Budget Question

[Mic-E-1]

I am trying to put together a first time vacation for my family for Late July 2002 and have a few
questions for the experts of the fantastic board.

When you initially start planning your vacations, do you set a total dollar value on a the vacation and work towards that. or

1. Do you budget each section of the vacation (ie total room cost, transportation) or

2. Pick a certain resort and then budget the remainder of you vacation around the room cost.

Just trying to get handle on how all you set the budgets your trips to WDW.

 

[Kaa]

I suppose it is a good thing to have a total dollar amount in mind, but I approach it in segments. There are some costs that are pretty fixed, like park passes, and others that are moderately fixed, like room costs. The best legal discounts you can get on the passes run 5-10% off the regular price. The 10% discount is available for members of Connections, while the 5% is available at several ticket brokers operating in and around Orlando. Room costs vary by season and room discounts vary by season, resort type and discount type. The most widely known discounts are Disney Club and Annual Pass Holder discounts. These discounts are not available all the time and at times are available for one type of resort, but not the other. If you can play with your travel dates, you can work to get a great discount. This year, Disney flooded us with discounts in the form of codes. These discounts are offered when occupancy rates are so low they need to fill the resorts. Again, with a flexible schedule, you can take advantage of these discounts when available to reduce your room cost. The most varied cost are for food and souvenirs. In these areas you can go from peanut butter to filet mignon. If you snag a good room discount, you can adjust your food and souvenir costs. As for travel (airfare, driving, train), I have found that the earlier you can book, the better. It is true that better fares happen, but usually you can contact the airline and they will adjust your fare and give you credit vouchers for future travel. Depending on where you live, driving may be the least expensive option - but there are time costs (how much is your time worth) and sanity issues. Your best move is to purchase a good guide book. I recommend The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger. This book is extremely comprehensive and is very helpful in explaining how to plan your trip. Some of the information is a tad over-critical (food reviews), but I feel this book is the best for the first-time visitor to WDW. The next best tip is to keep reading these boards and ask questions. The information you find here isn't in the guide books - although it should be!

Good Luck!

 

[UrsulaFan]

we do it in segments a year in advance. we make hotel ressie, then get park tickets, watch airline prices, book flight, change hotel ressie to fit flight schedule! we generally plan to spend $5000-$6000 for a week at disney, that's why we go every few years instead of yearly. cheap beach vacations during off years!

 

[catwho]

We know that we need $X for room and board, $X for getting down and back (we drive) and $X for tickets. room for a week usually runs us around $425-$450 (depending on what we can get) Tickets vary depending on whose AP's are up for renewal (our next trip we will only have to buy dh and ds's) Food for the week costs us roughly $600 and that is for *everythihng* snacks, our own water that we take in with us, meals, character buffets, etc. We usually get off cheaper than that because some days our meals are really inexpensive, but that is what we budget for. Transportation usually runs us $150 for gas and a $35 oil change when we leave. Adn that was when gas was $1.65 a gallon. then we factor in what we want to spend on souvenirs. I used to think it would get cheaper as the years went on, but we seem to always "need" new shirts, pins, charms, hats, and an addition to my porcelin collection <sigh> We know what it costs us from previous history, so we know what the minimum is that we need to go. We strive to reach that goal by a certain date. Of course W's $600 is making it a little easier for us this year ;-)

I think it is best to figure out what the trip is going to cost and then try to reach that goal rather than try to get piece and parts of the money and hope you have enough. Did that make sense? You can always pay for your room ahead of time so that you don't have to worry about that part of the expense and then just work to collect the rest of the money for everything else. If you have been reading these boards enough you will realize that the package deals usually aren't the best way to go unless you intend to use everything in the package completely and like collecting the souvenirs that they offer with it. With a little work you can put your own "package" together and come out cheaper.

HTH!