How to do Disney, have fun, but on a budget

[nathaliabrown]

We are planning a trip for thanksgiving 2014. There will be 4 adults two kids. It will be my husband, me, my mother, SD 15 , DS 8 , DD 7. We have always stayed on site with the dinning plan. But financially we can not do that. We are in South Texas. So we will be driving there. Staying 5-7 days...not sure yet.

I h ave never stayed off site? Am I going to be overly disappointed? Any ideas?

 

[armmom]

While we love staying onsite, sometimes our budget won't allow it. We really have had great luck staying at WBC. It's close, the pools are wonderful, we spend a lot less since we have a complete kitchen and a washer and dryer in your room, and we have space!!!! A 2 bedroom(with a king, two queens and a sleeper sofa) only ran us 75 a night. And we had 2 full bathrooms!!!! We have 4 adults and 1 little guy and to us until we win the lottery this is the way we have to go!

 

[planning]

I would recommend checking out a vacation rental home from VRBO.com. I haven't done this but I've heard a lot of positive things about vacation rentals on these boards and I've seen some very nice houses that you can rent for an entire week for $700-$800.

Our trip starts in 9 days and we were going to get a vacation rental, but we found a Sea World package that was slightly cheaper since it included a free hot breakfast every morning and 1 day all-you-can-eat dining at Sea World and another at Aquatica.

There are 5 of us going (myself and my wife, 5yo son, 12yo son and 12yo son's BFF) and we got a 1 bedroom suite at Residence Inn Sea World for 8 days. Included in the room package was unlimited access to both Sea World and Aquatica for length-of-stay as well as the all-day dining at each park. total cost was only $1,192. We already had Disney tickets from a previous trip so that made things about as cheap as possible.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I've never done the dining plan but I have stayed off site twice. In the lower season it's not a problem at all, the parks close earlier anyway and it's less crowded so EMH doesn't matter as much. We stayed on Apolka Vineland and we were really close, there are a few hotels near there, the one we stayed at converted to a marriot so I don't know how it is anymore.

Some people like vacation homes and condos but I don't. I do not want to cook or clean (vacation is my only break from that) but if that doesn't bother you, it's a big way to save.

 

[Marionnette]

We are planning a trip for thanksgiving 2014. There will be 4 adults two kids. It will be my husband, me, my mother, SD 15 , DS 8 , DD 7. We have always stayed on site with the dinning plan. But financially we can not do that. We are in South Texas. So we will be driving there. Staying 5-7 days...not sure yet.

I h ave never stayed off site? Am I going to be overly disappointed? Any ideas?

No guarantees that you will not be disappointed. You're planning to go at a busy time. Traffic in and out of the parks will be horrendous. Sometimes staying onsite and letting Disney do the driving is worth the price.

I don't know if the crowds are expected to be so dense that there will be phased closures but you will want to be aware that offsite guests arriving in their own vehicles are the first to be turned away when parks begin to reach capacity. Thanksgiving Week is a 9 out of 10 in terms of crowd density according to easywdw.com. I know that a lot of people cannot avoid going during peak times, but it will help if you have a plan and a backup plan for each day.

Tickets prices are rumored to go up next month. Get ahead of the increase by purchasing your tickets soon. With a party the size of yours, you stand to save a considerable amount of money by getting them now. Make sure that you understand the return/refund policy at the ticket resellers. It helps to cover yourself in case your trip gets cancelled or someone backs out.

Plan a few quick dinners for in the condo that you rent. Expect to do breakfast there every morning.

Tell the kids that souvenirs are not going to be plentiful this time around. Give them a dollar limit and stick to it. You can always use the excuse that there's not enough room in the car for a lot of extras if you don't want to tell the kids that you're going with a limited budget.

 

[uccats97]

I have stayed off site quite a few times. I highly recommend VRBO. We have had lots of luck with renting through them. We have also stayed at Carribe Royale, Doubletree at Downtown Disney and Hampton Suites on Calypso Cay. Of these, Carribe Royale was our favorite. Very close to the parks and beautiful pool! If you subscribe to the Mousesavers newsletter there are usually discount codes available. We are a family of 6 so we need a big room or suite and all of these places were able to accommodate us. Good luck!

