Wondering when? CHeapest way for a large family?

[tink15823]

If you stay offsite you can't use extra magic hours right? I love evening EMH at Animal Kingdom. Can you do the dining plan? We are a family of 7. By the time we go back we will need two rooms. We always drive so that cuts out that darn airfare. Gas and food is sooo much cheaper than airfare for 7. We drive straight through. Any families of 7 that stay onsite?

We are a family of 5 but we take Grandma and Grandpa making us a family of 7. We love ASMO . My youngest in the biggest Buzz fanatic. I have done the math we go in Sept or Oct. Free dinning because I cook the other 365 days and my husband feels it would not be a vacation for me if I have to cook and clean. Check to see if 2 rooms at value standard and free dinning is not cheaper . Then you can still have the EMH and you don't have to cook.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

maybe tent camping?

 

[kileybeth]

Off site never works well for us for some of the above reasons and it just feels way to budget and like work for me, Mom. I want my vacation too. Not cooking for a family, driving all week, thinking and budgeting all week long (love on site we do all that ahead and then we can just go and enjoy).

We have cut way, way back in the souvineer department. It's the experience we are buying, not the junk to clutter up and be forgotten once we get home.

We also have dropped hoppers (I really had a hard time with that but now? it just means more relaxed days!) Also no more trying to keep track of non-expireing tickets for next trip. And no more water parks, we enjoy the pools on site or pay out of pocket for which ever family members actually want to go. Found we don't miss that either.

Research and find the free stuff to do at all the resorts. It's amazing how much fun it can be.

No more photpass. We have cameras and phone cameras and the unposed shots are some of the best.

Cut back at home for a few weeks and you will be amazed how quickly that adds up. When the kids want me to stop for McD's or drink at night time on the way home I will ask them, a slushi now or one in Dsiney? A happy meal now or breakfast with Mickey? Works every time. At home, it is way easier to save a few dollars then while away on vacation. I ask myself the same, do I really need that or will I enjoy not having to nickle and dime my way through an extra day of vacation.

For onsite, split your ressie, 4 days with dining plan and 3 or 4 without. You can use the dining credit for that last day you check out all the way until midnight and by then you are getting tired of so much food anyway. Make sure to use a good dsicount code for room only the last few days to save even more.


I'm sure there are more but those come to mind first. Good luck and remember, a big family just does cost more no matter what people tell you.

Mom to 6.

 

[latmck]

We are a family of five & our first visit to wdw 6 days/5 nights. Our budget is $2000 too. We are paying less than $2000 for this trip. I decided to stay onsite due to free dining & the break from the hot sun. I have done researched about onsite vs offsite. Staying onsite is a better deal for us. Like pp stated, I cooked daily & I hate to cook while on vacation. DH & I decided to bring breaksfast foods, snacks, waters, & juices with us. For souvineers, the Dollar Tree has a lot of disney items. So I will be getting things for there. I will be going to Walmart while at disney because I heard that have a lot of disney items less than in the world. My ds (11) have saved his birthday money & put it on a disney gift card for he can buy a souvineer or two from the world. OP, I hope that you can figure out how you can go on vacation under $2000. We live in metro Atl too.

 

[shortbun]

Find another way to contribute to your vacation budget. Yard sale, spare change every two year-we save $300 every two years, $10 off your weekly food budget amounts to $520 every year and so forth. There is more than one way to afford a vacation.

 

[SandrA9810]

Ft Wilderness is a great alternative that many people don't think about.

First if you camp, it's like 5 star camping... it is not off the trail winging it kind of deal. Plus there's a few Diser's that rent out their travel trailers for a price per week. You do have to book far in advance, but it usually comes out cheaper than renting a cabin. Plus they drive the TT to the site, anchor it, do all the hook ups, and then drive it off at the end of your stay.

There's a TON of things to do there. Staying at the Fort is like it's own entertainment. So many regulars will spend most their time there, and only about half their time in the parks. Which saves on ticket prices. If you do decide to invest in tent camping, the cost of set up pays for itself over the years. I bought a cheap 7 person tent at Target on clearance for $35 and have used it regularly (usually about 2 weeks per year) for 5-6 years. A lot of my other creature comforts were things I already had, like the mini fridge, the portable AC, the mini TV, the extension cords, the lights, my bed was consisted of my regular matress topper and about a hundred comforters and blankets for cushioning.

