Help me get my kids to WDW cheap!!

I stayed at the vistana and it was great. They have one and two bedroom suites.They have a full kitchen and washer/dryer in the rooms. You can save a lot of money by eating breakfast in the room and taking lunch with you. The price was $110 for a 2 bedroom which slept 8 people and about $90 for a one bedroom. By going on a 90 minute tour that is how you get a special rate also we got a free continental breakfast and a family pass to watermania(not a bad place for free). I would definitely check this place out, they also have a website. It is located right outside of disney hotel plaza. Not far at all, I think its 2 miles from downtown disney.
 
I find my kids to be very understanding when I explain to them, "We can go to WDW (or where ever), but we cannot afford to buy many (or any) souvineers and we will be eating (most) meals in our room. We can get a few treats in the park, but we cannot do and buy everything we see." Otherwise it will appear to your kids that everybody is eating in every restaurant and buying to their hearts content but your family.

Let your kids know that the big part of the trip is the trip itself and not all the expensive extras. Also let them know (but without laying on guilt) that you put a lot into being able to make the trip happen. They will appreciate this and it will will cut down on arguments, frustrations and misunderstandings once you are there.

I hope you are able to make this happen because they are at a great age to go. Good luck!
 
HI! Is it possible to pull the kids out of school? We went in February lastyear and saved a TON! If you can pull the strings, get homework, and make it educational (actually very easy) it would probably mean the difference from staying onsight to outside, or extra days for hoppers...
Just a suggestion...good luck, I'm pulling for you...everyone needs a good disney fix!
:D

(Try this link if you're interested... :) )Family vacations during the school year

robin2jpg.jpg

1975,76,77,78,79, off site, Disneyworld.
1982,83,84,85,86,87,88 Disneyland...lived there, literally!
2000 Dixie Landings
2001 Still trying to decide!
mouseears.jpg


[This message was edited by *Robin* on 01-13-01 at 09:15 AM.]
 
I would try the vistana- to get a good rate you will have to go to a 90 minute tour/it does include a continental breakfast(for the whole family)and also they will give you a gift(we got a family pass to watermania waterpark- not a bad day for free). They have 1 and 2 bedroom suites.You can really save $$$ by eating breakfast in the room and bringing lunch. They have a full kitchen so bring or buy your groceries (juice boxes, waterbottles,cold cuts, snacks etc) saves a lot of money. They have a website, take a look. In may we paid $110 per night that slept 8 people which we split with my friends family=$55 per night. They one bedrooms are less, sorry I do not know the prices, Good luck and have a great time
 

Try the reward board for tips on beenz and disney dollars that you can use in the parks for whatever. Also mypoints program you can get gift certicates for the Rain Forest Cafe for a meal. Good luck and keep us posted. Pixie dust is coming your way. ;)
 
Also live in MD. For a short trip I suggest flying so that your vacation time is not wasted on the road. Try Southwest, or US Air for cheap airfare. We stayed in the FW cabins because it had a kitchen, saved a ton by cooking "at home". Also by staying on the property we USED the kitchen & got a rest during the day which made it easier to hit the park at night. We did stay off property w/kitchen before and other then breakfast we never used the kitchen. Also we never made it back to the parks at night because of the hassle. Take snacks & a water bottle with you to cut back on eating in the park. Give the kids a set amount to spend on sovenirs. Mine each had $20 & I bought everyone a t-shirt. Also try to decide what you'd like to see before you get there & plan you day to make the most of your time. Don't forget that it's a vacation though-RELAX! You won't have fun if your stressed because you had to skip something or rushed through. Just put it on the "we'll see it next time" list. Also we save alot by putting change in a vacation jar. Even the kids help by putting sone b-day or allowance money in. Mine are quite proud of the fact that they help work towards a nice vacation. Good Luck!
 
This is what my family [me, husband, son (7) and daughter (4]did. We drive down in our car to save on airfare and then renting a car. We leave around 6:00pm and stop at McDonald's to eat, then the kids go to sleep. It took us 14 hours to drive to Disney with my husband and I switching. We arrived in Disney at 8:00am and didn't feel bad at all, I think you get revved up when you see the Welcome sign. With driving we were able to bring our own bottled water and alot of snacks to keep in the room. This certainly cuts down the food bill. Gas prices I-95 certainly surprised my husband and I. We were expected sky high prices, but the price for a gallon of gas is actually CHEAPER than what we pay for it in Maryland. Total bill for gas was less than $150. We have a minivan and filled it up once at home and then twice on the road with the second tank plenty to run us around Disney. Fill it up at Disney and then on the way home you will have to fill it up twice on the road. It was $25 for a tank full.

We stayed at Dixie for $94 a night, but my sister has stayed at the Holiday Inn Kids Suite and said that it was wonderful, plus the kids eat free at breakfast. For food for a family of 4, I figured $100 a day for meals and snacks. I would also look into getting an Entertainment Book ($25) they have a lot of great coupons in there for fast food and other things.

