$10,000 Later? Oh My Word! Ugh

[Jade]

Okay so I decided to start checking things out. We are a family of 5. Two adults and three daughters. I was thinking of planning for a Dec. 2006 Cruise.

3Day Cruise/4Day Land WDW. Complete package rounding out around $7,000. I want to cry I tell you. I really want to cry.

3k for Cruise. I believe that includes airfare. If not, that price will go up. Plus there is an Adult Package for around $465 that I thought looked kinda nice.

Then we have WDW and staying at the Dolphin Resort. That came to $3,414. It includes staying a resort with dining for those days. Also, tickets for all four parks for those four days.


I'm not sure if I left anything out. I figured it would run up close to $10,000 for the family trip for five. Ugh. Are my calculations incorrect?! If read correctly the depo is $200 per person up front. Then rull payment 60 or 90 days in advance. So that $1k would go toward the full price of the trip.

Oh, and I didn't even figure in Car Rental with one car seat either. So that will be another $300 I'm sure.

What else am I missing? Have I covered it all? I'm stressed now. I think I"ll head to the gym for a while.

In the meantime, any of you have family of Five flying from CA to FL for the 3Day Cruise 4Day WDW Resort Stay? that can tell me what the cost was?!

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong place. Didn't see a forum for Cruise/Land trip combined.

Thank you all for your time!

 

[Colorado Belle]

Hi Jade,
I think you might try posting on the BUDGET board...HAHA...no seriously, if you need some help re costs and prices etc...the threads on the resorts, budget trips, meals etc...might all be helpful.

I have always been known for getting more value for less buck. It seems to me that 10k is a ridiculous amount of money for such a short vacation.... I love to go absolute delux all the way but HATE HATE HATE to pay full price. It seems that that is what price you are being quoted.

Just a few thoughts:
I haven't taken a Disney Cruise but I HAVE been on about twenty different cruises.
My last was in a suite (small...a mini suite really) but with a 250 sq. ft balcony AND a BUTLER....and it cost each of 3 of us, $850 for a week.

Staying at Disney can be expensive IF you pay rack rate. So the trick is to look for discounts and travel during less busy times when the place isn't full and they are advertising for guests. Another way to save is the first day last day hotel stays...especially coming from California. Spend the first night at a clean but el cheap place OUTSIDE the park. And sometimes, especially if you are leaving early in the morning, I will stay at an inexpensive place the last night too...closer to the airport.

I love the Poly, but refuse to pay the rack rate. But when I do stay there, I want that castle lagoon front view....and I want a more leisurely time so I can actually enjoy the room insteading of being in the parks all day.

So first, you have to decide on what you really want by research...and then you have to do more research to find really good deals.

And then it is a matter of choices:
I stayed at the delux AKL last trip and decided it just wasn't worth it. I never felt that way at Poly and I think as a moderate , a room at Port Orleans is nice.
For a family of 5, I would suggest going to the DVC timeshare board and seeing if you could rent a one bedroom Old Key West on a Sun-THursday time when points go a lot farther and then cruising if you must (it isn't that I am against DIsney cruises...it is only that a 3 or 4 night cruise is almost a why bother event....I even think week long cruises are too short. If you haven't been on lots of cruises before...maybe you could reconsider doing a week long cruise for your family on one of the many discounted cruises...getting two cabins, maybe and inside and an outside (depending of course on the ages of the kids, etc)....SHould be able to get those (without air) from Miami or Tampa or Ft. Lauderdale for @ 500 inside 600 outside for the adults...try to find one where kids are free or way cheap (we always took our d, and often she was either free or under $250.

I don't think Disney discounts their cruses heavily BUT I think that the things that set Disney cruises apart (characters) could be realized ...maybe even better realized...by staying at WDW and doing character breakfasts for example.

Of course it all comes down to preferences.
My husband and I went to South East Asia for 3 weeks, covered lots of ground and stayed only in top notch resorts for most of the trip....and spent at most $3000.
(We cashed in miles for most of the airtravel and were able to travel biz class on the flights..ah heaven!!!)

WEll, you get the idea. If you HAVE to go during a really busy time you will have to pay the going rate....unless you stay off property. But 10k just seems like an exhorbitant amount of money for what you posted you are getting. (Maybe I misread)

Anyhow....good luck~
colorado belle

 

[Ahrizel]

I'm presuming those are the rates quoted by Disney Travel? Which will basically be undiscounted rack. Suggestion, try pricing the components seperately. $3400 for 4 days at the dolphin, even with the meals and park tickets, is insane. Try checking out www.mousesavers.com for discounts codes and prices, I cannot believe that you can't beat that by a substantial amount of money. The cruises don't discount much that I know of. But booking this yourself instead of as a package may be substanially cheaper.

Actually, I just sat here and crunched some numbers.
4 nights at Dolpin-160 a night, can be less, check the front page of the Dis

5 day MYW passes with hopper option 240 each
5 days of new dining package-35 each per day
That comes out to-640 for hotel
1200 for park passes
875 for dining
That's a little over 2700 for it all, and that is using all adults prices, don't know the age of your girls. That's also assuming 4 nights, 5 days. Also assuming only one hotel room. Not including tax or advance purchase savings on the passes. That's with 5 minutes of checking out mousesavers. If you're not committed to staying onsite, you can drop that price quite a bit. Play with the numbers, they can't look any scarier than they do right now

 

[SC Minnie]

I second pricing this trip out separately. You may be surprised at the difference.

We are DVC members and the advice to check out renting points for the DVC resorts is very good. The one bedroom sleeps 4 but depending on the ages of your children... (hot topic on the DVC boards so don't bring up the fact that you have 5 in your party). The 1BR includes a king size bed, a bath with huge jacuzzi tub & sink, then in another room is a huge shower, sink, and toilet. There is a full kitchen and sofa bed in the living area. There are also washers and dryers in these units (may help keep down on the packing).

I would wait on the cruise until you can go for longer than 3 days. We have done the 7 day eastern as well as the 3 day on Disney and have been on a 7 day western on Princess. We really loved Disney cruise but the 3 day wasn't enough time. We hope to go back for a 7 day on Disney before DD gets too old.

 

[Codie]

Also--If you are planning on staying only onsite--you will not need a rental car...in fact, if you have your hotel, food, and tickets...your only other expense would be souveniers! So no need to go beyond that $7,000 --or less if you price it out cheaper. ALSO--do NOT use the cruise airfare...it usually runs about $350 a person from where I fly and I have NEVER paid that much for airfare. I can usually get it at least $100 to $200 cheaper. Try pricing out your own airfare

 

[eeyore0062]

I have to agree with the above posters... you can do SO MUCH better than this! I also agree that 3 nights on the cruise JUST ISN'T enough! Wait until you can do the 4 day cruise with the 3 day park experience, or just go for broke and do the 7 day Western Caribbean cruise (that would be my preference)... then if you wanted to add on 3 days at the park, you get a 10 day vacation.... and you can definitely get some deals with the DVC folks looking to sell points, or stay in one of the moderates--PO-FQ can sleep 5.

Hope you find some better deals out there somewhere!

 

[peacefulgirl]

I just did this:

trip for 2 to WDW .... 10 days
I paid

RT non-stop for flights 460
hotel POP Century 850
Annual Passes 820
rental 10 days 237
cash 550
cc 250
total 3167.00


I took 550 in cash with me. We ate one "big meal" a day. We had a small breakfast and snack in between. I said no to doing nothing. We even did Blizzard Beach for a day. I bought my husband a bunch of things while at DTD too.

DD had PLENTY of spending money of her own and got lots of prizes. SHe came home with 50.00 left too!

Now, I bought AP's which you wont need. That was a big expense, but well worth it because we went to parks all 10 days AND are going back before the passes run out.

It depends on where you are willing to "cut", but the budget board is the best place to go for tips on this stuff.

PG

 

[MAGGIED]

Our trip is breaking out something like this - 9 days - 2 adults and 2 kids (paying adult prices though)

airfare from Syracuse NY 1095
hotel - Shades of Green - 873
tickets purchase thru SOG 1500 ( 10 day, premium)
airport luxury car - 120 (includes tip)
6 breakfast vouchers and 8 Q&C vouchers 205
estimated other dining 900 (includes luau, Chef Mickey)

without spending money that is just under $5000 -

other things we have planned - Illuminations Cruise (150), Discovery Cove for 2 (550), Sea World (50)

I just try not to think about the $$ and think about how much fun it will be!!!!!!