Planning a Trip in 2020? Let's Share Our Budgets!

We are going early June 2020, right now I have 2 reservations. 1 at best western Disney springs and 1 at pop. Waiting on discounts before final decision is made.
Also opened a southwest credit card to get the free points which should cover all but 1 of our flights. This is a quick visit before a cruise with my inlaws 😖
Hubby, me, son(13) son (8)

Best western 4 nights $538
4 day tickets +villians $2,362
Parking (parks & resort) $132
Food $475
Rental car $200
Total $ 3,760

Pop 4 nights $928
4 tickets and villians $2362
Parking $80
Food $ 475
Rental car $200
Total $4,140

Other expenses include
Pre flight hotel $ 156
Car parking for 10 nights $120 at Atlanta airport
Flights $150ish
Transportation from port Canaveral to MCO after cruise $60

Grand total is BW $ 4,245
Grand total pop $4,625
 
I am in the early stages of planning a trip for my family of 4. Planning on the beginning of December 2020. It has been a life long dream of mine to see a Disney Park decorated for Christmas, and with FINALLY quitting my retail job of 20 years, I can finally make it happen!!! I am planning on keeping the trip a suprise for my kids who will be 9 and 12 by then. This will be their first time going to WDW!

We are also going to stay off property for the first time, which will save us a lot of money.

Now to start all the planning :)

Will update when i solidify things!! So excited to have people to talk to this about! :)
 
My family is planning a trip in February 2020! Here’s our budget:

$2K Budget
4 days (3-nights)
Animal Kingdom Lodge renting DVC Points - $816
1-Day, 1-Park tickets for 4 - $510
Meals - $600
Mini golf - $50
 


Quick February trip. Just hubby and me.
2 nights ASMu $133.72
1 day Epcot $238.56
RT flight $177.92
Food: ?? Maybe $100, no table service, plus we have $110 DIsney Visa awards

So $550 plus then I can book our longer family September trip on a bounceback offer.
 
November Wine and Dine Half with my sister:

6 nights AKL renting points (my share) - $684 for a studio
Race - $208
Flights - Hoping to be under $350 - my preferred route/airline just opened up for my return date and they were $1,100! They better come down!
Tickets - Probably going to be 5 day PH. Will have party night after race plus want to do one Disney After Hours so $496 + ~$100? Gulp!
Food - This I'm unsure of. I do like nice food. Might do QS Dining plan plus pay for a few TS OOP, need to do math. - $700?
Extras - minimal, Christmas ornament, maybe a race shirt or pins, lyfts around WDW, plus split parking at home airport - $150?

So that's - $2.688 for my "cheap" trip. Oh dear.
 
I got the tickets a couple of weeks ago from VisitOrlando com. They were having a 10% off for Black Friday/cyber week. They do have slightly discounted tickets on a regular basis, but they do charge for shipping, so w/o the extra discount I would not have bought them from that site.
Total for 3 8 day park hoppers was $1564. I did get my mom and stepdad tickets at the same time so the $15 shipping was not too bad - I hate paying for shipping ;)

I also got our return flight booked with SW. Three one way tickets came to $447. We had a few dollars in credit from a price drop on a previous flight. The rest was paid for with gift cards. I bought a $200 card on Raise for $177, and the rest was from my reward sites.

Now I'm just waiting for Frontier to release their May dates to the general public (den members only atm) so I can compare to SW. But I bet they will be cheaper even with add-ons, SW is at $195 each to get to MCO!
 


So excited to join! Hubby and I just booked a Disney Cruise Sept 18-21, will be planning 5-6 nights at Disney after cruise, would like to do a Halloween party! Just wondering when it will be the best time to book our room?
 
This is very like not going to happen but would love to do a solo Disneyland trip. Four nights, with three days in the parks. Very tentative plan is to drive there on Saturday, Feb 29th and arrive in time for dinner at Downtown Disney, three days in the parks, and drive back on March 4th. Dates subject to change but cost will be about the same no matter when I go so long as not the highest demand times of year. I've budgeted for it but circumstances are less than optimal for "getting away" anytime soon. Oh well, it's a joy to think about and plan for at least.

