My Disney Budget

[estherhead]

Seeing how things are tight for many this year and there are often questions of just how cheap you can do Disney, I've decided to post my real Disney budget for this year. Most things are already purchased, though obviously food isn't yet, those are estimates.

We are going for 10 days, 9 nights starting on Thanksgiving. We are a family of five, but we will have a baby who doesn't need tickets for air or WDW. Instead of staying at a value resort, which is what we could afford, we've opted to rent a 5 bedroom house 2 minutes off property.

Here is how it breaks down:

Rooming: $1078.00 (this includes taxes, etc.)
7 day park hopper & water parks tickets: $1182.00
Airplace tickets $884.00 (this includes taxes, etc.)
Parking at WDW $99.00
Rental Car $159.00
Groceries $150.00
Dining at Disney $363.00 (yes, it's specific as I've picked out what I think we will eat, it may actually be lower than this as I was generous.)
Dining elsewhere $300.00
Homemade Matching t-shirts $100.00

Total: $4215.00

We have $250 Disney rewards so this is what all souveniers will be bought with.

Did I miss anything?

I do think $4215 is an expensive vacation, but the truth is we can afford it. And for 9 sunny days with my family, it is worth it to us. And it is as budget as I feel comfortable with considering I have a 6 & 7 year old & an 18 month old. I need the extra space of having a rental house. $119.00 per night isn't too bad, right?

What are you all spending for real?

 

[Gymbomom]

Family of 4: Me, DH, DD (11), DS (7)

10 nights, 11 days

CBR
10 Park Hoppers with Water Parks
10 days of dining

= $3003.00

Airfare: $200 x 4 - had $400 in gift cards from employer so OOP = $400

Tips and extras = $750

Total OOP = $4,153

 

[preschoolmom]

I think the Disney Commercials are Very Misleading.

I have an excel spreadsheet that I'm estimating absolutely Every Dollar for our next trip in 2010 - and No matter how I do the numbers, for a family of five - staying off-site vs. on-site - dining plan or no dining plan, I always come up with a trip budget between $4,000 and $5,000...

That is just what it is going to cost us.

We can go longer if we stay off-site. If we eat cheaper off-site, we can spend more on park hoppers, etc.

My budget includes driving down (from Chicagoland - so two days in the car) - food, boarding the dog, every expense associated with the trip.

 

[cepmom]

We are a family of 5, DH and I and our three girls (two of the girls being "Disney" adults) Here's our budget for our trip in August....

airfare $0.00 *
Port Orleans 4 nights (AAA room only) $490.48
Port Orleans 3 nights (free dining) $874.99
rental car $186.00
gas for rental car $50.00
airport parking $55.00
park tickets $1,065.00
food at Disney $475.00
food in transit $50.00
food at grocery store $45.00
tips(Airport Valet $5 ea way) $10.00
tips(curbside check in ~ MCO) $15.00
tips(Mousekeeping) $35.00
souvenirs $50.00 **
quarters for laundry $10.00
Disney Visa Rewards credit $(35.00)
leftover Disney gift card $(75.00)
SR Disney gift card $(50.00)
total $3,251.47

* we had 4 free flights from SW Rapid Rewards and my Mom had leftover TTF that she couldn't use
**DH and I don't buy much for souveniers and the kids will have their owm money for things they want.

 

[mavslab]

7 nights at POR room only- with code - $840
7 nights at POR room w/Free dining & 7 day park passes - $2148
Gas, hotel (1/2 way) for 2500 miles roundtrip - $800
Food/drink for drive & first week - $400

Total $4188 for 14 days of fun!

We have $550 in rewards for any food/drink in park, souveniers

 

[starbox]

7 nights at POR room only- with code - $840
7 nights at POR room w/Free dining & 7 day park passes - $2148
Gas, hotel (1/2 way) for 2500 miles roundtrip - $800
Food/drink for drive & first week - $400

Total $4188 for 14 days of fun!

We have $550 in rewards for any food/drink in park, souveniers

I've got to know - how do you feed your family of 5 for 7 days for only 400$?

 

[brymolmom]

I've got to know - how do you feed your family of 5 for 7 days for only 400$?

