Budget Question

[danceintherain]

$100 droid for the boy

$100 lightsabers in Tomorrowland

Does "the boy" like his droid? I'm trying to decide if I want to budget for this for DS. I would love to let him build a lightsaber at Savi's but that seems so excessive, especially since he would be the only one in the house with one. Maybe I should wait and budget for all 3 older kids to do it at WDW next year? But it might be difficult to carry three back from Orlando....

How is the quality of the less expensive lightsabers?

 

[chezcurrie]

It's just for one day! We will land early am and are going to go to the beach before we got to Anaheim.. we will rent and return the car the same day!! That why it's *only $200

LOL, I was like: dang, you are GOOOOOD!

 

[chezcurrie]

Does "the boy" like his droid? I'm trying to decide if I want to budget for this for DS. I would love to let him build a lightsaber at Savi's but that seems so excessive, especially since he would be the only one in the house with one. Maybe I should wait and budget for all 3 older kids to do it at WDW next year? But it might be difficult to carry three back from Orlando....

How is the quality of the less expensive lightsabers?

FWIW As a mom of 3 Star Wars loving boys I can say Savi’s was way more ”worth it” for us than the droid build. The droid build is fun, but over quickly. Savi’s is something my older 2 *still* talk about, and my youngest is saving up for next visit. It’s an emotional experience (I cried watching) - some call it a core memory. The droid are super cute and they played with them in the hotel room and a couple times at home, but now sit on the shelf in my boys rooms. It was easy to carry the sabers on our flight home, I think the airlines are used it them by now! Lol

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

How old are the kids? The late party really might not be a good idea depending. If their kids go to bed at 7pm now that’s not likely to be drastically different in two years. I would love to do OBB with my older son but I’m not even considering it until he’s 10 (and only then if it seems like he could not only hang, but actually enjoy it). His max at DL now is about 9:30pm and that’s pushing it but he sure does love the fireworks so we do it very occasionally (he’s 7 years old).

 

[katyringo]

My hang up on the Savi's is that they only let one person go in with the person building. I get why they do that.. but it means only my husband or I get to go in with him.. and we both want to watch him do it. So then we just pay for 2 and then poof! $500 later... the same rule is with the droid.. honestly that rule is kinda irritating to me for

But my son has mentioned Savi's...and he has a birthday the month before we go. So I told him to watch a YouTube video and if he really really wants it maybe it can be his birthday present.

 

[chezcurrie]

My hang up on the Savi's is that they only let one person go in with the person building. I get why they do that.. but it means only my husband or I get to go in with him.. and we both want to watch him do it. So then we just pay for 2 and then poof! $500 later... the same rule is with the droid.. honestly that rule is kinda irritating to me for

But my son has mentioned Savi's...and he has a birthday the month before we go. So I told him to watch a YouTube video and if he really really wants it maybe it can be his birthday present.

Totally get that. Maybe your hubby wants to build one. I know mine did! Lol

You might not want him to watch it... part of the wow factor is not knowing how it all goes down.

EDIT: It is an expensive experience to be sure. I liken it to BBB for StarWars lovers. My boys saved for MONTHS to do it.

 

[chezcurrie]

OP, sorry for taking that slightly off topic…. But it made me realize if they are big HP fans, they will need to budget for the interactive wands! I do not know how anyone goes to Hogsmeade and leaves without one (there are lots of spells to do with them in the land.) Also chocolate frogs are like $10 each and of course every kid wants their own. And butter beer, and and and …

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

How old are the kids? The late party really might not be a good idea depending. If their kids go to bed at 7pm now that’s not likely to be drastically different in two years. I would love to do OBB with my older son but I’m not even considering it until he’s 10 (and only then if it seems like he could not only hang, but actually enjoy it). His max at DL now is about 9:30pm and that’s pushing it but he sure does love the fireworks so we do it very occasionally (he’s 7 years old).

That's a very good point. It is just so foreign to me for kids to go to bed that early that its hard for me to adjust. The ages will be 7, 5, 3 so the youngest will need a ticket but still be very young. I'll only suggest the party then if another adult is coming to watch kids in the evening.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

OP, sorry for taking that slightly off topic…. But it made me realize if they are big HP fans, they will need to budget for the interactive wands! I do not know how anyone goes to Hogsmeade and leaves without one (there are lots of spells to do with them in the land.) Also chocolate frogs are like $10 each and of course every kid wants their own. And butter beer, and and and …

This will definitely be in their budget plan - I'm guessing they will buy more HP souvenirs than Disney stuff!

