Help me decide how to spend it!

[Belle5]

We are a family of 8. We have just been told that we are being given a $5,000 credit card to be used for our January vacation. The money is ONLY allowed to be used for airfare, car rental, and hotel. It is not to be used for park tickets or food. We want a two week vacation. The dates are January 2-16. I am thinking I could snag 8 airline tickets for $200 (if I watch carefully between now and January). That would be $1,600. I saw that Alamo at Tampa (TPA) has an Astro Van that seats 8 for $650 + tax for the two week period. I'm thinking maybe I can find a code of some sort that will take it down but still maybe I should count on it costing about $700 with taxes and fees. Now, we have spent $2,300. That leaves us $2,700 for two weeks in a hotel. We generally need two rooms unless we could get a timeshare. If we reserved connecting rooms at a moderate with a code during the off season I am thinking we might be able to come in around $225 a night for 14 nights. That's a little over budget but I sure wouldn't mind covering a little of the hotel cost myself! I don't think I'd be able to rent DVC points because of how the credit card will be monitered by the giver. I think it would actually have to show up as billed through WDW. As much as I usually hate to switch resorts with packing up our big family, I think I might be willing to hop around once or twice to experience some different places over the two week period.
I wonder if I could save a lot of money by renting 2 small cars? What about spending 5 nights in a value hotel, 6 nights in a moderate hotel and 3 nights in a deluxe hotel? I don't know...maybe you can help me figure out the way to get the most out of this tremendous surprize???? All ideas welcome!

 

[tinkerbell13]

Is it possible to get the same airfare to Orlando? Then you wouldn't need the van, if you need a rental for a few days there are places on site if I remember correctly. I got airfare from Calif to Orlando for $214 last October. To bad you can't rent a villa, they have some really nice ones close by with pools and games rooms in the house. We rented a condo style(3bd, 3 bath, no private pool) for under $600 for 8 nights.
What an awesome gift! Enjoy it no matter what you decide.

 

[sanibelover]

Obviously, keep your eyes open for codes. You should be able to get decent rates at that time of year - Value Season, although general codes have not been forthcoming lately. At least use AAA for the discount on your rooms.

I wouldn't move too much - an awful lot of work for you!!! Since you will be there for 2 weeks, maybe one move would be fine, but any more than that would waste too much time - even if Disney transferred the luggage, etc. Do you have the option of staying offsite? A house with it's own pool and spa as well as a kitchen, much more space, privacy, etc. may work better for you than hotel rooms. 2 weeks is a long time to eat Disney food............

Use www.mousesavers.com for rental car codes. (and all kinds of other info on how to save on Disney!) You could definitely get 2 smaller cars for much less than the price of the Astrovan, but you probably could also do better on a van.

Have fun planning your vacation!!!

 

[Belle5]

Oops! Forgot to mention that having our own vehicle is a medical necessity.

 

[gr8ful4Him]

You may be able to save on the airline a bit. Southwest usually offers pretty good deals during the "off season". This past off season, we could have gotten $98 round trip per person online with 14 days advance booking...if only we were going to be flying then! Anyways, just my 2 cents worth....

 

[Joan S.]

Hi, i would definitely go for the two hotels with two weeks to spend at WDW! The WL offers some good rates with codes and you can take the boat to the MK, which is very nice! Joan

 

[Belle5]

Can't do a straight flight out of Dallas (even though SW airlines is based here) on SW airlines. If you haven't heard of the Wright Law--former speaker of the house Jim Wright--in order to help airlines that fly out of DFW--namely American Airlines--he had a law passed prohibiting airlines flying out of Love Field airport from having direct flight to any states other than Texas border states. Nice, huh? We really want direct flights so we will have to stick to the big airlines.

 

[Nini]

As it gets warmer, you will see some really great pricing comming out. There are some great resources on these boards for car rental. I am not up on the mod and delux pricing as we are doing a value this year so someone else should be able to help with that. You should be able to at least get two mods I would think as well as your airfare and vehicle.

Hooray for you and yours!!!!

 

[Heather Smith]

Can you change your vacation for the free dining? That way food is covered in the cost of hotel. That's got to be a huge savings for a family of 8.

 

[Belle5]

Heather,
If you're referring to the MYW dining plan--the answer is I am not sure. I know the company that is doing this for us said the card was to be used for airfare, car rental and hotel. If it is billed as a package--it's not like individual restaurant fares will show up...I just need to find out exactly how MYW hotel/dining packages are billed. I may need to contact Disney to find out how the billing shows up on a statement. Actually, we have no problem paying for the dining portion of the package ourselves--if it can be billed seperately from the hotel portion.

 

[prncess674]

Not to be nosey but it seems kind of strangethat someone is giving you $5,000 for a family vacation but they are telling you that you cant use it for food or park tickets. These are a valid part of the trip. Why would you be so restricted. Is this some sort of charity? Just trying to help understand why so many restrictions.

If I were going with a family of 8 for two weeks I would definitly look into some sort of off-site suite property. This would allow you to decompress away from the parks which is IMHO is necessary when going for such an extened period and it would allow you to cook some simple offsite meals. Even just eating bagels and coffee in the morning could get very expensive over 2 weeks in the parks. It also sounds like you have some medical issues in your family. It sounds like moving hotels mid trip sounds a major PITA.

 

[Belle5]

It's ok to be nosey
I honestly have no idea myself why there are restrictions as to the usage of the card but I don't want to look a gift-horse in the mouth, either! I am just thrilled that the trip we were planning on taking, anyway, will now be much nicer and much easier! Some thoughts I had as to the restrictions were maybe it was how the givers plan on writing it off in taxes or maybe just to insure that our family stays in a really nice place. I really don't want to get to caught up in the "whys"--I just want to enjoy the planning. I really think we want to stay onsite. This will be our 20th trip as a family to the world. We usually drive--usually stay off-site. We prefer onsite.

 

[prncess674]

It's ok to be nosey
I honestly have no idea myself why there are restrictions as to the usage of the card but I don't want to look a gift-horse in the mouth, either! I am just thrilled that the trip we were planning on taking, anyway, will now be much nicer and much easier! Some thoughts I had as to the restrictions were maybe it was how the givers plan on writing it off in taxes or maybe just to insure that our family stays in a really nice place. I really don't want to get to caught up in the "whys"--I just want to enjoy the planning. I really think we want to stay onsite. This will be our 20th trip as a family to the world. We usually drive--usually stay off-site. We prefer onsite.

Well if you usually drive and the fact that your family requires such a large car anyway I would put all my money towards a deluxe hotel and skip the airfare and rental car. Since you will be in WDW for such a long time having a deluxe pool and amenities will be a welcome treat. Also the extra space in the deluxe room will be much appreciated since there will be 4 persons to a room.

 

[Belle5]

Bumping up for more ideas!