Upcoming Trips...Are You Planning on Cutting Back on Anything?

[WaltD4Me]

Heading to WDW in October, tickets bought, airfare booked, room half paid for. We are going....but we are thinking of cutting back a little while we are there. Anybody else and if so on what?

We aren't on the dining plan, so I'm thinking of cutting back on some of our sit down meals. I have ADR's for Kona breakfast, Prime Time dinner, Cape May breakfast, Akerhaus breakfast, and Park Fare for dinner. I might cut out Prime Time, Cape May and Kona. We aren't fancy eaters, it's no biggie to do breakfast in the room and I don't mind counter service at other times. I was going to cut out the Park Fare dinner, but I really want to see the Anastasia and Druzilla, if it weren't for them I probably would cancel it.

I think we'll be doing alot less souvies too and maybe forego the face painting the kids usually get. They do use their own spending money for that though. I don't have the heart to cut the BBB appointments and we are doing MNSSHP, it's the whole reason we are going in October. I thought about getting a cheaper room, but since it's almost paid for we are going to keep what we have.

 

[Cinders Mum]

almost identical to you. We are cutting back on the sit down restaurants, and to be honest the merchandise has not changed that much over the years, and we have been fortunate enough to go every year, so not missing much there either.

How bad can it be after all? We are in Disney, we are with our family we are having fun, the rest is just fluff.

 

[ireland_nicole]

We have (sigh). We are going in Sept. for free dining and decided that we would upgrade to the Poly if FD was offered. Well, the day they announced it DH's company announced an extra 2 weeks shutdown (without pay). So, no Poly for us, instead, we pocketed the $1500 savings. Also decided not to do the MNSSHP as it would have been about $250 for us. Other than that, I think we'll probably not spend as much on Souvies-the kids have been saving all year, but Mom and Dad won't get as much. But hey, we'll still be in the Happiest Place on Earth, even on a budget

 

[Married_Him_@_Disney]

We are going in October too! And - yes - sadly - we are cutting back a bit.

Since tips and appetizeres were removed from the Dining Plan - we figured it's really not a money saver for us (we don't really do dessert either). That being said - we LOVE disney restaurants!

We usually do a quick lunch, and table service for dinner. . .but this year we are switching it up. At most places - lunches are cheaper and it's all the same food. So, I've got ADRs for lunches (instead of dinners).

I guess that's really the big thing for us - is switching our table service meals. .. I will probably order the Kids meals for myself when we do Counter service too!

Maybe I should just eat Churro's the entire trip!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

We did a bare bones trip in Dec. We had I think 2 table service meals and the rest we counter service. The kids split most of their meals too. it was actually kind of nice and relaxed. This was a 7 day trip.
And we bought very few souvenirs. We made the boys shop all week before buying anything, and for DD we did her silhouette (we had done the boys the year before)

 

[WaltD4Me]

How bad can it be after all? We are in Disney, we are with our family we are having fun, the rest is just fluff.

Very true. I know we'll have a great time even with the cutbacks. Kids don't care much at all where we eat, so more counter service isn't going to kill us.
I will still have to get my Disney mug and plush trip Mickey, but other than that shopping isn't a must. I usally buy a couple new outfits for a trip too, but I can easily make do with what I've got.

 

[lady browning]

We really aren't cutting back anything on this trip. I have been saving all year as well as the boys. However, that being said, we probably won't be going to Disney next year. This is the big blowout trip before we start building our new home. Hope the boys enjoy this last big trip for a few years!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I wouldn't cancel BBB, that is a super special treat.
We also eat breakfast in the room, we pack a tea kettle, paper bowls, plastic spoons, oatmeal, and breakfast bars. The kids aren't big breakfast eaters so this was enough til lunch.

ETA: We saw the step sisters, and Lady Tremaine behind the castle while the show was going on,you might want to call WDW to see if they still do meet and greets there instead of doing 1900.

 

[JT4Ever4Ever4Ever]

Not going to cut back. The "Disney Trip" is our big event every year. We only take 1 vacation and so we go all out.

 

[BraveMom3]

I'm definitely going to cut back on food costs. Since my children (15, 11, 10) are getting older, the food budget is out of control! I'm cutting back on table service - I let each of them choose one restaurant they really want to go to, plus mine equals 4 sit down meals. We eat breakfast in the room, buy some groceries for easy meals, and the rest will be counter service. I give each of them $100 for the two-week trip. They don't buy the "junk" anymore, but the boys love the Virgin Megastore and the girl goes for the clothes! We stay DVC, so the room is done. I'm even foregoing our PAPs this time and going with an 8-day PH+. We will go again in December for 4 nights, but I'll have to deal with those tickets then. Looking forward to chilling a lot and enjoying down time with my children - our lives have been crazy hectic.

 

[rosiep]

I have a trip in October that's mostly paid for, that includes the DDP...there's not much trimming to do there unless I want to go Value instead of Moderate...which I don't think I'll do since as I said it's almost paid for anyway. I'm not much for souvenirs so I never even worry about that...the real concern is My 25th Anniversary trip to DL in January. I have always wanted to stay at the Disneyland Hotel and we thought this would be a meaningful time to do so...but there is a huge price difference in onsite hotels in DL and the offsite ones on Harbour Blvd. Everything is walkable so it's not like WDW where placement is key. I am having a really hard time justifying the cost of the Disneyland Hotel even if it is such a special occasion.

