How much $$ should be saved for a trip to Disney(in florida)?

Question

My fiancee and I are planning a trip to Disney World (Orlando Florida) in May of 2009. The reason for it being so far away is because we are both currently finishing up our last year of school, and getting into our careers.

We are planning to stay in the park, at one of the value resorts (A Disney's All Star resort). It has been about 10 years since either of us has gone to disney/on any vacation at all, so we really want to make the most out of it.

I am a HUGE disney fan and LOVE rides (Rides rides rides!!). The Magic Kingdom is a MUST see... but does anybody else have suggestions on which parks are a must? Also, any suggestions on which packages to purchase?

This will not only be our first vacation in a long long time, but our first vacation without "adults"...we will both be 21 at the time, but still - we're young and dont have much expierence.

ANY suggestions would be fantastic.

how silly of me to forget this

I live in connecticut and we are debating on weather we want to be adventerous and drive down, or if we should just hop on a plane

Answer 1

You are speaking my language! First of all, the amount of money to be saved is relative. It depends on what you want to do and where you want to stay. You are able to make reservations for what you want to do WAY in advance, then make monthly or quarterly payments on your vacation. In any case, most of your vacation is paid for before you even leave. I have done it this way many times, and it is a great option. Overall, I would guess around $2000 when it is all said and done, from the park tickets to the spending money, airfare, hotel and everything. You want to stay on a budget, but not short change your vacation either.

Since you are going as adults without kids, I would try to stay at one of the other hotels, like in the moderate range. The value resorts are really good, don't get me wrong. I have stayed there a few times and loved them. However, there are TONS of families with little ones at the All-Stars, and being there without kids may be kind of a hassle. I like the Caribbean Beach resort the best of the moderate resorts. There are still many families, but it is much quieter, the rooms are a little nicer, and they have not just the one huge pool, but smaller pools for each wing of the resort that usually are not full of kids. My wife and I stayed at the Polynessian on our honeymoon. That is also a good choice (and my overall favorite) but the price is very high.

In terms of the parks, make sure to get the park hopper option on your tickets. Many people ask me if the park hopper option is a must, and I tell them all YES!!! The park hopper option is a little bit more expensive, but it gives you freedom and flexibility to go where you want when you want. You guys will also want to take advantage of the extra magic hours. One of the parks is open late every night to resort guests only. you have to get a special wristband though, so make sure to do that. The park does not have all of the rides open, just the ones with the really long lines. The crowd is cut to nothing, so you can hit some of the rides that are tough to get on during a normal day.

Other than the Magic Kingdom, all of the parks have some great rides and attractions. Here are some of our favorites:
MGM Aerosmith Rock 'N' Roller Coaster and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror are must see rides. There is also the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Star Tours, and a new stunt Thrill show that I have not seen yet, but will in April when I take my family. Try to eat at the Sci-Fi Theater if you can.

Epcot - Test track is tops here. Mission Space is for some people, but I personally didn't like it. Also, Innoventions usually has some pretty cool attractions with new video games being tried out. The American Adventure is also a family favorite. I have eaten at all of the countries, and don't really have a favorite, they are all pretty good.

Animal Kingdom - don't miss It's tough to be a bug, The Kilamanjaro safari, and the new roller coaster (I don't remember the name of it.) Also, the Tarzan rocks show is pretty cool, so is Dinosaur.

Since you will be 21, you will want to go to Pleasure Island or the House of Blues at night. The night life is pretty wild and crazy, but I have heard rumors that they are going to re-do Pleasure Island in the near future.

There are two great resources that we use every time we plan our Disney trips. First of all, go to www.disneyworld.com. You can get a quote on your trip and have a pretty good idea of what you are going to need. Keep in mind that the prices usually go up in September for the following year, so plan accordingly. You can also get some pics and descriptions on all of the rides and attractions.
Second, we always use the Birnbaum's guide to WDW. There are dozens of guidebooks that all pretty much do the same thing, but we have always found that Birnbaums was the best for us.

You are planning far in advance, which for a Disney vacation is really smart. I hope you guys have a great trip. Of course you will, it's Disneyworld!!!!

Answer 2

Since you are planning so far out, it is hard to give a good estimate of price. For example, all the resorts are supposed to go in up in price soon, a signicant increase as well. The values will be closer in price to the moderates, and so on.

It also depends on how long you plan to go. Disney advertises $1500 for a value season, at a value resort, for seven nights, no air or anything like that, I believe it includes a hopper, no dining, etc. But, that is the price for two adults and two children, one at childs rate, one at the adults rate for tickets. So, you could probably get most of what you want for around $1500, at current prices. I also recommend the dining plan, it is currently $38.99 per adult.

All the parks are great, if you have the time, I would go to them all. Right now Disney really lowers the rate of the pass the more days you stay. After 3 or 4 days, extra days go up only a $1.07 per person, per day, approximately. But, to give you an idea I would definitely do Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, I love MGM and Animal Kingdom as well. Every park has some great rides. Downtown Disney is fantastic as well. I think that Cirque with a nice meal makes a really great evening. There is a lot of shopping and some pretty nicer restaurants.

Universal and Sea World is also near by. So, if you want a little break from Disney, that is an option as well.

As far as flying or driving, I live in Connecticut as well, most of the time anyway. I always fly. I drove down once and never did it again. I wanted to try and cut down on travel time as much as possible so drove as long as I could. By the time I made it to Disney I was so tired that my first day or two wasn't much fun. I always fly now, it is a lot easier. Plus, with gas prices it may not be any more to fly than to drive.

