If you can help, might be able to save trip!!

[A1A1]

Hi. Things have changed recently making it very difficult for me to see how we can actually follow through on our trip this summer. Here are the plans:

Fly to Virginia (already paid for plane tickets)
Stay in hotel three nights (126.00 per night includes buffet breakfast)
Drive to South Carolina
Stay in Courtyard one night (80.00)
Finish driving to Hilton Head
Stay on DVC points at Hilton Head resort two nights(no charge)
Drive to WDW
Stay on DVC points at BWV one week (no charge)
Move to CR at great military rate
Drive to HH to stay on points two nights (no charge)
I will have rental car on American Express points (no charge except taxes and fees of $175)

Here's the budget:
(I have budgeted $50 per day for small child and self to eat. )
Food Totalling $1,000.
Park passes around $700
Other entertainment $200 - Promised dd I'd take her to Horseworld and Dolphin cruise.
Tips/gratuitity/parking/taxi to airport - $100
Gasoline - $100
Tax on rental - $175
Cash hotel resservations - $800

Total budget:
$3,075


Please help me pare this down. I need to get closer to $2,000. Is there any chance of that?

 

[tar heel]

Where in Virginia and SC are you staying? Unless they are touristy areas, $130 sounds VERY high. We do road trips a lot, and I can recommend some medium-price chains that are very consistent. You should be able to do a lot better than $130 without going "cheap." You could also ask your daugher to choose between Horseworld and Dolphin Cruise or eliminate both with the explanation that there's not enough $ this time, so you'll only be able to do Disney. (Kids need to learn this -- I told my son "no" b/c of $ about 10 minutes ago.) I'm assuming you're getting APs, right? If not, there may be some pass savings -- I think there may be special deal for military even.

 

[DMRick]

Looks to me that the only thing you can pare down is the cost of the hotels before you get to Disney, and the outside trips (horseworld, dolphin cruise). Most everything else you either need to have (park passes) or it's free. You could eat for a little less, if you do take-out types of food, P & B sandwhiches and cereal in your room, and food courts. You could stay at AllStars instead of CR..that would save some money, especially using a code. It's prob still cheaper than the military rate at CR, and certainly safe.
Not sure where you are from, or why you didn't fly directly into Dis...you would save by going directly and staying at AS (or use the points form Hilton Head for Dis) before your other hotels. If you booked with SW, they let you make changes for no charge (other than if the rates have changed). You could then shuttle into Dis and save the taxes on the rental car/gas..that's almost $300 right there, before the shuttle cost.
It's obvious from your last sentence that you want to stay in the hotels you picked..but if you do that, it's ties our hands at trying to help you get the prices down : (

 

[A1A1]

Thank you very much for your advice. I have been searching this site for budget information. I think I'm a lot leaner than most, well, not *me* particularly, but the budget, I mean.

I decided to take dd to ride the ponies for a couple dollars at Fort Wilderness rather than do the whole thing at Horseworld. Also, the dolphin cruise will have to wait for another trip. If I find that early on in the trip we have been able to "bank" a good chunk of the budget, I might consider adding these in. Also, I will grocery shop, and keep food in the room for cooking. Someone on another thread even suggested bring a small George Foreman grill. I don't know if that's something I could actually stink up my luggage with, but it's an option.

Am I being realistic about the money set aside for food? DD and I usually survive on nutrition bars. I usually eat one meal per day, a nutrition bar or two, and a light something at night like cheese and nuts. DD needs more real food, and I will give her everything she needs to be healthy. She needs more smaller meals for her little belly.

Also, We will be staying in Virginia Beach for the first five nights. I have considered taking a friend up on their offer for us to stay at their house. Not at all ideal, because we would have to sleep in their living room, and they have two early twenties boys. I don't know if that is right for my daughter or me. I wouldn't mind if one of the boys would give up his room, but don't feel comfortable asking for something like that. It wasn't offered either. The second location was a spot I picked from a map that seemed halfway to Hilton Head, Florence , SC. Do you know of anything else there?

I am very freakish about hotels. I am not the Red Roof Inn type now, with myself (female) and my dd. We have both gotten parasitic infections at a hotel before, and I am very concerned about this happening again. Nothing against Red Roof Inn or any other, I am just paranoid.

