Is it possible to make Disney a budget friendly trip

[Momplus2]

I am aiming for our first trip in Sept 2014. The kids have never been and its been years since i went. We are driving down with parents, but i am responsible for our own costs. They are staying at the Disney Carribian Resort. Its me and my two girls, who will be 11 and 8. Now i can save 3200 by then, but i read that resort is more. If i stayed at another resort, can u get to one from another. What about tickets and what nots. I am hoping they have free dining again in sept 2014. just any ideas on how to have a budgeted disney trip and still have fun, is it even possible?

 

[islandtimect]

You and your girls will have a wonderful vacation

 

[Miss Britt]

Book as early as possible, to give you plenty of time to pay it off. If they release free dining after you've booked, you can apply the discount. That's what I did for my trip coming up this October, it will be nice knowing you'll have one less expense while you're on vacation..

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[Momplus2]

Yeah the kids have had a rough three years due to extreme family crisis. so this would be a nice surprise for them. just not sure i can afford the resort they are going to. hence why i asked if i booked another one ,can we all meet up to go to the parks together

 

[islandtimect]

You and your girls will have a wonderful vacation

Sorry. Their first trip will be wonderful no matter where you stay. Yes you can use Disney transportation to go btw resorts, but the system isn't designed to go directly from resort to resort. You generally have to stop at a theme park or DD.

The hotel you pick and number of park days you do really impact price. Park hopper also adds cost with little benefit- at least for our family. You can always book a package and if dining is later offered, or a room discount, your travel agent should be able to apply the discount. If its not offered you can save on food by bringing groceries and having breakfast in your room and bringing snacks into the parks. There are many suggestions on how ways to save on the budget board.

 

[Momplus2]

Thanks!

 

[dmoore718]

So, I would look into booking a value, like Pop Century. It will be more affordable for you and you can simply meet up with your parents at the parks and spend the day together, have all your meals together etc. If you want to ride to their resort at the end of the day with them to spend some time, you can and just grab a bus to downtown disney and then a bus back to your resort from there. I really think that you may not even need to do that if you plan to spend the days together at the parks. You will have a great time with your girls!

 

[Malibustyle23]

Like a PP replied already, although there is no direct connection between a "value" hotel and the other WDW hotels you can always go to a WDW park or Downtown Disney (DTD) using your hotel bus and then go directly to their hotel. Or everyone can just meet at the parks and restaurants through out the day.

If you stay at an All Star resort (slightly cheaper per night than Pop) you will have plenty saved up to spend the week there with your girls even if free dining doesn't come out for your dates. I would suggest not getting park hoppers or even the water parks and more to save money and honestly on a first trip the 4 parks, one per day is plenty to see and do. Especially if you get a package which will contain two admission tickets to Disney Quest and two tickets to play miniature golf. (Unless the benefits change next year). There is plenty of free or cheap things to do in addition to your park days you should be very busy with out needing to spend extra.

 

[Patience]

September is value season so that's budget friendly and Disney may offer free dining or a room only discount again next September. I think $3200 would be plenty as long as you aren't planning to stay for a really long time.

We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside (moderate) in September in an upgraded royal room, 2 adults and 1 child, with free table service dining, 5 nights, 6 days for $2000. I saved $100 off of that (5%) by paying for our trip with Disney gift cards I purchased with my Target debit card. Staying at a value will be less expensive than the moderate resort and, as another poster said, you can meet up with your parents for meals or whenever you want in the parks. To keep costs down, don't buy park hoppers and bring things to eat for breakfast in the room (cereal bars, protein bars, etc.). Also, don't go overboard with souvenirs. I see souvenir budgets on these boards that amaze me. My daughter is bringing a small amount of money that she received as a gift and my husband and I plan to buy nothing for ourselves because we just are not into Disney souvenirs other than the photos we take. I might buy a Christmas ornament. Maybe. Other than the maybe Christmas ornament, the only cash we plan to spend is for tips and for our daughter's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment and Pirates League appointment. Those two things are totally optional. We are bringing a dress purchased on sale at the Disney store for the BBB appointment and a pirate princess outfit I purchased online for Pirates League.

Have fun planning!

 

[Spunky946]

You can go onto www.disneyworld.com and price it out for next October now. That should be close.

 

[Momplus2]

Yeah but the reservations site is closed for the night

 

[sb682]

You can absolutely have a budget trip! It might mean some changes to your plans, but you won't feel like you're missing anything, especially if you've never stayed on-site before. We don't have a huge vacation budget, but that doesn't stop us from having fun.

Have you thought about staying off-site? The Wyndham Bonnet Creek is right next to Caribbean Beach but technically not on Disney property. They are a timeshare property with 1-4 bedroom units with full kitchens, several swimming pools, mini golf, and lots of activities. Their shuttles don't run as frequently as Disney buses, but if you'll have a car the parks are very easy to get to. We are paying less than $100/night this September for a 2 bedroom unit. Some people also find fantastic deals on rental houses right next to Disney World. If your parents would go for it, you could possibly find a house (some even have their own pools) to share and use the money you save on the room to spend on food and souvenirs. Go to the Orlando Resorts board here for more advice on booking a room.

We are planning on saving money by eating breakfast in the room almost every day and getting pizza delivery or making an easy dinner or two. We've done this before and budget about $75-100/day for 2 adults and 1 child's food. I have a Target card, so I buy Disney gift cards there to get 5% off. It really adds up. I saved $100 on our annual passes that way.

