How much do you spend on...?

[SnowPeas]

I am in the ridiculously early stages of planning our trip, which basically means we have only made the decision to go and have no other real plan yet!!

I would like to know how much I am looking to spend, total, for a family of 2 adults, 3 kids (see ages above). I come at everything monetary from a worst case scenario because I figure it is better to over budget then to end up not having enough. Plus, when I bring money home from a vacation I feel like I have saved money, and who doesn't get excited over that??!

Point being, while I can appreciate a great deal, I am not looking to hear how you spent nothing on food because of FD and so on. I think that is awesome! But not really helpful to me if I go when that isn't offered. Now I have saved $1,000 less then I actually need, see?

So my question is for all those fluctuating items. How much did you spend, total, on..

Food? For how many people? How many days?
Hotel? How many days? Where? Number of rooms?
Flight? From where?

Thank you all, in advance for reading and taking the time to help a complete stranger enjoy a vacation that you get no benefit from. It really shows how self-less people can be!

 

[crisi]

Your best bet is to take all those ideas and put them in a spreadsheet and start researching. For us, airfare is about $400 a person. For us, we'll spend about $3000 on a hotel room for a week (that's about the going rate for a two bedroom DVC rental at the Boardwalk for the time of year we travel). For us, we can easily spend $300 or $400 on dinner for four people - and another $100 on lunch for four, every day. But we take pretty lavish vacations (airfare we can't get around). Add in park tickets, and we are in the $10,000 per trip range. But most people here don't spend half that.

Use menus at www.allearsnet.com or www.wdwinfo.com. Look at airfare for your city. Check hotel prices at the Disney website (or if you want to stay offsite).

And try www.mousesavers.com for good budgeting information.

 

[DawnM]

I don't know how old your kids are since you said see above and there is no mention of your kids above.

However, I would agree that you need to do some research.

I would seriously look at staying in a 1 or 2 bedroom at a place like Bonnet Creek where you can eat some of your meals in the condo.

If you need to eat all of your meals at Disney I would opt for staying in one of the moderate hotels and adding the dining plan.

Or, I would look at staying in a moderate or deluxe by renting Disney Vacation Club points from a member and plan on just eating in the parks. Parks can run you as much as $200/day per person, or you can do budget meals and eat for about $50/day pp.

There is far too much to consider for anyone to tell you what YOU should do. I don't know your budget, your choices in foods, your preferences, whether or not you are willing to eat breakfast in your room, if you are renting a car, etc.....

Dawn

 

[Marionnette]

I am in the ridiculously early stages of planning our trip, which basically means we have only made the decision to go and have no other real plan yet!!

I would like to know how much I am looking to spend, total, for a family of 2 adults, 3 kids (see ages above). I come at everything monetary from a worst case scenario because I figure it is better to over budget then to end up not having enough. Plus, when I bring money home from a vacation I feel like I have saved money, and who doesn't get excited over that??!

Point being, while I can appreciate a great deal, I am not looking to hear how you spent nothing on food because of FD and so on. I think that is awesome! But not really helpful to me if I go when that isn't offered. Now I have saved $1,000 less then I actually need, see?

So my question is for all those fluctuating items. How much did you spend, total, on..

Food? For how many people? How many days?
Hotel? How many days? Where? Number of rooms?
Flight? From where?

Thank you all, in advance for reading and taking the time to help a complete stranger enjoy a vacation that you get no benefit from. It really shows how self-less people can be!

I can understand wanting to know how much to budget for everything but if you're asking for my personal experience, it's not going to be much help for you.

Why? Because we are empty-nesters, so we aren't paying for our kids to vacation at Disney. We fly out of Philadelphia and pay for our tickets with points. We get one room at a deluxe resort at convention rates and stay only 4-5 nights at most. I could show you exactly what we paid for food and wine for two adults but what good would that do you?