I guess the big questions now are

Park passes: how many days is enough? Can you do a disney vacation without the parks? Without water parks during the summer?

Are my numbers realistic for food? I will buy groceries.

 

[vcasey]

The biggest place it looks like you can cut is the hotels and I know you said you are concerned about quality but I would highly recommend Priceline. www.biddingfortravel.com will give you a very accurate idea of what hotels in the areas you are staying are going for as well as what hotel is usually granted. I'm a single mother with a daughter (not sure if you are but at least if I read correct you are travelling that way) and I was really fearful of priceline at first but a friend convinced me and now I love it. I stayed at a 4 * Sheraton hotel at LAX that I had a AAA rate of $90 for at Easter time ironically with Priceline I got the same hotel for $32. Do the research see if it works for you. Also keep checking sites like travelocity and orbitz, I've had hotels go down in price last minute.

Also regarding the food, if you are staying at DVC why not purchase some groceries on your way down? Since you are driving anyway there are far cheaper stores than the ones right at DD. But you should be ok with $50/day estimate since you said your daughter's 'small'. Mine's 9 and we did $50/day for food even before DVC. We tried to just do 2 meals/day and kept fruit and snacks in the room. I just joined DVC (my first trip 'home' is this summer) I'm hoping with the kitchenette to shave the meal costs even lower.

 

[A1A1]

Thank you for your help. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the concern of kind people.

DD and I will live on peanut butter, which I will bring, celery, carrots, cereal, nutrition bars, cheese and crackers, and other easy to bring stuff. I will cook in the room, eventhough I don't like to do that while on vacation, but if that is how I will be able to go, that's what I will do. I am wondering if I can get that number down even further myself. Since we will have the rental car, I will drive offsite for meals. I have never done that before. Someone suggested Wolfgang Puck Express for a quick bite at DD. We will probably only eat one meal out per day, so I hope to keep it under $50 per day for food.

I checked the rate for the first hotel. It is $111.60 per night and includes full buffet for both of us. If I back out the cost of the buffet, it isn't that bad, and may end up to be our one meal of the day, therefore, I can also bank the cost of the food for that day, or eliminate some of it.

I will check the sites mentioned above. Thanks again!

 

[idontknow]

$50 seems kind of high for the food, but I wouldn't bring it down any more. If you see that you are not spending that amount, then you can spend it elsewhere when you see fit.

The other thing I see you budgeting high is the park tickets. I'm not sure how long you will be at WDW. I see from you itinerary that you will be at BWV for 1 week, but didn't see how long at CR. If you have a disney club card you can get passes for 5 days for about $219 per adult. (unless my memory is slipping) Child's tickets are cheaper. You could spend about $400 on tickets saving you $300 from your estimate that way. (unless you are planning another trip within the year to take advantage of the APs) There is soooo much more to do than just the parks at WDW. You could make an entire day out of resort hopping, staying at the resort and swimming, Downtown Disney, Fort Wilderness, etc. You could stay on site or go off to play mini golf. (fairly cheap) If you can find tickets that include "pluses", then you could go to a water park and it would already be paid for.

Like the above posters said, the $130 a night at the beginning sounds a little high. Have you checked sites like hotelkingdom, expedia or travelocity for better rates? I know what you mean about being picky. Everyone has their own level of comfort. I, personally, will not eat at McDonald's. Millions of people eat there every day, though, so it can not be that bad, right? LOL But that is my level of comfort.

It sounds like you are going on a long trip. Don't forget to schedule some down time. That could be the difference between having a great trip and having a melt down, if you know what I mean......

 

[NancyIL]

For a limited time, you can order 5-day park hoppers with 4 plus options from Ticketmania through this link to Mousesavers: http://www.ticketmania.com/discountMOUSESAVERS.shtml

You could do the "plus" options (water parks) on non-park days - thus giving you 9 days of activities for only $440.

I also second the idea of using Priceline.com for your hotels in Virginia and SC.

 

[A1A1]

Thank you! I just tried priceline.com for the first time, and my offer was rejected. I bid really low, so that if the hotel was bad, I would not stay there, and wouldn't be out of pocket very much. I will have to wait the three days now before I can try again.

