Need ideas for a budget trip

[ncbyrne]

What is the cheapest way for 4 (2 adults, 1 child (9), 1 child (13) to get a WDW vacation for 6 nights the last week in August? Assuming only breakfast in the room - onsite or off, makes no difference. We have enough accrued miles for free airfare. I just priced it out on the Mousesavers site and it's just more than I can afford this year.... I would reeeally like to make this trip possible for me, DD and 2 DGDs, but I must cut some more corners if this is going to happen. ANY tips on doing a really inexpensive trip!??

 

[Local_Girl]

If you are willing to stay offsite, you could certainly find cheaper accomodations--such as a villa at Cypress Pointe through Hotelkingdom.com that could accomodate 6 of you. You could also check into renting a condo or house offsite--some run under $100 per night.

Otherwise, you'd have to do 2 rooms onsite...unless you go with DVC or perhaps the new family suites in the value resorts (sorry--I don't know anything about these). The benefit to staying onsite is the ability to use Magical Express if you're flying, and the bus system so you wouldn't have to rent a car.

If you stay offsite and rent a car, you could do some meals back at the condo/villa in addition to breakfast which would save you more $$. I did note that you prefer to only do breakfast in the room.

I know you've been around the boards for awhile...so probably none of this is news to you...good luck finding a way to do your trip!! We're in the same boat too.

Oops...I misread your post...I see that you only have 4 in your party. You should do fine in one value resort room, and the info suggested by others is right on target, IMHO.

 

[crazelion]

If willing to stay offsite you can make happen. Staying at offsite hotel with a free breakfeast can save money. Eating offsite and sharing meals saves money to.

Staying offsite

Eating offsite it Ci Ci pizza others in expansive place to save money. Pick up coupons books at the tourist centers and gas stations they plenty buy one meal get one.

Driving to WDW in your car

While at confendence in July I stay at Hawnthorn Suites on 7601 Canada Avenue they have excellent hot free breafeast buffet. Toast, eggs, bacon, sasuage, grits, oatmal, ceral, milk and juice. That was enough hold me to dinner. They do offer AAA rates. I second hotelkingdom.com for finding a hotel from. Excellent customer service.

 

[denecarter]

There are only 4 in the OP... one of the Value Resorts would work with just one room. Kinda crowded after 6 days, but if that's what you really want. We won't stay offsite except for one night when we drive in so we can get an early start. YMMV.

Some people suggest the dining plan, but you can eat more cheaply just doing CS. There is enough variety onsite that you don't have to get bored with CS.

Sign up for the mousesavers and allearsnet newsletters and buy your tix before you go... there will be sometimes be a link in the newsletter for a reduced rate. Compare a couple of them to see who has the best deal factoring in shipping. We find the hopping add-on for tix to be worth it... others don't. At 9 and 13, the kids should have the stamina for more than one park a day but it does cost extra.

There are lots of threads with more info. Hope you can figure out a way to make it work.

 

[nbodyhome]

If the free dine package came out, that would be a good deal for you - 1 room at the Pop Century, tickets and then the food would be included.

The free dining has been out for UK residents, and for those who are staying at a couple of different resorts at Disney (they are able to book it onsite only).

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

The free dining plan was going on this year during the time you want to go, maybe they will offer that again. I always buy just the basic 4 day tickets , no add-ons like park hopping, much cheaper. When we stay onsite, we don't even rent a car.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Can you give us an idea of your budget?

Also, do you qualify for any discounts? AAA? Goverment, teacher or nurse?

If you stay onsite, you won't need a car, and can do Magical Express to disney and back to the airport.

Breakfast is easy to bring with you and do in the room.

Do you plan on going to the parks each day? A day off at the pool? Do you need park hoppers or 1 day 1 park tickets ok?

 

[sbpuckett]

I would also offer as a suggestion looking into staying offsite at a resort. We stayed at a resort about 10 minutes from the parks this fall and it cost us less than $300 for the week. It was a very nice resort as well.

 

[MKCP5]

go to marriott vacation club website. You can get 4 nights 5 days at the grande vista )beautiful) for $199 plus $100 (net $99) in free tix if you are willing to do their 90 min tour--we've done it, it wasn't a hard sell. we said no twice and they said okay take care. You can add a couple more nights for a small fee and it is a beautiful resort. Also, think about using your miles for hotel instead of airfare. SWest is dirt cheap to FL in August. We have been 3 years in a row for either $49 or $69 each way from New Hampshire! YOu might do better paying for hotel w/miles and paying for airfare Good luck!

 

[ceopamom3]

stayed off-site in 2Br condo through skyauction - $260/week
rental car (around $160 - rates are up now) figure - $200/week

tickets will be the biggest cost - around $800 for base tickets for the 4 of you.

If you make a quick first day run to the supermarket, and stock up on food and drinks for the week, and eat breakfast and some other meals in the condo, you can likely get by for $400 to $500 for the week total for food and perhaps a souvenir each.

Making you bare bones total around $1700.

If Disney offers free dining and you are OK at a value resort using all WDW transportation (this could be a long week with 4 ladies), you could come in slightly less for the 6 night stay - perhaps around $1400 to $1500 w/o souvenirs.

I hope you find a way to make the trip work for you and your family. Budget trips can be lots of fun, and the kids don't know the difference!

