What's your budget for a family of 4/

[ahake]

Just out of curiosity, what's your budget for a family of four on or off site..mine is
AIRFARE 764.00 includes all taxes ect
HOTEL 31.00x3plus taxes is 108.00 staying offsite
3 DAY PH 580.
FOOD BUDGET 400.00
EXTRAS GIFT SHOP ECT 100.00 plus whatever is in change bank
This is for 2 adults and 2 kids, 6and 7
We plan on eating breakfast in our room and using the hotel shuttle to the parks. My parents are paying for airport transportation
TOTAL....$1952.00
I don't think we did that bad how'd you do

 

[mudnuri]

No Airfare- as we are driving- however...we need to add for this..so here goes..

4 total hotels- 2 on way down 2 back- $225.00

Fuel- We drive a diesel which gets 21.5 mpg so- we don't spend much on fuel- last time to florida- it was about $150.00 round trip- this time, we'll be doing more driving so $200.00

Hotel/Tropical Palms Resort 2 bedroom cabin- 79.95x6 plus tax 479.90 plus 57.56 tax 537.46

5 Day Park Hoppers- 2 Adults 2 Children $509.08 plus 408.96 - total 918.04

Food- 1 Character Meal- Garden Grille Late Lunch, Rainforest Cafe in A/K, Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe in parks...the rest will be eaten off-site, either at our cabin, or at a rest.....during the 7 days at WDW- the budget is 500.00 Add to that the 4 travel days- your up to 700.00...


So our running total is-
225.00 drive hotels
200.00 fuel
537.46 resort
918.04 park hoppers
700.00 food, including 4 travel days

$2580.50

Of course- I'll round that up to an even 3K before I tell DH...and then the girls will have their Disney Dollars, and I'll have a few items tucked away by then as well...

That's really an eye opener- actually putting it all in one place....where the bottom line jumps out at you...

But you know- thats not really that bad, 3K for a 11-12 day vacation for 4...geez I'm kind of proud of myself..of course, I could have done all the eating in the parks, and brought that total up higher, but I gotta ease DH into this Disney stuff easy- he's not interested much in it...I'm hoping to get him to say "lets go back next year"...

Brandy

 

[Perlla55]

Hello Brandy,
have you been to the tropical palms resort before or is it you first time?
for the $80 you can have two hotel rooms in a hotel with better facilities
or even share a room at a disney value resort like the All Stars.

 

[mudnuri]

Actually- given the time I'm going- I can't even get ASMo for less than 80 bucks a night...but anyway..

The reason for the Tropical Palms- which was a toss up between them and HIFS, is the increase in space...the full kitchen, and the SPACE..or did I already mention that?

With the dd's being 6 & 7, two rooms wont work, even if they were 25 bucks a night...DD's would not be able to sleep in a room alone- for fear that they would open the wrong door when trying to get to our room...even if the adjoining door was OPEN...1 gets up 3-4 times a night for bathroom, drinks etc.. though I dont think she is 100% awake, she is disorientated, sometimes I walk into the bathroom- and she's just standing there, and I have to tell her to go potty....

We have our truck, again, which makes staying off-site even better....DH and I are not big breakfast eaters, though DD's like cereal....having that in the cabin, along with milk in our fridge...add that to the coffee that will be ready when I wake up (DH is the best!)...and the cold cuts waiting for us to return from the park for lunch...well, you just can't get much better than this for what our family wants/needs.

I'm not worried about missing any magic, I think with this plan, It'll be more magical!...

Brandy-

PS- sorry ahake for hijacking your thread...

Now, about those budgets...

 

[crisi]

OK, some things to keep in mind before I give anyone a heart attack. We are pretty well off. We only do this every other year. We value good food and enjoy a drink with dinner - part of our "Disney experience" is a lot of PSs - they are as important to us as park time. And we aren't the type to stay offsite or at the All Stars. And I'm not suggesting that this is the ONLY way to vacation. It just happens to be our way.

For our family of 4....

2 bd BWV preferred view October 282 points 7 nights.

Plane tickets from Twin Cities to Orlando - $300 per person (can ususally do it for $250). $1200.

