Disney world budget questions!

[mommyof3grlz]

You could rent a pop up camper for use at Ft. Wilderness campground. That is what we are doing for spring break. We are using fortcamperrental.com Good luck with your plans!

 

[mco65]

$ aside.
POR is a great place to stay. We have stayed there many times, especially since there are 5 of us now. Its probably the cheapest 5 person place to stay.

We stayed at AllStar Music family suite once when my oldest daughter came with us and i really like that room. It has a separate bedroom and 2 baths.. nice! They simply took 2 rooms and made it one with a bedroom.

 

[mco65]

You could rent a pop up camper for use at Ft. Wilderness campground. That is what we are doing for spring break. We are using fortcamperrental.com Good luck with your plans!

Do they have showers at the Campground? That would be a deal breaker for me. I have to take a cool shower before I can go to sleep after a long day at the park.. Otherwise, I think I would like to do the campground..

 

[mommyof3grlz]

Yes, they have nice showers and restroom facilities in every loop of the campground. They are they cleanest and nicest that I have ever used at a campground.

 

[rlh75]

Didn't read responses so sorry if repeating:

I'm not sure what you're thinking in terms of total budget - but just a heads-up that visiting Universal for ONE day (especially if you are not driving to Disney) - will be in the neighborhood of $600 for a family of 5....I believe. This is for transportation there plus tickets...Even more if you want some fastpasses (or front of the line passes) for those parks. If you want to, instead, go to a Disney park for that extra day - It will be about $50. Just to give you something to think about. It is NOT budget friendly to do one day at Universal during a mostly Disney trip.

Yea, I have been budgeting $600 for that day. Stinks. But...I promised ODS and I don't know when we will be able to get back to FL so It is a must do.

I priced staying at universal onsite for that week and it was like $1050 I think...so I may just do that.

Does anyone know anything about staying at universal? I will go search for threads about that!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Yea, I have been budgeting $600 for that day. Stinks. But...I promised ODS and I don't know when we will be able to get back to FL so It is a must do.

I priced staying at universal onsite for that week and it was like $1050 I think...so I may just do that.

Does anyone know anything about staying at universal? I will go search for threads about that!

Staying onsite at Universal is AMAZING!!!! Their hotels are top notch, within walking distance to the parks, allow you unlimited front of the line privileges at the theme parks, and allow you to pool hop. For the $, they blow Disney away by leaps and bounds. The only negative (IMO) is that they charge separately for parking (I think it's $15 a day, but it's been awhile). Check out the Universal Section of this board for more information and for questions.

 

[hsmamato2]

OP is fairly new at this..so please be careful about booking on those other sites....yhe pp's who advocate this sort of thing to save some $$$ are usually knowledgeable about the ins and outs of booking/refunds/policies/costs. There are a lot of variables which might complicate a trip for a newbie Before the flames, I AGREE with looking for deals, just want to warn OP that some of these things are pretty headache inducing....
That said, Undercovertourist and/or Orbitz are pretty decent ticket deals- one is a voucher,one is an actual ticket sent to you. (see above)
I personally have priced out numerous trips,and unless you have a Free Dining Offer,and 5 people in,say,a POR Alligator Bayou room,have found that it is usually cheaper to get a room only discount,and buy your tix from one of the above.
For OP- a room at POR ,while kind of tight,might be a good option,if gotten with a discount for the room.Then pay oop for food,and tickets.
Or 2 value rooms at Pop,again room discount,buy tix,etc separate.
OP- look for the deals- I have seen fluctuation between dates within days,if you look on Expedia(USA) or whatever.
-IF- you could travel on a FD date, your best bargain would be a 5 person room at POR,and your food is included- which requires tix in that package,but overall works well for 4-5 people.

 

[msmama]

I agree with the pp about being careful when booking with other sites. Remember that your time is worth money, too.

There is saving money, and then being so worried about every nickel and dime that you don't have fun.

For me, I am willing to pay the extra to not have to worry about anything while at Disney. I know if I book through Disney that if something happens their customer service is top notch and they will help me. Especially since you are new to the Disney game, it's piece of mind that, IMO, can't be beat.

If you do stay at universal, be sure to factor in drive time ( Orlando isn't a fun place to drive as it's mostly out of towers) as well as parking at Disney.

