If you were spending $5000 on a Disney vacation...

[Nik's Mom]

We pay just over that amount for our trips. We have to pay at least $1000 in airfare, sometimes more than that. Then we stay in Deluxe resorts. That eats up much of our budget right there.

 

[shelby_36]

I know what I would do- I'd sell the package to one of you guys and go to Ireland for a month.

 

[Biscuitsmom31]

How do you get such cheap airfare? If we can get a round trip ticket for less than $300 per person, its a miracle. With 6 people, that gets expensive fast! I downloaded Ding but I keep getting a communication error message (??)

 

[shelby_36]

I just did a virtual reservation:

Moderate on site 10 day
park hopper 8 day
airfare from NC

2 adults 2 kids

No food, so souvies, no frills.= $4500

 

[Nik's Mom]

Hi Biscuitsmom31. I'm not sure if you're asking me, but if not, hope you don't mind me answering. We fly out of LAX via Delta Song airlines. In our trip from May 2005, it was just over $1000 ($1160 to be exact). TIckets were $290 per person rt. If you have Delta Song in your area, check them out.

 

[EasyGoing*]

Its good to see iam not the only one paying 2 arms and 2 legs to go,but i will injoy this trip. First time for me and my wife and we paid $6,000 ,and are trip is not untill May. We got the premium pkg.

 

[nicolemarie]

Thanks for all the input - $4877.46

5 nights GF main bldg concierge (Nov 26-Dec 1)
6 day park hoppers
dining plan

We let the kids pick one souvenir each (they have too many toys already) and we aren't really into anything to take home for ourselves. Between meal plan and concierge offerings, we shouldn't need any extra food money. So with tipping and incidentals, we should easily be within $5500. We've been to Disney many times before, we just usually try to spend less and go to some other places during the year as well.

Thanks again for all the input!

 

[The Sweetness]

Room tix/ dine pkg~ $3050
Rental car (10 days) $300
Gas~ $60
Tolls~ $40
2mugs~ $25
Mousekeeping $40
Souvies$400 (100pp)
Breakfasts, extra snacks, and 2 meals on the way and back~ $500
Laundry~ $10 quarters
Stroller~ $70 (8pd)
TOTAL~~$$$4495.00

This is for 8 nights at the All Star Movies with me, dh, dd15, and dd2. I dont think thats extravagant, but it sure loks like a 5Kvaca to me

 

[DMRick]

I'm going in two weeks for a week to Ireland..but we get to stay with our son, so the price is much less than Disney, even with airfare (airfare is cheap through the middle of March) LOL!

I know what I would do- I'd sell the package to one of you guys and go to Ireland for a month.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

Sooooo glad we bought into DVC after seeing what some are paying for just one trip! Probably the best purchase we have ever made.


Anyways, if I had $5000 to spend I would probably add on to my DVC using $2500 as a down payment.
Then stay DVC for 9 nights.
Extra $2500----drive down, staying with friends both ways. $400 on gas.
$1200 for APs for 3 adult, one child
all breakfasts in the room, some lunches.
meals at Boma, Kona, Liberty Tree, and Biergarten about $600.
boat and bike plan--$250
We don't buy alot of suvies.

 

[AnotherHappyHaunt]

How do you get such cheap airfare? If we can get a round trip ticket for less than $300 per person, its a miracle. With 6 people, that gets expensive fast! I downloaded Ding but I keep getting a communication error message (??)

I just check the airfare sites on a semi regular basis. It depends on where you are flying from. I'm flying from either Boston or Manchester NH, so flights are pretty cheap for me.

 

[AnotherHappyHaunt]

Geez how do some of you do it for so cheap? Is going from Canada more expensive? In may we went may 2 2005 for 10 days and it cost us total 8 thousand and that was staying at Pop .... I forget how much our hotel and flight were ... 7 day hopper plus was 1400 canadian for 4 park tickets 400 $ american for 4, 5 day park tickets to universal 175 canadian for 7 day car rental food was I dont know but I know 4 days into our trip we had already blew 600 on meals and we didnt eat alot.... shopped abit How the heck do you do it cheap ???

I would imagine going from Canada is more expensive due to airfare.

How do we do it for cheap?

Well, every family is different. We are two adults. Dual income. No kids. Our expenses are not going to be the same for a 5 day trip as a family of 6 is going to have for a 10 days trip.

We eat light, we don't do fancy meals (we do sit down meals, but not extravagant meals...maybe twice a trip will we do Jiko or something similiar) we don't do fancy bottles of wine. We have the occasional drink but not $100 bottles of wine.