I'm not the one who posted that, but I wouldn't think it would be too difficult - especially given they will have a car to get groceries offsite. Since they're getting free dining the following week - I'm assuming they are saving all their more expensive meals for that week - and going low end the first week. Couple bags of bagels, 2 boxes of cereal, a tub of cream cheese and milk and yogurt would be able $20 - $25 total for breakfasts for the week. Splitting counter service meals and bringing snacks and water into the park fromt the room - and some days bringing sandwiches for lunches. Then for dinner - going offsite for takeout pizza or subs....That could keep it to $400.

 

[twooley2]

this is a preliminary budget for june 2009 family of 4
8 nights
accomodations 672.35 (offsite)
plus tickets for 5 days 258.20 X 4=1032.80
food budget= same amount we would pay for disney dining plan= 50.00 a day a person =1600
driving 800.00 gas price roundtrip
Been given a budget of 7500 to make work. May take a side trip to Universal or Busch gardens for 1 day

 

[tink2dw]

People who are flying and checking Baggage don't forget the NEW charges for checked bags, 1st bag is $15.00 SECOND is $20 and so forth as the exampes don't go further than 2 checked pieces.

 

[delmar411]

this is our budget for a family of 6 for 8 full days.

airfare: $970
food: $1550 (we're using our DDE card, 6 TS meals w/ one being CRT)**
tickets: $0 (we all have AP's already)
room: $0 (we have DVC)
spending money: $300

total: $2820

If I did a very simple breakdown of what our room 'cost' us for the trip it would be $516 (cost of DVC/50yrs+yearly maint fees/# of nights used this year*# of night in this trip).

IL's are paying for the Christmas party and BBB for the girls as their Christmas gifts. The boys will get some pirate stuff or whatever they are wanting as their Christmas gifts so I think $300 is more than generous for some t-shirts and maybe some special Christmas items.


**I really want to cut this down as much as possible. 1 big meal per day and then basically snacking around should be sufficient and I'll do a grocery shop for the room for any b-fasts that we dont' have an ADR for as well as a couple light and easy dinners.

 

[tink2dw]

Sweat Shirts over the head at disney are $48. per person, hoodies Are $78. per person, so fix budget accordingly. Tee's $52.00 to $48 for Adult Tee's.

 

[delmar411]

Sweat Shirts over the head at disney are $48. per person, hoodies Are $78. per person, so fix budget accordingly. Tee's $52.00 to $48 for Adult Tee's.

Where are you shopping!?!?!

I haven't paid that much for any of those items. The t's I bought were about $20 each and that was this year.

 

[delmar411]

People who are flying and checking Baggage don't forget the NEW charges for checked bags, 1st bag is $15.00 SECOND is $20 and so forth as the exampes don't go further than 2 checked pieces.

Depending on your airline that is. We're flying Airtran and still get a free bag per person.

 

[estherhead]

I think the Disney Commercials are Very Misleading.

Yes, that is one of the reasons I wanted this up. Last year we did All Stars with free dining for the 5 of us (baby still a baby, so basically 4 of us.) We stayed nine nights & got water parks & more tickets without the hopper. Our total to Disney was $1600.00. And that included food, which included tips. I was thinking that the advertisements were dead on & kept telling everyone what cheap vacation WDW was. Oh, and we got an amazing deal on airfare & rode the Magical Express so the whole thing really was like, $2500 for 9 nights with food & airfare.

Then this year we couldn't got then. When I started researching Thanksgiving I just about had a heart attack. Plus, being onsite without free dining felt like we were trapped with expensive food. And I didn't want to pay that much to all be in the same small room.

Thus, our offsite decision and our expanded budget. But I did want to verify that everyone else's "budget" trips were in line with mine and I wasn't crazy or being somehow ripped off.

So thanks to everyone for posting. I'm feeling better now.

 

[mavslab]

I've got to know - how do you feed your family of 5 for 7 days for only 400$?

Because my mom lives in Orlando and she has a kitchen

Now you'll ask why it's so high....

because I figured in for some eating out too.

 

[kadesha]

5 day base tickets, 5 nights at Pop, dining plan - $1884
MVMCP tickets - about $200
Gas - $200

$2284

All money more than the total will go for souviners.

