Results of my cost comparison - LONG!!

[taylorcpa]

OK, I am an accountant so I naturally can come up with wonderful spreadsheets so that I can compare things. If you remember, I asked for feedback about including items to do a cost comparison between onsite at CSR and WL and a condo at Windsor Hills. Forgive me if it is long. This is for two adults and two Disney kids

On Site assumptions - park tickets and tax (no parkhopping), regular dining plan, $300 for tax & tips on meals, $50 for groceries, seven nights lodging and tax

Value Season
CSR at 30% off (common PIN discount) - $2,900.80
WL at 40% off (again, common PIN discount) - $3,171.32
CSR with free dining - $2,517.30 (room at rack rate)
WL with free dining - $3,174.96

Regular Season II
CSR at 30% off - $3,017.08
WL at 40% off - $3,456.08
CSR with free dining - $2,683.41
WL with free dining - $3,649.56


Windsor Hills assumptions: park tickets and tax (no parkhopping), seven nights lodging and tax, pool heat (which may not be needed), Dining at Disney which includes dinner at Crystal Palace and breakfast at Akershus and 3 CS at $50/day (these totaled $435 + $150 tax/tip), parking, out of park dining at $40/day, $100 for groceries - this is how I imagine my family would dine

WH total - $2,998.56


So, staying at WH is not cheaper all the time when comparing with a moderate but is cheaper than a deluxe every time.

I did learn that the dining plan would work great for my family because I looked at where we would like to dine with the dining plan and the total cost was about $872 and that did not include any desserts and only one drink for the whole party whereas the dining plan is $756. My food when staying at Windsor Hills would total $765.

Thanks for letting me amuse you. Now the question is, will I stay on site or off and that is yet to be determined.

 

[Beckypooh1972]

Thanks for posting! We've considered staying at Windsor Hills and still might do so some day. Personally I like the free dining because I don't have to cook and my husband doesn't have to drive around finding an off property restaurant we can get into without a 45 min. wait. The condo idea is really great in terms of the extra privacy which is worth a lot to us. The extra magic hours? Love 'em but usually the kids are too pooped for us to take advantage of them. Your cost comparison was really interesting to read - off property vs. on property. I might try doing the same research for my own family to see how we would fair either way. The biggest saving for us would be eating at home more - but that means more work for Mom and less vacation...

 

[polineedyan]

transportation??

 

[taylorcpa]

We are driving so no rental car.

 

[taylorcpa]

The biggest saving for us would be eating at home more - but that means more work for Mom and less vacation...

We could save money by eating in more but I honestly don't think that would happen. My plan calls for 12 meals out - leaving 9 meals at the condo.

On the one hand not having to cook/clean up sounds good, but so does not having to find somewhere to eat every meal. We also get tired of eating out after a while.

 

[Planogirl]

It also depends on how much space you want but that's hard to quantify. I love to spread out on vacation and I love having kitchen facilities if only for drinks and snacks. I also have no interest in the dining plan which is good since it's poor for small parties.

You can make simple things in the condo or order pizza. There's a lot of possibilities to avoid having to work too much. Definitely bring paper plates!

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Thanks for returning and telling us how your comparison worked out! I love the number crunching too. I still have the figures from both our trips--when we went just the 4 of us we spent $450 on food for 9 days/8 nights. That included airport/traveling meals, front row seating at the HDDR and a breakfast at Chef Mickeys. Every day we shared a couple meals in the parks to tide us over, but mainly bought a bunch of groceries. Had breakfast at the townhouse, packed beef jerky, trail mix, pretzels, etc. in my baggallini, shared a late lunch, then went back to the townhouse for a snack and dinner. Dinners were pretty easy--chicken casserole, pasta and sauce, burgers and dogs, sandwiches, etc. Like you said, if you don't think you'll eat in as much your budget has to reflect that. We also went during peak season, so that made the lodging difference even greater for us. Have fun deciding!

 

[Pixieflip]

Wow, interesting results! I agree, I'd love to be able to eat out every day, but having the option to save a bit on some of the meals is a definite plus. DP isn't appealing right now with the girls at 13 and almost 12. They'd be happy with a bowl of buttered noodles every meal. Now if I had 4 like my teenage boy?? Different story!

 

[3boymthr]

One question, does the Windsor Hill figure include room/rental taxes (do those even apply?)

Plus, it definitely evens out even more if you are flying....

Rental car - compact car (4 people 3 bags) $500/week / This doesn't include the cost of the insurance which would be about another $100. So $600 for a car rental. This is without a discount code, but it is a discounted price of $100 cheaper than any of the major carriers which offer discount codes.

If you have 5 people like me and need to rent an SUV or Mini-van figure $700/week for the rental car.

So, if you have a discount code such as FD or the 40% off it would be actually be cheaper to stay at the WL.

 

[taylorcpa]

One question, does the Windsor Hill figure include room/rental taxes (do those even apply?)

Yes, it does include taxes

 

[HeatherC]

Our problem is that we are a family of five. (Kids are all adults now by Disney standards.) So every time we have gone I've priced things six ways to Sunday and every time offsite winds up being way cheaper.

Wherever you stay, I hope you have an awesome time! Half the fun to me is in the planning and it looks like you're having fun with it!

 

[abmitch01]

just an FYI, we didn't need pool heat in May

 

[polineedyan]

One question, does the Windsor Hill figure include room/rental taxes (do those even apply?)

Plus, it definitely evens out even more if you are flying....

