How can i make this disney vacation affortable for my family's very small budget?
Ok. Im sixteen and i want to plan a fun family vacation to Disney world over a summer for me, my 50 yr young mom and my 12 year old sister.
I really wanted to stay in disney world for a week and actually stay in a value resort.
My mom’s afraid of flying so we’ll rent a car and travel from our home in Louisiana to Orlando.
The tickets and the room for a seven day stay should cost about 1500 for us, i think.
But i have to add the rental car fees (Our car is a piece of crap and it really doesn’t run that well. Using it for travel is out of the question)
Rental car fees, gas money, spending money, trip preportations and a lot of other stuff.
I decided that the trip would probably be around 3000. But that’s just my estimate. I’m not sure how much it would cost for real. Can you tell me if this is correct?
How can i make this trip fun AND affordable for my family? Remember, it’s just the three of us. And i definalty want it to be summer in a value resort 4 a week.Thank
I was a single mom and took my two children. We bought a cheap tent, packed a cooler with lots of food and stayed in the disney campground. There is lots to do there and you will have a blast. Now that my daughter is grown, she does the same thing with her children. We also packed a small bag to carry with us that had snacks and drinks so we didnt have to pay the high prices for it the park charged.
YOU CANT SAVE UP!!
make a mickey mouse cutout and put it up in your house, then tell the family to run around it.
I would recommend buying the all-inclusive package at Disney. They will provide you with one snack, one counter meal (fast food), and one (HUGE) sit-down meal a day. It really will be enough, believe it or not, as long as you take bottled water or juice with you.
I would also suggest you take a bus or train to Orlando. Renting a car can get REALLY expensive REALLY fast, once you add in gas and mileage.
Once you’re at Disney, you will not need the car – they provide buses from the hotel to the various parks.
You can probably do it for the $3000 you’re expecting…perhaps a little less.
Good luck, and have fun! Disney World is a BLAST!
Well, you can go to disneyworld.com and check prices, then google car rentals to get that pricing. I’d saying it’s going to cost about $2500.
Enterprise car rentals are usually the cheapest. It may sound disgusting, but if you can get an offer for free Disney passes for taking a timeshare tour for an hour, do it! If you’re really strapped for cash, stay in a cheaper hotel a few minutes’ drive from the resorts. The rental car should have unlimited miles if you rent it for the week, so don’t be afraid to drive it a bit. Try to catch breakfast every day before you get to the parks, too! Food is ridiculously priced in those places! Also, surf the web for coupons and discounts, but beware of scams! Good luck!
Go to your nearest Triple A office or call them and they have alot of package plans that include car rental. It is possible to go- 3 of us went .. 1200.00 in tickets got us 5 days UNLIMITED access to all the parks (there were 5 in Florida)..but ours were free..I contacted someone about timeshares..I went to a 3 hr. seminar and they ended up putting us in a condo for 5 days free and our tickets! The meeting sucked but it was worth it!…and if you stay off the disney lots (for a hotel) – which is about 15-30 min. it is a third of the price…. you may have a good time- we spent a grand total of $1300.00. That was with a car rental. Of course we rented it- got there and dropped it off- took a cab each day (Disney cabs were $8.00 to and fro) and then rented the car again the days we came home.We ate a bunch-seen live shows etc. Hope you all have a great time.
A great way to save money is to not rent a car. If you are staying at a Disney resort, you can arrange for the Disney Express to pick you up and take you to your resort and I believe that if you book your resort through Disney, the Express is free. It will take you to your resort and once there, there is a great bus service on site (for free) that takes you to all the parks and to the Disney Downtown shops and Pleasure Island. It will take you back to the airport at the end of your trip. We usually do not use our car once we get on site. We use the Disney bus, the monorail or the boats to get where we want. The budget resorts all have great and affordable food courts so you can eat there for not too much money. Just by not renting a car, you will save a lot of money and if you do not plan to go off site, you won’t need a car. Just remember to ask about the Disney Express (I think that’s what it is called) when you book your trip through Disney.
I think it is great you want to plan a vacation for your family. I recommend going to the library and checking out the following books:
Disney On A Dime
Frommers Guide to Disney World/Orlando
Unoffical Guide to Disney World/Orlando
Also try this website:
http://www.mousesavers.com
Hope you have fun!
OK…first, I would recommend finding a travel agent offline to assist you with making reservations but having said that…
If you make your hotel reservations in advance with Disney Reservation Center, it’s usually $200 deposit and then you can make payments until 45days prior to your arrival when the whole cost is due.
Purchase your tickets for the theme parks in advance as you have the money to. They don’t have expiration dates and that way you lock in the price for next year and will have them in advance of your trip.
As far as rental car, many people do just as you mentioned and rent a car for the trip so it shouldn’t be a big deal to do that but can’t hurt to look into the price of trains to Orlando as well since you really don’t need a car while you’re on Disney property.
You could also go to Disney.com and make reservation there just to get yourself an idea of price and just not follow through all the way to booking it.
If your going to stay at a Disney Value resort and going for just DisneyWorld and not the rest of orlando or Florida then check out the all-inclusive packages.
Also you may want to check out Bus Fare from Louisiana if your going to Disney World only.
Also remember that its Hot in the summer!
A Bad week in August could include a tropical storm and or hurricane.
The practical side of me says keep the $3k and use it to fix up your family car. Also your 16? so a junior in High School? In 2 years after just 1 semester in College you could work at Disney on the college program. Working there you most likely could become friends with others who have free or extra tickets…. also you could get employee discounts and such.
i think your estimate is pretty good. value resort is about 110 a night, buy your tix through disney, look online for the car too, we got a decent deal–look at different companies~~~have fun