What dollar amount do you consider to be a budget trip?

[worm761]

We are always talking about taking budget trips. And we all try to get the most for our money. So I was wondering what everyone else considers to be a budget amount for a trip to Disney.

I am planning a budget trip to Disney next year. Oct/Nov for the Food and Wine Festival. We are me and DH, DS will be 18 at the time, and DD will be 4 almost 5. I am planning an 8 day trip. My budget is sitting at $4100.

When I started planning it was with the intent to do a budget trip but that amount just doesn't seem very budget to me. So I was wondering how much other people think is a "budget trip" amount.

 

[texasroni75]

We are taking a budget vacation to WDW in September.

Our group this time is a family of 5 - which includes one infant so it's really more like paying for a family of 4. Our total budget including Room, Food, Park Hoppers, Travel expenses, items purchased just for this trip (camera, maintenance for our vehicle, vacation clothes, etc), and "extras" is about $4000. Including the roadtrip portion, this trip is 10 days long. For a Disney trip, staying onsite, I think this is a very small budget and definitely falls into the "budget vacation" category.

I'm very frugal, and we are staying Value, doing free dining, etc to save money. I will likely come home with some of the "spending" money we set aside, so it might cost us a little less. We actually had a longer trip for less money when they did the buy 4 get 3 deal a few years ago - but unfortunately that offer is not an option anymore

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Gah I hate to even say it out loud since it doesn't sound budget but for Disney all inclusive I consider 4000.00 ish budget. 3 adults, 3 children

1380.00 tickets (6 day base) 3 adults, 2 children
480.00 gas
200.00 lodging on road
200.00 food on road
980.00 DTD double tree suites
1000.00 for food, tips, extras

This was a 10 day trip.

I never pay this all at one time so it isnt painful.

We could of course cut costs further by staying off site further or doing a straight 19 hour drive but we won't.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[TravelMommy]

I think those are great deals for Disney vacations!

 

[Marionnette]

I consider "under $2500 for everything" to be "budget" for 2 adults staying 7 nights. However, I'm sure that it can be done for much less if you're really frugal.

 

[madelyn]

Something around $100 per person per night? Obviously a couple would not be able to use this guideline for a long weekend, 3 night trip since that total would come up to only $600. But as a family of 5, staying for 7 nights, the total would come out to $3,500. We typically stay about 10 + nights and end up not going to the park every single day and have variables like driving or flying and using DVC/timeshare weeks.

 

[Daisy'sMama]

Our "Budget" trip was like a gift! A friend gave me miles for 3 roundtrip flights on Southwest - I paid $50 each for them. We won Skyauction, a week @ Bonnet Creek for $400, rental car bargain $150 for a week. Add in food and Y.E.S. tickets (a deal at that time) and we spent less than $1000 for 2 adults and 1 child. That was a budget trip. We average $2000 a trip and we usually drive from Kansas City and stay at Bonnet Creek or onsite. Free dining makes it feel like a luxury trip for the price of a budget one. I wouldn't know what to do with $4K for a vacation.

 

[tzeitel]

Last year we (2ad 1ch) did 8 nights @ Pop with QS FD, flight, parking and dog boarding for 2.5K. I do make sure to work on my reward sites - got enough for some airline gift cards and for a couple of TS meals at WDW. We did not get many souvenirs either - I think less than $100 between the 3 of us.

 

[dhardawa]

I did a budget trip with my daughter two years ago for about $1,100 - $1,200. That was for 7 days and included a value resort, base tickets, QSDP, and airfare. We went during free dining and I got two free round trip tickets for signing up for a Southwest credit card, so really all I paid for was the room (off season) and tickets. I might have bought $50 in souvenirs and spent nothing extra on food. That's about as budget as I can get.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

Well I am trying to budget for my trip now for Sept 2014 for 2 adults. So far I have tickets and room (value) at 1561.82, air fare from south west at 500.00, car rental at $275.00 I also have the keys to the kingdom tour and the MNSSHP included at $250.00. Since I am going to Sept then free dining is USUALLY offered but I will upgrade from the quick service to the regular service. When I factor in tips and meals that are not included and the price of the upgrade I get a total of $2,952.00.

