Did she say Contemporary?? No Longer a Budget PTR

[Jaaaacki]

So how low CAN we go??

The goal of this pre-trip report is to get to Disney as inexpensively as possible. Last month, heck last week, this trip wasn't going to happen at all this year. We just got back August 2011 from a 7 night Beach Club Resort stay with the works. We didn't hold anything back on that trip!! It was our first trip which had started out at the All-Stars on free dining and worked it's way up to the beach club with deluxe dining. I think we are all still stuffed from all the food and exhausted from running around trying to meet those ADR's.

This trip is going to be more laid back. No dining plan, no magical express, no bibbiti bobbidi boutique and only a few ADR's.

The Players are me (Jacki), my husband (Doug), ds (Aidan) and dd (Hailey)

Here we are on our trip this past August.​

Coming Soon:
What, Where, When
Dining Reservations
FINALLY THE WHERE!!!

 

[francis6306]

You can do it!! The trick is to find the lowest resort costs! I'm in!

I was AMAZED at how little our first trip cost us- and if it were up to me, I'd be booking the SAME week at the same hotel. But, that pesky thing called WORK is getting in the way of my perfect disney plans!! Our next trip is gonna be WAY more expensive, but we chose a family suite… Of course, there is always the option to back down on our plans if we need to!

OOOOoooorrr…. we could win the Lottery!

 

[Jaaaacki]

You can do it!! The trick is to find the lowest resort costs! I'm in!

I was AMAZED at how little our first trip cost us- and if it were up to me, I'd be booking the SAME week at the same hotel. But, that pesky thing called WORK is getting in the way of my perfect disney plans!! Our next trip is gonna be WAY more expensive, but we chose a family suite… Of course, there is always the option to back down on our plans if we need to!

OOOOoooorrr…. we could win the Lottery!

Thanks for joining in. Yes, its nice with Disney you can upgrade/downgrade if you need to. And if we won the lotto we would be staying at the Contemporary, then Aulani followed by a Disney cruise.

 

[Moodyzblu]

I'm in ! As a single mom, I need to go as low as possible and I've learned a few tricks along the way !
Can't wat to see what you guys come up with !

 

[Jaaaacki]

So, I'm vowing not to neglect this PTR. Last year, I started one and abandoned it. I'm hoping to get at least one post in a week. I can do it

Let's go over the trip specifics.

We will be flying into FLL on 6/22 and spending 2 nights at my dad's. Then we will be driving up to Orlando for 6 nights at Disney. So the official Disney dates are 6/24-6/30.

I have not officially booked air or hotel yet. Dh and I both took advantage of Southwest's 50,000 points so that is a big money saver right there. When I've gotten my final figures I will let you all know just how much we saved versus rack rate.

We are also doing the YES program. I have already signed up and ordered those tickets. I purchased four 7-day park hopper tickets for a grand total of $796.60. Disney's normal price for the same tickets is $1250. A savings of $453.40!!!

Oh, and we can use the SW points towards our hotel stay. We've been tossing around whether we should stay off site vs. on site. We can use points for both so.... Do we book a value like All-Stars and get all the Disney magic or book a higher end hotel like the Wyndham or Buena Vista Palace? We won't be able to take advantage of ME but I'm leaning towards on-site simply because of the extra costs of outside hotels...resort fees, parking fees and then the fee to park at any of the Disney parks puts us close to an additional $45/day when staying somewhere like Bonnet Creek. I'm also toying with staying at a moderate and paying the difference but that will change this from being a budget trip.

 

[Moodyzblu]

We have a room booked at Pop in April but I'm considering surprising my son with an upgrade to Caribbean Beach resort. He really wants to go there (he calls it the Pirate hotel) but like you said, it will change our trip from being a budget to a not so budget trip.
We stayed off property a few times and really had a great time. Because I travel alone with my kids I feel more secure at a Disney resort, but would stay off site if I had another adult with me.

 

[francis6306]

We are also doing the YES program. I have already signed up and ordered those tickets. I purchased four 7-day park hopper tickets for a grand total of $796.60. Disney's normal price for the same tickets is $1250. A savings of $453.40!!!

I just read about the YES thing recently! What are the details for this??

Oh, and we can use the SW points towards our hotel stay. We've been tossing around whether we should stay off site vs. on site. We can use points for both so.... Do we book a value like All-Stars and get all the Disney magic or book a higher end hotel like the Wyndham or Buena Vista Palace? We won't be able to take advantage of ME but I'm leaning towards on-site simply because of the extra costs of outside hotels...resort fees, parking fees and then the fee to park at any of the Disney parks puts us close to an additional $45/day when staying somewhere like Bonnet Creek. I'm also toying with staying at a moderate and paying the difference but that will change this from being a budget trip.

I say ON SITE! You are in Orlando for Disney, right? Stay AT Disney!

 

[Jaaaacki]

I say ON SITE! You are in Orlando for Disney, right? Stay AT Disney!

