Happyinwonerland
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2014
How do you cook frozen food in your hotel room? How do you even keep it frozen? ....Unless you're in a dvc type room I guess?
We always stay in a condo with a full kitchen
How do you cook frozen food in your hotel room? How do you even keep it frozen? ....Unless you're in a dvc type room I guess?
...While I appreciate the recommendations of staying in a rental house/condo, we really do want to stay on-site. The last time we went, we stayed in a wonderful rental house, and although the house was beautiful with a great pool and we saved a lot of money, we didn't enjoy that vacation as much as the previous times when we stayed on property. For us, that magical Disney bubble is real. So for this last family trip, we want to stay on-site....
...The Park Hopper thing. While I understand completely that I could save $4-500 by ditching the Hoppers, I don't really want to. In the grand scheme of things, those few hundred dollars isn't going to make or break the trip. We like the flexibility and freedom it will offer, especially since everyone except the 8 year old is old enough to go and do things on their own. Plus, we tend to do a park during the day and go to MK every night. We enjoy coming down the waterfall of Splash Mountain while the fireworks are going off. We like it when the lines are short because everyone is watching the parade or fireworks, and then take their small children back to their hotel rooms. It's something we enjoy, and going to MK at night is one of my husband's favorite things, so I don't want to give that up for a few hundred bucks...
I wanted to make this a separate post ...
I am feeling a bit of a disconnect in your posts. You ask to "Please help me make this happen" but then you shoot down all the money saving suggestions made to you, including skipping park hoppers saying that the extra $520 (the difference I just calculated for a week of PHs) won't "break the bank". Is Splash Mountain every night during fireworks really worth $75 per night?!? I get it. We all have our priorities and onsite in January only with PHs are yours. Unfortunately, filling those requirements doesn't leave a whole lot of fat to trim.
We've never stayed at POP, but people really seem to like it. I have no idea about gondolas, but they sound interesting. Thanks for rooting me on!
Except you might not be able to use the credits for the other people that aren't on the dining plan. There have been reports (on other portions of the board) that some restaurants aren't letting you do that (table service). They scan the magic band and know exactly how many people are in the room. Counter service is a different animal though....
@Rosarum : if you look at renting DVCs, remember to look at standard studios or above (savannah) for Animal Kingdom. It is extremely unlikely that someone will have a value studio to rent since they are extremely impossible to get to, unless the owner is "walking" and at that point, they would likely want a premium for the time it takes them to walk the reservation. Plus, you would have to consider it a non-refundable reservation, payable 11 months in advance (some owners might be willing to take payment plans, but many are not). The other thing with DVC villas are that, other than Old Key West (OKW), there is only one queen bed and one sofa bed. So, someone would be relegated to sleeping on the sofa bed for the duration of the trip. Some people find the sofa bed to be uncomfortable.
You should probably look at two value rooms.
What is your budget?
You could save by purchasing discounted Disney gift cards, but then you've tied up all your funds into money that can only be spent at Disney. If something happens and you cancel the trip, you're stuck with thousands of dollars in Disney gift cards.
I totally get this! Many people would much rather save up for the exact trip they want rather than cut things out in order to go sooner. (My family has done both at different times, and I think both ways of thinking are valid.)
Between hitting quote and getting to the end, I see the OP already explained, but I was also going to say the question sounded more like "tell me what has changed" than "help me save". But I know there are a lot of options at Disney that I don't know much about, so all ideas are great to hear!
We stayed at POP a couple of years ago and really liked it. It wasn't "fancy" but it was fun!
Some tips:
We are only a group of three, so I haven't needed to ask, but I've heard that faxing room requests works best, so if you want to get two rooms next to each other, try that.
If you are serious about the credit card idea, there is a Disney Visa through Chase. You rack up points, then call and they transfer that money to a rewards card that you can spend at the parks, resorts, etc. (There are also some character photo perks and a 10% discount on Disney retail purchases over $50 and at a few restaurants when you use the credit card there.) But obviously sign up with caution, and stick to a plan!! I use mine for groceries, etc. and then pay it off every month. (We also payed our trip balance with it - but again, we had saved that money in an account first, so it was right there to pay the bill before here was any interest charge: that's key!) Between the trip we took about two years ago and the one we just took, I earned about $400 in points.