Towncar = $80
Cabs = $120

(yeah, we could do a rental car for that, but towncars and taxis are easier for us. My husband is a car snob and won't drive anything not made by German engineers and I hate to drive).

Park Tickets (2 adults, 2 children, UPHs, drop one day) $1200 (could do this cheaper but this is how we do it. Its worth the price difference to have one card that is our room key and park admission and credit card.).

Food (and special events - the Pirate Cruise was budgeted here) $1400 (we eat well, we eat less than this, but this is the budget. We eat a sit down dinner every night, with an adult beverage for the grown ups and dessert, one character breakfast, lunch at counter service in the parks. Breakfast is in the room).

Souvieniers and pocket money $700 (this is where I underbudget and my husband over spends).

$4700. Without the room. Value the room at $6 a point (what I
use as "cost") and we are at $6400.

 

[cyndibelle]

well here is how we are doing it for the 4 of us..we are staying at the all star movies for 6 nights..687.62..5 day park hopper tickets..831.58..our airline tickets were 549 from cincinnati rountrip..oh and in the 687.62 is shuttle service to and from the airport.....we have about 600 bucks cash saved so far from selling items on ebay and side stuff....we have asked family for disney dollars for christmas presents so i think we are set...my mom has paid for our airline tickets and is paying for some of the room...we are so excited about going!!!!

 

[mudnuri]

Cyndibelle-

Is that park hopper price before tax? The cheapest I could find was 908 but that included tax and shipping..

Brandy

 

[jann1033]

meals 679 sit down or buffet each day at least once , some breakfast in room ,using meal vouchers for some
dsquest 42
tickets (APs)2/392=784
souviniers 100 ( may be more there)
campsite (FW) 371 ( hoping for AP dis, not accounted for)
onroad expenses 235 except food which is in meals already

total cost per trip $2226 ( give or take a few pennies says the obsessive planner)

trip is for 1/5-1/16 for 2 adults so would be more if kids were going but probalby would do things differently too ( like no aps, cheaper meals)

 

[cyndibelle]

hi brandy.no mine were 781 then 50.58 taxes and 3.00 for shipping..but for what age were you buying?? i have two adults and two kids tickets...

 

[projDisney]

Hi Ahake, could you please tell me where you stayed ? Those Hotel prices seem pretty good ! And where can I get the 4-Day Park Hopper price - cheap ?? This is the first time I'm going, and I've booked tickets on hotwire - for thnxgiving, just wanna plan everything in advance, I'm going with my kids- 9, 12, and Husband ... I'd appreciate any advice on how to save a little money

 

[cyndibelle]

hmm brandy i just read your post and yea your kids are young too...where did you get your tickets from?? i bought mine directly from disney..i called the number off the site and bought them when i made my reservations...

 

[beattyfamily]

Family of 4; two DD's ages 4 and 7. Sun thru Sun in Dec. Dogs in kennel.

We always go like it's our last WDW vacation! We enjoy character meals, renting boats and going to Universal. We always rent a car for the convenience. We are DVC members.

Airfare (boston) = $724 (non-stop)
Rental car (full size) = $110. (best rate I've ever gotten!)
Disney APs = $1598. (will be used for Dec trip and 2 trips next year!!!)
Universal hotel = $288. (2 nights at HRH)
Universal passes = $432. (2 day/2park)
Spending money = $100 a day = $700
Parking at airport = $176 (at home airport)
Meals = $1000 (includes 4 sit down means)

Kennel = $410
Incidentals = $300. (boat rental, parking, tips, MVMCP, hotel at airport the first night)

Total $5138.

This is not counting our DVC.

It will be much less next year as we won't need APs!!

If we ever need to cut back, there are many ways we can. Less spending money, less eating out, no boat rental, no Universal...I think as we continue trips, we will be cutting back; as our children get older, as the newness dies down. We'll spend more time at our DVC resort and less in the parks.

For these trips, we put $200 aside each month, I save every bit of change I come across, we put at least $1000 of our tax return toward it. I do mypoints and get webcertificates and then I buy stuff as soon as I can afford to like the plane tickets, passes, pay off hotel etc...

We are truly blessed.