For Yes, the minimum age is 5 to participate, so I don't know if your kids would qualify and they seem to run most of the programs in the summer with some in the fall. You do have to participate in a 3 hours class but my son will enjoy it I'm sure.

And yes we are in Orlando strictly for Disney. Probably won't know for a month or so exactly where we are staying yet.

 

[francis6306]

For Yes, the minimum age is 5 to participate, so I don't know if your kids would qualify and they seem to run most of the programs in the summer with some in the fall. You do have to participate in a 3 hours class but my son will enjoy it I'm sure.

And yes we are in Orlando strictly for Disney. Probably won't know for a month or so exactly where we are staying yet.

Yeah, I figured she would be too young. She's pretty smart though! I will totally look into this for our next trip, because I know that she would LOVE to go to "school" at Disney for a day!

 

[Jaaaacki]

I just booked my airfare. I used my South West Airlines credit card points for booking. I was able to get non stop flights which is a huge plus when traveling with kids. Our roundtrip airfare would have been $1020 if paid out of pocket. I was able to use 48000 points and had to pay for 1 one-way ticket. So my grand total including fees was $137.50 a total savings of $882.50.

Total Expense to date $934.10
Total Savings to date $1335.90

I've narrowed down our hotel choices too but won't be booking until early April (waiting for those new credit card points to post)

1. Coronado Springs
2. Caribbean Beach
3. All Stars Movies

 

[OldsDr]

If you are trying to decide on hotels I would do Coronado for the queen size beds

 

[Jaaaacki]

If you are trying to decide on hotels I would do Coronado for the queen size beds

How did I miss that little tid bit?!?!? I guess I just assumed only the deluxe had queen beds. This might just seal it then and cancel out all the other choices!! Hopefully they'll still have availability in the next month or so. Thank you!!

 

[francis6306]

Port Orleans just got Queen beds in some of their rooms I think… They are getting a renovation right now- check them out too! Add more research to your plate!

 

[Jaaaacki]

I would love port Orleans but I can't use SW points there.

 

[denvergirl]

What a fun thread! I'm in! I always say I'm going to do budget and then FAIL miserably! I have hope for our next trip in November. . .staying at the Dolphin on points, hopefully flying all 3 of us on points. No DDP is KILLING the food budget. I like to do one sit down a day which means my 7 day food/drink costs are around $1600. THAT IS CRAZY! I know I guessed high, but not too high. I actually looked at menus I cannot wait to see what y'all come up with. . .

 

[Jaaaacki]

What a fun thread! I'm in! I always say I'm going to do budget and then FAIL miserably! I have hope for our next trip in November. . .staying at the Dolphin on points, hopefully flying all 3 of us on points. No DDP is KILLING the food budget. I like to do one sit down a day which means my 7 day food/drink costs are around $1600. THAT IS CRAZY! I know I guessed high, but not too high. I actually looked at menus I cannot wait to see what y'all come up with. . .

What kind of points are you using for the dolphin? Mine are SW points but I think we would still get hit with the parking and resort fee which was about an extra $30/day. I would love to stay at the swan. We were at the beach club last year and the boat transportation was very convenient.

 

[Jaaaacki]

Double post

 

[MHTeacher]

I'm in---always enjoy hearing about other DISer's plans. I love to save any amount I can for a Disney trip.

 

[denvergirl]

What kind of points are you using for the dolphin? Mine are SW points but I think we would still get hit with the parking and resort fee which was about an extra $30/day. I would love to stay at the swan. We were at the beach club last year and the boat transportation was very convenient.

We are using Starwood Preferred Guest Points (Westin/Sheraton). We still have to pay the resort fee of $15 or $16 a day, but will not have a car, so no parking. Both Swan and Dolphin are 10,000 points a night, but if you stay 4 nights you get the 5th for free!!! This is our first time in the Epcot Resorts area. . .I'm really looking forward to it (even though I'm a MK junkie)!

 

[Jaaaacki]

Hi everyone, I'm back. I know it's been a few weeks but I really had nothing to report. However, I have something to share today.

Last August we pre-purchased the photopass cd for $99 and it was just ok. We did not see very many photographers so we didn't have that many great shots. So I wasn't sure if we should go that route again or not. Then I read about the price change happening soon http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/digital-photos.htm#priceincrease and despite still being able to get the pre-order price right now I just don't think it's worth it.

Well today I was checking my email and found a deal through living social Orlando for a professional on site photo shoot. I was psyched because I had wanted to do this last year but for some reason didn't do that. The deal was for $50 (regularly $150)and you get a 1 hour shoot plus an edited cd with 25 photos. Perfect! I emailed and the photographer has availability on my dates.

If anyone else is interested the deal is through emilyrgilbert.com and the deal can be found http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/75/deals/147773-hour-long-photo-shoot-with-cd-of-25-images


So today I saved $100 on this deal and $49 over the photo pass cd

Hopefully someone else can benefit from the deal.