Good luck. I'm budgeting 150.00 a day for just me and my son. I like my over priced Disney adult pool side beverages.I am up for the challenge! The last time we went was in 2013 and I said $40/meal for the 5 of us. Of course 1 kid ordered from the kids menu, the other went back and forth and the other also went back and forth but had a few allergy aka $$$$ meals. We did it for all counter service minus one when 2 of my kids wanted some orange smoothie thing so that meal was $50.
Also we do not buy drinks in the park (minus the above) and drink water with all our CS meals. My kids know/knew that in advance and were fine with that. They know they can drink all the soda they want on pool days.
So it’s DH and I and we try to split some meals if we can-get a Caesar salad and sandwich and eat half of each. I am trying to talk him into splitting the fajita platter at pecos bills. We will eat at Casey’s twice since we like it and it’s cheap per Disney standards.
Our kids will be 17, 14 and 12 at the time of the trip. The 12 year old will eat off both menus. Heck the 17 year old will too as she thinks she is a bird! Those 2 will gladly eat Mac and cheese cups on 2 pool days so that will save me oodles of money in turn they will make up for it with ice cream or something else-and I already asked them if they wanted to do that and both said yes without hesitation, if they said no, they could get food, I am ok with that too! I would make my son eat it too but he is still allergic to that kind of cheese. Mac and cheese cups won’t fill me up otherwise I’d eat it too.
I do groceries for breakfast (and water) so that saves lots! The $120 is for lunch and dinner only. We will most likely do 2 sit downs, one will be WCC and still trying determine if there will be another one. My kids want chef mickeys but my wallet told them no! It’s fun, but we have done it and I’d like to eat elsewhere and spend half that. Actually we are going to eat at T. rex. So maybe one other place. I will have my sons dairy free butter and will make him a few Rice Krispie treats so he can have those on nights I know the other 2 want crap to eat, other then ice cream.
So yeah I am up for the challenge. That is my goal. I just counted my *free* Disney money and I have just over $1800 and I am sure it will be close to $2000 before we go. That all goes for food, snacks, cups and what little Disney crap we buy....but wait if I don’t eat a few meals I will have quite a few $$$ left and I can get a Dooney ....
Wish us luck!
In the past to save money we have always looked for free dining to save money. Now that moderate resorts don’t include regular dining I am looking to see other ways people save money. We enjoy the regular dining plan meal plan but thinking we could pay out of pocket for the same services and pay less for our hotel.
Our honeymoon trip from May 30 - June 10 is really pricey , but we've registered for our Honeymoon which will hopefully offset some of the cost through wedding gifts.
Our charges are:
POR Room and 10-Day Park Ticket Package: $3822.15
The free dining promotion was my go-to also. I even booked a free dining bounceback this past September. However, I canceled it after I did the math and I'm saving quite a bit of money by renting DVC points and paying OOP for food instead. I am staying at Bay Lake Tower studio lake view for 5 nights at Christmas for $1500. This is less than half the cost if I were to pay full price for the room. The "free dining" doesn't even come close to the savings.
Flights will be on points and I have Southwest CP.
I plan to purchase discounted tickets from Undercover Tourist or similar, and use a credit card sign up bonus to erase most of the ticket cost. I only need to buy two tickets since my daughter will still be two when we arrive. Going for her 3rd birthday!
I will be paying for food/souvenirs with gift cards I earn through swagbucks. I have about $500 at the moment and have another 10 months to earn more.
I'm not the PP, but you can explore the cost of renting a DVC reservation at David's Vacation Club RentalsWhere did you rent the points from if you don’t mind my asking. I assume the number of points needed varies with the dates you need. This is the first time I’ve looked at that resort, looks like a beautiful resort.
We are from Northern Minnesota (Duluth) and we are going 2/14-2/24! Have a fun trip.Feb/March trip: 2 adults for 8 nights at POFQ=$3000.00 with park hoppers.
Airfare from N. Minnesota: 2 adults via Minneapolis is $748.00 (a deal as it usually costs over 500 each)
Food: ? out of pocket but we are not big eaters and save a lot of money NOT using the dining plan. Est: under 1000.00 with souveniers.
Forgot to say we booked with our TA, and got a my way package including resort, tickets, park hoppers.
We are from Northern Minnesota (Duluth) and we are going 2/14-2/24! Have a fun trip.
Trip dates 2/14 to 2/24. 10 nights 2 adults
Airfare is $350, one flight is free, flights were very expensive this time so chose to use the free flight we had.
Lodging is $2600. This is 3 nights at PoP Century standard room and 7 nights at BLT studio lake view, rented DVC points.
Food budget is usually a $100 a Day, we are light eaters and often share so this works. $1000. For the trip
DAH on 2/15 is $180. With AP discount, used rewards money for this so free! (Sort of, lol)
Souvenirs $200. We go often so may not even spend this much.
USO for 1 day is $300. For park to park ticket for 2.
Total is $4450.