Hope this helps,
Kri
 
for a family of 6 two years ago for 8 days, 7 nights. (We're from MD, just outside DC)Forget the airfare - if you have two drivers it only takes about 13 - 15 hours straight through. We left for FL at 7 pm so the kids slept and we did not have to stop for meals. We got to our hotel at 8 am the next morning. The cost for the gas,etc. roundtrip was $150 (gas was cheaper then) - this included breakfast and lunch on the way home (we drove all day back home). We stayed at the Nikki Bird resort, which was $50/night, and the kids ate free for breakfast. There were cheaper places to eat for other meals than the hotel, even though the kids ate free. The biggest expense was the tickets to Disney. Since we had free tickets (knew someone who worked there) to Universal Studios we opted to buy 2 one-day tickets per person for Disney (if I remember correctly that came to about $600 - we were considered 4 adults and 2 children according to Disney standards). We brought our own snacks and water along with us into the parks and ate very cheaply (the smoked turkey legs are great and BIG!). Our big splurge was one breakfast at Chef Mickey's on one of our days "off" from the parks. The kids were of course limited on their "souvenirs"-they understood from before we went that there was little money for souvenirs and their memories would be the best souvenirs they could have. We also made our own autograph books before we left and that saved on the cost of those and the kids were proud to have made them (some Disney employess even very quietly complimented them on their books!)There are many hotel options that are pretty cheap. A vacation can be done at a cost minimum if you take advantage of the free things there are to do (resort hopping is great fun!) and don't plan on being able to visit a park everyday. We found our kids were more than willing to make "sacrifices" (staying off-site, etc.) in order to get there at all! Well this is quite long winded - good luck and you can make it work with some advance homework and planning!
 
We had a short four day trip this past Thanksgiving and instead fo buying hopper passes this time we bought three days of Bounce Back passes. The way these work is you purchase one day at the regular price and then each succesive day is discounted a little more. (I don't know what the discount is right now because of the price increases.) The catch is you have to buy all the days you want, up to 4, the same day you purchase your first pass. I believe you have until that evening to decide. We just purchased all the days at once since I knew that was what I had planned. You can't park hop but it saved us money. I believe the adult ticket for three days was around $125-130 including tax. You also have to use these tickets within I believe four or five days, so they do expire, unlike park hoppers.

Another money saver for us was I told my kids that any money they earned or saved would be matched by me and this would be their souvener money. I would only buy them one item. Since my kids are young, 8 and 5, this worked wonderfully and they were very responsible in the items they bought. It's different when it's their own money! ;)

Ask on these boards and they will tell you many wonderful ideas!
 
I know that sandra c was trying to nice and figure out the price of the trip for you But:
I would like to know how a family of 5 can have seven dinners for 280.00. That is 40.00 a meal where are you eating McDonalds every night? I think it is going to be alot more then that. If I told my kids we were only having snacks for lunch they would think that is cruel and unusal punishment. If it were me I would tell the kids they have to wait alitte longer. There is no way you can cut the price of admission to the park. When I am on vacation it is no fun to worry about every penny I spend. I don't mean to sound so negative, but I think you really need to think about what you really want. Have a great time no matter what you do.
 
The Wilderness Camp grounds has wilderness homes which are basically trailer homes permanently set up in the camp ground. They have kitchen faciities, and all the amenities of home with on-site perks. The free things to do at Wilderness are fun too. My SIL took her 4 kids once, and it was the only way they could take a big vacaiton like that with a larger family. You will save by having the kitchen for breakfast and can go back easily for lunch etc. when you have on-site transportation. Unfortunately, you are planning late, so I don't know about availability, but it never hurts to check! :)

Disneydiane
 
Definately as was said on an earlier post try the rewards programs ! They will help dramatically with the meals. You can earn gift certificates for rainforest cafe and Planet hollywood. Even earn some disney dollars ! Laura

flymick.gif
 
My advice...GO. We have 4 kids,and always drive to save $ and to be able to take all of our "stuff" with us. The trick to making this a reality is to get your kids involved; they are old enough and it is THEIR vacation, too. We went right after Easter, and the Easter Bunny filled their baskets with lots of goodies for the trip: 20 Disney dollars each, a fanny pack($5 at Walmart
w/water bottle), and snacks to fit into the fanny pack. The kids knew we would be eating breakfast in the room most days, and we made a list of what we needed and bought it before we left(we pack our cooler with the food, then unpack it at the resort and fill it with ice and a gallon of milk). I brought our own water and filled the water bottles, and limited the kids to one snack item per day at the parks(usually a Mickey Bar)that we budgeted for. After poring over menus at Deb Wills' site, we decided which restaurants to visit and which day to do each park(if staying offsite, the park that had EE the day before is a good strategy). We put the $ for each day in an envelope and put my oldest(then 10)in charge of keeping track of what we spent(it was her math assignment since we were missing school). She was very good at telling the younger children "no, we did not bring $ for that", which only happened twice in 5 days...they were too busy to shop most days. We planned one full day at the resort to swim, and one full day at Downtown Disney(your 6-year-old will really like Legoland). To get the max out of the park for the day's admission price, we ate a sit-down lunch(cheaper than dinner) and a counter-service type dinner, and planned a little down time somewhere in the park in the afternoon(a show, water area, etc.) I took a backpack to MK and Epcot with their swimsuits, and ziploc bags to put them in when we were done playing in the fountains. We brought our own double stroller for the 2 youngest, and kept neccessities for the day in it. Each child wore their own fanny pack, which contained an autograph book, a pen, sunglasses, cheap poncho($1 at walmart),and snacks. They helped plan the whole trip, and loved it! We have been lots of times since then, and spent lots more $, but that first trip was so special because they were involved in the planning. I really think you can do it! Good luck!
 
