budgeting, share your plans?

[Misty89]

we have been back and forth over a trip to WDW for 6mths now
we are a family of 4...myself, DH, 2 dd's ages 13 and 5 when we go.
we have set in stone a 3 day cruise on the DCL. that is solid ( not like anything else we planned) and will be booked probly next week.
we also want to take our kids to the parks....i have been back and forth so much i dont know which way to go. are the all stars really that bad? - as far as transportation to and from the parks, and what about the moderates? i would love to stay at CR ( so so much) but everytime i put my numbers together, i cringe at $2,500 for 4 nights. ( silver plan- because we would never " do" the expensive stuff like the dinner shows etc if we were paying cash on site) are there any moderates that are on the monorail? or very easy getting from them via disney transportation? ( i also LOVE the idea of walking to the MK from contemporary )
how do you all decide where to stay? -
what is a average budget for food? if we did the silver plan we would do all the biggies, like HDD and the lau at poly....if no silver plan then we would make use of food courts and fast eats....( again dropping all this hard earned cash in one spot)
i was thinking about waiting until august to book any resort stuff to see if i would qualify for the discount codes on mousesavers...how fast do those code rooms fill up? we would be traveling nov 28th 04' - december 2 nd, ( DCL is december 2 -5 04')
i am sure i have beaten this budgeting thing to death, but it always come down to i cant make up my mind...just when i think i have a i change my mind


anyone care to share thier plans and budget for 4 nights 3 days ?


THANK YOU


Tina

 

[bigbabyblues]

I'm not sure, but I think I've read that to really get the value from the silve plan you have to eat 3 sit-down, appetizer, main course, desert and drinks meals a day, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm planning one nice sit down meal each day and the other two meals will be counter service, that way we don't cut out too much park time. you can find the menus and prices for most WDW restaurants at allearsnet.com, that was really helpful to me.

We are planning on staying at All Star movies, and I've read several negative things about them, but also lots of good things. There is a thread from this week over on the Resorts board here, you might check that out. It just really depends on what you need out of a room, and what you expect. You could also try the Pop Century, it's a value resort but brand new, and it has it's own busses, where the AS share busses between the three of them.

There are no monorails in any of the moderates that I'm aware of. I stayed at the Caribbean Beach and it was really nice, but bus service only.

Good luck planning your trip!

~Steph

 

[Misty89]

bump

 

[simonfam76]

as far as the question about the allstars , i just stayed at allstar music back in march and i liked it very much. very close to all parks .

 

[Lori77]

IMO, if you don't need to do the silver plan- then don't do it. I would recommend trying fast-counter service and sit down. If you choose the silver plan- three BIG meals it a lot of food. Plus, you won't be able to enjoy some of the FUN food that WDW has to offer. For example, MK has dole whips, Casey's hot dogs, ice cream stands, etc. EPCOT has the whole world showcase that features too many fun foods to mention.

There are no moderates on the monorail, and I agree with everyone else, the bus system has never been horrible for me. I am staying at POP century in 11 days and I will post a trip report to let you know how it goes. This is my first time staying at a value resort. The moderate resorts are nice. Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans are both nice.

I have stayed on the monorail and it is convenient, but at the same time the value depends on how much time you actually spend in the room. Walking from the Contemporary to MK is great, so you can always spend more on the room to equal what you would have spent on the silver plan. The wing rooms there are less expensive then the tower. I would reserve a room-only for now and wait for the new codes to come out. You should be able to save some $.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if I can help you in any way!

 

[AMaloy314]

We are actually staying for a little longer than you, but I can kind of give you how we budgeted. We decided to stay at DTD Double Tree Guest Suites. We got a fantastic rate through mousesavers.com for Sept. We have two small children who will need naps so it was imperative that we had good transportion or we had to rent a car. We ended up deciding to use Doubletree for the room size and refrigerator along with free continental breakfast. It also saved us the cost of a car rental. It cost us about the same as a value resort would without a frige. The only negative that I would have to weigh in, if I was traveling when you are, is the lack of early entry. For us, in off-peak time, it is not as big an issue.

The next thing I did was go through allears menus to get an idea where we would be eating. DH is a very meat-n-potatoes kind of guys, so I knew anything too fancy would be out. No ethnic, no haute cuisine,etc. Once that was decided, I looked at whether vouchers could be used and if they would save us any money. (We will get a couple, but not many) I'm budgeting $100 per day for food. Some days will be more, some less. We will be bringing our Brita water bottles and snacks, but plan to share at least one snack per day at the parks. We will also be using a grocery stop to pick up snack food and milk for the boys.

