Cost. Is my budget reasonable?

[sscassel]

Hopefullt I help just a little. I can't give you much on the airfare other then if there is a chance you can take Airtran once your in the US, take it. I have found them to be reasonable. Southwest too. The big companies seem to be more expensive. When you get to the resort, if your just going to be there for sleep, do POP. Not worth spending all the extra money for the monorail. If you want something abit nicer, go a moderate. We love Pop, just be sure to ask for a prefered room. Gets you closer to the buses and dining. The only thing I didn't like was there is no cover over you while waiting for the bus. So if it's hot, it's hot. Other then that, the value is great. I have friends that stay in the Poly and the wife hates it. But anyway.... I would shoot for the Pop if your there to sleep and run out to play. WHy spend more money on a place your never gonna be at???? As for when to go. I would put a $200 deposit on Sept if I were you. Don't pay if full till you have to just incase the free meal plan pops up. We have gone in Sept many times and got the FDD. The crowds are so little you'll run on everything in no time. And do the water parks if you can swing it...If you can't switch your hotel to the CB and get the prefered room there. My kids love the pool there. Good luck

 

[austraveler]

We went in April 2010 for $13000 for a family of 5. We stayed at POFQ for 6 nights at 35 percent off, two rooms and the quick service plan. We took $1000 spending money and came home with half of it. The food portions on the plan were so large we often shared meals- especially the kids, so we didn't even spend much extra on food. We had park hoppers with the waterpark option. Hope that helps your planning.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I second the Pop recommendation if budget is a concern. It was clean and the rooms were recently renovated. We found it to be closer to AK, Epcot and HS than when we stayed at WL which was closer to MK but not the others.

We found the buses for the resort to be quick and plentiful, the foodcourt was good. We stayed in the 70's building which was only a 2 minute walk to the buses. Overall, for the money, you can't beat it.

We got free dining last September and it was awesome.

 

[perthgirl]

There are only 3 of us travelling but we are doing 5 weeks including NYC, Florida, Washington DC, Vegas and LA. Managing to do it for around $20k but got 3 adult airfares for just over $5000 Perth /LA return on V Australia (bought at an expo - saved $2000) including coming home on premium economy as that was the only ticket I could get (we are going at Christmas time). Managed to do some of our internal flights on FF points and purchased the remainder using a Flight Centre voucher we earned through credit card points. Our budget for food and activities will be tight but doable.
I assume you will be going over our summer? I have been to WDW in January before and while I have never been lucky enough to score free dining I did get around 40% off value resorts - which IMHO are fine and have enough Disney to get anyone excited. may be a bit squeezy with the 5 of you though!
Anyway, suggest you purchase a debit card for USD (bought ours through Travelex) and just convert whatever you can every payday to USD. I've been doing that for some months now and it adds up quickly. Good luck!

 

[battymum]

DizzyOz,
With your family, it will be a struggle to fit in one room, Port Orleans allows five in a room with one on a rollaway, but your children will have to share a bed, not sure if DS13 will be keen on that.
We have a family of five and our only option was to get 2 rooms at a value resort, we chose POP century.

We are going in September (value season) and we got free dining so all up the Disney part of our trip was $3600, our airfare was $6500, add a seven night carribbean cruise $5000 and a 4 night New York City side trip $3200 and 4 nights at Hard Rock Hotel and Universal Tickets $2000.

What does that equal? -

There is some other incidental costs such as transfers and we will hire a car for 3 days. But on a positive note we have nearly all our meals prepaid and we are not big on junky souveniers so the only additional spending money we will need is for shopping.

I hope to end up under $25K including spending money.

 

[battymum]

Forgot to add, except for the airfare, that was all in USD, luckily for us, it has all been paid for while the $A was at parity or close to it. We certainly couldnt afford a trip like this if the $A wasnt as strong.

