How do you do it ? $$$

[38053WDW]

We try and go every three years and partically this is because of cost... I know cost can be what you make of it... offsite or standard/moderate/deluxe Resorts... I read of these two week stays and I think.. how ? We're looking at 8n/9d / BLT / MKV .. airline and tickets (PH of course) for 5 and cha ching!!! This does not even include eating ... I'm just courious on what people spend to go here ... The trip reports are great but then I think 'What did that cost?"

 

[mateomouse]

One good way to save money, and one that we try to do whenever possible, is fly on Allegiant Air in and out of Sanford, FL. We live in sanford, so we don't use it to fly to Disney, but we use it to go other places. The fairs can be cheeper, but some of the baggage fees are ridiculous, so it all depends. It is about 45 minutes north of Disney, and you would have to rent a car because there is no bus service to Disney.

 

[bow0303]

This trip is going to cost us over 10k. We're doing Universal and Legoland then taking a 4night Disney Cruise then 4 nights at WL. 1st time staying at a delux resort. We are looking for every possible way to save some money. Hoping for some sort of discount to come out. We're using our credit cards to pay for things instead of cash to use the cash back benefits, found an app called viggle that will help us with cash for food and we have some disney giftcards from a survey we did last year and perks from travel agent. Not sure we'll be going back for a few years due to the price increases and my oldest son missing school. We normally go the week school lets out for the summer or a week before school starts. The temps are warmer but more moderate crowds.

 

[Phonedave]

It's hard to say how much it costs. Airfare play a big part in the cost. Couple that with the fact that we own DVC and it makes cost more of an abstract thing.

For example, my wife and I are going this Nov for F&W. Room is DVC and Flights were on airline miles - so no cash so far. Now we need park tickets. However we are also going in June (For the every 2 years WDW family vacation). It is cheaper for us to buy APs instead of buying tickets now and then again in June - so how do you factor that cost? I just have to dig up some cash for the APs and spending on F&W (these last two months have been expensive - for other reasons)

-dave

 

[JillC LI]

Our trips hover around $2,000 for about 4-5 days as a family of 4. We use credit card points to get free airline tickets and do our best to get free dining when possible. We stay at a Value (or Mod to get free regular DDP). We go to WDW about every other year alternating years with a vacation somewhere else.

 

[cbettua]

This trip in October we are staying at AOA, and It is 4 nights 5 days. We will come in under 1k for the 4 of us.

 

[GrimGrinningGhost15]

7 nights preferred room at All-star Movies + 6 days park tickets with hopper + Magic your way plus dining package= $2299.79 for 2 adults
Plane tickets=$238.00 per person
Total= $2775.76

Not sure how much we will spend on souvenirs, adult drinks, and other treats. My guess though would be another $300. Also hoping there is a discount that comes up before our trip that we can apply to our package, should know in a few weeks!

 

[mishel635]

We are going for the first time as a family this February and are going all out! (At least for us! )
Here is how it is breaking down for us:
DVC Rental at BCV for 7 nights - $1800
Airfare - $1350
Deluxe Dining Plan - $1800
Park Tickets for 8 days - $1100
Spending $, tips, extras - $1000
Photopass Plus - $150

Grand Total of $7200

We are going during President's Day week so everything is more expensive of course. We also wanted to try a deluxe and do a lot of character meals and a few 2 credit meals so we went with DDP. Not sure if we will ever go all out again and most likely will only be able to go about every 3 or 4 years so I figured, what the heck! You can't take it with you!

 

[WDW 3]

Wow! I see a lot of free dining.
Our trip is always for 7 or 8 nights. Usually 8 so we get a 8 day park ticket with hopping. It's only $9 each to add the 8th day to the tickets. We always fly but it only costs $10 per ticket because we use airline miles. Resort is roughly $900 Tickets $ 624 plus food, shopping and airport transportation. We are easily over $2,000.

 

[mweier]

Our 6 day 7 night December trip with free dining for 5 at POR is running us $3300.00. This trip may be our last for awhile...I don't really want to pay more than 4K and that's what we were planning on until FD came out. Our kids are getting older and 5 in one room may not work after this year.

Wondering how it would work out for an All Star Vacation home w/ rental car? I suspect this (or other off-site resorts) is going to be one of the only ways to combat the $4k threshold...

 

[Dubman]

For 2 adults-1 child....

11/9-11/11 Pop Century room only($220.00).
11/11-11/17 Pop Century w/free quick service dining upgraded to regular dining plan and added park hopping($2180.00).
Round trip Southwest non-stop for 3 ($990.00).
Magical Express this trip so no rental car..

9 days for $3,400.00. Pretty much the norm for us for a 9 day stay. We have stayed for a little less by staying off property, but the aggravation of renting a car and paying for parking has made that a thing of the past. I figure since we are doing the dining plan for the majority of the trip, we should be able to keep our spending money under $1000.00.(At least that's the plan). Will not have park tickets for the first 2 days this trip thanks to the dining plan blackout dates, so will spend time at DTD and the pool.. Tried adding 2 days to the park tickets of our Dining Plan reservation but was told we can not access the park ticket portion of the package until the day it begins.. Oh well, we tried.. All is good though, we will be in the World in 46 days!!!