 

[Marionnette]

as a side bar....lets talk dates....because I can not get anyone in my party to say "yay" or "nay" either way.

March.....
Earlier than may
Can leave the day of my ODS bday. Big surprise for him.

May.
Star wars weekends start. Both DS's like star wars.
The new Mine coaster thingy should be open.
Chance that the new Harry Potter world could be open.
Prices are cheaper.
More time to save.

Looks like a no brainer...huh?

Ow! Ow! Ow!

It's the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride not "the new Mine coaster thingy"!

All kidding aside, it was originally scheduled to open in the Spring of 2014 but the latest updates are now avoiding any mention of an opening date. Touringplans.com has the date down as March 1, but that's just a "placeholder" date and not based on any announced opening.

HP Diagon Alley is also scheduled to open the Summer of 2014. Again, no definite opening date is set and I think it's pretty optimistic to expect it to be open by May.

 

[Momonthegogo]

Have you thought about renting a camper. Companies will set it up and everything for you at Fort Wilderness. I have not used this company but was thinking about it. greenbergrvflorida has photos of their campers and they look really nice. I am not the camping type but thought Fort Wilderness looks like so much fun. Renting a camper means you have heat/AC and a bed to sleep on. You can also cook breakfast each morning and a few other meals to help with the budget.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Check out www.mousesavers.com. They list all the discounts, codes, cheapest places to buy tickets, etc for all aspects of a disney trip. They're awesome!

 

[hsmamato2]

it's a solid fact that choosing one park or the other will save you $$$ (disney or Universal) doing both will cost a lot.....
So calculate your disney trip cost separate from your universal addons....KWIM? then you decide what's the best deal. lots of choices-

stay onsite at WDW- (POR) get 5 day park tix- pay for food= xxxxx
add a day trip to universal-rent car,1 day tix x5,park,food=xxxxx that's simpler to figure....
If you want to spend more time at WDW, then stay there onsite. Vice versa for Uni- at Uni, you pay to park even at your hotel-

 

[hsmamato2]

The only way to check those prices is to open windows on your computer and write down you options.... hotel+food+tix=
for various options.

 

[fairy8i8]

You mentioned you live in PA. If you are near a Giant Eagle, they have Disney Gift Cards where you can earn fuelperks. If they are running a 20 cents off a gallon of gas for every $50 in gift card purchases, then you can save up to 12% off (buy 30 galllons of gas) - that's tickets, dining, souvenirs, or anything else bought at the resorts and theme parks. It's better than any of the other discounts available for park tickets that I have found.

Last year, Giant Eagle ran a special for double fuelperks on Disney Gift Cards the end of February/beginning of March. I am hoping they do the same this year!

 

[tcherjen]

We like POR and the cabins. We are doing both the upcoming trip.

 

[dpswift]

Remember only the three older resorts at Universal have the front of the line Perk, the new value one does not.

If I were you I would most likely rent 2 rooms at a value. We did that when there were 6 of us going and it worked out well.

If you have your heart set on Universal in a day I would go there first and spend arrival night at whichever hotel you can get a deal on(most likely Royal Pacific) They have rollaways so 5 is not a problem. Spend that first full day at Universal and move to Disney that night.

Unless you are planning many table service meals I would not get a dining plan. No matter what plan I get we always have many points left over. There are many ways that you can budget for meals. I remember one person saying that on the first day she put money in an envelope to take to the park. At the end of the day she would leave the leftover money in the envelope and add the next days portion.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Just a couple of thoughts:
There is "cheap", and then there is getting the best price for what you want to do. When you are talking about a trip as infrequent and as special as WDW seems to be for you, you want the later.

What I mostly do is to call the WDW ticket agent and talk to them. I ask about any unadvertised specials and what would be my best rate on a certain hotel. We found our favorite resort when CSR had a discounted rate I would have never know about. Ask about AAA rates as well if you have that.

Compare accurately. While staying on site at Universal may be cheaper and give you front of the line passes , remember you will only be there one day. Off site from WDW add 15.00/day parking and the loss of making your FP+ ahead of time and not having magic bands and no extra magic hours. These things may not matter to you, but are worth pointing out. Bonnet Creek is not considered an on site WDW resort and Im pretty sure offers none of these either but Im not 100% sure.

Oh, forgot- Would choose the 1st week of May. Lowest crowds, lowest rates, and lower temps!

