Family of 5 - 3 week vacation

[frankiecakes]

I don't understand. You say you have the meal plan ... AND you say you have to pay for meals.

I have a meal plan for one week out of the trip. We had an extra day between the cruise and my disney world resort reservation, so i will have to cover meals for that day. I also have family joining me on week 3 in the one (separate) reservation, so I did not have a meal plan for that particular week as well because we cant split up a meal plan.

 

[lanejudy]

I will have $3,000 USD to spend on the whole trip: Gas (we live in ohio and drive the 14 hours in one distance overnight), souvenirs, any additional lodging and food (I am thinking I will have $1,800 left for food), and somehow I am going to have to find money for parking.

You seem to be set on dining with $56/person/day. But I wanted to point out that parking will be a decent chunk of expense and if you haven't budgeted for that yet, it could easily pull more than a days' worth of money from your dining budget.

October 21-25: Halloween Disney Cruise - all paid including server tips

Tips are covered, but did you already pre-pay for parking at the port? I believe it's something like $17/day and includes both embark and debark days (so a 4-night cruise requires 5 days of parking).

October 25-26: Disney Springs area hotel - reserved 1 room but still have to pay, all meals

Some DS area hotels charge a parking fee. Be sure to find out what that is for your hotel. Also, parking at the theme parks is now $25 per day, unless you plan to use a hotel shuttle (off-site shuttles are not as frequent or convenient as on-site transportation).

Oct 26-Nov 03: AoA - Ariel room - disney food plan (1 QS and 1 TS each day) paid in full
Nov 04-09: AoA Lion King room (my parents will be with us - not paying for their food) - I paid the room in full, but will have to pay for all meals.

You will have resort parking for each of these stays. $13 per night.

So a rough calculation is $85 at Port Canaveral, $50 for theme park parking on the DS stay, and $195 at AoA. So minimum $330, more if your DS hotel charges for parking.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Searc]

If you're trying to save money, cancel the dining plan and pay out of pocket. You'll save hundreds of dollars.

 

[frankiecakes]

You seem to be set on dining with $56/person/day. But I wanted to point out that parking will be a decent chunk of expense and if you haven't budgeted for that yet, it could easily pull more than a days' worth of money from your dining budget.


Tips are covered, but did you already pre-pay for parking at the port? I believe it's something like $17/day and includes both embark and debark days (so a 4-night cruise requires 5 days of parking).


Some DS area hotels charge a parking fee. Be sure to find out what that is for your hotel. Also, parking at the theme parks is now $25 per day, unless you plan to use a hotel shuttle (off-site shuttles are not as frequent or convenient as on-site transportation).


You will have resort parking for each of these stays. $13 per night.

So a rough calculation is $85 at Port Canaveral, $50 for theme park parking on the DS stay, and $195 at AoA. So minimum $330, more if your DS hotel charges for parking.

Enjoy your vacation!

I really shouldn't have worded my perspective on parking that way. It was rather confusing, I am sorry. I should have reread what I typed before I posted. I am considering parking a separate cost from the $3,000. I paid for parking at port Canaveral already and we tend to use the Minnie van service because it is so much nicer than taking 3 young sleepy kids on the buses. Which brings me to another expense I didn't consider - locker rentals! We have to bring a booster seat with us to accommodate three kids in the minnie vans. I might have to revisit this...

 

[lanejudy]

You might consider a BubbleBum for the booster seat. It can be deflated and carried in a backpack for the day, saving the locker rental.

 

[frankiecakes]

Ooo, they will let you use a bubblebum in the minnie vans without question?

 

[lanejudy]

Ooo, they will let you use a bubblebum in the minnie vans without question?

Sorry, that I don’t know. Do Minnie Vans allow any bring-your-own booster seats? If yes, I don’t think the BubbleBum would be excluded since it is an approved booster for use in a car. As long as a backless booster is acceptable (which I believe depends on child height and seat back height).

Someone on the transportation board may know more about boosters and Minnie Vans.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[tzolkin]

56 per person is NOT enough for food - you need to be budgeting at least 100 per person per day for food - snacks, drinks, quick serivce, table serivce, etc... - its not cheap

I was assuming the OP was not planning to do TS meals with that budget. They have the dining plan the week before, so it would be best for them to plan their most expensive TS meals to be covered with the dining credits.

I still think they could even do one or two TS meals that week with the $56 per person budget, but I know different families have different eating styles. We recently traveled with my parents and they were practically trying to force us to eat meals that we didn't want to. (Ex. We went to Sanaa and got two bread services plus a few appetizers. Then an hour or two later my parents were asking where we wanted to go for dinner and my kids were like, "But didn't we just eat dinner?!")

I have never set a "budget" for food-- we get whatever we feel like (including snacks and alcohol)-- but I do usually add up the total that we spent on food after the trip is over so I have an idea of the cost for planning next time. We could very easily do $56 per person per day now (kids are teens/adults), so that would have definitely been a realistic budget when they were as young as the OP's kids. (Back then, the kids hardly ate anything in the parks because they would rather just grab a snack out of the backpack or they would eat a bunch in the room.)

