Can you please help me save money?

[lovemy4sweeties]

We're on a fairy tight budget, but we've been putting away money every week since our last Disney vacation (Nov 2008). Since we're driving all the way from Toronto, we decided that we wanted to stay for at least 2 weeks. We have to pay for the gas anyway, so we might as well stay longer. We found a GREAT deal on a townhome (we booked through Dave Robinson at Windsor Hills). Plus, it's not that much more for us to buy a 10 day ticket (it's less than $250 for the 6 tickets to go from 5 days to 10 days). We were aiming to spend about $6000 for everything, which is around what we spent on our last trip (that time we stayed in our trailer at Fort Wilderness for 2.5 weeks). We decided to book a 3rd week at the townhome because it is such a great deal (about $500 for the week). This is the breakdown of what dh thinks it will cost:

Park 1,900 (it's actually closer to $1700)
Condo 2,000 ($1500 plus tax/cleaning fee/bbq rental/pool heating)
Fuel 1,000
Hotels on the way (depends where we stay) 500
Pirate Cruise 200
Meals in Disney 1,000
Snack/other meals/Food ($400 per week - too high/low?) 1,500
Activities (beach, mini golf, etc.) 500
Other (???) 1,000

Total $ 9,600

So, we're about $3500 over what we originally planned for. I'd really like to try to cut that down as much as possible. This is A LOT of money for us and I'm cringing at the thought of spending that much.

There are 7 of us, DH and I, plus our 5 children ages (at the time of our trip on October): 9, 8, 6, 4, 1

I'm just wondering if I can get any advice from the budget experts??

 

[pat fan]

Pirate Cruise 200 - you could eliminate this

Meals in Disney 1,000 - if you are staying off-site and able to eat a lot of meals there, this seems high. Have you gotten a Disney visa deal for signing up? A lot of people have gotten $200 in rewards points that would help shave off your food budget.

Snack/other meals/Food ($400 per week - too high/low?) 1,500 - Do you spend that much on groceries at home? $400 a week sounds high to me, unless you plan on eating out all the time, which, to me, negates any saving of staying off-site.

Other than that, maybe don't stay that extra week. I know it sounds like a "deal", but not if it puts you $3500 over your budget. Maybe do 1 week at Disney and 1 at the condo. Or no "extra" condo week. JMO. Good luck!

 

[CowboyCO]

How many people and what are their ages?

 

[pat fan]

How many people and what are their ages?

There are 7 of us, DH and I, plus our 5 children ages (at the time of our trip on October): 9, 8, 6, 4, 1

 

[Darcy03231]

We stayed for 2 weeks in an off site rental home (there were 9 of us) and didn't spend anywhere near what you have planned for food.

We ate a big breakfast in every morning and brought snacks to the parks with us (we also bought some snacks there), along with bottled water. We found what worked best for us was to get up early and get going, go back to the house for a mid-afternoon break (naps/swimming), have a late lunch/early dinner at the house, and then go back to the parks at night.

For the two weeks we were there we spent a total of about $400 in groceries. We cooked a lot of inexpensive meals like spaghetti & meatballs (made enough sauce and meatballs to have meatball subs another night), pulled pork sandwiches, etc. We ate out a couple of nights and again stuck to inexpensive things like pizza, chinese buffet, etc. We did do a couple of counter service meals in the parks. I found they averaged about $10/pp with a drink. Most of our park eating was snacks, so that cut down a lot on the food budget.

 

[brymolmom]

I'm guessing the 10 day tickets you priced are without park hopping, if not, remove the hopping to save a big chunk. You don't need to hop when you're going for 10 days - since you can hit every park as many times as you'd like anyway.

I would have looked for a bit of a better deal on the condo - but it sounds like that's a done deal. I bet you could have come in $400 - $500 less than that (but maybe not at Windsor Hills, maybe by driving 10 extra minutes away).

I would eliminate the $500 on beach and mini-golf and only do FREE outside the park activities like exploring Fort Wilderness and doing the free campfire and movie there. Just use the nice pool at Windor Hills instead of the beach.

