Budget tips for 2015 trip

[oneandonlytara]

Hey there!

My best friend and I along with some members of her family are looking to head back to Disney/Universal in the fall of next year. When we went in 2012, we went during Labour Day week and it was fabulous. We never found that crowds were exceptionally high and the weather was perfect. It only rained twice that week-once for about five minutes as we were leaving a park and then for about an hour on our last day while at DHS, but we donned our ponchos and carried on!

We stayed offsite at Westgate Palace Orlando, which was GREAT in theory as the trip itself was pretty cheap at $390CAD for five nights stay and return flight. I think in total I spent around $700 for the entire week including park tickets, food, and souvenirs. We did three days in the parks and one day at Universal IoA for Wizarding World. However, the hotel provided shuttle that got us to the park each morning was a little less than desired in the evenings because it only picked up around fireworks time each night and who wants to miss Illuminations, Fantasmic! or Wishes? So, we ended up spending more than what we budgeted for on transportation.

This time though, my best friend and I are trying to make an onsite trip possible. I've never stayed onsite, but others in our party have. For cost reasons, we were looking at any of the Value resorts and due to our party size, we'd need a family suite. We also want to try the QS dining plan so that we don't necessarily need to budget too much for food outside of the occasional additional snack. We don't need to add park hopper to our tickets because we found there was so much to see and do in each park to literally fill an entire day. I think the only time we did a half day was DHS because we did DTD in the morning, and even still, we were there from about 1:30pm til it closed.

Well, imagine our surprise to the sticker shock when we laid eyes on the price of the trip! For the five of us alone, it was looking like just the room is going to cost 3k, but then factor in four day tickets (one for each park because we skipped AK because my vote was vetoed) and the QDSP and we're almost at 5k and we haven't even looked at flight prices.

So, that's when my best friend decided to bring up skipping Disney entirely in favour of staying onsite at Universal and doing two days there for the new HP expansion and then a few days of shopping and relaxing by the pool. We were just talking about it the other day again though and she admitted that she just wouldn't feel right NOT doing Disney and I feel the same. If we stayed onsite at Universal, it would only be just under 3k for the five of us in a suite for the week which includes park tickets and the Universal Dining Plan.

So, I'm asking you savvy Dis'ers, what's the best way of accomplishing what we want? We'd need 6 nights, a dining plan, tickets, and a day or two at Universal if we went the Disney route. Obviously I'm aware that there's no provided transportation from any resort to Universal and we'd probably get Mears for that. We used them last trip on our way home each night and they were pretty awesome.

Thoughts?

 

[dpswift]

Try looking at 2 rooms at a value. It would be cheaper than a suite. Also consider if you need a dining plan. The dining plan comes with a lot of food. On vacation I do not eat nearly as much as you get with the QS plan. Bring cereal or snacks from home to cut down on the amount of food that you need to buy.

 

[oneandonlytara]

Try looking at 2 rooms at a value. It would be cheaper than a suite. Also consider if you need a dining plan. The dining plan comes with a lot of food. On vacation I do not eat nearly as much as you get with the QS plan. Bring cereal or snacks from home to cut down on the amount of food that you need to buy.

Ah! I hadn't thought of checking out the price difference for two rooms instead. We actually ended up bringing at least a sandwich and waters with us last time for lunch along with some goldfish crackers and granola bars, but then always bought dinner in the parks. While this seemed like a good idea, we were sick of sandwiches by the second day (we'd only bought two kinds of deli meat and so pickin's were slim) and someone has mentioned wanting to try the QDSP just for something different. We're from Canada, so portion sizes in the US tend to shock us and Disney is no exception, lol. We know we're in for a lot of food, and even though there's the added cost, we're up for giving it a whirl. Splitting meals is always an option, too. Anything to us beyond QDSP would be too much. We thought about doing the QDSP and then as a splurge getting dinner reservations at BOG or something one night and paying OOP just to switch it up and have a nice sit down meal.

 

[HopperFan]

Two rooms at a Value, much more comfortable sleeping.

Fall? You have a good shot at FREE DINING. QSDP is offered at Values except for Little Mermaid rooms. This would be huge savings with that many adults. Check here for Free Dining dates in the past http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/#codetrends.