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think you'll be fine. We went in 2015 and stayed for 10 nights as a family of 4. My kids were 9 and 15. We bought souvenirs, had no dining plan, ate at about 9 TS and 14 QS meals including "signature" meals, lots of snacks, we had a night where we ate and drank around Epcot, we ordered drinks at most dinners, we never shared, we had very minimal snacks in the room (my kids barely touch at home snacks on vacation because they want the Disney snacks!) and we had refillable mugs and we spent 3K. So about $300 a night all in. I think $56 a day per person that last week is more than enough considering you have small children.

 

[North of Mouse]

56 per person is NOT enough for food - you need to be budgeting at least 100 per person per day for food - snacks, drinks, quick serivce, table serivce, etc... - its not cheap

Actually, $56 pp per day is plenty. We don't usually spend that much and we're two adults. We have occasionally gone over, but in 8 night trips, we'll schedule only 2-3 TS. We don't like sodas, so drink only water, never get desserts with out meals, (would rather hit up the snacks in between), a pastry or b'fast bar in room in AM.

Some days we don't reach $56 and others may be more. We don't eat huge meals, and some days 1 CS + snacks is all we want. We ARE at Disney so we go with the flo - get what we want, when we want - don't consider the $ amt. See so much wasted food - hate seeing that. We could never eat $100 in food ea. per day - even at Disney prices!

 

[RamblingMad]

Actually, $56 pp per day is plenty. We don't usually spend that much and we're two adults. We have occasionally gone over, but in 8 night trips, we'll schedule only 2-3 TS. We don't like sodas, so drink only water, never get desserts with out meals, (would rather hit up the snacks in between), a pastry or b'fast bar in room in AM.

Some days we don't reach $56 and others may be more. We don't eat huge meals, and some days 1 CS + snacks is all we want. We ARE at Disney so we go with the flo - get what we want, when we want - don't consider the $ amt. See so much wasted food - hate seeing that. We could never eat $100 in food ea. per day - even at Disney prices!

$56 pp a day is going to be tight. The OP is likely to break this budget a few days.

The reality is that a Disney starvation diet sounds great in theory. But when you actually get to the park, you might find yourself breaking it.

Better to have a budget with some wiggle room than one that you will stress over.

 

[North of Mouse]

$56 pp a day is going to be tight. The OP is likely to break this budget a few days.

The reality is that a Disney starvation diet sounds great in theory. But when you actually get to the park, you might find yourself breaking it.

Better to have a budget with some wiggle room than one that you will stress over.

Maybe you didn't read my post? We have been going to Disney for many years so aren't newbies! And trust me, we have never been on a 'starvation diet' as you put it - we eat exactly what we want and certainly don't stress over food - just re read my post! We don't penny pinch, nor do we budget, if we want it, it's available, it's just that we never get more than we enjoy.

Was just replying to the OP, that from our perspective, that amount would be fine . YMMV

 

[Disneyfan754321]

most of our money was spent on restaurants and eating out so last time we hit the Walmart for some quick togo food items for in-between times or breakfast. also using giftcardwiki.com
I bought a few giftcards at 40% off like Landry's (rainforest, trex, bubba gumps) and tony romas

 

[mi*vida*loca]

$56 pp a day is going to be tight. The OP is likely to break this budget a few days.

The reality is that a Disney starvation diet sounds great in theory. But when you actually get to the park, you might find yourself breaking it.

Better to have a budget with some wiggle room than one that you will stress over.

It's $56 a day for 5 people. Three of these people are kids ages 6, 4 and 2. So $280 a day. Plus it's the end of the trip after having eaten at a lot of places on the DDP and after a Disney cruise. I know for me towards the end of our trip I am not eating as much as the beginning of the trip.

 

[RamblingMad]

It's $56 a day for 5 people. Three of these people are kids ages 6, 4 and 2. So $280 a day. Plus it's the end of the trip after having eaten at a lot of places on the DDP and after a Disney cruise. I know for me towards the end of our trip I am not eating as much as the beginning of the trip.

Cruises always provide far too much food. And I only want to run so much.

The kids won’t eat a lot, but they will meltdown on this ambitious vacation.

I pretty much increase my food intake over the course of a vacation mainly due to all of the walking.

The challenge here is to keep the budget realistic. Disney food costs way too much. You pay as much for QS as you would for TS anywhere else. And I definitely get tired of QS fast. How many $20 fast food items do you want?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Cruises always provide far too much food. And I only want to run so much.

The kids won’t eat a lot, but they will meltdown on this ambitious vacation.

I pretty much increase my food intake over the course of a vacation mainly due to all of the walking.

The challenge here is to keep the budget realistic. Disney food costs way too much. You pay as much for QS as you would for TS anywhere else. And I definitely get tired of QS fast. How many $20 fast food items do you want?

I personally think $280 a day is very realistic for 2 adults and 3 kids 6 and under. I went with DD12 and ate very well and spent $150-180 a day. We did a mix of TS, lounges, signatures, alcohol for me, QS, snacks and water. DD had about 2-3 Mickey bars a day. I’m sure I could’ve fed a 6, 4 and 2 year old in the parks for an extra $100 a day.

 

[kandb]

If you're trying to save money, cancel the dining plan and pay out of pocket. You'll save hundreds of dollars.

Also, would buying one of the people in your party an AP and to get discounts on food, free parking etc be cost efficient?