When and how much to save?

[babybear]

We are planning our first trip to Disney in Florida. When is the best time to go in terms of weather and crowds? How much should we plan on saving towards our trip? We are looking at staying at least 7 days and anytime beginning April 2005.

The trip will be for my husband, my 3 yr old DS (he'll be 4 when we go), and myself.

Any information will be appreciated.

 

[sphere99]

Depending on how many people. For our family of 3 we are spending in the area of $4000 when all is said and done.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by babybear
We are planning our first trip to Disney in Florida. When is the best time to go in terms of weather and crowds? How much should we plan on saving towards our trip? We are looking at staying at least 7 days and anytime beginning April 2005.

You will get a huge range of answers to your questions. It would help if you could give some more details. What type of accomodations do you want? Will you stay onsite or offsite? Do you want a regular hotel room, a suite, a condo or a house? How are you getting to Orlando - car, train, plane? Will you want a rental car? What type of meals do you plan to have - mostly casual and counter service or more formal sit-down meals?

As for when to go, everyone has their favorite times. Traditionally, the slowest time of the year crowd-wise is between Thanksgiving and Christmas but not including either holiday. A good time to go both crowd and weather-wise is right after Labor Day. The kids are back in school so the crowds die down and the weather is not quite as hot and humid as in July and August.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by babybear
We are planning our first trip to Disney in Florida. When is the best time to go in terms of weather and crowds? How much should we plan on saving towards our trip? We are looking at staying at least 7 days and anytime beginning April 2005.

The trip will be for my husband, my 3 yr old DS (he'll be 4 when we go), and myself.

Any information will be appreciated.

HI!

Let's see if I can get you started. If I would have had this info back in 2001, I could have cut the cost of my trip down $1000!! DH and I spent $2300 for 9 days and 8 nights at Disney, but I also purchased a package which I will NEVER do again.

Visit the following sites to help you have an idea on what to save:

MOUSESAVERS
for codes on different resorts that will save you money off of rack rate. (rack rate=the normal price of the hotel room)

CODE HISTORY/MOUSESAVERS
to see when the code will be available for when you want to visit. Mary has gone back as far as 2001 with listings on when codes have been available.

TICKETMANIA
for some of the best prices on tickets.

HOTWIRE SAVINGS CLUB
for even better prices on tickets. You have to join first, but there's a 30 day trial period where you won't have to pay, so wait and join about 2 weeks before you're ready to visit Disney and cancel upon returning home if you wish.

DISNEY MENUS
to get an idea on what meals will cost throughout the resort.

DISNEYWORLD SITE
for all kinds of information on how to get started on your trip and how to plan

DISNEY VACATION PLANNING KIT
to really help you get started in your planning. Wait til December or January to order since you're planning on going in April. Actually, if I remember correctly, I remember reading somewhere here on the DIS where Disney updates the kits sometime around October or so for the following year, so try maybe looking to get one around November. The DVD is better than the video, so wait til you see that as an option. Any questions on this just ask.

Okay, that should about do it for now. If you have any questions at all just let us know, that's what we're here for. Some of the best fun about going to Disney is planning the trips and getting ready! 2006 just won't get here fast enough for me.

Have fun!

Denise

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

We just got back in Aug. and are planning another trip in Dec. There are also 3 of us, myself,dh, and dd (4). We went for 7 nights 8 days in August and it was about $5,000 even with the AP discount on our room and staying at Pop Century (a value resort). I would check out the links above, and then give some more info so you can get some more help! These boards are great, lots of nice people always willing to help with advice. And....
WELCOME TO THE DIS!

 

[ladydancer]

My favorite time of year is Oct. We just got back last week and only had to stand in line for a couple of rides. Most rides we just walked on.

My second favorite time, would be just before xmas but we have to go to BB. So having to go to BB rules out going in Dec.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by KIRSTIN'S MOMMY
There are also 3 of us, myself,dh, and dd (4). We went for 7 nights 8 days in August and it was about $5,000 even with the AP discount on our room and staying at Pop Century (a value resort).

