How much to budget?

[GirlDreamer]

I now, I'm just overly eager to plan, but can you blame me

I'm just trying to figure out how much to budget for our trip, and the numbers I've got down so far seems to be way more than we would probably need. I just did a dummy booking for a 3 week holiday in november 2013 since I can't price 2014 holidays yet, and the total amount for hotel and 21 days ultimate tickets comes to £2,415.35. When I book for next year, that should include QSDP too. But can I expect to get approximately the same price for 2014? Or how much is it reasonable to expect the prices will go up?

So far my budget looks like this:

Hotel, tickets, DDP: £3200
Flights: £1000 (this is for 2 adults, or should I budget more?)
Rental car £300 (this is based on the last trip when a 2 week rental cost just under £200, so hope to find something within the same pricerange now as well)
Other park tickets (Universal, Busch Gardens and maybe Sea World) £500
Spending money £2000 (which is probably waaaay more than we need since we're on the dining plan, but it's our Disneymoon, so I want to be able to spend some cash )

Also, am I right to assume that november is the best time to go for Christmas stuff at a cheaper price and with lower crowds?

 

[chmurf]

But can I expect to get approximately the same price for 2014? Or how much is it reasonable to expect the prices will go up?

prices will go up, deals might be phased out. We'll know in April.
Looks like you'd better book as soon as the deals are out this spring for 2014

Hotel, tickets, DDP: £3200

it will really depend on the deal, if you can get free basic DDP, or only QSDP
and you didn't mention what type of hotel you were considering. Even within the same category, there is a difference in price, especially if you wish preferred, water, or other type of location

Flights: £1000 (this is for 2 adults, or should I budget more?)

it could be enough if you're willing to fly indirect.
I've just booked indirect with US Airways for a little over £450 late october through mid november 2013
If you want to fly direct, then maybe you'll need to budget a bit more.
Where do you fly from ? Are you dead set on flying direct, or are you willing to fly indirect to cut the costs ?

Rental car £300 (this is based on the last trip when a 2 week rental cost just under £200, so hope to find something within the same pricerange now as well)

what kind of car ? (category)
for 3 weeks, a fullsize is priced somewhere between £420 and £480 (deals might change this, as well as who you rent with, this is just a longshot)

Also, am I right to assume that november is the best time to go for Christmas stuff at a cheaper price and with lower crowds?

as long as you avoid Jersey week and thanksgiving, november is a good time to go.
Christmas theming starts around the 8th.
Jersey week is on the first week of november, but this week will be far more manageable (crowd wise) than the thanksgiving week. You might want to get out of Dodge before the 24th (thanksgiving is on the 27th in 2014) or even before the 21st, as guests will be arriving en masse the following day.

ETA, the 3 weeks after thanksgiving also look pretty good crowd-wise. but it might be a bit more chilly

 

[2Tiggies]

I'd budget a little more for flights, even for off season. If you don't mind indirect and are flexible to whatever deals show up you may well get them for £500 but even on a good sale I would budget a little more just too be safe.

Your Disney package does not include Free Dining now, but without the dining offer there is actually room discount so the cost would actually go up if they are offering FD for your dates. There is also speculation that Deluxe resorts will no longer be offered the DDP but only QSDP (this is all speculation however) and you would have to pay the upgrade cost if you wanted the regular plan.

I can't comment on Universal as we only do Disney

 

[scoobydooby]

Just to note. The most recent dining plan deals only offered QSDP at deluxe hotels.

 

[orangetiggs]

We fly 20th nov this year with virgin atlantic and im paying 1800 for wo adult flights and two child flights (child flights are 10% cheaper than adults)

So flights could be done for that

 

[MrRomance]

I now, I'm just overly eager to plan, but can you blame me

I'm just trying to figure out how much to budget for our trip, and the numbers I've got down so far seems to be way more than we would probably need. I just did a dummy booking for a 3 week holiday in november 2013 since I can't price 2014 holidays yet, and the total amount for hotel and 21 days ultimate tickets comes to £2,415.35. When I book for next year, that should include QSDP too. But can I expect to get approximately the same price for 2014? Or how much is it reasonable to expect the prices will go up?