 

[suprgrlx]

7 day park hopper & water parks tickets: $1182.00
Airplace tickets $884.00 (this includes taxes, etc.)
Parking at WDW $99.00
Rental Car $159.00
Groceries $150.00
Dining at Disney $363.00 (yes, it's specific as I've picked out what I think we will eat, it may actually be lower than this as I was generous.)
Dining elsewhere $300.00
Homemade Matching t-shirts $100.00

Total: $4215.00

We have $250 Disney rewards so this is what all souveniers will be bought with.

Did I miss anything?

I'm not sure if you have your tickets bought already (though maybe it doesn't matter). But I was wondering if you've given any thought to one of you getting an annual pass. According to Mousesavers:

7-day park hopper + water = $335
Annual Pass = $477 (+$106 for an annual water park pass, if you're planning to use it.)

Price difference is $248. However, you'd save the $100 for parking, you'd get access to valet parking if you're eating at a resort, you'd get access to the AP dining discounts (not counting the DDE, which you'd be eligible for), merchandise discounts, as well as other stuff. AP holders also get discounts for the water parks, so if you were only going to go twice you would not pay the $106, but rather $75 for two admissions (for the AP holder) and your total extra cost would only be $120.

Anyway, maybe it wouldn't be worth it, but it's something that might be worth considering. Even if you have already purchased your tickets, you may be able to upgrade one of them, so it may still be possible. If you don't think it's worth the extra money, then you've only wasted a couple of minutes looking at that site.

Plus, it was much easier to convince my DH to go back this October since "we already have the AP's and they'll expire soon....".

 

[suprgrlx]

This is our budget for our upcoming October 10-18 trip (me and DH):

Hotel - $845 (splitting an off-site condo with my sister)
Car - $295 (we're splurging and getting a Prius )
Gas - $30 (that's about what we spent for 10 days in the Prius in Feb)
Tickets - free (we got free AP's with the wedding in February)
Plane - $490
Food - $800 (we're going to a couple pricey places, but have DDE, so hopefully it's not much more than this!)
Souvenirs - $200

Total: $2660

The tickets is obviously a big expense we managed to side-step. I'm also hoping to get a good AP rate at a value and maybe get to stay on-site for even cheaper than this. We could also do the car a bit cheaper, but we had such fun with the Prius on our wedding trip that we were too tempted by it this time!

 

[livie1205]

family of 4 dh,myself,2 kids

5 nights AKL club level in dec
5 nights ddp
1 day ticket

1800.00

PLUS 155.00 TO UPGRADE TO FL RES 3 DAY
160.00 FOR GAS (PRICED AT 5.00 A GALLON,JUST IN CASE)
125.00 FOR SUNRISE SAFARI
38.00 FOR BBB (FOR DD2)

TOTAL = 2278.00

I have put away 1000.00 for spending money already so with what I have put away (minus the safari and gas cost because I will pay separate for that) we will have 715.00 for extras....

 

[estherhead]

I'm not sure if you have your tickets bought already (though maybe it doesn't matter). But I was wondering if you've given any thought to one of you getting an annual pass. According to Mousesavers:

7-day park hopper + water = $335
Annual Pass = $477 (+$106 for an annual water park pass, if you're planning to use it.)

Price difference is $248. However, you'd save the $100 for parking, you'd get access to valet parking if you're eating at a resort, you'd get access to the AP dining discounts (not counting the DDE, which you'd be eligible for), merchandise discounts, as well as other stuff. AP holders also get discounts for the water parks, so if you were only going to go twice you would not pay the $106, but rather $75 for two admissions (for the AP holder) and your total extra cost would only be $120.

Anyway, maybe it wouldn't be worth it, but it's something that might be worth considering. Even if you have already purchased your tickets, you may be able to upgrade one of them, so it may still be possible. If you don't think it's worth the extra money, then you've only wasted a couple of minutes looking at that site.

Plus, it was much easier to convince my DH to go back this October since "we already have the AP's and they'll expire soon....".

That does sound like a great idea. Unfortunately, we do already have them bought. Oh dear.