I don't have exact dollar amounts but those probably would not help you anyway, since your vacation and mine would be very different based on family size, the ages of the children and how long you stay in Disney. So instead, I'll offer some advice that has helped me to keep costs down.
Breakdown your trip into various budget line items. The simplest would be:
- Transportation
- Accommodations
- Tickets
- Food
- Misc. Spending
Then ask yourself how you can do each of those in the cheapest way. For instance, you might be able to get offsite accommodations cheaply, but then you would have to add the cost of a rental car or other transportation from the airport if you fly. Or you probably won't have a kitchen if you stay onsite, so the cost of food will be higher. So, don't neglect to take how each of those line item decisions will affect the others into consideration.
After that, look into ways that you can fund each of those expenses.
For me, the transportation (airfare and rental car) is pretty much taken care of by credit card rewards.
For accommodations, I have begun renting DVC points from the people I know, mostly because I prefer onsite and also because all the kids are over 18 now and that's an "extra adult" charge that can really inflate the cost of a room at Disney. DVC does not care how many occupants are adults as long as you don't exceed the room capacity.
For tickets, I have been using up my non-expiring 10-day hoppers but I have also purchased discounted tickets at Undercovertourist.com by going thru the Mousesavers newsletter link. I buy the ticket with the biggest discount and then use it once before going to guest services at Disney to upgrade it to what I need. Disney will only charge the difference between the gate prices for the two tickets if you have used the
UT ticket at least once and you upgrade within 14 days. My brother works for Sieman's (sponsors of Spaceship Earth) and he gets tickets at a really deep discount thru them. So you might also want to check with your human resources department to see if they sell Disney tickets. He was able to upgrade those tickets to APs with the DVC discount last November. He's going back for 4 weeks this summer on those same APs.
When it comes to food, there are several ways to save.
You can make a quick breakfast in your room.
Grocery services will deliver anything you want to have and you can carry a small cooler into the parks with your lunches and snacks.
- You can buy the Tables in Wonderland card if you own DVC, have an AP or are a Florida resident and get a 20% discount on table service meals and some resort counter service.
- Restaurant.com often features gift certificates for House of Blues and Swan/Dolphin restaurants.
- Check Groupon and similar websites for Orlando eateries if you're staying offsite.
- Join rewards websites like Mypoints to earn restaurant gift cards to be used when you go on vacation.
- Sign up for restaurant rewards programs like the Landry's Select Club (Rainforest Cafe, Yak & Yeti, T-Rex) and get rewarded during your birthday month and special extras like free appetizers or desserts with your meal.
- Share counter service meals if you have light appetites.
- Bring a sports water bottle and ask for a cup of ice at your meals so that you can refill the bottle. The ice melts over time, your water stays cold and you spend nothing for it. If the taste is of Disney water offensive to you, use filtered bottles like the Brita bottle.
My misc. spending is covered by whatever is in my change jar. I save all of my change and $1 bills. I can accrue quite a bit of cash over the course of time. It also keeps me from overspending in Disney. If I don't have the money saved, then I don't spend it on "misc.". You can also ask anyone who gifts the kids for their birthdays to give them Disney gift cards so that they can buy souvenirs on their trip.
Just remember that you always need an emergency backup fund when you're traveling...especially when you're with kids. I never go away without some spare cash and at least one credit card to cover unexpected costs like being stranded at the airport or a child needing medical attention.
Good luck with you're planning. I hope your budget trip comes together. You might want to check the
1 Year to SAVE!!! thread to see how others are funding their trips.
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...we took crazy amounts of spending money and I cam home home with a lot of food and spending money leftover....we spent so little on this trip I wanna start planning our next one...
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