Personal? I've been pricing vac packages to WDW?How much does your average trip cost?

[tweety 12]

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out. As a matter of fact, I ordered the Disney video a few weeks ago. Lets hope we get a postcard with the same type of deal too!

 

[jimmiej]

Our June trip is costing us about $1100/pp for five of us. It takes me about a year to save up enough. Plus, I did a couple of extra jobs on the side to earn $$$. I have $$$ for everything sitting in the bank by the time we go & then I charge most things at WDW & pay for them when the CC bills come in. This allows me to keep my money in my account longer. Here's my approximate budget:

$1100- airfare
$1200- tix
$1280- 7 nights at Contemporary using code BBY
$350- Cirque
$120- Tiffany
$900- Food
$75- assorted tips
$85- shared Illuminations Cruise
$500- souvenirs

 

[Buzz2001]

$788.10 - airfare for 3 roundtrip tickets from Hartford
$712.00 - 8 nights at CSR using the Visa rate
$980.88 - 3 7-day Park Hopper Plus passes
$90.00 - Tiffany Towncar
$1,000.00 - food & pins

Total: $3,570.98

 

[tinaluis]

Tweety,
We don't stay onsite (we use Priceline for our hotel), we drive from Chicago and our trips average $1,200 for two weeks for the 5 of us (2 adults, 3 kids) including food but excluding PHPs and/or other park tickets. We buy PHPs once every 2 years and we usually get the Ticketmania 5day hopper with 4 plusses. We have APs for Universal and we stretch our PHPs out over 2-3 trips. We don't do anything "extra" except MNSSHP. We actually just got the new Disney VISA and qualify for the 7/4 Package but the only place we'll fit 5 in a room is at POFQ and the package price is $1,980 for 7 nts/8 days. That's WAY more than we're used to paying and, even though the package includes UPHs, those tickets expire and we're used to having our tickets last 2-3 trips. I realize that many feel there is no comparison between staying onsite vs. offsite, but we cannot justify the extra expense. We've been able to make the trip to WDW twice yearly for the past three years and probably could not afford to do that if we were spending $4,000 at a time as opposed to $1,200. WDW can be an expensive vacation or pretty inexpensive, depending on how you do it. Have fun planning!

 

[clkelley]

Here is how our May 21-25 trip is stacking up:

Airfare - $622.00 - Round Trip for 4 - HSV to MCO
Room - $330.00 - 4 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter AP rate
Passes - $1439.92 - Two Adult Annual Passes and Two Adult 7-day park hopper pluses
Towncar - $110.00 - Round trip including tip - Tiffany Towncar
Airport Parking - $35.00
Meals & Incidentals - $1200.00
DiveQuest for Son - $140.00
2 PI Annual Passes - $117.04

Total - $3993.96

As I noted above, we will be purchasing Annual Passes, so our September 24 - October 4 trip will be less expensive. Only one of our boys will be joining us for part of the trip. A friend will be paying for part of the gas and part of the 2nd room, so I'm only showing our share.

Gas Round Trip - $100.00
Airfare for son to go home during week for school - $160.00
Room - $655.00 - 2 rooms at Pop Century for 8 nights AP rate hopefully
Room - $80.00 Super 8 on way down and way home
Passes - $240.00- 2 3-day passes to Universal/Islands of Adventure
Airport Parking $25.00
Meals & Incidentals - $1200.00

Total $2460.00

My December 8-15 trip will be even less

Gas Round Trip - $120.00
Campground - $280.00 - 7 nights
Meals & Incidentals - $400.00

Total $800.00

Carol

 

[KimR]

We usually spend around $7000 - $8000 for a family of 5. We live close enough to drive, so that is without airfare. However, we stay in a deluxe and have a nice sit-down dinner every night. Still it seems we should be able to it for less than that, but somehow, the money adds up quick and that's what we wind up spending. I think we do blow a LOT on food and drinks in the parks...it adds up fast.

 

[Hillbeans]

We stayed on a $199 package for 4 nights at the Renaissance, and then an $85 + 15 valet at the Marriott World Center for 3 nights, which wasn't bad. We bought 2 AD and 1 CH 7 day PHP which cost $965. Food was a large expense at about $100 a day factoring in an average.

