I need help planning a Disney World vacation--cheap?

Question

Can anyone provide assistance on planning a most cost efficient Disney World vacation with two adults and three children, 12, 10 and 6?

Hotel vs vacation rental? Should I stay at a Disney hotel? How to find park passes at a discount?

By the way, I did go to the disneyparks website and tried to search but I don't think that's the site I want.

Any honest to goodness help would be greatly appreciated...and by the way, I do know Disney is not cheap. :-)

Answer 1

An excellent site for saving money at Disney World is MouseSavers. Subscribe to their monthly newsletter; it contains a link for a great price on tickets.

http://www.mousesavers.com

The best way to save money is to go in the off-site season, when crowds are also low. For a group of 5, the very least expensive on-site options are to stay at a Fort Wilderness campsite, 2 separate rooms at a Value resort, or an All Stars Music suite (the most expensive option of the 3).

I would definitely recommend staying on-site, even on a budget. A great way to save is to book using an AAA membership; you can save up to 20% on room rates. Seek the services of a reputable Disney-centric travel agency to help you plan; the cost to you is nothing. Here are a few to consider:

http://www.wdwvacations.com
http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com
http://www.themagicforless.com

Perks of staying on-site include eligibility for the Disney Dining Plan (highly recommended), and free transportation to/from the airport via Disney's Magical Express service.

A vacation rental can be risky, as it can be hard to know who you're dealing with, what the condition of the rental will be, etc. You'll have to rent a car, pay for gas, pay for parking at the theme parks, deal with traffic, you can't get the Disney Dining Plan, and you have to go into "the outside world."

More information on the Disney Dining Plan is available here:
http://www.mousesavers.com/mywplusdining2008.html

And for the best online resource for learning about anything and everything related to Walt Disney World, check out The DIS Boards:
http://www.disboards.com

Answer 2

I have taken my 3 children to Disney 2 times. We stayed in a resort once and offsite in a hotel the other time. I will tell you what, I thought it was a better vacation all the way around when we stayed onsite. Staying onsite all you do is get up in the morning get dressed and pick a park, the shuttle takes you right to it and brings you back when you are ready. No worries about tickets, parking, or any of that, we just paid for food and that was it (i understand that you can buy meals with your package though if you want). We called disney and made the reservations over the phone with a 200$ deposit and paid the rest (1400$) when we got there.

Staying off site at a hotel, we only paid 250 for the hotel package, which was 4 days in orlando, 3 in Ft lauderdale. HOWEVER-there was a stupid timeshare thing (they told us it was a free breakfast banquet that was included in our stay) that we had to attend and it ate up most of an entire day. The parking at Disney was outta this world, and it was such a hassle to get from park to park that we pretty much missed out on most of them. And then buying tickets everyday was SUCH a bummer!!

I am taking my family again in March and we will be staying onsite!
Good luck. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

don't let people tell you that you can't do Disney cheap- we do it every time with just a little research and careful planning. We're going again in May for Memorial Day week. Our hotel (on the outside- each room sleeps 6 in 2 Q size beds and a sofa sleeper with micro/fridge, pool, etc.) is a total, tax included, $250 for 6 nights, our park tickets, which we get through a consolidator website (don't know which one- my travel savvy daughter deals with that) are $220 for 6 days at the parks per person. We are renting a mini van to drive from Nashville, TN since there are 7 of us going- 4 adults, a 12 yr old, a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old. We have it reserved already for $220 for the week plus 3000 free miles which will cover the trip. Gas will be about $250. Food (we bring in snacks and water and know little tricks for stretching the Disney meals... like buying a double burger and for $0.80 you can get an extra bun and make 2 single burgers- condiments are available for free! And lots of the full dinners are big enough to share with a child so we do that a lot) will cost us about $700. There's parking for around $8 a day-- $48 and stroller rental for around $15 a day for a double 9 which is convenient when the 2 younger ones get tired and also to store snacks and any other items we pick up on the way and is easier than bringing 2 from home when they are both sleeping and one person stays with them while the rest of the gang go off to continue having fun). The only thing left is souvenirs, which the kids buy themselves out of money saved all year by doing little chores- they usually save about $100 each for our annual vacations. Geand total for 7 people this time around is about $3350 OR less than $480 each for a week at WWD! Beat that!!! You can do it on any trip- we spent 2 wonderful weeks in England- 2 adults and 2 of my grandchildren for less than $7000 from RT air to rooms in London and B&Bs in the country to trains, busses, meals, teas, tours, boat ride, the London Eye, etc and plenty of souvenirs- remember the pound is 2 to 1 of our dollars, so this was very good! Have fun and remember, half the fun is in the planning! Be Cheap!!!

