Planning our trip

[CharD]

I am finding this all overwhelming. My mom has given my dd a family paid trip to Disney that includes plane fare and hotel. She gave me a budget for that so I am trying to narrow down the hotels that are in the price range. The only expenses I would have to pay for is the actual entrance fees to the theme parks and other attractions plus food etc.

Needless to say what I am finding overwhelming is the constant currency exchange. What I think would be a good deal turns out not so good ..lol.. We are in Canada so all prices I find are generally in US.

The hotel I think we are staying at is called the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites. Its a three star hotel and offers lots of things like: kids stay and eat free , car rental, cooking facilites, free night and children activities.

We think (dh and I) we want to do 2-3 days at the Disney theme parks (kids ages are 10 and 6) We definitly want to do MGM , Magic Kingdom but are stuck for which other to do (each of these theme parks would get a full days worth attention, I have heard mixed reviews on the Animal Kingdom...heard its very much like a zoo. We also want to do other attractions that are available so we dogearred one day for this and a day at the beach as well... Any thoughts on this so far?

I am thinking I would need 2000.00 canadian dollars for this trip, its a 7 day trip that my mom is paying for so staying longer is not an option. Any help would be much appreciated. We are also thinking of going either in the last week of August, October, November or December the possibility of going in April next year is good too.

Thanks bunches
Char

 

[CTrumble]

Here is a currency exchange site that is easy to use.

http://www.hausheidi.com/currency.htm

If you have 7 days, I'd get a 4-day park hopper and not limit myself to only 3 of the parks. Also...Animal Kingdom is NOT like a zoo, but you probably won't need a full day there either (with park hoppers you get to visit more than one park on the same day.)

I highly recommend spending some times on these boards to get used to what other people do. The trip report boards are great too.

Check out www.mousesavers.com for additional savings tips also. The codes are awesome for rental cars!

 

[Sarahsmom85]

Search and read all these posts. Find folks from Canada who post that they have already traveled and ask advise. Hockey Mom is from Canada maybe she would help you.

If you are able to go first week in Dec it is a very slow time so it makes a for a great time. They also have all the xmas decoration up and it is great.

Do lots of reading on this site. Ask lots of questions. That is the key.

 

[FayeW]

Your itinary sounds similar to what we did on our trip. I highly suggest you consider bidding for a Ready, Set, Go! auction on skyauction.com, trust me, if I can do it, anybody can! We had a 2 bdrm unit at Cypress Point Grande Villas, and we loved it! We paid about $350.CDN for the week. My winning bid was $52 US, plus they add another $210. US in fees so it came to $262 US, with the exchange it worked out to about $350. CDN. It was about mid-way to the Disney properties and Universal/SeaWorld area. It was very convenient. I have been checking skyauction lately, and they do have CPGV available for several dates in the fall. Just go to skyauction.com and select "search" from the toolbar across the top. Type in the word "ready" in the keyword field. The current Ready, Set, Go auctions will come up, just click on one of them, and when it opens scroll down to the area that says "Click here to see where your next trip will be" and then you can plug in your dates and locations that you are interested in. Select the option for "hotel" because all of the available accomodations will come up then. I won the second auction I bid on, very painless, and the accomodations, at least where I stayed, were incredible. Other very popular choices are Orlange Lake Country Club, Vistana Villages, and Silver Lake. You can choose whichever accomodations you like after you win the bid, it doesn't matter whether it is a studio, 1bdrm, 2 bdrm, etc, they are all the same price, you can choose any of them for the price of your bid + service charge of $210. You can either reserve the unit you want and they will hold it for you ( a couple of days I think) until you win an auction, then you just email them with your auction number, or you can wait til you win an auction, and then choose your accomodation when you see it availabe. Again, reserve it the minute you decide you want it, but be sure of your dates because I believe that once they do the paperwork, you can't cancel. We had never been to Florida before, and I found using skyauction gave us luxury accomodations at a ridiculously low price. My husband is actually talking about a return trip next year, but only if we use skyauction again.

 

[ceecee]

Animal Kingdom is not like a zoo at all......I agree with above poster 1/2 day should do it (the parade there is good). I would advise getting hoppers if possible. We LOVE Epcot and Illuminations is something we just can not miss! MGM we usually spend 1/2 - 1 day there.
Keep reading and you will find tons of helpful hints.

 

[mad4themouse]

Hi CharD and welcome to the DISboards!

It's so nice of your mom to pay for the room and airfare. That will go a long way towards cutting some major costs. The biggest budget considerations are;

• transportation
• food
• lodging
• park tickets/entertainment

There are also minor budget considerations like tips, film developing, etc. But until you have the basics covered, it's not worth even thinking about those yet.

You will need a way to get from the airport to your resort and back again. If the resort does not offer free transportation to the parks, you will need to rent a car. Otherwise the least expensive route for a family of 4 would be a towncar service like Happy Limo or Tiffany Towncar. The cost would be about $125 USD for the roundtrip, including tips.

4-day PHs for your family will run you about $775 in USD. That's probably the lowest you'll be able to get them unless you're attending a convention and can get special passes.

In the past, we have budgeted $100 USD per day for food and souvenirs. That would include one character meal and several counterservice meals with us often sharing sidedishes and sometimes even a soda. We also would eat at least two other sit-down meals in a 7-day stay. I usually bring snacks and water bottles with us into the parks. You can check menus and prices at AllEars.net - Menus to get an idea of food costs within WDW. Cost for 7 days for my family of 4 = $700 USD.

That brings your total to $1600 USD for the trip (just over $2200 CDN at today's exchange rate) already. You can probably cut the food/souvenir budget a little closer by eating most meals outside of the parks. "Kids Eat Free" places will help you stretch that food budget a little further. A resort room with a kitchen would be a BIG plus. The towncar service would do a free grocery stop for you between the airport and your resort. If it is within walking distance of a number of restaurants, this would be even better.

Also, look for Canadian "at par" rates from Disney (none available right now) and other resorts. You could save a considerable sum of money if you can find one. Check the DISboards - Canadian Visitors Board for any updates on deals for our northern neighbors.

Good luck and have fun planning!

 

[StephMK]

Hi & congrats on the trip!! It is overwhelming at first! I've been reading here the last 2 months & it's finally starting to make some sense & feel less nervous about going.

The best tip I can give you is to open a Word doc & make it your Disney page. Then when you find some great info - cut & paste it into Word. You will have an easy reference for all those great tips.

Second the tip on mousesavers - sign up for her monthly newsletter - it comes out on the 15th each month & has great tips & deals. If you go to the attractions board, there is lots of info about the Halloween party & Christmas events.

Happy planning!

 

[CharD]

so far I know that my car is part of my hotel package. I also have cooking facilities avail to me. The kids eat for free for both dinner and breakfast that covers that cost. They also stay free so that brings the cost down even more. Souviegners I hadnt thought about and tips. Good points. I had also didnt think of the transportation from the airport to the hotel, I assumed that the rental would be waiting for me at the airport????? Can we spell Ametuer here???...lol

I know the hotel also offers transportation to and from the theme parks. I also dont think we would be eating at the theme parks as the prices for the meals are outragous. Brown bagging it seems to be what we might do! And as a treat one day we would eat at the theme park for lunch. I know this sounds cheap but I want this to be fun for them and if it means skipping on eating thier meals and brown baggin it it will give them more money for souviegners.

The one thing I have to check with the hotel is to see if they offer a fridge to store things in. If so this would help immensly.

Thanks again you guys you have given me tons of stuff to look and think about.

Chat soon
Char