Our largest expense minus the tickets was transportation:

$750 airfare for 3 out of newark
$80 parking at newark
$170 car rental
$32 parking at theme parks
$15 x 3 for valet
$25 for Gas


All told, we spent $1100 on transportation and my thought is to drive next time. Our "budget" trip cost us near $3000, but we'll have those PHpasses for probably 2 more trips since we have 5 days and 3 plusses left. Also, we got free SW tickets and went there twice.

It's not cheap.

 

[dcmbshafe]

We are staying on-site this may in a 2BR at BWV, so we're going to be on the high side with respect to our length of stay:

$1,950 for 5 nights at BWV ("rented" DVC points)
$707 for airfare for 4 from Baltimore
$280 for rental car for 10 days (we're spending 4 days at the beach)

We already have our park tickets, purchased during a previous visit, but that would be an additional cost plus meals. Of course, since we're staying at a condo with a full kitchen, we'll be eating in the room for a lot of meals.

Last year we stayed at the Sheraton Vistana, which is about a mile from DTD. We were able to get a 2BR condo. for a full week there for only $825, so you can really save a bunch of money if you want to do this. We really wanted to stay on-site this time, which is why we're ponying up the extra dough.

I agree with the others who emphasize not to book "package" deals without breaking everything down into individual components. Good luck!

 

[ushkina]

We are going for a week in May, 3 adults:
Hotel: off-site 450$ total Includes free breakfast
Air-tickets: 540$ total
Park Tickets: around 1000$
Rental Car: 160$ a week
Food: ?
Total Expenses: 2150$ + food

We will mostly eat off-site.

 

[brentalex]

I actually try not to think about how much it costs. Its a vacation and I know that we need to spend money for it. Plus it gets spreadout over a few months time. But since the question was asked, I have tried to figure it out. We spent 340 for airfare for 4 from Boston - got miles on my credit card so we just had to pay the extra that was over the trip liimit. Hotel is about 2000, but have 300 points on Disney Visa which will go towards that. 300 for Cirque de solei, 70 for disney quest, 500 for php for the adults, the kids tickets were left over from the last two trips, so it is hard to guess what they cost, 175 for a day at Universal, 100 for ride from airport to hotel, 160 to park car at Logan, and 1200 to eat and stuff. I am afraid to add it up, so someone else can do it, I don't want to know.

 

[Luv2Roam]

When we vacationed down here we had APs. So once a year that was an expense to shell out. (Just as it is for FL PAPs.)
I was always lucky enough to get a good on-site room rte either through a discount code anyone could get, AP discount codes, and even a postcard discount.
The big airfare saver for me was signing up with Travelocity. It's a free service. You pick the flight times and days, and get e-mailed when prices lower.
Sometimes the prices were terrific. But I had to book right away when they were cheap. They went fast.
Twice we flew from Omaha, NE for under $140 per person. (I think once at $129 and once $149 -- RT/pp WITH taxes and fees!)

 

[got2lovedisney]

I'm lucky I live in Florida cuz I drive plus get Florida Residents discounts.

Our Spring Break trip for 2004 breaksdown as follows:

5 nights at Pop = 413.00
2 Play4Days passes = 233.26
2 single day tix = 118.00
Gas for the drive = 60.00
Food&Souvenirs = 400.00

Grand total=1224.26 for myself and DD16 and I'll probably come back with $ in my pocket since I usually overbudget for food.

I couldn't imagine spending 5K on a vacation!

 

[sm4987]

For a family of four

Flight $800 DFW to MCO
Resort (depends on where we are staying) usually 9-10 nights
$1800 for a deluxe or 1300 for a moderate
Food budget $150-to $200 a day
Shopping-$500
AP's $1300. I would say $5000. I overestimate.

However our upcoming trip is great. We have free air. The airline lost our luggage over Christmas, and gave us 4 free air tickets Then we have our AP's that don't expire until December. So this trip is just paying for Club level at the Dolphin at 2000 for 9 nights plus food and shopping.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by got2lovedisney
I'm lucky I live in Florida cuz I drive plus get Florida Residents discounts.

Our Spring Break trip for 2004 breaksdown as follows:

5 nights at Pop = 413.00
2 Play4Days passes = 233.26
2 single day tix = 118.00
Gas for the drive = 60.00
Food&Souvenirs = 400.00

Grand total=1224.26 for myself and DD16 and I'll probably come back with $ in my pocket since I usually overbudget for food.

I couldn't imagine spending 5K on a vacation!

