What am I doing wrong?

[pta-mom]

What am I doing wrong? I keep reading how NOT doing DW and only doing US and other Orlando venues is much cheaper but I am not finding this to be true at all.

We've done DW three times in the last three years, staying an average of two weeks each time for about $3000 for everything, a family of four.

This year, we've decided to do "other" Orlando attractions and are springing for a ten night stay with tickets to do all five major parks and Busch Gardens. This trip will almost DOUBLE any DW trip we've taken!! I don't know how anyone who does this vacation says it's cheaper than DW because that has not been our experience. Granted, we usually do free dining at DW which reduces the price a lot but still. This is our breakdown for a family of four:

Drive from Ottawa, Canada roundtrip (we usually fly when doing DW but this time we need a vehicle so....) $600 gas
Hotels x 3 cheap nights (due to travel) $300
Hotel Hard Rock x 1 night $270
Condo x 8 nights $900
Tickets (14 days at cheapest I could find) $1150
Parking costs $150
Food $1500

This comes to over $4700 and does not include the exchange rate, souveniers, incidentals, other tourist venues like Kennedy Space Station, etc. We are looking at $5500 to $6000 when all told, which is almost double DW for us AND means we drive almost 24 hours TWICE as opposed to flying!

THIS will be a once-in-a-lifetime trip but DW we plan to do again!

What am I doing wrong and why am I not able to get this trip down to a price that we would normally pay at DW?

HELP!!

 

[Indy Denise]

What am I doing wrong? I keep reading how NOT doing DW and only doing US and other Orlando venues is much cheaper

This year, we've decided to do "other" Orlando attractions and are springing for a ten night stay with tickets to do all five major parks and Busch Gardens. This trip will almost DOUBLE any DW trip we've taken!! I don't know how anyone who does this vacation says it's cheaper than DW because that has not been our experience. Granted, we usually do free dining at DW which reduces the price a lot but still. This is our breakdown for a family of four:

Drive from Ottawa, Canada roundtrip (we usually fly when doing DW but this time we need a vehicle so....) $600 gas
Hotels x 3 cheap nights (due to travel) $300
Hotel Hard Rock x 1 night $270
Condo x 8 nights $900
Tickets (14 days at cheapest I could find) $1150
Parking costs $150
Food $1500



I think it is because you aren't just doing Us/IOA.

My 14 day tickets there were only around $125.00 each ( 500.00 total ) Have you bought your yet? Try Mapleleaf.com

HRH room 160.00 average ( 6 nights )

I bought Seaworld tickets for 50.00 (200.00 total, good for two days )

If I had added other attractions it would have been much more. I am pretty much content to just spend most of my time at US/IOA and the Hard Rock.

When I visit Disney I always get DisneyCommando. Gotta go there, gotta be there..watch out for that damn stroller, oops, another stroller..gotta see that, gotta be there at 5.00pm cause I don't want to lose my reservations..etc . I drive everyone nuts.

I am looking forward to just taking it slow, using my FOTL pass, and finally enjoying myself.

I hope you have a great time!

P.S. The first time I didn't go to Disney and went to Us instead I was kinda let down because , to be honest, there is just something about the Disney "magic" that is so very special. But it was so much fun going to some place new which is beautiful in it's own way.

 

[Josh Hendy]

We're from Ottawa too. I can give you our family of five's formula for success for visiting non-WDW parks last summer. Your mileage may vary, but perhaps it will give you some ideas.

- Flying out of Rochester cost only about CAD200 each return (found the tickets by repeating checking on expedia.ca starting around 2 months before the trip), plus maybe $50 parking and a couple of tanks of gas. We planned our luggage around the extra fees, carry-on restrictions, etc. I checked every couple of days for flights from all the airports within 1/2 day drive - YOW, YUL, BUF, ROC, SYR, ALB, etc. One thing about flying out of the US is that the customs/immigration people at the land border crossings are less snarky than at an airport (I find both US and CAN entry to be this way). Just show them your passports, answer their questions, seeya bye.

