Disney on a budget for large family

[irishdancemomma]

I have a large family. I am the oldest of 8 kids, 5 are still children living at home. I am also married with a son who is 16 months old. My parents do not make a lot of money and live a very frugal life. I don't make much more money, but I am good at saving when I really want something, and I'm pretty good at seeking out good deals. My siblings have never been to any disney park (or on any kind of real vacation for that matter) and they are always asking me to take them with me. My family has had an especially hard year, my sister is having back surgery, my mom has been gone from home a lot trying to finish school and hasn't been able to work her part time job for this reason, my dad wrecked two new (to him) cars (neither were his fault), my brothers both had to give up their sports since my parents couldn't get them to practices and games with their busy schedules and one car, and all of my siblings had to go back to school after being homeschooled for their entire lives so that my mom could finish school and my dad could work mire hours. I think they all deserve a disney vacation I would LOVE to be able to make it happen, but the cost is just so much with so many. I have been brainstorming ways to make it work without DH and I needing to give up our own vacation in 2014. I would be taking my 5 youngest siblings (ages 6, 8, 9, 11, 14), my DS, and my DH for sure, my parents might want to go as well as my two other siblings. If my parents or adult siblings went I would have them pay their own way. Here is what I am thinking:

We can take 2 days to drive there and 2 to drive back. It's a 20 hour drive and I hate to waste so much time driving, but we would save a ton of money driving. However, if only DH and I go it will come out to be 8 ppl. We can't all fit in a mini can and would have to rent one even if we could so we would each need to drive a car in order to fit everyone. This sounds awful since neither of us would get a break from driving. Is there a vehicle we can rent for a reasonable amount of money that seats 8? It can be a little squished, we are all used to that. Cost of gas in 2 cars - around $530, cost of gas in 1 mini van - around $370

We can tent camp at FW. If we go in the late fall I think we will be okay doing this. I have plenty of camping experience under my belt, and the kids would think it was an adventure I think. Cost of tent site for 6 nights in Oct/Nov - around $330

We can take a cooler with food and drinks and make a grocery run at some point while we are there. Any cheap and easy food ideas for tent campers? I'm thinking sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, crockpot stew and chili. We would probably eat at Be Our Guest once. We might do one TS place depending on budget. Water will be what we drink all day, soda that we brought at night. No idea how much groceries would be. I haven't added it up and am not sure exactly what I would get.

For park tickets we would get base tickets for sure, probably 5 days. Any ideas on how to save money on park tix? I will purchase from UT. Cost of 4 adult and 3 child 5 day MYW Tix - $1833, cost of 4 adult and 3 child 4 day MYW Tix - $1825

So I guess we are looking at between $2500 and $2700 before food. That seems doable, but I would love to hear your money saving tips and tricks, as well as pointers for taking such a large group of kiddos to the parks and on such a long car trip. The 14 year old will be helpful I know. If you have ideas on how the kids can help us make and save money I'd like to hear those too! Thanks in advance!

 

[irishdancemomma]

I forgot to add in hotel room so. The way there and back. That brings it to between $2700 and $2900 depending on where we stay.

 

[madelyn]

Have you looked into Y.E.S. tickets? The savings isn't as great in the past though. There are some mini-vans that seat 8. They would probably use less gas than the SUVs that seat 8.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

A few thoughts...

You could probably rent a full-size van. That way, you'd have more room and be able to switch off driving.

Consider pricing out staying offsite. This not only would be comparable to camping in price, but would give you full kitchen facilities, and (depending on what you chose) possibly resort amenities (Bonnet Creek), a private pool, and extra bedrooms and bathrooms.

 

[madelyn]

I was going to mention staying offsite but wasn't sure it could beat that price of $330 for the campsite. But a full kitchen might allow them to eat meals in easier. Guess some of the Skyauction condo weeks often go for $100 to $300 from what I have read, depending on the season. An 8-passenger full size van would definitely be more comfortable but could be pricey to rent although not sure how it would compare to renting an 8 passenger mini van or SUV. I did find this on Wiki-answers to the question "Who makes 8 passenger minivans?": Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey. If you don't want to be limited to these two, there are several other SUVs with the ability to seat 8: Honda Pilot, Toyota Sequoia, Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban, GMC Yukon/Yukon XL, or a Crossover such as the Chevrolet Traverse. Not sure how much any of these cost to rent.

 

[Freesia123]

There are tons of ways to make money for kids! They can have a garage sale, offer dog walking services, mowings lawns, pucking up pop cans , babysitting. I don't know how old your siblings are but if they make a flyer and pass it out advertising their services, they should be able to easily make $100 each by the fall. You could give the four of them the task of coming up with the money for your meals out. Your parents could sell it as them thanking you for taking them, and they'd earn their trips.

