WHAT?! The DISboards are down for maintenance when I actually log in intending to update for the first time in forever?! So, here I am resorting to my Word document, so I can at least type an update and hopefully upload later. (okay, boards back up and I'm copying and pasting!)
So hi! Sorry to be MIA, but as you may have seen, we had a lovely vacation in Punta Cana.
Then, we got back into the grind with work and such. Is it possible to have pre-Disney Depression? Where it is still too far away to make more plans so you don't even want to think about it?? Since ADRs are done and we are not planning anything too laid out in terms of a touring plan, I have turned my thoughts toward budgeting. If we want to upgrade to APs when we get there, that will be a big expense, so I want to make sure we properly save and budget for that and any extras that come up. So here we go.
Disney Expenses
Gas and lodging – Since we are driving down for the first time (!), we need to factor in gas, lodging and probably pre-trip car maintenance such as oil change and tire rotation. Nigel is pretty fanatic about keeping the cars in good shape, so I’m really not worried about that we’ll have any surprises crop up (fingers crossed!). Also, depending on gas prices will determine which car we take. We have a Honda Pilot and a Chevy Cruze. Obviously, the Cruze has better gas mileage, but the Pilot is nice and could be more comfortable for a long road trip like this. For gas down and back and some light driving around WDW and some fast food stops, I think we are planning for approximately $300 to $350.
We are still undecided about whether we are going to drive straight through to Orlando are, or take a break in another state for the night. Right now, we are thinking it will be a “game day” decision. But either way, our WDW reservation doesn't start until Sunday, so we will be paying to stay somewhere Saturday, just not sure where. But with technology the way it is, I feel confident we can hop on our phones and find a hotel fairly easy that is budget friendly. Hotel - $100
Special F&W events – So, they haven’t announced these yet, but I was reading a Dining Report from the DIS in which someone was describing her special F&W events. They looked awesome, but I’m not sure I want to spend the money on them. There is a tequila pairing lunch, and we all know how Nigel and I love our tequila. But we did the tequila after-hours experience last September (which was the BEST!), so I’m not sure I really want to fork out the extra cash for this. But there is a French regional lunch that looks intriguing…I have a feeling we probably won’t do these, but we’ll see.
Memory maker – Can you believe that in all the years we’ve been doing WDW, we haven’t bought MM (or Photopass as it was). I feel like an idiot for not purchasing on some of our longer trips where we were there for a week, but c’est la vie. The big thing that may induce me to bite the bullet on this purchase is that (hopefully) you get the videos of your rides on Tower of Terror (and I think some others??). How cool would it be to have a video of that?! And one that is fairly professionally done since Disney is doing the recording! Why do I have such expensive tastes?! J
Upgrade to AP – If I have the calculations right, we will pay $607.04 to upgrade our current 4-day PH tickets that we purchased from
Undercover Tourist.
Tables in Wonderland card – Still debating about this. Buying APs opens up the option of getting TIW card. The card is $100 but you get a fair amount of discounts at most restaurants and it discounts alcohol and food (20%). But it adds an automatic 18% tip. So…does it really save you money? I have seen many Dis’ers post mathematical calculations in which they document a savings, but I don't think Nigel is convinced. We’ll see.
Tours – I have always wanted to do the Behind the Seeds tour which you get a discount on with APs but it only runs about $20 per person last time I looked. We will see if that fits in our plans. Also, did you know there is apparently a new tour starting for Epcot World Showcase?! I read about it on another Disney site. It looks like it is pretty much like the Keys to the Kingdom tour but for World Showcase. It is a 5-hour walking tour where you learn about the history of the World Showcase pavilions. Lunch at Morocco’s restaurant (not the new one) is included in ticket price of $109 per person. We LOVED the Keys to the Kingdom tour we took in Sept. 2012, so this sounds great! But not sure if it will be in the budget for this trip. After all, if we are laying out money for the APs, we will have a whole year to fit in other stuff!
Food and drinks – With the current ADRs we have (see above), the online Disney Dining calculator looks like it is coming in at around $400, give or take. (After all, it is only an estimate and I put in Beaches & Cream even though I think we are only doing dessert there.). Other than the ADRs, we are probably hitting quick service. But the big thing to watch out for will be the F&W booths. Those little dishes add up quickly, let me tell you. We last went to F&W in October 2013 and only for one day, so we were determined to make the most of it as we did not know if we would be back for it again. (Boy, that was stupid thinking! Lol). So for fun tonight, I found our old Passport for F&W. Do you guys know about this? You can get a free passport-sized booklet that lists all the booths, their dishes and has little boxes to check off what you ate and a place for each booth to stamp your passport booklet. It was a great way to look back and remember what we got for F&W in 2013.
So brilliant me had the idea to go back and look up the prices for the items we got and add it up to see what we actually spent at F&W!!! EEEK!
I might be a glutton for punishment. So, we hit 18 out of 30 booths, which was in one day from 11 am when they opened until I think perhaps 3 or 4 pm. I thought that was pretty good, especially since there are some we weren’t planning on trying (Terra, the vegan place. No offense, but we’ll take the real thing, not fake trick’n chikin or whatever they call it!) This was our lunch and early dinner! We either got one or two items per booth and some alcoholic beverages but pretty spaced out. So, the grand total was…………about $140.00. Which, if you think about it, is fairly close to a signature meal for 2 with appetizer, entrée, alcohol, dessert. Or at least that is how I will justify it to myself. I love how you just get so used to Disney prices. We will catch ourselves saying, “well, that’s pretty reasonable…for Disney prices.”
I am fairly certain we are not going to go all gung-ho this year like we did in 2013, so hopefully we can keep F&W booth spending under control! Of course, it could always be our
last time at F&W…(I need help).
So, that is what I have under expenses. I’m not counting the resorts, our current 5-day PH tickets or our MMVMCP tickets since we have fortunately paid those off on the credit card already. We also have money saved from last Christmas and Disney gift cards from birthday and anniversary gifts, so we just need to be sure to save some more so that we don’t lay out all this expense in November! So, that's my budgeting post with most subject to change and debate!
The most I would be willing to commit to would be that mini Kitchen Sink that comes is a container shaped like Mickey's pants!