Some of the sites people set up using tents makes you feel like you're in a huge villa room. Complete with the kitchen and dining areas. Multiple tents for the parents and then the kids. And the comfort stations are always nice and clean. No more trying to share a tiny bathroom with 5 people. Guys on one side, girls on the other. Very rarely is there ever a line for people wanting to use the bathroom.

Plus one site can be as much as half the cost as a single room at POP, and up to 10 people can stay on one site. Plus there's so many Fort regulars, they have their own board. There's a ton of information you can find there.

One more thing, there is no free dining at the campsites, just the cabins. But there's still discounts available for campers. Many people grill dinner or use a crock pot and let it simmer away while their in the parks. And there's something about grilling outdoors with every one around that makes it less like work. Disposable is key too. I wrap everything up with foil or use foil trays for cooking, paper plates and plastic forks and knives. Then I just have to wash off the utensils, which is easy peasy.

 

[beansmom]

just this morning, I cancelled our AS family suite for $1600 for the week (passholder rate) and reserved a suite at the Doubletree for half the price. I know it's not Disney but it's close enough and, frankly, we can't afford to go deluxe every trip. We have APs this year so some of our trips must be low cost.

I have done on and offsite...never not enjoyed either. I think we each have to do what we can do and enjoy it for what it is.

 

[robinb]

Hmmm ... $2500 for 6 nights for a family of 5 with free dining doesn't seem all that expensive to me.

Park passes are a fixed expense and are the same if you stay onsite or offsite. If subtract out your park passes of approximately $250 per person you are left with $1200 for room and food. That's $200 per day to feed and house your family. You can get a condo at Windsor Hills for as little as $80 per night, but once you subtract out car rental (about $20-$25 per day with taxes) and parking ($16 per day) could you feed your family two meals a day on what's left over? How much would you really save?

 

[DisneyScraps]

Stay off site
Eat breakfast in the hotel or condo
Eat some meals off site
Don't hop

Simple...you can save a LOT of money by doing those things.

Lisa

 

[MEBT315]

We are a family of four adults (two parents and two children over 21). We are going in a week, and got great flight and offsite room deals (3 bedroom condo...no more fighting over the bed between my brother and I!). We are buying our passes through AAA and are going for two days and hopping because it's cheaper than going for 4 days without hopping.

To feed all of us would cost about $200 a day if we ate out for every meal. We are planning on eating most of our meals in the condo (especially because mom has Celiac and Lactose intolerance). We are bringing down some foods (peanut butter, specialty gluten free foods, snacks), and are going to go grocery shopping when we get there at Wal-Mart and Publix. I've already cut out coupons for some items, and once I get a Publix card (we don't have them in CT), I'm going to go on couponmom and download deals onto the card. To eat out, we are going to buy a Restaurants.com gift certificate for a restaurant in the area. For the whole week I think our food budget will be around $200 (so basically spending what we would in a day over an entire week).

Since it's January, we aren't going to go to any water parks. There are pools and a "beach" at the resort.

Instead of another amusement park day (which would be another $100-$300 for us), we are going to go to Blue Spring State Park ($5 entrance fee), to look at the manatee sanctuary, eat a picnic lunch and go for a hike.

We are renting a car and found a cheaper deal through AARP than we did through AAA.

HTH

 

[beansmom]

If you stay offsite you can't use extra magic hours right? I love evening EMH at Animal Kingdom.

I love the evening EMHs, too...just not $800 a week worth. Offsite works fine for us this trip. MK will be open til 11pm a few nights we are there...14 hours a day in any park should be quite enough, imo.

 

[torinsmom]

Stay offsite. I got an Emerald Island 3 bedroom condo for $500/week last June. I am assuming you drive, since you are in Atlanta. Add in $14/day parking since you are offsite.

Go during open enrollment for YES tickets and save about 40% off gate price. The kids can enjoy a class behind the scenes and the whole group gets the cheap tickets. You can get 7 day hoppers for around $180 each, so for 5 people, $900.

So, lodging, parking and tickets for $1500. That leaves you $1000 for food, souvenirs, gas, etc.

Some may not like offsite, but I found it to be really restful. We took a break mid-day every day and it was a quick hop and skip back and forth to the parks. We loved having room to spread out, more than one bathroom and tv, a full kitchen and a laundry room. Best of all, the money we saved enabled us to get tickets for Universal and stay 3 extra days ;-)

 

[LaDonna]

oh wow, I guess I forgot to check "instant email notifications" lol because I didn't realize there was replys!

