How much do you budget for Disney vacation?

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Don't forget the Fl. highway tolls!

 

[Irin997]

A PP beat me to it but I was also going to suggest looking into getting YES tickets. Check out the website here: http://www.disneyyouth.com/individual-enrollment/

You can probably slash your ticket price in half with this. I also agree that the food category needs to increase and the rental car budget can decrease. You only need space to get to the parks, not drive back home so go as cheap as you can. The difference between an economy and a minivan is probably a few hundred dollars.

I also second a PP in looking into staying on property just to compare considering you will get Magical Express, Disney Transportation, and you can see what the Dining Plan would cost you unless you can go during FD. I don't think you mentioned your dates.

 

[budafam]

I agree with driving. We drive from Wisconsin (20 hoursish) and it's really not that bad. It saves TONS and we can bring whatever we want there and back (souvenirs) We stayed onsite last time but we're staying offsite this time and saving tons. If it were just our family (4 of us), I would probably think about Pop again BUT we're going to have my MIL along this time and that makes 5 which means 2 rooms unless we get a suite (which is ridiculously expensive as well, with little space). 2 rooms would run us over $2000 just for the lodging. We're paying $695 for a luxurious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with a full kitchen, living area & balcony. Can't beat that. And they have free shuttles but we also love to have our own vehicle.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

I think you have a great start OP! Our first trip we stayed at a Windsor Hills townhome and our total trip cost was $2953 including $468 for airfare. Now, rental cars aren't as cheap as when we went, but I bet you can save money by booking a smaller car. And, keep checking the reservation--in an earlier budget I had $225 allocated for the car, but by the time we went I had gotten it down to $147. We spent $425 total on food, that was groceries, Hoop Dee Doo Revue, breakfast at Chef Mickeys and a lunch in the park most days. Again, I know character meals have went up since our first trip, but I think you're on the right track. Our misc. spending was $243--gas, parking, souvenirs. And we bought tickets through Undercover Tourist. (Another thing that's gone up in price since '07)

I think you'll love Windsor Hills. Our kids were so happy with their themed room (that they weren't sharing with us--LOL) and the splash pool that they played in every night while I made dinner. It was so quick to get to the parks, we went at rope drop, came back in the afternoon for a nap/swim and went back in the evening for more fun and fireworks. We stayed last year in a larger house with more family and they loved it again. This year we may have an unexpected trip in January for a wedding. I looked at staying onsite, because free dining is offered during our dates, but the cost was still comparable to staying at WH with our group. And while I might be willing to cram into 1 room to be able to try staying onsite, the kids weren't too gung ho about it. Even my brother says I spoiled them by having them stay offsite--they don't know that they even want to look onsite. LOL Anyway, I'm getting a little off topic. Bottom line, I know you'll have a great time whatever you do, and I think you have a good first budget you might be able to tweak a bit. Enjoy!!

 

[disneychic2]

Looks like you're getting lots of great suggestions...many of which were what I was going to suggest. Disney doesn't have to be over the top expensive, so good luck trimming that budget!

 

[soonermel]

Consider pricelining your rental car. Look at boards like betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com. Just be aware you can't cancel it once you book it and read all the rules/regulations carefully.

We once won a bid for a convertible in Hawaii for $11 a day, unlimited mileage - the cheapest rate we'd found elsewhere was $40-$50 a day. Last time I booked you could choose the class of car you wanted and the general location (airport pickup, etc.), basically just not the rental car company, but it's been a while.

 

[GingerJay]

Why is offsite so much better that you have written off onsite lodging?

Same reason as DawnM I'm a family of 5 and I love the space! Plus- there is kinda a lot of aggravation when dealing with a resort/hotel- like keys that don't work (and you only find out after trucking to your room), having to park miles from your room, walking to the food court for drinks/snacks...the list goes on.

I've done both onsite and offsite and would only stay onsite again if the onsite room was free...JMHO

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Can you consider staying on sight at an All Star Suite? No car, no gas money, no parking, maybe free dining (depends on when you go), on property perks? Never hurts to price things out! Have you called Disney just to get a comparison?

