Just starting to plan...HELP please

[kanga24roos]

I'm just starting to plan my familys third trip to Disney. We haven't been in 5 yrs. I decided to just bite the bullet and plan it now because my youngest who was not quite two the last time we went and he doesn"t remember and has been peading with me to take him sooo... any ideas on how to get a family of 6 to Disney (Me , DH DS(15)DS(12)DS(9)DS(7)) as cheap as possible. Any discount tickets? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

 

[pyrxtc]

rent DVC points and stay in a 2 bedroom, go during off-season if possible, buy your tickets from Undercover tourist using the link through your Mousesavers e-mail, I would get the dining plan since I know kids of the age that you have can really eat sometimes and you can get a good deal if you book lots of buffets as your sit down dinners.

Alternatively, you could book 2 rooms at the All-Stars and try to go during free dining but that would just give you counter service meals and no sit downs or buffets. those would be paid for out of pocket.

More information is needed if you want more detailed help. What month do you want to go ? Will you take the kids out of school ? Do you all want to be in one room ? Does if matter if you are on site or off ? Are you flying or driving ? Renting a car ?

If you go DVC, you can take a taxi to the store or have food delivered since there is a full kitchen in the two bedroom and you could have some meals in your room.

 

[kanga24roos]

Thanks
We plan to drive as flying and renting a car seems more expensive. In the past we stayed off site at a suite hotel that slept 6 and had free full breakfast. We are planning to go the last week in April 2012 which is school vacation for NH. I've thought about getting 2 rooms at value resort but not sure. Any other suggestions?

 

[mommycrawford]

They now have "family suites" at the All star Music resort...I don't know if it is cheaper than two rooms, but you get a fridge and microwave.

Sign up for a vacation planning video...it is believed that you get on lists for discount offers that way.

Maybe the doubletree guest suites has a good price at that time of year, and it shuold accomodate you all, or maybe you have CC points you can use to offset the cost?

 

[mickeymaker2003]

If you can sign your kids up for the YES program, you could all be eligible for discounted tickets.

 

[princess&her4princes]

We are a family of 5, on one income, so I get trying to do it cheaply. The last couple of trips, we have found that the free dining was HUGE for us! We do it off season, typically in September, the crowds are less and the dining plan has been free. We order snacks/case of water for our room from Garden Grocer and have it delivered, my DH and I both carry a back pack and have snacks for the kids in the afternoon that way along with water for us all to refill, saves a lot of money on the parks. We also have a big jar that we start saving all of our change in, you'd be surprised how quickly it adds up! Last trip we managed to save a little over $300 in change in a few months, without any thought and the kids loved helping us save, every penny they found on the ground they always rushed to put it in our "Disney" jar(that we decorated together in Disney themed stickers). I have priced doing the vacation off site, but when you need to rent a car, pay for parking, I have found it not that much more to stay on property and enjoy the Disney magic every day and less worry about directions, etc. I hope you have a magical trip!!

 

[buzz2400]

It really depends on when you are planning on going. sometimes disney offers free dining in the fall which is well worth the money. You need to price it both ways, staying onsite vs. offsite. A few things to keep in mind when pricing: if you stay offsite you will need to pay $14 a day to park at the parks, there are quite a bit hotels offsite that offer free breakfast (in which you can bring baggies and take a few things for snacks during the day), with a car you can drive to walmart and buy snacks and even supplies to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some hotels also have frig and microwave for free. We just stayed at country inn and suites in lake buena vista for about $70 a night, free breakfast, free internet. Nice hotel. It was about $20 cheaper to stay offsite a night this time (we bought annual passes so parking was free at the parks).

You might also want to price it buy staying onsite, room only and then buying your tickets at undercovertourist.com. If you subscribe to newsletter at mousesavers.com they send you an email around the 15th of every months with a link for a more discounted ticket at this place. Also remember when pricing tickets at disney.com vs. undercovertourist.com, disney's prices do not include tax but undercover does.

 

[Disneygal27]

if you already know how many days you'll need tickets, I would suggest buying them as soon as you can. Disney increased ticket prices by about 11% this past week, and I believe discount places like undercovertourist still have a discounted price on them (for a little while at least). For the 3 of us (all adults) our tickets were about $150 more at Disney after the price hike. Don't rush into anything, but if you already know your ticket needs I would say buy now and save the extra $$.

 

[kanga24roos]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as I get further in the planning process. I do have tickets left over from our last trip 5 yrs ago but I'm not exactly sure how many days are on each. Does anyone know if they can be swpied at a Disney Store to see whats left? I also have days left on park hopper tickets I bought in 1995 are these still good?

 

[laura.anne]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as I get further in the planning process. I do have tickets left over from our last trip 5 yrs ago but I'm not exactly sure how many days are on each. Does anyone know if they can be swpied at a Disney Store to see whats left? I also have days left on park hopper tickets I bought in 1995 are these still good?

I think the tickets won't be good unless you had the no-expire option on them. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong please! )

 

[pyrxtc]

I think the tickets won't be good unless you had the no-expire option on them. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong please! )

yes, 5 yrs ago you had to buy the no expiration so they may be good if you bought this option. The ones from 1995 would still be good if you have days on them.

 

[walkdmc]

ITA with renting DVC points to get bigger accomodations, a kitchen and laundry...and more bathrooms!

Stop by a grocery store outside of WDW and buy bagels, eggs, lunch meats, bread, cereal, milk....whatever you need to feed that many boys!!!!! Since you'll have a car, you can eat off-property. I know a lot of people like Sweet Tomatoes or Giordano's Pizza (I think they have restaurant.com certificates). I'm thinking one of your biggest expenses will be food.

You can fill a smallish cooler with sandwiches to be eaten in the park. I'd probably rent a locker to store the cooler. Take your own water bottles and if you hate the FL water, take flavored powders to add. I think the QS places will give you fountain water and ice, no charge.

I love Undercover Tourist for tickets. I've used them twice and have only good to say about them.

Have fun!!

 

[PixieDust09]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with mamacheaps.com but she just posted a special that Country Inn & Suites in Kissimmee is offering.
http://www.mamacheaps.com/2011/06/5...campaign=Feed:+mamacheaps/oOaN+(Mama+Cheaps!)

It seems like a great deal but there are drawbacks to not staying on-site. This place will actually shuttle you to the parks...but as I write this I had to look at it again to see if it said to AND from parks. I'd definitely check into that before making any moves. But they do also offer free hot breakfast everyday too so that can help with the food expense. If you stay off-site you can't get the meal plan and I agree, that with that many kids and their ages, you might wanna look into that. I am also looking into planning a trip for my family so this thread is a good one for me too!

 

[kanga24roos]

Thanks so much that website mamcheaps looks awesome and I'm definilty going to explore that more however the comfort inn deal is only good for a family of 4 to upgrade for 6 castgs exgtra 90 a night which brings it in line with the deal at Buena Vista Suites i saw on dream res.

 

[buzz2400]

This looks like such a good deal but it states both adults have to be over 25 and my son will only be 20 at the time.