So far my budget looks like this:

Hotel, tickets, DDP: £3200
Flights: £1000 (this is for 2 adults, or should I budget more?)
Rental car £300 (this is based on the last trip when a 2 week rental cost just under £200, so hope to find something within the same pricerange now as well)
Other park tickets (Universal, Busch Gardens and maybe Sea World) £500
Spending money £2000 (which is probably waaaay more than we need since we're on the dining plan, but it's our Disneymoon, so I want to be able to spend some cash )

Also, am I right to assume that november is the best time to go for Christmas stuff at a cheaper price and with lower crowds?

The only thing that I would say would be a little low is the flight prices. If this years prices are anything to go by for scheduled flights, then you'll be hard pressed to get flights for £500 direct for most times of the year. It's not impossible, but I would say it will probably be more than that unless you're willing to fly indirect or charter.

 

[MarkF0wle]

I think you're about right.

If you do get free dining next year which you probably will, if the price there doesn't have this years free dining in it it'll be more expensive as free dining rooms are full rate & without they generally aren't.

Flights, do-able. Flights this November, direct with VA or BA are about £460 each adult.

Everything else looks about right, I always tend to expect a 15% increase, which tends to always leave me with money over after which I would prefer to too little.

 

[GirlDreamer]

Okay, to answer your questions:

We're planning to stay at POFQ with the QSDP, we won't eat enough and isn't interested in TS restaurants anyway to do the normal DDP.

We don't care if we fly indirect, it's better to keep the cost down for us.

We live just as far from 3 different airports, which is Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.

For rental car, we usually go with the cheapest category, as that's plenty for us We normally pick up the car at the airport and return it there as well.

We're planning to book around april when the next offer comes out. Bus as someone mentioned, there's no more QSDP at moderate resorts? If that's the case, we might drop it and go value or something instead. The only reason we're doing free dining is because we want to stay at POFQ and have a hot tub available, the free dining is just a bonus

 

[2Tiggies]

You're quite similar to us then in your preferences and I'm not too worried about being out-priced for next year so I think you'll be fine.

It will be in your favour that you actually want to stick with the QSDP as well as being flexible on flights and departure airports. You just have to hold on now until they release the prices

You should be ok with what you are working on though. I would still budget a little more for flights, but that's just me

 

[GirlDreamer]

Thanks I wish that april would hurry up and come around so I can get a bit more started At least I start working again next week, so I have that to distract me

I'm really not sure how much to budget for spending money though. I think on our 2 week trip, we had about £1000 (maybe a little more) for the both of us, and that was more than enough last time. Now we're going for a week extra, so that means more shopping time for me as well

 

[OhanaSam]

We've budgeted $2000 for spending including the $200 giftcard, which is probably too much considering we have QSDP. But it's our first trip so we don't know how much we would spend. Plus there's lots of stuff I want

 

[scoobydooby]

I think if you are on a DDP so food is already paid for and not counting tip money, you can spend nearly nothing if staying on WDW property. I used to buy loads. Now I generally just spend on the kids as I've kind of got over the 'stuff'. That said. My 14 year old spent a lot on my CC at the shopping mall last trip, but that was all clothes I'd have bought at some point anyway. I know for four of us last year I took 1k (£s) exchanged and put a 2k (£s) credit on the CC before we left and I'm still in credit on my CC 5 months later. Of course, it's very possible to spend a fortune! Just saying its not essential.

 

[GirlDreamer]

Yeah I know. We won't need much money for food, as we're not fussed about having any TS meals, so we'll be happy with what we have for our QS meals. We'll only need money for off property meals, gas and shopping. And I guess we might just choose to go see a show like Cirque or whatever. But I think maybe if we'll aim to save up that much, then whatever we have left is a bonus that we can save for another vacation

 

[sarah4291]

Hi. We go on our Disneymoon (so just me and the future hubby) in July this year, so I can give you an idea what ours is costing, although we are only going for 2 weeks, and obviously it is peak times.

We are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, flying with Virgin Atlantic. With the Disney Dining Plan, and 14 day tickets that has cost us £5400.

We are not hiring a car, as we are using all Disney transport and hopefully Mears to get to universal.

We are doing Discovery Cove, which was £440, and includes Seaworld, etc. Our Universal tickets will cost £220 - thats 14 days, but only gonna go to each park once. We also plan on buying the fast passes for Universal and Seaworld, and the all-day dining for Seaworld.

Also got to add La Nouba on top of this...although not quite worked out the price for this, but Im thinking around the £80 each mark.

I know my Disneymoon is a complete different time, but hope it helps a bit!

P.S. We are also thinking of taking £2000 for our honeymoon!