Answer 4

I would definitely recommend a vacation rental as this will be your cheapest route. I would not recommend staying at the moderate Disney resorts, they are getting very bad service. I was very surprised coming from a disney hotel. I have stayed at their most expensive when I was younger and now with kids I have stayed at the moderate. If you are going to stay at disney don't stay at the all-star resorts. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Palm Parkway the last time we vacationed. The rooms were clean and the service was great. It was only $80.00 a night.

I would get park hopper passes, this is the cheapest route.

We live in Tampa Bay near by Orlando. So we are there all the time. But when we take a week vacation we like to get a hotel and park hopper passes.

I hope I was able to help you out.

Oh, I book my hotels on travelocity. I have never had a bad experience with them.

Answer 5

Don't go and say you did!

If you are going for your self I would take the advise above. As you appear to be taking kids, don't go cheap. The Disney World hotels are really nice but expensive. You do get discounts on the passes and you get to stay at the park longer as you don't have to worry about the traffic back to the hotel.

Take lots of pictures, before and after each ride. Get a locker in the park for the extra set of clothes you should take with especially if you are taking in anything that will get you wet. Do not take in lots of purses, billfolds as there are lots of pickpockets everywhere these days and amusement parks are not exempt from the criminals.
Be smart as to what you are doing and where you are walking especially after it starts getting dark.
Have a check-in time every hour or so just to make sure no one gets lost. With the tons of people there it is easy to have one person get overlooked for a while. If the three kids go as a group make sure they do not split up and go their own way after the grown ups are out of sight.

I did the time share once and Disney hotel the second time, I would recommend the Disney hotel, comfort, safety far out weigh the higher cost.
Enjoy your vacation!

Answer 6

It really depends on what you want to do while you're in Orlando. If you plan on just doing Disney World, call the Disney help line at 1-407-W-DISNEY or check their website at http://www.waltdisneyworld.com/ They have package deals that include air fare, transportation to and from the airport, hotel stay at a Disney resort, Disney transportation that basically goes everywhere on Disney property, park passes, meal vouchers, and maybe even some extras like behind-the-scenes tours. This I guarantee: Booking through Disney is probably cheaper than you think, and it's the most hassle-free method for an exclusive Disney trip.

If you also plan on checking out other attractions like Universal Studios, Sea World, etc., you're better off getting a package deal through Travelocity or Expedia where you get your air fare, hotel, and rental car all for one price. Your hotel choice should be someplace near Disney property, and there are several hotels near the Disney Village Marketplace ranging from Motel 6 all the way up to Doubletree, depending on your budget. You'll need a rental car if you plan to hit several attractions, and be warned: Florida has toll roads, so be prepared to plunk your change into the machines.

P.S.: Before you go, make sure you get a copy of Birnbaum's official Walt Disney World Guide. It'll really help you decide what attractions you don't want to miss, which attractions you don't really want to waste your time on, and it also has coupons in the back for discounts on various restaurants and attractions. Good luck!

