Budgets that don't include DDP

[cwilc]

DH and I are taking our DD's (1 Disney "adult", 1 child) for 5 days/6 nights in March.
I have seen trip budgets on here, but most of them include DDP or DVC. We have neither. I was wondering if I have the best deals I can get for our trip. I'm a micromanager when it comes to vacations, and I always want to get the most for my money.
So far, I have spent:$720- travel to & from (gas, hotel, food)
$945- 6 day park tickets (no add-on's)
$485- 6 nights in hotel (Quality Suites Lake Buena Vista)
$700- meals at Disney (we have 2 character meal ADR's)
$99 - PhotoPass (prepurchase)
$70 - parking
$500- souvenirs, etc.
Total- $3519
Is this good? Can I do better? We get free breakfast at our hotel every day, and we will be bringing lunch/snacks into the parks on most days. I am really looking for advice from people who have "done Disney" on a budget. Thanks for all your help!

 

[Snappy in OK]

One of the things you can do (as far as dining goes) to get an idea of what meals will cost you at WDW is look at the menus on allears.net. They have the menus & prices (most should be fairly current, but there may be some changes). This should give you an idea of what the meals will cost for your family.

Good luck & have fun!

 

[starry_solo]

One idea for souvenirs which I remember reading on this board (I think) was that you get them before you go. Do you have a Disney store in your area? They have lots of good sales so you can pre-buy souvenirs for the kids (without them seeing them, of course) and bring them with you so that each day, before you leave the hotel room (have DH take them out), you can leave it on their bed to see when you return.

 

[nchulka]

Look into the Disney YES program. You can get very discounted tickets. 6 day with no add ons are 165 each tax included. That would be about 600 for 4 of you instead of 950. In the YES program you sign your child up for a behind the scenes class that last about 3 hours and is free. 1 parent attends the class with the child. They have a variety offered and are really interesting and cool for the kids. By signing up through the program you are able to buy the discounted tickets for your entire party. You can also add options and days for very little cost. An 6 day pass with hopper and water parks is only 198. Check out disneyyouth.com look under individual enrollment for available classes.

 

[disneymarie]

DH and I are taking our DD's (1 Disney "adult", 1 child) for 5 days/6 nights in March.
I have seen trip budgets on here, but most of them include DDP or DVC. We have neither. I was wondering if I have the best deals I can get for our trip. I'm a micromanager when it comes to vacations, and I always want to get the most for my money.
So far, I have spent:$720- travel to & from (gas, hotel, food)
$945- 6 day park tickets (no add-on's)
$485- 6 nights in hotel (Quality Suites Lake Buena Vista)
$700- meals at Disney (we have 2 character meal ADR's)
$99 - PhotoPass (prepurchase)
$70 - parking
$500- souvenirs, etc.
Total- $3519
Is this good? Can I do better? We get free breakfast at our hotel every day, and we will be bringing lunch/snacks into the parks on most days. I am really looking for advice from people who have "done Disney" on a budget. Thanks for all your help!

Our first trips were at the Quality Inn Suites by Old Town and LOVED it. If but for the magical hours to stay later, and busing we would stay again.Ahh but someday. The spa is great, lots of off site activity and eats along Irlo Bronson dr. You can rent for a few dollars pots pans, toaster etc. There is even a dishwasher in the suits. Like a two bedroom apartment. Make breakfast before you leave in the morning is great, but they have a really nice breakfast bar down in the TIki hut. Cereal, fruit, bagels, toppings, juice. Take it up to the room, or sit there and enjoy. NOW this is dated information so check on the website. I think we paid $68 for 7 of us the two times we went.

For those in the Boscov's east PA area their charter prices are great. For March 2 adults, 2 children @ 1 adult price $2300. 6 nights. Value, $2800 for a Mod. I have to check I think it is two rooms as one adult was a handicap request.

I have not had the money to go, but priced out recent charter from them this week.

