Need help!!!

[AMCPacerman]

I am a Disney FREAK with only ONE WDW trip to brag about. My wife has been FOUR TIMES!!! That being said, I shouldn't have to ad that we plan to go back. Here lies the delima. Last year we took her mother, step father, siblings, grandparents, and cousins. This time around we are not "newly weds", and the money is very tight! We plan to take MY parents this year, but my mother is not in the greatest health, and my father jumped out of too many perfectly good running aircraft for the U.S. Army, and has a new hip, and a new knee for his service. Obviously we want this to be as INEXPENSIVE, AND MEMORABLE as possible, as this will be THEIR first trip to WDW... And they're 60!!! We'd welcome ANY suggestions any other Disney fanatics have. I thank y'all for any help you can give us... One thing I'm sure will cut costs, is to drive. I DO have one advantage... I am currently employed by Alamo Rent-A-Car, which I'm sure most DisFans know is the official rent car company of WDW! I think I can get a good deal on that.... The rest is in the air!!!! HELP!

 

[MiniGirl]

I'm not military, but I know many here are, so to whomever is in the know........

Can this family stay at Shades of Green if his dad makes the reservation? Can they buy their tickets there, too? Also, find out if your dad can be the Veteran of the Day. Each day a vet helps the WDW color guard with the flag retreat. There is no cost and I'm told it is a lovely ceremony and quite memorable.

Other than that can't think of anything off hand. When are you going? WDW is beautiful at Christmas. You could spend a day resort hopping to look at the decorations -- no cost to you.

Do you have kids? There is a free campfire and sing-a-long at Fort Wilderness every night. Lots of fun!!

I look forward to hearing what others have to say as well.

 

[tinkandpan]

If your father qualifies for Shades of Green- he can indeed make all the reservations for the family to stay there and that is a HUGE cost saver. If there is any doubt about his qualifications, you can just give a call over there- i say that because sometimes the website is really frustrating and finicky. I don't believe he can buy the tickets for you, but he might actually be able to buy them for the minors. We've always had AP's so when we travel with my parents (who are the qualifiers) we've never had to purchase our tickets.

 

[Aliceacc]

Here's a thread I started for other newbies; there may be something there to help: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1715551

 

[Darcy03231]

Since you will have a car I would rent a house or condo and stay off-site. We did this last summer and saved a lot. We ate big breakfast in every day, brought some snacks into the parks and came back in the early afternoon and had an early dinner. We went back to the parks at night and would maybe get an ice cream or something. I rented a 5 bdrm/3 bath pool home that was about 15 min from WDW for $700/wk (including all taxes and fees). I didn't count the food we bought as I would have had to buy food at home. The house had a grill so we grilled out a lot and kept the meals easy. Our first night there we made enough tossed salad, pasta salad and potatoe salad to last a couple of days and then just had to come back and grill some meat. We also did a couple of casseroles we would make the night before so we just had to put them in the oven when we got back (and we made them in foil pans so cleanup was really easy).