How "budget" can I make this trip?

[aprilfoolwed]

We are heading to Disney again this year, but I would like to try to keep the trip as reasonable as possible (while still having a great time and feeling like it's a great vacation). Can anyone share some tips on how to save in various areas?


Transportation - we will be driving from PA to FL. We do stop overnight (both on the way down and the way back up) and stay in a hotel. We try to find a place under $100 that will accommodate the 5 of us and provide a free breakfast in the morning.

Lodging - We will be staying offsite, but I am not sure where quite yet. My inlaws are thinking about joining us, so I can't do lodging until we know how many people are going. Hopefully, we can rent a larger house and keep the lodging costs under $500. If we end up going by ourselves, we will either find a condo or a hotel. Trying to figure out if it's better to stay in the condo (but we would not have a free shuttle to the parks - which is something we may need for 3 days of our trip while my DH is at a work convention), or to pay a little more for a hotel (but get the shuttle and a free breakfast)? Thoughts?

Tickets - we ordered YES tickets, and cut our ticket prices by about 30-35% - I don't think we could do any better. We opted not to get Hoppers.

Food - this is the area where I think we have the most room for improvement. Last time, we ate all breakfasts in the house (except for the day we did 'Ohana's breakfast). We also ate several dinners in the house. I have seen tips to check restaurant.com before going out to eat, and to bring our own snacks and drinks into the park. What's a reasonable food budget for 5 people (2 adults, kids ages 10, 8 and 5) for 10-11 days (8 in Orlando - the rest travel days).

Misc - we don't buy a ton of souvenirs, and I think we'll do what we did last time (get the kids Disney gift cards for Easter, so they have their own money to spend when they are down there). What else should I account for?

We'll get money back from the trip when we get home, due to DH working part-time while we are down there, so that's a huge help. But help me get creative and keep costs low!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Are you really willing to eat on the cheap?

For the minimum lunch cost for 5-7 people, try this.

A little radical, but it works---you just need 2 backpacks for your group.

Drinks--bring in a can of soda for each person (total cost about 2 bucks)

Sandwiches-- either make them in advance (they will be fine from prep time to lunch time) or bring in half a loaf of bread, a pack of cold cuts, and some little packs of mayo. If you have leftover meat, just throw it away. The cost should be less than a buck per head.

Chips- bring in a full size bag and throw out any leftovers when you are done (cost about 2.50) --could also do a box of wheatables/cheese its etc

Sweets- a package of cookies or fig newtons (3 bucks max)--could cost less

Bring some napkins, a plastic knife, and maybe a sandwich bag or two for leftover salty snacks or sweets if you like.

Looks like less than 12 dollars to feed you family for lunch and the backpacks will be very light for afternoon touring.

 

[crusoe2]

You might consider taking the kids to Walmart or maybe Target to do some of their souvie shopping. I know that the Walmarts we've gone to near the parks had a whole section of Disney stuff and I believe that Target does as well. We let DD have free reign there on one trip because it was so much less expensive. She got a cute Minnie Mouse bag, Tinkerbell notepad w/matching pen, and several other things. I remember them having Disney character plastic dishes, figurines, bags, beach towels, and lots of little trinkets. Of course, if your kids still insist on buying something in the parks this could be a budget buster instead of a money-saver. So I would take that into consideration as well.

 

[brymolmom]

You could probably shave a bunch off the hotels to/from - use travelzoo or hotwire to find a deal for closer to $50 per night - since you're only sleeping there I would think 2 and 1/2 or 3 star would be sufficient - I would likely bring a sleeping bag and/or an air matress for the 5 year old and just get a regular 2 bed room. And I would skip the breakfast and just bring bagels and juice in a cooler in the car - can get on the road more quickly and I'm certain you could do much better than $100 each way by doing this.

And I agree with pp about bringing food into the park - we love doing this when staying offsite. For a family that large I wouldn't carry it around all day - I would get a locker - then carry a few drinks and snacks on you. When you're out - just go fill up again at the locker.

Think inexpensive for dinners - takeout from chinese, pizza or a pasta place you could likely split a few meals and then have some 'extras' in your kitchen at the condo - like fruit and pasta salad from the store - to stretch those few meals to feed all of you.

We actually love vacations like this - I get so sick of eating out all the time - it is nice to have 'real' food in my cooler without having to wait in line!

