disney budget advice

[memakwed]

I thougth I should post here but the board seems more general than disney specific. If I should post somewhere else please let me know.

I need some budget tips to plan an upcoming trip. I have approx. 10 months to get this money together. We are 2 adults and 1 child (9 turning 10 at disney). Usually I look for free dining to help us save money but I'm not sure if it will be offered when we go. It wasn't this year 2013 but was in 2012. DS9 bday is in value season so that also helps. Here's the issue we own our own business so when the economy is rought it's rough. This year has been the low financially for us. I am looking for ways to save at disney. I would love tips that could save money at disney.

We will stay onsite at a moderate with or with out the DP depending on the numbers unless it is free. I'm swaying towards driving instead of flying to save a few bucks even though that means adding hotels down and back. I need to find other ways to save on our trip. Please let me know what you do to save money on Disney.
TIA

 

[Disney Princess]

We eat breakfast in the room. I don't know what a moderate has available as far as fridge/microwave/toaster, but we get bagels/cream cheese, cereal/milk, etc. If you drive you can pick up groceries; if you fly have a grocery service deliver them. We also buy bottled water with our groceries. This saves us SO much money instead of buying water at the parks. We freeze a couple in our freezer and put the rest in the fridge. The frozen ones keep the others cool throughout the day.

We also share meals. I think the portions at Disney are huge. My husband and I share a meal, CS or TS, and then are free to enjoy snacks, which often are cheaper, later.

If you really want to stay onsite, a value might be cheaper. Depending on the season or availability, renting DVC points might work out cheaper too. Since there are three of you and you are comfortable in one hotel room, you could rent a studio. This provides you with the in-room fridge, microwave, and toaster for sure.

If money is really tight, you could always rent an offsite location as well.

Good luck!

 

[kiki02]

How far is your drive? YOu can check amtrak, fwiw.

We are having a great time and savingmoney by staying at a studio near wdw or a one br. booking early I guess, gets better rates. Still not sure on that. We can eat, have coffee, a glass of wine at end of night in our suite and save money that way. I've stayed at a few nearby and loved them.

you can pm me any ? if you like

I thougth I should post here but the board seems more general than disney specific. If I should post somewhere else please let me know.

I need some budget tips to plan an upcoming trip. I have approx. 10 months to get this money together. We are 2 adults and 1 child (9 turning 10 at disney). Usually I look for free dining to help us save money but I'm not sure if it will be offered when we go. It wasn't this year 2013 but was in 2012. DS9 bday is in value season so that also helps. Here's the issue we own our own business so when the economy is rought it's rough. This year has been the low financially for us. I am looking for ways to save at disney. I would love tips that could save money at disney.

We will stay onsite at a moderate with or with out the DP depending on the numbers unless it is free. I'm swaying towards driving instead of flying to save a few bucks even though that means adding hotels down and back. I need to find other ways to save on our trip. Please let me know what you do to save money on Disney.
TIA

 

[brymolmom]

Depends what your budget is, but if you want to go low I would stay offsite ESPECIALLY since you're going to drive.

You will have your own transportation so don't have to rent and all you'll have to budget is maybe $75 - $100 for parking for this (aside from gas which gas spent WHILE in Orlando will be minimal if you only go to WDW).

You can get a great offsite hotel for $75 - $100 which includes breakfast, which for a family of 3 can save $30 - $50 per day right there. OR you could rent a nice, close condo likely for $300 - $600 for the whole week. Versus spending $1600 (rack rate - random dates selected) for a week at a Moderate onsite. This easily could save you $500 - $1000 right there.

If you really want onsite and budget is key - switch to a value instead of a mod.

If budget is really tight - do NOT pay for the dining plan - you can easily eat for less without it (especially since you'll have a car). Make a grocery store stop and get breakfast and lunch items plus snacks and drinks. Eat breakfast in your room and bring sandwiches, snacks and drinks to the park in a soft sided cooler - Eat one meal in the park out of your cooler and then just buy one CS meal per day.

Skip park hopping and just stick to base tickets.

Give your child an allowance for souveniers and extra snacks - Then provide a gift card in that amount. He/she can use it any way you want - but when it's gone, it's gone.

