My budget is $3000! Can I do it?

Miscoehill

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 6, 2004
Messages
373
OK, we decided this August is the time we can go before #1 goes back to college and #2 starts her senior year!

Like most people, I have a budget of $3000! Can I do it? I need hotel, tixs, airline and food. Any suggestions, would be greatly appreciated.

It's been about 4 yrs since we've been and we are having withdrawals!

Thanks!
 
Airfare- Try Jetblue, Southwest and AirTran for great rates.
Stay offsite at a Windsor Hills condo to save money on lodging and food.
Buy tix. from Undercovertourist.com using the mousesavers.com monthly newsletter link

Pack Kool-aid singles or iced tea/lemonade singles to add to the free cups of ice water offered at all cs places.
Eat breakfast at the condo and take some healthy snacks with you to the parks.

Hold on a minute... I just noticed that you posted almost this exact same question before but changed your budget from $2000 to $3000!
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2130422
I take it you were unable to go in July? I hope you guys can go this time!
 
the value hotels are just that....a value! check those rates, as that could save you a bundle. I've stayed at the Downtown Disney hotels too - got really good rates, and was able to save some money by staying there.


have a blast! :wizard:
 
No, we ended up not going in July due to field hockey camps. No field hockey this coming year, so we can go anytime!

Thanks for the info so far..keep it coming!
 

It will depend on how many days you want, of course. And what deals are out. If you are planning on late August, you may be able to get free dining.
We have gone the last 3 years in March, stayin once 4 nights, once 5 nights, and once 6 nights, and all were less than 3000 with airfaire. Just watch the deals, hope for a pin code, and you may have to limit how many days you are going. We have always stayed at Pop and love it. We have flown allegiant twice and the airfare is slightly less than some other airlines, but then we need to rent a car becasue we fly into sanford. I did some pricing for March (we aren't going now though) with southwest, and the 3 of us could've flown for $500 total. Spirit also usually runs specials as well.
Goodluck. I hope you can swing it. It will be super fun!
 
I think you can definitely do it for 3k but I'd jump on the free dinning while there offering it so your not digging in budget for food. Also see if you can all go and do the day of service. Then you can buy your package with one day less park tickets also saving some cash and if need be cut back a few days just a couple can save alot.

Good luck.
 
Or you could drive Alot of us do it! Your kids are old enough to split the drive up with you! stay on site at Value..DDP it would be cheaper than flying.
 
Well, here is our basic budget, which is just under $3000. I have two kids who are at adult prices so our costs would basically be the same as yours.

March 13-24, Pop Century, 10 day basic tickets (no park hopper or water park)

Hotel & park tickets: $1900
Airfare: $850
Food (groceries and snacks): $250

Total: $3000

We could get by with what I've listed above, but I've added a couple ADR's and BBB for my daughter and a baseball game for my son so our total will go significantly over $3000.

How are four people going to eat for $250?
 
Listen to this week's Podcast! Teresa :worship: is working on putting together a trip for under $2,500.00. She is discussing her progress on the weekly Podcasts.

Happy Hunting!

:disrocks:
 
I'm thinking we are on a roll! I looked into Windsor Hills, 750.00/2 bdrm; flights: 1200; car $250; food $250; so far so good. Just need to look into some tix for Disney. We do have water park left from 4 yrs ago and with a day at volunteering, we might just need a 3/4 day park pass.

I"m thinking we can do it! Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
 
I must say, that unless you are cooking your food each day, I think 250 is low too. Of course it depends on how long you are staying too. When I am on vacation, I don't cook. You can also get that hotle cost down more if you look on expedia. I looked on the Universal site for a hotel a week or so ago, and they had 5 nights fwith 2 free at participating hotels. I think you could get fairfield inn for about $250 and times that by 2 rooms would be $500.
 
Actually, it's one adult (me, I'm 5' tall and around 100 lbs) and two kids. I ordered groceries through a delivery service and that totaled around $220 and I added $30 assuming random snacks etc. It should be enough food (it's certainly more than what we eat at our house in a week). I have done this before and we ALWAYS end up with way more food than we need. Doh. I tried to be a bit more conservative this time.

$30 for random snaks for 3 people for a week? We spend that in a day or two for 3. We always get a kitchenette property w/bfst included and we do make a meal or two in the room Or get take out pizza. I can not imagine making it for $220 without any of the staples in my kitchen. You must eat some real simple meals. Why would you want to prepare every meal when you are on vacation? It would make me want to stay home.

OP-I think you'll need to drive and look for a great deal around DTD at a property with a kitchenette, bfst and small pool.
 