None of my business, I suppose, but how did you manage to spend $5,000 in a week? I'm guessing you did a lot of fine dining. Did you fly from Savannah or drive? I'm just curious because I think these are the kind of numbers that may scare people away not realizing that it can be done much cheaper than that.

 

[crisi]

We spent about $10,000 for six people (four adults, two preschoolers) a year ago for seven days. That included some sort of fair value calculation for our room that wasn't just dues on the DVC points, six plane tickets out of MSP, sit down dining once a day, UPHs for six.

We went a few years before that and spend about $4,000 for four people. But my daughter was under three - no ticket. We stayed at the WL - $200 a night.

Make a budget then research:

Accomodations - you can stay offsite for $30 a night, or stay onsite in a suite for thousands. Someplace between the two (since you are on the budget board, I'm guess more towards $30 a night than $4000) will be where you are comfortable. Onsite starts at somewhere around $60 - if you watch for codes.

Tickets - Disney will run around $40-$50 a day (unless you go enough to get value from an AP and can really drive down your per day costs). Buying from Disney in advance is a little cheaper, and there are ticket brokers who sell a little cheaper than that, but there are no "cheap" tickets. If tickets are cost prohibitive, a lot of people buy hoppers and then don't do the parks each day of their vacation - the have a waterpark day, a resort tour and Ft. Wilderness day, a day they play minigolf and shop DTD.

Food - If you stay offsite with a kitchen, eat some meals offsite and are really frugal, its possible to feed yourselves for around $20 an adult per day. On the other hand, a really nice dinner with a bottle of wine for the two of you can be over a $100 a person.

If I had a four year old (no worry about school schedules) for a first trip I'd go late September. Weather will be warm, but shouldn't be ridiculous. Hurricane season has died down (but, if you didn't notice this year, not stopped). Food and Wine at Epcot hasn't started so you don't have the October crowds. Park hours are shorter, but with a four year old, you don't tend to care too much about the park being open until 11:00pm.

 

[powellrj]

wow, those are some trip numbers. I feel cheap posting mine....
When all is said and done we usually spend about $500 per person for a weeks stay on things like room, airfare, tickets, rental car and tips and tolls. For our family of 4(including 1 teen who is an adult according to disney) we will have spent about 2,000 before we leave. Food and "extras" we usually allow about $100 per day. I have seen people go much, much cheaper than this, but what you need to do first is budget the items you know you have to have and then decide how to spend the money for the "extra" items. Good Luck!!

 

[Doodlebug939]

Originally posted by crisi
Tickets - Disney will run around $40-$50 a day (unless you go enough to get value from an AP and can really drive down your per day costs). Buying from Disney in advance is a little cheaper, and there are ticket brokers who sell a little cheaper than that, but there are no "cheap" tickets. If tickets are cost prohibitive, a lot of people buy hoppers and then don't do the parks each day of their vacation - the have a waterpark day, a resort tour and Ft. Wilderness day, a day they play minigolf and shop DTD.

I think you bring up a great point. We are going for almost two weeks before and during Thanksgiving this year but we are definately not going to the parks every day. I have tried to find things that the kids would love that dont cost a ticket. For example going to Fort Wilderness and watching the movie and making smores. Because my youngest is almost 4 it is not essential to run from park to park and see everything. For us a leisurely pace is best for everyone involved.

Another tip-We eat a big lunch about 2:30 or so and then we eat a light snack or split a burger for dinner. It saves money for us plus we get snack for dinner which is a treat for my little ones.

Next-If you have time before your trip and do some online shopping I would head over to the reward programs board and get to know the great people over there. Because of reward programs I earned this year: $5 disney dollars, $60 is Red Lobster or Olive Garden or Bahamma Breeze gift cards (can be used at any of them), $50 in Rainforest Cafe Gift Cards, $35 for a Bass Pro Shops-My husband is a big outdoors guy so it was for him and lastly a $5 Pizza Hut Gift Card. I have earned all of these in the last 12 months from just doing shopping online and answering emails. www.mypoints.com and www.rewardtv.com are my favorites. During the holidays if you do some online shopping this could help you out.