 

[sscassel]

I have no clue...so please do not attack! BUT, can all of you from Australia get a Disney Visa??? I use it yr round and when it comes to my Disney trip, that IS my spendingg money. I get $1 for every $100 I spend. Actually since Oct 2010 I have been recieving 3 for every $100. Yes it is not much, but it adds up and I end up uusing it for my tips, waterpark lockers & towels and anything else I spend. With the amount your spending, you wouldn't need to take all the extra cash. But like I said, I don't know if your able to get the card in Australia?? But worth a shot.

 

[HappyFingers]

Australians dont attack

we have learned from observing the Americans something very important

No One ever wins
when you lose, you lose.
when you win, you still lose






but yes the visa sounds like a good idea for the frequent disney traveler

I have no clue...so please do not attack! BUT, can all of you from Australia get a Disney Visa??? I use it yr round and when it comes to my Disney trip, that IS my spendingg money. I get $1 for every $100 I spend. Actually since Oct 2010 I have been recieving 3 for every $100. Yes it is not much, but it adds up and I end up uusing it for my tips, waterpark lockers & towels and anything else I spend. With the amount your spending, you wouldn't need to take all the extra cash. But like I said, I don't know if your able to get the card in Australia?? But worth a shot.

 

[kylieh]

But like I said, I don't know if your able to get the card in Australia?? But worth a shot.

Cool idea, though you need to be a US resident to apply. We miss out on a lot of stuff like this in Australia... we have other good stuff though not avail in the US!!!!

 

[Dizzy_Oz]

Narrowed it down to months now, FEB/MARCH
.
.
.
2013 I know it's ages away but it will be for a combined DH birthday + our anni. Also means I can become more mouse-obsessed.

Am I crazy to start obsessing now?

Means I will be checking into DIS for the next 700 days, tickers probably dont go up that far
Looking at the mousesavers newsletter doesnt look like free dining plans have been offerred (historically anyway) during this month.

Im loving researching all that is Disney and am surely going to love the plannng stage. The more I learn, the more I want to do the more money its going to cost.

We put our first $100 away last week. Just makes it real, IYKWIM. We plan to just cash into USD every $500 we save.

 

[dabecs]

it's never too early

We first started 'thinking' about a trip in 2010 and we have now set a date for 1st December 2012 so I have spent a lot of time planning too!

The good thing about going in 2013 is most of the Fantasyland Expansion should be finished (besides maybe the 7 dwarfs mine coaster which is rumoured to be complete in 2014). I am really hoping that the other parts are finished and opne when we go next year. I have 2 girls so princess themed is big with us

Also WDW is a trip that needs a lot of planning, I'm sure people who go without any research have a good time but if you want to have a great time I think you need to plan. I knew nothing about WDW before I joined Disboards and started reading guide books - and my plans are constantly evolving as i learn more about each park, restaurant etc

I have a ticker and I am only going a few months before you

 

[battymum]

The best thing about starting your planning early is you will be ready to pounce when the best deals on airfares come out. Every holiday goes through an evolves throughout the planning stage, so the end result is probably a lot different to the holiday you first envisioned.

I started thinking about a trip in about July last year and read and read and read everything I could so was ready to book when I saw some great fares.

AND who knew that you had to make dinner reservations six months out, which means you have to research every restaurant and make your choices before that.

 

[PeterSherry]

Dizzy Oz

Please remember when planning your trips outside the usual American holidays that not all rides and attractions may be open.

The cheapest dates for Aussie trips to DW and WDW are typically from 1st December to 17th December plus the parks are all done up in the Christmas theme.

Although it is possible to stay off site and still get to the character breakfasts nothing beats being on site for the little extras. The extra magic hour in the morning before the gates open to the public can save you a lot of time as you get a jump on the queues.

It can be cheaper to stay at a higher class hotel or suites off site than at the resort (say $120 at Disney and $88 off site) and normally the off site hotels or suites provide free breakfast but you lose time in travel and remember Disney does not encourage people to stay off site and so waiting at the bus stops and car parking can be painful. However it is easier then to go the other parks such as Universal Studios.