 

[CeCe0906]

$300 princess breakfast for 2 and tip

I am so back and forth on this... my granddaughter is such a picky eater, but would probably love the princesses, she's 9. I have a hard time paying $ 125 for her her to eat part of a waffle, a piece of bacon and some fruit. Maybe the sorbet or brownie dessert.or macn cheese ( for bfast?) But most of the rest of the rest she wouldn't touch. Even I wouldn't eat much of the non breakfast items, while I can eat breakfast for dinner anytime, I just don't think l want lobster rolls or short ribs at breakfast.

But, the experience would be great for her. Are they still offering warrior poses with Mulan? Has anyone done the experience recently? We are going in August.
Is it a difficult reservation to get?

 

[katyringo]

I am so back and forth on this... my granddaughter is such a picky eater, but would probably love the princesses, she's 9. I have a hard time paying $ 125 for her her to eat part of a waffle, a piece of bacon and some fruit. Maybe the sorbet or brownie dessert.or macn cheese ( for bfast?) But most of the rest of the rest she wouldn't touch. Even I wouldn't eat much of the non breakfast items, while I can eat breakfast for dinner anytime, I just don't think l want lobster rolls or short ribs at breakfast.

But, the experience would be great for her. Are they still offering warrior poses with Mulan? Has anyone done the experience recently? We are going in August.
Is it a difficult reservation to get?

There are some recent YouTube videos of it. We haven't done it yet, it wasn't out very long before Covid. I'm still a bit irritated that they don't have a cheaper princess meal Option as they used to have Ariel's grotto.. I hear you.. there is no way my 6 year old is gonna eat her worth and I've had weight loss surgery sooo.... but she loves everything princess. There are also zero signs of BBB coming back. I am still hopeful with our trip being 6 months away..

 

[heather913]

For reference - here is my budget for our April 29 - May 7 trip for my family of 5, which consists of 4 disney adults and 1 disney child:
$1857 for 5 nights at the Courtyard Marriot
$2,269 for 3 nights at Grand Californian (always wanted to stay there but can't justify the price for 8 nights)
$2,056 for 5 days of park hoppers
$500 for Genie+ and ILL
$1,750 for food
$100 for groceries at hotel room
$100 for rental car on our arrival day
$50 for transportation to airport on last day
$400 for cabana at GCH
$120 for parking at airport in our home state
$60 for flights from Chicago to SNA (we booked using Southwest Rapid Rewards points)
$500 for misc (souveniers, maybe a WB studios tour?)

Total - $9,762

 

[DisneyAndreaM]

I am so back and forth on this... my granddaughter is such a picky eater, but would probably love the princesses, she's 9. I have a hard time paying $ 125 for her her to eat part of a waffle, a piece of bacon and some fruit. Maybe the sorbet or brownie dessert.or macn cheese ( for bfast?) But most of the rest of the rest she wouldn't touch. Even I wouldn't eat much of the non breakfast items, while I can eat breakfast for dinner anytime, I just don't think l want lobster rolls or short ribs at breakfast.

But, the experience would be great for her. Are they still offering warrior poses with Mulan? Has anyone done the experience recently? We are going in August.
Is it a difficult reservation to get?

I just did it with my daughter on Friday and LOVED it. A highlight of the trip. We did it in late 2019 and I thought it was even better this time.

My daughter is 8 and loved all the food minus the lobster roll. (That’s okay….I was happy to eat hers!) The buffet had a lot of variety and they made over easy eggs for my daughter and brought them to the table. The desserts are so good and you can box up what you don’t eat. My son was so happy to get my cake pop when we returned to the park. We also each ordered special drinks which were a highlight. My daughter’s had a light up ice cube and then when we left the bartender put it in a to-go cup and refilled with sprite.

I loved the experience of the princesses. You go visit them outside on the various patios. There were never lines and it was a laid back feeling. They each took so much time chatting with my daughter. She saw Aurora, Tiana, Mulan (taught her a warrior pose), Pocahontas, Belle (read a story to a group of kids after she talked and did photos with my daughter), Cinderella (free Photopass), and Ariel (free Photopass).

At the end my daughter received the gift which this time was an autograph book, pen, and card with the princess’ printed signatures. A little useless for this trip, but will try to remember to bring next time if they’re doing autographs again.