Hotel 4 nights (probably Park Vue Inn) $700
Hotel parking $70
Tickets (3 day hoppers and maxpass) $400
Gas $100
Food $350

Total for five days (two of which are travel days) is $1620
 
This is very like not going to happen but would love to do a solo Disneyland trip. Four nights, with three days in the parks. Very tentative plan is to drive there on Saturday, Feb 29th and arrive in time for dinner at Downtown Disney, three days in the parks, and drive back on March 4th. Dates subject to change but cost will be about the same no matter when I go so long as not the highest demand times of year. I've budgeted for it but circumstances are less than optimal for "getting away" anytime soon. Oh well, it's a joy to think about and plan for at least.

Hotel 4 nights (probably Park Vue Inn) $700
Hotel parking $70
Tickets (3 day hoppers and maxpass) $400
Gas $100
Food $350

Total for five days (two of which are travel days) is $1620
Check out Hotwire or Priceline for the hotel. We went last month and stayed at The Anaheim - easy walk, not as easy as the PVI but very doable. 4 nights for $363.33 (taxes and fees included) on Hotwire. It was a blind bid but it was pretty obvious from the miles to DLR, number/stars of reviews. On the search I put them in order of distance from DLR, the regular listing and the blind were one after the other ;)

We have stayed there twice now and it is a great resort - the pool is huge, Pizza Press on property, super friendly staff. Never felt unsafe walking back at night. One trip was just me and DD so I was super vigilant, but it was not necessary - even on Halloween, after the party, there were plenty of people walking around.
 
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I have 2 trips next year...a trip to Hershey Park/Pittsburgh/Columbus (12 nights) and a trip to Florida to help my sick mom and take the kids to a theme park of two (could be 7-14 days, depending how many we do in Melbourne at my sister's house which will have very little cost beyond travel and entertainment there, b/c we'd have her house and supplies). I think I'm gonna have a vacation budget of $8-9K for 6, which is gonna be very tight to do both, but I do have the hotels booked for the 1st trip (with great rates), my timeshare available for the 2nd trip (so no direct cost - aka, not needed to fit in the $9K), and 6 1 day any time MK tickets and $350 reward dollars from Chase that are expiring (so bonuses to the budget), so they need to get used up and will "add" to the budget...

I'm gonna start working on budgets to make things happen. We do have kitchens available everywhere, and I have a dairy allergy, so we eat in a lot and plan special meals to enjoy (that won't take me down for vacation)...and this makes our grocery and eat out budgets very close (since I splurge on the groceries and alcohol b/c I can trust them:))...
 
I am planning a trip in 2020 to attend Food and Wine Fest and run the 10k/half marathon challenge. Until the dates for the race come out I can't plan too much yet. I am looking forward to my first real food and wine fest (no kids) and race disney event.

The dates have been announced for the race of Nov 5th - 8th. I am only doing the challenge which is 10k & Half Marathon so I have to be there by Nov. 6th. Right now my budget is $3k for everything and that is planning for Nov. 6th - Nov. 13th. Depending on airfare the dates may shift a little. Not sure if it will be just me or if other family members will join me so my budget is just for me.
 
which is 10k & Half Marathon so I have to be there by Nov. 6th. Right now my budget is $3k for everything and that is planning for Nov. 6th - Nov. 13th. Depending on airfare the dates may shift a little. Not sure if it will be just me or if other family members will join me so my budget is just for me.

I'm tempted to do the challenge, but waking up so early two days in a row is not appealing.
 
I'm tempted to do the challenge, but waking up so early two days in a row is not appealing.

