Budget tips from the UK

[Nands]

I would love to take my family to DW next summer though I am not sure my budget can stretch that far. We are limited to school holidays, and pricing up the basics (flights, tickets and off site hotel) I can't get the price below £6k for a two week stay. So does anyone have any tips for reducing these costs. TIA

 

[itf]

Flying indirect might reduce the flight costs, staying offsite. It's cheaper to buy longer tickets than short ones (IE one day at WDW is much more expensive per day than a 7 or 14 day ticket). There'll be sales later in the year too on BA and Virgin. Consider the other UK airports - apparently much cheaper to fly from London than direct from Manchester etc...

My assumption is next year will be expensive given the pent up demand. I booked in April and it's >£2k more now for the exact same trip.

 

[Garyjames220]

I would love to take my family to DW next summer though I am not sure my budget can stretch that far. We are limited to school holidays, and pricing up the basics (flights, tickets and off site hotel) I can't get the price below £6k for a two week stay. So does anyone have any tips for reducing these costs. TIA

is that 6k included food and drink out there. If it is I wish I would get mine to that

 

[Nands]

is that 6k included food and drink out there. If it is I wish I would get mine to that

Ha ha, thats flight, acc and tickets. Yeah that would be great if it was.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Stalk BA, Virgin and Kayak/Skyscanner for a few weeks and you will generally see a pattern. When flights are first released they are expensive but they tend to drop after a few days. Be flexible about your flight days, even if it means staying for 13 or 15 nights rather than 14. For some reason Tuesday flights seem to be cheapest. Ask a US TA for a quote for staying at a WDW resort and compare that to U.K. prices and to the cost of a villa plus car hire, insurance, parking at the parks etc. Get something like a Revolut card and start regularly paying some money in to the account and converting it to US$ so that you ‘average out’ any currency exchange fluctuations. Price the tickets on the Disney website and compare with third party sellers. Good luck and have fun planning.

 

[MichelinMan]

You can save a bit of money by staying off-site at one of the Disney Springs hotels (such as the Holiday Inn), but still retain some of the perks of a Disney hotel. Plus staying off-site makes it easier to access off-site restaurants for dining, which is cheaper.

 

[Garyjames220]

Ha ha, thats flight, acc and tickets. Yeah that would be great if it was.

where does it include staying

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Use a cashback website such as Quidco when booking so you get a few £s back hopefully. Obviously this varies depending on their orders but there’s usually something on there

 

[mamamia2005]

For next year, we're planning on flying indirect, midweek for an odd number of nights. That seems to be the cheapest option for us right now.

Also, not sure where you are in the country, but look at alternative airports to your usual. For example, I have read in the past that sometimes its cheaper to fly from Scotland later in August as the Scottish schools tend to go back earlier than English schools.

Staying off site is the cheaper option for accommodation but choose carefully depending on whether you are having a car or not. The hotels on hotel plaza blvd are a cheaper alternative than on site, but there aren't many restaurants within walking distance, other than those at Disney springs, which generally you will still be paying Disney prices for. We like the hotels on / around Palm Parkway in Lake Buena Vista as there are lots of restaurants nearby, and some of them offer free shuttles to the parks, or the lynx bus can be used.
If you are having a car, remember to factor in parking costs at the theme parks.

Discovery cove has a huge black Friday sale on at the moment, so if you are planning on visiting any of the Sea World parks it might be worth taking a look. Lots of the ticket agents are honouring the discount too.

 

[cheryl.UK]

Rent DVC points if you want to stay on site and have the extra 2 hours in the parks. (Only Epcot and MK at the moment). Renting a car is almost certainly out next year for those of us on a budget. The cheapest I've found for 3 weeks is £1500. Mears seems to be the cheapest way of getting from the airport.

 

[marcais]

The price of car rental is ridiculous for next year, but I don't see any alternatives for our 3-week off-site stay. This is likely to be our last FL trip, so we have plans for things like heading to Tampa.

But even without that it's just so limiting. It sometimes feels like absolutely nothing in the US is designed for people who don't have access to a car.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

I read on another site about car hire through Virgin Holidays (car hire only) being cheaper. I got a better deal then anywhere else I could find. Might be worth a look.
Mind you, it's still more expensive than last year would have been.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Rent DVC points if you want to stay on site and have the extra 2 hours in the parks. (Only Epcot and MK at the moment). Renting a car is almost certainly out next year for those of us on a budget. The cheapest I've found for 3 weeks is £1500. Mears seems to be the cheapest way of getting from the airport.

Who do you rent points from? Do you use a company or do you do a private rental? Are there risks involved? TIA for any info

 

[ChipTheRescueRanger]

The price of car rental is ridiculous for next year, but I don't see any alternatives for our 3-week off-site stay. This is likely to be our last FL trip, so we have plans for things like heading to Tampa.

But even without that it's just so limiting. It sometimes feels like absolutely nothing in the US is designed for people who don't have access to a car.

In theory car hire prices should drop as soon as hire companies start to get new stock of cars. All down the semi conductor issue.

UK car hire is currently the same. Dont have enough cars so keep prices high.

 

[MichelinMan]

AttractionTickets have their Black Friday sale on right now. I already had 3 Ultimate Discovery Cove tickets booked for July 2022 with them that were costing me £831, and just managed to change my booking to get them for £693. The ticket also includes 14 days entry to SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and free parking. So great value, especially if you are thinking of doing all those as well. We are looking forward to trying Aquatica again, because the new slides look great, and especially as our last trip we only managed one slide due to lightning all day!

 

[starry_solo]

Is it cheaper to price things out separately?
Like the 14-day ultimate ticket (or magic) ticket, then accommodations, and then flights?

Or are you looking at a package deal? Also, how many in the family and what type of hotel are you looking at for £6k?

 

[Karandak]

Michelin Man, sorry I quoted your post, but it hasn’t included it in my response for some reason….

I have some discovery cove/sea world tickets booked for July 22 as well, but the Black Friday sale value would reduce the total cost by quite a bit…did they just cancel your original booking and rebook? They were ok with that?

 

[MichelinMan]

Michelin Man, sorry I quoted your post, but it hasn’t included it in my response for some reason….

I have some discovery cove/sea world tickets booked for July 22 as well, but the Black Friday sale value would reduce the total cost by quite a bit…did they just cancel your original booking and rebook? They were ok with that?

Yes, that is exactly what they did, cancelled my original and did a new booking. Attraction Tickets are really good like that. I’m sure they could have taken the £25 deposit from the original booking if pressed, but they didn’t. Not sure all travel agents will be so amenable.

 

[Karandak]

Hmm I may give it a go, it will save me over £200.
Thanks

 

[Annabell]

If car rental prices stays that high for next year then we may have to cancel our plans. For us, not having a car is not an option for a holiday in the US.