Planning on the cheap

[Lalalee]

Deleted

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

Your hotel is seems to be way too low for anything clean or safe at $250.00. Don't forget to add taxes and fees. Anything that low attracts long term residents that have socioeconomic problems.

Sixteen hrs driving down and back on your Mom too with the kids is exhausting and difficult. Only people use to that drive are safe to try it. I really think you need to consider two more nights for a stay driving each way.

Our 16 hr trip ends up two days of 12 hrs because of traffic, restroom stops, and food. We drove 12 hrs stopped and then drove 12 more the next day....I swear I will never do it again! Not when airfare and luggage is $200 round trip.
One breakdown with the car and your trip is ruined.

The other cost is $15 for parking x 5 $75 at Disney Parks you need to add.

The food, consider the drinks, meals is more than $300, that is $10 a person, a meal no options.
Unless you only eat one counter service a day and bring drinks to the parks, or drink a lot of water. The rest is off site sandwhiches, pizza and cereal.

Park tickets- You can get on the MouseSavers.com newsletter with a link in it for the lowest cost tickets.Disney at the window are higher, plus tax is not included on the web site. The five day will still be about $1,200 no park hopping.

The Parks, your brothers are going to enjoy the animal kingdom and want at least half a day if hopping at the Hollywood studios. Star Wars. Animal Kingdom Dinosaurs, are things boys like over he Princesses. They may want to do adventure cards game time too at Epcot or MK. They will make their own boy type memories, not relive yours.

Our budget trip driving was $2,200.00 for four and we had annual passes so no tickets and we stayed off site condo $750 for 8 nights. We ate in the room, had picked up take outs keping park meals to a minimum. I took a small cooler in with drinks on the stroller. With AP no parking fee. One park counter service a day, just over $15 for meal, drink and something cool during the day.

We couldn't tell the kids no souvenirs, they didn't go crazy, but it adds up. Autograph book, pen, and little things like keyring, small stuffed animal.
T-shirts are $25-$39.00, bought those on sale before we left.

Try a pool day not a beach day because of tolls, extra mileage, and exhausting for Mom fitting in DTD at night. But, what would you do there, just walk and look? A meal at Earl of Sandwhich is affordable.

Why not save up another $1,000 over the year, find good flights and rental. The drive is exhausting for amateurs. Let the boys earn money for their self, it's really not that much more of a savings to drive that distance. I would have to save a lot more than $400 to drive.

A general budget for us a nice trip is $100 per person per day for 4 of us.

 

[jvz82]

I don't see why driving 16 hours would be a problem! I've spent my whole life driving to and from Florida for Disney world and it takes us 26 hours. We drive straight through the night. As a kid, my parents took turns driving/sleeping and it was never an issue. Often times we would be tired out on the way home though and end up staying at a hotel halfway for the night. We are going in December and plan to drive straight through. I can't even count how many times I have done this trip!

The 250 for hotel seems pretty low? We are staying off site and we did a ton of research to find a decent hotel that wasn't too expensive and (with taxes and everything) it ended up costing 86 a night. I can't remember if you said 4 nights in a hotel or 5.

 

[henry72]

I see no problem driving either but do plan in for stops along the way. It won't be the 16 hours that Google or whatever map site says.

I think you food is way too low. I know you are planning to eat breakfast in the room and bring in lunch but even with one meal out and possibly a drink here or there, I think you will go over that amount even if it is just counter service once a day.

And I agree the hotel price looks kind of low but I assume it doesn't include tax.

Parking is another must in your planning.

Good luck planning your trip.

 

[MrInfinity]

I'm not sure where to post this- if this is the wrong forum, sorry!

$1200- tickets
$250- hotel
$300- food
$350- gas

Am I crazy for thinking I could do it for close to $2,100? I plan to pick up some "souvenirs" for the boys on sale before we go. Also, is there any advantage to buying tickets early?

Thanks!

4 people 4 days for $2100 including gas?

I think you're crazy to do it for that price. Heh... Not really of course, but I would budget significantly higher.

Tickets - that's easy. Get the price online.

Hotel - $250 for 5 nights? 4 nights? Ok if you can find that, don't forget room fee and tax. $250 might be $300 or $350.

As someone else said, unless your hotel has a shuttle, don't forget parking.

Gas - $350 sounds fine.

Food - I think you've underestimated here. A sandwich will barely carry a 9-year old for the trip there and walking to the first ride. After that he'll be hungry already! A fam of 4 will easily spend $100 at a sit-down dinner or $50 at a counter service meal. So figure $150/day, or $600 food. Add snacks, another $100. Seriously a frozen icy smoothy does wonders for the young kids to keep them energized and not wiped out by the heat. At $4 a pop, you'll go thru several of these per day.

Don't forget food on the drive there and back. Even stopping at McDonalds for dinner and Waffle House for breakfast runs $20 each for a family these days. That's a good $100 in food just getting there and back.

Other than that, I think you're good! Mainly just low on the food.

Don't forget souvenirs...

 

[angelmom27]

Well I know the hotel you are talking about and its nice and safe too. People don't like the hotels on the 192 but we have always stayed there and had no problems. We still stay at the hotels along that road for when we spend a weekend at seaworld. Hotels.com always has good rates for those hotels. I know Motel 6 is $25 a night per adult. So that is even going over the $300 mark. Check online with hotels.com or similar and see what you get.

Driving is a good idea and 16 hrs isn't that bad.

For your dinners check out allears.net and check out the menus to see what you might spend on food.

 

[DSNY4ever]

If you are planning on eating breakfast in your hotel room and packing in your lunch everyday and this is not part of your food budget listed here, then maybe you could barely squeeze by on that budget. I am also assuming you are only planning on doing counter service dinners, because this budget does not allow for a sit down meal (not that you have to sit down at all- do whatever your budget allows!). I would up your food budget to $20 per person per day for one counter service meal and one snack or treat (giving you a little wiggle room even with the tax). There are plenty of good counter service options and we did many trips in the past packing in PB&J, crackers and a piece of fruit and re-usable water bottles. It can definitely be done. That hotel price does sound dirt cheap, make sure you check out the trip advisor reviews and pictures to make sure it is something you can live with (unless you have already stayed there?).