Not sure if I can get this trip cheaper...

[Eeyore's Wife]

Anabelle,

The least expensive option would be to attend during free dining, which has historically been the last half of August and the month of September. Those dates will probably come out in March.

If you must travel in June, then I would suggest All Star Music. They have family suites that do not add an extra charge for more than two adults in the room, so you can arrange any "over 18" kids or grandkids in the space. In the same area they have regular rooms which sleep four.

With a group of 17 you would need four standard rooms at a value if one of the group is under the age of 3.

You could use three family suites or one family suite and three standard rooms.

Could you please tell us how many adults are traveling, individuals over 18, as well as how many youths age 10-17, and children age 3-9 as well as infants, those under three years of age at the time of the vacation.

For Disney, those 10 and over are adults when computing ticket prices, but still kids free in an adults hotel room. Those 3-9 get kid tickets and kid pricing for the meal plan. Under three, they are free into the parks, don't qualify for meal plan, and may stay in any room without affecting occupancy rates or cost.

You mentioned military tickets. Do you qualify for Shades of Green? Their rooms are very large and might be a better option for your group.

I agree with your father that staying on site is the best option. You will really want the flexibility of being able to come and go to your hotel, via Disney transportation. I also recommend the dining plan. It is not a vacation if a couple of people get stuck doing all the cooking and cleaning for those who are in "vacation mode."

While it can be cheaper in dollars to stay off site, from my experience, with this large of a group, the cost in stress and personal relationships more than makes up for the financial difference.

I know it can be really difficult to be the planner/spender/buyer for this large of a group, especially when dealing with someone else's money. Hang in there!

 

[anabelle]

Here are the ages of each family

Brother #1 : 2 adults, 3 children, 17, 15, 12
Brother #2: 2 adults, 3 children - 12,9, 6
Me: 2 adults, 3 children - 16, 15, 12
Parents- 2 adults only

Here is what I have 6 nights/7 days at POR
4 rooms booked. I have the 30% room for mom and dad so I only have to buy 2 non-discounted tickets. The remaining 3 rooms are 40% under military rate that allows me to buy whatever tickets I want. All the girls are taking a YES class, so will buy YES discounted tickets for them and military tickets for everyone else. My dad insists on the dining plan so SOG and off site are not options.

I checked the suites at All Stars and there are no discounted military ones left.

 

[angwill]

11K for that many people sounds excellent. I had a friend who's parents did the same thing offering a trip to Disney. For 15 people they paid $57,000 with airfare and no food because there was no budget. They did deluxe and then a cruise in a balcony room and lived it up. So considering you have more people and food added that is pretty darn good.

 

[hockeyprincess]

11K for that many people sounds excellent. I had a friend who's parents did the same thing offering a trip to Disney. For 15 people they paid $57,000 with airfare and no food because there was no budget. They did deluxe and then a cruise in a balcony room and lived it up. So considering you have more people and food added that is pretty darn good.

$57G??? OMG they must be nuts! (No offense of course, but seriously!!!)

 

[Figment1990]

I agree that I think this is a reasonable price given your parameters (June, dining plan, onsite).

Let's breakt it down. The dining plan alone is over $4000. With 15 "adults" at $47/night that's $4230 + the two "kids" plans at $13/night - that's $156 +$4230 = $4386.

Tix. I know that you can get the military discount with Dining and buy the military discount tickets separately. All I know about those tickets are that they are $99 4 day base tickets. Not sure if you added days or park hoppers and what the discount is for the YES classes. Ticket cost: unknown.

Rooms. 4 standard rooms at POR in the summer are weekend - 200/nt, weekday 185/nt. Assuming 5 weekday nights and 1 weekend night that's $1125 pre-tax/week/room. the 40% off rooms are $675, 30% off room is $787.50. Add tax now and total room costs are: $3164.07.

All of this seems reasonably accurate to me. I even checked out what you might be able to save renting DVC points - you'd either need 2 AKV/BLT 2 bedrooms or 3 rooms at the other DVC resorts. Given your time frame, my calculations show that wouldn't save enough on the room cost. You MIGHT be able to save about $500 on rooms if you can get 3 military rooms at All Stars and then the general public 30% off room discount for a Family Suite.

The only other tips I can give you for lowering the costs are trying to pay for as much of it as possible with a Disney Visa (paying off the cc in full) and then using the rewards dollars to pay for some of the costs.

I think you've done a great job ferreting out all possible discounts!

 

[maggiew]

There is a pin email going around for free Quick Service dining plan that includes June. If you didn't get this email, maybe call and ask if there is this PIN code attached to you name. I read of several people on the resort discount board who didn't get the email and called and found the pin attached to their name.

Also check the other members of your party and see if there is a pin code associated with their names.

Maggie

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

I think you have the best price given your family structure and when you can travel.

