Re-thinking the whole thing

[Muziqal]

Hey there,

I'm from Calgary and have flown many times back and forth. I used to work in the Canadian Pavilion. I'm also going back in 2 months for 16 days. I can try and help you out with prices...

We are paying $615 (tax incl.). for airline tickets (adults) this time. We could get them for $590 if we were more flexible with our dates and times. I've gone through Ariline Ticket Centre for flights from Calgary to Orlando a few times and they seem pretty competent. (403) 269-1111 and the girl that is helping us out is Corinne. She has been quite helpful. The most I've paid for a flight is about $710 CDN, but that was from Orlando to Calgary return and I think it had to do with the exchange rate at the time. I wouldn't pay more than $650 from CGY to Orlando...but then again, Easter might differ in price. You can also get discounted WDW passes from the Airline Ticket Centre (7 Day Park Hopper 4 Plus = $410 CDN).

I do know of the Helena strategy and some of my friends have tried it a few times. I've heard it's more hassle than it's worth, but if you're going to be driving somewhere to fly anyways, it may be worth checking out.

I don't have kids (are you kidding me? I'm barely surviving the responsibility of a dog and a plant right now!), so I don't know exactly how to help with that aspect of the trip.

If you do want to purchase things now, the Sea world at par and the CAA Universal 3 day park hopper passes are a good deal and neither expire. The at par Sea world ticket sale ends on April 30, but again, purchase them before then and you won't have a problem using them in the future (this told to me by the ticket department of Anheuser-Busch). If you have the $, I say pick these 2 things up now. Then again, if you're going for 5 days...are you going to do these parks? I would highly recommend seeing Islands of Adventure.

You're going to save $ staying offsite. There's no way around it. I am staying at the Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista (407-996-7300) which is about a 15 - 20 minute walk to DD. I'll probably walk every day to DD to catch the buses there, but the hotel does have free shuttles to the parks (a loop that includes other hotels as well) and to Sea world and US. This is rare. Not many places in the area have a free shuttle service to these 2 parks. The place is just a hotel with no perks (fridge and microwave in the room, continental bf, pool, etc.), but who wants to spend time at their hotel while you're in Disney? We got an entertainment book rate of $44.99/night, plus 11.5% tax. I've stayed at the all star resorts, yacht & beach, and caribbean beach. I can tell you, these hotels (especially the all stars) are just hotel rooms and sometimes it takes longer to get where you want to go from that area than from taking the transportation from DD. This area (lake buena vista) is very close to DD, very safe and is the area where the condos are that the kids that work in the Worldshowcase pavilions and Africans that work in Animal Kingdom live. I'm very familiar with it and I will always stay in this area when I go back.

I definitely recommend eating breakfast in the room or continental. Bring lunch to the parks and spend food $ on dinner. You then have the freedom to sample some of the nicer restaurants or the ones you really have your heart set on. They gauge you at the parks for food and snacks.

Here's our budget 4 adults for 16 days:

Air $615 CDN each
Hotel (44.99 US + 11.5% tax X 17 nights) $1128 CDN
Food ($30 each US + 6.5% tax X 16 days) $2705 CDN
30 day FUN in the Sun passes $1640 CDN
Sea World at par X 4 $176 CDN
Universal 3 day parkhoppers $400 CDN
Town car to and from airport/hotel with free 30 minute grocery stop + tip $130 CDN
_______________________________________________

I think those are the basics = $8639 CDN
divided by 4 = $2159 CDN each

Again, that's 4 adults staying for a long time and doing a lot. I think you'll have a great time with the amount you'll have. It's just about making the most of the $ you have, seeing the things you want to see and doing the things you want to do.

Feel free to hit me with specific questions and I can try and help more. Once a CM always a CM.

and one more thing, I work in the financial sector now. I find it unlikely that our $ drops vs. the US in the near future. After that disappointing jobs report out of the US and even after the bank of canada's interest rate cut last week, we're still at .75 cents. I'm no expert though. A good strategy may be to buy a few US $ here and there or take advantage of the at par deals along the way while our $ sits like this beside the weak US $. Who knows what can happen a year from now, right?

 

[PhotobearSam]

Boy...I'm a freak.

We just went to WDW for 2 weeks and stayed on the coast for a week as well. We ate at a lot of restaurants and stayed in a condo for 2 weeks (2 bed, 2 bath, Washer/dryer and dishwasher, 3 km from Disney) spent a ton on souvenirs and still did not spend close to $4000...

I know 2 adults for 3 weeks but we spent lots...We flew from Halifax, Booked a full size car and stayed at Orange Lake Gulf and Country Club...With $8000...I could have done a lot more...

