here a few times before venturing to Florida.

 

[crazymomof4]

My best advice......read the Budget Board daily! At least for a week or so. I read all posts on saving $ that applied to us. I started a file just for the info I found here. I would copy and paste everything that I might poosibly use. (Soon I will have to go there, reread and organize all that!) I first went back as many pages on the Board as time would allow and read some of the older threads. After that I checked daily for new posts that would help us.
As for lodging, no way could we afford the 2 rooms we need onsite, Sooooo...I looked into offsite suites. I found that for the cost of your average suite (Summerfield, Homewood, etc.) you can get a whole house with your own pool!! I went online and found literally tens of thousands of rental homes within 10-15 mins. of WDW. There are really too many to choose from and at all different price ranges. We got a 4 Bdrm poolhome for $525/wk (tax included!). We have done the poolhouse before and found that having a day to relax by the pool in between WDW park days makes for a pleasant vacation. Also, $$ is saved by having a full kitchen. We eat brkfst at home on park days and on days when we are staying home we have all 3 meals there (quick and easy ones, for mom's sake). I highly recommend a rental house. With 4 kids even a suite can get crowded!!

Also, for tips on managing a family in WDW see the Disney for Families Board on this site.

Oh! I almost forgot! Welcome to the boards! See 'ya 'round.

 

[Free4Life11]

My best suggestion is...STAY IN A VACATION HOME! Believe me I cannot IMAGINE my family of 6 being crammed into a Holiday Inn "Family Suite."

For $100 a night we stayed in a year old house with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen and a pool/spa. We also payed $130 to have the pool heated. It was such a good deal.

Tickets were the biggest exspense. We got the 3 one-day pass deal, and I think you save $10 off the cost of purchasing 3 seperate one day passes.

The other nice thing about the vacation home is that we went to Wal-Mart and got some food and had a large breakfast and meals at the home. We also just took a day off to relax!

Good luck!

-Matt

 

[tinaluis]

We are a family of 5 and usually travel to WDW 2x a year and stay at least 10 nights each trip. We drive down from Chicago (about $300-$350 gas, hotels, snacks, etc.) , get our hotel in Orlando through Priceline (usually around $35 nt.), fix a lot of our meals in our room or eat at McDonalds or Burger King, have some dinners with friends who live in Orlando, use Conenctions vouchers for our in-park meals, limit our souveniers and buy them at the Belz Outlet Mall, have APs for Universal/IOA and make our 5d4+ WDW park hoppers last two trips. We never feel cheated and are happy to scrimp a little here and there so we can afford two trips a year. Of course, that is how we live all the time -- no cable, basic cell phone service, our cars are 8 years old and 12 years old, and we enjoy all of the free activities that Chicago offers every year. Our big splurge is WDW and US/IOA. Fortunately, we're all WDW/US/IOA fanatics so we work toward a common goal. We've also tried other vacations, to Disney in California, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Mexico, etc., and none compare to WDW/US/IOA for us.

 

[sln88]

If you are staying a week, you can get an off site 2 bedroom condo for $250 for the week. That way you can save on breakfast by eating before you go to the parks.
We also made sandwiches and took some snacks with us. Then ate fast food for dinner.
Driving will save you lots on airfare and car rental. The only other big cost is your park ticket, and there is not a good way to save much on those. You could limit the number of days you go to the parks and do 'free' things like swimming, downtown Disney, the boardwalk(I am sure there are other things).
Sorry about the layoff. I just got laid off last Thursday and I am still in shock. Trying to decide if we should skip our planned trip for this year.