 

[jensen]

I know it's supposed to be less expensive to stay offsite, but IMHO it cuts down on the fun. I stayed off-site once and our resort only had one shuttle in the morning to the parks and one at night home. We used a taxi a lot and didn't end up saving much money. Stay at one of the values and take ME to get there (free) and use Disney transportation to get around (all free). Have garden grocer deliver some groceries to your room to make sandwiches and such. I always pack a suitcase full of snacks. Some of the CS restaurants serve really large portions (Tusker House in AK for example) so you can eat some meals on-site and share. Also, you can always order Dominoes or Papa Johns to your on-site resort. Check out mousesavers for some great money-saving tips.

 

[gottagodisney]

If free dining comes around again in 2007 it will most likely be announced around April for travel mid Aug.- end of Sept. You will pay rack rate for the room but you will not have to buy one thing out of pocket to eat!

You could also save by not having to rent a car if staying onsite. Just use magical express from airport. Take a box/ cooler/ with dry goodies for bfk. such as cereal, pop tarts, etc.

Good luck with your planning and saving

 

[englishteacha]

We stayed in a condo about 15 minutes away from WDW. It was about $500 for the week-7 nights. We rented a car from Alamo for $103 for the week-including all taxes. We bought our park hoppers through one of the Mousesavers deals in the newsletter. We ate breakfast either at the condo or at a cheap place along the way-there are lots of delicious breakfast buffets off site for about $5 a person. We saved about $1000 by staying off site, even compared to staying at a value resort. The condo had 3 bedrooms and 2 baths; certainly more room than a hotel room! We had one table service meal in WDW and the rest counter service. We were never hungry and we had lots of delicious food. As a previous poster said, you won't get bored eating WDW counter service! You can do a WDW vacation on a budget, I promise!

 

[kfeuer]

I would suggest checking out Skyauction (where they auction off unused time share units). On our last trip we stayed in a 2-bedroom condo 5 minutes off property for a little over $200 for the week. You would need to rent a car but the savings can make it worth it. Also, as others have mentioned by staying at a place with a kitchen it makes it easy to eat breakfast and dinner at the room. I don't cook on vacation, but sandwich fixings or pizza is cheap and easy.

Hope you can make this trip happen! We've really enjoyed our budget trips, I'm sure you will, too.

 

[OhioFamily]

I would first check out dreamsunlimited.com and ask them for a quote. Check out a value resort with the dining plan. With a 9 and 13 year old the dining could get most expensive...I know how mine eat. The best part about using them is that they look out for specials for you and will apply it later if a new special comes out...Just a thought

 

[Zoemakes5]

Just played with some stuff online......

WDW All Star Music resort from 8/25-8/31 (checking out 9/1) w/5 day non-hoppers=1491.38 if you book through Disney w/no discounts. For the length of your tickets, you'd probably need to get the tickets through Disney if you want to even be eligible for the free dining.

Room only onsite: 82-141 per night depending upon which nights and what hotel for the value levels.

AAA might make it cheaper, but you can't use AAA rate and be eligible for free dining, if it comes out. You can use AAA as a discount at various restaurants, and shopping though, too.

For me, I'd rather do less days and stay onsite. I'd also pick up the dining, as for the ages of your grand-daughters, it allows some really great dining options that they would probably really enjoy.

We're 5, so staying onsite isn't typically the best deal, as we have to bump up to a higher resort level or suite to get us all in. But, I have researched it and often it can be only about $100 difference when you add in parking and car rental for the time of the stay.
Sometimes renting points from DVC member and staying in one of the DVC's properties can be even cheaper, from the research I've done. I "think" they allowed the free dining for them last year, but I don't know. The good news staying there, though, is that you could make meals at the room without feeling like you were really going away from Disney to do it.

There are a bunch of ideas for reducing costs, like bringing food, relying on shuttles only, cutting back on days, staying offsite, cooking your own food, etc. Sounds like you're looking to find out how to do the "big trip" cheaper, in which case the ideas here would really help.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

Just played with some stuff online......

WDW All Star Music resort from 8/25-8/31 (checking out 9/1) w/5 day non-hoppers=1491.38 if you book through Disney w/no discounts. For the length of your tickets, you'd probably need to get the tickets through Disney if you want to even be eligible for the free dining.

Room only onsite: 82-141 per night depending upon which nights and what hotel for the value levels.

AAA might make it cheaper, but you can't use AAA rate and be eligible for free dining, if it comes out. You can use AAA as a discount at various restaurants, and shopping though, too.

For me, I'd rather do less days and stay onsite. I'd also pick up the dining, as for the ages of your grand-daughters, it allows some really great dining options that they would probably really enjoy.

We're 5, so staying onsite isn't typically the best deal, as we have to bump up to a higher resort level or suite to get us all in. But, I have researched it and often it can be only about $100 difference when you add in parking and car rental for the time of the stay.
Sometimes renting points from DVC member and staying in one of the DVC's properties can be even cheaper, from the research I've done. I "think" they allowed the free dining for them last year, but I don't know. The good news staying there, though, is that you could make meals at the room without feeling like you were really going away from Disney to do it.

There are a bunch of ideas for reducing costs, like bringing food, relying on shuttles only, cutting back on days, staying offsite, cooking your own food, etc. Sounds like you're looking to find out how to do the "big trip" cheaper, in which case the ideas here would really help.

nope, no free dining for DVC stays.