 

[hsmamato2]

driving vs. flying depends on where you're coming from, if you;re in of the cheaper markets, it's likely cheaper and faster to fly with only 3 people....(like the northeast)
the dining plan won't save you $$$, it's just a form of prepayment for a LOT of table service meals, which are expensive. So paying OOP, and eating more counter service ,is going to save you money.
Also a value resort will save a ton of money too,if you're concerned about budget.
Unless the dining is included with your mod. room, that is a more expensive option than a value room and eating counter service at most meals, +breakfast cereal in your room,etc.

 

[karenrevis]

I thougth I should post here but the board seems more general than disney specific. If I should post somewhere else please let me know.

I need some budget tips to plan an upcoming trip. I have approx. 10 months to get this money together. We are 2 adults and 1 child (9 turning 10 at disney). Usually I look for free dining to help us save money but I'm not sure if it will be offered when we go. It wasn't this year 2013 but was in 2012. DS9 bday is in value season so that also helps. Here's the issue we own our own business so when the economy is rought it's rough. This year has been the low financially for us. I am looking for ways to save at disney. I would love tips that could save money at disney.

We will stay onsite at a moderate with or with out the DP depending on the numbers unless it is free. I'm swaying towards driving instead of flying to save a few bucks even though that means adding hotels down and back. I need to find other ways to save on our trip. Please let me know what you do to save money on Disney.
TIA

We are a large family- 7 kids- to get the most out of our Disney vacation we used to drive from Connecticut with our camper and stay at Fort Wilderness for 2 weeks. We always had breakfast in the camper. Since I have 6 boys I did love the dining plan and buffets! Lol.... Some tips I did to save $$

--I did mypoints.com while shopping online....I earned gift cards for gas cards and also for Rainforest Cafe and we would eat a meal or 2 there. One year I paid for all our gas there and back with these reward cards!

--Santa, the tooth fairy and Easter bunny would bring Disney dollars for their spending money

--Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents would give Disney related Christmas and Birthday presents- for example they would all get together and give a big Disney gift card for their birthdays to use towards their ticket or for Christmas we would do a family gift and they would give a gift card to pay for a special dinner ( like Chef Mickeys or Hoop Dee Doo Revue).

--We started a change jar and we would cash in the change every time we got to 25$ and get a Disney gift card with it.

--We would return our bottle and can recyclables and put that $ in the change jar.

-- I have the Disney Visa card to earn reward $$ to use at Disney

-- starting a few months before the trip, each week I would buy about $10 worth of Disney trip food or drinks or necessities. When the item was on sale and hopefully I had a coupon! Things like snacks, water bottles, roarin waters, crystal light individual packets, breakfast items that would not expire, new toothbrushes, deodorants, sunscreen, shampoo, conditioners, body soap, Etc. Just check the expiration dates before you buy them to make sure they will not expire! I would have a large tub container and I would keep all the Disney items I bought in there. This way, by the time the trip came I had a good supply of items and I did not need to break the bank by shopping for our trip.

-- do you have other credit cards with reward options? Another card I have I would get subway or McDonald's gift cards for the drive down and home meals.

I would plan my trips at least a yr in advance so we had a long time to collect change, etc.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[crisi]

I'll agree on offsite if the goal is to save money. There are even places you can get cheaper than a moderate that would give you a kitchen.

Definitely eat breakfast in the room. And pack in your own snacks and water. If you drive, this is really easy. If you like an adult beverage by the pool or as a nightcap, pack that as well - never order alcohol with a meal or at a bar on a tight budget!

Stay out of the shops for souvenirs. Some budget boarders get glow bracelets at the dollar store pre-trip - some buy other stuff as well. If you are someone who needs to get your kids something every day, buy it at the dollar store before you leave. They often have Disney pez dispensers and coloring books.

Skip hoppers - I love hoppers, but if you are on a budget, they aren't necessary.

Do most of your dining counter service.

Frankly, there aren't that many ways to save with Disney if you start with "we need to be on property, we need to stay in a moderate, and we are going to be sitting down for our meals."

