savings for big family/ room accomodations

[sddis]

The OP would need either 2 studios, with no guarantees that they will be close to one another, or a 2-bedroom unit. Either way, she is going to pay a premium for them. It will be much more than the cost of 2 value resort rooms.

The time period that she is looking at is considered "Magic Season". Points for a week in a studio will range from 95-169 per unit. A 2-bedroom villa will run about 243-551 pts., with the lower amounts being almost impossible to book and the higher amounts being at VGF. At a cost of even just $11/pt. (most DVC members will want a little more), you're talking a minimum of $2100 for 2 value studios at AKV (almost impossible to book) and a minimum of $2700 for a value 2-bedroom at AKV (also nearly impossible to book). By comparison, a week in 2 non-discounted Value Resort standard rooms would run about $1700 in 2014. IMO, for someone who only wants a place to sleep and shower should probably be looking offsite, but they definitely don't want to rent DVC points in the case of the OP.

thanks for the thorough info, really appreciate it!

 

[sddis]

we've never camped or used a camper so that is out.

We want on site because we may want the dining plan. Or maybe there will be a dining promotion. Can I use both the dining promotion and 15% off room promotion?

And we also want the extra time at parks. I believe everyday 1 park has after hours?

Also, staying offsite means getting a 12 passenger van doesn't it? Which is not very cost effective. Unless it was a hotel that had shuttle service.

 

[Aliceacc]

we've never camped or used a camper so that is out.

We want on site because we may want the dining plan. Or maybe there will be a dining promotion. Can I use both the dining promotion and 15% off room promotion?

And we also want the extra time at parks. I believe everyday 1 park has after hours?

Also, staying offsite means getting a 12 passenger van doesn't it? Which is not very cost effective. Unless it was a hotel that had shuttle service.

No, Disney won't allow you to "stack" discounts. You have to do the math and go with the one that saves you the most money.

 

[ellochka]

we've never camped or used a camper so that is out.

We want on site because we may want the dining plan. Or maybe there will be a dining promotion. Can I use both the dining promotion and 15% off room promotion?

And we also want the extra time at parks. I believe everyday 1 park has after hours?

Also, staying offsite means getting a 12 passenger van doesn't it? Which is not very cost effective. Unless it was a hotel that had shuttle service.

There is no discount stacking, however, in your case free dining is going to be the winner. Discounts are ~$20 per room. Free dining is $40 per person.

Staying off-site makes most sense if you are driving in. This way, you have the vehicle already. You can also save money by having breakfast and dinner at the condo. Some condos do have shuttles to Disney, but it's not as convenient as staying on property. Generally, it's only a couple of rides in the morning/evening, and some of them are for a fee ($5-$6 per person/roundtrip). So, yes, I would recommend getting a van if you decide to stay off-site (also, budget for $14 parking fee at the park). Main advantage of off-site is that the place is much bigger than the hotel. However, I totally understand why you want to stay on property - it is a lot simpler.

What I have heard about extra magic hours is... well, they are helpful to know about so you can avoid the crowds. Essentially, whatever park offers them on any given day - don't go there. There will be a ton of people, and not for just the extra hour. Also, evening hours are not super-helpful. The park is generally open till 10 pm, anyway. You are not going to be there at 10:30 with the kids.

Good thing you are planning a year ahead - this is a lot to take in!

 

[ellochka]

Hate break it to you, but there is virtually zero chance of getting free dining in early August next year.

1. The promotion this year starts in September.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/resort-stay-dining/
2. You can see why Disney is choosing certain times for promos here.
http://**************.net/wp-conten...d-Crowd-Calendar-from-**************.net_.jpg

 

[Marionnette]

1. we've never camped or used a camper so that is out.

2. We want on site because we may want the dining plan. Or maybe there will be a dining promotion. Can I use both the dining promotion and 15% off room promotion?

3. And we also want the extra time at parks. I believe everyday 1 park has after hours?

4. Also, staying offsite means getting a 12 passenger van doesn't it? Which is not very cost effective. Unless it was a hotel that had shuttle service.

1. You would be surprised at how nice campers can be. Jennifer Marx, a Disney travel book writer, blogged about her first camping experience at FW just this spring! You can read about her experience here. It sounds as if it was a very positive experience for her and her son. Since it is a part of the Walt Disney Resort, you would be eligible for the complimentary airport transportation to and from the resort as well as onsite transportation to the parks.
   