Also I make a reservation as soon as I am sure when we are going. (Next time is in 2006 so imagine what I will earn by then) And I pay every month or so $25 here or $50 there and it really adds up. My husband wont go to Disney if the bill is not paid in advance. Then I look for codes to make it cheaper as the trip gets closer.

Hope it helps. I believe that most people can afford Disney if they plan it out well. Like others have said you can go all out or do Disney on a buget. This trip we are saving our money buy splitting meals and not going to the parks everyday. I am hopeful that our next trip we can stay at the Poly (which is my dream) and since we are only going to the parks for 4 days but we bought a 7 day pass we will have 3 days left for the next trip. Really you will do great.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by KIRSTIN'S MOMMY
We just got back in Aug. and are planning another trip in Dec. There are also 3 of us, myself,dh, and dd (4). We went for 7 nights 8 days in August and it was about $5,000 even with the AP discount on our room and staying at Pop Century (a value resort). I would check out the links above, and then give some more info so you can get some more help! These boards are great, lots of nice people always willing to help with advice. And....
WELCOME TO THE DIS!

Wow. That seems...high. I don't mean to sounds nosy but did you all just have a lot of really expensive meals or spend a lot on souvenirs?

Just for contrast, my BF and I are going the first week of Dec. 2004. The room for 5 nights/6 days cost us approx. $273 (Pop with AP rate) in total including tax. Airfare from Boston to Orlando cost us about $59 each way X2 so just over $230 in total.

So we're up to $273 + $230 = $503

We eat at sit down, table service restaurants only. We do not do counter service unless we're not hungry. We budget about $400 for food for a week and that suits us fine. Obviously, meals can be done for less than this. We just like to have nice meals when we're on vacation. We do this twice a day with a few snacks in between.

So we're at $903

Then we have 2 adults anual passes. That works out to around $800.

We're at $1703.

We also each have about $150 for spending money on souvenirs.

That takes us to around $2000.

And it can be done for much, much less. You don't have to have an AP. We have APs because we will be going in May and in October of 2005. We will get 3+ trips out of these APs.

We have a few extra expenses that you may or may not have.

Putting our dog in the kennel he stays at here in MA costs us about as much as our room , but obviously if you don't have a dog, or if you don't have to kennel your pets, this is not an issue. I won't include this cost in my total here.

We figure we'll probably spend about $200 on a rental car for the week. For people who don't need a car when they go, this is not an issue either.

 

[sphere99]

Ours is quite a bit more then that. here goes!

3 RT from Dallas $ 564.00
Hotel night before flight (early flight) $ 60
Boarding dog $ 243.00
Towncar pick up and drop off $110.00
7 nights in wing room at Contemporary $1022.00
Tickets $ 918.00
There were up to $ 2917 without food or park buying. I plan that to be at least $1500 more.

 

[sphere99]

Ours is quite a bit more then that. here goes!

3 RT from Dallas $ 564.00
Hotel night before flight (early flight) $ 60
Boarding dog $ 243.00
Towncar pick up and drop off $110.00
7 nights in wing room at Contemporary $1022.00
Tickets $ 918.00
There were up to $ 2917 without food or park buying. I plan that to be at least $1500 more.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by sphere99
Ours is quite a bit more then that. here goes!

3 RT from Dallas $ 564.00
Hotel night before flight (early flight) $ 60
Boarding dog $ 243.00
Towncar pick up and drop off $110.00
7 nights in wing room at Contemporary $1022.00
Tickets $ 918.00
There were up to $ 2917 without food or park buying. I plan that to be at least $1500 more.

Thanks for the breakdown. Seeing it listed that way can help folks see where they may spend more and where they may be able to economize and spend less.

Here are our numbers for our trip at the end of the month. It is me, DW and DD-9.

