another Disney question: budget

[Anonymous]

We are considering Disney for about a week in May. I am just trying to ballpark how much we should expect to spend.

I am not trying to make this the cheapest possible trip to Disney so I'm not looking for tips on how to make it bare bones cheap. That said, we are kind of "frugal". So we're looking for the best value on a nice vacation if that makes sense. Think: we are Marriott people - not Ritz but not Holiday Inn.

So, I am just curious how much a reasonable trip to Disney might set us back. I got a quote from a travel agent and am trying to figure out if it represents what we should be budgeting (if you're curious, the quote was ~$6600 for a week at Bay Lake Towers, I think including park tickets and meal plan. She also looked at Wilderness Lodge Villas which was slightly less). That's more than we've typically spent on vacations in the past and I'm curious if that's par for the course for Disney.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Sorry - should have mentioned this would be our family of 3 (DS is 3).

[Anonymous]

My family lives in Florida, so we normally only go for about 2 days. 2 nights in a hotel= $200, ticket cost x number of people= N. We normally don't spend more than $500.

I don't think the meal plans are worth it. I do think staying on Disney property is best.

Also, as an aside, I didn't realize they still had travel agents...

[Anonymous]

We spent 10 days at a moderate resort and spent about $3000. No meal plan and military tickets.

[Anonymous]

We're going with or family of 6 - need tickets only for 5 as one is young. All in, easily $7500 with airfare, hotel, tickets, food. Disney will be one of our more expensive vacations. We too are Mariott/not Ritz/not Holiday Inn, but Disney is just not going to be cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're going with or family of 6 - need tickets only for 5 as one is young. All in, easily $7500 with airfare, hotel, tickets, food. Disney will be one of our more expensive vacations. We too are Mariott/not Ritz/not Holiday Inn, but Disney is just not going to be cheap.

Sorry - I should add that we'll be there for six days (five park days/five hotel nights).

[Anonymous]

Whoa!

I've stayed at Orlando hotels about 30 minutes from Disney for business travel, and they seem to include breakfast and dinner in their hotel rates. What about renting a car and staying further out?

[Anonymous]

We usually pay about $3000 for 5 days at a deluxe, including park hoppers.

We are probably like you -- I like the Marriott comparison! We do choose to stay deluxe because of proximity to parks, which is nice for our style of touring (we aren't dawn-to-dusk park people). But I've heard nice things about the moderate resortsm (Port Orleans in particular), which would bring costs down considerably without sacrificing the Disney experience.

Bay Lake Towers is going to be one of the pricer deluxe resorts because of its top location, plus I believe it's all suites. You could probably pay a little less at the Contemporary, which is right next door and a more traditional hotel. Value is even better in the Garden Wing of the Contemporary, which still gives you the benefits of a deluxe and the Contemporary's great location at a lower price point.

You can get the Deluxe experience for less at the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which are gorgeous properties but a little farther away from the parks. But we really like the Epcot area resorts, which are walking distance to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Again, we pay a little more for the convenience and the nice setting.

I don't recommend the dining plan because it really ties you to reservations too much. Unless everyone in your group is a big foodie or loves to eat, spring for a couple of nice sit-down meals then stick to quick service for everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa!

I've stayed at Orlando hotels about 30 minutes from Disney for business travel, and they seem to include breakfast and dinner in their hotel rates. What about renting a car and staying further out?

The issue with that is usually timing. It depends on the ages of the kids. For younger kids, the most pleasant way to do disney is to visit the park in the morning, take a rest break for lunch that could include naps and pool, and then head back to the park in the late afternoon. If your hotel is 30 min away and your parking in the Disney lots to be shuttled in and out, that easily can add an hour and a half to each trip. Now your spending 3 hours a day for travel to and from the parks. If the kids are older and don't need a break in the middle of the day, your plan is great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We usually pay about $3000 for 5 days at a deluxe, including park hoppers.

We are probably like you -- I like the Marriott comparison! We do choose to stay deluxe because of proximity to parks, which is nice for our style of touring (we aren't dawn-to-dusk park people). But I've heard nice things about the moderate resortsm (Port Orleans in particular), which would bring costs down considerably without sacrificing the Disney experience.

Bay Lake Towers is going to be one of the pricer deluxe resorts because of its top location, plus I believe it's all suites. You could probably pay a little less at the Contemporary, which is right next door and a more traditional hotel. Value is even better in the Garden Wing of the Contemporary, which still gives you the benefits of a deluxe and the Contemporary's great location at a lower price point.