 

[ahake]

projDisney,
Hi! We got the Holiday Inn Nikki Bird for 31.00 using Priceline..Some people don't like it but we have never had a problem there (stayed there in 2000). As far as PH's do a search and I'm sure it will come up for you! Have fun planning your trip!

 

[FayeW]

Beattyfamily, where did you get that awesome rate on the rental car? My quote is much higher than that for a compact!

 

[taylor1293]

I know this doesn't look like much of a budget, but compared to our last trip we are doing great!

Travel - $400 (we are driving from Illinois, includes gas and 2 nights hotel

Boarding Dogs- $200

Souvenirs/Pictures/Film developing - $400

Food & Drink - $800 (bought $290 in meal vouchers)

Hotel - $1,100 (5 nights in 2 bedroom at OKW)

Hotel - $340 (2 nights at beach on Marco Island)

Tickets - $900 (2 adult, 2 child - 5 day park hoppers plus)

Parking/Housekeeping/Other Extras - $160

Total expenses - $4,300

Teresa

 

[mudnuri]

Boy- adding in your film developing is a great thing to do!!

If I add mine- though we will have our digital too...(something about "old fashioned" pictures with me)...we do not have a photo quality printer, though the camera is very good....I normally develop pictures while on vacation, at an overnight place, wal-greens or walmart etc. Guessing from how many pictures I normally take, and doubling that since its our first disney trip..I'd say 35-40 rolls, at $7 a wack- thats oh no...245-280..

I've got to go through and actually figure out EVERYTHING going into this trip, to come up with a "real" budget...including the dog babysitter, and gifts etc.. I haven't added that stuff yet..shhhhhh don't tell DH!

I'm looking over the menu's right now where we plan to eat, and deciding if the vouchers would/will benefit us..so far it's a no..except if we do rainforest ..

Brandy

 

[tonysgal34]

We just got back on Sat from a week at AllStars. We actually didn't spend as much as we thought that we would and came back with $600!!

AllStarMovies for 6 nights at $86/night..........$514
Airfare for 4 roundtrip ROC to MCO................$470
Rental Car(Budget deal for SUV)....................$202
Misc.(food, souvies, gas, etc.).......approx. $1200


Total of approximately $2400 was pretty good considering it was our first and will probably be our only trip!!

 

[marcyinPA]

We are going in May...here is our budget for 2 adults, 2 children ages 4 and 8:

7 nights POR with UPH passes(kids VISA package) - $1800
airfare from PHL to MCO $826 (includes taxes, etc.)
airport parking - $80 (if we can't find someone to take us and pick us up!)
Tiffany Towncar - $80 +$10 tip
Food budget- $700
Souveniers -kids take their own money/disney dollars

$3496 for trip...of course this might change in the next 6 months!

Marcy

 

[jjnb7709]

Wow - interesting to see all the different spending styles and budgets. Compared to some, I'm cheap.....compared to others, I overspend. Here is the tally for the 7 day trip my family of 5 just took:

Airfare for 5 (CMH-MCO) $1200
Hotel 6 nights (Contemporary w/SOG discount) $ 500
Rental Car (Emerald Aisle - got full size) $ 160
5 day Hoppers (Salute rate $99ea for 4) $ 400
Meals (includes 3 character, sit downs, Prime
Time, Narcooses, etc - breakfast in room) $ 900
Snacks and Drinks and Cooler for room $ 100
Souvenirs, film & developing $ 500
Airport Parking $ 35
Bags of toys for kids on plane $ 30
"Disney" Pictures taken at meals, in parks, etc $ 100

Total for a fantastic happy family vacation.............Priceless

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by FayeW
Beattyfamily, where did you get that awesome rate on the rental car? My quote is much higher than that for a compact!

What happened was I booked in January for this December and it was over $200. I then just kept checking the National rate almost daily (and checked the Transportation board too) till it bottomed out. I was VERY lucky.

It slowly came down and in March it bottomed out at $120. weekly. I then used the Disney Club contract number and $20 coupon to get $110 TOTAL!

I consider myself VERY lucky! It hasn't been that low since!

But there is a thread on the Transporation board saying that National rates are down. I tried my dates and got $150 total Intermediate size with Disney Club discounts. This rate is also coming up for Jan/Feb dates too.