WDW on my budget -- can it be done?

[HayGan]

You have a number of different options that could work to keep you well within your budget. I would say before you decide on transportation figure out a few key facts - #1 being where you are going to stay. There are pros and cons to both on-site and off-site accomodations. Given your budget you can find an easy way for either to work.

In terms of transportation, if you are going to stay on-site (and have no plans to visit other area attractions) then consider flying. You can let Disney do the driving for you and you have a number of options for flying with Southwest (who will most likely be the cheapest and easiest for your to fly.) You can check out PIT, BWI or PHL. All have non-stops to MCO. One thing to keep in mind when considering flying is your cost of gas to/from that airport as well as airport parking - neither of which are cheap these days.

If you are staying off-site, I would highly recommend driving. We live in SW PA and we have driven to Orlando a number of times. We actually enjoy the drive. We have done it both stopping overnight, driving straight thru overnight and driving straight thru during the day. Of all the options, driving straight thru from early morning until later in the evening works best for us but our kids are good travelers. On the way back we almost always stop overnight to do some gem mining in North Carolina. It is really fun, inexpensive and a great way to make the trip back home not seem so bad.

(I should say that even though we sometimes drive, we always stay on-site at Disney. We like to have a car as we do go to US/as well as utilize grocery stores and restaurant.com vouchers for some great restaurants in the area. If you aren't planning on doing anything like that then there really is no need to have a vehicle with you if you are on-site.)

There are many ways to save. You will just have to figure out what works best for your family and then adjust your choices. A budget of $4k for a Disney trip is completely do-able either way!

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

We are the best budget travelers ever! We are also a family of 6. Our next trip:

Flight - $54.90 roundtrip total each! (On Spirit) _ $330 total for all of us

Rental Car: $ 187 mini van for 8 days

Resort - $601 for 7 nights @ Silver Lake. 2 bedroom, 2 bath, full kitchen/washer & dryer plus 2 - 2 Day Touch of Magic Tickets. (Yes, it does include a timeshare presentation & we are good w/ that ... been there, done that. Its not for everyone, that is how we can afford it)

Coke Rewards is giving out 12 sets of 4 tickets to Universal Studios everyday. I won 4 last month so that is a free day at the parks for us. (we have to buy one child ticket). I played 1X a day ... you can play up to 5X though.

We eat breakfast nearly every day at resort. We eat some meals ... sandwiches etc (we don't cook on vacation though) at resort. We usually eat out for dinners.

While saving on everything above that allows to go and enjoy ourselves on the trip!

It can be done! We love to plan and find low deals. It takes patience but it's worth it for us. Our budget ways allow us to go at least once a year. So to answer your question YES you can go for under $4000!

Sorry to hijack, but where did you find a minivan rental for that cheap? I was quoted more than double that for 7 days! And what is this spirit airlines you speak of? I've never heard of it! Off to google

 

[DisneyEater]

I just threw this together since I was curious:

5 YES program 7-day base tickets: $910
OKW 1-BR for 6 nights rented @ $13 per point: $832
5 Round trips from PHL to MCO: $1,868 (guessing you can do better)

Total: $3,610

That leaves $390 for food and souveniers which isn't much but I think you can bring down the transportation costs drastically once the SW prices come out and you would have a full kitchen in your resort if you need to cut down on food costs.

 

[teacup princess]

I did not read all your responses but we are a family of 6 - 2AD, 3 kids (10, 8, 5) and an infant much like yourselves. We just got back from a 6 night/7 day stay at POR and I did not find it too cramped at all for our party size. We too do not need deluxe accomodations. My daughter said the trundle bed was comfortable, the pack and play fit comfortably out of way between the TV and the table. Yes, a small room can get out of control with clutter quickly and I spent a fair amount of time trying to keep things organized but it wasn't bad.

You will likely be able to get free dining in Sept. so it can definately be done for under $4000. Our trip costs were:

Room, base tickets, + free dining: approx. = $2600
Airfare for 5 on Southwest (lap baby free): approx. = $1000
Misc. expenses at checkout on our Credit card (tips, mixed drinks for hubby, a ridiculous amount of souveniers approx. = $450).