Drive RT - gas, hotel one nite each way: $375
2-bedroom condo thru SkyAuction for 7 nites: $261
Tickets: $745
Food: $675
Incidentals - parking, boat rental, souvenirs: $500

That brings our total to $2,556 and I know a couple of those estimates are high so our actual spending should fall a bit lower than that.

So you can see that how much you need to save can vary dramatically depending on a bunch of factors.

 

[kathyclownfish]

I believe the average family of 4 (all needing tickets) and flying into MCO for 1 week spends the average of $3500.00. This would include no AP's, average airfare, moderate accomodations and a couple nice upscale sit down dinners.

If you opted for deluxe accomodations, this would automatically increase your budget by $1000.00! You can't do anything about ticket prices, unless you buy AP's. As first time visitors I doubt if you are ready to do that. I hate when people post to newbies that they only spent $200.00 on tickets!!! For 7 days, you are going to spend $1200 unless you have AP's or unused hoppers (and newbies never have those things).

Good luck and have a good trip!!

Kathy

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

This was back in August, so it's been a while, but I'll tell you what I can remember,lol! We did a "Magical Gathering" so we had a few sit down meals so that our group could get together as well as the "Magical Gatherings Fireworks Voyage" so that added to our total as well.


Our room for 7 nights at PC with AP rate was $801 (we had a 3rd adult in the room which costs an extra $10 per night, plus we got preferred section which was another $10.)

AP's for 2 adults and 1 child was $1124.

MG fireworks cruise was $30 per person, so $90 for us.

Dinner at Chef Mickey's on our arrival night was $149 (but we also paid for my Mom and Dad's meal as well for their anniversary)

Lunch at 50's Prime Time we used vouchers for, but the vouchers were $30 each, so $60.

Dinner at Hollywood and Vine was $54.
Ice Cream Social at Epcot was $38.
Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern was $66.
We have regular AP's, so tickets to TL were $84.
That puts us at $2466, not including the Q&C vouchers we purchased for our counter service meals during the trip.
Gas each way was about $50, so $100 there and back (we only live 4.5 hrs. away)
I've found my room charge list, let's add up souvies!
Total for that is $207, not counting the other $200 we spent at the Disney outlet in St. Augustine on the way down.
So, now I'm at $2973, plus the Q&C vouchers which were about $200 worth, plus the stuff we just paid cash for like snacks, ice cream, etc. We also went over to Universal for the day (we have AP's there too) so that stuff isn't included on the list here, obviously since we couldn't charge it to our room. DH and I added everything up from our receipts when we got home and it was right at $5000.
Seems high, but it sure added up quickly,lol! And, we're headed back in Dec. Gotta use those AP's you know!

 

[NvrBnToWDW]

We will be visiting WDW for the first time too! I have done a lot of investigating and it seems that the first week of May is a great time to go. We homeschool, so our schedule is not a problem. So that's when we're going, Apr. 30-May 6.
It's 4 of us: DH, Me, DS11 & DS9. We're saving now for our souvenirs and food money and paying for the rest with our income tax refund.
This is our budget plan:

Airfare (Dallas to Orlando) for 4: $842
6 Nights @ All-Star Movies: $672
5 Day Park Hoppers (4): $930
In-Park Dining for week: $450
Towncar Service: $100
Souvenirs: $200

Total: about $3200 for 7 days/6 nights

 

[drp4video]

We go every August for about 9 or 10 dyas, and it costs for my daughter and myself, about $2500, we stay at Pop/or ASM, rent a car, and fly down. We went for 5 days December of 03. This past summer, we bought AP's as we are going back this december again, but for 10 days this time. This will be a real cheapy.

We used our AP to get $49.00 per night (9), I got an amazing deal on a rental car for $185, and we are using 100,000 requent flyer miles to fly free ( a lot I know, but what am I saving them for???). Then, I will use my Disney Visa card to get $$ off the room rate when I get there. So far we have one PS reservation for Christmas eve at Epcot and are doing the candelight processional, and I still need to make mu New Years PS at MGM. Not sure where yet. We ususally just do counter service, which does save the money.