I've already got my tip money in envelopes in my Passporter for each day. $2 per day for housekeeping and $10 each way for limo service. (I never would have thought that limo could have saved us money over a shuttle until I found these boards!!PLUS we got the grocery stop!)

I looked at the packages and decided that they really weren't right for us. None of the extra stuff is a "must do" for us. The way I have it figured, we will probably not get to see all the things that are already included in the ticket price as it is! I also didn't want to pay for UPH passes when we wouldn't be using them on check in and check out days.

One of the ways that we are saving money is by doing the ice cream social at the Garden Grill in Epcot as our character meal. I'm also keeping souvenir buying to a minimum by prebuying and bringing things with us to keep the "I want"s down.

So far, I have budgeted $3000 for 4 people (airfare included---but still looking for a deal!) 7days/6 nights-- 5 days in parks. I think that I will be able to come in well under that amount, but that's what I'm working with.

Here is my big suggestion (such as it is ) Write all your budget options down on a separate sheet of paper like a complete package. When you come up with the most reasonable and economical package for you, you'll know!

BTW, if any expert out there wants to comment on my planning, I'd welcome the input!

 

[Disney Debbie]

It doesn't make sense to me that you would do dinner shows and stuff if you overspend on the Silver plan - but not if you save on other stuff to be able to afford the dinner shows!! I'd never do the silver plan because I'd never get the value out of it. If you want to do those shows but think you couldn't part with your money once you get there - go ahead and book them and prepay them!

I've stayed at all 3 All Stars and liked them just fine. But if you don't spend the money on the Silver plan you can probably upgrade to a moderate - and they're even better! The main thing that is better to me is the pool areas. I've never had a problem with bus service at All Stars or at POR when I stayed it. In fact - I really enjoy the busses!

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

First - I would recommend you book your room now. Then when the code comes out (if there is one) you can just call and have it applied to your reservation. Also, book the room only and skip the expensive package!

4 nights at CR in a Garden Wing standard view $956+tx
~or~
4 nights in a moderate standard view $532+tx
~or~
4 nights at All Stars or Pop Century $308+tx
I have stayed at a moderate and a value. They are very different resorts but I loved both. I would not hesitate to stay in a value resort. My dream is to someday sleep in the Contemporary! For us we do not spend a ton of time in our room so the value resorts give us what we need - a bed to sleep and a bathroom LOL. We have never had a problem with using Disney buses.

4 day Park Hopper tickets (advance purchase) $930.81
You may be able to find 3 day Hoppers somewhere but I am not sure. You can do a search to see if anyone is currently selling them.

Hoop De Doo Musical Revue $171.84

Luau $171.84

Then figure approx $300 for other meals

If you stay in a value your budget is less than $2000. A trip to Disney is not cheap, but it is worth every penny!

BTW here is our budget for our upcoming trip 4 nights/5 days, only 3 days in the parks. There are 4 of us, myself, DS 6, DD 4 & DS 2.

Plane tickets $900 (yikes!)
Rental Car $250 (which we only need because we are driving to a wedding on the coast at the end of our trip)
4 nights at Pop Century (value resort, regular season) $441
3 day Park Hoppers (1 adult, 2 kids & 1 free little guy) $440
Food $400 (we may do 1 character meal but we are doing almost all quick food service)
Souvenirs $200
Grand Total $2631

 

[HaleyB]

I will add my 2¢ and agree with all who say skip the Silver add on. A cruise is all about shows and food. You will have plenty of great eats on the cruise, save the dinner shows in WDW for another trip. Honestly if I only had 4 or 5 days to enjoy the parks the very last thing I would want to be doing would be big meals. They take up way too much time.

 

[Mic]

On our first few trips, I scrimped and saved and spent wayyyy too much money on shows and character meals that my family could have done without! We had tried every character meal available by the third trip(most twice!), and my husband said he felt like we walked from meal to meal! We have taken the cruise twice: once a 4-day, and once a 3-day. For the 3-day, we spent the days BEFORE the cruise at the parks(5 days), so I cut back our big meals to no more than 1 a day at the parks, and I'm so glad I did! The cruise was all about shows and food! I have to agree with other posters about the silver plan...you would be hard-pressed to get your money's worth. My advice would be to pre-purchase Disney Dollars for the amount you will need to eat at the must-do character meals, kind of like your own "silver" plan. I now let each of my children pick one "wish" on each trip(a special meal, photo with Mickey, Illuminations cruise, etc), then buy either Disney Dollars or meal vouchers to cover the cost before we leave home.