OK here is my cheapest trip ever ...... brace yourselves.
History: Cast DH, myself, DDs at the time 8 and 5 and DS at the time 2. The summer of 2002 (July 4th weekend to be exact). Hubby was in the technology industry and this was after the bottom fell out. He had gone through three jobs and each paid less than the previous one. We were a family of five on a verrrry tight budget (I mean verrry tight), but we needed a vacation. Since he was at yet another new job with little or no vacation time, we almost had to pick a holiday weekend in order to have three days in disney parks, hence July 4th, knowing it would be crowded. Mind you I knew nothing about DIS boards or any such disney information out on the internet, this was by the seat of my pants.
We drove from AZ
We stayed at hotel with kitchette to cut down on cost of food (ie, not eating at restaurants or even disney cs). So the choice was Extended Stay America, a room with King bed (myself, DH and DS) and a pull out sofa (DDs) along with a kitchenette with 2 burner stovetop, dishes, etc.
We bought groceries on the night of arrival at local grocery store. (I did not count this in our budget since I would have done basically the same grocery shopping had we stayed at home)
We had three days at the parks. One day
Disneyland, one day California Adventure, last day split between the two parks.
We limited each child to, $10, yes $10, to spend in gift shops.
We had a blast!
Cost break down (this is from memory so they are estimates, but the total is what I really remember)
Tickets: Approx $225 for 2 Adults and 2 Children (DS was 2 and free). Disney was having a special that included a discount on adult tickets and one free child's ticket for each adult purchase. So the kids were free!
Hotel: Booked online with internet special - $250.00 for 4 nights
Groceries: As I said, I didn't count these as I would have bought groceries at home anyway.
Gas: Approx $ 75 (about three tanks for minivan and remember gas was much cheaper then)
Misc spending including kids $10 for gift shop and some disney treats while watching parades - $50
Total cost - $600.00. Woo hoo!
5 family members, 4 nights hotel, 3 days at disney, 2 happy parents, 1 great vacation.
Even with the huge crowds, we did everything we wanted (except Peter Pan, but literally just about everything else at the parks). The kids never complained or asked to buy anything extra. Their $10 got them each 2 items in the gift shops (they were very careful with their choices and pleased with making their money stretch).
Hubby has since gotten a much, much better and more secure job in his old industry, healthcare. We have taken much more extensive and expensive vacations, but this one still ranks up there with the best of them. And, I plan to ride Peter Pan during our next WDW vacation this January, which will be much different with split stay at AKL, wilderness cabin, ADR's and the whole Disney package. Though it still might be hard to top the cheapest and best Disneyland vacation ever!
.