I just went in and priced again I think I messed up last time it came to almost $2400 during the Sept. free dining, that is if they offer it again for 6 nights 7 days, That is 5 of us staying at POR.

I thought if we could stay offsite I'm guessing for around $700 and tickets would be about 1200, that is 1900, include parking for 7 days another $100, so my decision would be is $400 worth the free food, EMH etc......oh wait I'd have to have at least $150 for tips, so would $550 be worth it......hmmmm I'm just not sure....
I'm wondering too if there is just something else I'm missing where I could do it cheaper.....I think I've exhausted all my options though lol
I did think about possibly my sister might want to go, we could stay at 2 rooms at value for about 2600 and the suite I think was about $200 more, so depending on what she wants to chip in for her part that could definately be a cheaper option. But then again we wouldn't get regular dining. And does the suites even offer free dining when they have that promotion?

 

[mrsklamc]

oh wow, I guess I forgot to check "instant email notifications" lol because I didn't realize there was replys!

I just went in and priced again I think I messed up last time it came to almost $2400 during the Sept. free dining, that is if they offer it again for 6 nights 7 days, That is 5 of us staying at POR.

I thought if we could stay offsite I'm guessing for around $700 and tickets would be about 1200, that is 1900, include parking for 7 days another $100, so my decision would be is $400 worth the free food, EMH etc......oh wait I'd have to have at least $150 for tips, so would $550 be worth it......hmmmm I'm just not sure....
I'm wondering too if there is just something else I'm missing where I could do it cheaper.....I think I've exhausted all my options though lol
I did think about possibly my sister might want to go, we could stay at 2 rooms at value for about 2600 and the suite I think was about $200 more, so depending on what she wants to chip in for her part that could definately be a cheaper option. But then again we wouldn't get regular dining. And does the suites even offer free dining when they have that promotion?

Why are tickets $1200?

 

[LaDonna]

well that is for 7 days, I have 2 adults, 2 kids age 11 and 12 and one 3 yr old

 

[dclfun]

For us, staying onsite and having an immersive experience is the most important thing. My kids are grown now but we were a family of 6 and traveled frequently to Disney before the advent of the value resorts. Everyone has to decide for themselves what the most important features are for their own vacation. We stayed off-site twice and vowed never to do it again, then we purchased DVC when it became available. Here are my suggestions:

look into renting points from a DVC member
rent a larger villa so you have a full kitchen, washer, and dryer
take the buses to save on transportation expenses
eliminate park-hopper tix
enjoy the resort vs. being a park-commando
if you're returning for dinner, fill a crock pot when you leave in the morning
prepare simple breakfasts in your room

 

[Gr8t Fan]

But then again we wouldn't get regular dining. And does the suites even offer free dining when they have that promotion?

In the past, the Family Suites have been included in the free dining offer -- the QSDP is offered there.

 

[mrsklamc]

Look into mousesavers.com for the discount ticket link, or the YES thread here on the budget board, for savings on the tickets.

 

[alaskanabbott]

we're a family of 8, me, DH, DS18, DS15, DS13, DD13, DS11, DD6. We booked two rooms at ASMO, which we really wanted as we are all Toy Story freaks. We got free dinning, 9 days of tickets, staying 10 nights for $3800. I have very big, athletic teens who eat ALOT! I think for us the free dinning is a HUGE factor in staying onsite-probably saving about $2000 for the ten days. If you factor in the constant price for the tickets, a rental car that fits 8, parking every day for 9 days, and gas back and forth- there is no way we could have stayed offsite and spent the same. To save money for our family we are doing some of the following:
We are having water shipped from Costco to our room- about $15 for two cases of water
We are packing light-two big duffle bags for the whole family- (saves on the per bag airline fee)
We are using one snack credit a day for breakfast, then the rest is on FD
We bought each kid a lanyard with 10 pins on it from ebay for about $50 total-they can pin exchange all they want for thier souviners.
The kids have been saving b-day and XMas money for additional souvy's
We stayed offsite our only other time, but it was a MAW trip, so we were at GKTW and NOTHING can top that!!! So we are pretty excited to see how much of a difference it is staying onsite.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

Have you checked into Disney's Yes program? We used this last year and were able to get 7 day hopper with water parks for 5 for under 900. Maybe it was closer to 800 but anyway it a tremendous savings and the class we took was really good. There are quite a few threads on here so you should check them out.