 

[hsmamato2]

I feel like staying on property is a big part of the fun- so why not check out some room only discounts,or even a room/tix package for pricing?
I wouldn't do photopass,or DDP to save,stay at a value room,and stay onsite,eating counter service except those 2 meals.
for photopass, you can hand the photgrapher your own camera,and they'll take it- or,your own pics will def. come out MUCH better,IMHO.
You can eat cereal in room for breakfast- maybe eat your ch. meals at lunch or breakfast,which is cheaper.....

 

[hsmamato2]

if you stay onsite,don't purchase photopass,and pare down your souvie budget,you could do magical express and have a wonderful time, probably even better than the other options,and running around town to get to your hotel,etc.
you'd save
70-parking
100-photopass
maybe 200 less for souvies?
and stay onsite......
plus some change if you eat ch. breakfast instead of a dinner-

 

[left210]

You can join a facebook photopass share that will cut the cost down to about $20. Just search Walt Disney World Photopass Share.

 

[torinsmom]

Have you already paid for your hotel? Just asking, b/c you could get a 2-3 bedroom townhouse with full kitchen and laundry for the same price. We stayed at a 3 bedroom condo at Emerald Island last year for $500 for the week/ taxes included. 6 nights would be a little less. If you stayed somewhere like that, you could cook all your meals and save lots of money. There is a nice pool and clubhouse too.

This is the one we rented....

http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/Kissimmee-Florida-vacation-rental-townhouse-proID-42665.html

 

[rvchat]

ddp

 

[mullysisters]

Disney Dining Plan

IMHO The Disney value resorts with DDP at a value season would be less than what you have budgeted.

 

[Marionnette]

DH and I are taking our DD's (1 Disney "adult", 1 child) for 5 days/6 nights in March.
I have seen trip budgets on here, but most of them include DDP or DVC. We have neither. I was wondering if I have the best deals I can get for our trip. I'm a micromanager when it comes to vacations, and I always want to get the most for my money.
So far, I have spent:$720- travel to & from (gas, hotel, food)
$945- 6 day park tickets (no add-on's)
$485- 6 nights in hotel (Quality Suites Lake Buena Vista)
$700- meals at Disney (we have 2 character meal ADR's)
$99 - PhotoPass (prepurchase)
$70 - parking
$500- souvenirs, etc.
Total- $3519
Is this good? Can I do better? We get free breakfast at our hotel every day, and we will be bringing lunch/snacks into the parks on most days. I am really looking for advice from people who have "done Disney" on a budget. Thanks for all your help!

I think some of your budget is inflated.

The 6-day adult tickets, no addons, should be a lot cheaper than $945. Even at the gate (full price) the cost of 3 adult 6-day non-hoppers would be $773.

Even with 2 character meals, I would not be spending more than $100 per day on meals at Disney for 3 people. Especially if I planned on eating breakfast in the room before heading out and was packing picnic food to eat in the park!

Here are some other suggestions:

1. Buy your tickets from Undercovertourist using the Mousesavers discount link.
2. Caluculate you fuel costs with the AAA fuel calculator. http://www.fuelcostcalculator.aaa.com/
3. Use Priceline or Hotwire to get budget hotels for your trip to and from Orlando.
4. Onsite guests get free parking at the parks. Offsite guests pay $14 per day. When you factor that into your budget, it might be more cost effective to get a value room with a room-only discount.
5. Since you're driving, bring a cooler of food with you for breakfast items and other perishables. You can cut your food costs a lot by doing this.
6. $500 for souvenirs is too much money unless you really like collectibles. There's a lot of room there to trim the budget. $100 per person is still pretty generous. But then, I'm not big into shopping for Mickey gear, so I'm a little biased.
7. Photopass is nice but the undiscounted price is $149. There are codes out there for discounts but I don't think that they are as steep as $50, even with a pre-order. Sometimes guests who are staying onsite are offered a discount PIN but it is usually tied to their reservation and it cannot be shared. Someone mentioned doing a Facebook Photopass share but that involves send money to a stranger and then sharing your vacation photos with all of the other strangers who are involved in the share. That takes a lot of trust IMO. Personally, I would skip the Photopass.