The $130 I mentioned at the beginning was wrong. It's actually 111.60, and includes full buffet breakfast for two people each morning. I thought if I took out the cost for the breakfast it wasn't so bad. I've been checking rates for other hotels in the area, and they are double and triple that rate. This hotel is not right on the beach, but right across the street, therefore, the price break from the others. You wouldn't believe it, but a Days Inn on the beach is almost $300 per night. This hotel that I've reserved is a historic beautiful place that Ive visited before, but never stayed in. I think it will be worth the extra, but will try priceline again for the SC hotel. It's only one night there, right?

I have planned another trip down next Easter with DD, so I originally planned to do AP's. That may not work out. I have to figure out how many days of use, etc, will make each pass option the best for me.

 

[wdisneyaholic]

My husband and I took a budget trip several years ago. For 7 nights we only spend less than $300 on food, the whole trip!! We ate at sit down restaurants and counter service. If I may ask, why are you staying so many nights in Virginia and the one night at the Courtyard? Seems like you could drive directly to Hilton Head and save the $70. Good luck on your budget.

You can also save alot on getting food at the grocery stores.

 

[Jen80370]

Did you say military rates? Are you active duty/retired? Why not rent the barracks at NAS Oceana (Virginia Beach) It is like $8 a day for active duty...or you could stay at Norfolk or Little Creek. There are a dozen military bases in that area and all of them rent barrack space to traveling military. Cheap, clean, save, and it takes $700 off your rate right there. Good luck!

 

[Jen80370]

Another option is stay in the Pembroke area of Virginia Beach. Only about a ten minute drive from the beach...but MUCH CHEAPER. The oceanfront hotels are swarming in the summer...reminds me of Daytona Beach during spring break. I lived there for four years when my DH was stationed there.

Good luck!

 

[A1A1]

I am driving all the way through, because I usually fall asleep after three hours. The drive is eight hours+, and I thought it might be too long for dd to sit in the car, as well as for me to drive alone. Florence, SC seemed like half way.

We are staying in VB to visit friends, and bc we used to live there. I want to show DD the naval base where we were stationed, visit our old house. Lots of things to do there. A mini vacation before our vacation, but it is actually something I absolutely *have* to do.


Jen80370---
I may call the bases to inquire about the places there. I thought I remembered something like that, but didn't know if we were eligible. Do you know who I could call for that?

I may just have to call the family friends to sleep on their living room couch. I really don't want to do that with DD. She needs privacy, I think. She'll never sleep like that.


wdisneyaholic--
what sit-downs did you eat at? I've just been checking menus, and noting the ones that I thought would be okay for us when we ate out. I am probably going to be doing a lot of mac n cheese for dd. If you did $300 for a week with two adults, I don't think my $1,000 is unreasonable, and in fact, I can probably go down a lot with just eating grocery store food.

I will definitely be buying at grocery stores. I figure a sandwich lunch or a cereal/egg breakfast can only cost $1-2 dollars per day. I only drink water, so I'll have to do a little detox off of bottled water before we go, so that I can just do tap water. At $2.25 per bottle, I could blow my whole budget on bottled water.


I checked out prices on expedia for the night I need in Florence, and the Microtel is rack rate of $53. That's already thirty dollars less than my Courtyard. I have stayed at Microtel before, and thought it was okay. Tiny room, but all we need is a bed that night.

Thanks for the input.

 

[bobcat]

As for food I always budget $50 per day for myself and DD 9 and DS 7. We never spend that much. We eat breakfast in the room, cereal/donuts/poptarts, usually counter service for lunch and dinner, although we always have a character meal and a couple of sit down lunches in there as well. I bring a cooler full of fruit, bottled water, juice boxes, and sandwich fixings. Some days we will just eat when we go back to the park to rest and swim. When we go in the summer it is always too hot to eat much. For our drive down I pack a picnic and we stop at a rest area and eat. The kids also get a chance to run around a bit and are ready for more car time.

We bought a Brita fill and Go water bottle for this trip that has a filter in the top so we can fill up with tap water. I have a water pitcher here at home and I like this water better than bottled so this will work well for us.

We don't skimp on food while we are on vacation and we have always had more than enough money. Some of our favorite places to eat are at MK Cosmic Raye's, Columbia Harbor House, and we like to have a character meal at Crystal Palace. Check out the restaurant board for great ideas.