Luckily enough for this trip if I have met my goal of 50% by March then I will book and my mother in law is willing to use some of her points to fly us down there and home. Bringing my total to $2542.00. Not sure if this is high or not but will take any opinions on ways to tweak this The only thing not included in this total is money for souvenirs.

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

DH and I did a couples budget trip last October for about $1,100
We drove, stayed at an offsite budget suite hotel for $69 a night.
Ate breakfast in our room, packed lunch, ate out with coupons every night except one dinner at Boma.
We ate at Texas de Brazil 2 for the cost of 1.
Cost includes gas from VA to FL, one hotel night on the way down, on the way back and 5 nights in Orlando, plus annual waterpark and DQ passes(passes are only $130 each).

Then we did a family budget vacation (us + college son) in May:
One night in Savannah and a fancy dinner at a high end restaurant,
5 nights in same suite hotel for the same price.
Breakfast in room, lunches packed, 4 days in the waterparks (free for DH and me!) Sightseeing from Orlando through Palm Coast and up A1a to St. Augustine (including a free ferry ride and tour of Ft. Matanzas and a couple of hours on the beach)
Dinners out every night with coupons:
Sweet Tomatoes
Longhorn Steak House
Bob Evans
Bonefish Grill
Bahama Breeze

We spent 2 nights in St. Augs right in the downtown historic area at the Pirate Haus Inn (1 block off St. George) for only $109 a night for a room that was very comfortable, fridge, pirate themed rooms, very clean, wicked awesome cool place to stay, free breakfast in the morning, and the inside track to the truly *good* restaurants(for value, quality of food and service).
We ate at Casa Maya and a Greek Restaurant while there, as well as having the best pizza on earth at a spot called "Pizza Time" on St. George.
Non-frills name- OUT OF THIS WORLD pizza and wonderful friendly service.

Went to the San Sebastian Winery for free tastings.
Drove home in a speedy 10 hours.
All of that for 3 people- 8 nights accommodations and dinners,
a few souvenirs (only bought stuff I really needed- a hat and scarf)
all our gas, food, entertainment.
for only $1,400
We laughed and called this our "Florida on a Thread" vacation.

Best Vacation EVER - including our 8 night stay at the Beach Club in 2009.

I really enjoy WDW but there is so much else to see in Florida.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

For me $4000 would be a luxury trip!

In 2010 we spent about $3400 for 7 days for 2 adults & 2 Disney adults which included:
- drive down, 2 nights in hotel & food during travel
- 4 day basic WP & More tickets from UT
- our timeshare fees at Vacation Village at Parkway
- meals & groceries (including Hoop Dee Do, Akershus dinner, Chef Mickey's breakfast and multiple counter service places)
- free Sea World tickets
- souveniers

In Dec 2011 DD and I did 5 days for $1500. Included:
- All Star Movies
- Free QS dining upgraded to the reg dining plan
- free MVMCP tickets & CP dining package (used Disney Visa Rewards)
- airfare

This June we did another 7 day trip for 2 adults, 2 Disney adults for $1800.
- used 3 days of our No expire 10 day hoppers with WP & more, purchased from UT for 3 to 4 trips (avg cost per person per trip = $200)
- $800 in Disney gift cards for food
- drive down, 2 nights in hotel and food during travel
- Free week at Wyndham Bonnet Creek (a gift from my parents who own Wyndham to DD for her graduation)

 

[somanykids]

Last fall (October), my family of 7 drove from Kansas City with a rented van and stayed for 4 nights on property for $4200. I think that was pretty budget for all of us. I will say that the two youngest are under 3 so they didn't count for admission prices, but we still had to feed and entertain them.

 

[disneysteve]

I consider "under $2500 for everything" to be "budget" for 2 adults staying 7 nights.

