Orlando vacation for $1,000. Doable?

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I'd like to take a week's vacation next October, probably the 2nd week, and head to Florida with DS9. But I can only afford about $1,000. Here are some of my thoughts on how to make it doable. Here are some of my ideas:

Drive down from DC and camp someplace fun on the way. Maybe leave early Sat. morning, stop someplace (in the mountains of NC?) 1/2 way and spend Sat. and Sun. night, then continue on Mon. morning.

Arrive in Orlando midday on Monday, check inton one of those "2 nights for $49 if you sit through our timeshare presentation" type places (are they actually nice?). Sit through the presentation and then go to MNSSHP that night. Then spend Tuesday and Wednesday at either UO/IOA. Maybe maybe if I can find a great deal, spend Wednesday night onsite at UO to get 2 days of FOTL. Stay at the parks

Camp at the beach for a couple of nights (is October warm enough to really enjoy the beach?)

Drive home.

Is this doable? What do people think? Any suggestions on places to stay, ideas on how to begin planning?

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I think camping would be a blast, but it depends on your definition of cold. I'm from NH, so frost outside the tent is a usual for us (so I may not be the one to say it's warm enough to camp).

Universal seems to always have some sort of ticket deal going on.

I think if you brought a lot of your own food so you didn't have to eat out a lot, that might help.

As for $1000, I have no idea. Sounds like fun though.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

Another fellow NH person here...I think camping would be fun as well!! (and honestly, I'm not a camper!! LOL) I agree with Jen about bringing food with you. Universal is always having some kind of ticket deal. I think it is doable but you are going to have to budget down to the very last penny! good luck!

 

[Darcy03231]

US/IOA has the 7 day unlimited tickets for about $80/pp. Right now Hotwire has a 3* hotel in the Universal area for $39/night. With taxes and fees it comes to $270.55 for 6 nights. Parking at US/IOA is $11 day. Total for tickets, hotel and parking is about $500. That still leaves you $500 for gas, food, souvenirs, etc.. With 7 days at US/IOA you won't need the express passes, as long as you get there for park opening (and you may not need them at all in October, we were there in August when it was busy and didn't get them). Good luck!

 

[MKOATEYW]

Is this just for 1 adult 1 child?
Does your 1,000 budget include gas and food? If not then way easy, if is included will be very tight.
Are you willing to cook at the campground or pack meals?
If you are tent camping at the beach anyway why not just stay at the fort? There is plenty to do there and no high pressure sales pitch time share thing. (Personally I hate them)
Usualy October is plenty cool enough to camp in Central Florida, Days should still be plenty warm enough to play at the beach. You need to check what the usual temp is in NC it may be chilly there at night that time of year.

You may want to read this from mousesavers It lays it out a similar vaction budget but is total focused on a disney trip with 2 adult 2 kids.
http://www.mousesavers.com/howlow2.html

 

[dopeyfanatic]

I'd be curious if you could bring your DS to the timeshare pitch. I wouldn't want to leave him alone in the room either. They say that the presentations are quick, but I recently was reading a post about how they actually end up being closer to 4 hours. I think your budget might be tight, but could be doable.

 

[Ashley Kees]

Here ya go...
Gas from DC to DW: $250 RT (est. based on 25 mpg, $3.50 per gallon)
4 nights at Fort Wilderness (tent) $190 ($150 if you have AAA)
4 day non-PH tickets (1 Adult, 1 child) $415.35
2 nights N.C. KOA (tent site) $70.00
total before food and souveniers: $925.35

Obviously, it would be tight, but you could do it, especially if you brought your own food or stayed one less day in the parks. I REALLY would avoid the timeshare thing, since you won't be able to bring little mister along with you, and it will be around 4-6 hours. Plus, if you camp you can cook meals, but if you are in a timeshare hotel, you will A) have to drive to and from the World, thereby using more gas and B) eat out a lot. Since you're already thinking about bringing camping gear, why not stay at the Fort? It's one of the best campgrounds in the country!

 

[kydisneyfans]

I would Skyauction a condo for the week instead of camping. That would give you the ability to cook and store leftovers easily to cut costs. Some have free shuttles to the park, even though they may be at set times, it would save the parking fee.

 

[HeatherC]

Here's another vote for SkyAuction for a condo for the week.

OR...if you work for a goverment agency....town, state or federal, you can rent condos through www.govarm.com or www.getravelop.com. Very affordable way to stay in a nice place with full kitchen and extra space.

Another option is priceline. You can check www.biddingfortravel.com beforehand to see what hotels are coming up where and for how much.

Happy planning!

 

[KirstenB]

I think you can do it if you skip the WDW parks and stick with UO/IOA. I can't believe I'm saying this, but for our trip in a few weeks, we've bought the 7 day/$86 per person Universal tix, and just sticking with them. We're trying to watch our budget too, and the WDW park tix are a killer!! I've never stayed at Ft Wilderness, but I bet there's lots of activities there, too for little cost.

We also do 1 character b-fast for our table service dining, and that's it. Either counter service, or food we can eat in the room (sandwiches, breakfast bars, that type of thing).