There are only 2 of us, so our budget will be different from yours because we have fewer people. Our expenses for our June trip so far are:
airfare: $450ish
Car: $170
Condo: $405
Food: $600 (I'm rounding up a lot here!)
Tickets: 9 days left on 10 day no expiry hopper tickets. We'll use 4 days and a Give a Day ticket. If we were to buy 4 day hoppers we'd be looking at about $500ish.

May I suggest looking at condos beyond Windsor Hills? We're renting in Grand Palms. It's a bit farther away (but not by much) and it's hundreds cheaper! There are several neighborhoods in the Lindfields section of Kissimmee that have condos and other vacation rentals. We will not cook in our condo, but we may have breakfast (cereal and such) and we'll keep snacks and sodas there.
 
We've done it for a lot less but not with eating in the park much and no airfair. Good luck! :goodvibes:
 
LOL... I think I know what my family likes to eat. :) The food I got is what we normally eat, minus of course things that need to be prepared/cooked. I have done this before on other vacations (including one to WDW two years ago) and we always end up with extra food. Thanks for the concern though. :) My children are used to eating sandwiches and snacks and cereal (they have a major love for cereal) and fruits/veggies so they'll be fine. I guess I'm lucky to have kids who will happily eat those things. We are doing a couple ADR's and I will buy them some junky stuff to break up the food drudgery! ;) Plus I'm sure I'll get them something yummy at the spring training game we go to. For me, I'd just rather spend the money on the BBB for my daughter and the baseball game for my son and other fun stuff rather than a dining plan, which would have added an additional $1400 to our vacation. :eek: We're also kind of crunchy hippie so by doing the grocery thing our diet won't drastically change... fast food/restaurant meals all day works over your digestive system pretty good when you're not used to it.

Believe me, two meals out and a baseball game and Disney World and a princess makeover and the Lego Store is much more fun than my kids normally get in 12 days, LOL. They'll be fine.
 
30 bucks for snacks in the park would go a long way with our family of four, would maybe not last for a whole 10 day trip, but for a 5 or 6 day trips, we absolutely could make it work. And if that was the budget for 10 days, we could make that work also. We bring in snacks and do the crystal light in the waterbottles. If we want to go every year or so, we need to budget. We do not get junkfood/snacks daily. We all pick a couple of gotta haves and that is what we get. example, I love dole whips so I get one of those, DS and DH loves icecream mickey bars, they get that, dd likes that way way way overpriced colored flavor sugar in a tube from the Downtown Disney candy store, so she gets that. See we all get what we want, just not every day. Why pay 6 bucks for popcorn when I can make it back at the room for MUCH less. Why pay 3 bucks for a soda when crystal light in a water bottle will quench your thirst better. We still have lots of junk food, but we hold our cravings for the room and pigout on soda, candy and popcorn there:). if we must.
I know a lot of people feel they are on vacation, lets live it up, and we do to in our minds, but moderation is the key for us. We would rather save our pennies to go more often than have a blow out trip. And this is from our experience....we had a luxury trip a few years back not at disney but somewhere else, and we decided it was not for us....nothing we did was ultimatly worth the cost. Yes the food was good, but was not worth the price we paid, hotel was gorgeous, but it was at the end of the day a place to sleep for a few nights. .
But we realize to each their own, we have friends who it is not a vacation unless they stay at the fanciest of resorts, eat the fanciest of foods and every whim of an 6$ premium icecream cone is fulfilled. So they go for a blow out long weekend/short week every year. We take many smaller weekend trips and at least one larger 10 day or so trip every year, some years we manage one large and one medium (5) day trip. We can usually do all of that for what they spend on their one luxury vacation.

Our kids learned from an early age that they are not getting everything they want. We go to disney to see the sites not to shop for the most part, so we simply do not spend much time in stores, that cuts way back on the "i wants". We do Tinkerbell gifts everyday at the room, so they know they will be getting a special treat so they feel special (I pick them up all year long at sales, dollar stores etc....and we have found that a simple piece of candy is usually the thing they are most excited about anyway).
None of this feels "budget" to us as this is how we live day to day. It feels luxurious to our kids cause they got a overpriced sugar tube , mickey icecream bars and a special tinkerbell treat left on their pillow each day in addition to riding roller coasters and visiting Mickey.

Again, this works for us and is our philosophy, we go for lots of experiences instead of one "luxury" trip. We have done the luxury thing and frankly it was not worth the money to us. We are happy seeing the castle without a 6$ snack in our hand, others need the snack. To each their own, it is a wonderful thing.

However the question at hand is can you do disney for 3 grand or under.....my answer is yes you absolutely can.
 





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