Onsite or offsite? Family of 5...$2500 TOTAL to spend...

[spiceycat]

for the tickets alone they will be close to $1,400 - 6 day tickets with park hopper and water parks.

that leaves you with $1,100 for rooms, food and sourveniors...

I agreed with the Sept suggestion. the tickets you won't save money on - but the food maybe. the room definitely unless you use skyauction.

with skyauction doesn't much matter when you go - as along as they have your time and a villa. I would never go over my maximum bid of a $100 - so if what you are looking for already has a bid of $200 or over - well go to the next one.

 

[conniehar90]

I'm thinking you would probably get 5 day tickets since you want to do one day at the waterpark. That would be around $900. To save money, I wouldn't get the park hopper and if you are just doing one waterpark day it's not really worth it to get the waterpark plus option.

 

[kangareaux]

I suggest Sept as well. And onsite. If free dining is available you MUST stay on site.

When do they announce if they are doing free dining? It's killing me not being able to plan anything yet! LOL!

 

[jodifla]

When do they announce if they are doing free dining? It's killing me not being able to plan anything yet! LOL!

Right now, the only free dining is for those who booked when they were already on site. DOn't think you can count on this.

 

[crisi]

No guarentees on free dining.

September is the height of hurricane season. At the very least, it is likely to be MUCH rainier than November (we go mid-October - what is normally the tail end of hurricane season). If you go often, and therefore can "waste" a few days on rain - September is a great time to go. But if this is a once in a lifetime trip, you could spend two days with the parks closed sitting in a dark room.

I think early November would be lovely. As I said, I'm on onsite snob, but you can get such great values on condos or pool homes offsite - and if you are driving, that would be the best bet.

With five of you, the cheapest Disney room you could stay in would be at Port Orleans Riverside. Rack rate on that room when you are talking about going is $155 a night, plus tax. If free dining is part of the equation, you won't pay much less than rack rate. That's a big portion of your budget.

Dining in the parks - particularly with the dining plan - is nice. But on a tight budget you can do cheaper. Disney doesn't mind if you pack in some sandwiches. There are a few bargains to be had yet in the parks, and bargains to be had offsite.

 

[Oceana]

No guarentees on free dining.

September is the height of hurricane season. At the very least, it is likely to be MUCH rainier than November (we go mid-October - what is normally the tail end of hurricane season). If you go often, and therefore can "waste" a few days on rain - September is a great time to go. But if this is a once in a lifetime trip, you could spend two days with the parks closed sitting in a dark room.

Yes it rains more and yep its hurricane season but how often have the parks closed and left guests sitting in dark rooms over the past 20 years? We usually go in September and we have never had a park close

julie

 

[kangareaux]

oops.....made a boo-boo....... disregard this one...

 

[jodifla]

OK.....anyone know anything about this free dining??? I read somewhere that I might have to wait till JUNE to find out?!?!? I don't think I can take waiting that long to book SOMETHING! LOL!

Right now, it's not available to the public. People who are staying on site now have been able to book it for future trips...but that wouldn't apply to you.

I'd move on with your plans and not count on the free dining. With your limited budget, the free dining wouldn't really help all that much. Your room rate, as noted earlier, would be more than $150 a night, which would really eat into the budget.

Also note that most WDW rooms don't accommodate five people, so you'd need TWO rooms.

 

[crisi]

Yes it rains more and yep its hurricane season but how often have the parks closed and left guests sitting in dark rooms over the past 20 years? We usually go in September and we have never had a park close

julie

Hurricane Floyd 1999
September 11, 2001 (not Hurricane related, obviously)
Hurrican Charlie (2004)
Hurricane Francis (also 2004)

 

[Gillian]

September is hot and humid, there is rain on most days, but it may pass quickly. The crowds used to be lower, but free dining seems to have increased visitors.

Where we live schools start after Labor Day, and I wouldn't really want to take my kids out that early. That's just me, but I want them to get settled, and see friends that they didn't see all summer. There are days off in October, and early November around election day, so a lot of people go then.