- Rented an economy car from Budget, and as usual we got a bigger car when we checked in, cost about CAD300 for 8 days, plus gas maybe $100. Joined Budget's "club" before booking, in order to pre-order (no) insurance options and greatly expedite the pickup procedure.

- Got 2 sets of theme park tickets, USO/IOA and SW/BG for a 5 person total of about $1000, these lasted 7 days and 14 days respectively and allowed park hopping - that saved a few hundred compared to WDW tickets and we got to experience maybe 50-80 completely new rides, attractions and shows

- We skipped water parks, everyone agreed they would rather sleep in on our day off from theme parks and drive to the beach in the afternoon. We drive to either Cape Canaveral (the town just south of the space center, not Canaveral National Seashore) or to one of the beaches on the Gulf Coast for a free, relaxing day off

- Stayed offsite at a chain hotel with family suites, this was very inexpensive, the only downside was the housekeeping was a bit unreliable, otherwise it was great value (study the online ratings and trip reports carefully, some of these places are great and some are real stinkers). Oh yeah and the very best thing is, we stayed at a place with free breakfast - not with eggs, sausage, etc. but with muffins, toast, cereal and a waffle iron in a corner of the lobby. It's crowded but very civil, quick and satisfying.

- Not having the FoL access at USO/IOA was fine, we always hit the parks at opening and did the bestest rides fustest before the tidal wave of guests arrived between 11-12, adapting Unofficial Guide and Other Orlando touring plans to our tastes. We did our ride hopping during the first and last 2 hours of the day and relaxed at the hotel or watched shows in the parks during the middle of the day. The value of this tip depends on whether you think that getting up at 7am fits under the definition of "vacation".

- The heat and tiredness of touring theme parks in mid-summer never leaves us with really huge appetites, so we hardly ever go to sit-down restaurants. We find pretty good counter service restaurants in every theme park and everyone gets what they want from salads to chicken wraps to burgers. The atmosphere in these places is often noisy however and sometimes it's hard to find seats. Often we would eat off-site at one of the many restaurants along the roadside between hotel and parks. These are often cheaper, quieter and with better food than in the parks, with more variety such as Thai, Italian, or whatever you like.

Good luck eh!

EDIT - The grand total was around $5k for 5 people for 8 days (1k flight, 1k tix, .5k hotel, 1.5k meals, 1k car/incidentals). The only ways I could think of to significantly reduce that would be to go further downscale in the hotel, make sandwiches and bring them to the park, and ride to the parks on Lynx bus with free shuttle to BG Tampa.

 

[czycropper]

Wow! How did you do WDW for only $3,000 for a family of 4? I would love to know...everytime we go it's much more since the air fare takes up a third of that total.

In June 2008 - we went to Orlando for 10 days - WDW and that part of the trip cost $3,400 with staying onsite at a moderate, meal plan without air fare or transportation for 5-day/4nights and Universal & Sea World, staying on site and spent about $1,900 for the same time frame (5 day/ 4 nights) also included the meal plan (I wouldn't do again), stayed at RPH (we were upgraded to Club). The air was $1,200.

It would have been - WDW plus air = $4,600 as compared to US/IOA/SW plus air = $3,100. That's quite bit cheaper but of course those are 2008 prices.

 

[mjohnson96]

Maybe look at getting an AP pass instead of a 2 week ticket, that would give you discounts on the room, food, merchandise, etc. You can get at least 1 and then get 15% off multi day tickets too.

I also see you included in your price all the extras,souveniers and exchange rates to name a few. Are you sure you include this in your WDW trip? I know it is a lot cheaper going to US/IOA and staying onsite than staying at a moderate at WDW, this is for a week, for us (fam of 3+baby).

 

[damo]

Big difference when you are doing many parks. That costs a lot extra. If you were just doing Universal, your tickets would be less.

There are many ways to save money on food. If you have a condo, eat breakfast at home, pack a lunch and then eat dinner at home again. The food bill should be much less. Just have a few snacks during the day.