You've gotten some great advice.. We've driven from Massachusetts, it's a very nice drive, and the kids actually enjoyed it... it made the vacation seem longer.... I would suggest driving overnight, as was already mentioned.

Wherever you stay, make sure you have a kitchen... and eat a LOT of meals in your room!! Breakfast for certain, and 3 out of 5 suppers... Lunchtime you can "splurge" and eat in the parks... this is exactly what we do... We actually stay at BWV's for 2 weeks, and when we leave our "eating out" costs are less than 200.00 (that's for 2 adults, 2 kids) You just won't be eating at every character meal!!

For Hotel, I would definitely recommend going through HotelKingdom.com you can book the Ron Jon Resort/Isle of Bali for $30.00 or Star Island Resort & Country Club for 40.90!!! These both have full kitchens, and the Star Island is a very nice resort!! It's very close to Disney. I've heard varying opinions on Ron Jon Resort.... But for $30.00 a night inclluding your kitchen, you should feel confident!! I've used Hotel Kingdom, and it went well!!!

For your driving costs, I wouldn't think you'd spend more than 300.00 TOTAL, and if you stayed at the Star Island for 6 nights, that would be less than 300.00... That's 600.00, then you need your tickets.... Don't plan more than $50.00 for lunch per day, so that's 300.00... 900.00 plus park passes....

I hope this helps!!! Good luck, let us know what you decide!!
 
Have you thought about going another time? I am trying to do the same with my family. I can't really aford to go, but i am putting myself on a real strict budget and we are planning to go in Sept of 2001. They have the fall fantasy package and i just bought the Disney club membership and i am looking for the best price out there. I am bothering everyone who gives free quotes. I am going to buy a Disney package out there from somehwhere, but no airfare yet. I can't believe the prices of that now for the time i am going. I am thinking that in Aug. or Sept. southwest will have what i am looking for. If not i will either buy my ticket or Drive all night long. Whatever it takes. <IMG WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15" SRC="/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif" alt="razz">
 
Unless you are drving down in a huge SUV, your gas and tolls shouldn't run you more than $150. We just got back from driving from N.J. to WDW and that is all it cost us in gas and tolls. We drove down in our minivan(T&C).
 
Gosh I wish for the days when the children would sleep thru the nights drive. It was a great time.
 
Thanks to all of the wonderful suggestions, I think we're gonna do it! After reading all the rave reviews on the HIFS, I decided to "splurge" on that. I figured with the free breakfasts and the kids eating free from 10 pm-midnight (when I figure we'll be getting back from the parks) that I could justify the price. We decided to drive, and are going to leave Easter morning--after the kids find their tickets in their baskets!! Still have some logististics to work out, such as hopper or non-hoppers, which parks to visit (the older 2 have always wanted to visit Universal too), one character meal, etc. Still open to any and all suggestions! You all have been wonderful, and if my kids had any idea that they were going, they would thank you immensely!
 
Thanks for letting us know you're going to take the plunge! And make sure you let us know how the trip was when you get back. And keep reading the budget board for money saving tips -- it really helps!

Shirley

CBR Jan 2000
Next Trip Jan 2002 Where to stay?
 
Congrats I am so glad you are going.....now don't forget to fill those baskets with the stuff the kids will crave....autograph books (your local dollar store or biglots)so they don't have Mickey on them, buy some stickers and let the kids make their own Dis ones(something to do in the car), fat pens three for a buck at the dollar store, mister fans these are a hot ticket at the parks right now and run 16 or 18 dollars whew...ames sells them for like 5 bucks but make sure they have a neck strap or belt holder,dis coloring books for your drive down, cheap sunglasses (they will loose them), hats, fanny packs, fruit roll ups with the dis characters on them, splash toys for the pool, dis dollars they can spend each day in the park on one snack, like 5 per kid to use for mickey ice cream bars or itsakadoozies. Once they spend it they know they are done....or they can save it and add it towards their one souviener. My son and sisters kids are on their own as far as sovieners go, but they know about the trip so thats different, we paid for the trip so anything they want to buy they have to save for...It always amazes me how much less they spend that way. Hey...also if Grandma and Grandpa give them little easter treats how about Mickey dollars in eggs to find....then its fun and useful on vacation....I am doing that.Wow am I long winded today...but hey we also opted for HIFS to save mucho dollars and the free breakfast for everyone will really help....HAVE A BLAST!!!! we will be arriving shortly after you leave....wooo hoooo!!!!

Caribbean Beach 91
Off site 92
Off site Caribe Royale 97
All Sports 00
DXL 5/01
 












Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top