 

[Macgyver91]

My favorite way to save in the parks is to buy a double meat burger meal. Then purchase a bun only...under $1 and use the extra meat to make burger #2. This may work with your little ones too...When you go into quick service places and they have singles condiment sizes of peanut butter and jelly, just buy some slices of bread and you have pb & j sandwich. You can also ask for a glass of water in the parks and most places will give it to you free.

 

[jgreco]

Here's some of the budget (sometimes ghetto LOL) things I have done in the past for my family of 5. We live about 2 hours away, so it was a little easier to budget and plan ahead based on weather.

I used to buy authentic Disney souvenirs online in advance off EBay or wherever (hide in my suitcase) and tell the kids that I heard that sometimes Mickey will leave you a treat if you are good. Then at the end of our trip, I'd run back to the room like I forgot something and leave them out in the room. This way when we returned, the treats were waiting for us. This also works for people back home that might be expecting a little something. No one has to know! 

Bring a single bed air mattress. This kept us from having to book a room for 5 which was usually more expensive or not available.

Breakfast:
Bring a box of instant oatmeal packets and used the coffee maker in the room to make hot water. I would also heat up previously frozen pancakes by wrapping them in foil, and putting the coffee pot full of liquid on the hot pot burner to press them down. I had collected small condiment size syrups in the past. Bring re-usuable plates, cups, etc and wash in the room - might as well be green too!

Snacks & Lunch:
Frozen grapes, beef jerky, PBJ, (requires no refrigeration). If you are lucky enough to have a fridge in your room with a freezer. Put a Caprisun in there to use to keep your food cold during the day.

Snacks for the hotel:
Buy the snacks you would not usually buy (like serving size cookies, rice crispy treats etc, because "they cost a little more" and its cheaper to buy the big bags. Since its a vacation, these little things make it special. Start watching for specials now and stock up now.

If you are coming in the summer- prepare for rain! Buy your rain ponchos in advance! What would cost you about $1 at Walmart will cost you at least $4 each in the park (x's 5 =$20 just to walk around the park in the rain).

 

[3mickeymom]

In the summer when it is very hot, I find my family likes to eat less or lightly. So we saved money by eating a larger lunch either at our condo rental or at a restaurant. Then we had room for our Mickey bar or treat in the evening without feeling stuffed. Here is what we did. Also, I shopped at Walmart but made a list so I wouldn't overbuy.

- Had a real breakfast in the condo-cereal or eggs, fruit, juice. This way we left feeling energized and ready to start the day.
-We each carried our own water bottle into the park. Brought a backpack with another prefrozen water for each person. Water costs add up when it is hot.
-Brought a snack for each person to hold us over until lunch. Granola bars, grapes. Snacks that don't melt in the heat.
-ALWAYS kept a cooler in the car with frozen water/drinks and some crackers or cookies in case some one was hungry.
-We left the park around 12:30 or 1:00 because we were melting in the heat. We stopped for lunch at places like CICi's pizza, Bahama Breeze(big portions) and one time Olive Garden for all you can eat breadsticks, salad, soup. OR we headed back to the condo for a regular lunch. We cooled off in the condo, napped, swam in the pool and just got rejuvinated and rehydrated. Then we would go back out in the early evening. This is when we would have a treat - Popcorn watching the fireworks or Beaches and Cream after strolling on the boardwalk. If we stayed in for the night we would bring chips and dips down to the pool with a drink or have some watermelon that I cut up in the fridge.
We felt so much better than eating out and overeating all the time. Plus, I have three boys who really hate waiting in restaurants. They like to eat and get moving again. I didn't spend a crazy amount more on food. We still treated ourselves some. It worked for us. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[elainesj]

We did a fairly low budget trip last October.

FOOD

For breakfast, I would go to the food court and get a cup of hot water (free). Bring it back to my room and make instant oatmeal for the kids. (I could have also brought along a kettle to save me the trouble LOL).

For lunches, I brought those instant cup noodles. Added hot water (at the food court) and voila, lunch and/or breakfast.

Since u are in a condo, hot dogs are great, cheap, and super easy to bring to parks. Just boil them up in the morning...pack them in a baggie and pack your buns separately. Assemble in the park and you get lunch/dinner for under $5 for all of you. (I've done this lots for visits to local zoos, etc).

Bring your own snacks. My bags were always stocked with granola bars, goldfish, cheerios, cookies, etc.

If you want to splurge on a snack, the whole family can share it. We are rather frugal so one dole whip is easily shared between the 4 of us as is one bag of popcorn.