So, it can definately be done, especially if you watch your misc. expenses better than we did.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

I am *loving* all of these great tips. I knew you would have ideas and suggestions for me. And I had no idea how much looking at condo and rental home photos could add another whole time-sucking dimension to my Disney planning!!

So right now we're leaning toward staying off-site. The kids loved the dining plan last time, but I think having their own rooms and a pool might sway them. To be honest, I don't think waiting in restaurants with a 3yo and a 15mo sounds like all that much fun anyway, so we'd probably end up doing buffets, which aren't really my thing. I'd rather cook (I love to cook!) and eat just one or two really nice restaurant meals. Flying vs. driving is still up in the air, but the more I talk it up, the more I think I'll probably be able to get DH on board with driving. I'll be investigating YES classes/tix and the transportation boards soon, too. You all are the best!

Picking a home is one of my favorite parts of planning! We've loved all the homes we stayed in. The first year when it was just my family of 4 we had a great townhouse in Windsor Hills. The next 2 trips were with lots of family, so we opted for the bigger pool homes. I actually considered trying onsite and free dining for our latest trip, but my brother said I spoiled him so much with the big house, pool, and game room last time that he just couldn't bear staying in a little hotel room. LOL Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[SoonerSarah]

You have had a lot of responses now, but here is what we did.

Our total budget, travel, hotels and food during travel, tickets, boarding dogs, spending, etc, was $4,000. I can't give you an exact amount on how much we spent because we paid for the housing, someone else paid for tickets, etc. We spent less than our budget however.

FIL works for IBM and got the cheapest ticket prices we were able to find. We went during spring break, which is a more expensive time. We rented a 6 bedroom villa at Windsor Hills and shared the costs between my parents, DH's parents and BIL. This was significantly cheaper for everyone involved in comparison to getting 4 rooms at a value resort, even with adding in gas and parking costs. We stayed at Storytime Vacation homes www.storytimeorlandorental.com

We bought food for breakfast and we came back every day to let grandparents have a rest and children have a nap. We would grab a bite to eat at a resturant outside of the park, and then we would make sandwiches and take those into the park with fruits and veggies. We would just stop when we wanted to eat, it was quicker than waiting in line and it was cheaper.

For me, I just played around with numbers and different options.

 

[NLD]

Hi,

We're in south central PA and have always found the cheapest flights to be Southwest out of BWI. In September 2009 we got spoiled paying $98 per person roundtrip. This time (January 2010) I think we're paying $158 per person. (Before fees and taxes. But... SW has no baggage fees!)

Harrisburg International, however, now has Airtran flying directly to Orlando, also. And this time (January 2010) their fares were actually cheaper than SW out of BWI... HOWEVER, once I added in luggage fees, they were more expensive.

The thing is though... Airtran will become Southwest soon. So it will be worth looking at the flights out of Harrisburg, to see what happens to them. Could end up being the cheapest option around for south central Pennsylvanians... and a nice small, quiet airport on top of it!


Anyway, I know you're leaning towards driving, but just thought I'd throw that in.

 

[torinsmom]

Hi,

We're in south central PA and have always found the cheapest flights to be Southwest out of BWI. In September 2009 we got spoiled paying $98 per person roundtrip. This time (January 2010) I think we're paying $158 per person. (Before fees and taxes. But... SW has no baggage fees!)

Harrisburg International, however, now has Airtran flying directly to Orlando, also. And this time (January 2010) their fares were actually cheaper than SW out of BWI... HOWEVER, once I added in luggage fees, they were more expensive.

The thing is though... Airtran will become Southwest soon. So it will be worth looking at the flights out of Harrisburg, to see what happens to them. Could end up being the cheapest option around for south central Pennsylvanians... and a nice small, quiet airport on top of it!


Anyway, I know you're leaning towards driving, but just thought I'd throw that in.

Do you mean 2012?

 

[Zatson23]

I don't know if this appeals to you, but when I go to FL from south central PA I take a train, it's much longer than flying or driving (about 20-22 hours) but it's usually cheaper than flying, and there's no luggage costs. I am willing to take a little longer to get there and back because I like to just rest, relax, read and sleep both before my trip to build my energy, and after to recover. Plus not driving for 18 hrs straight is a life saver for me, as I end up doing most of the driving through the night and would end up having to rest for the first day of vacation.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We are a family of 6 we went during college spring break. We had 3 adults 3 children (8,4, 18 months). Sunday- Friday I refuse to pay double for Friday and Saturday night.

