Help with my budget

[hockey mom 94]

Ok here's what I have planned:

Parking at Airport in Boston $112.00 for 9 days
Airfare: We are using travel points 0 (like that number)
Rental Car in Orlando: 9 days traveling to visit family too $232
Hotel: Free points (hubby travels A LOT!!)
Hopper Pass: 4 day 2 adults 2 kids AAA $716.00
Housekeeping and Bags at Hotel $15.00 (5 nights)
Parking at hotel I think its $5. a day $25
Food 4 days in the parks $450.00 4 people
Souveniers $150 4 people
Parking at Parks $6 a day? $24.00

Do the numbers look good to you? What am I under or over estimating? What did I forget? We have reservations for 1 character breakfast in AK, 3 characters lunches. The rest will probably be counter service.

Thanks for your help.

 

[hercamore]

Hi,

Your budget looks right on to me.

Just be aware that snacks in the parks are very pricy. Everything things to be $2.50-3.oo for pop/icecream at the carts.

Also, since you have a car, you might want to make a grocery stop to get water/pop to take into the parks.

Eating offsite a couple times at night really helps the budget, too. Lots of good restaurants in all price ranges near crossroads.

What hotel are you staying at?

Herc.

 

[LeftCoaster]

One other place to check for your car rental and possibly hotels that REALLY helped me out. Try Travelaxe.com and download their search engine. You can use it to first search hotels. It'll search about 15 different travel sites at the same time and then highlight the best price for each hotel. Then, I used it to find my car rental. since I only need a car for the beginning and end of my trip, I wanted to get something cheap. I did find some cheap rentals but, didn't know the names (and wanted to get Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit too). So, anyway, I tried the car search from Travelaxe and found Alamo for way cheaper than I found it anywhere else.
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this search engine. =)

 

[tink2dw]

Fl. water smells and tastes like sulfer.

So what will you do about Water?? buying bottled at $2.50 per 8 oz bottle in the parks,will take a bite out of the budget?? Make a grocery stop to buy enough water for your stay?? Or purchase Britta personal sports bottles with a filter that filters as you drink??

Your choice as what you decide what to do.

 

[hockey mom 94]

Thanks everyone, I am going to get the Brita water bottles, I have never seen them before but I am sure if I go looking I will find them pretty easy. Hercamore, we are staying at the Marriott World Convention Center. I figured that our big meals would be the character meals since we have one every day and counter service for the other meals, if I remember correctly we can get a meal for 4 of us for about $20 - $25 at counters. We plan to have cereal in the room before hitting the parks other than the morning we hit AK. I am going to bring 1 snack a day into the park and let everyone purchase one snack and drink a day.

 

[blanq]

The resort you are staying at does have a shuttle to the parks; am not sure if they charge fot it but if they don't you could take it and save the WDW parking fees. You do lose some flexibility with those shuttles, but I guess you might want to weigh all of the factors in to decide what's best for you and your family.

Also, many hotels near airports allow you to park your car there for free (usually up to 10 days we have found) if you spend an overnight there. Most also have free shuttles to/from the airport from nearby hotels. If you have a morning, or early afternoon flight out of Boston you might want to check into this. You may find that paying for a one night hotel stay might be less than parking your car at the airport for the $112 it is going to cost you.

That's it for my budget tips! Have a wonderful time on your trip!

 

[mickeysaver]

Well, I don't have kids and I don't have a clue as to how old your kids are, but here are some things you might want to consider.

Food for 4 is $600 easy, if you eat in the parks, this includes snacks and bottle/cups of beverages. We tend to budget $100 a day just for us.

House Keeping Tips $40 for 5 nites, but I tend to tip them well because my grandmother used to be the head housekeeper at the Sheraton at Cypruss Gardens. I use the standard of at least $2/person in the room per day, unless the service is poor then I only tip $1/person per day.

Bag Handlers $20 total for both times carrying your bags. Anyone the totes my bags deserves a $10 tip! lol

Souveniers $400 easily could be spent in your 4 days. I don't have kids, but I do love to buy nice collectable stuff. I tend to budget this in the $1200 range for myself. lol

If you don't have a digital camera, don't forget to budget for film development when you return home! We spent about $200 on this one post-trip expense.

This is all I have to offer. Have fun saving! Mickey

 

[Boo'sMom]

Why not take the bus to logan and save the parking fee.
Depending on where you live, of course.

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by hockey mom 94
if I remember correctly we can get a meal for 4 of us for about $20 - $25 at counters.

I am going to bring 1 snack a day into the park and let everyone purchase one snack and drink a day.

I think your counter service meals will be more than that, unless you are sharing or just getting sandwiches in some instances. Then you may be on target.

Also, if you are just having cereal in the morning I would bring more than one snack into the parks. We usually have a light breakfast & about an hour or so later we are all hitting our fanny packs for snacks. If each of you get one snack & one drink daily it will probably run you about $20 minimum. If you are concerned about budget bring the extra snacks, everyone bring a water bottle & get one snack daily to share.

The "mouse" is not shy about taking your money.