Just back - Total cost of trip $2,270

[disneysteve]

I'll post this over at Trip Reports too but I thought it would fit in here as well.

We got home on Sunday. It was me, DW and DD-10. We drove down from New Jersey. We left 11/4 and arrived 11/5. Headed for home 11/12 and arrived 11/13. I just finished adding up all the receipts (and there were lots of them). Here is the breakdown of what we spent. I rounded off the numbers.

$260 - 7 nites at Orbit One Villas via SkyAuction - 2 bed, 2 bath condo
$84 - 1 nite at Fairfield Inn, Emporia, VA
$37 - 1 nite at Rodeway Inn, Battleboro, NC
$210 - gas roundtrip from NJ
$550 - food (includes all meals, snacks and beverages)
$598 - souvenirs and gifts
$530 - park admission (This is 1/2 of what we actually spent. Bought 10-days and used 5. Will use other 5 next year)

And BTW, that souvenir total includes buying DW a $300 necklace. Knock that off and the trip actually came in under $2,000.

As always, I think this shows that a trip to Disney need not be a budget buster. There are lots of places that cost just as much or more to vacation. Heck, I know people who spend that much just to rent a shore house for a week not including all their expenses once they get there.

Just wanted to share

 

[cepmom]

very impressive!
I love hearing how people are able to enjoy Disney for a great price.
Thanks for sharing, Steve.

 

[Farawayfan]

Steve, I'm extremely jealous! You're so lucky to live so close to the mouse.

Just booked our flights yesterday for June 2006 and felt really pleased with myself that I managed to get flights for 5 of us for just under $5000. My travel agent managed to pick up a great deal and I actually saved about $500.

I also booked a 3-bed villa for $1600 which is well under the going rate and booked 7-day disney passes through Mousesavers for less than 4-day ones. So I'm feeling well pleased with myself.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Great total, Steve. How would you rate the hotels and condo that you stayed in? Would you stay at any of them again? That $37 for one night at the Rodeway Inn sounds really cheap. For a single night all I care about is a clean room in a safe place. Did the Rodeway Inn fit that bill?

I agree that a WDW trip doesn't have to be a budget buster and you're living proof. As for the renting the condo at the shore, let's just say that our one week in North Wildwood costs just about the same as a week in Disney. The only difference is the cost of getting to/from.

 

[horsegirl]

Great total, Steve. How would you rate the hotels and condo that you stayed in? Would you stay at any of them again?

I agree, sound terrific. I too am intereted in the Orbit One stay. We are planning on buying the 10 day non expiring to use this year and next, great deal! It looks like driving added up to over about $350 plus food. You weren't able to get up a cheap flight or was this sort of a last minute thing? Just curious.

 

[EthansMom]

Steve,

Thanks for the great budget. It really shows how a family CAN go to WDW without breaking the bank.

Here's my pre-trip budget:

Airfare (4 people from BDL to MCO on SW): $708
Airport Parking: $45
Hotel (7 nights at POFQ, AP Best Rate): $734
Rental Car (1 week): $108
Tickets (2 adult & 1 child APs, divided by 3 for 3 trips): $400
Food/snacks/grocery run: $725
Candlelight Processional Dinner Package: $210
Souvenirs/tips/spending cash: $250

Total: $3180

Also, as Southwest fares have gone on sale since booking, I was able to get a credit for $120 towards a future trip! We'll probably come in around $300 under budget since we rarely spend all of our food or souvenir budget.

If we had opted to take Magical Express instead of renting a car, had gotten the $49 ea. way Southwest fare (would have had to fly on Fri. instead of Sat.) and had decided not to book the CP dinner, we could have easily reduced our budget to $2622 for a trip on-site at a Moderate. Really, there are many ways to go to WDW with a reasonable budget!

 

[juliegirl]

Steve, you are my idol!

 

[TNKBELL]

Great Job Steve!! It looked like when we were at Orbit One in October that they were starting to paint the exterior of the buildings, do you know if they are planning to paint all the units? Just curious, I booked there thru getravelop and your recommendation and my kids loved it!! Thanks again for the tip, I'm glad you had a great trip....Lucky DW!!!

