Crazy budget Jan '18 FW trip

I'm sorry that your trip is not happening. We are an extra large family so we only camp and we usually do it the "cheap way"...even though I still find it rather expensive! Some thoughts for the future....maybe he doesn't like to camp, but glamping would be more up his alley? We try to purchase a luxury item a year. Last year it was an EZ up to go over the picnic table. This year it was two of those self inflating mattresses that stay firm all night long. So, if you feel like you have some "luxuries" camping can be a bit more enjoyable. In the future we would like to get a safe heater for the tent...FL would need an AC unit I am sure but we don't camp much in FL....and a high end cooler would be ideal. Think about things that would make him more comfortable and then he might enjoy it more. Also, I camp solo quite a bit with five kids...and it is not a big deal. If you can handle it at home, you ought to be able to handle it in a tent...
 
I'm sorry that your trip is not happening. We are an extra large family so we only camp and we usually do it the "cheap way"...even though I still find it rather expensive! Some thoughts for the future....maybe he doesn't like to camp, but glamping would be more up his alley? We try to purchase a luxury item a year. Last year it was an EZ up to go over the picnic table. This year it was two of those self inflating mattresses that stay firm all night long. So, if you feel like you have some "luxuries" camping can be a bit more enjoyable. In the future we would like to get a safe heater for the tent...FL would need an AC unit I am sure but we don't camp much in FL....and a high end cooler would be ideal. Think about things that would make him more comfortable and then he might enjoy it more. Also, I camp solo quite a bit with five kids...and it is not a big deal. If you can handle it at home, you ought to be able to handle it in a tent...

I had a glamping trip planned at a local campground for all of us last week, in a cabin with beds and a bathroom. DH asked if I minded switching to a hotel based trip instead. I agreed and we had a very nice time, just not a camping trip.

Don't worry all, I'm raising my boys to be prepared for anything and to enjoy "roughing" it!! :yay: And I have reservation for a camping trip for me and my boys in two weeks. I'm so excited!
 
I'm sorry your trip is not happening. Depending on how far away you live, and if you drive (and what you drive) I had some money saving tips. We camped for a week this past February in our pop up, that doesn't have a furnace. We used an oscillating electric heater and it kept us very warm.

That particular trip was a challenge trip to see how cheap we could do a week at Disney and the total spent was very, very low. I talked about it on some other board here, and got a lot of haters because of it. I was trying to help with money saving tips, as that was what the thread was about. I got called names, including a liar, so not going to share our budget or total spent. But, camping is the way to do Disney on the cheap.
 
I'm sorry your trip is not happening. Depending on how far away you live, and if you drive (and what you drive) I had some money saving tips. We camped for a week this past February in our pop up, that doesn't have a furnace. We used an oscillating electric heater and it kept us very warm.

That particular trip was a challenge trip to see how cheap we could do a week at Disney and the total spent was very, very low. I talked about it on some other board here, and got a lot of haters because of it. I was trying to help with money saving tips, as that was what the thread was about. I got called names, including a liar, so not going to share our budget or total spent. But, camping is the way to do Disney on the cheap.

If you enjoy camping and tenting, yes I can be done for a very reasonable amount. Our RV won't fit on a tent site, maybe sites....but I digress. Even with needing a premium, we can still do a longer stay at the Fort compared to staying at any other resorts. And well campers tend to be a lot more friendly.
 


If you enjoy camping and tenting, yes I can be done for a very reasonable amount. Our RV won't fit on a tent site, maybe sites....but I digress. Even with needing a premium, we can still do a longer stay at the Fort compared to staying at any other resorts. And well campers tend to be a lot more friendly.

Not only are the sites more inexpensive, but we have a full kitchen, even in our pop up. Eating meals at the camper, as opposed to the parks is a huge money saver.
 