2. The dining plan is not all that it is cracked up to be. It probably will not save you any money unless you eat desserts twice a day. But you could get the dining plan if you stay at the campground. You just wouldn't get the free dining plan, even if it were to be offered in early August. The campground is almost always excluded from that promotion. And as a PP pointed out, you cannot "stack" discounts like a room-only discount with a package promotion.
   
3. There will be at least one park per day which offers EMH. Sometimes EMH is admission into the park an hour prior to the park opening to the general public. Sometimes it is additional hours (2-3) of access to the attractions after the park closes to the general public. It depends on the schedule that Disney sets.
   
4. A 12-passenger van probably would not be cost-effective. Two smaller vehicles make more sense when you are dealing with such a large group. Not everyone is going to want to head to the parks at first light or stay until the park closes. This would be especially true if you have infants with you. But you're right about taking the cost of renting a vehicle into consideration when you look at offsite resorts. Some will have shuttles to and from the parks but you would still have to pay for ground transportation to/from the airport and that resort.

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, here's what I would do, or at least think about doing:

Assuming that I could swing it financially....
I would book 2, possibly 3, rooms at a Moderate-- say Port Orleans Riverside or Carribbean Beach. Then I would hope like crazy for a discount like the one that was offered this year. ( I did the math for a friend. It turned out that, with the summer discount, a room at a moderate was cheaper than a non-discounted room at Art of Animation-- the most expensive of the Value rooms. (Again, working with a qualified travel agent can help you here.)

My kids are all total water rats. So, to be honest, a resort with a good pool is part of what we look for-- we're both teachers, so we only go over the summer. We find that we NEED that mid-afternoon break in the pool, and we're all happy with a pool that offers a little something extra.

You have a full year, so there's lots of time to make up the extra money. One thing we do is get Disney Gift Cards for every occasion. My son turned 16 yesterday, and got one from his aunt and uncle; each of the kids got at least one for Christmas and Easter. My husband got one for Father's Day and I got one for Mother's Day.

You can see how they can add up almost painlessly, and can cover the difference in cost.

 

[fairy8i8]

If you really want to stay on property, then it looks like 2 value rooms or renting DVC points is the way to go.

I know a previous poster was down on renting points. I have rented the last 2 times we have gone, and it was by far and away the best deal available. I rented points for $10/point. It takes some looking, but there are people who rent their points for that much, and not even last minute.

If you book 11 months in advance, then you can try for the value studios at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. They are really nice, and the resort is so nice, you might just want to spend your afternoons there! It would give you more space than the value resorts for about the same cost. Remember that points rentals include all taxes, whereas tax is added to your hotel stay.

It sounds like you really want to stay on property and the adults are comfortable getting cozy, so if you want a value resort, try it. There are many people who enjoy them, especially POP.

Do you have ideas for details of your trip? I was able to take a luxury trip to Disney World by incorporating some key savings techniques.
1. We only booked ONE weekend night (they are more expensive than weekday nights) - Friday/Saturday are the more expensive weekend nights.

2. Sounds like you are flying down? Where from? We flew from Pittsburgh nonstop on Southwest. We flew in early Tuesday Morning (arrived at 8:30am) and flew out late Saturday Night (left 9:30pm). While people will cry here about exhaustion, it was no more exhausting than the rest of the vacation, and we had Sunday to recover before returning to work. What it gave us was 2 extra days in the parks without paying for extra hotel nights, which you can see are expensive. So we had 4 nights and 5 days in the parks. If you wanted 6 days in the parks, you could do the same thing but add Monday night. Yes, you still have to take a week off from work, but the relaxation that comes from packing on the weekend before leaving-- having time to do laundry, etc.-- and then having a rest day before the regular work week is invaluable. And it saves TONS of money as room rates are around 25% more on the weekends.

3. We skipped the park hopper option (only worth adding if you are getting water parks too IMHO). In hindsight, we will get the park hopper next time we go. I planned 2 days in Magic Kingdom like everyone suggests for my 4 year old son. Who knew that Star Tours would be his favorite ride and he would be bored after half a day at the Magic Kingdom. With girls, I suspect it would be different as MK has all the princess stuff. However, we were more tied down because I really wanted to go to our dinner BOG reservation the second MK night and the Pooh breakfast at Crystal Palace (which my son loved), and a tour scheduled. If you don't have ADRs where you really want to eat, then you can be much more flexible, even without park hoppers.