 

[pta-mom]

Wow! How did you do WDW for only $3,000 for a family of 4? I would love to know...everytime we go it's much more since the air fare takes up a third of that total.

In June 2008 - we went to Orlando for 10 days - WDW and that part of the trip cost $3,400 with staying onsite at a moderate, meal plan without air fare or transportation for 5-day/4nights and Universal & Sea World, staying on site and spent about $1,900 for the same time frame (5 day/ 4 nights) also included the meal plan (I wouldn't do again), stayed at RPH (we were upgraded to Club). The air was $1,200.

It would have been - WDW plus air = $4,600 as compared to US/IOA/SW plus air = $3,100. That's quite bit cheaper but of course those are 2008 prices.

Well, I think last years trip was probably an average one and we paid $2126 from Sept 9 to 22 (thirteen nights, fourteen days) which included all our tickets (including water parks), accomodations (POP) and free dining. We flew out of Syracuse (two hours from us) for $750, paid $125 for one night in hotel and for them to keep our van for two weeks. We are not big souvenier people and the kids used their own money for that. We did pay though for tips for around $300 so I guess we would have been a bit over $3000 at the end. But as I said, this ORLANDO trip is way more for us.

Thanks everyone for your tips though. I guess the biggest issue is us wanting to do not just IOA and US but rather to do all the attractions as we are figuring this will be our once in a lifetime (of course, I did say that about DW too and we ended up going mulitple times!) I do not want to stay in one room hotel for the complete stay (my boys are 13 & 14 and we all need some privacy!); I do not want to be making meals other than breakfast (not much of a holiday for me!); we do want to do the waterparks (part of the experience for us).

I guess the reality is, this is probably going to be as cheap as it can be for my family based on our tastes and what we want. I feel better though knowing that the cheaper prices I"m seeing posted are not really compariable to what we are doing....a bit like comparing apples to oranges.

Thanks everyone for your input!! We'll see you in August....maybe.....

 

[damo]

Well, I think last years trip was probably an average one and we paid $2126 from Sept 9 to 22 (thirteen nights, fourteen days) which included all our tickets (including water parks), accomodations (POP) and free dining. We flew out of Syracuse (two hours from us) for $750, paid $125 for one night in hotel and for them to keep our van for two weeks. We are not big souvenier people and the kids used their own money for that. We did pay though for tips for around $300 so I guess we would have been a bit over $3000 at the end. But as I said, this ORLANDO trip is way more for us.

Thanks everyone for your tips though. I guess the biggest issue is us wanting to do not just IOA and US but rather to do all the attractions as we are figuring this will be our once in a lifetime (of course, I did say that about DW too and we ended up going mulitple times!) I do not want to stay in one room hotel for the complete stay (my boys are 13 & 14 and we all need some privacy!); I do not want to be making meals other than breakfast (not much of a holiday for me!); we do want to do the waterparks (part of the experience for us).

I guess the reality is, this is probably going to be as cheap as it can be for my family based on our tastes and what we want. I feel better though knowing that the cheaper prices I"m seeing posted are not really compariable to what we are doing....a bit like comparing apples to oranges.

Thanks everyone for your input!! We'll see you in August....maybe.....

How many days were your tickets for?

 

[pta-mom]

How many days were your tickets for?

Hmmm....Fourteen days? No....I think ten days, no hopper, but with water park pass. Whatever the most days allowed were I think.

But we've done this often the past few years. I dont' keep track of the breakdown but one year was Aug 20 to 31 for $2369 (we paid a little extra I think this year as free dining didnt start until the 24th so it cost more). One year was Sept 25 to Oct 6 for $2137. I think the most we paid was our first time in April for I think 8 nights and had to pay for dining (although our kids were younger) and it cost around $3000.

We have always found DW economical if travelling in the off season, especially with free dining! The hardest part is trying to find cheap flights usually.

 

[damo]

Hmmm....Fourteen days? No....I think ten days, no hopper, but with water park pass. Whatever the most days allowed were I think.