I hear you need to get on the bus around 3 AM for the races? I currently get up at 4 AM so hopefully it won't be too bad. I am sure I will be so excited or nervous that I will oversleep I may not get much sleep anyway. lol
 
Also really enjoy reading this thread. The interesting details and that spread sheet back on page 1-2!! LOL! Here is my very budget expense list.
Dates are 1-7-20 to 1-18-20

Gas (to and from airport) 30
Flight for 2 (air miles) 0
Car Rental (hoping for lower) 245
All Star Resort for 8 nights (staying at her RV the other nights) (my CM daughter is paying $500- she owes me from College Tuition Loans) 0
Park Tickets 0
Food and Snacks for 4 people (eat mostly off site) 500-700
Souvenirs (pictures are my favorite) 100
Approximate Total $1000
 
Two weeks hoping for some promo.
Air already purchased 1058.00 Jet blue with seats and bags for 4. We usually book FD BB but we took the transatlantic disney cruise this past September and did London for a few days. I must say we are more park people.
 
I am planning a September 2020 trip to AKL but it is a complete surprise to my family so this will be a great place to talk about it when I am about to burst!!!

I am currently booked for the week after labor day...AKL, four ppl with 5 day park hoppers, also planning on dining plan. Current price - $4700. Using every sort of discount gift card option possible, so far I have $900 worth (paid $750).

Well my plans have been all over the place since I posted these! First, my mom decided that she would like to go as well, which meant looking for accommodations for 5 instead of 4. That moved us from a Savannah View at AKL to two adjoining Tower Rooms at Gran Destino. Pretty easy change, right? Well then, this morning the free dining promo dropped but we would have to move our dates a bit as we were coming in on 9/10 so we would have missed it. We got moved to same rooms, just now a week earlier. Well, that was no good for me, as I did not want to be there only over Labor Day, I was planning specifically for the week after so it would not be quite as busy. So after all sorts of wrangling, we are now back at AKL in two standard rooms with DDP. Phew! So here is where we stand at the moment:

Two Standard View rooms at AKL for 9/8 - 9/12 + 5-day PH for 5ppl (4 adults, 1 kid) + DDP - $6,080.40
Air Fare for 5 of us - Points so $0
Additional Food/Wine - Probably $200 or so since mom and & are specifically going for F&W Festival
Souvenirs - $250 - maybe? We really only get pins

The big bonus from mom was that she was willing to chip in about $4000 towards both rooms so that eases the sting a bit. Plus I am still hoarding gift cards/rakuten/swagbucks/etc. I am up to a little over $1500 so pretty close!

Also, the look on everyone's faces when the surprise was revealed at Christmas was worth all the money in the world!
 
November Wine and Dine Half with my sister:

6 nights AKL renting points (my share) - $684 for a studio
Race - $208
Flights - Hoping to be under $350 - my preferred route/airline just opened up for my return date and they were $1,100! They better come down!
Tickets - Probably going to be 5 day PH. Will have party night after race plus want to do one Disney After Hours so $496 + ~$100? Gulp!
Food - This I'm unsure of. I do like nice food. Might do QS Dining plan plus pay for a few TS OOP, need to do math. - $700?
Extras - minimal, Christmas ornament, maybe a race shirt or pins, lyfts around WDW, plus split parking at home airport - $150?

So that's - $2.688 for my "cheap" trip. Oh dear.

Just booked flights for under $250 per person! I'm excited about that. They're nonstop too.
 
8 days/7 nights at All Star Sports (2 rooms)
6 day base tickets
DDP

2 Adults, 1 Disney Child and 1 Infant

$4652.62 - Booked using the room discount as I just missed out on free dining. By the time we got our dates set the value resorts were sold out.

I'll keep checking to see if any new discounts are offered, but right now this was the best I could do. I have points for flights and we'll use Disney transportation.

I'll probably end up adding on Memory Maker and booking BBB for the 6 y.o., but I haven't gotten that far yet.
 
I have 2 trips next year...a trip to Hershey Park/Pittsburgh/Columbus (12 nights) and a trip to Florida to help my sick mom and take the kids to a theme park of two (could be 7-14 days, depending how many we do in Melbourne at my sister's house which will have very little cost beyond travel and entertainment there, b/c we'd have her house and supplies). I think I'm gonna have a vacation budget of $8-9K for 6, which is gonna be very tight to do both, but I do have the hotels booked for the 1st trip (with great rates), my timeshare available for the 2nd trip (so no direct cost - aka, not needed to fit in the $9K), and 6 1 day any time MK tickets and $350 reward dollars from Chase that are expiring (so bonuses to the budget), so they need to get used up and will "add" to the budget...