 

[karenrevis]

We are a large family- 7 kids- to get the most out of our Disney vacation we used to drive from Connecticut with our camper and stay at Fort Wilderness for 2 weeks. We always had breakfast in the camper. Since I have 6 boys I did love the dining plan and buffets! Lol.... Some tips I did to save $$

--I did mypoints.com while shopping online....I earned gift cards for gas cards and also for Rainforest Cafe and we would eat a meal or 2 there. One year I paid for all our gas there and back with these reward cards!

--Santa, the tooth fairy and Easter bunny would bring Disney dollars for their spending money

--Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents would give Disney related Christmas and Birthday presents- for example they would all get together and give a big Disney gift card for their birthdays to use towards their ticket or for Christmas we would do a family gift and they would give a gift card to pay for a special dinner ( like Chef Mickeys or Hoop Dee Doo Revue).

--We started a change jar and we would cash in the change every time we got to 25$ and get a Disney gift card with it.

--We would return our bottle and can recyclables and put that $ in the change jar.

-- I have the Disney Visa card to earn reward $$ to use at Disney

-- starting a few months before the trip, each week I would buy about $10 worth of Disney trip food or drinks or necessities. When the item was on sale and hopefully I had a coupon! Things like snacks, water bottles, roarin waters, crystal light individual packets, breakfast items that would not expire, new toothbrushes, deodorants, sunscreen, shampoo, conditioners, body soap, Etc. Just check the expiration dates before you buy them to make sure they will not expire! I would have a large tub container and I would keep all the Disney items I bought in there. This way, by the time the trip came I had a good supply of items and I did not need to break the bank by shopping for our trip.

-- do you have other credit cards with reward options? Another card I have I would get subway or McDonald's gift cards for the drive down and home meals.

I would plan my trips at least a yr in advance so we had a long time to collect change, etc.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!

Also forgot- each year I held a tag sale in the spring- the kids were very into trying to gather as much stuff for the tag sale as they knew the $$ would be used to buy Disney gift cards!!!!!! I would usually get a couple hundred dollars! ( our town does a town wide tags sale one weekend each year- so this is the weekend we did it because SO MANY people came from far away for this event!)

 

[Marionnette]

I thougth I should post here but the board seems more general than disney specific. If I should post somewhere else please let me know.

I need some budget tips to plan an upcoming trip. I have approx. 10 months to get this money together. We are 2 adults and 1 child (9 turning 10 at disney). Usually I look for free dining to help us save money but I'm not sure if it will be offered when we go. It wasn't this year 2013 but was in 2012. DS9 bday is in value season so that also helps. Here's the issue we own our own business so when the economy is rought it's rough. This year has been the low financially for us. I am looking for ways to save at disney. I would love tips that could save money at disney.

We will stay onsite at a moderate with or with out the DP depending on the numbers unless it is free. I'm swaying towards driving instead of flying to save a few bucks even though that means adding hotels down and back. I need to find other ways to save on our trip. Please let me know what you do to save money on Disney.
TIA

If you're budgeting for a moderate, I suggest that you look into renting DVC points as an alternative. The cost of renting a studio is comparable to staying in a moderate resort. The difference will be that you will have all the amenities of a deluxe resort for moderate prices.

Plus, studio villas have a small kitchenette with a toaster, coffeemaker and microwave oven. You could make breakfast in the room quite easily and even pack a picnic lunch so that you don't have to spend too much on dining.

A studio at BCV would run 107 points for a week in Jan. 2014 and the pool there is a kid's dream! At $13/pt., you would spend $1391 for the room (vs. $1300 for a week at a moderate based on 2013 prices). Plus, DVC rates are the same for the entire month of January. No MLK weekend rates or Marathon weekend price hike!

Then add tickets purchased at Undercovertourist.com instead of buying them from Disney to save a few more dollars. The great thing about renting DVC points would be that you can still get the dining plan if you want but you don't have buy tickets too. Personally, I find that the DDP is not a cost-saver when you have access to a small kitchen, but each family has its own experiences. If you want it, you can get it. And again, DVC owners don't pay a seasonal rate for the dining plans. It's the same price whether it is a holiday or regular rates.