When we ate at CS in the parks, we simply shared our meals. e.g. One rib n chicken dinner from Cosmic Rays and 1 kids nuggets between the 4 of us. $15 for lunch.

Another option we did was order kids meals instead of adult meals since kids meals came with more sides. We would each get a kids meal for $5 each and would order choc milk (more filling) and have our side of grapes/carrots.

Pecos Bill meals are relatively budget friendly...for the cost of a burger u get the fill up on sides. Our last trip we were there on the DDP but since our family loves sauteed mushrooms...we got 2 burgers to split and worked through at least 2 platefuls of mushrooms..YUMMY! By the end we were overstuffed (maybe not such a good thing after all?)

Earl of Sandwich is another relatively inexpensive CS place...and deliciously yummy. We LOVED it.

We also drink a lot of water. So we would bring one water bottle and just refill at water stations along the way. Healthier and cheaper.

SOUVIES

ITA with PPs who say to bring your own. I scoured thrift stores for Disney shirts, went online for cool light up toys and picked up great souvies from Target, Dollar Tree, etc. And we're pretty good at saying no to souvies in the parks. That Oct trip we ended up buying them a pack of Disney silly bandz to share for $6. They were cstatic (and I was kicking myself for not picking it up from Dollar Tree the month before).

HOTELS

You should be able to get a hotel so much cheaper than a $100. Even in cheap motels they'll have a continental breakfast. We often end up in comfort inns and that's just right for us. We also priceline a LOT. For $40-$50, we'll get a 2-3 star place and it's just great. There's lots of tricks for pricelining so read up on it if you're interested.

If you're willing to apply for credit cards or open bank accounts, there's a ridiculous amount of rewards, etc u can get. We've gotten:

- $100 Disney gift card for applying for the Disney Visa
- 2 flight tickets ($300) paid for through points earned applying for a credit card
- 2 other flight tickets paid for through frequent flyer miles
- 3 nights stay at Starwood hotels through applying for the Starwood credit card.
- 1 night's stay at a Comfort Inn through applying for their credit card
- 1 night's stay at a Comfort Inn through staying 2 nights over winter
etc, etc.

This has all really helped with our vacation budgets. I know some ppl say be careful not to apply for too many CCs because it could affect your credit rating - so check it up carefully. For us, dh has ridiculously good credit and it has never affected us. We have renewed our mortgage, taken out car loans, etc with absolutely no problems. (it helps that we never miss payments and he's held the same credit card for a long time).

Hope this helps.

 

[irishfanx4]

We LOVED the Disney outlet. We ended up going there first thing before we even hit the parks. Our boys had a ball picking out things for their friends back home and t shirts for themselves. After our first couple of days comparing what we bought at the outlet to what was available in the park we spent about 1/4 of what we would have spent at the parks. AMAZING treasures for SO much less money!!

 

[Darcy03231]

I would plan to rent a car for the few days you need one. Hotel shuttles don't run that often (usually a few runs in the morning, a few in the afternoon/evening) and sometimes several hotels share a shuttle so there are multiple stops.

If you stay out in the Clermont/Davenport area you can get a great deal on a vacation home/condo. The further out you're willing to go, the less expensive the prices are. I rented a 5 bedroom/3 bath private pool home in peak season in Clermont for $700 for the week, inclusive of all taxes and fees.

 

[CheshireKittyKat]

As previous posters stated
1. buy one double hamburger,extra bun, feed whole family on the free salad bar at Pecos bills, mushrooms and onions fill you up!
2. Get a free glass on ice water, look for lemon wedges by salad bar and free packet of equal, instant lemonade.
3. Get crockpot, make entire meal in room, pack leftovers for the park in giant rolling cooler.
4. Pretend your child is 2, you will get a free ticket.
5. Have each member of party wear birthday buttons, they will automatically get free cupcakes everywhere.

 

[aprilfoolwed]

Wow! Lots of good ideas! I don't think we'll ever do a truly bare-bones budget trip, but I think I can incorporate many of these ideas and save a little more on this trip!

I am really hoping that the rest of my husband's family wants to come along, because I can get us a 6 BR house that will cost us $450/week per family. A hotel is going to be twice as much - so I hope this works out! I feel like I'll get the best of both worlds (budget AND comfort!).

