Cheap, Cheap, Cheap

[OKDisneyMom]

I posted this over on another board and they suggested I post here for more help.

Well inexpensive anyway. We have a family that normally travels with us and they need to cut on expenses this time. They are a family of 4. Two girls ages 16 and 11.

What is the most inexpensive way to go. We will be driving from Oklahoma. We have always stayed offsite
in a house and shared the expense.

Our dates are July 19-28, 2010

There was a suggestion to stay onsite to save a little.
We have booked a house that is 115.00 a night per family
but we can cancel if onsite is cheaper.

We do buy our tickets from Undercover Tourist, and we eat breakfast and dinner at the house.
I am really at a loss of how to do this any cheaper than we do.


We have never stayed on site, so how do you get discounts
to stay onsite?

Thanks to all of you!!!!

 

[PrincessBelle09]

This would not be applicable to your upcoming trip, but if you would like to stay onsite in the future, try going during a free dining period. The regular Disney Dining Plan covers 1 snack, 1 quick service, and 1 table service meal per person per day. Free dining is an absolutely amazing deal.

 

[cglaura]

There are a few things you can do with the plan you have now, such as sharing the meals you do eat at the parks, and asking for ice water instead of buying soda (free cups of ice water as cs places).

We usually stay onsite b/c for just dd18 and myself, it is less to stay at a value. We eat breakfast in the room. For lunches and dinners we split the meal with an extra side and get ice water most of the time. Or, we will get one adult meal but not a combo...just the sandwich, and also a child meal with fries and fruit or carrots. So a meal like that would be for each of us, as an example: 1/2 turkey wrap, 2 chicken strips, some fries and some fruit/veggie. Or split a chicken caesar salad, and half a kids burger & fries each, save the grapes for a snack later.

A common misnomer is you have to be age 3-9 to order the kids meal. That is not a law, it is just that the amount of food they give you is appropriate for that age. You are paying for a particular amount of food. It is not like you are cheating them by getting the same amount of food as an adult meal for less money.

We spend about $35 per day on park food total. That does not include 1 or 2 ts meals.

The free dining depends alot on where you stay and how many people and if you can get any other deal. For instance our next trip is 40% off room only. That saves us $44.50 per day. We'd never eat that much in free food, even though in reality if we ate it up to the max on what we could with free dining it would be a better savings. Some days we just are not hungry. I'd rather control what I eat than eat it just because it is "free" or paid for. I hope that made sense! It did in my warped disneymath brain anyway

 

[DawnM]

Are you going during the summer? There are ways to save $$ during peak season, but off-season is by far the cheapest.

Dawn

 

[LisaInNc]

You can stay on site for cheaper but you won't have a kitchen and if you want to save money a kitchen is important.

Renting a house for $200 a night is insane to me. I would never do that.

I would book a condo through SkyAuction you can get a 2 bedroom for less than $300. That would give you a full kitchen. I would spend the upcoming weeks planing easy meals and then use coupons and sales to stock up on what you need. Make casseroles and freeze them. Take a cooler and transport them to Florida IF you are making the drive in one day. Then you have a few meals already for when you come back from the parks. I would also make a few desserts or buy special snacks that you don't usually have to make it more fun.

Pack a lunch and take it into the parks. Bring in bottled water and drinks.

Don't spend a cent on the drive except for gas and tolls. Pack drinks and snacks and all the stuff you would buy when you stop.

Don't buy souveniers.

Park tickets.....don't get the hoppers.

You can absolutely do a cheaper trip.

Free dining ain't free? You have to pay rack room for the hotel and it gives you counter service food. Not healthy and you can eat a lot cheaper if you do it yourself.

This isn't what most people want to hear but I have done it and when it comes to not doing a trip or doing a cheap one....I will opt for the cheap. We are going to squeeze in a quick bare bones trip this July. We have a big fancy trip for October but I dont' want to wait that long so we are going to do a trip like I just described.

I hope you have a great time.

Lisa

 

[OKDisneyMom]

You can stay on site for cheaper but you won't have a kitchen and if you want to save money a kitchen is important.

Renting a house for $200 a night is insane to me. I would never do that.

I would book a condo through SkyAuction you can get a 2 bedroom for less than $300. That would give you a full kitchen. I would spend the upcoming weeks planing easy meals and then use coupons and sales to stock up on what you need. Make casseroles and freeze them. Take a cooler and transport them to Florida IF you are making the drive in one day. Then you have a few meals already for when you come back from the parks. I would also make a few desserts or buy special snacks that you don't usually have to make it more fun.