Since you're starting your planning so early, you have a good chance of getting the DVC resort of your choice. DVC owners get the first shot at making reservations at their home resort beginning 11 months before the day of arrival. Other DVC owners cannot book at non-home resorts until 7 months before arrival.

Renting points isn't for everyone and it does have its drawbacks but it you're interested, read the sticky on How to Use This Board on the DVC Rent/Trade Board. You must be logged in to use the link. You can also go to David's Vacation Club Rentals for information about how it works.

 

[Marionnette]

Something else that hasn't been mentioned yet:

Target sells Disney gift cards and you can use your Target Red Card to get a 5% discount on them. If your Target has a pharmacy and you sign up for their rewards program, you will get a 5% discount coupon with every 5 prescriptions that you have filled. That coupon can be stacked with the Red Card discount to get almost 10% off the price of gift cards (it will be 5% off the price of the GCs followed by an additional 5% off of the discounted price).

The pharmacy GCs have an expiration date once they are earned, but if you time it right, you can purchase the GCs right before you need them so that you don't tie up your cash in Disney money until you're ready to leave for your trip.

The GCs can be used to pay for meals, souvenirs and even your room (unless you're renting DVC points).

 

[pocomom]

I thougth I should post here but the board seems more general than disney specific. If I should post somewhere else please let me know.

I need some budget tips to plan an upcoming trip. I have approx. 10 months to get this money together. We are 2 adults and 1 child (9 turning 10 at disney). Usually I look for free dining to help us save money but I'm not sure if it will be offered when we go. It wasn't this year 2013 but was in 2012. DS9 bday is in value season so that also helps. Here's the issue we own our own business so when the economy is rought it's rough. This year has been the low financially for us. I am looking for ways to save at disney. I would love tips that could save money at disney.

We will stay onsite at a moderate with or with out the DP depending on the numbers unless it is free. I'm swaying towards driving instead of flying to save a few bucks even though that means adding hotels down and back. I need to find other ways to save on our trip. Please let me know what you do to save money on Disney.
TIA

Food is the biggest number you can greatly control. For some people eating in the parks is part of the experience and an important part of their vacation - It is not for us, and I use that to our advantage. We hardly ever eat in the parks- We eat breakfast in our hotel/rv/rental house. We pack in lunches and snacks. We eat dinner again in our hotel or one of the many restuarants outside the parks- we use restaurant.com/groupon/living social deals on outside restaurants and/or buy resold gift cards.
Let the child earn or have their own spending money and draw a hard line on what extras you'll pay for- for us the kids had plenty of their own money for toys and whatnot so we told them we wouldn't spend any for those things.
As far as hotel, consider off site or renting dvc points for a suite. You can get more hotel for your money that way and a kitchen.
As far as driving, look hard at the numbers....For us with 5 in the family, and one overnight when in the car, or 2 in the rv but at campgrounds, it is a no brainer, much cheaper to drive, and we like having a car. For 3 people it may not be much cheaper depending on where you fly from. Add up gas, hotels, plus the time you lose...
Good luck and have fun!

 

[Mama Mouse]

We are a family if three. Our ds is 10. Here are some ways we've saved on our upcoming trip:

-Stay offsite. We got a two bedroom condo at Windsor Hills for $70/night. There is a full kitchen so we can have breakfast in the condo and possibly early dinners if we're back at the condo on a break. Even with tax and fees, including paying for parking for seven park days, this is saving us at least $300 and that's using the quotes I got for the value resorts.

-Drive. It's an 18 hour drive for us but with gas, hotel on the way there and back and food, we're saving around $500.

-Give your child a Disney souvenir budget. Better yet, put that amount on a Disney gift card. We did this on our 2010 trip and it worked great! Ds knew he had money but it was limited and really made thoughtful choices regarding his souvenirs.

-Buy glow things ahead of time! (And possibly other Disney related items.)

-Make lists if anything you need and make sure you bring it with you to avoid paying a premium fee at Disney. (Laundry sheets, shampoo, medications, etc.)

-If you want a mister bottle, buy it at Walmart ahead of time. Much cheaper and less clunky!