You are required to purchase two day minimum tickets, just don't add the Hopper.

Breakfast in room. Flying? Pack boxes of granola bars. Dining Plan includes refillable mug so each time you eat at food court, use the mug but get the drink included in your meal - OJ or whatever you want for breakfast. You also get a dessert so maybe split one and use one for fruit to take to room. You also get a snack each day, so you could pick up a fruit cup in food court, kept in fridge and used for breakfast.

If you can share meals (several places have huge ones) then you can also split a breakfast platter and have plenty.

 

[CharityLynn]

I would look at menus for where you want to eat and price it out. The dining plan often won't save you money at all. I priced out the Quick Service won and it cost us more per day and that included a snack we probably wouldn't even get every day. They have the menus on this site. So i would really play around with that before deciding. It is nice to have your meals paid for though.

 

[davedmaine]

Forget about the dining plan or even free dining -- even free will end up costing you money. Two options: Take advantage of a room discount that Disney offers that time of year or rent points from a DVC owner (we've rented our points before and it's an easy process). There are some reputable brokers that you can work through.

 

[oneandonlytara]

Two rooms at a Value, much more comfortable sleeping.

Fall? You have a good shot at FREE DINING. QSDP is offered at Values except for Little Mermaid rooms. This would be huge savings with that many adults. Check here for Free Dining dates in the past http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/#codetrends.

You are required to purchase two day minimum tickets, just don't add the Hopper.

Breakfast in room. Flying? Pack boxes of granola bars. Dining Plan includes refillable mug so each time you eat at food court, use the mug but get the drink included in your meal - OJ or whatever you want for breakfast. You also get a dessert so maybe split one and use one for fruit to take to room. You also get a snack each day, so you could pick up a fruit cup in food court, kept in fridge and used for breakfast.

If you can share meals (several places have huge ones) then you can also split a breakfast platter and have plenty.

Yeah, we'd get at least four day park tickets w/o hopping. Too much of an added cost for hopping when we likely wouldn't even use it. We'd probably do granola bars and things again for the morning. I'm not much of a breakfast eater, but the rest of the group is. We'd figure out what to do in the rooms though. Either cab it to a nearby Walmart to grab morning yummies to keep in the room or something of the sort.

Can someone explain the ticket thing to me though? I'm noticing that you can't just get base tickets anymore? Unless I'm missing something? It seems to be MK only ticket or DHS, Epcot or AK. How exactly does that work for packages? Do you now need two separate tickets for MK and the other parks? Or is it still one ticket? Last trip we had a 3-day base ticket.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I would imagine staying offsite and renting a car would be cheaper than onsite. And then you don't have to bother with shuttles and their goofy schedules.

 

[HopperFan]

Can someone explain the ticket thing to me though? I'm noticing that you can't just get base tickets anymore? Unless I'm missing something? It seems to be MK only ticket or DHS, Epcot or AK. How exactly does that work for packages? Do you now need two separate tickets for MK and the other parks? Or is it still one ticket? Last trip we had a 3-day base ticket.

Yes you can get base tickets, 2-10 days. What you are seeing is the price of a one day ticket. The MK one day tickets cost one price while a one day for the other parks costs a little less. Once you buy 2+ days it's all one price.

http://www.mousesavers.com/regular-walt-disney-world-ticket-prices/#baseticket

 

[oneandonlytara]

I would imagine staying offsite and renting a car would be cheaper than onsite. And then you don't have to bother with shuttles and their goofy schedules.

Great advice, but I'm in an electric wheelchair so a rental car is extremely costly for an accessible vehicle. My family rented one once for a trip and it's really expensive. We really want to stay onsite this time though to compare experience, but thanks for the recommendation!

 

[oneandonlytara]

Forget about the dining plan or even free dining -- even free will end up costing you money. Two options: Take advantage of a room discount that Disney offers that time of year or rent points from a DVC owner (we've rented our points before and it's an easy process). There are some reputable brokers that you can work through.

Yeah, we're gonna have to see. We'll probably book in January or Feb of next year at the very earliest so we've got a bit to look at our options. When should I start looking for deals? Is there a certain time of year they become available?