 

[mitchwebb]

I'll play since we are both west coaster with the same in family numbers. This was a 9 days 8 night vacation. (2008 trip)

$2000 - 5 x 400 Air
$2300 - 8 nights $240 rent sun-fri 1 bedroom BW / 3 night Poly ($300-$320)
1500 - ticket 7 day with hopper (3A/2C)
$275 - MVMCP
$2000 - $250 a day (breakfast on the go in room/ one nice sit down)
$225 - each kid with $75 (came from change jar split three ways)

$8500.00 This was planned and saved for three years. Tickets bought a couple at a time with tax return money. Had $400 in Amex gift cards from points. $380 in Disney points from visa and a couple other gift cards. My girls are not big eaters and shared meals at sitdown resturants. I also brought some food from home since we had a full kitchen for 5 days. Easy things like mac/cheese, peanut butter, bagel, cheese sticks ect...

 

[momto2inKC]

It's kind of hard to help you out without some more info. Ages of kids, time of year, onsite or offsite, rental car or hotel transportation?
It's easy for you to get an idea of the costs yourself. Go to the Disney site and input your info to get a quote. For offsite, go to a generic site like Travelocity and search hotels. Tickets are basically the same price regardless of where you get them (unless you go when YES is being offered, you can save on tickets with that program).
As far as food, we always do the dining plan, paid or free. Are you wanting counter service meals, sit down restaurants, bring your own lunches, a combination? It really depends on your style of dining. The menus are available here on this site so you can see what prices will run you if paying out of pocket.
We always rent a car, under $100 for 10 days usually. Too much time wasted waiting on buses. It's crazy really how much time having your own car saves.
Our trips have ranged from $1200 (1 adult, 2 kids, free dining plan, Pop Century, 10 days, 10 day base tickets) to $2600 (2 adults, 2 kids, paid for dining plan, 9 days, POFQ, base tickets) and several trips in between those package prices.
Airfare usually runs us $170-$300 a person, depending on time of year, specials, days we travel, etc..

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I would seriously look at staying in a 1 or 2 bedroom at a place like Bonnet Creek where you can eat some of your meals in the condo.

I've seen this place mentioned many times, but unless I'm bouncing off the wrong websites I haven't been able to find any real "deals". Better pricing than a comparable Disney resort, but still way more than many other places I've found that are pretty close to Disney. Anyone have any specific links to these great Bonnet Creek deals? I feel foolish not finding them myself

 

[SnowPeas]

I don't know how old your kids are since you said see above and there is no mention of your kids above....

There is far too much to consider for anyone to tell you what YOU should do. I don't know your budget, your choices in foods, your preferences, whether or not you are willing to eat breakfast in your room, if you are renting a car, etc.....

Dawn

SO sorry!!! What a ding dong I am. The kids are 11, 9, and 7! Also, if you remember I did not ask what you think *I* should do, I asked what YOU do. I, too, do not know my budget, whether or not I will eat in my room, if I am renting a car, etc. Hence me asking the question about how YOU vacation.

Also, all of the researching in the world will not tell me what you, specifically, do. I am no dummy, I fully understands that I will not be doing EXACTLY what you do. I get that I will not be going on your family's vacation. I am searching for real figures, from real people who took real vacations. I have got the rest covered!

 

[juliebug]

i am budgeting 4,000 for our family of 4

i am pretty sure i will be coming home with money, we are staying at POFQ free dinning hopefully i only spent $99 on plane flights

 

[angelat]

Hi there! I still have my spreadsheet from our last trip in August 2011. The trip was my husband, myself, and our 13 year old son and 12 year old daughter. I can give you the breakdown of what we saved for and then what we actually spent. I also want to recommend that you visit http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm This site is very accurate for food pricing and may be helpful for you.

We always stay offsite in a condo outside of Disney. It's in Windsor Hills Resort and we rent through www.vacationcentralflorida.com It's a Sat-Sat stay which is the only drawback if we want to go say Wed-Wed. This last August we drove our own car from PA to FL so that won't help with airfare...sorry.