-We use bobble bottles in the parks and ask for glasses of ice water to put into them. Saves on buying drinks, keeps us hydrated without the yucky Florida water taste and saves us from buying and lugging around multiple bottles of water.

-Eat mostly cs instead of ts. Bring a few snacks to the park to save on treat money.

-Buy your tickets through Undercover Tourist using the mouse savers discount code. Best deal I've found and saved us around $100, I think.

That's what I can think of off the top if my head.

 

[HeatherC]

I would also suggest staying offsite. You can get a full condo for like $379 a week...including all taxes and fees. We use skyauction.com as well as govarm and getravelop ...if you or dh work for the govt...can be town employee, state, teacher, fireman, police, etc.

We have stayed at some beuatiful resorts this way and most are only a few minutes from the parks.

OR...rent at Bonnet Creek Resort through myresortnetwork.com. We pay about $100 a night for a two or three bedroom condo. It is pretty much onsite just not Disney owned.

This way you can have breakfast in your villa, keep some easy dinners or snacks for some nights and splurge on some nice table dinners at Disney on the other days.

Food and lodging are huge and if you can cut them down, it leaves more money for fun stuff.

 

[Marionnette]

Frankly, there aren't that many ways to save with Disney if you start with "we need to be on property, we need to stay in a moderate, and we are going to be sitting down for our meals."

I disagree with this statement. It may not be the cheapest way of doing Disney, but there are plenty of way to save when you are onsite. You even mentioned some yourself.

You can skip the buffets, which carry a heavy price tag and order off of a menu at TS restaurants. Have water for your beverage, skip desserts, share an appetizer and you will save on your TS meals. It may not be as cheap as eating at CiCi's offsite, but you're still going to save money.

You can get an AP and use it for a room discount (sometimes). Disney seems to be running a lot of room-only discounts lately and the discounts on the moderates seem to be better than the value resort discounts. You can rent DVC points for what it would cost to stay at a moderate. Will it be as cheap as staying offsite? In most cases, the answer is NO. But you're still saving money over paying rack rates.

A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that you're not saving money if you stay onsite. I feel that if you have certain criteria for your stay, and it includes staying in a Disney resort, then any discount you can find on the room is still considered to be "saving".

 

[crisi]

I disagree with this statement. It may not be the cheapest way of doing Disney, but there are plenty of way to save when you are onsite. You even mentioned some yourself.

You can skip the buffets, which carry a heavy price tag and order off of a menu at TS restaurants. Have water for your beverage, skip desserts, share an appetizer and you will save on your TS meals. It may not be as cheap as eating at CiCi's offsite, but you're still going to save money.

You can get an AP and use it for a room discount (sometimes). Disney seems to be running a lot of room-only discounts lately and the discounts on the moderates seem to be better than the value resort discounts. You can rent DVC points for what it would cost to stay at a moderate. Will it be as cheap as staying offsite? In most cases, the answer is NO. But you're still saving money over paying rack rates.

A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that you're not saving money if you stay onsite. I feel that if you have certain criteria for your stay, and it includes staying in a Disney resort, then any discount you can find on the room is still considered to be "saving".

Yeah, you can save, but you won't save a ton - an AP discount is an awesome thing - but it involves having a very expensive AP - something that you are unlikely to have if your overall vacation budget isn't large. Drinking water will save you maybe $100 over the course of the average trip for the average family, but that's a drop in the bucket.

I guess what I mean is that Disney isn't a place where the guy sitting next to you paid half what you did for the same room and the same park tickets because he got a great deal. There aren't a lot of ways to get a great deal. There aren't magic words or brokers selling half price tickets or web sites that are getting rid of excess room inventory.

 

[gillenkl]

Look into having your child take a YES class if they are available during your stay - you can save some on parks tickets.

 

[memakwed]

Thank you for all the tips so far I would love to hear more.

I like the idea of DVC. Makes me nervous but I don't know much about it so I will read the link provided. Any other DVC insight would be great as well. Please share more.

The YES Program I have heard of it but don't know anyhting really about it. Where would I find info on this?

While we are 2 adults 1 child my parent's will have their own separate ressie so we are in total a party of 5.

My goal is to save a little here and a little there so in the end it adds up.