But we've done this often the past few years. I dont' keep track of the breakdown but one year was Aug 20 to 31 for $2369 (we paid a little extra I think this year as free dining didnt start until the 24th so it cost more). One year was Sept 25 to Oct 6 for $2137. I think the most we paid was our first time in April for I think 8 nights and had to pay for dining (although our kids were younger) and it cost around $3000.

We have always found DW economical if travelling in the off season, especially with free dining! The hardest part is trying to find cheap flights usually.

The prices you are quoting are your prices for hotels and tickets right? Maybe just try comparing that part.

10 day base tickets with water park option is $315/person this year. Use that as your guideline to what you are paying -- so over $1200 --- and you are getting 14 day tickets this year for less. 10 days at POP this fall would be around $1000, use that as a guideline. Just comparing those two, your pricing this year is reasonable.

 

[pta-mom]

The prices you are quoting are your prices for hotels and tickets right? Maybe just try comparing that part.

10 day base tickets with water park option is $315/person this year. Use that as your guideline to what you are paying -- so over $1200 --- and you are getting 14 day tickets this year for less. 10 days at POP this fall would be around $1000, use that as a guideline. Just comparing those two, your pricing this year is reasonable.

Well, even using your logic, it still ends up costing me more....a lot more....and here's why.

Yes, DW ticketes would be over $1200 but the Orlando Flex Pass for six parks is $1145, best price I've seen. I save a grand total of $55 difference.

I haven't checked POP price this year but going by your math, 12 nights (our length of stay this year) would be about $1200 but to do Orlando, we need three hotels for one stays due to travelling costs (about $300ish), one night at Hard Rock for the front of the line pass ($270) and eight nights at a condo for $900ish. That means that we are paying about $270 MORE in hotel cost than DW.

And, here's the kicker....this is where we really add on....FOOD! We do DW for free dining, a saving for my family of four (two teens) of close to $2000 a year! So, given that we will eat most breakfasts in the condo and nosh mostly on counter service meals while at the parks, I'm budgeting $25 a day per person + a small buffer for at least one to two sit down meals.....$1500 approx in total on food. This more than anything is the additional cost that I don't think I can get around (& no, I am NOT making my family meals everyday to take to the park!! LOL!)

Anyway, it is what it is. I guess I just did not understand how people thought that US was cheaper but as I spend more time crunching numbers, I think that we are doing it as cheaply as we can, while still allowing everyone in the family to do those things that are important to them. No sense in my whinning about it....just give thanks that we are in a position to do it and that we are all looking forward to it!! A new experience for us....YAY!

 

[damo]

Well, even using your logic, it still ends up costing me more....a lot more....and here's why.

Yes, DW ticketes would be over $1200 but the Orlando Flex Pass for six parks is $1145, best price I've seen. I save a grand total of $55 difference.

I haven't checked POP price this year but going by your math, 12 nights (our length of stay this year) would be about $1200 but to do Orlando, we need three hotels for one stays due to travelling costs (about $300ish), one night at Hard Rock for the front of the line pass ($270) and eight nights at a condo for $900ish. That means that we are paying about $270 MORE in hotel cost than DW.

And, here's the kicker....this is where we really add on....FOOD! We do DW for free dining, a saving for my family of four (two teens) of close to $2000 a year! So, given that we will eat most breakfasts in the condo and nosh mostly on counter service meals while at the parks, I'm budgeting $25 a day per person + a small buffer for at least one to two sit down meals.....$1500 approx in total on food. This more than anything is the additional cost that I don't think I can get around (& no, I am NOT making my family meals everyday to take to the park!! LOL!)

Anyway, it is what it is. I guess I just did not understand how people thought that US was cheaper but as I spend more time crunching numbers, I think that we are doing it as cheaply as we can, while still allowing everyone in the family to do those things that are important to them. No sense in my whinning about it....just give thanks that we are in a position to do it and that we are all looking forward to it!! A new experience for us....YAY!