 

[dvcgirl]

I'll post this over at Trip Reports too but I thought it would fit in here as well.

We got home on Sunday. It was me, DW and DD-10. We drove down from New Jersey. We left 11/4 and arrived 11/5. Headed for home 11/12 and arrived 11/13. I just finished adding up all the receipts (and there were lots of them). Here is the breakdown of what we spent. I rounded off the numbers.

$260 - 7 nites at Orbit One Villas via SkyAuction - 2 bed, 2 bath condo
$84 - 1 nite at Fairfield Inn, Emporia, VA
$37 - 1 nite at Rodeway Inn, Battleboro, NC
$210 - gas roundtrip from NJ
$550 - food (includes all meals, snacks and beverages)
$598 - souvenirs and gifts
$530 - park admission (This is 1/2 of what we actually spent. Bought 10-days and used 5. Will use other 5 next year)

And BTW, that souvenir total includes buying DW a $300 necklace. Knock that off and the trip actually came in under $2,000.

As always, I think this shows that a trip to Disney need not be a budget buster. There are lots of places that cost just as much or more to vacation. Heck, I know people who spend that much just to rent a shore house for a week not including all their expenses once they get there.

Just wanted to share

Good job Steve. Of course the numbers where you saved bigtime are the numbers where many end up spending tons. You spent $37 a night for a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo, probably around 1,000 sq feet with a kitchen! What is the lowest price at All Stars normally...$77? Maybe there are lower AP rates I guess. But up to $87 a night with tax. So, $50 more per night for a room with paper thin walls, about 20% of the size, no kitchen. And you kept your food costs low because I'm betting you had breakfast in the condo, and who knows, maybe another meal or two. It can be done inexpensively and your numbers prove that.

 

[umaangel00]

Wow you did a great job! I love seeing everyone's budgets and knowing that we are all on the same page! Here's mine

3 bed 2 bath 1500 sq ft condo: 350
refundable security deposit on condo: 250
Gas there and back and around town: 300
food (mostly in condo): 200
Tickets (10 day no expiry premium tickets divide by 2 trips):401.53
Fun stuff: 200

Total: 1701.53

We will see how close I can get to that total when I get back in march!

 

[rockin_rep]

And BTW, that souvenir total includes buying DW a $300 necklace.

Wow steve, sounds great!

Now tell us more about this *bling* for your DW!

 

[staceyfe]

Steve,

Enjoyed reading your numbers. Our trip was around the same price (between $2100-2200), and as you know, we stayed at Orbit One through Skyauction as well.

We didn't do so well on the ticket purchase, because we also went to Universal and didn't buy a longer hopper because frankly we're not sure if we'll go to WDW again next year (probably we won't). But I had gotton several gift cards through Mypoints, which saved alot on food. One night we had leftovers and it was so enjoyable to be able to bring them "home", put in the refrigerator for the next night. I love skyauction and love these boards for introducing me to it!

 

[hsmamato2]

Great read! I love to live vicariously... we're in CT, and I'm glad we hopped on an air special when we did, at $210 for gas(high prices!) by the time we booked our deal and got refund back from c.c. we paid 150 for airfare for 4- as it would've been more than that to drive for us- thanks for the ideas, and lucky DW you have, sounds like a nice necklace!

 

[disneysteve]

Wow. Lots of questions to answer.

First, someone over at Trip Reports was curious how we kept the food total so low. That total does include ALL food eaten during the trip including travel days. Yes, dvcgirl, we did eat all breakfasts in our room (the ones on the travel days were included at the hotels). We went shopping at Publix when we arrived and bought stuff to eat in the condo.

Here's the list of where we ate:
First place listed is lunch, second is dinner. There was one day when we ate four meals due to the timing of our ADR's, so that day is lunch #1, lunch #2 and dinner.

