How cheap can you really go???

[gsgmom]

Hi! I just found this board and I love it. We are planning a trip to Disney in the last week of April to the first week of May....

I have gotten several quotes from different agencies and the avg price for 4 days and 3 nights is $800.. That includes staying in the Movie resort and a park hopper passes for 3.

We plan on driving down there, but I was wondering besides the $800, what can we expect to spend??

Thanks in advance for your helpfulness

 

[Jinnyboom]

That will depend on what ages are in your party..this relates to food expenses...
the most comprehensive site that I have found to help with food prices is www.wdwig.com
You will need to scroll down until you see the "menu" section and explore from there.
You should check www.mousesavers.com for codes for the dates you want to go...(you may do better on your own than with an agent)...your quote does seem reasonable tho...
Since you are driving...you may want to make a grocery stop before you arrive...breakfast in the room will save you a bundle....consider picking up bagels, cereal, bread, peanut butter, jelly, etc....you can always get a pint of milk at the food court to have with your cereal....you may want to also consider picking up small snacks to take into the parks with you....peanut butter crackers, trail mix, etc...consider taking a styrofoam cooler that you can fill with ice from the hotel to keep any foods you bring cool....a toaster will come in handy as well as a hot pot to make any soups that you might want to bring for a late nite snack.
Be advised that drinks will set you back a bundle....think about taking your own water bottles into the parks....there are tons of topics on saving on food/beverages...explore the sites offered here............

 

[Biyanna]

Here's my figures....
4 day hopper plus passes----550.00
2 adults and 1 child
4night stay at allstars
w/discount code from
mousesavers.com-------------300.00
This is a 5day 4 night vacation for 850.00
If you use your plus feature at a waterpark.

You will need to budget in dining. Disney dining is not to be missed. But you can save alot in this department also. If you purchase vouchers through Connections you will have your meals and tips all paid for and out of the way before you even get to Disney. Good luck, relax and have fun planning.

 

[SandraC]

You can get a code for ASMu/Sp/Mo for about $74 USF, or Moderates for $94.00 ~ we took the moderate code for last week in April for 10 nights ~ the rate rate is $154 so we save $600! Our tickets are 7 DHP with 4 options $650. So the code savings pays for our tickets.

We are 2 adults and 2 kids (dd is 8 and ds is 2) 10 nights at Coronado Springs = $1065
7 Day hopper passes plus 4 options for the family $650 ( a character breakky is included)

So just accomodations and tickets total $1715 for family of 4 ~ if you only stay a third of that it's $570.00 ~ so $800 is high.

Check out the AMEX code on mousesavers.com.

EXTRA COSTS:
Food and spending $$$$.

We are budgeting $650.00 spending and $800 food, we have several character meals booked and will picnic and eat in room lots plus eat at counter services and food courts to save $$$.

 

[hulabird]

Last year we stayed at CBR for 8 nights ($719) using a code, airfare for 2 of us ($369) (and we could've gotten it even cheaper if we had waited about a week longer) our room and resort were paid for in advance because we paid airfare up front and then paid on our resort all year, in small increments. We bought tickets through connections (5 day php-$about 470.00) and also 60.00 worth of food vouchers.
After a 200.00+ downtown disney spree and additional food costs etc....our total disney bill was a little over 400.00. We paid about $1658.00 total for air/hotel/rental car/park passes and another 460.00 or so for food and extras. (that includes the food vouchers)

 

[Jordan's MOM]

We did our 7 night trip this
January for about 2200.00. That was 2 adults and one child. We stayed at ASMo and had 5 day hopper passes. We ate breakfast in the room and had one nice sit down each day. We ate snacks and fastfood the other meal. We also did HDDR. We each got a few, ok DS got quite a few, goodies. We did pretty much what we wanted and did not feel we missed out on much. We have decided we want to do a monorail resort next year so we won't get off so easy next time.

Jordan's mom

 

[threeboysmom]

SandraC - I have a question for you I am sitting here trying to figure out how you got 4 7-day hopper pluses for only $650 which you said also includes a character breakfast. Wow! You did good girl!! With the Connections discount, I am coming up with a ballpark figure of at least $1000+ for 2 adults and 2 children. What am I missing here?

 

[Rpsemont]

We are family of 3, Dh, DD7 and me. We average about $150/day food, drinks souvenirs (without going overboard) We don't eat breakfast, we grab a couple snack things through the day for lunch, DD happy with water from the fountains, I'll usually have 1-2 cocktails, DH has 3-4. Then we always have a nice sit down dinner (with cocktails) If you budget conservatively your souvenir spending, and check out menus at WDWIG you can probably more accurately plan what you will spend. If you're not big eaters, 2 of you can share lunch, or better still, eat a late sit down buffet lunch and a lighter snack for dinner (I always find this har to do because if your timing is not perfect, you miss the parades.)

 

[SandraC]

Three boys mom, we are a family of 4, but don't buy tickets for 2 year old ds, so only 3 tickets.

 

[frost5000]

We went in Sept. , and spent a total of UNDER $1500 for myself my 11 year old (an adult in Disney's eyes) and my 9 year old (we also went with my sister, but she paid her own way). This included airfare, food, tickets (although we had 1 park day/1 hopper day (blizard beach - what a blast) per person left over from a prior trip, we bought 3 day park tickets and 1 day at disney quest), and hotel (all star sports) for 7 days, as well as souvies, tips, drinks, and all other costs. We had a great time and didn't break the bank (or at least not all the way...), and the cool part is we didn't feel like we skimped at all (except taking the public bus from the airport to disney, but that's a whole other post....).