I have been challenged!

[mickeysaver]

My co-worker has two teenaged sons and a daughter in college. She wants to take them and her DH to WDW for a 4 night 3 day tour. They don't have a big budget. I have promised her that I will work to find her the best deals. She has a discount postcard for $69/nite at the value resorts. The kids are not big into souveniers. So, this is what I have so far.

Gas Round Trip $300
Park Admission $164.28/person for 3 days $812
Food $200/day $1000
Hotel 2 rooms with 3 in one $688
Total is roughly $2800

She only wants to spend $2500. How do I shave off $300?

The boys are big eaters. I can't see that she is going to get much cheaper on the food budget, even using the AK Meal Deal one of the days. She wants to do something fun like the Ice Cream Social too.

There is a small chance that the college aged daughter will not want to go along. That would make this budget fit perfectly, but I just can't figure out how to shave off that

 

[maxime29]

Do you mind staying at a Non-Disney hotel? Maybe like the Radisson?

 

[mickeysaver]

Originally posted by maxime29
Do you mind staying at a Non-Disney hotel? Maybe like the Radisson?

They really want to stay on property. They could stay at a Moderate for about the same amount of money, but then they would all be in the same room and they want a little privacy. Staying offsite would drive up the cost of gas and parking, which is basically a wash on the cost difference. Maggie

 

[StevenT]

I have no idea other than make sure you are driving a car that takes regular unleaded fuel and not premium. That will save you gas money. It obviously helps if you have a fuel efficiant car too.

 

[maxime29]

As far as I know, the Radisson is only 1.5 miles from the resort area. They also provide free shuttle service to the parks I believe. I do not remember the weblink for the resort to give you some room rates though. If someone can provide that, it be great.

EDIT: Found the link

 

[tigger248]

I'm not sure about saving money except that maybe when they go gas will be down or maybe spend less on food. When I go if I eat at quick service places I can eat for like $20 for 2 meals at about $10 a piece. For breakfast you can save money by buying/bringing juice and pastries to your room. That's what my family has always done and it works well for us. Also I would recomend staying at a value resort. With your coupon for $69 a night I think it will come out cheaper than the radisson even though the radisson is offsite. Some offsite hotels are cheaper but not many in the disney area. You'll enjoy the convenience of being on property as well as the savings in gas and time by taking the disney buses and being dropped off at the gate.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Cheaper meals would definately be a way to shave the price down. If they would be driving to FL, then they could bring breakfast food with them and eat in the hotel before they leave for the parks. They could eat one quick service meal per day at the parks (or bring more of their own food). Then they should eat dinner off property to save more money (they have the car...why not use it).

 

[FatBoy976]

For big eaters, such as myself, a big buffet meal early in the day can lead to cheap, light snacking for dinner. That way you really don't have to buy 3 meals a day.

 

[Woody13]

Well, I was able to save you $72.52 on the rooms. At a value resort, 2 rooms per night would cost $138.00 or $552.00 for a four night stay. Room tax is 11.5% so the total for the rooms is $615.48. A savings of $75.52 form your posted figure of $688.00.

Now let's see if we can find an additional $224.48 in savings......

 

[tigger248]

Originally posted by FatBoy976
For big eaters, such as myself, a big buffet meal early in the day can lead to cheap, light snacking for dinner. That way you really don't have to buy 3 meals a day.

We tend to do that too. We'll sometimes have a buffet for lunch (my family is full of huge eaters we almost never have leftovers:lol: ) Anyways we eat so much at the buffets that we only need very light snacks for dinner. If you have breakfast of some sorts, do a late lunch buffet and that could almost cover both lunch and dinner. Also if you stay at the all stars there is a mcdonalds right outside the resort entrance. That could make for a cheap, close meal without the theme park prices. It would be easy since you'll have a car.

 

[Lilmama21]

I don't think that it'll cost that much in gas so that might help out. We went from central IL to WDW and back on less than 200, and we did a lot of stopping, pulling off, including seeing family briefly in KY. As for food...they can get coupons to save money (i.e. through a link on mousesavers we got a coupon and my mom, 9 yr old and I ate at a buffett offsite for 17 dollars total) and maybe the boys can bring their own food money.

If they aren't big into souveniors I'm sure the boys wouldn't mind using a few of their own bucks to eat. Before going make sure she/they checks out allearsnet.com and looks at the menus to see what the best value on meals are. We always got appetizers instead of meals and did fine with that.