11/4: Dinner only: Popeye's chicken
11/5: Wendy's; Deli sandwiches from Publix
11/6: Cosmic Rays; Crystal Palace; Flippers Pizza
11/7: Land foodcourt; San Angel counter service
11/8: Wolfgang Puck Express; Beaches and Cream
11/9: Tusker House; Fantasmic concessions (hot dogs)
11/10: Prime Time Cafe; BOMA
11/11: Tomorrowland Noodle Shop; Electric Umbrella
11/12: Wendy's; Pizza shop
11/13: Lunch only: KFC; home for dinner

So a couple of Disney buffets, a couple of Disney sit-downs and mainly what we consider to be the better quality counter service spots. And also a couple of offsite meals.

Farawayfan - LOL! I don't know where you live but I certainly never considered us to be that close. I guess its all relative. We live 1,025 miles from Disney.

aka-mad4themouse - Orbit One is great. This was our second time staying there. I don't know how they can afford to rent those units for $37/nite but I'm certainly not arguing.
On the road, the Fairfield Inn was very nice but there is really no need to pay that much. Marriott has recently replaced all their bedding throughout the company and the beds and pillows were extremely comfortable, but I honestly slept just as well at the Rodeway Inn. Main difference is Rodeway was older and "breakfast" was just mini donuts, bagels, English muffins, juice and milk whereas Fairfield was much more elaborate. But I'd happily stay there again for the price.

horsegirl - Flying means 3 plane tickets, airport parking and rental car for a week. Food doesn't matter because if we flew we would still have to eat those days except we'd already be in Florida. We could have knocked off about $25 by not doing the Fairfield Inn, so we could have driven for more like $300. That's way less than flying.

TNKBELL - Orbit One was still working on the exterior painting. Coming back from the pool, we did also see several units in one building (Apollo, maybe) that were being refurbished inside. I don't know if there are plans to repaint all the insides. Personally, our unit looked just fine inside.

rockin_rep - I've got a lousy macro lens on my digital camera, but here's a fuzzy shot of the necklace. It is gold and CZ in a very familiar shape.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/417208290/507727735tAIoEo

Thanks for all the comments.

 

[Blondiex46]

it is definately cheaper to go to DW instead of the shore!!!

 

[kfeuer]

Great job, Steve! You really don't have to spend a fortune to have a good time. Nice splurge on the necklace! My DH surprised me last trip with the earrings below and the matching bracelet. I need to get the necklace this trip

I wear them all the time and they always make me smile. That's a souveneir worth getting!

 

[TNKBELL]

DisneySteve.. I asked about the Apollo units and they are only updating those because they were damaged by the hurricane last year. We peeked inside and it's too bad that can't do that to all the units, there were no 20 foot mirrors!! LOL We would definately stay there again, did you know about the free donuts every morning M-F? They also had coffee and juice drink with it. One of the days they had a free ice cream social, YUM!! The Dks loved walking all around the resort right out the back door!! My DD4 actually thought that was our new home!! LOL

 

[disneysteve]

did you know about the free donuts every morning M-F? They also had coffee and juice drink with it. One of the days they had a free ice cream social, YUM!!

We knew about the donuts and coffee but never got any. We were in Saturn this trip which is the farthest from the main building. Wasn't worth walking over there. They do have some daily activities like the ice cream, karaoke, bingo, etc. but we never did any of that stuff either. We were too busy enjoying Disney.

Oh, I did realize I left out one expense: Disney parking. So add $45 to my total.

 

[TNKBELL]

We were in Saturn too, #5. But since we were on the ground floor we could go out the screen door and walk straight out by the playground and the main area was actually very close by way of the courtyard. I don't like to walk very far with 4 Dks so it wasn't very far at all.

 

[disneysteve]

We were in Saturn too, #5. But since we were on the ground floor we could go out the screen door and walk straight out by the playground and the main area was actually very close by way of the courtyard.

We were in #11 on the 2nd floor, so we had to exit the front of the building and walk around to the back and then to the main bldg. It wasn't far, just never really a time we thought about it. In the morning, we didn't need it or want to spend the time doing it, and later we just didn't think about it.