When we were in WDW 2 years ago, we did our grocery shopping at a Target, and I did notice all the Disney stuff for sale there. It's where I bought my nieces and nephes souvenirs! Great deals! Thankfully, my kids don't really want a lot of souvenirs at this point. Last year we had quite a time to get them to spend their gift cards at DTD! We have very generous grandparents who like to load them up on gift cards, so the kids' souvenirs will likely be covered.

Food is really our area here, and I love some of the suggestions. We took drinks and snacks last time, but we may try bringing lunch one day too.

I am thinking this year I may have to have the kids help shoulder the load with their own backpacks - my back is always killing me with the huge bag I tote! And we'll only have our little stroller this year, so not a lot of room to bring huge coolers (I think THAT is what rode in the double stroller most of the time 2 years ago!).

I like the air mattress idea for the hotel -especially the ones on our drive down. We can usually find a nice, clean hotel, but we don't always find one that can hold all of us comfortably.

Thanks!

 

[Marionnette]

As previous posters stated
1. buy one double hamburger,extra bun, feed whole family on the free salad bar at Pecos bills, mushrooms and onions fill you up!
2. Get a free glass on ice water, look for lemon wedges by salad bar and free packet of equal, instant lemonade.
3. Get crockpot, make entire meal in room, pack leftovers for the park in giant rolling cooler.
4. Pretend your child is 2, you will get a free ticket.
5. Have each member of party wear birthday buttons, they will automatically get free cupcakes everywhere.

You're kidding, right? Because you hit on every hot button issue you possibly could.

Or were you trying to be trollish?

Look for hotels with kitchenettes for the stop on the way down and back. There are a lot that are mini suites with a pull out sofa and two double beds. That would sleep your family without having to be deceitful about the number staying in the room.

Don't take luncheon meat into the parks without packing them in a cooler unless you want to end up sick. If you want meat sandwiches, then get a couple of tins or packets of canned meat or tuna salad. They don't need refrigeration and the envelopes of tuna are pretty light.

Raw veggies and fresh fruit travel well. Toss a couple of apples and some carrot sticks in the backpack to munch on.

Bottled and canned drinks are heavy. Take flavored mix-in packets and empty plastic bottles. Fill at a water fountain and mix up your Crystal Light on the spot. Toss the bottles in the recycling can when you're through.

Get one adult AP if you haven't bought your tickets yet. You will get free parking each day. Parking is $14 per day for offsite guests. There are also a number of discounts that you can get with an AP as well. Check Mousesavers.com for a list of AP benefits. PLUS, if you're going again next year, you can save by visiting a week or two earlier and not have to buy another ticket or pay for parking next year!

 

[HS3kids]

As previous posters stated
1. buy one double hamburger,extra bun, feed whole family on the free salad bar at Pecos bills, mushrooms and onions fill you up!
2. Get a free glass on ice water, look for lemon wedges by salad bar and free packet of equal, instant lemonade.
3. Get crockpot, make entire meal in room, pack leftovers for the park in giant rolling cooler.
4. Pretend your child is 2, you will get a free ticket.
5. Have each member of party wear birthday buttons, they will automatically get free cupcakes everywhere.

I doubt a 5 year old could pass for age 2, plus its dishonest. So is wearing birthday buttons when it isnt even close to your birthday, IMHO. Just saying.

 

[aprilfoolwed]

I doubt a 5 year old could pass for age 2, plus its dishonest. So is wearing birthday buttons when it isnt even close to your birthday, IMHO. Just saying.

Don't worry - I wouldn't even try it! We already bought our tickets through the YES program (and yes, we fully plan to attend the class on our trip!) We've paid for our little guy each time we've gone. Poor kiddo had to be the only one to buy a ticket last year - the rest of us did the Give-A-Day program and got free tickets, but he was too young.

And I do appreciate all the ideas, but there are some that I would never do myself.

As far as renting a car, I don't think we'll go that route. DH's convention is only 3 days of our trip, and the kids and I only need to get TO the park those days. Dh will be done by 5:00, and can easily join us for the evening or just to pick us up. So a shuttle would be fine for that limited use.

We're honestly trying to decide if we even need to worry - perhaps it would be nice to have a few days to sleep in, use the pool and just do the parks at night.

 

[kyra's mommy]

You're kidding, right? Because you hit on every hot button issue you possibly could.

Or were you trying to be trollish?

Haha! I know, I was thinking WHAT? You are going to be roasted for those suggestions! I almost sent them a message saying, edit your post very quickly but then figured it could be a joke.