4. We bought Disney Gift Cards at our local grocery store when they were having a promo on them in February. I got a $10 coupon for groceries for every $100 gift card plus fuelperks. I used them for our meals in the parks and souvenirs. I was going to use them to buy Park Tickets as well, but Ebates was having a 20% cash back deal on Orbitz Disney tickets, and Orbitz was having a deal where you got a 5 day ticket for the price of a 3 day ticket. It is honestly the best deal I have ever seen.

5. To give you an idea, we did 5 days/4 nights at the Beach Club in a studio villa ($760), car rental ($122.23), 5 day park tickets for 3 ($657.48) REALLY!!! for $1539.71.

6. We wanted a points accruing credit card because we didn't have one and decided on Southwest because it made the most sense for visiting family across the country for us. We used FF points for our flights to Disney, so only $15 spent there.

7. I also spent $1000 on food and the Memory Maker photo package (using the Gift Cards, so really about $850 after the discounts I got on gas and groceries). However, food is a big deal to me when traveling. I fulfilled my childhood dream of eating at Cinderella's Royal Table, Akershus, and Be Our Guest for dinner. We also ate at Jiko, Ohana's, and several other yummy places.

Mostly, I just wanted you to see that with some creative thinking, you can find ways to stretch your budget and make things work for you and your family. I wanted a luxury vacation to Disney, and we like the freedom of a car because we like to explore (and I broke my foot right before Disney, so it was easier to manage with valet and a wheelchair than navigating a wheelchair lift on the buses). It meant that we went on a shorter trip, but for our 4 year old, 5 days in the parks was really enough.

Decide what is most important to you on your trip, and then find a way to save money on it. The Budget Boards have amazing deals. You can book your Value Resort through Orbitz, get ebates cashback on the purchase, and get Orbitz 15% off promo, which stacks with Disney's discount promo. There are all kinds of ways to save

 

[sddis]

Thanks for all your responses. Really helpful stuff.

I will keep an eye out for a moderate resort to go on sale since a nice pool would be a bonus. But until then I will stick to booking two rooms at a value resort.

One or more car rentals definitely kills the idea of staying offsite. And I don't feel comfortable with the DVC points thing.

We have two teachers in the group, so summer is the only option for us. And it doesn't look like the dining plan promotion is an option. Although, some in my group got that promotion last time they went. I'll have to ask them what dates they went. Maybe it was earlier in the summer? But we want to keep it late in the summer because my child will turn 1 next summer, so the older she is the better.

My trip is kinda convoluted so I haven't shard much. The plan so far is to fly to fort lauderdale from NY and spend a weekend in a south beach condo. Then drive to Disney in a 12 pasenger van. And spend 7 days in disney. We'll fly friday morning down and fly back from orlando on a satursday or sunday. I have family in Miami and the kids in the group have only been to the beach in NY, so we want them to see what a real beach looks like even if its just two nights.

I'm trying to find out if I can get the disneycard and get a 200 giftcard, but it looks like its an exclusive thing, cus I can't find a link anywhere.

 

[mgsquared]

The art of animation family suites would not be a good deal for the OP?
OP- Make sure you ask a Disney travel agent for a quote!!! Have them figure out what the best deal for your party is.
Quotes are free and the travel agent will know what discounts to look out for. Give them general dates (and tell them you can vary a bit) and see what they come up with from there.

There is a travel agent, Dreams Unlimited, listed at the top of this site and mousesavers recommends one that I have personally have had a good experience with. There are a ton out there, many recommended on here. Just look around and ask for a quote. It will be so much more helpful than all of this cost speculation going on.

 

[sddis]

The art of animation family suites would not be a good deal for the OP?
OP- Make sure you ask a Disney travel agent for a quote!!! Have them figure out what the best deal for your party is.
Quotes are free and the travel agent will know what discounts to look out for. Give them general dates (and tell them you can vary a bit) and see what they come up with from there.

There is a travel agent, Dreams Unlimited, listed at the top of this site and mousesavers recommends one that I have personally have had a good experience with. There are a ton out there, many recommended on here. Just look around and ask for a quote. It will be so much more helpful than all of this cost speculation going on.

Thanks, I am planning to talk to a TA. However, I prefer all the speculation so I know all the options. Last time I used a TA for a Caribbean vacation, I had to have them pricematch what I found online myself. So I have zero faith on TAs getting you a good deal unless you are completely informed such that you don't need them. Funny how that works.