I would try to slim down the food budget. If I'm reading your budget correctly you're budgeting $2500 for food for 2 weeks? You could do better (if you want to). I would spend $200 or $250 at the grocery store - do all breakfasts at the condo (bread, bagels, yogurt, etc), bring sandwiches, snacks, drinks and treats to the parks with you for lunch - then only have to worry about 1 meal per day. If you do mostly CS meals - and plan on splitting them , you could get by on $50 or so for dinners. Also could pick up pizzas or chinese takeout on your way back to condo to get by on $50 dinners. If you do CS or takeout or eat in dinner in your condo for 9 of the nights - that's $450. Then figure 2 onsite TS meals ($170 each) and a 3 offsite TS meals ($120 each) - and you've got a total of $1460 total for 2 weeks for all 14 nights of meals, including 2 character meals and 3 meals at an Olive Garden (or similar). Even if you put back in $300 or so for a couple of CS lunches in the parks plus a few days of Mickey ice cream bars, and you're only at $1760 - so I would definitely take at least $600 - $700 out of one of your two food categories - either the Food In Disney or other food, snacks, etc. SO to summarize, this is what I would do for both food categories instead:
Groceries for condo: $200 (includes breakfast and makings for lunches)
Eating onsite WDW: 2 character meals: $170 each (with tip included) = $340
Eating onsite WDW (ice cream and a few lunch CS's): $300
Eating onstie WDW OR takeout offiste for 9 dinners: $450
Eating offsite 3 meals ($120 each): $360
TOTAL FOOD/SNACKS: $1650

The 'OTHER' category is another one I think you can bump down. This would be, I assume, souveniers and any unexpected expenses. Can you get relatives to give your kids some $$ for a birthday or other for their own souvenier money? Even if not - if you spend $40 per kid on souveniers, that would be = $280. Anything else unexpected shouldn't amount to more than $300 or $400 if you carefully think of ALL expenses - so that would be maybe $600 total for that OTHER category.

So, eliminate the $500 beach, activities, lower your food spending, and lower your 'others' - brings you down another $1750....still not quite where you want to be - but a heck of a lot closer.

 

[figment3258]

I think you could cut your food budget way down. Also maybe two weeks would be the way to go jmo

 

[cglaura]

Don't forget to factor in that since you will be there for 3 weeks, whatever your food budget is at home & school lunches can be transferred to the trip instead. So you can offset the total food price you had budgeted to be minus what you would have paid at home.

 

[JENOS]

I think the $3500 over is because you over priced your food. I would say about $500 or under per week and that should include all food and snacks.
The condo also seems a bit high, that price seems more in line with renting a full 4br house with private pool.
Beach is free unless you do extra activities, but the ages of the children suggest otherwise.
Don’t know what the pirate cruise is but if is a must have maybe cut a day at Disney to justify it.
Hotel stay (one night each way) can probably be done for half that, unless you get two rooms. I would bring an air mattress and just get one ….shhh

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Any chance you can negotiate the price of the townhouse down a little since you'll be there for 3 weeks? Maybe the owner will throw in free pool heat or something? Also, do you really need pool heat -- what time of year are you going?

If you can manage to get the time off, then do 3 weeks. The cost for the extra week won't be much more than the 2 weeks and you'll be able to stretch out your park days and have plenty of time just relax, visit the different resorts, maybe visit the Disney store at the outlet mall, Downtown Disney, etc.

Also, as a PP said, don't forget to factor in your grocery budget from home since you may be there for 3 weeks.

 

[ccgirl]

How much do you pay for your food budget at home? As others said, inexpensive meals like pasta/meatballs etc. You can pack lunches to bring into the parks. I think $500 for a week at a condo is great! There are several counter service places where the meals are so big you can split. Don't forget to budget in $14 a day to park at the themeparks. I, too, would eliminate the pirate cruise if you are looking to save money. I would keep the beach though. That should be free except for the gas it takes to get you there. You should have the food already in the condo. Just pack food/drinks and call it a day.

Check undercover tourist for park tickets.

Have fun.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Also, depending on when you're going, your kids may be able to participate in the YES program which provides a substantial discount on park tickets.

 

[mrspopeye]

I love a money-saving challenge! A few ideas:

1) Pool heat- we have been to Disney 4 times in October and never needed a pool heat. Many places will let you leave that as optional and if you had to have it, then you could choose to pay the expense then. We have thought about the BBQ rental and decided against it, and I'm glad we did because we would not have had time to use it, but if you are cooking lots of meals there and the cuts of meat are cheaper, like burgers and hot dogs, then it may be worth it to you. It wasn't to us.

2) Cleaning fee- There may not be anything you can do about this now, but for future reference, many places will waive the cleaning fee if you are staying over 7 nights. We stayed at a 3 bed townhome in Windsor Hills last October, and will be again this October, and we will not have a cleaning fee. Just $105 a night plux tax. There are literally thousands of places to stay off site in the Orlando area and they all have to compete, especially in low season. I bet you would be able to negotiate that off the price.

