Trying to plan a financially smart OFF site Disney trip - HELP please

[martin72200]

Our family has been to Disney 7 times in 6 years. We have always stayed on site to take advantage of the free dining offer. However, this year it did not cover the span of our trip. We have a large family (6 children) and has become more expensive to stay on site especially since we have to have 2 rooms (we use Mod and Value). We found a 3 bed fully furnished suite with full kitchen and washer/dryer for less than half of that onsite. We are trying to figure out if season passes are better than purchasing one time visit passes (knowing we would have to return within a year to use). Just trying to get some tips on tickets and dining experiences for those who have off site experience. Very nervous and want to be prepared. Thank you for your time and advice!

 

[HeatherC]

We are a family of 5 and always stay offsite. Just works better for us and we usually go for at least ten days so having a kitchen is great.

We love to eat our breakfast in the condo in our pajamas while we get ready.
Some days we don't want to wait at a restaurant for dinner either, so I usually pick up some quick things like....

Rotisserie Chicken
Bagged Caesear Salad
Cheese and Crackers
Pepperoni
Spaghetti and Sauce
Cold Fried Chicken
London Broil to grill with some veggies and corn.

Sometimes we will also order takeout and bring it back to the pool to relax.

We also like trying different restaurants like Steak and Shake, Orlando Ale House, Etc..

In the past, I used credit card rewards to stockpile restaurant gift cards for vacations. This has worked great since at least a couple nights food is prepaid before you go.

We have always bought the 10 day non expiring passes because we never know the kids sports and school schedules for the next year. So in our case an annual or seasonal pass doesn't work. But we always buy them through the Mousesavers link at Undercover Tourist.
The ten day passes usually last us two trips at least so the next time we go passes are already paid.

We also like Disney restaurants so we either make a lunch reservation for a midday break or dinner reservation where we usually have leftovers to bring back to the condo. we tend to do this if we are planning a pool day the next day...lunch or dinner is already taken care of for the next day then.

Hope this helps!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

For most people, an annual pass becomes worthwhile if you can fit 3 visits into a 365 day period. Not sure about how far you are from WDW, but we explained to DD that if got AP's, we would visit more often but stay in Kissimmee. She was fine with that and we have enjoyed our APs. We are 7.5 hours away from WDW.

Even if one of the three visits is a short one, it is still nice to go during a 3 day weekend, or during the times when school is out and we have some time on our hands.

 

[martin72200]

Thank you for your information!

 

[Tigger1]

As often as you go I would consider looking into Disney Vacation Club. No free dining comes with it though.

Staying off site may be less expensive if you can take full advantage. Do you usually go to hotel during the day? If you do going back to your hotel/house may save money if you can eat there. If you do make two trips in a year I would say the annual pass is a good option. If your staying off site you will get free parking. Also 10 % off at some stores and restaurants. I would get at least one annual pass just for the parking. I think parking is $15 per day.

 

[Marionnette]

Our family has been to Disney 7 times in 6 years. We have always stayed on site to take advantage of the free dining offer. However, this year it did not cover the span of our trip. We have a large family (6 children) and has become more expensive to stay on site especially since we have to have 2 rooms (we use Mod and Value). We found a 3 bed fully furnished suite with full kitchen and washer/dryer for less than half of that onsite. We are trying to figure out if season passes are better than purchasing one time visit passes (knowing we would have to return within a year to use). Just trying to get some tips on tickets and dining experiences for those who have off site experience. Very nervous and want to be prepared. Thank you for your time and advice!

Does "financially smart" = "budget" or "cheap" or are you just looking for the "biggest bang for your buck"? Most of the time they don't mean the same thing.

Purchasing an AP for a single visit can still be worth the price if you are staying for a long visit. How long will you be in Orlando and will you want to visit the Disney parks every day? The cost of an adult AP is less than the cost of an 8-day no-expiry hopper and it comes with benefits that a regular MYW pass doesn't.
TICKET PRICE COMPARISON CHART

Some of the notable AP benefits would be complimentary parking at the theme parks, dining discounts at select restaurants and times, merchandise discounts, and possible room-only discounts.
AP Benefits As of January 2013

If you are unsure as to whether you will return within a year (the passes are actually good for 366 consecutive days), then you might still want to consider getting a single, adult AP for one of the parents. This would still get you all of the benefits mentioned in the link above. Think about it, the free parking alone is worth $105 over 7 park days. For someone who is staying offsite, this could be all you need to convince yourself to purchase one.