Just count yourself lucky to be able to take advantage of free dining. It isn't always offered, so isn't an option for most people. If it was always free to eat at Disney, then yes, it probably would be a more reasonable vacation.

However, if you are doing a direct comparison of tickets and deluxe hotels, Universal will come out cheaper and you get unlimited express passes as well. You really can't compare staying at POP to staying at any of the Universal hotels. I think that is where people are saying their vacations are cheaper.

For example, in two weeks, I am staying at Royal Pacific for $134/night. There is no way I could get a deluxe hotel at WDW for anywhere near that price. Also, we have annual passes that we pay $149/year (renewal rate for preferred pass that includes parking). There is no way I could get WDW annual passes for that price. When you compare directly, Universal is cheaper. Transportation from Toronto can add a lot to the bill but that would be the same no matter which parks we are going to.

Comparing a pure Disney vacation in a value resort during free dining, it is tough to come up with something cheaper. It is a great deal!

 

[FINFAN]

I can give the cost breakdown for us, a family of 4, dividing our trip equally between WDW and USO.
USO is our first 1/2:
6 nights at RPR, standard room @125 a night $865 total w/tax
7 day adult hopper tix $99 each from AAA
Just under $1300 including tax, food we allow $100 a day no matter which parks we are at.

WDW:
6 nights at the Dolphin, standard room $139 a night $1068 total incl tax and resort fee
7 day adult hopper tix ( bought 2 day tix last year, need to upgrade them, total should be about $1100)
$2168 roughly including tax, again allow $100 a day for food

So for us, the resort is less at Universal, and the tickets are WAY less at Universal, for the same amount of nights and days, same hopper priveledges. I know WDW has 4 parks for that cost, but it is more than double.
I am only comparing resort and tix because travel for us is the same no matter which we stay at. I think you nailed it when you factored in the free dining. As long as people stay at a value, free dining is indeed a deal, especially whne it was the full DDP, not only CS.

 

[tfoster]

It's more expensive for us too. No free airport transportation to UO, as a family of 6 we need two rooms at a UO hotel (can get a cabin or a value hotel family suite on WDW property), and no free dining offer at UO. We've never been to UO but have always had fun at WDW. For the amount more we're set to pay for UO, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we love it!

 

[mjohnson96]

Ok I can see where you are coming from if you do that type of math

This year we are doing 5 nights at RPR in June at $159, plus 2 power passes at $118, and 1 AP renewel at $149. Without adding Sea World and Aquatica and adding food in, appx $100 day, then this is more than a value resort package with dining and park hoppers by around $50.

Biggest difference is resort of course, no moderates avail to compare to but if I picked a deluxe then it WDW would be more by about $800.

It really is about what options you pick that make the difference.

 

[pta-mom]

It is interesting crunching the numbers to see how people are doing it cheaper at one place or the other. We would not stay at a deluxe on DW property as we find it wayyyy too expensive but are willing to give Hard Rock a one night stay so that we can use the front of the line passes. That place is really expensive....if you are only booking one night!

Also, when people are talking about going to US, I sort of assumed that they were doing the water parks and SeaWorld, Busch Gardens maybe....I didn't think the price that people were quoteing was all jsut for US and IOA. We plan to do all six parks/waterparks while we are there so our tickets are really expensive, similiar to DW price.

The thought of spending $5500 on a trip seems so......gag! But, these are the last few years my boys are home and we all enjoy theme parks so this is the season of life! So, if you see some middle age Mom telling her kids to pick something cheaper off the menu for dinner, just ignore her....it's me, trying to save a buck!

 

[patster734]

It is interesting crunching the numbers to see how people are doing it cheaper at one place or the other. We would not stay at a deluxe on DW property as we find it wayyyy too expensive but are willing to give Hard Rock a one night stay so that we can use the front of the line passes. That place is really expensive....if you are only booking one night!
Also, when people are talking about going to US, I sort of assumed that they were doing the water parks and SeaWorld, Busch Gardens maybe....I didn't think the price that people were quoteing was all jsut for US and IOA. We plan to do all six parks/waterparks while we are there so our tickets are really expensive, similiar to DW price.