Rental car - compact car (4 people 3 bags) $500/week / This doesn't include the cost of the insurance which would be about another $100. So $600 for a car rental. This is without a discount code, but it is a discounted price of $100 cheaper than any of the major carriers which offer discount codes.

If you have 5 people like me and need to rent an SUV or Mini-van figure $700/week for the rental car.

So, if you have a discount code such as FD or the 40% off it would be actually be cheaper to stay at the WL.

We have a large family and we always rent a van. We use the codes from mousesavers. Last year a 7 day was 265 with a code. Over the winter, we did the 'get what we give ya' deal thru dollar i think. They gave us a van for about 47 a day..

 

[TnTWalter]

OK, I am an accountant so I naturally can come up with wonderful spreadsheets so that I can compare things. If you remember, I asked for feedback about including items to do a cost comparison between onsite at CSR and WL and a condo at Windsor Hills. Forgive me if it is long. This is for two adults and two Disney kids

On Site assumptions - park tickets and tax (no parkhopping), regular dining plan, $300 for tax & tips on meals, $50 for groceries, seven nights lodging and tax

Value Season
CSR at 30% off (common PIN discount) - $2,900.80
WL at 40% off (again, common PIN discount) - $3,171.32
CSR with free dining - $2,517.30 (room at rack rate)
WL with free dining - $3,174.96

Regular Season II
CSR at 30% off - $3,017.08
WL at 40% off - $3,456.08
CSR with free dining - $2,683.41
WL with free dining - $3,649.56


Windsor Hills assumptions: park tickets and tax (no parkhopping), seven nights lodging and tax, pool heat (which may not be needed), Dining at Disney which includes dinner at Crystal Palace and breakfast at Akershus and 3 CS at $50/day (these totaled $435 + $150 tax/tip), parking, out of park dining at $40/day, $100 for groceries - this is how I imagine my family would dine

WH total - $2,998.56


So, staying at WH is not cheaper all the time when comparing with a moderate but is cheaper than a deluxe every time.

I did learn that the dining plan would work great for my family because I looked at where we would like to dine with the dining plan and the total cost was about $872 and that did not include any desserts and only one drink for the whole party whereas the dining plan is $756. My food when staying at Windsor Hills would total $765.

Thanks for letting me amuse you. Now the question is, will I stay on site or off and that is yet to be determined.

how much is your Windsor Hills rental?

Our condo was $450 for the week total. Would that make it cheaper? Or same?

We only did one TS this trip as we'd been twice before and wanted to maximize rides etc. this time [kids are older]....it was Crystal Palace...$120ish.

We still ate at the parks....they have some nice CS restaurants...

and we ate offsite....I only did a few easy meals in the condo [one was just boiling pasta because we bought sauces and bread at Olive Garden to go]...and of course breakfasts....

I spent $400 on dining and $200 on groceries [went for convenience products no coupons, easy] but this included toiletries and we took the leftover groceries for our second week at the beach....


We also have 3 kids, one is an adult so that makes the dining plan pricey for us.

Here's my tally of what we spent at the restaurants...fyi....
http://tntwalterdisneyworld.blogspot.com/2009/06/budget-meal-planning.html


I think it looks great. Good to see the price comparisons...


I love crunching numbers too. LOL. We're DIS'ers that's for sure!

 

[polineedyan]

My own two cents on the subject..fwiw, is that this topic gets debated a lot. If money were the final say, then yes, you can do cheaper. There is always a cheaper way. But those incidentals do add up. For us to go off property would just take too much out of it..just an opinion.

 

[MinnieForMe]

One question, does the Windsor Hill figure include room/rental taxes (do those even apply?)

Plus, it definitely evens out even more if you are flying....

Rental car - compact car (4 people 3 bags) $500/week / This doesn't include the cost of the insurance which would be about another $100. So $600 for a car rental. This is without a discount code, but it is a discounted price of $100 cheaper than any of the major carriers which offer discount codes.

If you have 5 people like me and need to rent an SUV or Mini-van figure $700/week for the rental car.

So, if you have a discount code such as FD or the 40% off it would be actually be cheaper to stay at the WL.

If you are budget minded, please check out the transportation forum here. I have NEVER paid $700 for a minivan rental in the past 8 years. We went April of this year and for 9 days paid $320 for a minivan using Alamo including all taxes and fees. It does take a ton of time to find the best rate. I looked and played with coupons/codes for weeks but it was money in my pocket for Disney!

 

[mrsklamc]

WH pricing can vary widely, since they are individually owned the owners can price how they want, or give you a 'fire sale' rate if they have a vacant week coming up. The properties can also vary from a plain condo to 5 bedroom houses with custom built beds shaped like castles.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We are driving so no rental car.

Did you calculate in parking costs? If you stayed onsite you would not pay the daily parking rate making it even cheaper than Windsor Hills.

 

[Chelley00]

So, staying at WH is not cheaper all the time when comparing with a moderate but is cheaper than a deluxe every time. .

For someone with only 2 kids, it probably is cheaper to stay at WH, but when you add a couple more kids, WH (or another offsite place) is way cheaper than 2 rooms at a value.

 

[savannahcat]

I think it all comes down to what that extra space is worth to you. After all, you are comparing a hotel room against a condo that has a living area, kitchen, and multiple bedrooms.

For my family, it is only worth it to stay in a hotel room on property if we are within walking distance/monorail of at least one park. And even then, we can't last a week without getting grumpy with one another.

For us, that extra space is worth a lot!