Just Back From WDW

[Darcy03231]

Just got back from our trip We really didn't want to come home! It was just my mom and me and we had a great time. Since trip costs come up here frequently, I thought I'd post our final trip figures. I didn't include the souvenir costs because that will vary for everyone. Mine tends to be a bit on the high side because I love the Dooney Disney bags and Chamilia charms. Mom and I aren't big eaters and found that the portions at a lot of the Disney restaurants were large enough to split.

International Royal Palms – 3 nights $160.00
All Star Music – 7 nights $635.00
Rental car – 7 days $131.00
Titanic Experience tickets $32.00
Universal Orlando tickets $260.00
Groceries $80.00
(milk, cereal, yogurt, fruit, snacks,
napkins, plastic utensils, bowls,
water, wine, etc.)
Gas for car $18.00
7 day Park Hopper tickets $635.00
(purchased 6 day hoppers from
Undercover Tourist before the price
increase and then added a day when
we got there after using the tickets)
Airfare $458.00
Food $465.00

8/4 Lunch Cici’s $13.50
Dinner Bamboo Grill $40.00
8/5 Lunch Three Broomsticks $15.00
Dinner Café Osceola $40.00
8/6 Lunch International Food & $22.00
Film Festival
Dinner KFC $14.00
8/7 Lunch ASMu Food Court $16.00
Dinner Pecos Bill $22.00
8/8 Lunch Le Cellier $85.00
8/9 Lunch Yak & Yeti Café $22.00
Dinner ASMu Food Court $22.00
8/10 Lunch Mama Melrose $30.00
Dinner Nathan’s $10.00
8/11 Lunch Lotus Blossom Café $11.00
Dinner ASMu Food Court $22.00
8/12 Lunch ASMu Food Court $16.00
Dinner Toy Story Pizza Planet $11.00
8/13 Lunch ASMU Food Court $17.00
Dinner ABC Commissory $11.00
8/14 Lunch ASMu Food Court $16.00

8/5 Snack Ice cream $ 5.00
8/8 Snack Cheesecake $ 4.00

TOTAL $2,874.00

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

That's amazing you could eat that cheap!

 

[java]

How did you have dinner at planet Hollywood for $11? Do those figures include tip? Looks like you did a great job!

 

[Darcy03231]

How did you have dinner at planet Hollywood for $11? Do those figures include tip? Looks like you did a great job!

It was actually Toy Story Pizza Planet. I went back and fixed it. We split an individual pizza w/ceasar salad.

All of the totals included tips when we ate at sit down restaurants. I did have $25 restaurant.com certificates for the Bamboo Grill and Osceola Cafe, which I bought for $4.

 

[java]

It was actually Toy Story Pizza Planet. I went back and fixed it. We split an individual pizza w/ceasar salad.

All of the totals included tips when we ate at sit down restaurants. I did have $25 restaurant.com certificates for the Bamboo Grill and Osceola Cafe, which I bought for $4.

Great job!!!

This year we split lots and drank waters and ate offsite to save money. I would have had to pay over $250 for the Dining plan for us. We averaged $150 a day on snacks and food for 6 I thought that was pretty good! We ate at several sit downs. My cheapo restaurant is now Via Napoli! Oh and we found Pei Wei thanks to this board that was so yummy!

 

[Darcy03231]

Great job!!!

This year we split lots and drank waters and ate offsite to save money. I would have had to pay over $250 for the Dining plan for us. We averaged $150 a day on snacks and food for 6 I thought that was pretty good! We ate at several sit downs. My cheapo restaurant is now Via Napoli! Oh and we found Pei Wei thanks to this board that was so yummy!

I was actually surprised at how little we spent on food in the parks. We brought our own bottles of water in with us and just refilled them using the water fountains in the parks and ordered ice water with our meals. Since is was hot and humid we wanted to make sure we stayed hydrated so drinking a lot of water was a must. For snacks we had pretzels, trail mix bars and peanut butter crackers that we brought in with us. Breakfast was cereal, fruit and yogurt. Having a car (which we needed for US/IOA anyway) worked out great for us as we were able to hit the grocery store for the breakfast foods, snacks and water.

Last year we had the dining plan (DDP) for free and we both thought it was way too much food. Plus we had to plan our days around dining reservations. I doubt that we'll do the dining plan again as we both thought this was much easier, and better for us. I ended up losing 5 lbs and my mom lost 4 lbs.

 

[CluelessDisFan]

Great savings. But that sounds awful I don't want to go on vacation and lose weight. I want to enjoy and indulge in all the yummy food, I don't get to have at home. Oh well, to each their own.

 

[danceintherain]

I was actually surprised at how little we spent on food in the parks. We brought our own bottles of water in with us and just refilled them using the water fountains in the parks and ordered ice water with our meals. Since is was hot and humid we wanted to make sure we stayed hydrated so drinking a lot of water was a must. For snacks we had pretzels, trail mix bars and peanut butter crackers that we brought in with us. Breakfast was cereal, fruit and yogurt. Having a car (which we needed for US/IOA anyway) worked out great for us as we were able to hit the grocery store for the breakfast foods, snacks and water.

Last year we had the dining plan (DDP) for free and we both thought it was way too much food. Plus we had to plan our days around dining reservations. I doubt that we'll do the dining plan again as we both thought this was much easier, and better for us. I ended up losing 5 lbs and my mom lost 4 lbs.