 

[sukhakuli]

The cabins at Ft Wilderness also have 2 rooms. But it will be more $ than staying off site. Our cheapest vacation was offsite, during the off season. We still had fun. You have to decide what you can afford, and what it important to you. You can stay off site and still have fun. Now that we can afford to stay onsite, we do that (and I'm not telling you what we're spending on this vacation, lol), but we still had fun when we didn't.

BTW, food will be your biggest expense besides tickets, probably. Go through the menues and figure out what it would cost to feed the 4 of you. Our table service meals would all be 150+ for the 5 of us, and the most expensive was well over 200.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I did a "budget" trip with my daughter-in-law and four grandkids a couple of years ago, and we stayed in Windsor Hills. We LOVED the townhouse. We ate only one meal in a WDW restaurant and brought food for all the rest, which saved us a lot of money. We had a stroller and a soft-sided cooler, so we'd start the day with breakfast in the townhouse, make sandwiches and snacks (we even brought muffin pans from home so we could make batches of muffins, as well as fruit, cut up veggies, etc.), pack all the food in the cooler and head off to the parks. We drank the free cups of water and ate the food throughout the day, and came home fairly early in the evening (young kids). Then they'd have another snack once we got back to the townhouse. It worked out really well.

Teresa

 

[arihillfarm]

I just ran a quote and for mid-November, 7 nights with 6 day base tickets during free dining, for two adults and two children (ages 3-9) in a Value (ASMusic standard room) UPGRADED to regular dining, the cost is $1937.22 including tax. This replaces your rental home, rental car, gas, parking fees, tickets and all meal costs except for tips on your 7 sit down/character meals and breakfasts out of pocket. You could still pack some snacks from home for the parks and use your snack credits for breakfast (danishes, muffins, etc.)

If you went with quick service dining, you'd be down to $1783.22, would save on tips, get two snacks a day plus a refillable mug and would still have $154 to put towards character meals (if paying out of pocket, I suggest going for a late lunch; it's less expensive than dinner).

Both of these scenarios represent almost $1000 in savings and given the perks that come with staying on property (EMH, buses, ME, etc.) I wouldn't stay off property if I were flying and had to rent a car unless Disney was only a small part of my planned Orlando/Florida vacation. If you have something else planned for a day or two, just rent a regular 4 door car for those days and let Disney do the driving otherwise.

I do understand wanting space (we own an Orlando timeshare and love the extra room) but we also drive down and usually plan other things to do while in Orlando besides Disney. On a Disney only trip though, it's on-property all the way.

-Astrid

I just booked our Windsor Hills 3 brdroom townhome which will cost us $665 (I'm not including deposit because we get that back.). I'm looking at renting a car while we're there.

Here's what I'm thinking it will cost us:

Airline Free (we're using frequent flyer miles.)
Townhome $665
Car $384 (if we get a minivan)
Tickets $1,120.44 (base tickets for 6 days) 2 adults 2 children
Gas $100
Food $200 (for meals at the Townhouse)
Character meals $200 (not sure how many we'll do so this is a total guess)
Photo cd $100 (already prepurchased it)
Souveniers $50 (I'm not big on souveniers so won't spend a lot here.)

So, total cost, I'm looking at $2,819.44 and I'd love to get that cost down. We're planning on bringing our own carseats with us and possibly a double stroller but I might consider buying a double stroller while I'm there if I can find a cheap one at a nearby consignment store.

Other than maybe having to pay a little for plane tickets or for the double stroller as another bag, what other costs am I overlooking?

I'm sure there's something I'm not thinking of and I need your help. We're planning on staying 7 days.

Also, suggestions on how to save $$$ are appreciated. I'm thinking maybe I need to find a smaller car to rent because that would be cheaper.

I'm looking at http://www.floridaticketstation.com/ for our Disney tickets but if anyone knows of a cheaper site please let me know.

TIA,

Sarah


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