How much did it cost you?!?!

[Dimplenose]

HELP! What are we doing wrong? Our trip for 3 adults and 1 child, staying 3 n/4d at Santa Fe cost nearly £1,100. That was with the free child place.

When you add spending money on top of that it cost us a small fortune.

How do you get it done so cheaply?

We kept our costs down by driving ourselves. Once we knew the children would be paying adult prices it made sense. (Also living in the South East helps make the journey not too bad.)

We knew we only wanted two park days so we bought our Santa Fe hotel accommodation through expedia and our tickets seperately (We used the Disney Store for convenience but other people have got better deals online.)

Our day in Paris was quite expensive for the travel and tour (but at least we weren't wasting park tickets for that day.)

Our biggest drain on our spending money was our 16 year old's appetite!

Libby

 

[Gillsfan]

It wasnt too hard to keep the cost down for us as we were camping.

Its easy to get a cheap pitch, it was something like €130 in the school holidays for about a week! The speed ferry tickets for us are only around £45-£45, so that was already working out pennies to travel and stay. It took around 5-10mins to get to DLP and because we bought fantasy passes our parking was free.. and we got to pass Val d'europe every day if we needed anything.

The only thing that sets us back is eating in the park.. most main seated meals for our family (5) was around £70. So thats the part that gets you, but you can always live off fast food and snacks from the local Auchan.

If I really wanted ( which I dont, because it can ruin the fun having to watch every penny ), I could probably do a weeks holiday at DLP when the kids are off for less than £500. Being that ive already got my passes.

Plus, the added bonus that the kids love camping, the tents are a doddle to put up and inexpensive to buy... and the site we stay out has free electric and water points so we still get our creature comforts. When alls said and done, were out during the day so its just a place to sleep.

 

[shaileytuff]

we have always booked through leger found them cheapest both times, even on seperate costings

 

[ManCityMickey]

Getting a good price is all about planning and a bit of good fortune. We booked the Kyriad at DLRP through Expedia.co.uk and got the 3rd and 6th nights FREE!! Book the Euroster as early as possible, we only bought our tickets yesterday for £309 and already they have gone up to £384!! We are going to buy AP's when we visit and then start planning our next visit when we return.


SOME OF THE BEST PLANNERS USE THIS FORUM, SO USE IT!! ASK ANY QUESTIONS AND THE PEOPLE ON HERE WILL GIVE YOU SOME GREAT ANSWERS.

 

[Lizzybear]

This trip (2 adults ages 22 and 17 but turns 18 whilst there)
£518 for Sequoia Lodge 3 nights/4 days inc. park tickets booked thru DLP website (Expedia was more)
£130 for Easyjet flights from Liverpool to CDG
So £648 total and we'll probably bring £300 spending money between us, we're pin addicts
My dad paid but I think this is an OK price, wouldn't have been much more for kids either with the 'kids go free' offer that's on at the moment.

 

[jillrobinson]

Hoping to be able to finalise this tomorrow - Leger coach holiday package.
£319.00 for me
£319.00 for my eldest DS
free for youngest DS
So £638.00 staying 3 nights at the Santa Fe, from the 29th March less £520.00 in Tesco Clubcard deals gives me a grand total of

£118.00

DS's friend will confirm tomorrow whether he's coming in which case I'll have to add another £109.00 and I need to check again if there is any availibility for the Cheyenne, which will be a bit extra, if not I'll have to buy a Ready Bed to take with us - £25.00 from Tesco Direct.

If we can manage the coach journey then I intend doing the same again at Christmas.

Our last trip 5 nights on the Admiral's Floor of the NPB cost around £1,200.00 with Eurostar.
The Santa Fe cost about £800.00 for 4 nights October 2004 again travelling by Eurostar and our first trip cost about £700.00 3 nights including flights at the Cheyenne.

 

[Cyrano]

So £638.00 staying 3 nights at the Santa Fe, from the 29th March less £520.00 in Tesco Clubcard deals gives me a grand total of £118.00

Now that is sweet

 

[101 Maria's]

Hi Everyone,
Im new to the forum and have loved reading all your posts,its been really helpful when planning my trip
I have just booked for 2 adults (myself and my dad) for the beginning of september.We are travelling by Eurostar,and staying at the Santa Fe for 3 nights and have park passes included for 4 days,the total is £475(for both of us),i booked with a company called Sundeal,and am very pleased with the cost.You pay a £60 deposit and the rest of the balance is due 12 weeks before your departure date
Im so excited even though its a long way off,the last time i was there was 1993!

 

[mulan1]

Please tell us more about this tesco clubcard deal!! I'm sure a lot of us are intrigued, what does it involve etc, thanks!! What a bargain!

 

[hildasmuriel]

Two things seem to have been the cause of us paying so much.