 

[taz0162]

we are on the three year return plan but generally spend 2+weeks there at a time to totally immerse ourselves with the experience. Purchase Gift cards to save for the trip stockpiling to pay for the trip and any extra go to pay for souvenirs while we are there.

 

[EnchantedRose]

We have gone every year for the past 5 years...and the one way we can pull this off, is to book our trip wayyy in advance. We usually try to book our trips at least 6 months in advance, this way we can pay a bit off every week. I know the Dining Plan is up for debate on whether you save or not, but for my family it does save us. So we always try to get the Free Dining, we almost always stay at a Value - I would LOVE nothing more than to stay at a Deluxe, but we don't spend much time in the room so for me it doesn't make sense to pay so much more. We will do a moderate if we want the regular dining plan - or we upgrade. We do budget our money for Souvenirs, and try to get things we cannot get elsewhere. I also try to go in off peak times. I don't mind taking my son out of school for a week to go on vacation. As long as I let the office know, they are ok with it. He is in first grade this year....and I already let them know. I know once he gets older it'll be harder to take him out.

One area where I don't really compromise is airfare. We always fly Jetblue since we each get to check a bag for free...I make sure we are paying less than with other airlines including checked bags.

Here is our breakdown for our upcoming trip in November.

10days/9nights at Pop Century for 2 adults, 1 child, 1 infant, 8 day Park tickets with Free QSDP = @2100
Airfare - $797
We do take about $1000 for extras, or in case of an emergency, but we never use it all.

 

[rsoxguy]

Gas and turnpike tolls, and dining. If we're feeling tight, we bring our own food. Disney World is much easier when you live in South Florida. I really don't think that I would go very often if I didn't live within a few hours drive from WDW. For us, it's a destination of convenience. I know, heresy.

 

[LuLaSue]

I voted "who cares". I DO CARE however, we switch it up each trip! We often have different length of stays from year to year and sometimes our air is free with miles.

 

[awoogala]

I read of these two week stays and I think.. how ? We're looking at 8n/9d / BLT / MKV .. airline and tickets (PH of course) for 5 and cha ching!!! This does not even include eating ... I'm just courious on what people spend to go here ... The trip reports are great but then I think 'What did that cost?"

We have gone every year for the last few years. We go off-season, and we can go on a "group trip" with major discounts, with a homeschool group. We are doing that in November. We get major ticket discounts, the kids get a class at Disney, and we even get a hotel discount. It's still expensive! lol
We also drive, because it's cheaper than flying, and we eat breakfast in the room almost every day, carry snacks, and usually eat a big sit down lunch, and only do counter service for dinner. (we like riding more than sitting for meals- and we go when the hours are shorter!)
We do stay at Disney hotels usually (this year we are doing Dolphin). I won't pay full price for a Disney hotel, I think they are way overpriced, so we take advantage of off season discounts. This year, we go in November, drive down, and we are staying 9 days, including sea world and universal.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Well, we are DVC members, so stay on points, usually in a 1 bedroom, but in a studio at times. I fly a lot for business, and can fly both my wife and I for free. We purchase APs, so they are good for multiple trips. We also get the TiW card to save us 20% on our food. We go at least 2 or 3 times every year, and pretty much our only cost when we are there is food and wine. If we split the cost of our dues and APs amongst our trips, we probably spend an average of 2k per trip.

 

[dreamfinder]

We try and go every three years and partically this is because of cost... I know cost can be what you make of it... offsite or standard/moderate/deluxe Resorts... I read of these two week stays and I think.. how ? We're looking at 8n/9d / BLT / MKV .. airline and tickets (PH of course) for 5 and cha ching!!! This does not even include eating ... I'm just courious on what people spend to go here ... The trip reports are great but then I think 'What did that cost?"

Remember that some people who do multi week trips, the travel to/from vacation can be significant. Especially with the front loaded park tickets, it's very easy to decide to stretch a trip out if your flights are costly.

I'm sorry, why can't you take your kids where you want, when you want?

Some towns/states in the US require proof of absence. Any things short of medical emergencies are often not accepted as valid reasons. Some schools will refuse to let your child move on a grade if they miss more than a set number of days, others will flag them as being truant, and then both the parent and child can get in trouble under the law. Some schools get their funding based on the number of students that attend on a given day. So they have significant motivation to ensure that kids are in school, and not on vacation.

 

[38053WDW]

we are on the three year return plan but generally spend 2+weeks there at a time to totally immerse ourselves with the experience. Purchase Gift cards to save for the trip stockpiling to pay for the trip and any extra go to pay for souvenirs while we are there.

Do Disney Gift cards expire?

 

[dreamfinder]

Do Disney Gift cards expire?

Don't believe so. Many states have laws against that, so most companies now just honor them across the board.

 

[duchess1]

We usually budget $5000 for an 8 night trip for 2 adults/2 teens. We just went in August and I was pretty happy that I came in $400 under budget and we didn't feel like we were watching our pennies. I could probably get it way under that if we didn't have to fly since that adds $1000 to any trip we take.