Don't be disapointed if you can't get APs this trip. Our plan last year was to buy them since we are going again this year. However I made a job change and didn't have the money last trip. We bought 5 day park hoppers and have a plus left for this trip. There are so many things to see and do that cost little or no money. Keep researching and you will come up with a workable plan.

 

[jgates]

OK, I'm still back on the $111.60 hotel room with breakfast here. My recommendation would still be to do something differently there.

1. Have you asked about military discounts at the motels? Often they have the most significant discount.

2. If you are Sam's member, their travel dept has codes that give fantastic discounts not even accessible by their own travel agents.

3. If you don't want the Red Roof, I have never had a complaint with Fairfield Inn by Marriott, Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn Express. (One HIExp the hot water broke next morning but they refunded 50% of rate). I also have really liked Comfort Inns. All four of these should provide a good continental breakfast that will fill you up. Country Inn & Suites by Carlson is also nice.

Regardless - don't just take the first rate at face value. AAA normally offers 10% off. Sam's has grabbed us 15% to 40% off of rooms. My girlfriend frequently gets 50% off for military but you have to ask and show whatever ID they have for him being retired. Do you have an Entertainment book? If your motel offers a 50% off rack for Entertainment book it might pay for itself very quickly. Check their websites - early this year Comfort was offering "home for the holidays" rates (went up thru memorial day even!) which allowed us any room (ON NEW YEARS EVE!) for $49. Only drawback-2nd floor rooms only - who cares. We ended up in a King w/fold out sofa-fridge-micro.

Traveling alone with child I would look for indoor corridors.

I don't do Priceline because I want to know where I will be before I commit. If you want to email me the specific destination with the dates I'll be happy to scrounge around for you to tonite. (jgates@discover-net.net). ?Or do I just check Virginia Beach?

I broke down and purchased the 10 day passes from Paramount International (they tried to deliver today but my dd had her radio to loud to hear the UPS man - AGH!!!!!) These were more expensive but will allow us to come and go more freely in the parks-we don't waterpark.

***WELL, these prices are ridiculous! They do drop about 40% if you get further away from the beach. If you have the vehicle the drive might more than pay for itself.

 

[tink2dw]

The tap water in Florida is really really RANK!! I swear it made Dd and me sicker than we have Ever been!!

I suggest either a Britta bottle,or at the Super Walmart[they are a grocery store too!!] sells AquaFina Bottled water which is NOT bottled in Florida. It cost $5.00 for 12 bottles[thats $.41 for each bottle] of water that have more oz. than the WDW ones. Also brush your teeth with the Bottled water!!!!!

 

[idontknow]

Since you are driving, why not pack a box of food from home? (coupons + sale = great prices. LOL) Plus, you could pack a cooler, too. Since all you drink is water, you could pack a case or 2 and just put what you need for the day in the cooler. You could also stop at grocery stores along the way to replenish your supply. Publix in Florida is MUCH cheaper than Gooding's, but Gooding's is the closest to most of the tourist areas. (hence the reason they are so expensive) A lot of people stop at the superwalmarts for food, too. By any chance, do you have one of those crock pots that isn't a crock? We have one that is actually 3 separate pieces. It has a heating base, then the part that holds the food and the lid. The reason I ask is because you can use the base for grilled cheese sandwiches, eggs, bacon, etc. Pretty much anything you could cook in a skillet, you can cook on the base unit. Mine only weights about 2lbs. I love mine, very versitile. (hmmm, making a mental note of that for our budget trip in the fall)

Hey Nancy, great catch on the tickets! I just read a post about them a little bit ago.

 

[jgates]

Fairfield Inn, Chesapeake which says 6 miles SW of Virginia Beach has $95 per nite for a King room. No military discount. AAA Rate is $69 per night! (I used 7/12, 7/13 & 7/14 because I didn't know your dates). Their rates are actually higher during the week - up in the $80's for AAA.

Weekdays at the Fairfield Inn in VB for 7/9, 10 & 11 run around $75 for AAA for the weeknights. (filled that next weekend).

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

DO make sure you ask if hotels have a military rate. DH is reservist and we have saved TONS on wonderful resorts this way! People can often not believe the deals we get ! I also like nice places and love to get the best deal !

 

[tink2dw]

taxi to airport - $100

Can you get this amount down?? Why do you need a taxi to the Airport?? Which airport?? Can you arrange something else??