3) Save on Park Tickets - I discovered the Disney YES program thanks to this board and we saved hundreds on our park tickets this year. There is a big thread on here dedicated to it. You can purchase all of your tickets, even though only a couple of your kids are in the age group to participate. The most days you can buy is 8 days, but that was a park hopper that included 8 days at the 2 water parks and DisneyQuest, so that could be spread out over 2 weeks. We payed $208 each for those this week and that included the YES program and tax. That doesnt show up on the link below, but you will have the option at checkout.

http://www.disneyyouth.com/individual-enrollment/wdw/pricing/2011

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=40803250#post40803250

4) Sam's Club - I recently saw a thread that you could buy a $100 Disney gift card and get $10 to use at the Disney Store, so that would be a cheaper way to get souvenirs. We also bought our pins for pin trading off of ebay first instead of the expensive souvenir shops.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2702498

5) Restaurant.com - check out the Disney area and any other area you would be stopping at along the way. They offer codes for 70-80% at times, usually toward the end of the month. So, you get a $25 certificate for $2. I am also subscribed to Groupon emails for Orlando. Also check out the Orlando Entertainment Book- they are usually discounted towards the late fall, and you can look at the website to see what kind of discounts you can get before you buy.

6) Hotel stays - We love road trips and I am picky about the hotels we stay in along the way. I usually book them ahead of time and compare the quality of them at tripadvisor.com first. They have never been wrong. I also always pick the hotels with free breakfast. Money saved before you ever get in the car and those buffets are great for kids. You can also get an apple or banana for later. Sometimes you will see offers for staying 3 nights and getting one free, or getting a gas card, etc at many chains. We did that once using Comfort Inn and Suites and got a $50 gas card. I also use my AAA discount at hotels (CAA to you.)

7) Disney Visa- controversial way to "save" money, but if you are smart and just take advantage of the gift cards you get just for signing up, then that's money in your pocket. I had $500 in Disney Reward dollars last year.

I also subscribe to Couponing to Disney and MouseSavers. Also check out the Mouse For Less.

Don't forget to include $14 a day parking fees for each park in your budget.

Good luck!

 

[mrspopeye]

Did notthink to ask before, but I just want to clarify- are your totals in American dollars or Canadian dollars?

 

[buzz2400]

We are going on a budget trip in May. We are staying offsite and we are planning on buying food at walmart to bring to the park. That would be a good bet for you is to stop and walmart and get snacks and maybe peanut butter and jelly sandwich supplies. We also buy bottled water at walmart. The mini golf is a little pricey so you might not want to do that. I think it is somewhere near $10 a person now. Since you have your car, you can go to non-disney mini golf if you really feel the need. Don't forget to factor in parking fees which I believe are $14 a day. We bought annual passes so that we can have free parking and also park hop (we are going again in January). You didn't actually say how much you are paying for tickets per person but you might want to buy one annual pass so that you can get some discounts and free parking. Other than that you really can't cut prices anymore.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Since eating on site is pricey and you have 7 mouths to feed so I would eat off site as much as possible!
You are allowed to bring you own snacks & drinks into the park that could be a big savings.
You will be there for 14 days and want to buy 10 day tickets. Remember there are only 5 parks to visit so you would be visiting each one at least twice. I would scale this back to 7 day tickets. Remember that not everyday will be a perfect day to go to Disney. You are going during hurricane season so factor in a few very rainy days. Would hate for you to spend the money for 10 day tickets and not be able to go all 10 days. That being said I would get the 7 day tickets and fill in the other days with other activities. You could go over to the AKL and look at the animals. Just because you are not staying at AKL doesn't mean you can't visit the resort or any other resort for that matter.
Go over to Fort Wilderness and visit the barn animals.

