Going to Disney!!

Our nephew is graduating high school this year and his mother promised to take him to Disney before he graduated, so they want the whole family to go down. We decided early on that we couldn't afford to go. Well my inlaws really want us to go, so they agreed to pay for one child (flight, accomodations, food, etc...) and that they would not use airmiles so we can use them (there are only 6 airmiles seats on the plane leaving from our city). The flight cost us $1000 plus all our airmiles (we are getting re-imbursed for one ticket since we wanted Ceilidh on our ticket for ease of travelling). The actualy Disney vacation will cost us under $3000, so in total about $4000 plus any spending money. I checked plane tickets, and right now the cheapest I found was $1000 per person! I think we did go so far. Now we are just hoping to find some deals on the disney part of it! We haven't told the kids yet and don't plan to for awhile. The adults are getting excited enough let alone telling a 5 and 3 yr old. LOL.

Everything is booked, but we have until Feb 21 to make any changes to our Disney vacation! We are leaving April 7 and coming back April 14. We will be there for nephew's birthday and mine! Going to be a lot celebrating plus normal disney fun!!

Which hotel are you staying at? Disney vacations are so fun. I think they're even fun for adults. If the adults don't have a bunch of crabby kids to care for, that is.

As for money-savers, one of the easiest is to eat your biggest meal of the day just past the lunch hours (like 2:30) and then graze or snack for dinner. Lunch prices are lower for the same food as what you get at dinner, plus the restaurants have cleared out some. As a bonus, everyone seems to sleep better at night when they haven't just eaten a huge dinner before going to bed. Also, bringing your own water to the parks is a huge money-saver. Everything is so expensive!

wow!that's alot of money for disney...but it is fun.I still remember going 2 or 3 times as a kid.Have a great time!

When we went I spent a fortune. I drove myself and Bayley, straight thru to Fla, and Kristin was on a tour bus. It was a school trip, and I got discounts, but I stillspent about 5 K for the 3 of us for a week......but we did alot of sightseeing on the way home, and took our time.

Right now it looks like we are staying at All Stars Movies. We figured that is the one the kids would like the most. I heard about the bringing your own water, so I'll have to make sure to do that. Thanks for the tip for eating a big lunch! I never would have thought of that!

I was shocked at the price at first, but after looking into it, I wasn't as worried about the price. I'm still hoping we can find discounts and that. Apparently we need to start looking near the end of the year to see if there are any promotions or discounts available. We have until Feb. 21 to make any changes. It might even be cheaper then what I expected since it was about $3400 for 4 people, so I just estimated at somewhere under $3000 since inlaws are now paying for Ceilidh. I always stress about money and such, and I made a promise to myself not to do it this time! I'm not going to let anything put a damper on this (well except telling my mother that we are doing this since I know she won't agree, LOL).

I've never been to Disney, but one thing that we do on vacations is to pack a Fry daddy Jr. I know, it sounds strange. But I just smuggle it into the hotel in my suitcase. Then I can boil water and make mac 'n' cheese or hot dogs or other kid friendly stuff in the hotel room. I can't count the number of times my kids wanted to eat a simple dish like that when we were on vacation. But to buy it at a restaurant will cost $5 or $10. We would eat lunch out, then fix a hot meal for dinner in the hotel room for free. You can make canned soups, pastas, oatmeal for breakfast, etc. Just bring paper plates, a metal serving spoon and fork, and plastic silverware. And of course be super careful to place it somewhere the kids can't knock it over and stay with it whenever it's plugged in.

wow that fry daddy is an awesome idea!big money saver! I have to remember that next time i travel!

It really does save you a ton of money if you're traveling with kids. I can see how if it was just one or two adults they might rather splurge and eat out, but eating out with a big family gets expensive. Plus it's annoying to know that you're paying so much for food that should be cheap. We usually travel by car and take an ice chest. Between that and the fry daddy we eat as well as we would at home. The few times I flew, I stopped at a drug store and bought a styrofoam cooler to have in the room just so we could have cold sodas and juice without having to pay out the nose.

One tip I have heard that will save a TON of money, is to rent a house around there. Most likely, you'll get a 4-6 bedroom home, with a pool, full kitchen, etc for a much cheaper price than getting a hotel. Just a thought!!

I don't know - then you have car rentals, gas, and parking fees on top of all the rest. If it's exclusively a Disney vacation I'd stick with the on-site hotels. You chose one of the reasonably-priced ones, too.

Plus, when I'm on vacation I do not want to do housekeeping. Not even sweeping.

I know people that used to drive down there every year and then stay in a trailer, but that never really appealed to me. Actually the drive would be ok, but I'd much rather stay in a hotel! I've never been, but I'm sure you'll have a great time!

I don't know how close you want to be to the family but the house thing is really nice because they even have 7 bedroom houses and then everyone is together. So if after the kids are tired out and put to bed the grown ups can sit around and play cards or go swimming because the pool never closes. We try to rent houses or condos when we go on vacations because even if it isn't saving us $$ (which it usually does) you have a lot more space and the kids don't have to be in your face 24/7.

No one even thought of renting a house. They all want to stay on site, which is fine with us really. We looked into renting a Villa on site but that turned out to be really expensive, plus Dh, the kids and myself would have had to sleep in the livingroom. I wasn't paying that kind of money to not have privacy in a bedroom for when people get on my nerves. LOL. I know if we rented a house, MIL would hate to see the kids play and possibly make a mess, so it's just as better this way. I have a feeling I'll be ready to crash when the kids do, so spending time with the adults won't matter. LOL.