Some of the accomodation on site at the mid priced resorts has the ability to have 5 to a room as previously mentioned (which may mean your two youngest sharing a bed and the 13 in a trundle bed) and could help to reduce your costs. It's a bit squeezy but you will be on the run all day and only there to sleepplus the kids will get a thrill out of all the different disney bits and pieces in the rooms, around the pools, or dining halls.

When staying on site visit the other resorts and walk through the foyers, attend the different character meet and greet (each resort has a different character and set time for meet and greet), or just go their for dining. All depends upon how much you wish to spend.

 

[dabecs]

Wow PeterSherry I didn't know we had picked the cheapest time to go!
I chose December because I had heard of the lower crowd levels and I love Christmas so thought the decorations (and Christmas party) would be fun.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Great question to ask because i have been reading the cost of what Americans spent on their trip and wondering what Aussies are spending!

We are a family of 6 holidaying for 38 days and i only plan on spending $25 000
I am going to sit down and work that out in the next few days starting with what our total cost was last year because to be honest even though we paid cash i really only have a rough idea what we spent in the USA as we spent money in Fiji and Australia on the way home our rough estimate for our total trip last year was about $27000 i think.
Problem is i have been avoiding working out our total cost for last year just in case i am under budget for this trip

 

[battymum]

Dizzy Oz

I just had another thought, there is a new value resort opening soon, I am not sure when, its called the Art of Animation resort, its going to be a budget resort that has all family suites that will accomodate up to six. Its being built next to Pop Century at the moment.

As I said I am not sure when it opens or when they will start taking bookings, make sure to look into it, it will probably suit your family, and it will be brand new!

 

[5ofus]

Dizzy Oz

I just had another thought, there is a new value resort opening soon, I am not sure when, its called the Art of Animation resort, its going to be a budget resort that has all family suites that will accomodate up to six. Its being built next to Pop Century at the moment.

As I said I am not sure when it opens or when they will start taking bookings, make sure to look into it, it will probably suit your family, and it will be brand new!

I don't think the AoA resort is due to open until 2013 or later, but the All Star Music resort has the Family Suites as well. We're going in 2015 and plan to stay for at least half of our WDW time in the AoA family suites - we're a family of five too.

 

[battymum]

Summer of 2012 according to WDW site, for the first stage -

 

[platypus67]

Our December trip cost us around $12.000 not including spending $. For this we got
Flights for 3 adults BNE/LAX return
12 days ASMU with free dining. (We upgraded to the regular plan.)
8 days basic admission ticket. (We bought park hoppers is 2007 and didn't use them.)
2 days Universal
1 day Sea World.
4 1/2 weeks car rental.
One way tickets Orlando to Syracuse flying Jet Blue.
We probaby spent another $6,000-$8,000 which would have included anything spent at Disney and other parks as well as what we spent when visiting my family over Christmas.
We spent next to nothing on food at Disney as we were on the DP and had heaps of snack credit left over.
Just thought I would mention that Spring break is in March. I would expect there to be few specials on over this time as well as being very busy.

 

[PeterSherry]

Dizzy Oz

All the information is available on the net however you have to do a fair bit of reading and research. However one big advantage you have is that most Disney regulars will gladly answer any questions you might have and share any tidbits.

I have taken a family of 5 and we have stayed in the park and off the park both in Anaheim and Orlando. Most travel consultants won't go to the trouble of advising you where to go for the best view of the night time fire works or that moving from one resort to another within the park is fairly easy. Please make sure you take the kids to one of the character breakfasts.

For your information you could stay at the Dolphin or Swan and although not Disney resorts they have some of the same benefits with bussing to the park and the early morning entry hour.

Also your kids will probably want to go to Universal and see the Harry Potter World and that is certainly easier from a hotel off site. On site you will need to catch transport to the transport hub and then transfer there and catch another bus.