 

[MSSANDRA]

That is a very busy week. If there was anyway to stretch your budget to a on-site value that would be great. You can live without the DDP. If you end up off site, plan your days well. Most parks will open early that week to help with crowds so plan to be at the gate WELL before opening. Mapquest and be sure you know how long it will take you to get to the gate of each park. "Close to WDW" can mean ANYTHING. Also, don't forget to factor in your parking cost (15.00/per day) and extra gas.

Breakfast in the room, or if you end up in a house or condo, a HUGE breakfast to keep you all going will help a lot. Pass on TS this trip, and choose CS that you can split and stretch. Drink free ice water in the parks, and eliminate shopping this trip and apply that money to food or hotel. Pack food from home for the drive and avoid all the " new purchases" that many of us tend to make before a trip like clothes, mini totalities etc that are not absolutely necessary. We have not stayed off site in MANY years and have never stayed off site as a family but it is still WDW so you can be happy and have a great trip.

 

[wiigirl]

I have stayed off site quite a few times. I highly recommend VRBO. We have had lots of luck with renting through them. We have also stayed at Carribe Royale, Doubletree at Downtown Disney and Hampton Suites on Calypso Cay. Of these, Carribe Royale was our favorite. Very close to the parks and beautiful pool! If you subscribe to the Mousesavers newsletter there are usually discount codes available. We are a family of 6 so we need a big room or suite and all of these places were able to accommodate us. Good luck!

 

[Snoozan]

Guess I am different from most of the other posters - we stayed off-site only once and vowed would not again. It just did not feel like a Disney vacation. We would rather stay at Pop Century than off-site. We usually bring food to eat in our room for breakfast and snacks and than an early lunch in the parks. Supper is either in the parks or at the resort/DTD as counter service. We have never done the dining plan in our 20+ trips as we are not big eaters.

 

[shell8558]

We stayed offsite last year for the first time . We stayed at Wyndham bonnet creek - with a firework view! It was a beautiful resort and the pools and lazy river were great ! The location was wonderful also. The only thing that got me was paying for my dining everyday . Every year we have gone - we got free dining , so this was challenging for me to budget . We ate breakfast at the condo and would have either lunch or dinner there also . ( I just didn't realize that at counter service restraunts you had to pay for drink , fries separately . Big eye opener for me . And I definately didn't like paying for ohanas oop!!!! ( But i looked at it this way - i am at disney and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else !)

 

[crisi]

I don't think you'll be disappointed with offiste. Myself, I'd be disappointed with the crowds and would rather be just about anywhere than Disney over Thanksgiving (New Orleans for Mardi Gras would be my personal hell).

I've done a couple business trips offsite, and loved it. I loved the freedom to eat somewhere other than Disney. Driving wasn't the big deal I thought it would be. And I loved the value of offsite - so much cheaper for much nicer.

 

[jodls01]

Live in SA, too! We went to WDW for TG 2011 and the weather was the same as in SA. We have rented houses in Davenport using VRBO. We live in the medical center area and found that we could get to WDW from Davenport just as fast and easy as we can to Fiesta Texas. We have rented in gated (Legacy Park) and non-gated (Hampton Estates) communities and felt safe in both areas. I found that the map in www.orlando-maps.info to be very useful in locating communities and stores located on US Hwy 27 South, US Hwy 27 North and 192. We ordered a turkey dinner from Publix that is located next to Legacy Park and enjoyed a non-park day. A super Wal-mart, 24 hr. Walgreens and several fast-food places are all within 5 minutes of the area.

When we went to DD, we used Disney transportation to visit the resorts. The pick your own oranges place is nearby on US Hwy 27 North.

 

[crazelion]

I love offsite because I get a bigger suite room for cheaper that can sleep 5 without get a extra room. Also like that go restaurants that are cheaper and can buffet that does cost me arm in a leg to eat at.

This year we will be trying Drury Inn and Suites in Orlando that have free breakfast and kickback snacks that can be made into a light meal.

 

[blessedby3]

We were die hard on siters for years. This past Oct to save money (our dd23 had just gotten married in July and we were wedding poor...LOL) we stayed at WBC. We loved it! There was so much room to spread out and we generally drive to the parks anyway....so it worked out well for us.
My DH will never go back to those tiny hotel rooms again. We are a family of 6 (7 now with new DSIL) and 2 small rooms at POP are just too TINY.
Im not sure about how nice it would be traveling on a holiday and fighting the crowds, but in the off season we loved it