 

[lovinpoohbear]

Go to www.orlandoescape.com It is for the Sheraton timeshare presentation, the catch is that you have to sit through a 90 minute presentation. The deal is 4 nights at the Buena Vista Suites inlcuding FREE hot breakfast. YOu get the four nights hotel PLUS 2 WDW Touch of Magic Tickets which are one day park plus one day water park. You get all this for only $249!

 

[Foladar]

I think you can do it if you skip the WDW parks and stick with UO/IOA. I can't believe I'm saying this, but for our trip in a few weeks, we've bought the 7 day/$86 per person Universal tix, and just sticking with them. We're trying to watch our budget too, and the WDW park tix are a killer!! I've never stayed at Ft Wilderness, but I bet there's lots of activities there, too for little cost.

We also do 1 character b-fast for our table service dining, and that's it. Either counter service, or food we can eat in the room (sandwiches, breakfast bars, that type of thing).

Another one for UO/IOA - you can get a hotel on I-Drive for a reasonable rate or Skyauction. You won't need FOTL imo if you spend 3-4 days.

 

[angwill]

Did you look into camping at Disney Worlds campground. That is not too expensive last I knew it was around $50 and I am not sure if you can get a discount on it when the codes come out. MNSSHP will be less expensive than a one day park ticket. When we went in October it was in the 80's during the day and I don't think it went under about 64 degrees at night. I know nothing about US/IOA so can't help you there, sorry.

HTH

 

[ILoveDisney&Cruising]

Since you're already thinking about bringing camping gear, why not stay at the Fort? It's one of the best campgrounds in the country!

I totally agree 1,000%

There's a Disney camping board here on the Dis with tons of info .... about halfway down the main www.disboards.com page.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Thanks everyone for lots of good ideas!

AS to why not Fort Wilderness, I think it would be hard to be staying at WDW and not doing the parks (except for MNSSHP). I'd also like at least a couple of days of sleeping indoors with a shower of my own in the middle of the trip.

The $400 tickets is why I'm not really considering WDW, that and the fact that we've never been to UO while we've been to WDW twice.

The Sheraton deal sounds good, does anyone know if they have a nice pool? The pool is important to DS. I'm guessing that in October we'll need a heated pool.

Can they really exclude DS from the tour? It seems like if they let a single parent come, then they've got to let me bring him, otherwise they've got a liability nightmare on their hands if anything happens to him while I'm touring. He'd be fine trailing after me, playing his video game.

 

[bridget]

Do not do the time share! It is not worth it I had a terrible experience and swore I would never do it again and if anyone ever mentioned it, I would give my opinion

 

[Tink-aholic]

Depending upon your income, OP, they may not let you do a timeshare tour at all. I used to work for a timeshare and that one you had to be married, above a certain income, and carry a major credit card with you into the presentation. They spend an awful lot of effort to make certain that you meet these criteria before giving you the perks, freebies, discounts, whatever they are offering. Check into it before you head down there.

Good luck.

 

[dopeyfanatic]

Depending upon your income, OP, they may not let you do a timeshare tour at all. I used to work for a timeshare and that one you had to be married, above a certain income, and carry a major credit card with you into the presentation. They spend an awful lot of effort to make certain that you meet these criteria before giving you the perks, freebies, discounts, whatever they are offering. Check into it before you head down there.

Good luck.

You know that's true. My aunt was asked to do one by Disneyland one time, and they wanted proof she was married and proof of her income before she was even admitted in! So you might not be able to do some of them. And I really don't know about your son, I'm just saying it's something to check. I haven't heard of anyone bringing their kids with them, not that they haven't.

 

[MaMa3Princess]

Thanks everyone for lots of good ideas!

AS to why not Fort Wilderness, I think it would be hard to be staying at WDW and not doing the parks (except for MNSSHP). I'd also like at least a couple of days of sleeping indoors with a shower of my own in the middle of the trip.

The $400 tickets is why I'm not really considering WDW, that and the fact that we've never been to UO while we've been to WDW twice.

The Sheraton deal sounds good, does anyone know if they have a nice pool? The pool is important to DS. I'm guessing that in October we'll need a heated pool.

Can they really exclude DS from the tour? It seems like if they let a single parent come, then they've got to let me bring him, otherwise they've got a liability nightmare on their hands if anything happens to him while I'm touring. He'd be fine trailing after me, playing his video game.

We have done timeshares with our children. Most of the time they give you the option to check them into a kids club place where they can play video games or color. Or if your kids do not want to go in there they will bring coloring books and stuff for them to do at the table. They will ask have different income requirements for singles than they do married people.

For us during a period of time that was the only way we could make it down to Orlando and we did timeshares in order to have cheap lodging. We survived many of them and sometimes my oldest two wanted to go into the kids club and sometimes they did not but the times they did not want to go made it easier for us to get out in less than 2 hours.

 

[runwad]

We're a family of 5 and we've done an orlando vacation for under 1k. We've been 2 times and I've gotten condo's on Skyauction for the week no more then 350 total for lodging. We do bring our own food and pretty much eat in the condo. But we had leftover disney tickets that we used for our park days then just hung out at the condo or at DTD on non park days. But since Disney isn't in your plan get the Universal deal going on. Good luck it can be done without camping.