If this is a dream of everyone in the family, get them involved in the saving! When we wanted to stay at a deluxe instead of our usual value or moderate, we started a savings jar. We all threw loose change in it, but we also got creative with other ways to add to it. (For example, if DS asked to stop for fast food, I might offer to make sandwiches and throw X amount n the Disney fund instead, or if we made friendly bets on things, the loser would put X amount into the jar.) Before it got tempting to dip into it, I would deposit it into a dedicated savings account (or you could just make payments toward your booked trip).
Good luck, and have a great time!!
I agree, especially with older kids who might want to split up, you probably won’t all be ready to eat st the same time. If you want the older kids to contribute, tell them they can buy their own snacks and such while they are off doing their thing. Those things add up quick.I say just book ur trip for 2020 and go, u never know whats going happen or change, 2021 is not guaranteed. It seems money is def not an issue as ur goin with some expensive options, so dont wait, book ur trip and have fun...as far as food expense goes, i think its def cheaper to pay as u eat unless u plan on fine dinning every single day ur there. If u plan on having the entire family sit down and eat at the fine dine together every night and during the day u might save with dinning plan, otherwise u can pick a couple nights to fine dine and then just snack and eat counter food cheaper out of pocket. There is also services that will go pick-up snacks and groceries for u and deliver to u rite there onsite. U could then bring small snacks with u to snack on through out the day to help keep cost down and then ice water is free at all the parks so no need to carry bottle water or pay for it, u can get free cup of ice water at almost every place that has food n drink.
My husband and I tend to be the people that if we were to put money in a savings account earmarked for WDW, we might decide once we get a bit of money saved, we might want to do something else instead. So I came up with this possible plan that if I booked the vacation, I could send Disney that money instead of holding onto it myself. I don't have it, I don't see it, I can't really spend it. Sort of like a Disney Savings Account that I don't have immediate access to. And if things didn't go as planned, and I didn't quite make the goal, I could just delay it for a year. I guess the biggest thing I was asking, can I do that? Would that work without too many problems?
***slowly raises hand*** whispers quietly... "Galaxy's Edge"...
(Seriously no one mentioned that elephant in the room... you are talking about the time literally a month after the most anticipated change to the parks ever. If you are even considering January 2020 book now. Let's be honest- there are not going to be discounts- I mean- I know- that's just my opinion but why would they discount anything? Plus throw in Marathon weekend and MLKJr. weekend)
***slowly raises hand*** whispers quietly... "Galaxy's Edge"...
(Seriously no one mentioned that elephant in the room... you are talking about the time literally a month after the most anticipated change to the parks ever. If you are even considering January 2020 book now. Let's be honest- there are not going to be discounts- I mean- I know- that's just my opinion but why would they discount anything? Plus throw in Marathon weekend and MLKJr. weekend)
Random thoughts:
- A number of people are suggesting off-site, and -- yes -- it is unquestionably cheaper. I've done on-site, and I've done off-site. While both were enjoyable, they were quite different trips. Off-site is great for family time, lazy breakfasts, evenings playing board games ... but on-site is best if your goal is lots of park time. Since you have two young adults, Disney's transportation would likely be a big deal for you.
- I have young adult kids too, and I understand the concept of wanting to "do this right" since it's probably a last family vacation. Hopefully it won't actually be "last" ... but it'll probably be last for a while since your young adult kids will be focused on school /early career for the next decade or so.
- At the same time, it's hard to do a budget trip AND "do this right", meaning do everything. Something may need to bend, and I'd suggest making it the peanut-butter-sandwiches-in-the-room. I suggest you decide that breakfast will be in the room each day AND you'll bring plenty of granola bars, etc. rather than buying any snacks at the park. I'd also skip souvenirs; they typically end up as yard sale fodder the next summer anyway. These three small things -- breakfast, snacks, souvenirs -- can add up to financial "breathing room" in other areas that mean more for the trip.
- I'm not a big fan of the Disney meal plan. As someone else said, nothing's ever actually "free", so likely you'd pay a premium for the rooms. Also, if you're spending lots of time on sit-down meals, you're riding fewer rides. Have you defined your priorities for this trip?
- You said speak to you like you're a child ... I suggest you break things into pieces. Choose your room SOON, reserve it, and put down a deposit. A couple months out, buy your tickets from one of the authorized online sellers.
- I suggest you figure out how much you're likely to need, how much that means per paycheck, and have that amount directly deposited into a savings account ... a savings account at a bank separate from your usual bank, a savings account for which you have no ATM card. Make it slightly difficult to get to this money. This make-it-automatic system is better than gimicks like coin jars, etc.