DH is a huge dining plan fan, even though we can do it for cheaper otherwise. I'm thinking about splitting our next stay, so we can do the dining plan part of the time, and pay out of pocket for the rest, but I don't know if he'll agree to switching hotels, or even the possibility of switching within the same hotel.

 

[Darcy03231]

Great savings. But that sounds awful I don't want to go on vacation and lose weight. I want to enjoy and indulge in all the yummy food, I don't get to have at home. Oh well, to each their own.

We still had yummy food and enjoyed everything we had. I actually had budgeted a lot more money for food (I came home with almost $500) but we just didn't need it. We had filet mignon, grilled salmon, baked chicken, BBQ ribs, ceaser salad with chicken, taco salads, wraps, fish & chips, etc. We both typically drink a lot of water anyway so drinking water wasn't really a change for us. Neither one of us are big dessert eaters either, so that wasn't a change either. The weight loss was a bonus for us. I work a sit down job and my mom is retired so we both got lots more exercise than we normally do!

 

[ValpoCory]

Just got back from our trip We really didn't want to come home! It was just my mom and me and we had a great time. Since trip costs come up here frequently, I thought I'd post our final trip figures. I didn't include the souvenir costs because that will vary for everyone. Mine tends to be a bit on the high side because I love the Dooney Disney bags and Chamilia charms. Mom and I aren't big eaters and found that the portions at a lot of the Disney restaurants were large enough to split.

International Royal Palms – 3 nights $160.00
All Star Music – 7 nights $635.00
Rental car – 7 days $131.00
Titanic Experience tickets $32.00
Universal Orlando tickets $260.00
Groceries $80.00
(milk, cereal, yogurt, fruit, snacks,
napkins, plastic utensils, bowls,
water, wine, etc.)
Gas for car $18.00
7 day Park Hopper tickets $635.00
(purchased 6 day hoppers from
Undercover Tourist before the price
increase and then added a day when
we got there after using the tickets)
Airfare $458.00
Food $465.00

8/4 Lunch Cici’s $13.50
Dinner Bamboo Grill $40.00
8/5 Lunch Three Broomsticks $15.00
Dinner Café Osceola $40.00
8/6 Lunch International Food & $22.00
Film Festival
Dinner KFC $14.00
8/7 Lunch ASMu Food Court $16.00
Dinner Pecos Bill $22.00
8/8 Lunch Le Cellier $85.00
8/9 Lunch Yak & Yeti Café $22.00
Dinner ASMu Food Court $22.00
8/10 Lunch Mama Melrose $30.00
Dinner Nathan’s $10.00
8/11 Lunch Lotus Blossom Café $11.00
Dinner ASMu Food Court $22.00
8/12 Lunch ASMu Food Court $16.00
Dinner Toy Story Pizza Planet $11.00
8/13 Lunch ASMU Food Court $17.00
Dinner ABC Commissory $11.00
8/14 Lunch ASMu Food Court $16.00

8/5 Snack Ice cream $ 5.00
8/8 Snack Cheesecake $ 4.00

TOTAL $2,874.00

Nice total. Unfortunately, we are big souvenir buyers as well, so our costs would be more. And we have airport parking fees.

 

[ValpoCory]

DH is a huge dining plan fan, even though we can do it for cheaper otherwise. I'm thinking about splitting our next stay, so we can do the dining plan part of the time, and pay out of pocket for the rest, but I don't know if he'll agree to switching hotels, or even the possibility of switching within the same hotel.

It's such a pain to unpack and repack that we don't do the split stay. But I would do the DDP if I could apply it to certain days. It's just too many credits and money for how we eat.

 

[DOREEN1779]

Just curious, did you have ADR's for your dining? We are going next week. Last year we went at the same time and did not make any ADR's but was still able sit down at a number of various restaurants.

 

[danceintherain]

It's such a pain to unpack and repack that we don't do the split stay. But I would do the DDP if I could apply it to certain days. It's just too many credits and money for how we eat.

Yeah, the repacking/unpacking doesn't sound pleasant, but I'm sure I'd figure out a way to manage it. Maybe separate bags for each stay? Again, I doubt DH would agree on it, because he would have to put more thought into what he was packing and where.
I'm hoping our next trip will be around 10 nights though, so it really wouldn't be a HUGE deal, as I'd probably have to plan on doing some laundry anyways.

I really don't understand why DH loves the Dining Plan so much. We plan on a TS a day either way, and we end up spending less money paying out of pocket. I'm the one who usually wants dessert (which is usually big enough that he could have some) and we both order water. Oh well....in a year DS will be 3 and it will probably start making sense for us to get the Dining Plan again for a while.

 

[Darcy03231]

Just curious, did you have ADR's for your dining? We are going next week. Last year we went at the same time and did not make any ADR's but was still able sit down at a number of various restaurants.

We had ADR's, but I didn't make them in advance. I called Disney Dining when we were in the park that morning and I had my pick of several times for both Le Cellier and Mama Melrose's.

 

[TheRatPack]

That's awesome.....way to budget

We used to budget like that, and we stayed off site to save money and took snacks with us. We would usually have breakfast in the room, split lunches...etc.

My husband loves the pre-paid feel of the dining plan and he loves not having to drive the whole week so now we're always on site. Sometimes I wonder though, if we did it the 'old way' if we could squeeze in 2 vacations a year instead of one. I'm sure that answer would be a huge YES

Thanks for sharing your numbers.