That is almost my budget to a tee minus $20 for gas and minus the 2 single day tickets. Add one more night at the Allstars and I think my budget just hits right about $1100.

I would NEVER spend 5K on a vacation! You would have to pick me up off the floor.

 

[kilee]

We stay offsite, so for us that's budget rule #1. Then I always play w/ my dates (we can be flexible) and get the best airfare I can on the discount airlines like Jetblue or Southwest. We are a family of 3 (DS is 11 so counted as an adult in most cases). Anyhow, we usually go for 7-10 days. I have yet to go over $3000 per trip. Most come to about $2300.

My biggest mistake. I don't buy an AP. We've been averaging 2-3 trips per year. I keep buying just enough tickets for that trip. Mostly to save money at the moment (we tend to plan trips and leave within a few weeks).

We eat at least 2-4 sitdown meals per trip. And we do 3-4 park days per trip. We also fit in a lot of shopping. I just hunt for the best deals I can-- and don't stop until I find them.

 

[NotUrsula]

For a lot of us who go often, there is great money savings in spreading out costs, and that is how my family usually handles it. We tend to buy park hoppers when we have money in the bank, one at a time, and in the largest denomination that we can; our trips are short, and we prefer to make them last two trips.

For airfare, we don't firm our dates until we buy the air tickets; we leave things as open as possible and grab sale fares whenever they happen. (And never travel around holidays or during Spring Break!) We usually pay $120 + tax rt from STL on SWA.

For hotel rooms, we use Starwood points to stay at the S/D once every two years. We use a SPG Amex to pay for almost everything, including hopper passes and food while at WDW. It usually takes us 2 yrs. to rack up the 40K points needed to get 5 free nights. In the off years, we use codes to stay at Disney resorts for less, or we rent DVC points; it depends on the days of the week that we will be there (DVC is pricey on weekends.) With a young child, onsite is worth it for us; and we just prefer not messing with offsite traffic if we can avoid it.

 

[Castillo Mom]

To be honest, I haven't really done the complete breakdown all at once, I've just been paying everything in chunks. We're a family of 5 which includes me, hubby and 3 boys ages 9, 12, and 14.

Transportation:
Airfare-$1,380
Limo-$180
Airport shuttle to LAX-$55
Alamo minivan rental for 4 days-$220
Total=$1,835

Lodging:
Embassy Suites (one night near airport)-$89
Beach Club standard room, AAA rate for 8 nights-$2,200
Universal Hard Rock Hotel deluxe room for 3 nights-$575
Four Points Sheraton in Miami for 3 nights-$400
Total=$3,264

Theme park tickets:
UPH passes for 4 adults and 1 child for 9 days-$1963
Universal buy 2 days/get 1 free passes-$445
Total=$2408

Spending money for food, souvenirs, etc.-$5,000

Approx. grand total=$12,507

Now bear in mind that this our first trip, so we want to do it right. I've also been planning this for about 2 years now. I've scrimped and saved and I've been paying for things little by little. I also don't know that we'll spend all of the $5,000 I'm setting aside for spending money. I prefer to over budget than not have enough. I'm also hoping discount code comes out for August. Based on what I've seen for past discounts, I'm hoping to save an additional $600 or so on our room at Disney.

 

[yecats]

Trip for 2 adults:

Cost of gas to drive down - $140
Priceline hotel x2 nights = $100
2 6 day PHP tics = $605
Split stay onsite = $730 (PC & either AKL/WL with code, offseason)
Souvenirs = $300
Food = $800-$1,000

Usually around $2,500 to $2,800 for about 8 nights.

 

[cruisnfamily]

OK, we're also Fl Residents so things are cheap.....of course that just means we can go more often.
2 adults, 2 kids ages 8 & 11

Lodging: 5 nights at POFQ $413(incl tax)
Passes:FL Res Play 4 days $464(incl tax)
Transportation: gas roundtrip $30
Food:$600(I hope)

It's the food and extras that get us....we get the lodging and passes really cheaply.

 

[mom2my2princesses]

we are going TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!
and we had almost booked a great trip with different online sites the total for 2 adults & a 4 yo was 1400
this included hotel, airfare, PHP, seaworld, renting a car
of course once we added my mom into the mix we got screwed into paying a lot more but.... it can be done fairly inexpensively
good luck~ shop around
betsy