We fly from Boston or Manchester. Obviously someone flying from Colorado is going to pay more for airfare. But still, we shop for cheap flights. We fly at odd times, either wicked early in the AM or realllllly late at night (we try to arrive before noon on day one, and not leave until 8:30 pm or later on the last day) We like it that way. Our return flight this trip was $54 per person and we don't have to leave Orlando until 8:45 pm.

We know we will be going at least twice a year so we buy APs. AP discounts are really good and knock serious money off the price of a room. Even in value season (when we usually travel) we are getting $70/night off the price of a deluxe. That adds up. It also gets us small discounts off food and recreation. Not to mention we don't have to buy hoppers every time we go.

We travel almost exclusively during value season and for shorter periods because we prefer a few short trips to one huge trip. We plan our flights so 4 nights etc. really encompasses almost all of arrival and return day and winds up being 5 days. Occasionally we'll go during regular season. But I would not be caught dead at WDW during peak season and holiday season?? I can't fathom why anyone would go during holiday season if they could help it. I know some people have certain jobs or whatever and they can't take time off but I know people who can go whenever who choose to...so to each their own. But you'll pay a lot less during value season. (and the weather is nicer)

We eat two meals a day usually. Three is WAY too many. The price of those meals varies depending on our mood. Some day we'll eat a nice nice meal (ala Jiko) and some days we just feel like having the sci fi dine in at mgm. Sometimes counter service is enough to overstuff us. We're feeding two of us, as opposed to someone feeding 5 people.

We don't buy a lot of souvieners. We don't need to buy toys and we really don't need any knicknacks.

 

[skooniebird]

How would you spend it? What time of year would you go? Where would you eat? How long would you stay?

Can you spend 5,000 dollars or less? I guess it depends on if you include airfare and things. For 11 people for 9 days including airfare, and using most every trick in the book, we did a moderate (deluxe eating though hehe) trip for 14,000.

 

[monte]

Hubby and I did it back in Sept/Oct.2002. 10 nights stay at the YC with the deluxe package, which included all table service meals, Circus De Soile (sp?), all activities included (parasailing was a blast) and the dinner shows. We loved every minute of it, but hubby said that we'll never spend that much again. lol

 

[2Xited4Disney]

I skipped over this sentence in my head

We fly from Boston or Manchester.

But as soon as I saw this one

either wicked early

I knew you were from around Boston



I love it

 

[athenna]

I skipped over this sentence in my head




But as soon as I saw this one



I knew you were from around Boston



I love it

Gotta love our wicked accents!

 

[twotoohappy]

How would you spend it? What time of year would you go? Where would you eat? How long would you stay?

$5000 to spend at WDW....hmmm,
$150 to get there
$0 to stay because of DVC
$350 for food
$4,500 left for Jellyrolls
That would be a wicked great week at Jellyrolls!

 

[AnotherHappyHaunt]

I skipped over this sentence in my head




But as soon as I saw this one



I knew you were from around Boston



I love it

And we just got back and we totally missed the blizzard!

An update to my budget about. We ended up spending way less on food than we previously expected because when we checked in to BWI, they gave us a free upgrade to concierge. So we didn't buy breakfast at all, and lunches were really light (ie. cheap) because we ate snacks in the lounge. One night the appetizers in the lounge were so good, we ended up not buying dinner.

Now I'm wicked spoiled though. I woke up this morning at home thinking...hmmm where is my breakfast? Where are my Boardwalk bakery cinnamon rolls...?

 

[cabowser]

We went in June 05 and spent 5 grand. Ft. Wilderness cabins, $1700, tickets 1200, transportation $1000 and the rest on stuff.

Now this started out as what was supposed to be just a trip for me and my son, but G R E W.

Next time, if I had $5000? Save it, use it for a big downpayment on DVC.

 

[Becky2005]

I was curious how this would play out for a family of 6, since we went this last summer and we spent about double that (we did go on the Premium plan though staying at the Contemporary!).

I just priced out the Cabins with a base park ticket and that is about $3,000 right there. That leaves us $2,000 to eat and do other things with and actually GET THERE (driving vs. flying because if we flying that's another $1,000 right there - if driving probably $500 for hotels, gas & food). I'm basing the $5,000 on spending AT Disney as opposed to both getting there and being there.

Nothing fancy really for us...it would be enough to get us there and get into 1 park/day and eat cheaply (because it's easy to drop $200/meal for a family of 6 if you do any buffets; sit-downs!).