$950 hotel (double tree suites DTD, great park transportation!)

$1350 tickets (3 adults, 2 kids no park hoppers)

$500.00 gas R/t (we can in under budget at 460.00)

$700.00 food (all onsite meals)
300.00 souvies.

Food while driving was 200.00

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[arihillfarm]

Since this was posted in Jan. you may have found or booked something by now, but I priced staying Sept. 2-8 at Port Orleans Riverside with free Plus Dining and 5 day base tickets and that comes to $2670.00. That leaves you with $266 for airfare per person (with the baby flying free) or $1330 for gas, food, toll and hotel costs to drive down.

-Astrid

 

[mrsabbott]

We are a family of 6 and my goal is to do a Disney vacation for under $4000. Granted, I have to save up that amount first, but that is the projected budget!

We will go during the off season (hopefully next year!) and we will not be staying onsite. Depending on the better deal, we will stay in an inexpensive hotel or perhaps a condo. I've found some good deals at Windsor Hills but they are hit or miss and rather last minute. AFVC also has a site for veterans that is a possibility. While I would prefer someplace we could spread out and had a full kitchen, we could make due with a mini fridge and a microwave. We won't be spending that much time in the room and my only concern is that it is clean, bug free, and inexpensive. While I would LOOOVE to be able to stay onsite somewhere, I just don't see how we could ever justify the expense. My budget is $500 MAX (including taxes and fees) on 7 nights of lodging.

Because my DH is a medically retired veteran, so we are still eligible for the discounted military tickets, if they continue to provide that deal in the future. We will need 5 or 6 tickets, depending on how old my son is by the time we are able to afford to go. I also want to spend one day at Universal to visit WWHP. I'm budgeting $1200 MAX for tickets. If they stop doing the 4 day military tickets then we will probably only be able to afford 2 days (maybe 3) at the park and that would be me giving up on WWHP. If we only got 2 days at the parks then more time would be spent visiting the beach, swimming, and visiting nearby family.

We would be driving and we have a Suburban so gas mileage isn't great. My budget is $600 on gas.

We will bring food with us and will perhaps stop at a local store to get things as needed, depending on our room type. The plan is to eat most meals/snacks at our lodging. We have camelbacks we will fill with ice water and we'll pack snacks/sandwiches with us to take while out and about. I will buy some special things we don't normally buy to make it fun for the kids. We do want to eat some in the parks though. It will mainly be quick service type things. I'm saving up swagbucks to get enough to eat out at either T-Rex or Rainforest Cafe at DTD as a treat. $1000 MAX will be spent on food (including money spend on food brought with us) and, honestly, I expect it to come in way under that. Especially if we do not do WWHP and only get 2 days at the parks!

Another $500 is going to be spent on souveniers and "misc fun". Because we have the Disney Visa, we will get to have a Character meet and greet for the kids for free. I will give each of the kids notebooks and special pens (probably purchased at a dollar store) for them to get autographs. We will take lots of pictures and we plan to give the older kids $25 Disney gift cards each so that they can buy their own souveniers. We aren't big souvenier people. Maybe a magnet or something. The bulk of that will be spent at WWHP if we get to go. If not, we might use it to splurge on some of the lesser known local attractions or something like that.

That leaves $200 extra to spend on tolls/parking.

Depending on the lodging and ticket deals that I can find, I think we can come in well under our max $4000 budget. Sadly, we don't have that money saved yet, (we are working on it!) but it is definately doable for a family of six to have a vacation on that budget!

 

[Marionnette]

Since this was posted in Jan. you may have found or booked something by now, but I priced staying Sept. 2-8 at Port Orleans Riverside with free Plus Dining and 5 day base tickets and that comes to $2670.00. That leaves you with $266 for airfare per person (with the baby flying free) or $1330 for gas, food, toll and hotel costs to drive down.

-Astrid

The OP posted this thread in 2012. It's been well over a year. This is a zombie thread that someone bumped.