DLP on a budget.. can it be done?

[Gillsfan]

Okay, its drawing ever closer! 4 Weeks on monday, and I cant wait.

I am going with DW, DD 6, DS's 2&2.

We are going to WDW next year, but after our trip in Oct 05 we felt 2 years is too long to wait to see the big cheese. So, after a recent succesfull camping trip, we decided to do it again in France. We intend to go from Monday til Friday in mid August and are lucky enough to only live 30 miles from Dover.

We are fairly meticulous and compulsive planners, having pretty much everything down in detail and have summarised it in the form of the following budget.

Campsite Fee (including water and electric) €112 - £81.16
Ferry (Speedcat - should be fun) £44
Tickets (3 day hoppers, no fee for the boys) £205
Fuel (approx, shouldnt be anymore) £100
Tolls (again, approx) £20
Food & Drink ( Including 1 character meal ) £300
Spending Money on Merchandise £300
Paris (city day trip, Eifel tower and boat ride) £100

Total £1150.16

Me, I personally think its do-able and should allow us with all we want/need. Of course there will be backup in the form of a credit card for emergency.

So.. my question is,

Do you think my estimates are reasonable?

How cheap is this holiday? Has anyone ever done it even cheaper, and if so how?

Thanks for all input! Man... im so excited. I really should act my age!!

 

[karengr]

sounds about right we have never camped over there befor in fact new to camping going twice last year. what camp site did you get your quote from sounds very good could you let me have some details . thank you karen

 

[Bexx]

I think you should up the park passes budget to £230 and, personally, I would budget spending money for merchandise at £100 max!!!

I have no idea how much the camping or fuel etc should cost, but I'm sure you've done your homework. Sounds like fun!!

 

[Ghost]

If you go for that time make sure to get at least one Dream pass in stead of a hopper pass. You pay a little more but the 20% discount on 1 meal and the 20% discount on one day of merchandise shopping will make up for it. If you spend 300 on merchandise and make sure you get it on the same day you will save 60. That is more saved then you would pay for the Dream ticket.... after that you'll have 10% discount on all food and drinks and on all Merchandise for the rest of the year

(and if you have a dream ticket you can return within a year.... )

Enjoy your stay at DLRP

 

[BONITATIME]

It looks great. My DH would love you I can never budget this way and i always overspend on souveniers.

 

[Gillsfan]

Wow, quick responses.. thanks Guys!!

Karengr - We are using a recommended campsite about 5 miles away from the park www.camping-jablines.com, the owners are really nice and we've exchanged lots of emails so we know exactly what were getting and they have been great. - Pitches are 10mx10m so fairly big too.

Bexx & Ghost - 365tickets.com quoted the £205, but with the suggestion of the dream pass, it may be better to do that. Where do i find out about the dream pass?

Bonitatime - Being a typical guy, I hate to overspend. I am trying not to rely at all on any overdrafts or credit cards so we always work out what we are doing on each day and where we intend to eat, etc.. as for the merchandise budget, knowing my wife, she will push that £300 to the absolute limit. She wants this Mickey tree topper for xmas, and im sure thats going to cost a fair bit.

 

[Cyrano]

Bexx & Ghost - 365tickets.com quoted the £205, but with the suggestion of the dream pass, it may be better to do that. Where do i find out about the dream pass?

Have a look here regarding details about annual passports. There is also a very good sponsorship thread that will get you further discount

 

[Tink78]

Is £100 enough for petrol?

 

[Gillsfan]

Is £100 enough for petrol?

Not sure Tink, I think it should be. I drive a TDi Passat which gets around 45-50mpg. Also diesel is tonnes cheaper on the continent. I think I will put as little as i can this side of the channel and fill up over there.

My rough guess is always, for combined town/motorway driving I get around 100 miles for £10, so by that reckoning, it should give me 1000 miles. Its 273 miles to our campsite, so thats 546 round trip, which gives me 454 miles for driving to & from the park which should be way more than enough.

As I said, meticulous planner... man im sad!!

 

[Ware Bears]

As I said, meticulous planner... man im sad!!

Not at all, I call it being sensible!

Have you decided yet what character meal you would like to do?

 

[Gillsfan]

Not at all, I call it being sensible!

Have you decided yet what character meal you would like to do?

Thanks, Me too.. its all my friends who think im sad. I dont care though, I refuse to live off a credit card and spend the next 6 months paying it off.

We are thinking of doing Cafe Mickey, but it was a little expensive for all of us, so we are doing a lunch time buffet at the Lucky Nugget saloon. We only have to pay for me, the missus and my daughter. The boys are under 3yrs, so they will eat for free...

We have pretty much planned all meals too. We are going to be sticking to the fast food places of course to stick on budget. I hate food being a major expense on holiday.

Its a shame really, because I love Planet Holywood and Rainforest cafe, but the meals for all of us will be close to £100. So, I'll save that for merchandise for the kids and eat maccy d's. If I have enough left over, we will give Walt's a try too.

 

[Bexx]

Thanks, Me too.. its all my friends who think im sad. I dont care though, I refuse to live off a credit card and spend the next 6 months paying it off.

I quite agree. Once the holiday is over and all the excitement has worn off, the last thing I want to be doing is still paying for it!!!

 

[jillrobinson]

I'd try Annette's Diner as an alternative to McDonalds, very reasonable and huge portions.

 

[Gillsfan]

Cheers Jill, will give it a try. I think pretty much all of DLP's counter services are only a few euros above MD's, so should be able to give a few places a try.

 

[angel659]

Where is Annettes Diner?

 

[isma]

Where is Annettes Diner?

It´s at the Disney village, on your right side when you enter Disney village from the parks. I always liked the show they`re doing.

 

[angel659]

Hi

Thanks for letting me know Isma. Will have a look when we go to the village.

 

[Ware Bears]

so we are doing a lunch time buffet at the Lucky Nugget saloon.

We've eaten here twice and love it!

 

[lizbro]

Not sure Tink, I think it should be. I drive a TDi Passat which gets around 45-50mpg. Also diesel is tonnes cheaper on the continent. I think I will put as little as i can this side of the channel and fill up over there.

My rough guess is always, for combined town/motorway driving I get around 100 miles for £10, so by that reckoning, it should give me 1000 miles. Its 273 miles to our campsite, so thats 546 round trip, which gives me 454 miles for driving to & from the park which should be way more than enough.

As I said, meticulous planner... man im sad!!

we drove in march from peterborough and if i remember rightly we filled up £60 (fiat multipla 1.9diesel)the night before and went straight through to davy crockett ,drove to disney and back to d.c.r each day ,filled up on the last day as we used half a tank and that got us home with half a tank so we used £60 of fuel to get there and back on a 3n4d trip!don`t know if that helps but we were surprised at how little fuel we used

 

[Cyrano]

Wish we were so little fuel. We were £100 to get to the ferry's in the South East