The thought of spending $5500 on a trip seems so......gag! But, these are the last few years my boys are home and we all enjoy theme parks so this is the season of life! So, if you see some middle age Mom telling her kids to pick something cheaper off the menu for dinner, just ignore her....it's me, trying to save a buck!

Have you called and checked the AAA rate? I believe that you mentioned that you're rate is $270. I wouldn't be surprised that if the AAA rate was available, it would be under $200, and possibly under $150. And before you mention that you don't have an AAA membership, the rate difference should more than make up the difference of the membership cost. Then, by showing your AAA card, you'll usually receive a 10% discount on food, drink (non-alcoholic), and souveniers at both parks and Citywalk.

 

[pta-mom]

Have you called and checked the AAA rate? I believe that you mentioned that you're rate is $270. I wouldn't be surprised that if the AAA rate was available, it would be under $200, and possibly under $150. And before you mention that you don't have an AAA membership, the rate difference should more than make up the difference of the membership cost. Then, by showing your AAA card, you'll usually receive a 10% discount on food, drink (non-alcoholic), and souveniers at both parks and Citywalk.

But, I'm Canadian so assuming I can even get AAA which I'm not sure of, would Canadian AAA be useable?

 

[damo]

But, I'm Canadian so assuming I can even get AAA which I'm not sure of, would Canadian AAA be useable?

Yes, I use CAA if the discount is more than the annual pass.

 

[Hummingbird]

do you do alot of tableservice? because 1500 is alot of money for food. The parks that you are thinking of doing all have offsite dining options whichi are really just a quick walk across the street or out to the common area (citywalk). Most people do this for lunch when visiting these other parks.

Wet and Wild - has KFC, Burger King, Ponderosa, Buffallo Wild Wings, Panda Express all right across the street.

Busch Gardens has Burger King, McDonalds' Mel's hotdogs, Morrison's family resturant (which is really really good) and about 2 blocks over is Chick Fila, Chilli's, Five Guys, Checkers, Sonic.

UO has BK whopper bar, papnda express, moes, and then a host of sit down resturants right in city walk. (So instead of spending 8 bucks for 1 hamburger in the park, just walk out the gate to city walk and pay 7 bucks for a whopper, fry, and drink)


And to be honest you may want to eat but I highly doubt your kids will want to eat while at UO or Busch if they are anything like my kids and thier friends. UO is way differnt from Disney. Most kids are so caught up in the thrill rides they dont even think about eating. (When you do lots of rides with g-force, eating is the furthest thing from your mind). Ive seen 6 12-14 year olds do US and IOA all in one day and you know what they ate the whole day. Pop tarts and drank soda from t hose refillable mugs.


Of course though it does seem more expensive because there is no free dining but Disney has already made announcements that it will be cutting back on all of those specials. So your not going to be garunteed free dining if your trip isnt during thier already schedule free dining period. Not even sure if they will be extending free dining until the end of the year this year.



Also, I would invest in atleats on AP (around 140 no blackout dates in AUG at all) for UO, you will get almost 50% off your room rate alot of times, plus you get discounts on food and merch and other park tickets (in the park and at citywalk) then the other 200 to 300 you were going to spend on one of the orlando flex passes just buy a 3 park AP for Seaworld, Busch, and Aquatica. (199.95). SO for the price of one orlando flex ticket you can get an AP for US/IOA and an AP for Seaworld, Busch, and Aquatica. (if you want to add Adventure island its 239.95 for the 4 parks AP)


If you want to list all of the parks you will be going to I will help you try to find the better rates instead of the flex pass. It really is possible. (right now at wet and wild you buy one day admission ($52) get the rest of the year free and the same at Busch Gardens you can get the funcard (pass good until end of year) for the price of one day addmission.

Just list the parks your going to and your ages and I'll work on it for you.