 

[Cynt]

You sound just like me. I soooo know where you are in trying to do this. I always wanted to do this but wasn't financially able when I was younger. I'm the 2nd oldest of 7 we range in age from 45 to 27. I went to Disney 1st, then I brought my two youngest siblings and in 2 weeks (YEAH), 3 siblings, 1 niece, 1 nephew, mom and dad are going. So I'm super excited. 3 siblings left before we all make it to Disney.

OK enough about me. I highly recommend renting a house/condo. Check VRBO, redweek, myresortnetwork, EBAY. Monitor and check these sites daily. Get a feel for what they are renting. They should be around $500/week for October. You have plenty of time to find something. Wait until 60 days before your vacation date before you rent something. At the 60 day mark, renters get desperate and they want to rent ASAP and are willing to accept something a little less than nothing at all. You are going during a slow season so you should easily be able to rent something for a week around $300-400. NEGOTIATE. NEGOTIATE. NEGOTIATE. There are thousands of condos/houses for rent. After driving 20 hours, you are not going to want to sleep in a tent on a blowup mattress/sleeping bag. If you rent a house/condo the space and full kitchen will give you peace of mind and you can rest and enjoy your family. The space and bathrooms alone will be priceless. Even if it means saving a little more and putting off the trip until next year, I would recommend it.

Transportation - start reading the transportation board for deals on rentals. There are always codes to rent at a much cheaper rate. You can always reserve a car/van rental and cancel it if you don't need it. I started pricing a 15 passenger van, a minivan and a car and 2 cars 6 months ago. $600 when I started but I have to cars reserved for $113/each = $226 total. You have to be vigilant and read the transportation boards on the regular. It will be a thread started for your month. Subscribe to it.

Food - when you rent the condo/house meals will be easy. Always fix a big breakfast. Pack sandwiches, fruit, veggies, chips in cooler for lunches at the park or take a late lunch and head home to prepare a hearty hot lunch and head back to the parks for the evening.

Feel free to PM me and I can provide my email address to help you make this happen. It is doable but you have to be persistent.

 

[erinmomof2]

We've rented from sky auction several times and have never had a bad experience. Some of the places on there aren't the greatest, but if you look up reviews on tripadvisor.com you can find some really nice places. We really like Summer Bay and have got it for 200.00 a week. It's right near Animal Kingdom and I loved having the full kitchen. When we went it was $100 more to upgrade to a two bedroom (I think it slept 8). That would put you at 300.00, cheaper and more comfortable than camping. Plus you wouldn't need to pack a tent, cooler, ect which would free up more car space.

 

[Granny square]

We just got 2 bedrooms at silverlake for $249 for the week and plane to use yes tickets. $245 a piece including park hopping and pluses. It is literally 5 minutes from the animal kingdom.

Parking is extra though.

 

[powellrj]

We stayed at Bahama Bay last year for around $400 for a week. It was a 3 bedroom condo that included a full kitchen, washer and dryer. It also had pools and things that you could not get the magic your way tickets and save a little money that way.

If you could get your parents to go down with you to drive another car, I would just drive straight through. Leave in the evening and drive all night changing drivers as needed and then you would arrive early evening the next day. Keep the following day as a shopping/seeing things for free/resting day. You get your groceries and supplies and have a nice evening meal and an early bedtime and be up bright and early the next day for rope drop.

 

[Granny square]

When I bought our skyauction certificate this trip there were space a 3 and 4 bedrooms at regal palms in the fall. It is always worth checking.

 

[HeatherC]

I would also suggest Regal Palms. Depending on when you go, you can rent a 4 bedroom villa for about $300 for the week direct from an owner. Look on HomeAway.com and VRBO.com. This way you might be able to be flexible on check in days.

They also have an AWESOME pool area that the kids would love.

Would be much easier than camping and having the full kitchen and multiple bathrooms would be great.

You could do meals like spaghetti or pizza or even bring a couple crockpots and have dinner ready when you get back.

In the meantime, get the kids involved saving too. Birthday or Christmas gifts this year could be cash, have a garage sale, collect cans and redeem them for money, online surveys, babysit, yard work for neighbors, save all change, direct deposit money each week to savings, when you buy something round up to the next dollar and put the change in savings, use coupons more and put those savings right in an account or jar.

Hope this helps!!! Sounds like an awesome plan and I wish you all a wonderful trip!!?

 

[cndij]

I drive an expedition that seats 8 (has to be 3 smaller size in the last seat) however best mileage on the road, fully loaded is about 16MPG, and if you have a turtle top or some type of luggage carrier on top, could drop to 12MPG. We are actually looking at renting a small uhaul pull behind trailer this year, so as not to put anything on top. If you find a mini van to fit 8 you won't have room for luggage for 8 for sure. If you rent a condo with washer and dryer, you might get back with 2 changes of clothes per person, but that is still going to be a tight fit.