What we budgeted for:
Condo: $902.81
WDW Tickets (4day YES Tickets) for 4 adults: $571.56 - we got 1/2 day free
Food at parks: $225/day = $900
Food/extras for condo: $100
Souvenirs:$100/pp = $400
Parking (at parks): $60.00

We ended up spending just about $100 per day for the four of us on lunch, dinner and snacks at the park. We ate breakfast at our condo each morning and ended up spending $125 at the grocery store. We only spent $42 for parking because the one day we were there very early for our YES class and they didn't charge us for parking and the last day we were comped a half day and got there late afternoon and they also didn't charge us for parking! Since we saved almost $500 on food we spent a little more on souvenirs and came home with some money too!

I agree with budgeting for more than you need. I do the same thing. If your children are old enough I'd also recommend the Y.E.S program for both the experience and the cost savings. Our kids had a good time and my husband and I both attended the class and enjoyed it as well. All together we saved $3100 for the 8 day 7 night trip with 4 day park tickets and ended up spending just a little less than that.

Good luck with your planning! I hope you have a magical trip!!!!

 

[SnowPeas]

I'll play since we are both west coaster with the same in family numbers. This was a 9 days 8 night vacation. (2008 trip)

$2000 - 5 x 400 Air
$2300 - 8 nights $240 rent sun-fri 1 bedroom BW / 3 night Poly ($300-$320)
1500 - ticket 7 day with hopper (3A/2C)
$275 - MVMCP
$2000 - $250 a day (breakfast on the go in room/ one nice sit down)
$225 - each kid with $75 (came from change jar split three ways)

$8500.00 This was planned and saved for three years. Tickets bought a couple at a time with tax return money. Had $400 in Amex gift cards from points. $380 in Disney points from visa and a couple other gift cards. My girls are not big eaters and shared meals at sitdown resturants. I also brought some food from home since we had a full kitchen for 5 days. Easy things like mac/cheese, peanut butter, bagel, cheese sticks ect...

THANK YOU!!!!!

This is exactly what I am looking for. Now I know that from SFO/OAK I can spend around $400 bucks for airfare. How much more expensive is it from my airport? Lets say for over exaggeration sake of an example, from my airport it will cost me DOUBLE that. Is driving to the bay area an option, and flying out from there? How much will I save doing it that way? I just want a starting point, friends, not for you to build my vacation for me or to make the decisions for my family and I.

 

[momto2inKC]

I just want a starting point, friends, not for you to build my vacation for me or to make the decisions for my family and I.

Then head over to the Resorts forum, there are threads over there where people list their trip info (hotel, how many nights, ticket type, etc...) and how much it cost them. I know i've posted a breakdown of several of my families trips on that thread, it's kind of a neat thread.

 

[SnowPeas]

Hi there! I still have my spreadsheet from our last trip in August 2011. The trip was my husband, myself, and our 13 year old son and 12 year old daughter. I can give you the breakdown of what we saved for and then what we actually spent. I also want to recommend that you visit...This site is very accurate for food pricing and may be helpful for you.

We always stay offsite in a condo outside of Disney. It's in Windsor Hills Resort and we rent through. It's a Sat-Sat stay which is the only drawback if we want to go say Wed-Wed. This last August we drove our own car from PA to FL so that won't help with airfare...sorry.

What we budgeted for:
Condo: $902.81
WDW Tickets (4day YES Tickets) for 4 adults: $571.56 - we got 1/2 day free
Food at parks: $225/day = $900
Food/extras for condo: $100
Souvenirs:$100/pp = $400
Parking (at parks): $60.00

We ended up spending just about $100 per day for the four of us on lunch, dinner and snacks at the park. We ate breakfast at our condo each morning and ended up spending $125 at the grocery store. We only spent $42 for parking because the one day we were there very early for our YES class and they didn't charge us for parking and the last day we were comped a half day and got there late afternoon and they also didn't charge us for parking! Since we saved almost $500 on food we spent a little more on souvenirs and came home with some money too!

I agree with budgeting for more than you need. I do the same thing. If your children are old enough I'd also recommend the Y.E.S program for both the experience and the cost savings. Our kids had a good time and my husband and I both attended the class and enjoyed it as well. All together we saved $3100 for the 8 day 7 night trip with 4 day park tickets and ended up spending just a little less than that.

Good luck with your planning! I hope you have a magical trip!!!!

