Hey Ladies, it has been awhile since I have posted any questions and/or answers.
However, we plan to go to Disney Aug 9th -Aug 19th for a family of 7.
I just booked our flights today... Here is our Spending Sheet please share any comments and/or questions, tips:
Flights: $1,934.00
Our car to stay @ the airport in NJ for 10 days $ 333.00
Rental Car in FL $ 852.00+
House @ Windsor Resort 5bdrm/4bthrm and pool $2000.00
WaltDisney Tickets $2,104.90 5day/hopper
SeaWorld/Aquatica 2day pass $845.65
Universal Studios 2day pass $1,007.59
taxes are already added.
So total is a little over $9,000.. What do you guys think...Please any suggestions will be helpful.
Blessings
Denise
Wow! That is an expensive vacation. We went to Sea World 1 day last time we went to Disney this past November and the whole family thought is was boring. We stayed a total of 4 hours. I couldn't imagine spending 2 days there and definitely would never spend almost $900 to go. I would much rather spend 2 more days at Disney or the Disney waterparks.
So maybe I should do a 1 day pass... 1 day to Aquatica and the other to Seaworld because technically a 2 day pass will probably be consider 4 days in total for both.
thx for your response/tip...
Blessings
Denise
We just returned from WDW last week, we drove from MO.
We paid $1200.26 for a family of 4 kids ages 7 and 9.
We stayed on Disney property value resort 4 days at park. We did not do Sea World, did that last time 15 months ago. We did do the dining package.
We packed food for the trip on the way (snacks and drinks - did not pay for any drinks on the way down). $70 food away from park
gas $260
souveniers $100
** we have disney credit cards and I had $300 in gift cards we used for souveniers so that did not count towards expense)
$hotel 140 two nights at St. Augustine Beach after Disney
So we spent $1630 for a week vacation, but we are only a family of 4 and we drove. We had a great vacation - and I do everything on a budget..... but I plan ahead.
I purchased the airline tickets so there is nothing I cant do about that and the house I put a $400 deposit, which I really want it because I have 2 teenage girls and my parents so I really want them to have their privacy as well as my DH and I and my 8 yr old son... But as far as theme tix and car rental I still have time to shop around.perhaps the price can decrease as I continue to do research.
We are going April 25 - 30. We are a family of 4 staying on Disney property at a value resort (kids will be 5 and 6). We did the Deluxe Dining plan and plan to use Disney transportation as much as possible (maybe the occasional cab to breakfast ressies which at most would be $23) and flying from Nebraska. Our trip was $2932 and the airfare was $1484. So that makes our total $4416
Do you really need/want the park hopper part of the passes? The single day passes might be cheaper
Do you really want to go to Sea World? If not, you can get a combo Water Park ( Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon) fun and more ticket combo( Park Hopper).
You can get tickets at Undercover Tourist for about 5% off. For instance a 5 day Park Hopper, plus 1 day free, Water Park Fun and more ticket for $300.95 They have Universal Tickets at a discount, too.
Have you thought about a limo to get to and from the airport at home? Might save a few dollars and more convienent.
I have to say, that we would not have used the park hopper passes. Downtown Disney and all the extras you can do at your resort is more than enough for any given day.
Have you looked on ebay for Sea World tickets? I was lucky to get some good deals last time, but that doesn't always happen... my kids did enjoy that last time we went.
Also priceline is offering great rental deals in Orlando right now.
I was actually on Undercover Tourist and they offer great discounts and fastpass is included on all their tickets.Im sure we can opt on the Hopper Passes being that we want to go to Universal Studios and Seaworld/Aquatica too. We definitely need time in between to rest...Our rental home has a private pool as well as the resort and a movie theater. So we have plenty to do in 10 days.
Sign up for http://www.mousesavers.com/ newsletter and they email you an newsletter every 15th and end of the month with a link to Undercover Tourist. By using this link it gets you a couple of dollars more off per ticket. It's not a ton of money, but it is still less money being spent. Since you have 7 going this will probably help some.
If you hadn't already purchased the plane tickets I was going to suggest the Auto Train. I know it would require you to drive to VA, but it might have helped in saving money on the rental car and possibly be cheaper then the flights themselves. It really all depends on what you choose on the Auto Train. Since you already booked the flights maybe you can check this out next time :o).
We always buy park hopper passes for when we go. It doesn't matter how long we're staying we always get them. We like the freedom of going to one park during the morning and one at night if we want. Since you're not staying on property you might find that doing one park a day is a better way to go.
I don't know to much about Universal anymore since having children. They are only 3 and 1 1/2 so we won't be visiting there soon. As for SeaWorld I just looked at tickets there the other day and they have a buy a day get a day free so you might still be able to get a second day out of them without having to pay for a second day.
I also live in NJ. If you have AAA, see if there is a AAA travel agency around you. Their prices on tickets aren't as cheap as undercover tourist that I've seen, but if you purchase just one set of tickets from them you can purchase a AAA Diamond parking pass. This will give you a lot closer parking then anyone else, even guests staying on property. I don't know if they offer this for Universal/SeaWorld. I never thought to ask. A lot of people swear by the Diamond Parking Pass. I went in the other day trying to buy it on it's own, and unforunately you need to buy tickets in order to buy the pass. We already had tickets so I couldn't get it. I just figured I'd throw it out there. Their tickets are cheaper then Disney's, but more expensive then Undercover Tourist. OH check AAA to see if they'll give you a discount on your rental car. That might help a little too!
Remember you can always buy regular Disney tickets and if you decide when you get there after a day that you're going to park hop you can always upgrade them. If you decide to do this make sure you use them at least once. What will happen is once the tickets you purchased from Undercover T. are used they revert back to their original price. You go to Customer Relations and upgrade. This way you only pay the difference between Disney's original ticket price and the upgrade price. If you do not run your tickets through gates at least once then when you go to upgrade Disney will see the tickets were discounted and charge you from that price to their hopper price. This way you're still saving. We just did this on our last trip with upgrading to Annual Passes. We purchased tix from Undercover Tourist and upgraded to Annual Passes with our dvc discount. We had no problems what so ever.
I'll say for the amount of people you have going and the things you have listed it doesn't seem like it's too much money. I know the cost looks like a lot, but if you break it down like you did it all makes sense.
I hope I helped :o). Good luck! No matter you'll have a wonderful trip!!!
Don't forget to add parking for each day into your budget. Unless you are staying on property at Disney you have to pay for parking, and when I went to Universal you had to pay there also. HAVE A GREAT TRIP!!!!!
undercoverer tourist
- AHeart4Christ
on Mar. 15, 2011 at 5:49 PM