I was also going to use the $2,500 figure but include our daughter. We go every year and we have never exceeded that amount. We could get it closer to $2,000 if we needed to. So I'd say a really frugal trip for 3 could be done for $2,000 but I'd count anything under $2,500 as pretty reasonable.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

So many variables. A lot of people are including free stuff in their budget which is great for them but not realistic for a overall cost. We also went Spring Break for 2 years and Christmas one year. We did our cheapest trip August of 2009 and stayed value. It was cheap 1800 tickets, hotel and free dining for 3 adults 1 child. Hated everything about it but the actual parks. Flights were 160.00 pp RT from MDW. So good prices. Just wont ever stay value again.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DawnM]

under 2,000

Family of 5

 

[sunflowerfields]

I am interested in this thread as I am planning a trip paying for just myself in Sept. 2014. Either the 2nd or last weekend. How early can airline reservations be made in advance? Can they be changed if I find lower prices later? I want to spend as little as possible but still be able to eat at a ts each night. We went in June this yr. through a travel agent. For 6 days park tickets, airfare, value resort and dp we spent right at $6000.00 I don't know if that was good or bad. That amount was for 5 people. Four adult and one child.

I'm not sure I could plan a trip on my own since I've never traveled.

 

[StuckInKS]

For our family of 8:

7-nights/8-days (we usually do 10-days, so this would be budget for us)
Hotel = $500 (we have gotten two rooms at BW for this price in the past)
Base tix = $1200 (budget would equal going during HSD)
Gas = $600 (round trip from KC and back in an older-model Expedition)
Parking = $120 (it is still $15/day, right?)
Misc = $80 (maybe some snacks or other in-park expenses)

We would use our normal food budget to buy items at the grocery store and order pizza to the room.

Total = $2500

It will cost us nearly $4300 to do the exact same thing with free dining and an onsite value hotel. I think the extra $1800 is worth staying in the Disney bubble and not having to carry in food, but will whip out this option if I need to!

ETA: changed the budget around a little because I forgot about parking!!

 

[bookgirl]

I consider anything under 600-700 to be budget.

Last trip my expenses alone were around 1200 but that was a 1 week stay MOD/Value split, food OOP, rental car for the week, shopping offsite, one day at IOA and 5 at Disney parks, and Food and Wine Festival. (had a friend there part of the time and split some expenses with her but the rest were me alone as far as costs and used points for airline or you could have added another 350 to that total)

I didn't consider that extreme but I did consider it higher end of my comfort level.

I have a trip coming up to take my mom to F*W that we'll split the cost on, which is 800 or so for my part so not crazy but not budget.

Airline miles to pay for flight
4 nights at a POR RGR Garden view with Free Dining and 3 day base tickets 1550
1 day rental car 32 (coupon code)

I figure there will be some incidentals like shopping off site and F&W not covered with snack credits but I should have a gift card from work for those.

I have a trip in Jan which I'm trying to keep at the 500 dollar mark (value stay, using a mix of SW credit and cash for flight, code for 2 day car rental and OOP food) but it will be 1 day offsite at KSC and then 3night/2day at the parks and my mom will be on that trip.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

I am interested in this thread as I am planning a trip paying for just myself in Sept. 2014. Either the 2nd or last weekend. How early can airline reservations be made in advance? Can they be changed if I find lower prices later? I want to spend as little as possible but still be able to eat at a ts each night. We went in June this yr. through a travel agent. For 6 days park tickets, airfare, value resort and dp we spent right at $6000.00 I don't know if that was good or bad. That amount was for 5 people. Four adult and one child.

I'm not sure I could plan a trip on my own since I've never traveled.

Okay first thing is that booking and planning a Disney vacation is not that hard even for someone who hasn't really traveled. I believe that you can book a flight up to 6 months in advance (please correct me if I am wrong). As far as Disney goes you will be going at a great time the early fall! This is the time when Disney USUALLY offers the free dining plan if you stay at one of their resorts, if you stay at a value resort you will get the quick service dining plan for free but can upgrade it for an additional cost. The quick service plan gives you 2 quick service meals a day and 1 snack the upgraded package (regular dining plan) gives you 1 quick service and 1 sit down and 1 snack a day. I find the easiest way to book when staying at a Disney hotel is right through their website or if you would like more help with this for free you can use Dreams Unlimited Travel. They are the ones who set up Disboards and they offer free vacation planning. I hope this helps and takes some of the stress out!