Consider if you are all ok in a typical room...yes??? POR is going to be the cheapest. No? Two rooms at a value, the cabins, or look into renting DVC points.

Tickets- We like to get them though WDW so they can be linked to our rooms and on our magic bands.

Food- We have done both DDP and out of pocket and while we may come out a bit cheaper, we really do like the DDP because it lets us feel like we are on vacation and not have to watch what we order....DS wants the biggest steak- sure! Dessert every night-why not. We did not use the DDP last trip and I missed it and not sure we saved much if anything at all.


Have a wonderful trip!

 

[rlh75]

OP is fairly new at this..so please be careful about booking on those other sites....yhe pp's who advocate this sort of thing to save some $$$ are usually knowledgeable about the ins and outs of booking/refunds/policies/costs. There are a lot of variables which might complicate a trip for a newbie Before the flames, I AGREE with looking for deals, just want to warn OP that some of these things are pretty headache inducing....
That said, Undercovertourist and/or Orbitz are pretty decent ticket deals- one is a voucher,one is an actual ticket sent to you. (see above)
I personally have priced out numerous trips,and unless you have a Free Dining Offer,and 5 people in,say,a POR Alligator Bayou room,have found that it is usually cheaper to get a room only discount,and buy your tix from one of the above.
For OP- a room at POR ,while kind of tight,might be a good option,if gotten with a discount for the room.Then pay oop for food,and tickets.
Or 2 value rooms at Pop,again room discount,buy tix,etc separate.
OP- look for the deals- I have seen fluctuation between dates within days,if you look on Expedia(USA) or whatever.
-IF- you could travel on a FD date, your best bargain would be a 5 person room at POR,and your food is included- which requires tix in that package,but overall works well for 4-5 people.

Thank you for this! I have done a lot of "wheeling and dealing" just never for a Disney Vacation...and it has me in a tizzy! LOL!!! Hence why I asked for help from you all!

I have looked at expediauk repeatedly for my room. It is cheaper by about $300 but that is for a suite. No POR rooms available on there. But I am just really worried about booking on the UK site.

Booking an ASM suite on orbitz is about $1317. Booking POR on disney is about $1357.62 so obvious win there is orbitz. I feel pretty good about booking through orbitz.

I was soooooooooooooooo hoping for a FD code. I look at disney site about a million times a day and signed up for all kinds of emails, and got our custom maps in the mail yesterday. But no code. Oh wells.
If I do get a free dining code it is a no brainer for a fam of five to book with disney.

Thank you for your input! It helps to have a knowledgeable person to talk things through with. This whole trip is on my shoulders....and I just need someone to help me make a good decision!!

 

[rlh75]

I agree with the pp about being careful when booking with other sites. Remember that your time is worth money, too.

There is saving money, and then being so worried about every nickel and dime that you don't have fun.

For me, I am willing to pay the extra to not have to worry about anything while at Disney. I know if I book through Disney that if something happens their customer service is top notch and they will help me. Especially since you are new to the Disney game, it's piece of mind that, IMO, can't be beat.

If you do stay at universal, be sure to factor in drive time ( Orlando isn't a fun place to drive as it's mostly out of towers) as well as parking at Disney.

This is EXACTLY why I am struggling!!!! I want that piece of mind....But that $300 will go a long way and I just can't shake that.

I know that the next trip we make will be years down the road and the kids will be older....so staying offsite and doing other parks will probably be better for us then. I really want the DISNEY MAGIC for the kiddos.

 

[rlh75]

Ow! Ow! Ow!

It's the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride not "the new Mine coaster thingy"!

All kidding aside, it was originally scheduled to open in the Spring of 2014 but the latest updates are now avoiding any mention of an opening date. Touringplans.com has the date down as March 1, but that's just a "placeholder" date and not based on any announced opening.

HP Diagon Alley is also scheduled to open the Summer of 2014. Again, no definite opening date is set and I think it's pretty optimistic to expect it to be open by May.

I am so sorry! My brain is overloaded with dates and costs and figures and travel sites!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!! I couldn't remember the name of it exactly.
No disrespect meant!

Yea, I knew the HP was being optimistic...We are just excited to see what it there already anyways.

Seven dwarfs Mine ride. Seven dwarfs mine ride.

I will never forget that!!