I buy snacks on sale at home and bring them on our trip. Raisins, Goldfish, granola bars, trail mix, pumpkin seeds, almond/peanut butter packets, applesauce pouches, juice boxes, even candy for DS. We still buy a few treats when we're there, but they are the truly special things you can't get just anywhere. We carry Brita water bottles and fill them from fountains and with the free ice water at CS restaurants.

We do 1 or 2 TS meals a trip, but we'd rather just get something quickly from CS and be back on the rides as soon as possible. If you do a TS meal, I'd choose a character meal that features some characters your girls really love. You won't waste time in line waiting to meet them later on, and time is money, right?

You have a year to plan and save and decide what matters most to you and your kids. There are plenty of Disney budget blogs and the budget board here on DIS, so make sure you use them. You'll have a great time.

 

[SEA333]

Plan and research!!!! The five of us (DH, me, DS13, DD10, and DS7) are going for 4 nights/five days in November with early flight arrival on the first day and late departure on the last day, for $2515.75 out the door, everything covered including free DDP and roundtrip flight. We chose POR because there are 5 of us, are only going because the DDP is free (saving $1000), opted for 3-day tickets and pool/relaxing days for the arrival and departure days, and looked at the cheapest days/flights/times when choosing the dates so we were able to book roundtrip tickets, and one checked bag, for the five of us for $628.52 out the door.

The only other money we will be using is less than $100 for a 5-day rental car (DH works for Hertz Corp and gets a big discount), and $500 tip/spending money. The kids are each getting a $50 gift card they can use any way they want. I very highly doubt that DH and I will use the entire $500.

 

[PGHDisneyfan]

If your folks are willing to pick you up at your hotel it make things a bunch easier! Pop century, all star, the Wyndham bonnet creek and even the double tree are all less than $100. The double tree is $79 during off season and is just down the road from DTD. I would thing Pop or All star might work best, with tickets through undercover tourist to save a bit more. You have no flight costs, no parking costs, and maybe just a little for fuel unless the folks are paying. Our 7 day park hoppers for 2 adults and 1 child with our baby being free was about $1000. Hotel at a less priced resort maybe $700-$800 with taxes. If you can make it over to Target or Walmart and pack a few lunches and breakfasts food costs should be roughly $500-600. That leaves roughly $1000 for misc fun and surprises.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

If you will be driving to WDW just use the car to get around from resort to resort or to the parks. Although I would ride the bus to MK. The parking at the theme parks is free if you stay at a WDW resort.

 

[tlh0726]

Definitely would stay Value resort to save money on the room cost.

You can use Disney transportation to meet your parents at whatever park for that day.

This being your childrens first trip, I would not add park hopping or waterpark options. Just to much in the parks to see and do. save the money.

Pack snacks (plastic pencil boxes keep things from getting squished in a backpack) to eat as your walk or wait in line.

Can you share meals? We tend to snack more than eat while on vacation. Alot of times we will order 2 adult counter service meals and split with the kids. If your family are light eaters you could split 2 meals between the 3 of you and save some $.

We have never done a character meal so I cannot offer any advice on those. Personally I cannot justify paying the $$$ for food my kids will end up not eating. We just meet the characters in the parks.

Apply for a Disney visa card. We charge everything and anything we can to the card. For this to work, you need to pay the entire balance in full each month. The points we earned has paid for alot of our expenses each trip.

 

[honeybunches]

You'll have so much fun with your girls! I would do as PP said and stay at a value. My daughter's favorite resort of all is POP. Since you are riding with your parents, you'll need transportation to the park and the buses are so easy to go back & forth. We don't really buy anything while we're there....maybe one small souvenir per kid. My kids just don't ask so I don't encourage it. Since you have plenty of time between now and then, you could also try to earn some gift cards on MyPoints, Swagbucks, etc. I am getting some Landry's cards for our Yak & Yeti res. Enjoy the planning and the trip!

 

[Paigesmom2013]

A budget trip is definitely possible and can be fun. But I would stay at a value like others said. We are staying at all star music this September for $517 for the week (booked with promo code thru Travelocity.) We miss out on free dining, but I had bought discount tix thru DH work anyway before free dining promo was announced.)
And maybe if your parents want you guys at their resort, they will pay the difference from what you would pay at a value.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

Even if I could afford a moderate I wouldn't with young kids. They will enjoy the value resorts so much more. Pluse the mods area difference from avg $100 a night to $185 a night. A lot more vacation to be had.
That your parents for the ride, but no more then the value is grandparent friendly, is the moderates friendly to your kiddos first trip.

I can understand hey want a quieter resort, a little nicer furnished, but really your girls will enjoy a value so much more. A goodnight as you go to your resorts, then plan the next day loosely. Have a good back up if a cell goes dead where to meet.
(I had my cell in search mode for a blue tooth connection and it died)

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We like moderates and just want to say not all kids enjoy values more. My family did not enjoy all star music and my oldest who was only 4 1/2 at the time, only talks about all the misbehaving children who were not being supervised at the pool and how the lifeguards had to come three times to talk to various kids. It was August and the atmosphere of the whole place was a motel 6 set in the middle of a mall on a Friday night. It was "budget" but not for us. Not even our children.

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