Pack a lunch and take it into the parks. Bring in bottled water and drinks.

Don't spend a cent on the drive except for gas and tolls. Pack drinks and snacks and all the stuff you would buy when you stop.

Don't buy souveniers.

Park tickets.....don't get the hoppers.

You can absolutely do a cheaper trip.

Free dining ain't free? You have to pay rack room for the hotel and it gives you counter service food. Not healthy and you can eat a lot cheaper if you do it yourself.

This isn't what most people want to hear but I have done it and when it comes to not doing a trip or doing a cheap one....I will opt for the cheap. We are going to squeeze in a quick bare bones trip this July. We have a big fancy trip for October but I dont' want to wait that long so we are going to do a trip like I just described.

I hope you have a great time.

Lisa

There are 8 adults and 2 young adults so renting a house seems the cheaper way for us.

Thanks for all the suggestions!!!We have been several times and always go the budget way. We always eat Breakfast and Dinner at the house. We never buy hoppers and always buy through Undercover Tourist and We pack our food in the car as we travel. It's a 23 hour drive.
Unfortunatly our dates are set in stone. There are
many schedules to plan around. We worked for weeks
coming up with these dates.

I was looking for ideas of things I may have overlooked and trying hard to make this trip more affordable for the
family we travel with.

We are planning a garage sale also.

Thanks to everyone!!!!

Keep them coming---I'm taking it all in.

 

[MinnieForMe]

So, you need a 5 bedroom house? At $200 a night x 7 you are paying $1400. I don't know what summer rentals go for but that is more than double what I would expect to pay in April/May. Are you staying in Windsor Hills?

 

[MnMomtoboys]

Did you buy the tickets yet? IF you haven't you could check out the yes programhttp://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2332767&highlight=yes+program

also look at the orlando board for offsite resorts. Good luck!

 

[OKDisneyMom]

Yes we are staying in Windsor Hill. The house is 230 a night but we split it between the 2 families so it only cost us 115.00 a night. For the amount of people we have
I can't see paying for 3 rooms at a motel or even on site seems too much.

 

[HeatherC]

If you aren't committed to the house yet, I would check out homeaway.com and look under Kissimmee rentals. Check the box for "specials". You may be able to find another house for less money if the owners haven't rented yet.

Another suggestion if you don't mind driving a little further is to check out Regal Palms Resort. It is in Davenport. You basically go the end of 192 (past Windsor Hills) till the end and hop on 27. It is about 15 minutes further out.

BUT....you can rent a 4 bedroom townhouse for about $100 a night. We have rented from this person a couple times. www.regalpalmsrental.com His units have always been very nice and very clean. There is a master bedroom with bath on first floor. Another bath with just a toilet and sink on that floor along with kitchen and dining/living area. Upstairs is another master with full bath. Full washer and dryer. Another full bath and two more bedrooms with twin beds. There is also a sleeper sofa in the living room.

The resort itself is nice with a beautiful pool area with lazy river.

Hope this helps!

 

[donnabc]

You can save tons of money just taking snacks, & lots and lots of drinks to the park.

I'm not sure if this is against the "rules" but we always take a picnic to Busch Gardens and leave it in a locker. For Disney World, we just take some heavy snacks and drinks because by noon it is soooo hot we are ready to go back to the hotel for a few hours and just eat our meal then.

There is really no need to pay the high prices in the parks...if you just gotta, go with a kids meal...it is plenty for anyone to eat.

 

[torinsmom]

You definitely need to check out the YES program for your tickets! You can save about 50% off through this program. It is a program where at least one child in your group attends a class for a few hours one morning. Everyone in your party gets discounted tickets. The classes are educational but fun as well(so I've been told) You are lucky that your trip is during open enrollment. A PP posted the link to the thread that will tell you more about the program.

You might be able to find some good deals at vrbo.com for a condo or house since your dates are only month away. I got a 3 bedroom condo for $450/week, but there are lots of larger condos and houses on there as well.

Marsha

 

[OKDisneyMom]

Thanks to everyone. The house I am looking at in on VRBO but I will try some of the other suggestions.

I truley appreciate all the responses and help!!

You guys are GREAT!!!

 

[OKDisneyMom]

Sad News--They family that I was trying to help, has decided not to go with us this trip. It was just too much for this year. We are already planning our next trip together.

Good News--My family has decided to go anyway.
We will see you in July!

Thanks to all of you for all the great ideas and money saving tips.

The DIS Boards are AWESOME!!!!