Yikes!

[WDWgoofy]

Over the past several years I have made 3 solo trips to WDW, based on business travel to Orlando.

While I, the WDW freak:mickey:, enjoy this visits immensely, they are nonetheless not as good as the ones shared with the whole family (DW, DD1, DD2).

Recently I have gotten the itch for a family trip...YIKES -- this will be costly!!!!

So even if we drive (which saves $1000) and stay at a moderate resort for 7 nites, the cost will approach $4000 (including waterpark visits and a couple table service meals for 4) and this is assuming I obtain expected discounts.

I do't know if we can pull this off :confused:

[mgmnut]

I hear you, our upcoming trip is up to about $6,000. for 4 of us with Lodging, airfare, DDP, and Park tickets (WDW and Universal). Budgeting is key. How far out are you planning?

I am almost at the breaking point when I say the cost just can't be justified anymore, as much as I love Disney.

[caryrae]

That's why when we go to WDW I try to plan as far ahead of time as I can so for the room or package I can make smaller payments every 2 weeks or so, then pay for other things along the way like airfare, then rental car, at different times.

[mdricks]

As much as i hate to say it now might be the time to cut the strings and venture off site.

I

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I agree! Disney isn't a "cheap" vacation, but we still love it.

There are ways to make the trip cheaper - a value resort, or off-site (especially if you can get somewhere with a kitchen so you can prepare some meals).

We always plan our trip SUPER EARLY, and use it as motivation to put as much as we can away in our "Disney Fund" jar.

[dyin tago]

DW and I always always stay at a valu resort now nad we love it.

you atill get the perks and amazing immersive feeling of being in disney.

they don`t have a sit down restaurant but we don`t really care about that and we always have a car anyway. If you go for a week or more you can save a lot of money and the rooms are pretty nice.

[MuchLovedMama]

Have you considered a value resort? The themes are probably cooler for the little ones and can save you quite a bit of money. If you don't spend much more than sleeping time and pool time there then it shouldn't matter. For us we always choose a value because upgrading to a mod or higher is just not worth the extra cost for us. Sure it'd be nice but we'd rather use that money elsewhere.

[alliekat]

My family and I usually stay at a value because my younger son likes the themes and my older daughter doesn't care where we stay . Also the money saved on going value pays for other parts of the trip.:thumbsup:

[MKFD43]

As much as I would love to stay on property. Its is just to expensive. We always stay off site. It only takes about 20 minutes to get there from Clermont. We get a 2 bedroom 2 bath room condo for 2 weeks for around $825. We can cook meals and do laundry and have money left over to do all the buffets on site that we love like 1900 park, cape may ect.

[lighteningqueen]

First off Why stay at a mod?? We are staying 7 nights at POP. $700.00 and it is every bit as clean and good as anything else. HUGE savings. Then do you really need the water parks?? If so then cut out some park days.. Just not sure when your kids are 1 and 2 why you would go there and spend extra bucks than to wait until they are old enough to enjoy it. Where are you eating that it brings that cost up?? I would change that as well. If you can do that.. This time it will cost us 1200.00 not including the meals.We are hoping for free dining. If not we will eat once a day CS. We can do this if we really want to go this year. We also are driving. Too much for plane tickets this year.. Hope you can change some things to bring that cost down. Your kids are free so that $4000.00 is way to much to go IMHO. I would forgo it until I could save or justify it and that is becoming few and far between on going.

[Daisy'sMom]

First off Why stay at a mod?? We are staying 7 nights at POP. $700.00 and it is every bit as clean and good as anything else. HUGE savings. Then do you really need the water parks?? If so then cut out some park days.. Just not sure when your kids are 1 and 2 why you would go there and spend extra bucks than to wait until they are old enough to enjoy it. Where are you eating that it brings that cost up?? I would change that as well. If you can do that.. This time it will cost us 1200.00 not including the meals.We are hoping for free dining. If not we will eat once a day CS. We can do this if we really want to go this year. We also are driving. Too much for plane tickets this year.. Hope you can change some things to bring that cost down. Your kids are free so that $4000.00 is way to much to go IMHO. I would forgo it until I could save or justify it and that is becoming few and far between on going.

Staying at POP or any other value would be the smart thing to do. We never stay at a mod or deluxe any more. It just doesn't make sense unless you have money to throw away.:mickey:

[lighteningqueen]

It isn't is it. When we are all out in the parks you cannot tell who stays at a mod or deluxe and is throwing good money out the window. Nor the buses either. Anyone can get on those buses just to see the resort or to fake people out that they stay there then catch bus back to the parks. It means nothing to me but the fact that I am staying 300.00 night or more cheaper. Can you imagine just think... 400.00 for maybe 9 hours in the room. Thats 50 dollars an hour to sleep and shower.. WOW.. I like my money with me. This is not put down to anyone who stays in them. It just makes no sense to our family. We come to Disney to do the parks not to act rich as my daughter says.. Good thinking that she is growing up and understanding

[caryrae]

Over the past several years I have made 3 solo trips to WDW, based on business travel to Orlando.

