cost of trip

[dell2673]

I was wondering.I will be going to disneyworld in Sept.I have aready booked the hotel at the Royal Plaza (hope it is nice) for 57.00 a night but dont know how much food money,cost of tickets to disney and universial and other things.

I was wondering if someone would know what a Adult and 1 kid (age 8) would need to bring for the whole trip.We are going from Sept 12-21.THanks

 

[SAKPEG99OKW]

Dell first welcome to the Dis. Your question is pretty wide open. First of all how many days are you going to WDW, universal?. I believe the going rate for a one day pass at any of the disney parks is 52.50 per adult. Now if you are going to WDW for three days or more you might want to look into a 3 day hopper pass. Food is a whole different story. That will all depend on how big of eaters you both are. Do you like a big breakfast or small. How about lunches? and Dinner (sit down or fast food). You have a lot of decisions to make. Once you decide how you want to eat, where and when then you can get a better handle on your budget.

Have a great trip. Keep posting.

Scott

 

[patsal]

Wow that's a big request and I'd still need more information to be more specific. What kind of places do you want to eat? Here's some info that could help you in your planning. Universal has an offer on theri website which seems to be the best deal. Buy the 5 day park hopper ticket for less than the price of two single tickets. They run 95.80 per adult and 81.95 for kids. These do expire, the web site will provide you with the details.
Check out Mousesaves for the best prices in hopper tickets for WDW. The nice thing about these is that they do not expire, even the plus features for water parks, etc. are good until you have the opportunity to use them.
Food and souvineers create a huge gap. See you could be really frugal and give the child a set amount and bring some filler items (clearence items from the disney store, dollar store, walmart, etc) or you could give a rather unlimited amount here. Personally I have the kids save up their allowance for the year and that is what they have to spend. If there is little time to save between trips I will match what they are able to save.
Food--what are you planning on here--sit downs, buffetts, counter service? Sit down places have kids menus and are usually 8.99 or under for the complete meal. Adults average 25-35 each. Breakfast Buffets are around 9.99 per child and 17.99 per adult some are less. Lunch Buffets are 19.99 per adult and 9.99 per child again some are less. Dinner buffets aare 23.95 for adults and 9.99 per child. Plan on tax and tip as well. Dinner shows are 49.01for adults and 24.95 for children (unless they have gone up again). Two can have counter service for about $15-20 depending on what you order or if you are sharing (hot dogs, fries, drink and brownie at Casey's for example will only be about 10 per person. Since you are not staying on site you may want to try some places off site to eat as well to save money.
Bottom line, you need to decide what and where and budget form there. www.wdwig has a great set of menus to check offerings and prices. Overall I spend about $100 per day on a family of four--2 adults 2 kids under 12. We sometimes go over the 100 other days we are under so it all averages out. We also usually eat breakfast int eh room--cold cereal and fruit/granola bars, etc.

 

[dell2673]

Thanks again for the replys.

I have the hotel where I am staying and they offer free breakfast thank goodness!! Also we are going 2 days to disney and 3 to universial. THanks for the tips on the 3 day universial.Also I was wanting to know and pretty much got the answer on the prices for food for adult and child. I will be taken about 1200 dollars on the trip and didnt know if this was enough.Also I havent found the disney tickets as cheap as I would like does anyone know where there is a really great place to find them?? Thanks again and also has anyone stayed at the Royal Plaza and is it nice?

 

[bridgettesmom]

You can buy 3 day disney hoppers at www.alamo.com.It will give you a link with a phone number to call for tickets. They are around $169 for adults and $137(I'm not really sure) for a child ticket.

 

[dell2673]

Thanks I will check that out.It appears that this is the cheapest that I have found yet.Thanks

 

[dell2673]

I wasn wondering if the Park Hopper tickets are worth it or would be buying 3 days of tickets be the same? I know that the only advantage to this is that you can go from Park to Park but isnt it wasting your time to go from Park to Park? I have heard that the Parks are spread apart enough that you probably wouldnt want to Park Hop. We are going dont know what the best parks to visit are.Does anyone have any suggestions? It will be Me and my daughter(age 8) then My brother,his wife and kids (4,8,11). Thanks and we enjoy the most of riding rides and not so much of going to the water parks.Thanks

Is Universial worth going to as well?? For the kids mostly

 

[CajunDixie]

isnt it wasting your time to go from Park to Park? I have heard that the Parks are spread apart enough that you probably wouldnt want to Park Hop.

We always park hop. The monorail ride from the TTC to Epcot is fun. Say you go to MK in the morning and it gets crowded you can hop over to Epcot. Or say you start your day at AK and it closes and the kids are still raring to go you can hop over to Epcot. Feel like shopping then hop on the bus and check out Downtown Disney. If you want to see nighttime shows sometimes its easier to work them in when you can park hop. Part of it will depend on the kids.....my kids are oddballs and absolutely do not like Disney Studios so we totally skip that park. We've "done" the countries in Epcot before so they really dont care to go back through all of them so Epcot can be done in less than a day for us. Youngest DS's favorite thing to do after rides at MK is going shopping at DTD. Oldest wants to do Test Track and swim.....swimming in December is a big deal to them. This year we'll only do WDW for 3 days, if that, then we'll go to Sea World and Busch Gardens.

 

[dell2673]

What about Universal Studios is it worth going to? I have heard that IOA is the best park for rides.IS this true?