Buy a copy of the Unofficial Guide to WDW and it will give you a lot of ideas on how to save money...That seems like an easy planning budget for me but I guess I don't know how to spend...

 

[FayeW]

We went for 8 days in December, flew from Syracuse, rented a car and spent in total about $4300. CDN for 2 adults/2 children. I used a code we found at Dollar for the car, and we stayed in a 2 bdrm at Cypres Pointe Grand Villas through hotelkingdom (first night, $88.16 US per night) and skyauction ( 7 night rental, $362 US on a Ready, Set, Go auction).

I highly recommend using skyauction, great rates and great properties, plus you have the flexibility of preparing some of your own snacks and meals.

We only did 2 days at Disney, one full day at MK, and then back a second day for the Christmas Party.

We bougth our SW tickets at CAA, paid $55A/$45Ch, and got the second visit free.

Bought the 5 day US/IOA tickets on my MasterCard, through the Universal website for around $90 US each, and because they had a promotion on at the time, I bought 4 and got a 5th for free, so now I have one for our next trip.

A co-worker stayed on site, 7 days, and did only Disney, and spent nearly $10K! We had a great trip, had better accomodations, our own vehicle, and spent less than half!

Next time I will get a 3 or 4 day park hopper, and maybe rent points from DVC for a couple of days to experience the on site phenomenon, and maybe spring for the last day on site at Universal for FOTL access(depending on the time of year we go, early December there were no crowds at US, so on site would have been a huge waste of money to me!)

 

[alohamom]

Here is what we do; we fly out of Buffalo and use Priceline for hotel stays. I know you cannot use Buffalo as a gateway if you are in Calgary but can you drive into the U.S. to any small city that is serviced by major airlines?( I cannot believe my knowledge Canadian geography is so limited!)You will basically save major depature taxes. For example, let's say my base ticket price to Orlando is 350.00 canadian dollars from Toronto, you must add approx.150 cd to that making it 500cd each before you leave (=2000 cnd dollars for family of four). By leaving from Buffalo, you pay approx 30 U.S. dollars dept fees and couple that with a sale airfare ( I will tell you about that in a minute) and we usually pay about 780 american or approx 1000 canadian. You do have to factor in the cost of gas (roughly $40.00 cnd round trip to Buffalo from my house and parking for the time you are away (we get a hotel room special that works out to about 100/cnd total.) So you save about 800 cnd dollars. We like to think that pays for the parks etc...I find out about sales for airfare through Travelocity's Fare Watcher(both .com for Buffalo and .ca for Toronto)They e-mail you when the fare goes on sale and you can usually get a decent price (right now the fare out of Buffalo is as low as 123.00 american on U.S. Airlines) The next thing we do is use Priceline for our hotel stay. Yes, you are usually not in a Disney Resort but you have to say to yourself is it better to go and stay offsite, rather than not go at all. I have used Priceline a few times in the last year, once in Hawaii, once in Orlando(we got the Downtown Disney Hilton for 60.00 american a night)I know there are also lots of reasonably priced hotels and many ways to get them, I just find I end up with a nicer hotel for the same price as a budget hotel when I use Priceline. You need an American Express card, easily obtainable, and you need to read though the forum that supports Priceline at www.biddingfortravel.com Read the FAQ's for non-U.S. residents. My Father uses it for his many business trips to Asia and has never had a problem. Anyway, best of luck, I know the feelings you are going though, especially having to work around peek times but I'll bet you can do it!!!

 

[minnie56]

My daughter and I went alone last August.

We spent 10 days at AKL and bought annual passes. We ate out every meal at great places. Did a backstage tour ($199 each) the Luau at The Polynesian and shopped till we dropped basically.Had a wonderful time and spared no expenses.Our total bill was $5,200 CAD. I thought that was exceptional...

We also went at Christmas and found it no more expensive other than airfares.

Good Luck...you'll get good help here!

 

[PrincessKristy]

We're leaving on Monday & found great airline prices on Expedia.ca. We're flying Air Canada out of Edmonton for $525 each (taxes included).

We bought passes at CAA (AAA) for both Disney & Universal. We're planning to do a lot of in-room snacking & buffets at places like Bonanza.

BTW, have you looked at Disneyland prices? I found the packages from CAA were half the cost of WDW. Since there is less at Disneyland (no Epcot, no AK), you don't need to stay as long either.

 

[SKFamily]

Yup, we're now looking at Disneyland instead. Quite a bit cheaper from what I've found so far, the possibility of someone from around there being able to get us a discount through her job, and we won't waste money on passes we won't have time to fully use - which would be an issue at WDW.

 

[PrincessKristy]

Sounds great! I think that will be our next big trip too. Have fun!