Just got this email and wanted to share it with you
http://www.visitkissimmee.com/leisure/?utm_source=[%tp_PublisherName%]&utm_medium=online&utm_content=[%tp_PlacementName%]&utm_campaign=fuor.kiss014.2011

 

[Tiger926]

We're on a fairy tight budget, but we've been putting away money every week since our last Disney vacation (Nov 2008). Since we're driving all the way from Toronto, we decided that we wanted to stay for at least 2 weeks. We have to pay for the gas anyway, so we might as well stay longer. We found a GREAT deal on a townhome (we booked through Dave Robinson at Windsor Hills). Plus, it's not that much more for us to buy a 10 day ticket (it's less than $250 for the 6 tickets to go from 5 days to 10 days). We were aiming to spend about $6000 for everything, which is around what we spent on our last trip (that time we stayed in our trailer at Fort Wilderness for 2.5 weeks). We decided to book a 3rd week at the townhome because it is such a great deal (about $500 for the week). This is the breakdown of what dh thinks it will cost:

Park 1,900 (it's actually closer to $1700)
Condo 2,000 ($1500 plus tax/cleaning fee/bbq rental/pool heating)
Fuel 1,000
Hotels on the way (depends where we stay) 500
Pirate Cruise 200
Meals in Disney 1,000
Snack/other meals/Food ($400 per week - too high/low?) 1,500
Activities (beach, mini golf, etc.) 500
Other (???) 1,000

Total $ 9,600

So, we're about $3500 over what we originally planned for. I'd really like to try to cut that down as much as possible. This is A LOT of money for us and I'm cringing at the thought of spending that much.

There are 7 of us, DH and I, plus our 5 children ages (at the time of our trip on October): 9, 8, 6, 4, 1

I'm just wondering if I can get any advice from the budget experts??

Here are my thoughts:

** I don't think it matters if funds are in CDN or USD, since our Canadian dollar is higher at the moment**

Fuel - way too high! We live a few hours from you, and it just cost us $625.00 for all fuel (driving to WDW, back home, in Disney), plus 2 hotels (1 on way down $125/night and way home $100.00). I think you can totally do it for cheaper than this. We have a minvan, and so gas was less than $400.00, and we came home with an almost full tank.

Hotels - are you needing a hotel on the way down, and way back? $500.00 is high, but I'm assuming with that many people, you need to book 2 rooms?

Other - what is included in this really high amount?

Activities - how can the beach and mini golf cost $500.00? The beach is free, and you can find discounts for mini golf.

Tickets - I agree to buy one Annual Pass, and you'll get free parking, discounts on mini golf, shopping and some restaurants.

Condo - seems high to me as well.

I just think some of your totals are really high, and some areas can be cut down, IMHO.

Some good tips on this thread, Tiger

 

[lovemy4sweeties]

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions. I found them to be very helpful. I agree that we can cut down on the food. I think we'll skip the pool heating. The kids really want to do the pirate cruise, so we'll keep that, but it's only $30 per kid (so $120 instead of $200). I don't think we'll need anything extra like mini golf etc, so we can save money there. My 2 oldest have a paper route and they are saving their money for their souvenirs and treats (we told them to budget $5 a day in the parks if they want to buy ice cream etc). I think they plan to bring around $200 each. They might not spend it all, but they want to have it just in case. I know my son wants to buy lots of Lego LOL. My 6 years helps out with the paper route and gets paid (by his brother and sister) per day that he helps. He's hoping to bring $100 in spending money. We will match that for our 4 year old so he can buy the same stuff as his brother. We will also pay for the younger kids treats in the park. The fuel might not be as much as we're thinking. Last time it was about half of that, but gas is so high now. Oh, and good point that we would spend the money on groceries if we were home. That makes me feel a better. I think it's a great suggestion to narrow down our character meals to 2 and plan to eat mainly counter service while we're in the parks (and bring in our own food and drinks). I think we can keep this close to $7000, even with the 3rd week. If it's still too much, then we'll skip the last week, but we're really hoping to stay for that week.

I looked up the YES program and it looks great, but the maximum # of days I saw for the park ticket is 5. Is there a way to add an extra 5 days to this (to make it 10 days) without having to buy a separate 5 day ticket?

I think my husband figured out this budget in US money, but right now it's pretty much at par.

Thank you so much for the links. The coupon sites will definitely come in handy and I was looking for something like that. Perfect!

I'm going to read through the advice again and see if I've missed anything. I might have a few more questions tomorrow.

Thanks everyone! You've made me feel so much better.

 

[lovemy4sweeties]

MrsPopeye, I missed where you said you bought an 8 day ticket through the YES program. I didn't see that, but I'll go back and look again.

 

[susianew]

You have to go part way through the registration process before you get to the 8 day option. You also may want to look into the premium ticket upgrade- it would get you a bunch of water park visits. I don't think you can upgrade to 10 days, but I think the expirations are different- Y.E.S. tickets are good based on your arrival and departure dates, I think-while regular tickets expire 14 days after first use.