 

[mountdew1]

[*]Photopass is nice but the undiscounted price is $149. There are codes out there for discounts but I don't think that they are as steep as $50, even with a pre-order. Sometimes guests who are staying onsite are offered a discount PIN but it is usually tied to their reservation and it cannot be shared. Someone mentioned doing a Facebook Photopass share but that involves send money to a stranger and then sharing your vacation photos with all of the other strangers who are involved in the share. That takes a lot of trust IMO. Personally, I would skip the Photopass.

They have made the pre-purchase available to anyone once again. The pre-purchase cost is $99 as the OP said.

But look at if you really need it. I personally like it as I like adding the borders on our trips, and also usually make sure to get special shots that they cannot do with your camera. Also, they tend to get unscripted moments, that you may not with your camera. If you aren't quick with your camera, you may miss that first meeting with Mickey that the photopass is specifically told to watch out for. But if you aren't big into characters, and will mostly be going for pictures in front of the icons, then just hand them your camera and you may be fine as they will take a picture with your camera if you ask. You can buy it, and if you aren't happy with the picture they take you can ask for a refund as long as you don't actually have them send you the cd.

I agree that some of your estimates may be generous, but thats not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[kennethsrib]

the individual enrollment for YES does not have any March dates. They end in February and begin again in June.

There is a Disney outlet not far from the parks, you can google directions. They tend to have a large selection of souvies, for certainly less than what you would pay in the parks.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

Hi, we also are a family of 4 with 2 disney "adults" at the ripe old age of 10 and 13. Anyways, we never do the DDP but always pay extra to stay on-site as we feel the benefits make up for the extra cost. I think your travelling expenses are a bit high as we do a 24 hour drive from Canada and round trip incl. hotel each way it is about $550. We bring food in the car and also stop for fast food on the road. If you get a deal 6 nights in a value on Disney property will not be much more than $485. Don't forget that you will not be spending $70 for parking because it is free when you stay on-site. We never spend $500 on souvenirs. My kids get $100 each and they know that when it's gone then that's it. You'd be amazed how careful they are shopping. That being said, it is a personal choice and only you can decide how much you want to spend. We always stop at Publix and pick up breakfast items (cereal, oatmeal, bread, pbj, cheese, fruits) snacks, drinks, bottled water and cold cuts for sandwiches. Like this we only do 1 cs meal on site usually for dinner. On a few non-park days while in Orlando shopping we picked up a deli chicken with some canned veggies from the grocery store and we had a delicious dinner in our room for about $10. We then hit DTD for dessert at Ghirardelis. Yummy!

 

[At World's End]

We just went in January and didn't hav ethe dining plan. I did a day by day cost breakdown here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2651035

If you are eating breakfast at the hotel and bringing lunch, you probably won't spend that much on meals in the park. If you do your TS meals at lunch instead of dinner, you will save alot of money. Bring a softsided cooler and have sandwiches for dinner instead of lunch, even if you have to rent a locker for the cooler. You can compare the lunch and dinner prices at allears.net http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

You can get cheaper souveneirs at Super Target and WalMart. I found alot of the same exact things that were sold in the parks. Also, there are tons of gift shops offsite with Disney stuff. I found a picture frame for $8.99 that was $14.99 at World of Disney. We gave each of our kids a $100 budget. Neither of them spent their entire amount.

We did the Photopass for this trip and I have to say it is soooo worth it. Just make a point of stopping and getting pictures done so you get lots of great shots. I know the photogs can use my camera too, but I was very happy with the pictures. Our first trip, we had hardly any family pictures. This time we have tons.