Disney on a BUDGET

Disnee4Me

Disnee4Me

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So we have some home improvements we want to make this coming year, along with a nearly 3 week trip to Italy in July-August. We are headed to Florida in mid-late January for my mom's 100th birthday celebration. Is it possible to say spend 5 nights/3 days in the park for 2 adults for $1000? We usually prefer POR, but I'd go someplace cheaper. In addition, I'm thinking we'd have to fly to Orlando, take magical express, so we don't have to pay for resort parking, and then go back to the airport, rent a car and drive down to Delray Beach. I'm just looking for the Disney part to be not more than $1000. Am I being unrealistic?:rolleyes:
 
Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap

Well-Known Member
Disnee4Me said:
So we have some home improvements we want to make this coming year, along with a nearly 3 week trip to Italy in July-August. We are headed to Florida in mid-late January for my mom's 100th birthday celebration. Is it possible to say spend 5 nights/3 days in the park for 2 adults for $1000? We usually prefer POR, but I'd go someplace cheaper. In addition, I'm thinking we'd have to fly to Orlando, take magical express, so we don't have to pay for resort parking, and then go back to the airport, rent a car and drive down to Delray Beach. I'm just looking for the Disney part to be not more than $1000. Am I being unrealistic?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Maybe if you pack all of your meals and stay off property, which doesn't sound like a very fun combo.

I'd say wait and keep saving. Do your Disney vacation right and don't cut corners if it just means putting it off for another 6 months to a year.
 
aliceismad

aliceismad

Well-Known Member
What does the $1000 have to include? POR is $250+ a night alone (until a sale comes up between now and then), so five nights would bust that budget.
 
JohnD

JohnD

Well-Known Member
Disnee4Me said:
So we have some home improvements we want to make this coming year, along with a nearly 3 week trip to Italy in July-August. We are headed to Florida in mid-late January for my mom's 100th birthday celebration. Is it possible to say spend 5 nights/3 days in the park for 2 adults for $1000? We usually prefer POR, but I'd go someplace cheaper. In addition, I'm thinking we'd have to fly to Orlando, take magical express, so we don't have to pay for resort parking, and then go back to the airport, rent a car and drive down to Delray Beach. I'm just looking for the Disney part to be not more than $1000. Am I being unrealistic?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Contact WDW and tell them about your Mom's 100th birthday and see what, if anything, they would be willing to offer for that milestone.
 
eliza61nyc

eliza61nyc

Well-Known Member
I don't think I could but
1) do you want to go to the parks every day? how about 2 days in your favorite parks and the rest resort/Disney springs.
2) just get tickets to the evening events, they are usually much cheaper than day passes and you still can enjoy some of the rides.
 
M

Minnie Mum

Well-Known Member
Assuming all you are including is accommodations (5 nights), tickets (3 days), and meals, I'm not sure you can do it for $1000. Looks like you would need to rent a car anyway if you would otherwise be flying down to Mom in Delray Beach. You might be able to do it if you stayed off site. There are plenty of chains within just a couple of miles off property for under $100/night, with free breskfast and no parking fee. If you buy some groceries and pack in most of your meals, and just do a couple of CS meals you might be able to do it, even with having to pay for parking.
 
aliceismad

aliceismad

Well-Known Member
Minnie Mum said:
Assuming all you are including is accommodations (5 nights), tickets (3 days), and meals, I'm not sure you can do it for $1000. Looks like you would need to rent a car anyway if you would otherwise be flying down to Mom in Delray Beach. You might be able to do it if you stayed off site. There are plenty of chains within just a couple of miles off property for under $100/night, with free breskfast and no parking fee. If you buy some groceries and pack in most of your meals, and just do a couple of CS meals you might be able to do it, even with having to pay for parking.
Click to expand...
They could stay somewhere with a free shuttle. Or, if renting a car, park it for free at Disney Springs, right?
 
Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap

Well-Known Member
JohnD said:
Contact WDW and tell them about your Mom's 100th birthday and see what, if anything, they would be willing to offer for that milestone.
Click to expand...

Serious question... would Disney actually offer any sort of special pricing/discounts for this? Is there a history of them doing such?
 