There are no discounts offered to the general public for APs. But you can work around that by doing the following:

1. Get a Target REDCard or debit card. It will give you 5% off of the pre-tax total of your purchases.
2. Sign up for the Target Pharmacy Rewards program. After filling 5 eligible prescriptions, you will get a certificate for 5% off of all purchases made in the stores in a single day. You will also receive another coupon code for 5% off online purchases.
3. Use your REDCard and the Pharmacy Rewards coupon to purchase Disney Gift Cards at Target (the online coupon does not work for Disney GCs). The coupon and the REDCard discount will stack, meaning that they will both be applied but in sequence so that your total discount will be more like 9.75% instead of 10%.
4. Use those Disney GCs to purchase an AP at Disney. You just saved 9.75% off of the cost of your AP!

This would also work for any regular ticket purchases made at Disney or a Disney Store, merchandise, food and beverages and resort stays. A lot of people will suggest using the Mousesavers.com Newsletter link to Undercovertourist.com for discounted tickets. That works fine but the overall discounts are not as substantial as you would get by combining the Pharmacy Rewards with the REDCard to purchase Disney GCs. The UT discounts are closer to about 6% or less.

 

[skylizard]

Our family has been to Disney 7 times in 6 years. We have always stayed on site to take advantage of the free dining offer. However, this year it did not cover the span of our trip. We have a large family (6 children) and has become more expensive to stay on site especially since we have to have 2 rooms (we use Mod and Value). We found a 3 bed fully furnished suite with full kitchen and washer/dryer for less than half of that onsite. We are trying to figure out if season passes are better than purchasing one time visit passes (knowing we would have to return within a year to use). Just trying to get some tips on tickets and dining experiences for those who have off site experience. Very nervous and want to be prepared. Thank you for your time and advice!

It really depends on how often you'll be going to WDW and how much you're looking to spend. For my dh and I, we figured it was better to get annual passes. We get in at least two weekly trips on one pass and that more than makes up for the cost of the AP (not to mention free parking and some dining discounts). What we did last year was go the week after thanksgiving and buy our annual pass. And this year we went back in May and we have another week booked for the week before thanksgiving. So we actually got 3 weeks in on that one annual pass. We wont have to purchase another annual pass until 2014, and we'll probably end up doing the same thing. So we basically strech the cost of the pass out for 2 years.

As for staying off site, there are so many nice places that are roomy and not as expensive as staying on site. With a bigger family you may want to look into renting a condo or house off site.

 

[crisi]

We've done the "one adult has an AP" thing before and it works very well.

 

[wiigirl]

We've done the "one adult has an AP" thing before and it works very well.

 

[cllrn]

So far, we have only stayed off site. We enjoy the Lake Buena Vista Embassy Suites--2 room suites that will sleep 6, free hot cooked to order breakfast in the morning and free cocktails and snacks every eve. around 4-7 (not 100% sure of exact time). We usually get room for $100-$120/night range. We all fill up at breakfast before leaving for the park, pack a small collapsible cooler with some frozen water bottles, uncrustables & small snacks for kids. The only meal we really pay for is dinner. I got an AP this year and seasonal passes for the family. Looking forward to a Disney-filled next year.

Now, if someone could just tell me how to get my hands on one of those $200 Disney Visa Premier offers.

 

[parkwoodtech]

We rent a house that is 4 bedroom 3 bath about 10 minutes from the main gate. It costs us about $800 per week. It has a pool and game room for the kids. Comes with a full stocked kitchen. We eat breakfast at the house most mornings and then head to the parks. We eat a bagged lunch at the parks and snack through out the day. Then most times we either eat outside the park or pick something up and take it back to the house and eat there.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

We've done the "one adult has an AP" thing before and it works very well.

Just to clarify this...

This means that you can purchase a TIW card--good for meal discounts. The AP holder/TIW purchaser must pay for the meal.

Free parking.

As to DVC, we used to be owners. We sold it when we figured out that the annual dues cost more than a weekly house rental off-site (4BR/4BA).

 

[martin72200]

We have strongly considered DVC over the years but have not been convinced because we feel we can get better luxury off site in a house and personally don't care as long as we have a nice clean place to sleep and has a pool. When you rent a house off site, do you use a particular company to find said house? Or do you use the same house each time you visit? We currently are booked at Lake Buena Vista Resort and Spa for a 3 bed suite. A house would be nice but not sure what to trust online.

 

[martin72200]

We usually never go back to room other than to get ready for dinner reservations had it been at one of the nicer restaurants. We go 9-10 minimum so we feel we would get our money's worth out of 2 visits with the season pass but definitely like just the adults buying the passes and buying tickets for our 6 children just to had the additional discounts! Thank you for the tips so far!