I have photos and will save a highlight to my Instagram (@the_disneylandfam) if you want to see all my pics and videos!
https://instagram.com/the_disneylandfam?utm_medium=copy_link

 

[pokee99]

I think I am most impressed by your rental car cost! Our fam of 5 needs at least a large SUV or minivan (luggage). Our Dec 2021 10-day rental was 5x this (thankfully I used pts for it!) Well done you!!!!

This is a 2019 and earlier rental car price. I've actually had $100/ week LAX car rentals not too long ago. Of course those days are long gone.

We took Uber/Lyft everywhere last week - 4x to/from LAX/ONT and then Universal for less than the cost of a 2 day car rental (if you could even get one). I'm not saying deals weren't to be had, but considering parking usually averages $30+ per day, you're so much better off not renting these days - unless you are doing a longer road trip or have several stops to make. Although we even had a day where we wanted to make touristy stops on the way to Universal, and we just added stops on our Uber ride. I noted Lyft was generally cheaper (I think Uber was adding a gas surcharge) and UberXL was about 20% pricier than UberX.

This was the first time I haven't rented and just Ubered everywhere, and I have to say I loved it! It really took the stress and hassle out if the equation! Funny how sometimes these inconveniences turn out to be a good thing!

 

[pokee99]

I think most of these budgets are pretty spot on.

The only thing I'll add is how expensive Universal is if you want to do it right. And when I say "do it right", I mean get a one day Unlimited Express pass. It was almost $500 for my daughter and me, but it saved us about 6-7 hours of line time and we were there for 8 hours.

We rode all the rides, but skipped the shows because we've seen them before. We did the studio tour again though, because we really enjoyed it.

The Harry Potter fans were....intense! Even in the AM that area was insanity! Those line ride averaged 75-120 mins. We went on each once and went "Cool", and then hightailed it outta there. Those crowds were very stressful... lol.

We're huge Jurassic Park fans, so that was our biggest motivation for going again - the revamped ride. And it was worth it! We rode the Jurassic World ride 5 times... and either walked on or waited about 5-10 mins. We had to ask to get seated in the front in our last ride, because we kept getting middle seats...lol. So we finally got soaked! Check out our ride pic... we're in the front right!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I think they will definitely want to do Universal 'right', and since HP is their focus, the express pass makes sense. Not sure if it makes more sense to do the unlimited or the one time per ride. I'm thinking unlimited since they are more likely to want to repeat HP attractions than go to Jurassic park and whatnot, but I'm not sure.

 

[DisneyAndreaM]

I think they will definitely want to do Universal 'right', and since HP is their focus, the express pass makes sense. Not sure if it makes more sense to do the unlimited or the one time per ride. I'm thinking unlimited since they are more likely to want to repeat HP attractions than go to Jurassic park and whatnot, but I'm not sure.

I would for sure do express unlimited. My kids did Flight of Hipogriff 5x and it wouldn’t have happened if we had to wait 80+ minutes each time. (I also can’t imagine waiting in a line at all for the shortest ride ever)

 

[pokee99]

I would for sure do express unlimited. My kids did Flight of Hipogriff 5x and it wouldn’t have happened if we had to wait 80+ minutes each time. (I also can’t imagine waiting in a line at all for the shortest ride ever)

OMG yes... that ride is 20 seconds tops! Lol

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Good to know! Will definitely budget for that I touched base with the family and they agreed with one of the posters here that switching hotels with their young children is probably more stressful than just driving to/from universal for the day.

It'll be interesting to see how into princesses their three girls will be by their visit. I might also need to add in a princess breakfast to the budget, and that is a big spend too.

 

[DisneyAndreaM]

Good to know! Will definitely budget for that I touched base with the family and they agreed with one of the posters here that switching hotels with their young children is probably more stressful than just driving to/from universal for the day.

It'll be interesting to see how into princesses their three girls will be by their visit. I might also need to add in a princess breakfast to the budget, and that is a big spend too.

I have two young kids and would reconsider driving from Anaheim. It took us an hour and a half (before rush hour) on Tuesday to drive from Universal to Anaheim. We stayed at the Hilton Universal two nights and then moved down to Anaheim. I can’t imagine driving 1.5 there in the morning and then 1.5 hours back to Anaheim after a long day. The Hilton was a nice close walk. I made sure to organize our luggage to make the move as easy as possible and am glad we did it that way. Just something to think about as LA traffic is nuts.