I like the idea of the dining plan especially when free. I do scour the menus ahead of time to get a feel for what we will spend verses the cost of the dining plan. A tip I would share is if you are of the dining plan we have used our snack credit for breakfast. Cinnamon bun/fruit/chocolate croissant. We have also eaten breakfast in our rooms before and I have packed in the luggage oatmeal and dry cereal and then just buy milk at the resort.

We are not big snackers so I am not worried about snack money really.

My son has his own money. Hes a little saver. I do not need to worry about souveniers for him either. Our general rule is $50 a person for souveniers. Never more could be less. It's not our first trip or last so we don't really need to go crazy.

We do live in the northeast. 3 air tickets there isn't much of a trade in $$$ for the time it takes to get there. However, when you add my parent's tickets that's where it would save to drive because the savings is basically two tickets and then we can just split the costs down the middle.

I would try camping(money saver for sure) Ideally I would like to try every resort and camping would mean we could check one off. My parent's are retired and my mom's idea of a vacation is not camping or cooking. Also we are going in Feb. so the evenings can get a little chilly.

Please keep sharing. I am open to any tip that you have used to save some. I think I an frugal but know what I want and am just trying to find ways that maybe I have not thought of that could save money.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

Don't get park hoppers !!! You'll save $59 a ticket!!! Not worth hopping at that price in mho.

Eat as many meals in your hotel as you can.

You can order groceries & drinks (water, soda, juice) from Garden grocer and have them delivered to your room. We save a fortune doing this on water alone!!!!!!

We are DVC members and I will actually cook meals in the room. We just got back from a week stay and only spent $500 for meals for 7 days and 7 nights for 4 people (2 adults and 2 teenagers) . We did splurge on a couple table side dinners--BOG ($80) and Germany buffet $120 but we ate CS alot. We ate 2 meals a day(most days but not all) in our hotel, but since we had a full fridge and an oven it was easy to do that, but you will have to get more creative with just a microwave. Since I usually spend $200 a week on food &/or going out it came to just $250 more then I usually spend so not too bad.



Go value season -- low prices and low crowds. (if there is such thing as low crowds)

All the other suggestions are great!!! Like renting DVC points or staying a offsite condo.

Have a great time!!

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

You can google DVC (Disney Vacation Clud) and come up with some great sites or go to the DVC right here on the boards, they have people who rent points. Someone even does it as a business. He buys points from members then rerents them out to you for $13 (last I checked) Or ask around your community, I have meet so many people who are DVC members and maybe you can rent points from them. (at least you will know who you are renting from)

DVC hotels are all the deluxes so they have great locations!! the studios have a small fridge, microwave, and toaster and coffee maker. Some do sleep 5 but its really really tight!! If you rented a 1 bedroom you are talking about 30-40 points a night at $13 each.

You said you are going in Feb, --the 3rd week or the 1 &2nd? The 3rd week is pretty busy as its Presidents Day week and higher prices will be in effect and the parks will really be busy! (I've done that week lots of times.) To save money I would fly down on the Tuesday or Wednesday night before Presidents week. If you plan on driving take into consideration snow storms up the east coast. also, I95 has a hotel book that you can stay in hotels along I95 really cheaply. Like 50-$75. You can pick them up at the rest stops.

 

[memakwed]

I've been reading about DVC since my post. I checked out a link that was posted here and did some calculations. If we go for 10 nights instead of 14 the beginning of Feb. it looks like POR is 1995 for the hotel. Dvc at AK is 1417 so there is a bit of savings and then multply it by 2. I do have a question. I was on the Daves DVC site- the one that is $13 a point. Under AK it has a value studio then standard ect. Does anyone know what a value studio is? That is what I based my numbers on. TIA

Also is it really safe to do DVC? I am worried we will be out the money and a trip ruined if I go this root. I would actually try it if it was just us however the idea really concerns my parent's and being retired I don't want them to lose their money. We can still gett ing the DP if we so choose, correct? Would I just buy tickets there when we arrive. I've always had our TA make our arrangements. Due to our schedules convenience has always been first priority with budget second now budget is the priority. In the mean time I'll keep reading.