 

[Aliceacc]

We have two teachers in the group, so summer is the only option for us.

OK, that throws another option in.

Take a look at the teacher discounts at the Swan/Dolphin. http://www.swandolphin.com/offers/teachers/index.html

Call and ask about rooms that accomodate more than 4. In 2012, I had a reservation there for a Deluxe Alcove, which sleeps 6, for roughly the same price as a moderate at Disney. (Then we got a 30% Pin code, which made the Beach Club the best deal.) It's not a Disney resort, but it's a 7 or 8 minute walk to Epcot, on the boat route to Hollywood Studios, and you get EMH privileges. Absolultely worth looking into.

But to get the teacher rates for anything but a standard room, you have to call. Let the person on the phone know how many people, and in what configuration, and see what they can do for you.

 

[sddis]

OK, that throws another option in.

Take a look at the teacher discounts at the Swan/Dolphin. http://www.swandolphin.com/offers/teachers/index.html

Call and ask about rooms that accomodate more than 4. In 2012, I had a reservation there for a Deluxe Alcove, which sleeps 6, for roughly the same price as a moderate at Disney. (Then we got a 30% Pin code, which made the Beach Club the best deal.) It's not a Disney resort, but it's a 7 or 8 minute walk to Epcot, on the boat route to Hollywood Studios, and you get EMH privileges. Absolultely worth looking into.

But to get the teacher rates for anything but a standard room, you have to call. Let the person on the phone know how many people, and in what configuration, and see what they can do for you.

I took a quick look and they had many blackout dates. It was also $159 and not $139 per night. The price was pretty high, but I did notice the AARP discount was better. Or maybe the website says the teacher discount is applied but I really have to call.

Is this a property inside of disney with disney transportation?

 

[Aliceacc]

No Disney's Magical Express, but I believe you get all the other Disney transporation.

It's next door to Disney's Boardwalk Inn. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3264274

I've never stayed there, but it's definitely on our radar for a future trip.

 

[hsmamato2]

OP.... you have a lot of good questions,and you really need to read through a lot of the answers on the boards....just keep reading.... YOu have a lot of basics and options laid out here for you.... what looks good to you? what are your preferences?
If you question is what is the cheapest onsite..you've found it- 2 rooms at a a value,and hope for a discount to come out.
With teachers, the Swan and Dolphin has a good discount, and these hotels are AWESOME. You have to get yourself on property, but other than that they're right in the middle of the fun. I think that's your next best bet, 2 rooms there.
Like I said, you need to read,a LOT. have fun planning

 

[IamJBo]

OP - In regards to your comment about the Disney card w/ the 200$ GC promo - I received mine in the mail. The only thing I think that could've even put me on any list would be me signing up for a free disney vacation dvd last year. I don't think it's too exclusive.

 

[sddis]

OP - In regards to your comment about the Disney card w/ the 200$ GC promo - I received mine in the mail. The only thing I think that could've even put me on any list would be me signing up for a free disney vacation dvd last year. I don't think it's too exclusive.

thanks for the info! Were u able to signup multiple people for card? r do you need to get multiple mail offers?

 

[Ciao Mickey]

I took a quick look and they had many blackout dates. It was also $159 and not $139 per night. The price was pretty high, but I did notice the AARP discount was better. Or maybe the website says the teacher discount is applied but I really have to call.

Is this a property inside of disney with disney transportation?

Keep in mind the Swan and Dolphin charge a resort fee and a parking fee for each day you are there. So tack on an additional $40+ To your room rate each day.

It's on WDW property next to the Yacht & Beach Club and the Boardwalk.

 

[dpswift]

I would check out the discounts thread. It gives tips on how to get a discount pin. The problem is right now if you got one it would be months away from your date. That is most likely how some of your group got FD during the summer.

You could also try pricing 3 rooms at a value and see how much extra it would be over 2 rooms. That way you would have some extra space.

Only you know how much the pool slide is worth to your family. Last year my daughter wanted to stay at AoA. It would have been cheaper for us to stay at a moderate because of the discount being offered at that time.

 

[mrsabbott]

We are a family of 6 and staying on site is just NOT in our budget, regardless of the discounts!

However, I think staying off site is a great idea and many resorts have a cool pool/kids play area/etc.. There are even houses with private pools that are available. I think that renting VRBO might be the most economical way for your family. Lots of nice resorts and private homes are available that are very close to the parks!