 

[happymommy]

Another option with excellent transportation is to look into one of the Downtown Disney hotels. They have a bus system that is honestly sometimes better than the "real" Disney buses. You can often find great rates there! Also the Doubletree is all suites, so you can have two queen beds in the bedroom plus a sofa sleeper in the living room, and a wet bar with a fridge and microwave.

I would scrap the dining plan entirely in that case. You can bring snacks with you, or use a towncar service from the airport to the hotel and get a grocery stop on the way for drinks and snacks. It's roughly the same price as a taxi, but better service with the grocery stop!

Plus, for dinner you could walk to the Crossroads shopping center for less expensive options.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Another option with excellent transportation is to look into one of the Downtown Disney hotels. They have a bus system that is honestly sometimes better than the "real" Disney buses. You can often find great rates there! Also the Doubletree is all suites, so you can have two queen beds in the bedroom plus a sofa sleeper in the living room, and a wet bar with a fridge and microwave.

I would scrap the dining plan entirely in that case. You can bring snacks with you, or use a towncar service from the airport to the hotel and get a grocery stop on the way for drinks and snacks. It's roughly the same price as a taxi, but better service with the grocery stop!

Plus, for dinner you could walk to the Crossroads shopping center for less expensive options.

We stayed at the doubletree on our last trip and it was super! The shuttle was better than Disney on site. Our bus driver made sure I had a seat since I was carrying our baby. It ran every half hour. It was march for my college spring break and plenty of seats for the most part.

We walked to DTD in a few minutes.

Hilton dtd participates in extra magic hours.

We are a party of 6 so our option were limited. The suite was perfect!

We paid 965. For Sunday-Friday.

 

[danceintherain]

I agree that the Doubletree is a good money saving option. We even took the city bus from the airport to save money on transportation. There's a grocery store at the end of Hotel Plaza Blvd that's within walking distance, especially since the Doubletree is almost at the end of the street.

Getting two rooms at a value will reduce the number of people who have to share beds, so that's nice.

We don't find any of the dining plans to be good values for us. Unless you want soda/pop/coke/tea and a dessert with every meal, then it probably won't be a great value for you either.

We usually eat two counter service and one table service meals a day with a few snacks thrown in.
During our trip last year we actually saved close to 20% over what the regular dining plan would have cost by paying out of pocket. The quick service plan would have cost less, but we wouldn't have gotten our table service meals prepaid. When I did the calculations beforehand, we actually would have spent MORE money by utilizing the QS plan, and paying out of pocket for the table service meals we wanted, rather than just paying out of pocket for everything.
Also, since we did a day at Universal, we had some meals that wouldn't have been included regardless.

When we did the dining plan, we "saved" the marketed 20%, but it was mostly wrapped up in desserts that we didn't eat, and sodas we may not have ordered if they hadn't been "included".

Anyways, it would be worth it to look at the menus and at least make a guess as to what you'll end up spending on food.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

If you want to get things for in your room, use Garden Grocer. Your groceries will be delivered to your resort so you don't have to try to get offsite to purchase. I also second the recommendation to look into a DVC rental. More space, a kitchen (so you can cook some in the room), etc.

As far as the meal plan goes, follow another person's advice and look at menus and prices. It is a LOT of food. You might get more bang for your buck if you just split meals, skip dessert, etc.

 

[happymommy]

If you want to get things for in your room, use Garden Grocer. Your groceries will be delivered to your resort so you don't have to try to get offsite to purchase. I also second the recommendation to look into a DVC rental. More space, a kitchen (so you can cook some in the room), etc.

As far as the meal plan goes, follow another person's advice and look at menus and prices. It is a LOT of food. You might get more bang for your buck if you just split meals, skip dessert, etc.

I agree about using Garden Grocer, especially compared to walking (or scootering) to Gooding's at the Crossroads shopping center (that is, if you stay at a Downtown Disney hotel). It's convenient!

I also think that one thing I dislike about the dining plan is that it includes dessert with every meal! It would be great if you could get it later, when you have room in your stomach. We threw out so many desserts!

You may even find two rooms at another Downtown Disney hotel at a great price too.