 

[cndij]

Also, I noticed you priced 4 and 5 day tickets and not much difference, but I bet these kids never having been, would be happy with 3 or even 2 days in the park, and r&r days at the pool in between. We never try to go 2 days back to back ourselves, trying to get the most out of each day and needing a day off to recover. Might be a considerable savings on ticket prices.

 

[indimom]

Sounds like you've gotten a lot of tips on the location, so I'll just address the food.

We're camping this summer and these are some of the items I plan to prep before we leave so that we can have quick and easy (and cheap) meals during our trip.

BBQ Roast Beef. It will be completely done at home, then I'll just put it in a Ziploc and freeze it. It will only need warming through on the trip (which you can do by putting the Ziploc in boiling water).

Walking Tacos. Again, the meat will be finished at home, bagged and frozen for the trip. Then it's just lettuce, tomatoes and fritos to finish it off.

Spaghetti. Jar sauce and frozen meatballs. I prep the noodles at home. Bag them and warm them through. We'll probably add some store-bought texas toast to this.

Hamburgers and Brats, obviously. lol. Served with baked beans, potato salad, chips, etc.

Deli Sandwiches, cold salads, fruit, veggies with dip, chips for lunches.
I'm also making a couple types of cookies and a whole bunch of beef jerky before we leave home.

Pancakes and Sausage Links for breakfast. You can make pancakes at home, freeze them, then just warm them through on the trip.

Eggs McMuffins with cheese. We toast the English muffins face down on the griddle while cooking the eggs.

Bacon and Hashbrowns.

And, of course, plenty of dry food options like muffins, pop tarts, pb&j, pb crackers, cheese crackers, trail mix, smores, banana boats, etc.

Basically, the only kitchen supplies we have to bring are the electric skillet, griddle, a large pot, and a couple utensils. Many of the items cook in the bags making cleanup a snap. (Just make sure you use Ziploc or other brand that's PBA free).

If you opt for a resort, your options will be even better, AND you won't have to find space in your van for a cooler full of prepped food, you can just get your groceries when you arrive.

Good luck with your planning and have a great trip!

 

[irishdancemomma]

Thank you all so much! Checking out condos now!

 

[TLuvsD]

I'd check the condos, and then precook/freeze a meal every few weeks. Think BBQ for sandwiches, stew, etc. Likely you can stretch the food budget every couple of weeks to do one main dish. That will cut the food costs during the trip. Then just take those frozen main dishes (heat in microwave or oven). Buy groceries on arrival for breakfast, side dishes, etc.

Good luck, I think this is a wonderful idea.

 

[kstugan]

We have 4 kids, so there are 6 of us. Our kids took YES classes during our last Disney trip 2 years ago. They loved them. They are wanting to take them again for our next trip hopefully in October. Even though the savings are not as much as they used to be, it is still a great deal. There is more of a savings for the kids, so should help your family, with several kids going.
We stayed in a 3 bdrm townhouse off property, that gave us lots of room. We were told by an owner at Regal Palms that the pool will be closed in October. Just a heads up. We were looking at several places at that resort.
For food, we found that eating breakfast before we left, taking snacks for the parks (small collapsible cooler), & then we would eat a late lunch & relax at the townhouse for a bit. Then we would head back to the parks in the evening. We used Groupon & restaurant.com when we ate out.
Also, we went to a Walmart close to Disney for most of their souvenirs, especially t-shirts & there was a Disney Outlet store with good deals. Walmart also has lanyard, fans & other popular items. Saved us a lot of money.

 

[HannaBelle]

It sounds like an awesome trip!

You might want to get some glow bracelets/necklaces a dollar store before the trip and have them for night time shows. It will help curb the "I want" syndrome!

Don't underestimate the fun of pool days either. Sometimes kids need a break.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Also, since you'll have a car, it's no problem for you to grocery shop. Wal-Mart and Target are in the area, as well as Publix and Winn-Dixie (other places, too!). You could even check the circulars online, and I know W-D let me get their discount card on the spot.

Personally, I shop a little "easier" when on vacation--for example, buying frozen meatballs instead of making them from scratch. You could go either way, though. I don't mind cooking on vacation, but it's my vacation, too.

Also, I pack up little bags of commonly used spices, then put the baggies in a little bead box. Some houses have spices, some don't. Try to think of everything you'll need (sugar, tea bags, coffee filters) and pack them. You can buy stuff, too--we hit Target, rather than pack a ton of sunscreen, for example.