Answer 7

We went last year, 11year old daughter, her teacher, my 14 year old nephew and his friend. We have been there before, so we kind of knew what to do.
Go to Expedia, Travelocity, something like that. We rented a van and got a good hotel room at Seralago Hotel in Kissimmee for under $1500 for 5 people for 7 days. Staying at the Seralago, they serve breakfast buffet in the morning, not the greatest but they allowed 2 free breakfasts with 2 paid, which I paid for with my reservations. There was a small fridge and a microwave in the room, so we were able to pick up a few things to serve for dinner and we took snacks with us, so we ended up eating at DW only for lunch, which was way less expensive. The cheapest thing we did (and have always done) is to hit Walmart on the first day. They have a great Disney section and the kids each bought what they wanted and still had money left over to spend at DW. My nephew still wears his Disney sweatshirt at least once a week and it cost him less than $20.00, compared to $50.00 at DW. We also took our own water and snacks with us each day. Have a great time.

Answer 8

I love http://www.disboards.com full of info, and with it, you really don't need a guidebook. But if I were to suggest one, I really like the Unofficial Guide by Sehlinger/Testa.

Oh, also check out http://www.mousesavers.com they have a newsletter that is emailed to members on the 15th of every month, but if you join after the 15th , you need to wait until the following month. They also have moneysaving tips there on the site.

They have different seasons of how they do their resort pricing- value, regular, holiday and one other whose name I can't remember off the top of my head.

We *always* stay on site when we go. Our favorite resort is the French Quarter. (For you I would suggest Port Orleans, Riverside would be a resort you could use because the trundle beds in Alligator Bayou would suit your 6yo nicely)

Disney offers the Magical Express service to its resort guests, which means they pick you up at the airport and get your bags for you. Then they bring you back at the end of your stay. This option allows you the benefit of not renting a car. The onsite transportation they have is great!

We also love the mealplan because we can pay for the meals in advance and not worry about much by way out out of pocket expenses once we're there.

FWIW, the disney.com website stinks. With Steve Jobs being on the board you'd think their website would be lots more speedy and user friendly. I hate it!!!

Answer 9

1. Stay in an extended stay motel with a kitchen. Must cheaper than staying on-site.

1a. Hook up with a time-share demo. You stay for 4-5 days at a cheap rate. All your required to do is listen to a 1-hour presentation at the end.

2. Stop at a grocery store and pick up food for in-room breakfasts and snacks for the day and evenings. You'll save $60/breakfast and about 1 hour a day, just in the morning.

3. Take froze water in the parks. Get a locker and store it in there. At $2.00/bottle in the park, it's starts adding up. For $12.00 and 6 bottles in the park, you can pick up 2 cases on the outside.

4. Get the in-park meal passes. You may spend $120 on the passes, but, during the day without the passes, expect to pay $13.00/head for every sit down meal ($65.00) for 1 meal. Eat two full meals and you got you money back. If the kids are small, you may be able to swing 2 adult eating passes and 1 kids eating pass. Most small kids will not eat $37.00 in food a day.

5. Take snacks into the parks. Their cheaper and you can't always find what you want in the parks. They will keep the kids filled between meals.

5a. Get the bottomless drink cup refills for $8-$10. You can refill it all day. You just have to carry the cup around.

6. If you belong to a credit union, you can get great discounts. Nursing credit unions have great deals, much better than AAA or the parks themselves.

7. At Disney, don't wait in lines. Get a ticket and come back later for the rides (you just walk in the express lane with your ticket). You'll save 2 hours waiting in lines.

8. Check the weather forecast for the day. If it's going to be a cool eveing, bring sweatshirts for all. If it gets chill and you have non on hand, they'll run you $50/pop to keep warm.

I usually can do a full 11 days/10 nights for under $3,500, which includes parks, hotels, airline tickets from the NE, a rental car and 2-3 days at Coco Beach & Ron Jon's.

Answer 10

The cheapest way is to find a Authorized Disney vacation planner who can help you with everything in your pacakge for the best price and who will only give you what you need. The cheapest time to go to WDW is in value season months. Disney sales were down 25% this past fiscal year and they are putting out promotions often latley. Make sure you get in on one to make it even better price - wise.