Keep in mind, the POR Alligator Bayou rooms can accomodate five because they have a trundle. That small bed will only comfortably accomodate someone under five feet tall, from our family's experience. So, you may need to bring an inflatable bed for someone with the families with three teens, or put a couple of the large teens in with the grandparents if they are agreeable.

For dinners I suggest you book buffets since they offer wide varieties of food for the children in your group, mass amounts of food for any teen boys in your group, and generally have an easier time accomodating a large groups of people.


I would recommend signing up for the Give a Day Get a Day program. The best use of these vouchers would be for the fastpasses, for your group. Given that you are traveling in June, a very busy time, this will allow for real flexibility for the high demand rides. In addition, only three people would need to redeem their vouchers each day for everyone in the group to have the enhanced fast passes.

Have a great trip.

 

[angwill]

$57G??? OMG they must be nuts! (No offense of course, but seriously!!!)

No offense taken as I thought the same thing when she told me what it totaled. At first my friend came to me to help her do an inexpensive trip for them all but her sister decided she wanted to use a local travel agent that she had used before. The TA did not get them any discounts because you can imagine their commission. The sister also figured since she wasn't paying for it and had lost her job 12 months previous she wanted to live it up and their mom said ok. I explained the discounts available but they didn't want to bother so I never said anything else.

I ended up realizing it was something their parents had been saving for their whole lives. They wanted one last family trip before their health got worse since their father was in remission from cancer. They have saved tons of money over the years and don't live extravegantly in every day life so if they want to spend it on one last trip together God bless them for having the means to do that and not worry about discounts. To each their own, right.

 

[SandrA9810]

I know it's been brought up before a bit back.

How about purchasing annual passes at the military rate? Then you can book the rooms with an AP discount, and add the dining plan without booking a package. Then you'll be free to purchase all your tickets at military prices.

If you went with the cabins at Ft Wilderness, you'll be able to book 3 cabins. And then kinda let the kids shift around... girls in one, boys in another (with an adult of course...), and then your parents can stay in one of the cabins. You'll have a full kitchen for those late night snackers... come one you're travelling with a handful of teenagers, they'll eat non stop. upon checkin you can go to the meadows and use your snack credits for stuff to leave in the fridge, and you can doggie bag dinner if you want to.

You should be able to have all the rooms tied to every one's key card, so you can enter any one of the cabins.

I'd definatly suggest doing the give a day program so you can get the fastpass card, which will make going around the parks with your family much much easier.

As well only pick a few hours each day to "all be together" and the rest of the time, let every one go on their own. A few hrs after lunch or before dinner should give you plenty of time of togetherness.

 

[SandrA9810]

No offense taken as I thought the same thing when she told me what it totaled. At first my friend came to me to help her do an inexpensive trip for them all but her sister decided she wanted to use a local travel agent that she had used before. The TA did not get them any discounts because you can imagine their commission. The sister also figured since she wasn't paying for it and had lost her job 12 months previous she wanted to live it up and their mom said ok. I explained the discounts available but they didn't want to bother so I never said anything else.

I ended up realizing it was something their parents had been saving for their whole lives. They wanted one last family trip before their health got worse since their father was in remission from cancer. They have saved tons of money over the years and don't live extravegantly in every day life so if they want to spend it on one last trip together God bless them for having the means to do that and not worry about discounts. To each their own, right.

With a few simple discounts, they could've lived it up even more.

 

[dunbarfamily]

I agree that I think this is a reasonable price given your parameters (June, dining plan, onsite).

Let's breakt it down. The dining plan alone is over $4000. With 15 "adults" at $47/night that's $4230 + the two "kids" plans at $13/night - that's $156 +$4230 = $4386.

Tix. I know that you can get the military discount with Dining and buy the military discount tickets separately. All I know about those tickets are that they are $99 4 day base tickets. Not sure if you added days or park hoppers and what the discount is for the YES classes. Ticket cost: unknown.

Rooms. 4 standard rooms at POR in the summer are weekend - 200/nt, weekday 185/nt. Assuming 5 weekday nights and 1 weekend night that's $1125 pre-tax/week/room. the 40% off rooms are $675, 30% off room is $787.50. Add tax now and total room costs are: $3164.07.

All of this seems reasonably accurate to me. I even checked out what you might be able to save renting DVC points - you'd either need 2 AKV/BLT 2 bedrooms or 3 rooms at the other DVC resorts. Given your time frame, my calculations show that wouldn't save enough on the room cost. You MIGHT be able to save about $500 on rooms if you can get 3 military rooms at All Stars and then the general public 30% off room discount for a Family Suite.

The only other tips I can give you for lowering the costs are trying to pay for as much of it as possible with a Disney Visa (paying off the cc in full) and then using the rewards dollars to pay for some of the costs.

I think you've done a great job ferreting out all possible discounts!

Wow! You did a lot of work for the OP! How nice of you!

 

[winnapooh]

I know it's been brought up before a bit back.