Firstly I am reluctant to try and buy the holiday 'in bits' so I just go into Thomas Cook and let them do it all for me. I don't travel abroad apart from to DLRP, so I am a very inexperienced traveller.

Secondly, because I work in a school I have no choice but to go in school holiday time. My son is in his GCSE year so there was little choice of times to go.

We travelled by Eurostar from Waterloo on 12th Feb and returned on 15th.

 

[Cyrano]

Please tell us more about this tesco clubcard deal!! I'm sure a lot of us are intrigued, what does it involve etc, thanks!! What a bargain!

Have a look here for details.

 

[Cyrano]

Hi 101 Maria's and welcome to DLP DIS board
We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, posting guidelines can be found here and details regarding help on signatures here

 

[jillrobinson]

Please tell us more about this tesco clubcard deal!! I'm sure a lot of us are intrigued, what does it involve etc, thanks!! What a bargain!

If you shop at Tesco's then you most likely use a Clubcard to accrue points for your shopping. These points are transferred to monetary value vouchers sent out every quarter, which can be used at face value or exchanged for 4 times their worth into a Clubcard deal with Tesco's partners.
See Tesco's here
http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/

I was intending to try the Leger deal last year but opted for a bathroom suite from MFI instead. I was put off by the coach journey but I figure that it's worth a try, at that price I've nothing to lose really.

 

[mulan1]

yeah i checked it out, not sure we'd enjoy a coach trip, will look at their other deals, i think i remember someone once said you could use them on eurostar too. x

 

[Raci]

We booked direct with Disney as it was the best deal I could get - inc. kids go free and 1 extra night/day free.

To keep the costs down further and be able to use the kids go free offer ( not available to single parents with 1 child) Me and my daughter are going with a friend and her son.

£800 - Package price for 5night/6day at Sequoia Lodge with a Montana Room, travelling with Eurostar standard and inc passes for all 6 days. (kids free)
£26 - Full insurance (kids free)
£68 - Buffalo Bills (kids free)
£24 - Character Breakfast (kids free)
£36 - Tea Party with characters (had to pay for kids too)

Total £954 for 2 adults and 2 children
Halved to £477 for 1 adult and 1 child in each family

For me and my daughter I plan to take around £600 in euros to cover meals, souvenirs etc with a credit card as backup - We're on holiday after all!

Only 2 weeks to go!

 

[mulan1]

wow great deal raci!! hmm, starting to think we shouldve done something different!

 

[eileds]

yeah i checked it out, not sure we'd enjoy a coach trip, will look at their other deals, i think i remember someone once said you could use them on eurostar too. x

You can use them on Eurostar - but not the direct service. You can use them for the tunnel.

You can also change them to airmiles and either use them for flights (you still have to pay taxes), for direct Eurostar service or even to pay for your hotel -but not passes.

I have been quoted 3800 airmiles for 2 nights at Santa Fe in August - thats about £160 in clubcard vouchers.

My problem is there are 5 of us so I would need 2 rooms if staying on site without transport.

A friend of mine is going with Leger (with Tesco vouchers) and is making her own way south and joining Leger coach just before the crossing - so she's only got Calais to DLP on the coach.

 

[eileds]

DS's friend will confirm tomorrow whether he's coming in which case I'll have to add another £109.00 and I need to check again if there is any availibility for the Cheyenne, which will be a bit extra, if not I'll have to buy a Ready Bed to take with us - £25.00 from Tesco Direct.

I'm confused - but then it doesn't take much to confuse me!!

If there are only 3 of you definitely going why would you need a ready bed? Don't all the rooms take 4

Can you use ready beds rather than book another room? There are 5 of us and I'm struggling with the thought of having to pay for 2 rooms when my children are so small and knowing that we would only actually use one of them (I was planning on putting all the kids in one bed).

Won't have transport to stay at DCR, can't get EMH with Explorers, NPB family rooms all booked and DLH too expensive for me.

 

[Cyrano]

Can you use ready beds rather than book another room? There are 5 of us and I'm struggling with the thought of having to pay for 2 rooms when my children are so small and knowing that we would only actually use one of them (I was planning on putting all the kids in one bed).

Unless the room is set up for 5 people you would have to take 2 rooms. We have a similar problem.
I think what Jill is suggesting is that with an extra guest they do not want to share one of the double beds in Santa Fe and therefore the ready bed gives them a separate bed option. They would still not exceed the room capacity of 4 people.

 

[jillrobinson]

My eldest DS is 12 and under no cirumstances will him and his friend share a bed, the Cheyenne is the only budget Disney hotel with bunk beds, so if I can't get the Cheyenne, I'll book the Santa Fe or Sequoia and take a ready bed for one , I can't see that there will be a problem as I'm not breaking any occupancy rules.
The same wouldn't apply to 5 - sorry.

Thanks Cyrano - you got it. (We posted at the same time)