I'm gonna start working on budgets to make things happen. We do have kitchens available everywhere, and I have a dairy allergy, so we eat in a lot and plan special meals to enjoy (that won't take me down for vacation)...and this makes our grocery and eat out budgets very close (since I splurge on the groceries and alcohol b/c I can trust them:))...

Okay, so even though my Disney rewards dollars are expiring, I'm gonna roll them to a card for 2021. Real life has intruded in good and bad ways, through funerals where I'll be seeing family that I didn't expect to see, negating the need to see them in FL. Plus, the funerals have taken work time from my spouse, and we were already committed to our long Hershey Trip...so, we're taking our timeshare points and reallocating them to celebrate our delayed anniversary for last year and going to NYC for 4 nights this summer (vs the 10-12 nights we'd have stayed in FL). I have the Wyndham 45 Manhattan in a presidential 2 bedroom for the cost of valet parking and my points...and in way better news, I stumbled on Broadway.com on 6 tickets together last night to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway for $29/each ($40/each after fees for $240...I didn't think I'd get tickets to 1 real show on Broadway for that, let alone 6). So, now to plan my 1st trip to NYC for me in decades...and for my kids ever:). We agreed we need to try the bagels, the kosher delis, and the pizza (okay, I have to skip that)...and possibly Morimoto's new ramen place (that would be for me - I LOVE his restaurant concepts...and for NYC, it's cheap:). This vacation will be designated our "cheaper" one so I'll be looking at attraction passes to supplement our fun, and we are planning on included buses and our 2 feet to get around (vs the subway)...time to make sure we get walking in this summer (and not just swimming), so the fam is ready:)...

Editing my post to get into budget specifics to keep me accountable b/c I could go crazy in NYC if I don't:).

So far, I think I'm running with $3K (separate from my timeshare points) for our 5 day/4 night trip to NYC, breaking the budget into $1K travel/hotel, $1K entertainment/attractions, and $1K food...So far, this is my booked plans...

Hotel/Travel
Timeshare Wyndham Midtown 45 2 bedroom - $240 parking (3 nights)/$0 cost (expiring timeshare pts)
Embassy Suites Meadowlands - $0 parking (1 night)/$248 cost
Gas and Tolls $80
Uber XLs NYC $250
Subway $100 (we plan to rely on our feet and XLs over the subway, but willing to do a trip or 2)

Attractions
6 Tickets to Phantom of the Opera $240
6 Greenwich Village "Free" Tour on Foot Food Tour $60 (already paid) plus planned extra $60 tip (got a lot of tripadvisor advice that $10/hour is the going tip rate for tours if you like them...so I'm planning to like this - food costs are separate, but will be in food costs
6 Big Apple Greeter Tours of Central Manhattan or Chinatown (requested - may fall through) - this tour is free, but they request donations and don't let you know if you get one til a few weeks before...so, I'm planning to save $100 for this and if this falls through, I'll do something else
6 Studio at 30 Rock TV Studio Tours $202 (not gonna buy yet b/c there's lot of availability and I want to find a deal, but it's a must do)

Other attraction plans are the NY Fed (free), Times Square (free), and Central Park (technically free, but we may book a tour) - I've got about $400 to play with, and I'm thinking of another show or a trip to the Empire State Building...or Top of the Rock b/c we'll be at the studio...but I'll choose later...we also may go to the Dream Mall in NJ for a few hours, so I might save a little money for fun there...

Food
Groceries (brought by me) $75 - we have a kitchen, so I'm bringing my dairy free stuff, water, some coffee, and some fresh produce
Food Tour Food $90 - figure this is too high b/c they suggest $8-15/person for the tour, but the tour guide might accomodate me, so I might spend it
Morimoto's Ramen House Lunch $150
Chinatown Lunch or Dinner $150
Food Market Meal $100
Jewish Deli Meal $150
Buffer money:)...about $300 extra...probably won't be fancy, but will be around for use:)...
 
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