You can get the Deluxe experience for less at the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which are gorgeous properties but a little farther away from the parks. But we really like the Epcot area resorts, which are walking distance to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Again, we pay a little more for the convenience and the nice setting.

I don't recommend the dining plan because it really ties you to reservations too much. Unless everyone in your group is a big foodie or loves to eat, spring for a couple of nice sit-down meals then stick to quick service for everything else.

This is OP. Thanks, this is helpful. What time of year do you go that you pay $3000? That seems like a good price. Is that just lodging and tickets... with food costs on top of that?

We want a suite to avoid the 7:30 pm family bedtime... we like to be able to put DS to bed and have somewhere to hang out.

I am going to look at the Boardwalk area resorts too - I really like that area with walking around the lake, lots of restaurants, etc. Seems like the prices at the Beach Club are similar to Wilderness Lodge.

In searching around it also looks like the 15-30% room-only discounts will eventually come out for our travel times...

[Anonymous]

If you want an affordable (but very nice) suite, go to Wyndham Bonnet Creek (don't book with them directly, rent a Wyndham time share owner's points) or rent DVC points if you really want the perks of being at a Disney hotel.
The park tickets are going to be a fairly set expense, once you decide on length. Your lodging and food can vary WILDLY depending on the choices you make. I've done two 3-5 night trips with my preschooler. We didn't need a suite, but once we prioritized location and shelled out for Bay Lake (although via rented points, so about $250/night), and once we decided Pop at $110/night was good enough, especially if it allowed us to stay longer. Both trips were great fun. My budget for this last 5 night trip was $2000 including travel and everything and we stayed under. It's easy to spend a ton if you decide to opt for every upgrade, though...

[Anonymous]

With one three year old, I would stay at the Wilderness Lodge -- not the Villas. Lodge will be less expensive but you won't have a kitchen. But, you will have a small refrigerator, boat access to Magic Kingdom and the theming of the Lodge is fantastic with kids that age.

And I agree -- the meal plan is not worth it unless you are doing character dinner every single day or something like that, which I wouldn't advise.

You can probably get a room at the Wilderness Lodge for $350/night (before any discounts).

We have three kids and one is under three. If we only had one or two, we'd go with the WL. We elect to stay on the monorail because we are wielding a double stroller and trying to keep track of all three. Doing that with the boats where you often have to fold up your stroller is tough.

Bay Lake Towers is really nice and convenient as you have the monorail and you can walk to MK. But, I'd say it is a step up from Marriott and for Marriott prices and experience the WL is much better. Bay Lake is just a hotel -- no theming etc.

We are going for six nights with three kids and staying at the Polynesian. I'm budgeting $5000 (after much research) -- although we got a room-only discount.

[Anonymous]

We are going in a few weeks. We get an insane deal on airfare when Frontier announced flights from IAD to Orlando ($30 r/t), so you can't really compare that.
We have 5 people with tickets and we'll be in the park at Disney for 3 days. That works out to about $1,500 just to walk in the park (no Hoppers)!! Plus another $73 or so per person to go to the Halloween party on 10/31.

Staying at Art of Animation (all suites) for approx. $300/nt. Got this price thru Orbitz, they had a 15% off sale.
No meal plan.
No car rental (Disney has a free bus service to the airport).
I figure we are going to be destroyed on food and souvenirs...

so: $3,365 for two adults, three kids to sleep for 5 nights and walk into the park for 3 visits, without transportation or food.

[Anonymous]

If you are set on getting a suite, you will need to go with a Deluxe, or Disney Vacation club villa. There are suites in the club level of the Deluxe hotels. In general, these will set you back at least $800 night.
Another alternative might be the cabins at Fort Wilderness, or the Art of Animation rooms, which suite are suites, but in a value hotel. The location of Art of Animation is not as prime as the deluxe resorts--nor are the amenities.

[Anonymous]

12:45 here. Our suite at Art of Animation has two rooms and a kitchenette. Each room has its own a full bath. The living room has a pull out double/queen bed and a couch. DH and I plan to drink wine in our own bedroom after we put kids down to bed in the Living Room. Beer & Wine already ordered from the Grocery Delivery people to be delivered to our room!!

Art of Animation has one of the biggest pools at WDW, I believe...at that price, it looks good to me!