 

[Wendybird55]

When I planned this trip I did vey well with resort and airfare costs. We're staying at BWV - a 2 bedroomn villa. We rented DVC points from a friend and saved ALOT of money. We paid our friend the money back in Feb. so the room is all paid for.
My sister is coming with us and she had a ton of points on her AM EX card from business expenses. She was able to get 2 free airfare with them. So one free airfare is for my son and we split the cost of the other 2 airfars we had to buy 3 ways (me, sis & DH) so airfare was very cheap as well and paid for.

The park tickets we are buying from Undercovertourist.
Since we are staying at a DVC we can buy the dining plan without having to by tickets from Disney. I was first going to do the regular plan and then after seeing all the character meals I wanted to take my son to (he will almost be 2 when we go - his first trip) I realized the Deluxe Plan will be best. After paying for the plan we will not have any OP food costs. And with the big savings on the room and airfare I figured we can splurge a bit on the DDP.

All that is left is souveniers. I've been to Disney so many times that I tend not to buy as many souveniers for myself anymore. Maybe a new t-shirt. I will be buying stuff for my son.
I am cutting back on souveniers for others. I will get something for my nieces and parents and in laws and that's about it. After awhile it gets too much buying souveniers for people you work with and friends and such. Not only does it get costly - it just takes too much time out of the trip shopping for these things!

We planned this trip the beginning of the year (we're going in Sept.) and all the money is acccounted for. So I don't think there will be changes in what we were planning to spend. That's one of the reasons I like planning any trup so far in advance. By the time you go on the trip it's all paid for and when you come back you don't have to worry about bills from the trip.

 

[tipsytrtle]

we are also going in october.. 5 of us... we booked airfare there but still have to book airfare home and i had to fill our oil tank this week 230 gallons at 4.599 per gallon we are still going but may not do MNSSHP as that is 300.00.. havent made up my mind yet though

 

[USCGamecocks]

We may not have cut back that much, but we have definitely done all we can to shop for the best rates and get all the discounts we can. We have AAA room discount (hoping for a better discount code before August) and bought tickets at a great price through undercovertourist.com. We will be eating breakfast at the resort and may try to eat lunch there a few times. Lunch and dinner will be mostly counter service, but that is ok with DS17 and DD7. Otherwise, the cutting back will be on souveneirs. Kids will be on a fixed income and will have to spend wisely. When it is gone it is gone. We still plan to enjoy the trip to its fullest though!!!!

 

[WaltD4Me]

I'm going to be watching to see if Disney starts offer more discounts for the fall I will tell you that. We may be cutting back, but I think alot of people may just not go at all, especially those not booked yet, but were thinking about it. I'd love if they would extend free dining until the end of October!

 

[jaineparr]

For our Pop Century weekend, we will do a trip with no ADRs, (It's food and wine festival, we plan on getting tastes, not meals) and I'll probably restrain myself to just pins and photos for souvies. For the AKL trip, we don't plan on cutting back.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We arent cutting back. We only go every other year and its our only big trip. We actually just upgraded again.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I'm sort of the opposite. My DH and I were going to be staying off-site (so that means hotel room, rental car, parking and food) but when Disney offered free dining, we recalculated and staying on-site with the higher priced rooms (mod) but free dining (no rental car, parking) it came out to about the same. This is our first year on-site. When I go with my family we always eat CS for lunch and either CS for dinner or eat on the way back to hotel. I have never eaten in a Disney TS restaurant before. I am really excited.

Also, since this is our first trip together, I want to make it special and we are going on the Epcot Segway tour. I am also thrilled that they are starting MNSSHP early and I'll be able to go. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!

As someone who has always had a "minimalist" Disney vacation, we have a complete blast each time we go. That being said, the extra stuff sounds like a lot of fun though...

 

[d1gitman]

Yes and No (to cutting back)

We originally were going to make this the year we stayed at Poly, theme park view as we have been longing to stay on the monorail. In order to accomplish this, we were going to stay for 5 nights instead of our usual 9 nights at a moderate or value. We also intended on going in Nov or Dec for MVMCP, we have done MNSSHP for the last 3 years.

However, it is hard to pass up free dining. We also decided that we wanted to be on vaca as long as possible. I played around with the dates, airfare, free dining etc...(i have massive spreadsheets analyzing this, for me this is fun).

Anyway, we cut our budget in half from $7k and are now doing the whole trip for $3500. This is for DW41,DH38, DS7,DS2 and includes: 4 tickets airfare (RT boston to orlando), Pop Century, MYW w/fun n more but no hopper, free dining, MNSSHP, La Nouba.

Length of stay is 13 nights. We arrive on a Wed. and depart on a Tues.

So in the end, we cut our total cost in 1/2, cut our daily cost by more than 4x. However, we feel like we are getting more because we are staying for 2 weeks instead of 1 week.

 

[megveg]

This may be crazy, but my next 2 trips will be stepping it Up not back.

Next trip being planned is GF for 3 nights just DBF and I on the dining plan and the one after that is a 4 night, 3 night land sea package at club level at the poly.

We stayed at SOG for his first time at WDW (thanks to his brother) and it wasnt wicked expensive but we could have been getting a more disney experience for what we paid.

DBF asked if there was a more relaxed laid back Disney experience and now that hes been once with family (there was 10 of us) trips from now on will just be the 2 of us so if we spread the trips far enough apart, it wont be so hard on the wallet ( our cruise is for 2010!)