I hope this answers your questions. Please e-mail me if you need some more advice, I go to Disney all the time and love to help. It will be well over a year before you can actually book your trip, but it is good to get started. Just don't overwhelm yourself!

Answer 3

I can tell you what I know going with a family. To stay on site, a family of four can do it for about $1600 dollars. It very much depends on he level of resort you want to stay in though.

The park tickets will cost around $220, again depending on whether you want park hoppers, no expiry or want to go to the water parks.

The best way to cover food is the Disney dining plan, it will work out at about $38 dollars a day per person but covers everything including snacks and you can allocate the meals as you want.

You can get great deals by having an all in package from Disney. The sooner you book the better. Disney will book now at current prices. The longer you wait, the more likely prices will go up.

As to the parks, for 21 year olds who like rides. I have to say, Epcot, the test trax is great. At Magic Kingdom, the rides are tremendous, Splash mountain, Great Thunder Mountain and the most disturbing, to me at least, is Space Mountain. MGM has the Tower of Terror. Animal Kingdom is probably the lowest in terms of rides but I love animals so it is a must for me.

Answer 4

I think the best way to save money is to either bring or purchase your own food and pack lunches to carry in packs with you in the parks. (that's what we did for just the two of us. I figure that alone saved us $350 alone. I say also, plan your own dining--don't do the dining package.) Bring your own sippee bottles to fill with water and ice at wherever you're staying. Also carry your own snacks in your packs for the kids. Be sure and do a family briefing on the overall plan not to buy food in the park and what your limit is on sourveniors so the kids understand that's the plan. Beware the Value resorts at Disney do not include refrigerators-- they require a daily $10 rental, but what you save in food by packing lunches could make that worth while. We made it our plan just to eat an evening meal in the parks: All the park buffets run around $28 per person (character dining etc.) For the kids, you might plan one night or lunch at a character dining place. Otherwise research you restaurant prices on-line: you can get reasonable meals at Ray's Comic Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland, Tangierines (morrocian food) & Cantina San de Angel (mexican) at Epcot. The Port Royal resort restaurant at the Caribbean resort has a good steamer meal for a resonable price between 5 & 7. No real good dining at Disney Hollywood. If you go to Fantasmic Show: BRING SNACKS & entertainment for kids--the wait for the show is so long and the hawkers selling drinks, popcorn etc ares so tempting it's best to come prepared when you have kids. There are a couple McDonalds in the park, by the way.

Answer 5

Well since you won't be visiting until 2009, you'll have to wait on packages. Disney offers packages all of the time, but they are only good for a few months until they offer another. Park tickets and hotel rates have gone up over the last few years as well. Currently, guests can stay at the All Star for $82 a night. And a 1 day park pass is $67. But only 5 years ago, ticket costs were $48 for a single day and guests could stay at the All Star for $69 a night. Hopefully, prices won't fluctuate too badly, but you';ll have to wait and see as you get closer to your trip time.

Plan to save up about $1200-$1600, including your flight.
Definitely check out the other parks while you visit! The only Disney park which can be seen in less than a day is the Disney Studios. They have some great attractions like Rock N' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, and a few great shows... but overall, it doesn't offer as much as the other parks.
Be sure to visit Animal Kingdom and EPCOT! If you'd like to have the flexibility of hopping around in a single day, purchase park hopper tickets.
You can purchase discounted park tickets at any of the following locations:
AAA (membership required)
your local Disney Store
Costco (membership required- travel services)
Sam's Club (membership required - travel services)
or you can order from Disney directly, but without a discount at:
http://www.disneyworld.com

I'm currently planning a WDW trip for my family for 2008. I can't do a whole lot of planning right now for that trip. So you definitely won't be able to start planning until at least December of 2008.

So in the meantime, save up money. And as you get closer, check out current Disney promotions and deals and flight offers. Or contact us and we'll plan and do all of the research for you!

If you would like help planning for your next trip or if you would just like to read up on some fun tips and ideas that are updated monthly, visit my Disney Vacation Services My space page, at:

http://www.myspace.com/disneymickeyvacation

Or visit our Blog page at:

http://im-all-ears-disney-vacation-services.blogspot.com/

Have a great time!

Answer 6

our first trip there we stayed 8 nights in 2001 we spared absolutely no expense even took a limo to the airport, there were 6 of us and out total trip including air, limo, rental car, hotel, food tickets, souveneers, diner with characters , food and all we spent a little over $5000 for the whole trip..prices have gone up now so if you want to have the best experience and not be held back by money I would say figure $1000 for person for entire trip..I should add we got the 4 day park hopper passes for wdw and a 3 day pass for universal studios..(which you can find good internet deals for universal on there web site)

Answer 7

Definitely go to the Magic Kingdom, MGM Studios, and the Animal Kingdom. I guess EPCOT is okay. It's not as great though. Check out the parks and attractions at http://www.waltdisneyworld.com . If I were you I would fly. Don't drive, it will take forever and you'll spend a lot on gas.

Answer 8

My husband and I go to Disney World about every other year and we spend for air fare, car rental, including gas and hotel about $2000. We generaly take around $1200 cash with us. It depends what you want to buy. I am going to DW in Sept with my sister. Just us girls. I plan on taking about $800 for the week. You will have so much fun.

Answer 9

Plan on taking about $1000.00 which isn't too bad between two people. But also check on ebay because alot of times you can find really great deals on weekend stays at the resorts.