Well, lets see if we can save you a little money. I'll give you some bad news first, though--the trip always costs more than you think it will. Always. I'd say about $500-$1000 more. Because you just forget to account for the little things--gas, parking costs, taxes--and can't account for those emergency things--ice cream for everyone in the park because the heat is making you die kind of things. However....lets see what we can do!
Originally posted by PAMFORDHAM
AIRFARE $1,200
Now, currently, the best fare I could find for you (assuming you are flying out of Salt Lake) was $230 per person, including taxes. I found this on
www.Hotwire.com. My guess is, however, that as the date approaches, you will be able to find better airfares. I sincerely think you'll be able to fly for $150 per person if you are diligent and are willing to make connecting flights. Here is a strategy to help you do that.
The best way I have found to keep abreast of airfares is set up a free My Yahoo(
www.my.yahoo.com) account, and enable the best fares option. This is especially useful if there is more than one airport you can fly out of. Check this daily because the fares can change in a heartbeat! Once you've found a fare you are willing to accept, first see if you can book it directly through the airline. If you can--go for it. If you can't, you can see what you can get on
www.Hotwire.com or
www.Orbitz.com. If those don't bring you a fare to your satisfaction, you can try using Priceline. A good priceline flight strategy is to bid about $50 less than the best rate you see advertized elsewhere--or bid less if you have any 'free bonus money' you can add to the fare. A good place to get bonus money opportunities or priceline bidding strategies in general is
www.BiddingForTravel.com. It's a forum much like this one. Now, assuming you are able to get fares for $150/person, your airfare costs would be brought down to
$900.
TICKETS $1,500
Well, theme park ticket prices are solid, so no advice on how to save here, other than buying for less days, and utilizing the pool/activities at the hotel/resort where you stay. This is a good idea, anyway--with a very young one in your group, you're going to want the down time! Or, you can try combining your costs with your.....
HOTEL $ 700
You've gotten some excellent suggestions here so far, the best by far being finding a place that will have a full kitchen. This will save you more money than any other option, IMO. Food in the Orlando area is notoriously expensive and notoriously a bad value for the money. To save on this type of accomodation, try looking at ebay. Many people/brokers sell their weeks for vacation homes or timeshares there, and you can get a good bargain. Just be sure you are buying from someone with a high ebay rate so you know they are a reputable seller.
Another option is to look into a deal with a timeshare resort. They will often offer you a discount in exchange for taking a timeshare tour--in your case, this may be a worthwhile tradeoff, since you can often get tickets at a discount, too. You will need to meet minimum earnings requirements to qualify--I think it is generally around $40k/year. As an example, I went to the site I used to book our trip last year, FloridaVacationStore.com
PLEASE NOTE: this is something of a misnomer. Really, all it is is a vehicle for CRI (Westgate) to schedule timeshare vacations for potential clients. For a party of 6, with 4 day park hopper passes, 7 nights, in a 2 bedroom villa with a fully equipped kitchen chacking in January 6, 2002, the total cost was $1700+tax. Lets assume $200 in taxes, so
$1900. Downside--you have to go thru a timeshare sales presentation. Just say no, no, no, no and no and you'll make it thru alive.
RENT CAR$ 300
Again, this seems fair. Go to the ground transportation section of mousesavers.com and you may save a few bucks. You can also try priceline, but be aware that for this specific area (Orlando) you can usually find as good or better deals than you'll find on priceline. However, it costs you nothing to try!! And you could save $50 or so. Just remember to add the $6 service charge pricelines charges to your final costs. Oh! and when bidding, you are bidding PER DAY, not by the week. So don't overbid! So, for the time being, lets assume
$300 for car rental.
FOOD $ 800
Now, if you are planning to stay in a hotel, and be in Orlando for 7 days, even with 'kids eat free' programs, this is grossly unrealistic. It assumes $6.33/meal per person. And unless you eat at McDonalds for every meal, that's just not gonna happen. If you stay in a hotel--please don't hate me--you're going to need to double this cost. If, however, you stay at a place with a full kitchen, it is very realistic. Lets assume you eat breakfast every night in your kitchen. And dinner for 5 nights. Assuming groceries for that will run you $200, that leaves you $600 for 9 meals, or about $12 per person per meal. If you economize for some of those meals--fast food--you could manage one or two lunches at the fun, cheeky restaurants in the parks. So again, lets assume you economize, and keep your food costs at
$800.
Okay, so to tally it up: if you are able to get the prices I think you can, your grand total would be:
AIRFARE=$900
ACCOMODATIONS/TICKETS=$1900
RENTAL CAR=$300
FOOD=$800
TOTAL=$3900
Now, lets throw in any $500 for unforeseen expenses....
GRAND TOTAL=$4400
Now, the other end of making this trip work is SAVING/EARNING money for it. Create a seperate account or even just an accounting on paper of money earmarked (er...should that be mouse-earmarked? <grin>) for the trip. Here are some suggestions to get as much money as possible into that account:
hold a yard sale
pack all school/work lunches
eat out less (if at all)
make cheaper meals (pasta, beans, etc)
buy second hand clothes at yard sales/consignment shops
go without new clothes, and make do with what you have
carpool
You may get some grumbling from your kids about it, but I bet it will cease when you tell them this is for the disney trip. Is PB&J for lunch worth a ride on the tower of terror? HECK YES!
Anyway.....I hope this long winded message helped! Hey, it helped me put off cleaning my bathrooms for another hour! Off to do that now!
Susanne
lol!