We have stayed in Windsor Palms and Cypress Pointe grande villas. Both were nice. A 3 BR condo at Windsor Palms would work for you. The 3 BR townhome (2 floors) at Windsor Palms is a good option, but one of the BRs is downstairs, with the master and the other br upstairs.

I would caution you against planning to save money by cooking a lot of meals. Certainly you can save with snacks, sandwiches, breakfasts, but DH & I rarely feel like cooking at the end of a long day!

 

[neonurse]

Another vote for staying offsite. Last year we stayed at the Windsor Hills Resort. Our condo was 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, full kitchen, washer and dryer (didn't need to pack as much and didn't have heaps ofdirty laundry when I got home....beautiful!!!) There were bunk beds in the kids rooms sleeping 3, one queen bed and one king. It was heavenly to have some space to ourselves especially since my son and I got the flu down there last November. It was great to have a bed and tv of my own to veg in. Our condo cost $100 a night. The drive was about 15 minutes with traffic and construction on 192 (which should be done...hahaha) I saved alot of money buy bringing drinks with us to the parks. We brought a small soft sided cooler (larger than the kids take to school and had a shoulder strap) and freezer pack from home. I made juice from frozen at the condo and put them in water bottles and brought small plastic tumbler (cups) from home. When we were standing in line we would have a little drink and not have to waste a whole can of pop or juice box. The water in disney is $2 a bottle. Also if you do get a lunch in disney you can save money by not getting combos for everyone with drinks. My kids usually waste most drinks anyway so I would split a large drink with the plastic cups. If you have a rental car and get groceries you can bring sandwiches, cereal bars and fruit to the park. We also brought pringles to have as a treat with our sandwiches. The kids didn't mind a bit. There are alot of cheap places to eat outside of disney (golden corral and cici's pizza) We never cooked a meal except for when I was sick we had frozen pizza and tv dinners...that is not really cooking its heating hahaha (the kids loved them because we don't have these at home and I loved them because they were quick and cheap) I hope these suggestions help. Take a look at the Windsor Hills resort. You can find them on villadirect.com and vrbo.com. Beautiful resort. Would go back in a heartbeat. Good luck from a budget Mom.

 

[MrsPete]

So......Have I lost my mind to think I can do it on that Budget?

Maybe your mind isn't entirely lost, but with three kids -- none of them really small -- you're going to be cutting your budget to the bone.

1. Don't buy tickets for every day of your stay. First, you can't afford to do it on this budget, and second the kids'll probably need a break mid-week. If you buy 4-day park hopping tickets with 4 "extras" visits, you'll be able to have four good, solid days in the parks PLUS four visits to water parks or the other smaller venues. Use the "extras" for your slow-days; sleep in, then hit the water parks. This'll cost $1213 from TicketMania, an online ticket discounter.

That's essentially half your budget gone. Only $1287 remaining for gas, room, and food. How far are you driving? You can't do much about the price of gas -- what does that leave for food and room?

2. Consider that in off-season, you may have the benefits of short lines and lower crowds (in theory), but no one ever talks about the bad side of that deal: The parks close early. They roll up the carpets as early as 6:00 PM! Parades and fireworks don't happen every day either. I'll take summer anytime -- it's not hard to plan around the crowds.

3. On-site, off-site -- they both have their pros and cons. If you stay onsite, the biggest "plus" is Disney's transportation, which is free and runs like clockwork. It means that your family doesn't always have to go to the same place at the same time. The negatives, of course, are that you don't have as much space in your room, and you end up spending more on food. If you choose off-site, it ALWAYS takes longer to get to the parks than you expect; two miles away can be an awfully long drive in Disney traffic. And don't forget to include parking in your budget -- I think it's about $8/day now.

4. Food is an easy place to save, though with such a small budget, I'm not sure eating in the parks once a day is realistic -- unless you really luck up and find a rental for $300/week. The cheapest meals in the park will be kids' meals, which run about $5 and include a drink. Anyone can order these, but it'll be repetative: chicken nuggets, burgers. Plan to bring as much as possible from home.

At this point, these are your biggest decisions:

How many days of tickets to buy?
Where to stay?

Once those decisions are made, then you can fill in the rest.