While I, the WDW freak:mickey:, enjoy this visits immensely, they are nonetheless not as good as the ones shared with the whole family (DW, DD1, DD2).

Recently I have gotten the itch for a family trip...YIKES -- this will be costly!!!!

So even if we drive (which saves $1000) and stay at a moderate resort for 7 nites, the cost will approach $4000 (including waterpark visits and a couple table service meals for 4) and this is assuming I obtain expected discounts.

I do't know if we can pull this off :confused:

Did you price what it would be if you stayed at a value? Just curious what the difference would be. I know for us we have stayed off site, then we did a couple value resorts then last trip we did a split stay at 2 mods and I must say we liked when we stayed at POFQ a lot and would love to do that again.

Maybe it is more expensive but to us it was worth it and didn't make us feel like we were throwing our money away.

I was pricing a room only for next April and was looking at POP and CBR and POP is about $124 a night and CBR is about $190 so not a huge huge difference ($66/night difference), plus it would be even cheaper with our AAA discount.

[MKFD43]

It isn't is it. When we are all out in the parks you cannot tell who stays at a mod or deluxe and is throwing good money out the window. Nor the buses either. Anyone can get on those buses just to see the resort or to fake people out that they stay there then catch bus back to the parks. It means nothing to me but the fact that I am staying 300.00 night or more cheaper. Can you imagine just think... 400.00 for maybe 9 hours in the room. Thats 50 dollars an hour to sleep and shower.. WOW.. I like my money with me. This is not put down to anyone who stays in them. It just makes no sense to our family. We come to Disney to do the parks not to act rich as my daughter says.. Good thinking that she is growing up and understanding

We come to Disney to do the parks not to act rich ....RIGHT ON! Who cares where you rent a room if you are in a park all day and not the room. Just enjoy being in the World with your fam. And Dont try to impress people who dont care in the first place.

[BigRedDad]

There are not many family vacations that cost more than a Disney Vacation domestically. It is probably cheaper to go to Hawaii. I know that cruises come very inexpensively. I am thankful there are only 3 of us. This allows us to stay at Value resorts which helps. Cost of tickets is $250-$300 a person. It adds up so quickly, it is not even funny.

You will start to see that Disney will become a status symbol in the US and a majority of their patrons will be foreigners. It is unfortunate, but this is what the economy is prescribing now.

[WDWgoofy]

Hey, I'm a Disney veteran I know the difference between a value and a moderate resort.

We are not a young family: me, DW, DD1 (23yo) DD2 (21 yo).

Pop is a small room (260 sq ft) with a small bath area and 1 sink. Meanwhile CBR room is the same size as as a lodge room (340 sq ft) and has 2 sinks and the difference in price assuming projected discounts is quite small. In fact I can get a moderate room for the same price as I did in 1998!

Frankly it is the pass prices and airfares that have sky-rocketed

[caryrae]

We come to Disney to do the parks not to act rich ....RIGHT ON! Who cares where you rent a room if you are in a park all day and not the room. Just enjoy being in the World with your fam. And Don't try to impress people who don't care in the first place.

I am willing to bet most if not all people here don't stay at more expensive Resorts to impress anyone. I am sure they don't say "Hey Hun lets stay at Poly so we can make John and Jane Joe really jealous."


Hey, I'm a Disney veteran I know the difference between a value and a moderate resort.

We are not a young family: me, DW, DD1 (23yo) DD2 (21 yo).

Pop is a small room (260 sq ft) with a small bath area and 1 sink. Meanwhile CBR room is the same size as as a lodge room (340 sq ft) and has 2 sinks and the difference in price assuming projected discounts is quite small. In fact I can get a moderate room for the same price as I did in 1998!

I can't imagine staying at a Value with 4 adults in one room.

[nqi2]

Instead of getting defensive about said comments and suggestions. Why not post that information from the start so that people can give you the correct advice. When you post DD and DS with no ages most people assume small children who would fit in a value resort much better.

[WDWgoofy]

Okay, I've been giving this a lot of thought and I think I can whittle the price down quite a bit.

A new Disney credit card with bonus and points will add up over the next many months. Plus other perks will add up.

If I can scrounge enough points for flights, no rental car and Disney credits, I might get the cost lower by $600.

[caryrae]

That's pretty awesome if you can save $600.

[NJGIRL]

*****Moderator Warning*******

Please keep comments and suggestions friendly. Please do not criticize people for staying at moderate, deluxe, offsite etc.

