Our family just got back from a 10 day trip to WDW. We were were on a fairly tight budget and wanted the Disney experiency without spending a fortune. Being from Canada also increased the cost of everything by 25% due to the weak Canadian dollar. We stayed on site at All Star Music. We took advantage of a room special and the room was a very good value.
We enjoyed the Disney experience. We found the quality of the service, Disney Hotels and attractions is excellent. My favorite was Hollywood Studios with the amazing decor and attractions. The intricacy and level of detail in Hollywood Hotel ride is amazing (scary for young kids though).
Line-ups were not bad and we used fast passes for the few attractions with long wait times.
We had a 5 year old traveling with us. He was tall enough for almost all of the rides but I would say he was a bit young for WDW. The 3D shows scare the heck out of him and he refused to wear the glasses. Quite a few of the rides also have extended periods of darkness. Many of the rides have a 40" height restriction.
Here are a few money saving ideas and budget issues:
Room:
All Star Music - highly recommended. We used the bus, boats and monorail to get around and the service was excellent. Usually the wait was 10 minutes or less. Disney's transportation system is amazing.
At the All Star Music, the room seemed to be recently renovated, the beds were comfortable, the Cafeteria is decent, pools are very nice, everything is clean, service is excellent. Disney or Pixar movies are shown every night by the pool if the weather is good in the dining room otherwise. All of the kids loved the warm, shallow hotel pools which are also kid oriented in terms of activities.
Preferred rooms are not required. They are closer to the lobby but there is quite a bit of noise in that area due to the pool activities. The pool stays open until midnight.
If you have a car you can park very close to any of the rooms since the parking lot surrounds the hotel.
Park Passes - park hopper was a waste of $50 each for us. We only hopped once. The parks are so large and far apart it is not that practical to visit several parks on the same day.
Food:
If you stay on site and don't have a car then you are faced with Disney food. Being from Canada we couldn't qualify for the free dining special.
We brought along an old drip coffee pot, cereal and snacks. Disney will also provide a small coffee pot on request. This avoided the cost and hassel of getting breakfast on most days. Our room was a long way from the lobby so the coffee pot was a nice alternative to the refillable mugs. We left the old coffee pot behind and used the food suitcase for souveneers on the way home.
Grocery access is limited on site. The store in the lobby sells milk at $3 for 1/2 gallon and loafs of bread. I would recommend a folding cooler rather than renting a fridge if you are just keeping milk fresh. The fridge is $10 per day - seems like a waste to keep $3 worth of milk fresh. The hotel has ice machines.
The Counter service restaurants aren't bad and the cost is reasonable.
The restaurant at the hotel was pretty good and pizza was a good value. We had pizza by the pool one day for lunch.
The Disney Full service restaurants we visited offered average quality food for high prices (Ohana's, Rainforest, Le Cellier). We were travelling with another family and made reservations for 8. This instantly added an 18% tip at all the restaurants, which is added for groups of 8 or more. A typical sit down meal cost was $250 to $300 for 4 adults and 4 kids.
We also visited Epcot during the food and wine festival - which was pretty good.
We rented a car on the last day of the trip and the best meal I had on the trip in terms of cost and quality was at a chinese restaurant offsite (Citrus Garden).
We also had a character breakfast at the Beach Club that was very good and not too bad in terms of cost.
If you like McDonalds, there is one at downtown Disney and one within walking distance of All Star Sports.
Drinks and Booze:
Water on site is good and there are drinking fountains everywhere throughout the parks. Some are cold, some luke warm.
Booze is expensive on site - bring some of your own, if possible. This wasn't a drinking trip but it is nice to have a beer or two. Beer was $5 to $6 each. Since we didn't have a car until the last day we paid the disney price.
Many of the restaurants promote overpriced drinks in souveneer cups. We got caught with this a couple of times where the kids didn't even finish their expensive drink or sucked back the fancy drink and then wouldn't eat their $20 meal. Rainforest cafe is bad for this.
The store at the hotel sells 1/2 gal bottles of pop for $3.50 and 12 ounze of hard liquor for about $15. Coolers and beer are about $5 each.
Shopping:
We hit the "Premium Outlet Mall" (nearby WDW but off-site) on the last day. Absolutely huge - The girls loved it. It also had a Disney store with good deals on old stock of Disney items.