How about purchasing annual passes at the military rate? Then you can book the rooms with an AP discount, and add the dining plan without booking a package. Then you'll be free to purchase all your tickets at military prices.

If you went with the cabins at Ft Wilderness, you'll be able to book 3 cabins. And then kinda let the kids shift around... girls in one, boys in another (with an adult of course...), and then your parents can stay in one of the cabins. You'll have a full kitchen for those late night snackers... come one you're travelling with a handful of teenagers, they'll eat non stop. upon checkin you can go to the meadows and use your snack credits for stuff to leave in the fridge, and you can doggie bag dinner if you want to.

You should be able to have all the rooms tied to every one's key card, so you can enter any one of the cabins.

I'd definatly suggest doing the give a day program so you can get the fastpass card, which will make going around the parks with your family much much easier.

As well only pick a few hours each day to "all be together" and the rest of the time, let every one go on their own. A few hrs after lunch or before dinner should give you plenty of time of togetherness.

Just so the OP knows, you can't just get the dining plan with an AP. You have to book an AP package with dining, and those haven't been released for anything past June 3 (I just called a couple of minutes ago).

 

[a1tinkfans]

Have you talked to Grand Gatherings? They usually do a pretty good discount on the rooms, but with that many people, free dining might be better.

Remember, when you do the rooms, to limit the number of adults to 2 per room so you're not paying extra on them... no matter who sleeps where once you're there. (and I'm not implying breaking any rules). I know that the front desk can have room keys open more than one door.

And renting DVC points could save you a bundle, especially when it comes to the grand villas. And you can add the dining plan without purchasing tickets.

I know if you go with grand gatherings, you get like 10% off tickets as well. So it's worth looking into.

We did GG twice and got no discount

 

[anabelle]

Are you able to get the dining plan without buying tickets when you use the military rate?

Another option for renting DVC points is thru DVC Request, but I'm not sure it would be any less expensive.

Yes, you do not have to get tickets with military rate because the military gets special rates for tickets through the Stars and Stripes deal.

 

[anabelle]

Wow! You did a lot of work for the OP! How nice of you!

Yes, thanks much

 

[HM]

With room only discount rates and tickets bought separately, you cannot get the dining plan for your group. Otherwise your plan sounds good. You'd just be paying for food out of pocket.

To get the dining plan, you must do a package that includes tickets (at least 1 day) and the dining plan. This will likely make the trip more expensive than you already figured.

 

[Suz D]

With room only discount rates and tickets bought separately, you cannot get the dining plan for your group. Otherwise your plan sounds good. You'd just be paying for food out of pocket.

To get the dining plan, you must do a package that includes tickets (at least 1 day) and the dining plan. This will likely make the trip more expensive than you already figured.

Unless they go with AP's. Then you can get the discounted room rate and add dining without buying tickets. As a PP said, the AP rates aren't out yet after the beginning of June. We did this in January and got a good deal.

This sounds like it will be such a fun trip! Have a great time...

 

[anabelle]

With room only discount rates and tickets bought separately, you cannot get the dining plan for your group. Otherwise your plan sounds good. You'd just be paying for food out of pocket.

To get the dining plan, you must do a package that includes tickets (at least 1 day) and the dining plan. This will likely make the trip more expensive than you already figured.

With the military room discount you do not need to buy tickets. With the other room only discount I did include a 1 day base ticket in addition to the tickets we will buy separately. Hubby and I can use them to upgrade to a annual pass for us later. We will pay for those ourselves.

 

[mdrob214]

Does anyone really think there will be free dining in June? That would save the most money.

Right now we have 3 rooms at military rate, so we can by tickets separately. I do have to buy a package with the last room because it is just the 30% rate going right now. Does anyone know if you can use the service tickets with a package/?

With the military room discount you do not need to buy tickets. With the other room only discount I did include a 1 day base ticket in addition to the tickets we will buy separately. Hubby and I can use them to upgrade to a annual pass for us later. We will pay for those ourselves.

Annabelle is correct. You can get the military rate of 40% off (From Mousesavers: the code is OUR for the QSDP, OUS/OUT for the regular DP, and OUU for the DeluxeDP) and buy a dining plan without buying tickets. Just tell them when you book (have to call, can't do it online). We did it last year and hav plans to do it again in July. It's an excellent deal! Honestly, unless you could go to the FW Cabins(don't they sleep 6?), I think you've got a pretty good deal, assuming you make sure that each room has 5 people (only 2 adults 18+ per room or you'll have to pay the extra adult fee).

SoG room are huge and sleep 5 but you cannot get the dining plan. They used to have their own dining plan but it's for eating in SoG restaurants only--I don't recommend it.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Free dining would be your best way to go.

Tell you dad it's not so bad though. We took all our children, dil and sil, grandchildren and my mom to Disney in 2008. One week BC, DDP, ticket, airfare and spending money - it costs us almost $30,000! Lifetime of memories made it all worth it though.