[NJGIRL]

A new Disney credit card with bonus and points will add up over the next many months.

If you are talking about the Chase Disney Visa Card they give you 1% of your purchases back. You didn't post how many month you have until you leave but in order to have $600 dollars of credit on your card you will have to charge $60,000 on the card before you leave.

We always take advantage of this card and usually are able to get 3 free park tickets for our stay but we don't go every year so the dollars are an accumulation of two years.

My advice would be stick to driving, stay offsite and use your disney visa dollars for your TS meals.

[Dulcee]

I know that overwhelming feeling...here's how we try to keep things in check $$$ wise.

If you are flying in definitely scratch the rental car and take advantage of Disney transportation. I was leery of this the first time I gave up my car but they really do run smoothly and we very, very rarely ran into any inconvenience.

I like the moderate hotels, and personally I think its worthwhile, especially if you visit during a more crowded time of the year. That escape is totally worth it for me. To save here, don't get wrapped into paying for a preferred location or room view.

Book with Magical Journeys! They'll watch the discounts for you, so if you miss the heads up on a discount they'll catch it for you...without charging you a dime! Also, if you can be flexible on dates shoot for value periods or be ready to switch dates to when discounts are offered. (Not always easy to do with flights booked in advance I know..)

Traveling as a family with the dining plan, split counter service meals (if your using the basic dining plan). We found we could easily share two counter service meals between us for lunch and two for breakfast. This left us with all four snack credits and our table service credits. When we traveled on a budget we also stayed away from signature dining...tying up 2 credits wasn't worthwhile for us even though we love some of those restaurants.

Pack water bottles (or use garden grocer and have them delivered). A grocery delivery service is also a great way to have breakfast items delivered to your room. If your family isn't one for sharing lunches, doing breakfast in your room can mean big savings. We also tended to ordered some snack foods to carry in the park and keep in the room for downtime.

Hope those help ease the sting some!

[BigRedDad]

As NJGirl said, the Disney Chase Visa card is only good for racking up minor points over time. It is true you only get 1% back. If you are hoping to get $600 worth of points, it will cost you $60,000 in take home pay. It is FAR easier to manage $600 out of a $60,000 budget than it is to rack up that many points.

I have ~$700 in rewards points, but that has accumulated over 3 years and taking complete advantage of their 3% bonus programs that come up each year. I also lost the advantage of paying my mortgage and daycare with it. That was the largest chunk of getting my points up. It is a lot of work to insure I do not get service fees and insuring I pay the balances at the correct times.

[DizneyRox]

Oh my, axe that rental car toot sweet. We gave that up about 10 years ago and haven't looked back. We do town cars/limos to impress everyone at the resort when we arrive.

I have still yet to step foot in a water park. Really, 40+ trips and I couldn't even tell you what they look like. Haven't done mini golf either.

But... That price doesn't sound too far off. I know someone who just dropped close to $6,000 for 5. (Stupidly they sold their DVC and went back to commoner status; probably sold their points for less than the cost of that trip)

Food and tickets are the problems these days. Food more so. We spent more on food last year for two people than two APs.

With the pricing structure of tickets though, I can't really suggest dropping days without dropping resort days as well. Cutting back on food and merchandise is a good money saver.

[WDWgoofy]

Disney is giving me $200 Disney Dollars straight up with the card, rental car is $300 not including gas and I expect to get another $100 in Disney dollars thru credit card use over 7 months.

So $600 is likely. Also leaning to 5 nites, not 7 with early arrivals and late departure flights allowing for two extra half days.

[Gayle]

After 13 years we finally joined the DVC. We thinks its worth it. And we love our home resort BLT. Then we can save for meals if we want and save on park tickets:mickey:

[PopPhan]

Disney is giving me $200 Disney Dollars straight up with the card, rental car is $300 not including gas and I expect to get another $100 in Disney dollars thru credit card use over 7 months.

So $600 is likely. Also leaning to 5 nites, not 7 with early arrivals and late departure flights allowing for two extra half days.

Just wondering how you are getting 300 Disney Rewards Points/Dollars for your rental car...I have never seen that kind of offer before from Chase. I dare say you are NOT spending $30,000 on a rental car!!! LOL (Or even $10,000 on a 3x Points offer)

[NJGIRL]

Just wondering how you are getting 300 Disney Rewards Points/Dollars for your rental car...I have never seen that kind of offer before from Chase. I dare say you are NOT spending $30,000 on a rental car!!! LOL (Or even $10,000 on a 3x Points offer)

If I am not mistaken I think what he is saying is that he will save $300 by not getting a car.

[PopPhan]

If I am not mistaken I think what he is saying is that he will save $300 by not getting a car.

You are correct! I did not read the message closely enough the first time.

My bad!! Apologies all around.