 

[patsal]

Hi again! Universal has it's own website where you can get an idea of the rides and good descriptions of them as well. We took our kids to both parks when DS was 8 and DD was 5. Both seemed to enjoy the parks. We find it a very different from Disney experience but good none the less. There is more of a thrill ride atmosphere--afterall you are "riding the movies". Some of the shows are a little intense for small children. IOA has more to do than US, but with the hoppers you can move back and fourth--just a short walk. As for park hopping at WDW we do it all the time, things are spread out, but never more than a 20 minute ride. Early morning at MK, gets crowded head to Epcot, back to MK for the evening. Over to MGM in the AM, hop the boat to Epcot and hang there for the afternoon while MGM is crowded, back to MGM for the evening, etc. With such a short trip I think that I would be more inclined to do the 5 day WDW thing to be sure to get as much as possible in. If you have already eliminated some of WDW's parks then maybe you could hit US/IOA. With so much to do and so little time both sets of parks may become overwhelming. Oh, check your PM's.

 

[dell2673]

Thank you for the reply and I wasnt thinking about the crowds!! Thanks. But I have heard that it is not bad to go in Sept due to school being in sesson.BUt thats for the tips.Have you heard of anyone staying in the Royal Plaza? Whether it is nice or not? THanks again.

Will be in Disney from Sept 12 thru Sept 22
Daughter birthday is the 22 so she will have a good b-day!!! She will be 9 soon.

 

[Mustangdi]

We have stayed at the Royal Plaza about 5 yrs. ago. I really liked our room, very spacious and
nicely decorated. It would be much better if you
will have a car to get to the parks. The bus stops
at all the other hotels along the way, and it gets
to be a long trip with all the stops. We did walk
to DD a few times, but it was too hot and we got
tired. We will also be going in Sept, but will be
there the 20th-27th. May see you there. lol

 

[Mustangdi]

Dell2673
I just sent you a PM.

 

[YesDear]

First you seriously need to reverse your schedule. Two days at Universal and three at Disney. For the ages of the kids you are going with, IMHO, there is lots more to do at Disney than at Universal. Unless they are thrill ride freaks! My family did Universal in a day and IOA in 1/2 day and have not wanted to go back.

I suggest you read each of the boards relating to the segments of the trip you want to do. From your description, you are wanting to do this on a fairly tight budget.

Also what kind of breakfast do they offer. If it is muffins and juice, you probably will be looking at hungry people soon.

The park hopper passes do allow you to go from park to park. If you hit a particularly crowded park, even in September, you can go to another.

You have found the best site to get the best info about Disney. And the cost if right as well

 

[Dismom63]

I totally agree with the above post. You really aren't doing WDW justice in 2 days and I can tell you the kids you will have with you are young for many of the more mature thril rides you will find at IOA.

 

[dell2673]

Thanks for the replys!!

So the Walt disney world is the best places to go? My daughter and my brothers kids are thrill ride freaks.But is this limited to the height factor?? Will it be good for a 4 yr old that loves to ride rides but my be too small.We are just trying to find out what the best places are to go and ride rides.I love to look at Mickey and Minnie but not my kid.She loves the rides.She is 8 yrs old.I am taling about 1000.00 dollars with to do all things and need to have the best fun.I am looking for the best and most fun out of the parks.I dont think that AK or Epcot will be the place the kids will have fun at.Any more suggestions??

 

[crisi]

WDW does not have a thrill ride park and their thrill rides are pretty well distributed throughout the four parks (plus some great water slides at the water parks, and some cool stuff at Disney Quest).

Epcot has Test Track, Body Wars and Mission Space.

AK has Dinosaur, Primevil Whirl and Kali Rapids.

MK has Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and ExtraTerrorestial (or whatever they call it).

MGM - Star Tours, Tower of Terror and RocknRoller Coaster.

(This is from memory and I'm not a thrill ride person so I may have missed some). If you are looking for big coasters and "rides" Disney isn't where you will be satisfied. If you want "attractions" Disney has plenty. You are on a Disney Fan Board - of course we think Disney is the place to go. But it may not be for you. My husband hates "rides" and enjoys Disney. Can't drag him to the local amusement park.

Check out the height restrictions for the four year old traveling with you. My own four year old can do most of the things at Disney, but not some of the big thrill rides. We haven't been to Universal/IOA as we are saving that for when they are teenagers and the Disney rides look tame. These sites will help :

www.wdwinfo.com and www.wdwig.com

They also both have links to dining information - with menus and pricing - which will give you a better idea of what you will spend there. We can drop $200 on a meal for two (with wine) or we can split a burger and get by for under $10.

 

[sters]

Park hopping between DIsney Studios and Epcot's World Showcase is easy and fun, because you can take the boat, even stop at the Boardwalk on the way. And the World SHowcase is open longer. On the otherhand, going from MK to Epcot is very time consuming, because of the TTC.

 

[ncbyrne]

Please be sure to remember the 4 year old. He/she will probably not be tall enough for any of the thrill rides. Last year I went with my 2 DDs and 3 DgrandDs. Two of the girls were 9 and one was 4. The little one was not able to go on any of them, and she was majorly dissappointed! I went along as the babysitter for the 4 year old and oftentimes we went our own way. Be sure to check height restrictions before you go and have plans in place for the 4 year old.