Again, thanks a million for the responses. This is exactly what I was hoping for. Everyone seems to push on-site so much here that I didn't realize how much I could save on a condo. Roughly $900 for a place is a total steal compared to on-site, even if you factor in the cost of parking, gas, etc. I cant wait to check out what the YES progam is, never heard of it. Thank you so much for sharing, I sincerely appreciate it!!

 

[jodls01]

My best advice is to do as much research on the Disboards as you can. I started one yr in advance and got great strategies on the transportation board. I got great deals on a van, a standard car and airfare. I paid $109 ea.one-way airfare for 5 of us. I missed the $89 fares.

I rented a 5 bd house in Davenport for $90nt for 9 nts. All incl. Didn't
pay for pool heating because we usually don't have time to swim and Nov. weather is too unpredictable. A 10 min drive to WDW is not far and we stay in the parks all day. The 4 yr old naps in the stroller.

We got our TG dinner from Publix, 1 lunch at CP for 2 adults and 1 lunch at CRT for a family of 8. I make a big breakfast everyday and then we have sandwiches and snacks at the parks. We drink free ice water at the parks, but we do buget in adult drinks at Epcot.

 

[Marionnette]

THANK YOU!!!!!

This is exactly what I am looking for. Now I know that from SFO/OAK I can spend around $400 bucks for airfare. How much more expensive is it from my airport? Lets say for over exaggeration sake of an example, from my airport it will cost me DOUBLE that. Is driving to the bay area an option, and flying out from there? How much will I save doing it that way? I just want a starting point, friends, not for you to build my vacation for me or to make the decisions for my family and I.

TBH, those numbers are not going to do you much good. They're from 4 years ago. Airfare, tickets and resort costs have not stayed constant. If you want to know what airfare will be, then go online and check tickets from your airport to Orlando for the dates that you want to travel.

If you want to know what a resort room will cost your family, go to Disney's website, enter your dates and choose resorts to look at.

There are plenty of ways that people can help you to economize at Disney. But it really isn't possible, even knowing your kids' ages, to tell you what it's going to cost.

 

[crisi]

Again, thanks a million for the responses. This is exactly what I was hoping for. Everyone seems to push on-site so much here that I didn't realize how much I could save on a condo. Roughly $900 for a place is a total steal compared to on-site, even if you factor in the cost of parking, gas, etc. I cant wait to check out what the YES progam is, never heard of it. Thank you so much for sharing, I sincerely appreciate it!!

Don't forget that offsite and flying adds in a rental car as well, which wouldn't be needed onsite. Offsite may also significantly complicate your research efforts upfront - there are LOTS of condos (and pool homes) in the Orlando area - some of them are wonderful and bargains - and some of them are just cheap. (For instance, we had a inexpensive and clean condo on a non-WDW vacation, but I did have to sleep on the floor because the mattress was HORRIBLE.)

One option for you is to post your budget and probable dates (along with those kid's ages) and see what people here come up with in terms of a plan.

 

[SamSam]

Here's the link to the YES program:
http://www.disneyyouth.com/individual-enrollment/

 

[mitchwebb]

You can get a flight from PDX for about $500 round trip most months, just check Kayak and other search sites. Depending on the month you might be able to get closer to $400 but it depends on any special. With gas prices I would put it at $500 per person.

 

[EMHDad]

We are taking a 9night/10 day vacation.
(We live 2.5 hours outside Chicago)

$150 - Chicago Hotel Room(right next to O'hare) & Long Term Parking
$020 - Free Day at Museum of Science and Industry(Just parking)
$950 - Tickets for 4 people
$325 - 9 day rental of an Elite SUV
$700 - 8 night rental of a 4br house with pool
$600 - 8 day park hopper Disney Y.E.S. passes
$140 - Disney Parking
$200 - Food

Total Cost of 10 Day Vacation - $2895

 

[crisi]

Personally, I wouldn't "plan" on the yes program....I'd use it if it turned out to be available to me when I traveled. Tickets under the program are limited and spots fill fast, so do your budgeting assuming that you'll have full price tickets (or nearly full price tickets).