I'm sure the experience will be so great that they won't think of that 300! Good luck to her

 

[tigger248]

Sorry to be a little off subject but lilmama21 where in ky is your family? Couldn't resist asking because I'm from Louisville.

 

[jordanyosh]

Check out www.wdwig.com as they have current menus for all the restaurants on property...you can pretty much figure out what meals will cost more accurately and see if you can save a few bucks per meal/per day.....

I would also lobby and ask her if 300 is going to make a huge difference.....if you give her a budget that allows no margin of error then she may be setting herself up to blow her budget and not be too happy with you...Your budget seems fair and allows for some cushion.....

 

[imamouse]

Are they driving more than 1 car down to WDW? I just did the trip 2 weeks ago from NC and only spent a total of around $70 on gas (I have a 2003 Toyota Avalon). Gas prices were $1.85 avg.

I also have 2 teenage boys/eating machines, so I feel her pain at having to feed these guys at theme park prices. We bring breakfast items to eat in our room or eat a big breakfast at the resort, snack for lunch, then dinner. Either way, we get by on 2 meals a day plus snacks. I always bring a big batch of trail mix (nuts, raisins, M&Ms) in zip lock sandwich bags for anyone who can't make it to the next meal. My guys carry this with them in our back pack and have never had a problem at the bag check about bringing food into the parks.

The All-Star Resorts have microwave ovens in the food courts, so you could bring a box of individual microwaveble popcorn packets to help fill up the boys before bedtime (it's hard to sleep on an empty stomach :slurp: ). I recommend buying the refillable mugs at the resort. They are well worth the $ for a multi-day stay.

Although the buffets and complete dinners (such as the Fantasmic dinner pkg) are expensive, the boys may make up for the ladies intake and make it worth your while to fill them up at least once a day. Also, the turkey legs will fill the bill for these chow hounds. At less than $5 each, they are quite filling and stick with you for a long time.

If acceptable, perhaps the ladies could share a meal now and then? My mom and I do this often as the portions are quite generous. This would take their meals down by 1-2 meals per day.

Good luck!

 

[mickeysaver]

Thanks to a AAA gas calculator that someone sent me, I figured out that the gas should only be about $100. That saves them $200 right there. So, with a little food budget tweaking, I think we can make this happen.

The trip is tentatively planned for July 18th through the 22nd. They will be celebrating their 20th anniversary while they are there. I hope to allow for them to have a quite dinner at Rose & Crown one night alone. I also told her about the rehitching ceremony at the Ice Cream Social and she liked that idea. I want to let them do the Crystal Palace buffet at MK and Breakfast at RFC when they go to AK. Otherwise it's counter service and stuff from home.

Thanks for all the input. Maggie

 

[Lilmama21]

Originally posted by tigger248
Sorry to be a little off subject but lilmama21 where in ky is your family? Couldn't resist asking because I'm from Louisville.

My brother and SIL lived in Paducah for a year but my brother just got transferred back to IL this month. I do have family over near Louisville though...I think in Burksville (that is near there?) and a couple other places. My granny was born and raised in KY

 

[mellie882]

I always blow a lot of money on snacks and bottled water. At $2-3, you can easily spend $6 per person for a small water bottle (which one can drink in like 0.2 seconds) and a salty box of popcorn (which leads to more small bottles of water). Bring your own water bottles and pack your own snacks. That can help shave a bit off of the food budget. Good luck! :animwink:

 

[tigger248]

Originally posted by Lilmama21
My brother and SIL lived in Paducah for a year but my brother just got transferred back to IL this month. I do have family over near Louisville though...I think in Burksville (that is near there?) and a couple other places. My granny was born and raised in KY

That's cool. Not sure where Burkesville is though. There are so many towns in Ky that it's hard to keep track of what's where!:lol: But I think it's south of us near Tennessee.

 

[Lilmama21]

Originally posted by tigger248
That's cool. Not sure where Burkesville is though. There are so many towns in Ky that it's hard to keep track of what's where!:lol: But I think it's south of us near Tennessee.

Yep you're right, I looked (out of curiousity cuz I have a pretty good online friend in Louisville and my bf is in Cincy) and it's down near Glasgow..so not as close as I thought! Ah well

 

[Laura]

I just did the trip 2 weeks ago from NC and only spent a total of around $70 on gas (I have a 2003 Toyota Avalon). Gas prices were $1.85 avg.

Cool! We're driving from NC and I was wondering how much Gas would be. I think I estimated $100.