In the parks it was nice to get free delivery back to the hotel for purchases.
We enjoyed the Disney experience. We found the quality of the service, Disney Hotels and attractions is excellent. My favorite was Hollywood Studios with the amazing decor and attractions. The intricacy and level of detail in Hollywood Hotel ride is amazing (scary for young kids though).
Line-ups were not bad and we used fast passes for the few attractions with long wait times.
We had a 5 year old traveling with us. He was tall enough for almost all of the rides but I would say he was a bit young for WDW. The 3D shows scare the heck out of him and he refused to wear the glasses. Quite a few of the rides also have extended periods of darkness. Many of the rides have a 40" height restriction.
Here are a few money saving ideas and budget issues:
Room:
All Star Music - highly recommended. We used the bus, boats and monorail to get around and the service was excellent. Usually the wait was 10 minutes or less. Disney's transportation system is amazing.
At the All Star Music, the room seemed to be recently renovated, the beds were comfortable, the Cafeteria is decent, pools are very nice, everything is clean, service is excellent. Disney or Pixar movies are shown every night by the pool if the weather is good in the dining room otherwise. All of the kids loved the warm, shallow hotel pools which are also kid oriented in terms of activities.
Preferred rooms are not required. They are closer to the lobby but there is quite a bit of noise in that area due to the pool activities. The pool stays open until midnight.
If you have a car you can park very close to any of the rooms since the parking lot surrounds the hotel.
Park Passes - park hopper was a waste of $50 each for us. We only hopped once. The parks are so large and far apart it is not that practical to visit several parks on the same day.
Food:
If you stay on site and don't have a car then you are faced with Disney food. Being from Canada we couldn't qualify for the free dining special.
We brought along an old drip coffee pot, cereal and snacks. Disney will also provide a small coffee pot on request. This avoided the cost and hassel of getting breakfast on most days. Our room was a long way from the lobby so the coffee pot was a nice alternative to the refillable mugs. We left the old coffee pot behind and used the food suitcase for souveneers on the way home.
Grocery access is limited on site. The store in the lobby sells milk at $3 for 1/2 gallon and loafs of bread. I would recommend a folding cooler rather than renting a fridge if you are just keeping milk fresh. The fridge is $10 per day - seems like a waste to keep $3 worth of milk fresh. The hotel has ice machines.
The Counter service restaurants aren't bad and the cost is reasonable.
The restaurant at the hotel was pretty good and pizza was a good value. We had pizza by the pool one day for lunch.
The Disney Full service restaurants we visited offered average quality food for high prices (Ohana's, Rainforest, Le Cellier). We were travelling with another family and made reservations for 8. This instantly added an 18% tip at all the restaurants, which is added for groups of 8 or more. A typical sit down meal cost was $250 to $300 for 4 adults and 4 kids.
We also visited Epcot during the food and wine festival - which was pretty good.
We rented a car on the last day of the trip and the best meal I had on the trip in terms of cost and quality was at a chinese restaurant offsite (Citrus Garden).
We also had a character breakfast at the Beach Club that was very good and not too bad in terms of cost.
If you like McDonalds, there is one at downtown Disney and one within walking distance of All Star Sports.
Drinks and Booze:
Water on site is good and there are drinking fountains everywhere throughout the parks. Some are cold, some luke warm.
Booze is expensive on site - bring some of your own, if possible. This wasn't a drinking trip but it is nice to have a beer or two. Beer was $5 to $6 each. Since we didn't have a car until the last day we paid the disney price.
Many of the restaurants promote overpriced drinks in souveneer cups. We got caught with this a couple of times where the kids didn't even finish their expensive drink or sucked back the fancy drink and then wouldn't eat their $20 meal. Rainforest cafe is bad for this.
The store at the hotel sells 1/2 gal bottles of pop for $3.50 and 12 ounze of hard liquor for about $15. Coolers and beer are about $5 each.
Shopping:
We hit the "Premium Outlet Mall" (nearby WDW but off-site) on the last day. Absolutely huge - The girls loved it. It also had a Disney store with good deals on old stock of Disney items.
In the parks it was nice to get free delivery back to the hotel for purchases.
