Good Deal?

[netnurse31]

I've been reading all the posts in this forum for a while now. I just love all the tips I've gotten so far! We will be leaving from New York JFK on March 1st and departing Orlando MCO on March 8th. We are all looking forward to 8 fun filled days at the happiest place on earth!

My question is whether you all think this is a good deal. Have I left anything out??????

I booked the main vacation package from a travel agent although in the future I'd probably do it myself after learning all the great deals available out there! Included in the package is airfare for the 4 of us from NY to Orlando via Jet Blue, 7 nights at the Sheraton Safari Hotel, 5 Day Park Hopper Plus tickets for all of us, 2 Day/2 Park Universal and IOA tix with the 3rd day free, an Alamo intermediate 4 door car for the length of stay and a $10 Planet Hollywood voucher with VIP seating. All of this was included in the price of $2930.

In addition to what was done thru the travel agent I have purchased DisneyQuest tickets thru TicketMania for $88 for the 4 of us. Unfortunately our son is 12 and doesn't qualify for the children's admission <sigh> I've joined the Disney Club and I have already saved what I spent on membership fees with the discount I've gotten on the web site. I've purchased numerous "princess" things for my 7 year old daughter. I've also gotten her autograph book and a guest of honor badge for both my son and daughter from Giftsofalifetime.com all for the reasonable price of $21.75

So have I forgotten something to make this trip a special one? What is the average cost for a family of 4 doing an 8 day trip to Disney?

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

I don't think you did bad at all. I am trying to plan a 6 night/7 day WDW trip in Dec. 2002 and for our family of 5 we will be spending about $3000 TOTAL (this includes airfare, hotel, food, spending money, airport transfers, and Hopper passes).

I think by skipping any package deals and booking most of the stuff yourself you can save a few $$$. I definately don't think you spent an unreasonable amount on your vacation!! I would guess the avg. family spends MORE than the wonderful posters on this board

 

[BethR]

Hi netnurse! Welcome to the DIS!!!

Your question is a tough one - first thing I would do is to price out the tickets - you can do that here - TICKET PRICE PAGE . I am not sure if you can find USF prices there - but you can get an idea about those prices at www.floridaorlandotickets.com Then you can see what the prices of round trip tickets are on your airlines at the time that you are going. You can find these at the airlines' web site. Then you can then find the price of the car that you are getting at the Alamo site. After you have subtracted all of these things out - THEN you can figure out how much you are paying per night for your room. If you are comfortable with the prices that you are paying for each of the different things - then you have gotten a good price.

You KNOW that you are going to come home with days left on your passes, don't you? There is little chance that in 8 days you are going to be able to go to WDW for 5 days - PLUS use your 2 PLUS options AND go to USF for 3 days!!! But that is not a BAD thing. Your Disney tickets never expire if they are not used. I am not sure about the USF tickets though. So you MAY want to use them up while you are there IF they expire.

I know that I have not done the legwork to answer your question - but I hope that I have helped SOME.
I know that you will have a GREAT vacation!

 

[netnurse31]

I went to all of the discount web sites earlier today and added up what the trip would cost me if I had purchased seperately. The total came to 3260 so if that's accurate I'd be saving a little over $300. It helped that we booked our airfare early. Seems the airlines aren't giving as much of a break the past few days I did purchase travel insurance thru the travel agent for $190. If I subtract that from the agents price I would have saved close to $500. You are right about the abundance of passes. My rational for that is, as you said, the unused days never expire. :::::beefing up my excuse to hubby to visit again next year:::: There is a method to my madness!

Anything else anyone could think of that is a must do before we leave? I'm trying to get everything done early so that it won't be a mad rush 2 weeks before departure!