Need a reality check

[robr]

thanks... still working this. i'd rather stay on site, but realistically 4 of us staying in a 1 room hotel, we'd kill each other if we had to shut lights off at 8pm when the kids go to bed and wife and i had to sit in the dark and go to bed also. so i'm looking for something with a separate bedroom. i realize i didn't bring this up before, but I hadn't thought that part through. i'm pretty sure i cant afford a 1BR suite on site but am waiting for more info back from the travel agent.

 

[5forDis]

Hi Robr-I hope you are feeling better!! We are flying Jetblue out of Boston to Orlando in April for $250 per person roundtrip. I like that it is a direct flight.

I was looking around for flights in February & JetBlue had vacation packages (not during Presidents Week but before and after) that were really reasonable. I priced it out for myself and 3 kids (12, 10, 6) & it was going to be $1100 with flights/onsite Value hotel....did not include dining or park tickets. If the price is causing you to then maybe you should wait a year and space out buying park tickets from AAA. They have a small discount on tickets and you could spread out that initial sticker shock. I find the park tickets to be the most costly. If I go in February with the kids....big IF...then I will get us Annual Passes & make use out of them every time I see cheap flights out of Boston or Manchester . We are Disney Crazies, though , so I love being there.

Timing is really everything in making a Disney World vacation. I loved when my kids were little and I could pull them out of school---can't do it any longer, my son has decided. He doesn't like missing the work, making up the work, and the guilt he feels. Now, we can't take advantage of January/early February... I have to revolve around the school calendar. Your children are young enough to miss school (totally my opinion...others will definitely disagree).

Keep checking the Disney site or ask a travel agent ( we used Small World Vacations for our cruise planning & were very happy) to help you. If you have a AAA membership, you could go there and talk to them.

I think Disney requires only a 20% deposit so you could start paying small amounts now for a January 2013 trip (it will still be magical) & surprise the family at Christmas 2012.

Avoid Martin Luther King, Jr weekend in January. Early December is nice, too, with the decorations up, but the crowds much more tolerable than Christmas week.

 

[Forensicmom]

I was just reading your post and wanted to add my two cents worth.

We had NEVER been to Disney before and last spring I started trying to convince my hubby that we needed a family vacation. The kids are 7, 10, 12, and 17 and we have NEVER been on a vacation out of the state before. He suggested Disney and I was totally against it. I hate crowds and screaming kids (ok, other peoples screaming kids, sorry). After looking at many options, he kept insisting on Disney and that if we didn't do it now, we never would. I gave in and we started planning. Since we knew this was probably our only trip there ever, we wanted to do it right. We definately splurged but it worked. We stayed for 6 nights/7 days. We had two adjoining rooms at the Wilderness Lodge but we would have stayed all in one room if we couldn. It wasn't too crowded in the rooms, even with 4 kids and suprisingly, the all got along (most of the time). We all stayed together in the parks. NO one split up, except to use the bathrooms, which I found to be the absolute cleanest ones ever.

Definately plan out your days with what the kids and you/wife want to see and do. We used www.touringplans.com, which gave my DH the app on his phone with the ride wait times. It was a HUGE help. We rarely waited more then 10 minutes for a ride.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[robr]

Well, I pulled the trigger last night. We'll be there 2/12-2/19 and are staying at the Bonnet Creek. The only major purchase I have left is park tickets. Doesn't seem these are discounted much anywhere. Undercover Tourist appears to be the cheapest by $2 or $3. I signed up for the mousesavers newsletter which I understand can save a few more bucks, but it was after the 15th so it's too late. Would anybody be able to PM me the UT savings link or email me the newsletter please? My email address is my username without the 'r' at the end AT nema dot com. Thanks for all the help.

BTW, my original $2K budget is laughable. I'm at $3500 now for airfare, hotel, car and with park tickets being about $1000. I can thank Obama for this one, I was expecting to pay $5-8K taxes this year, instead it was $500.

Now the strategy planning begins.