I for sure will not call you a liar or anything else. I would really, really like to "hear" your tips. We are going on an extreme budget...and honestly, I still am not sure Disney is worth it. This very well may be a once in a lifetime trip for my kids because of the expense. We are not eating out at all. (but, we rarely do anyway). We are not shopping. We are tent camping. I tried to reduce the days we are going into the parks even more, but any more reduction and the tickets jump in price. We are not park hopping. Honestly, I am not sure where else we can cut so I am all ears to better suggestions. I find the camping board very reasonable. I am a bit concerned about going to Disney after just visiting and reading the other boards here...the people are rough and harsh. I am not sure I will be able to handle a crowd of noncampingDisboarders. So, with that said, please share your tips...I would really appreciate them.
 


That particular trip was a challenge trip to see how cheap we could do a week at Disney and the total spent was very, very low. I talked about it on some other board here, and got a lot of haters because of it. I was trying to help with money saving tips, as that was what the thread was about. I got called names, including a liar, so not going to share our budget or total spent. But, camping is the way to do Disney on the cheap.
I'd also love to hear your approach to saving money... who doesn't want to save money? Did the thread end up being deleted? It really must have been nasty, then!
 
I'm sorry your trip is not happening. Depending on how far away you live, and if you drive (and what you drive) I had some money saving tips. We camped for a week this past February in our pop up, that doesn't have a furnace. We used an oscillating electric heater and it kept us very warm.

That particular trip was a challenge trip to see how cheap we could do a week at Disney and the total spent was very, very low. I talked about it on some other board here, and got a lot of haters because of it. I was trying to help with money saving tips, as that was what the thread was about. I got called names, including a liar, so not going to share our budget or total spent. But, camping is the way to do Disney on the cheap.
I'm frugal, I'd love to hear how I can save $ at WDW.
 
To the best of my knowledge, the thread is still out there. Lots of people were downright angry that I would "expect" people to do anything less than the most exclusive resorts or meals. Of course I didn't expect anyone to do anything, was just sharing my experience. I am on my way out in a few, but will post here this evening with everything we did on that trip, and link to the other thread, if I can find it.

There were people on the thread that took up for me and were shocked at the anger and insults I got for doing Disney cheap. So I knew I was not alone, but decided to quit posting on that thread, and let it go.
 
I am sorry you had a bad experience...but, it does seem to be the way treat people here on other boards, which is why I avoid them. But, if you do have the time, I would love to hear about your experience. Your experience could actually allow people of different means be able to actually afford Disney and that is a true blessing.
 
To the best of my knowledge, the thread is still out there. Lots of people were downright angry that I would "expect" people to do anything less than the most exclusive resorts or meals. Of course I didn't expect anyone to do anything, was just sharing my experience. I am on my way out in a few, but will post here this evening with everything we did on that trip, and link to the other thread, if I can find it.

There were people on the thread that took up for me and were shocked at the anger and insults I got for doing Disney cheap. So I knew I was not alone, but decided to quit posting on that thread, and let it go.

I would definitely like to read your tips! I tried to find the post where you talk about that but I can't find it.

For me, it's the tickets that seem to be the limiting factor. I know the value is there, compared to a sports game or other entertainment, but coming up with a couple thousand dollars to do it.... I grew up going to Disneyland for one day each year, and I miss my yearly Disney fix. Flying out to CA from NJ cost just as much as a 5 day ticket to WDW, so Disneyland doesn't work either. I'll get us back out there one day, I'll just have to bide my time and live vicariously through everyone else :)
 
The original thread.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/concerned-about-theme-park-pricing.3578886/

We did spend a very low amount of money on our February trip. Since then, we have spent more, and our Fort reservations alone are $900 in October.

Ticket prices are non-negotiable, but what I never got to say all I wanted to about that. Staying at the Fort has much to do that doesn't involve going to the parks. Camping is an adventure in of itself, so a family could get by with tickets for only every other day. Or, if they are frequent visitors, annual and seasonal passes pay from themselves quickly. And, if you're a Florida resident and can get weekdays off, those are the best priced passes of all. We pay $100 down, then $13.65 month for ours. Being a passholder also gets you discounts on just about everything purchased on property, including food.

Going during the off season, when campsites (or rooms) are cheaper is the way we tend to go. We also have a pop up, which allows us to use the tent loops, even cheaper. Going during peak season is substantially more expensive. Also, all campsites allow up to ten people (as I'm sure you all already know, but had planned to share that information in previous thread.) With large families, it's a no-brainer compared to renting a suite or multiple hotel rooms.

When camping, even in a tent, you have your own kitchen. No reason to pay for Disney food at all, unless you want to. Because we live nearby, I precook and freeze our meals to take. If you had to go grocery shopping once you arrive, that is still easily doable at nearby grocery stores. We take a soft sided cooler into the park with bottled water and some snacks. For meals, we head back to the Fort to eat. If we run out of water at the parks, we get free ice water from any of the quick service places.

We did end up going $80 over our budget in February, but could have avoided it. I bought two Christmas ornaments, rather than one I had budgeted for. We ate two unplanned meals in the park, and I believe bought a passholder pin. Once again, we didn't have to do that and could have saved that $80.

If you have children that will want souvenirs, Character Warehouse is just minutes away and has all licensed Disney merchandise for a small fraction of park prices. Even if you're not staying at the Fort, coming over for Chip & Dale's evening events is fun for all. Kids love to ride the monorails, buses, and boats. Just more things to do on days that don't require park tickets.

Yes, ticket prices are high. BUT, there are so many different ways to cut corners. It just depends on a family's comfort level. Apparently, my "20 year old camper" and home cooked food is not most people's idea of a vacation. I get that. But if I had kids and the only way I could afford to take them was roughing it a bit, I would do it in a heartbeat.
 
We are spending $1400 on 7 days in a cabin at the Fort. The tickets we plan to get for the parks for my wife and me are a little over $300 (Mom is buying her own tickets). Mom is giving us $400 (even though I told her not to) toward the cabin. Thing is every bit I am paying out is on Disney Gift cards that I paid for with free money basically. All the money I earned for the gift cards were done on Swagbucks ($1400 worth since June 1st), a research company survey site we use (about 4 surveys between the two of us since June for about $600) and then a little more on 2 or 3 other offer/survey sites (around $150). So after we pay for lodging and tickets we will still have about $700 to play with on the Disney Gift cards for food and other stuff. The only out of pocket for us will be gas to get there (5 hour drive), and renting a golf cart. Third time doing this but first time I didn't spend actual cash on the Swagbucks offers. If you can do WDW cheap as hell or by spending free time on the internet, go for it. To Hades with the haters. Enjoy your trip and long live us cheapos!!! :tongue:
 
The original thread.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/concerned-about-theme-park-pricing.3578886/

We did spend a very low amount of money on our February trip. Since then, we have spent more, and our Fort reservations alone are $900 in October.

Ticket prices are non-negotiable, but what I never got to say all I wanted to about that. Staying at the Fort has much to do that doesn't involve going to the parks. Camping is an adventure in of itself, so a family could get by with tickets for only every other day. Or, if they are frequent visitors, annual and seasonal passes pay from themselves quickly. And, if you're a Florida resident and can get weekdays off, those are the best priced passes of all. We pay $100 down, then $13.65 month for ours. Being a passholder also gets you discounts on just about everything purchased on property, including food.

Going during the off season, when campsites (or rooms) are cheaper is the way we tend to go. We also have a pop up, which allows us to use the tent loops, even cheaper. Going during peak season is substantially more expensive. Also, all campsites allow up to ten people (as I'm sure you all already know, but had planned to share that information in previous thread.) With large families, it's a no-brainer compared to renting a suite or multiple hotel rooms.

When camping, even in a tent, you have your own kitchen. No reason to pay for Disney food at all, unless you want to. Because we live nearby, I precook and freeze our meals to take. If you had to go grocery shopping once you arrive, that is still easily doable at nearby grocery stores. We take a soft sided cooler into the park with bottled water and some snacks. For meals, we head back to the Fort to eat. If we run out of water at the parks, we get free ice water from any of the quick service places.

We did end up going $80 over our budget in February, but could have avoided it. I bought two Christmas ornaments, rather than one I had budgeted for. We ate two unplanned meals in the park, and I believe bought a passholder pin. Once again, we didn't have to do that and could have saved that $80.

If you have children that will want souvenirs, Character Warehouse is just minutes away and has all licensed Disney merchandise for a small fraction of park prices. Even if you're not staying at the Fort, coming over for Chip & Dale's evening events is fun for all. Kids love to ride the monorails, buses, and boats. Just more things to do on days that don't require park tickets.

Yes, ticket prices are high. BUT, there are so many different ways to cut corners. It just depends on a family's comfort level. Apparently, my "20 year old camper" and home cooked food is not most people's idea of a vacation. I get that. But if I had kids and the only way I could afford to take them was roughing it a bit, I would do it in a heartbeat.
People are nuts. You said, "I get these cheap tickets because I live in Florida, and I spent this much on a campsite and this much on gas, etc." and I literally LOLed at the person who immediately called it "toxic". BUT I LIVE IN ILLINOIS AND IT COSTS MONEY TO FLY THERE SO YOUR TRIP IS INVALID!!!1!! Sorry you had everyone jump down your throat.

There are a few things I really wish I could freeze and bring down to the Fort, but it's going to be about 40 hours at least between when we leave home and when we get to our site. But I don't think you're a jerk because you have a different freezonomic status than I do. :P We're going to try to follow along on your plan in spirit, though. We are going to try and eat our own food for much of the time. We have a few special meals planned, and may buy a meal if we're in the parks all day, but we also hope to pack a lot of sandwiches and snacks to bring in with us. We're also going to have a ton of people there with us, so the slow cooker will be in heavy use. Also part of the reason I love camping: that $1800 you spent on your camper is about a week at a mod... but you get to keep it! If I spend $11 or whatever on solar LED lights for my campsite and $10 on tent stakes and $20 on a sleeping bag, it's still way cheaper than getting a hotel, better in many ways, and I get a new gadget for my future trips.

For those that don't follow the Budget Board, I think these are two simple things that (almost) everybody can do to save a little money at WDW:
- buy tickets from a third party seller - Touringplans has a ticket calculator that compares sites to find you the cheapest deal. I'm going to be buying tickets in a couple weeks, but right now I'd save $342.50 for my family of five over buying straight from Disney. I think this also includes an additional discount from one site for being a Touring Plans subscriber... $60 cheaper and only ~$15 for Touring Plans, so keep that in mind.
- buy Disney gift cards from BJ's online - you don't have to be a member to buy gift cards online, and you get ~5% off of a $100 gift card. I'm no math major, but that's about $50 off of my $1,000 site rental fee. Paying for the hotel with gift cards is easy, because you definitely know you're going to be spending that money at the very least. I'll probably buy a least a few hundred dolllars more over that; between Trail's End, Be Our Guest, and souvenirs, I'm sure those cards won't go unused.
 
That's exactly what I do with the prepaid MasterCards I get off Swagbucks, Cosmic. I did use Sam's with their gift cards for the $150 DGC for $144 with shipping, but I found BJs was basically the same discount for the $100 cards and no .99 cent shipping. Plus they ship faster. The wife gets PayPal from hers and we use that for the Target Debit card for 5% off. Even using the free money we earned online, we still go for even more discounts. I think that is the main point those goofs on the other board missed. They fixated on the amount she spent and telling her that not everyone is this or that when the message was that there are always ways to be super frugal on a WDW trip. Just be smart, put in the work, & sometimes be willing to compromise. I will eat frozen pizza for a week to have an awesome time at the Fort. But I'm not spoiled so go figure. Plus the argument they had about adding in the costs of the camper she already owned. Really? In that vein of logic, anyone who drives down there would not only have to figure in for gas in how much the trip costs, but also break down the car purchase price, oil changes, tires, fluids, wipers, and any thing ever paid for on that vehicle. Some people have issues though. But I am glad she had a great trip as I know we will Labor Day Week.
 
This is my first time hearing of swagbucks. I will have to check this out. We use a Citicard double cash back card. Get the cash and buy Disney gift cards at Sam's with it. Bam, double discount.
 
I agree friends that the ticket prices are also what is killing us. There are seven of us, you can just imagine....and I do agree that the Fort can be an experience in and of itself. In fact, should we ever make another trip, most likely, we would only do one Disney day simply because of the economics of it. And, after visiting other boards here, I rather got the impression that some (Not all) would prefer Disney to be more of an elitist experience and keep certain economic classes out anyway. But that is just a "feeling" not a true statement and just a personal opinion for sure.
 
What a good thread going on here!

Camping at Disney is the way to do Disney hands down. We like to vacation where vacation feels comfortable. For us, that is FW. The people that camp at FW are our kind of people. Relaxed, easy going, easy to strike up a conversation with, all around good people! You will find that "camp people" think a lot like. I.E. save money!!!

Most people that you ask outside of a camping group, will frown upon cooking to save money on vacation. Honestly, we love it! Both cooking on vacation and saving money too. The quality of food when you cook yourself is far better than what you can pick up in the parks. I'm referring to the quick dining options mostly. We have never done a fancy Disney restaurant and never will cause of the price. I just don't see and won't ever see spending hundreds of dollars on one meal. My tummy thanks me for cooking our own food and my children's health and behavior thank me too. It's a win win cooking. Yes, it is a little more time consuming and to off set that we do extended trips. We do Trails End a few times on each trip and that $100 meal is where I drawl the line. A little splurge and that's good enough. Trails End to go is probably the best quick service and best price in my opinion. We do that a few times too.

We also have shifted in the last couple trips to spending more time at the fort and less time in the parks (hello big money saver).

One thing that always catches my attention each summer is how AFFORDABLE Disney really is! Facebook and summer = show and tell of all my friends vacations. They think we spend a fortune going to Disney every year, but really they are the ones that spend a fortune on theirs!!! Example, a recent family traveled just up to the next state for a week. They are staying at a basic Holiday Inn. Two beds, one bath, one tv, and 4 walls with 250 square feet of living area. Yeah, that hotel has a pool and that's about it! No park, no parkS, no restaurants, no little convenient store, no daily pool side activities for the kids, no afternoon soccer, no evening camp fire, no fireworks, no light parade, no entertainment from the time you wake till you sleep.....and they are paying $250 a night verses our $54 (excuse me $74 now that we have upgraded to a camper). Now lets look at what they do in the day cause they have to leave that 4 wall room to vaca...

2 adults 3 kids...

Breakfast out = $50
Lunch out = $65
Dinner out = $100

Zoo tickets = $75
Train tickets + Dolphin Show = $50
Snacks = $40
Trinkets = $50

Boat ride x 4 = $120

Next day..

All out to eat again = $250

Build a bear = $200 (I'm like what what what???)

Bowling = $100 (game shoe rental appetizer)

Go Karts & Aracade = $250

Add an evening down town farris wheel and ballon ride = $100.

My point being, Disney is really adorable when you camp and do basic tickets. Constant entertainment (if you want it) at your finger tips, people to drive you around the bubble for free (no stress except the screamer on the bus). The list goes on...

I would rather pony up in the front and relax the rest of the vacation without the "nickle and dime" effect.

I don't think people realize how much a little vacation in a basic motel next state over costs compared to camping at Disney.
 
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