L

LUVofDIS

Well-Known Member
Right off the bat you would have around $600 for tickets. Depending where you are flying from, $400-$500 for airfare. There are cheaper flights, but I would have to know where from. If you want Disney express, than you have to stay on-site, the cheapest around that time would be the campsites, you would need to bring a tent, $345 for the campsites. If you rent a tent that would cost more obviously. Food, if you share meals and only eat twice a day, $150. So the best I can see you doing would be around $1495.

Now you say 5 nights/3 days. I am not certain what this means, are you resting one day?
 
Den Carter

Den Carter

Well-Known Member
OH & I alternative luxury trips with budget trips, so I can quite confidently say that what you’re trying to achieve is very possible if staying off-property. On-property, no way.

There are plenty of hotels on the 192 / Irlo Bronson Highway in Kissimmee, in walking distance to good value breakfast options (Denny’s, Ihop, Sizzler buffet, etc), which have free shuttles to parks. I’ve stayed in many of them - Knight’s Inn, Ramada Gateway, Day’s Inn - over the years. None of them are glamorous, but none of them are horrible.

If staying on property we tend to spend downtime in our resort, but if staying cheaply off site we just view it as bonus park time as we’d rather kill time in Disney than in a cheap motel.

We fill up in massive, cheap breakfasts, skip lunch and just have snacks, and treat ourselves to table service meal in the evenings. It’s a great value way to ‘do’ Disney, as long as you’re not precious about where you stay.

Another thought - and I’ve done this a few times - do you have any outstanding hotel chain points stacked up in a loyalty scheme somewhere? I did a bunch of business trips to various places a few years ago and quickly racked up enough Hilton Honors points for a free week in Lake Buena Vista - which also had free parking and a park shuttle bus.
 
Shouldigo12

Shouldigo12

Well-Known Member
OP, are you dead set on five nights? Would it be possible for you to drop one night off? That would take some money off of hotel expenses.
 
MrMcDuck

MrMcDuck

Well-Known Member
If by "the Disney part", you mean tickets, hotel, food, and transportation, it's doable, but you'll almost certainly need to stay off property at a place that has a shuttle and limit how much park food you eat. If you get very lucky, sometimes you can find amazing deals for on property using Priceline Express Deals (e.g. POFQ for around 100/night, some deluxes for around 130), but even at some of the best rates I've seen, five nights would go over your budget, so waiting and taking that chance (and there are times where nothing on property is available on Express Deals), would probably be a bad idea.
 
HonorableMention

HonorableMention

Well-Known Member
Disney on a budget is possible, but not if you want to stay on-property. I’ve taken a similar trip this summer, and while there were some different circumstances, we managed to make it work, albeit not quite that cheap.

Lots of hotels in the area have shuttles, and I found that an occasional Uber/Lyft wasn’t extremely expensive, and they saved a lot of time. Those apps even have deals for first-time users if you don’t have them.

We packed our own breakfasts and reusable water bottles that we would fill up for free at restaurants. You could possibly pack your own lunches or snacks too, or try sharing a meal at a QS restaurant.

I think you could expect to pay between 1,000 and 1,500 per person if you really commit to minimize spending
 
AndyS2992

AndyS2992

Well-Known Member
‘Disney’ and ‘budget’ are unfortunately two words that don’t go together these days.
Only tips I can give really are:
-Go ‘off season’, which you are
-Stay in a Disney value or off site.
-Eat off site or at least outside the parks if you can, stick to quick/counter service or pack your own meals, assuming your room has a fridge.
-Don’t buy into extra like dessert parties and such
-Set strict budget for souvenirs or buy them off site

You get the drill, you will save some money but if it will impact on your experience then is the saved money worth it? That’s for you to weigh up.
 
Miss Bella

Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
To be blunt. No it's not possible and yes you're being unrealistic. You need to double your budget. Even doubling your budget it's going to be tight.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
With tickets at $600. and the minimum for onsite for 5 nights would be around $625. I'd say that you just used up the budget. Perhaps if you slept in your car that first and last night and bought a jar of Peanut Butter and a loaf of bread for every meal during your stay, however, you may still go over the $1000. limit. Perhaps put off the home improvement for a year or so.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom