$2,517 ASM Week for 3 Including Regular Meal Plan

clarklink

Master Planner
Joined
Jun 4, 2017
I define success as getting what I want and on this first visit by my six year-old daughter what I wanted was to be certain to get every dining and Fastpass+ reservation we wanted coordinated around childcare and a princess makeover for the lowest possible price. By staying at a Disney resort I could make these 180 or 60 days prior to arrival day so I researched when the free dining promotion is usually released and checked Disney's “Special Offers, Deals, and Discounts” page every morning around that time until it opened up booking a 6 night/7 day package for the week after Thanksgiving upgrading it from Quick-Service to Regular for about the cost of Cinderella's Royal Table. I made sure to arrive the first day of free dining so I could reserve before anyone arriving on the following day which also qualified for free dining.

Everything costs more at Disney. I can buy an entire case of water elsewhere for what they charge in a park for just one. Even from vending machines at other hotels I've paid half as much. Applying the same logic to lodging I expected our room at All Star Music to be similar to the $65 hotel I booked in Savannah on the way to and from Orlando. Since we would be eating breakfast in our room and driving to all except MK I requested a 3rd floor room in Broadway Inn near the parking lot. Instead of a room number text I received one to check-in at the front desk, but since we were heading straight for EPCOT called and got them to program our magic bands so we were able to go straight to our room after EPCOT closed. They gave us a first floor inward-facing room in Rock Inn which not as good because they block off part of that parking lot for Pop Warner the following week. I brought my daughter's folding wagon to move everything from our van to the room in one trip a distance comparable to a typical budget hotel.

I'm an early riser so the following morning (Sunday) I walked the 1/5 mile to the main building and after stopping at registration for ones (housekeeping tips) and a 1st visit badge from my daughter filled our refillable mugs, bought a ½ gallon of milk (again twice the price) at the gift shop, and returned to our room where my family was still asleep. When they awoke we ate cereal, packaged danish, and hot cocoa or coffee from our refillable mugs. We left the room at about 10 AM each day and day two being Magic Kingdom took the bus for which there was no long line, went directly to MK, and took about an hour from leaving our room to getting through the gate. We focused on the left side of the park the first day. The first couple days we ate only counter service meals and shared two between the three of us to compensate for the dining plan being based on nights not days in the park and the fact Cinderella Royal Table costs two table service credits. These were the only days we didn't end up throwing away half our food. We went to Pecos Bills's for a late lunch a half hour before the Festival of Fantasy parade and watched it through the pickets on the fence. MK closed early for the Christmas party so after watching the 6:15 Frozen icing of Cinderella's Castle we returned to the room for a light dinner including precooked sausage warmed on a small sealed-burner hot plate. Afterward I hopped in the van to drop off a Redbox video we had rented for the trip down and pick up some OTC meds my wife had forgotten.

On Monday we drove back at EPCOT. It took only a half hour to get from our room through the gates so we arrived around 10:30 AM, had lunch at Akershus courtesy of the free dining promotion, a quick-service dinner in France, and left around 7 PM because my special needs daughter tires easily. We arrived late and left early most days, but Disability Assistance Services allowed us to use the Fastpass+ line at the busiest attractions as long as we staggered those virtual wait times during Fastpass+ or meal times. Between the two we used the Fastpass line at EPCOT for character meets, Illuminations, Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Soaring (twice), Mission: Space, etc.

Tuesday morning I did a load of laundry while my family slept which cost $6. It was our “princess day” at MK so we focused on the center of the park. We had a FP for Tinkerbell when we entered at 11 AM, an 11:30 princess makeover at BBB, lunch at Be Our Guest, then dinner at CRT with practically every princess meet in between. Our longest wait was a half hour for Merida for which there is no FP line. There was a Christmas party so we left shortly before 7 PM and were glad to get back by our daughter's normal bedtime.

Wednesday I parked the van at TTC early and used a quick-service credit for Tonga Toast at Captain Cook's at Polynesian Resort. My wife and child took the bus meeting me at MK at the usual time. It was busier because there was no Christmas party that evening, but we rode the train to Fantasyland and managed to have another lunch at BOG (preorder to save time) and knocked out the essentials on the right side of the MK before leaving the park at 4 PM taking the monorail to Polynesian. We dropped our daughter off at Lilo's Playhouse, took the water taxi to Grand Floridian where a photopass photographer took pics of us in front of a huge Christmas tree then walked back to the Polynesian for dinner at 'Ohana stopping at the wedding chapel to watch a bride and groom board a lighted Cinderella carriage pulled by six white ponies. I was five minutes late for our reservation because the Polynesian will allow you to park there for up to three hours for a dining reservation so I moved the van from TTC to Polynesian which required I leave Disney property altogether and come back. There is allegedly a shortcut, but I couldn't find it for all the barrels. After dinner we picked up our daughter from Lilo's Playhouse (she cried because she had to leave) and watched the Electrical Water Pagent then the Happily Ever After fireworks immediately thereafter from the Polynesian beach before taking the short walk to our van and driving back to ASM for the night.

Thursday was our only day at Hollywood Studios. Again we drove so left the room at 10 AM, but were inside the gates by around 10:30 AM. Lots of shows and rides before and after the Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package which was an exceptional use of a table service credit because it came with both an appetizer and desert, but I understand that is changing in 2018. Dinner was at ABC Commissary which was plentiful, but the burgers were not as good as others at WDW. Ignore the times on the admission tickets for center seating at Fantasmic and arrive about an hour early if you want a good seat.

Friday was our last day at Disney so we were late getting packed and did not enter the gates till almost 11 AM. We still managed a productive day including several character meets, too long at the The Boneyard in Dinoland, Kilimanjaro Safari, Na'vi River Journey, and Avatar Flight of Passage twice. Lunch at Tusker's was great, but very loud. We were thankful to get a quieter table in a corner. After dinner at Flame Tree BBQ we spent our remaining 18 snack credits (half the allowance) on souveneir treats for friends and family. I had expected to eat more snacks in parks, but the meal portions were so big we were never hungry. We left around 8 PM and drove four hours to the hotel we had stayed in on the way down.

I've visited Disney World about once a decade for the last forty years. My goal for this trip was to give my daughter a memorable experience. She almost filled two autograph books meeting over 40 characters, rode the best rides (some twice), and was so happy she literally skipped while walking during the entire trip and for two days after it was over. While she is clearly exhausted in some of the hundreds of Photopass pictures (Memory Maker was worth it) she did not have a single seizure. We even had money left over from our vacation budget.
 
Clarklink I enjoyed your TR thanks for taking the time to share. I admire your thriftiness.

These were the only days we didn't end up throwing away half our food.

I had expected to eat more snacks in parks, but the meal portions were so big we were never hungry
After having the dining plan on our last 2 visits it's more food then we need and can get away cheaper paying OOP.

So happy dd enjoyed herself and had no seizures. Sounds like it was a princess heavy trip.
 

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