Family of 8 traveling 18 hrs to Disney, Reasonable places to Stay? How to save ?

[WVMomof3]

We just did a split Universal/Disney vacation. I would have preferred to stay at Disney the whole time, but my kids really wanted to try Universal. They are big Harry Potter fans and they loved it. We stayed in a 3 bedroom condo at Vista Cay. It is pretty much right in between Universal and Disney, slightly closer to Universal. We could also see Sea Worlds fireworks each night, so very close to Sea World. We payed a little over $1000 for a 8 night/9 day stay.

 

[OverRunWithSons]

How are you getting to Orlando, in 2 cars, one car or a camper?

We are either driving in our suburban or renting a Mini-van. That will be our last descion. I was not aware that if you go to the Disney parks for X amount of days, that the other days are free. This definetly will influence our opionion & what we plan to do. We loved Islands of Adventure the last time we went, probably why I wanted to go again. I do not want to travel further out of our way for a beach, since we have to drive 18 hrs to get there, Daytona, for us , was wonderful, as we NEVER get to the beach at all, also loved parking on the beach.

NOw, help me understand this - IF you stay on site as Disney, your food is FREE ????? The cost of the food, the parks, I didn't want to rent 2 rooms, but if this makes it CHEAPER than staying off site and buying our own food, yes, I will gladly do this. How many disney parks total - 3 ? Sorry I am so clueless. Last trip, we only visited Magic Kingdom.


Also in our lifetime we most likely will only vistit here a total of 3 times, this will be our second, and probalby one more time in about 8 yrs. I know there is something about a Diseny club/points, I am totally clueless to what this is. Is joining FREE ? and would it benefit me at all if I did this now and only go back one more time during our lifetime ?


I LOVE to research online, but Yes, it is mind boggling with as many places to stay out there, this has given me some food for thoughts- just getting these replies. I thank you. I love to hear from others who have traveled with a large family, I feel they will have great tips , GREAT advice, what to do, what not to do, what to consider, what to avoid. Reasearching alone will not have that stuff jump out at me.

So apprecaite you all. Now to read some of my personal messages.

 

[OverRunWithSons]

Unfortunately there's no way free dining adds up to savings when compared to doing some simple meal prep offsite...or even eating out offsite. Believe me, I've tried.

Thank you for this, please explain a little more. What does YOUR family do ? --Stay at a place that offers free breakfast and pack some food /drinks & carry it (in the stroller) for during the day- then eat somewhere else after you leave the park ? This is generally what WE do when we go places many times (cause I hate paying high prices for food!).

I won't want to leave the park to eat & come back, that sounds like too much trouble.

Please explain how much you feel you save By NOT staying at the parks themselves and how you do your food for your large family,

Thank you so much.

 

[OverRunWithSons]

With all the places you want to go I would look into the Orlando Flex Ticket. We did it a couple of years ago and got the 5 park one. It gave us unlimited admission to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Wet N Wild waterpark for 14 days. At the time it was about $235 for adults and $195 for children

We are only going to be in the Disney area about 5 full days, and probably will only visit about 3 parks total plus the beach. Not sure we would get our $$'s worth in this short amount of time . I need to see if I can get discount tickets from my credit union, who knows.

 

[Belle5]

OP, can you give us the ages of your children? I know that my older sons are terribly expensive to feed and having the dining plans is a wonderful way to feed them--even just the quick service dining plan.

I am thinking you picked up the idea that if you stay on Disney property that somehow you always dine for free. That is not the case. You must travel during the dates that free dining is offered and then book a package that gives you that benefit. I am sorry if I misunderstood and you were not thinking that...

If you stay in two value rooms during the free dining dates and book two rooms with that package you will feed up to four people in each room for free and have WDW park passes for up to ten days (unless you only want to stay 7 or so). You have to decide if your family wants to pay for hopper passes and water parks. You can go to the official Walt Disney World website and find out what is included with all these things I mentioned. Don't forget that parking is free if you're onsite. We always have two cars for our family of eight (rental) and if we were not staying onsite that would be an extra $28 to park each and every day! (I believe that is why one of the above posters was trying to ascertain what kind of vehicle you would be driving--to see if you would be paying one or two parking fees if you were staying off-site)

 

[MOM POPPINS]

To me staying offsite and cooking at the resort is not a vacation. I have 5 kiddos and to me a vacation is NOT cooking.

I think your best option is still 2 rooms value during free dining. Go to www.waltdisneyworld.com and click on special offers at the bottom. Look at the dates for free dining and go from there. I would click on a value with 2 adults and 2 kiddos and if you times it times 2 you will have your amount for the 8 of you. Free dining will take care of your food.. Disney Dining Plan quick service ( counters no table dinging) usually is 30 plus a person so 120 per room... you will get the dining free by paying for the room. Also you can see the price in tickets...

As for DVC there is no extra fee to rent someones points. 2 bedrooms though are approx. 40 points a night and the price per point is generally 10 dollars a point to rent... so 400 a night but be a bit pricey and that does not include dining.

My first thing would be to check the disney website as above to reserve is only a 200 dollar deposit and the total due 45 days before travel. I really think this is your best option.

 

[Belle5]

I wanted to mention that should you book the above mentioned free dining (quick service) package that I mentioned above--staying at the value resorts--you would have almost no hidden costs (unless you wanted to spend on souvenirs). You don't even have to plan for tips with the quick service dining. The price may look high--but all of your food, tickets and hotel, parking and in-world transportation will be covered. Please remember what I mentioned several posts back about how wonderful it is for your older boys (if you have any) to be able to come and go as they please!

 

[Belle5]

To me staying offsite and cooking at the resort is not a vacation. I have 5 kiddos and to me a vacation is NOT cooking.

I think your best option is still 2 rooms value during free dining. Go to www.waltdisneyworld.com and click on special offers at the bottom. Look at the dates for free dining and go from there. I would click on a value with 2 adults and 2 kiddos and if you times it times 2 you will have your amount for the 8 of you. Free dining will take care of your food.. Disney Dining Plan quick service ( counters no table dinging) usually is 30 plus a person so 120 per room... you will get the dining free by paying for the room. Also you can see the price in tickets...

As for DVC there is no extra fee to rent someones points. 2 bedrooms though are approx. 40 points a night and the price per point is generally 10 dollars a point to rent... so 400 a night but be a bit pricey and that does not include dining.

My first thing would be to check the disney website as above to reserve is only a 200 dollar deposit and the total due 45 days before travel. I really think this is your best option.

I could not agree more. I never stop cooking at home...seriously! I do not like to stay at timeshares because of the pressure to cook. Give me a small room and free food and clean-up and I call THAT a vacation!!!

 

[MOM POPPINS]

By the way to the OP and the one above.. I am over run with girls! I have 4 girls 1 boy he is the baby of the group. We love having a large family!

 

[MOM POPPINS]

http://bookwdw.reservations.disney....CMP=WDW_Homepage_FY10Q3ChoiceGenericOfferTile

free dining offer with dates

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I could not agree more. I never stop cooking at home...seriously! I do not like to stay at timeshares because of the pressure to cook. Give me a small room and free food and clean-up and I call THAT a vacation!!!

Oh that is EXACTLY how I feel!!!

 

[MOM POPPINS]

For an example

February 27-March 3rd 4 people with 5 day tickets and free dining and staying at a value resort All Stars... total = 1488.00 but this includes your food room and tickets. If you change this to a 3 day ticket you ONLY save 55 dollars a room so basically 13 bucks a person. Once your at Disney you should just make a vacation out of it there since the savings on tickets comes in on your 3rd day and so on.

 

[mrsklamc]

Thank you for this, please explain a little more. What does YOUR family do ? --Stay at a place that offers free breakfast and pack some food /drinks & carry it (in the stroller) for during the day- then eat somewhere else after you leave the park ? This is generally what WE do when we go places many times (cause I hate paying high prices for food!).

I won't want to leave the park to eat & come back, that sounds like too much trouble.

Please explain how much you feel you save By NOT staying at the parks themselves and how you do your food for your large family,

Thank you so much.

It depends on when you are going, and how you 'do' the parks, how much money you will save. If dining is part of the Disney experience for you, it may well be a better deal for you to do free dining. But we don't do ANY table service at WDW cause that's just not what we value about the trip. We are more about the 'rides' and being in the Disney environment. Honestly, the savings could be hundreds to thousands based on how you 'do Disney.' Also, there's no way that we personally are putting 8 people in two value rooms, so it just all depends what you want out of it.

We actually PREFER leaving in the middle of the day, having lunch and swimming time/naps- makes for a much better time for everyone in our group. And I enjoy the cooking part/hanging out with the extended family in our resort, etc. Windsor Hills actually takes less time to get to than some of the on property hotels so we don't mind leaving and coming back, either.

What we do varies by the day- for example, Animal Kingdom is open shorter hours when we go, so that day we will eat a big breakfast in the townhouse, pack PB&J, carrot, chips, etc, and then have Giordano's for dinner. Epcot offers all kinds of 'inexpensive'(for Disney) options for snacking so we will probably eat a lighter breakfast that day, munch our way through mid afternoon, go 'home' for naps/swimming, grill hot dogs for an easy dinner, and then head back to the park until closing.

I just don't think there's any way to make on property come out cheaper in sheer numbers; but there's more too it than that. The experience has value too. I mean, if I were in your shoes and pretty sure I was only going two more times in my life- forget it, I'm splurging on Animal Kingdom Lodge this time and the Poly the next!

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

Here's a map of all the rental communities I got from another dis'er.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...8.272032,-81.608849&spn=0.068335,0.11055&z=13

Windsor Hills and Indian creek are separate communites. WH is gated, has condos, townhomes and pool homes and a bit newer, Indian Creek is 3/4 mile down the road and is all pool homes.

We are renting Happiness House in IN for our next trip in Nov. The owner has been very helfpul and friendly. here is a link to his 5 homes that he owns. We are staying for 11 nights for $1200 which we are splitting with my in-laws.
http://www.houseforrentflorida.net/

that's a great map! and this is a great thread for those considering off-site!

 

[williamson_ja]

To me staying offsite and cooking at the resort is not a vacation. I have 5 kiddos and to me a vacation is NOT cooking.

I think your best option is still 2 rooms value during free dining. Go to www.waltdisneyworld.com and click on special offers at the bottom. Look at the dates for free dining and go from there. I would click on a value with 2 adults and 2 kiddos and if you times it times 2 you will have your amount for the 8 of you. Free dining will take care of your food.. Disney Dining Plan quick service ( counters no table dinging) usually is 30 plus a person so 120 per room... you will get the dining free by paying for the room. Also you can see the price in tickets...

As for DVC there is no extra fee to rent someones points. 2 bedrooms though are approx. 40 points a night and the price per point is generally 10 dollars a point to rent... so 400 a night but be a bit pricey and that does not include dining.

My first thing would be to check the disney website as above to reserve is only a 200 dollar deposit and the total due 45 days before travel. I really think this is your best option.

I totally agree with this! We also have a big family, and the only time we can afford to go is during free dining. I figure that if I pay $80/night for my room and get $120 in food for free for each of those nights... you really can't beat that deal. On top of it being a fantastic deal, it makes for a MUCH better vacation. We are generally very thrifty on vacations (read CHEAP). Any time a kid asks for a snack, the answer is generally NO because I don't want to pay $4 for snacks for each one of them. With free dining, I could just relax and have fun. Any time the kids wanted snacks or a dessert with their meal, I could say YES because it was already included for free. They could order anything they wanted off the menu without mom having a heart attack over how much it was costing. And that is PRICELESS!

 

[OverRunWithSons]

I think your best option is still 2 rooms value during free dining. Go to waltdisneyworld and click on special offers at the bottom. Look at the dates for free dining and go from there.

I did what you said, but the last free dining time frame is in Feb and that is out of the question for us. No earlier can we come than Mayish next year. I wonder if they will change those dates coming up ??

I really dont mind the cooking, I am just so used to it. We always kind of rough it & I am VERY willing to rough it - IF it saves us $$. Not to demean myself & family, but we are basically "cheap", most would not even be able to afford a vacation like this with our income & me being a stay at home Mom (Hubby makes less than $50,000 a year & we have 6 kids).

We can accually afford to get all of the best if we wanted, but we would seriously rather save. I figure we are still getting the BEST when we get into the parks. OUr last Disney vacation for a full week cost less than $2,000 in 2002, that inclided the rental car , gas, 3 parks , Gatorland, & Tropical Palms -for a family of 6.

I figure , the more we save, the more $$$ for another vacation or special things like expensive Family photos at the parks, etc. I am someone who does not even buy food unless I have a coupon & it is on sale.

I called Tropical Palms and I really have a feeling their pricing can not be beat, and we was very happy there back in 2002 - I did read some reviews on Trip Advisor & seen issues with fire ants--Does give me reason to pause a little. Not sure I want the inside of these cabins to reek with bug spray.

Other than that, I think we would be happy to go back there. A whole 7 days there is only a $490 -for the same cabin we had last time with a loft, my kids absolutely LOVED it. We enjoyed the area, the shade trees, atmostphere in the cabins, the swimming -they have internet access, I know my kids want that . (or $75 a night). I did all my cooking there, I believe they provide the pans, the utensils, I only need to bring/buy the food.

I asked them to send me a new brochere.

Now if someone can convince me that I am going to save BIG money on Tickets by going to Disney Resorts, I am listening. But if nothing is really being saved by staying in these Disney Rooms (since I can't get the food option, even that seemed like it was only 1 meal per person ?? was this 3 meals a day per person??

What other benefits /PERKS tis there o staying WITHIN DISNEY, I want to fully understand what I am missing. Does Disney Campgrounds also offer discounts on Tickets?

1) Being there, not having to drive (I do not care about this since i have transportation)

2) getting into the park early -- How much extra time do these families have before (and after ) the general public is allowed in the park & at closing time to remain after hours ??

3) When staying at Disney Resorts, are the tickets FREE (included in over night stay) or just discounted by a small amount per person ? or no discount at all ?

4) These packages, how does this work >>>> you must visit (3) disney parks paying full price , then the 4th day it is free ? If this is how it works. This would also not benefit us as I only plan to go to 3 parks.

5) will my children be ineligable to eat some kind of Breakfast with Goofy or something - is this free to guests or extra charges for this also?


Thank you all again for putting up with my slew of questions.

Kids ages will be >>> 4, 7, 9, 13, and 14. I think the 19 yr old will want to stay home.

 

[Belle5]

There are free dining dates that you did not mention: May 27 - Jun 2

Would that be an option?

With the free quick service dining package you would each get two meals a day including dessert and beverages. You would also each get two snacks a day which might be a cupcake or smoothie...something like that.

 

[OverRunWithSons]

There are free dining dates that you did not mention: May 27 - Jun 2

Would that be an option?

With the free quick service dining package you would each get two meals a day including dessert and beverages. You would also each get two snacks a day which might be a cupcake or smoothie...something like that.

Accually I would love those dates and I know why they do this, cause all of the kids are finishing school on that last week. Taking 5 kids out of school on the last days , I dont think the Principle will even allow me to do this. BUt yeah, if not for that, I would jump at it.


That Animal kindgom place sounds like $300 a night X 2 rooms for my size family. $600 a night x 5 . I am still confused, does these Disney Resort prices include free or discount tickets to the parks ?

 

[mrsklamc]

I am still confused, does these Disney Resort prices include free or discount tickets to the parks ?

Nope, that's just lodging- check the first couple pages here on the budget board for something about YES open enrollment. That will get you the cheapest park tix.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Yeah, go back and recheck the dates for FD, they are there through next fall. There are blackout dates, but some of May is available and you just need to check in by the last day of FD to get it for your whole trip.

Every person in your family will get 2 counter service (CS) meals including meal, drink and dessert. You will also get 2 snacks per person and this is each day. Also, each person will get a refillable mug good for all you can drink at your resort. It is truly a great deal for many, my family included. I think you would be very happy if you went with it. We had fun at Tropical Palms but nothing beats being on property and I can't see us ever going back now.

Happy Planning...