We have set our trip dates! We will be traveling to Disney World January 26th – February 2nd, 2013. Here is our budget for the trip.
$935 – One Week in 2 Bedroom Beach Club Villa. I have a friend who was unable to use her DVC points for this year, so she was kind enough to use them to book us a week at the Beach Club and in exchange we paid her enough to cover her annual dues for the year. Since we are traveling with my mother in law and nephew again, we split the bill. We are paying 2/3rds of the bill and she is covering the other 1/3rd.
$1389 – Approximate cost for 2 Adult Park Hopper and 2 Children Park Hopper tickets from Undercover Tourist. We are going with Park Hoppers on this trip since we are within walking distance to Epcot. (Ouch! These tickets are getting so expensive!)
$425Â – Approximate cost for our 3 sit down meals – 50’s Prime Time Cafe, Garden Grill and O’hanas for dinner. We will also eat at Rainforest Cafe for lunch one day (we have $75 in Landry’s gift cards; included that $75 in the $425 estimate).
$150 – Approximate cost for groceries for 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 4 dinners that we will cook in our kitchen in the Villa. We plan to break each day for lunch and hopefully swimming if it’s not too cold.
$150 – Souvenir money. Hubby and I will each get $50 and we will give each of the kids $25. They usually save their allowance and Christmas money too.
$538 – 4 round trip airline tickets on Southwest.
$3587 – Total trip budget for the 2013 Disney World trip!
Only 4 more days Kristin!
Kristin….Are you getting excited??!!! You show us all that it CAN be done. I started following you right around Nov. 11 when you started your budget. I’m glad to see you’ve met you goal and gave us great deals in the meantime!! I can’t wait to go back!!!
You should be able to swim if the weather stays like it is now. We’ve had 83-85 degree days all week here in Tampa. We are going to Disney (staying at POP) next weekend because we have a 4 day weekend for MLK. I’ll cross my fingers that the suns stays a shining for you : ) And we’ve stayed at beach club. Very classy. My favorite was when we were walking up to the hotel entrance from the parking lot. The doorman looked at our son and said “Caleb, Mickey was just here looking for you”. My son, who was 5 at the time was in shock and super excited, as was I. It took me a while to figure out that the gate guard must have called to let them know we were coming : ) Just part of the disney magic and experience.
We will be there Jan 28- Feb 4th. Our twins will turn five on Jan. 30th. So this will be the first time we are going to be able to celebrate their birthday there. Doing it up big. Wishes fireworks cruise after Chef Mickeys for diner!! =)
Disney has homeschool days in January and October. We are going in 12 days. (woo hoo) . We saved $700 for 4 day passes for our family of 7. Total cost was only $1120. We rent a home off property. My husband likes te more relaxing atmosphere and our family doesn’t fit into any standard rooms (most stop at 6).
I really need to make a commitment to a Disney fund this year. But I always enjoy living vicariously through others. Really gotta try this to pay off our debt and a vacation. :)
Shana, I could not agree more with you, we are paying down debt in 2013 and attempting to start a small college fund. I live vicariously through others and get excited for those that share awesome deals. I then take the advice and share with my girlfriend going to WDW in July
Disney has a homeschool opportunity available from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1. You only have to attend the event on Friday, Jan. 25 at Hollywood Studios to purchase the discount tickets. Four EIGHT DAY Disney Park Hopper with Water Park and More is $236.47 per ticket. Google it!
Love your blog! When are you going to WDW? My family and I are on planning our trip April 20-27th 2013. We are debating driving vs. flying. We drove straight last year (10 hours from Virginia) to save money, but we are looking into flights and debating if we want to spend the extra $$. I have found great prices at Jet Blue, for my family of 4 + baby to fly it would be $900 total for direct flights.
Just received my latest PassPorter News and there is a tip that suggest looking into purchasing one way tickets with different airlines. The lady that wrote in said she saved about $400 by flying down with Delta and then flying home with United. Just thought I would share that!!
My Mom, sister and 2 nephews are going Jan 27 – Feb 3 (from Arkansas). I’m hoping to be able to meet them there (I’m in Ohio). Staying @ Wilderness Lodge! YEA!!
I’ll be across Crescent Lake from you! It’d be great to meet you while we’re there.
Kristin,
I can’t believe how much you are paying for tickets. Makes me more grateful for the annual passes we get as Florida residents. We are planning our trip back to Disney for November. Hoping to catch the Mickey’s Christmas party and see the lights. My husband just got a job working for the Walt Disney company so our needed budget has gone down significantly. Can’t wait to hear about how great your trip is!
Thanks,
Susan
Susan – That is awesome about your hubby’s new job!! And I agree, ticket prices are getting insane.
I know the dates haven’t been released yet, but when they are (I think soon…) Try to see if there is a YES class that falls into the same time you are there. This will save you a ton on tickets :) I know I’m watching closely, we love them and can’t wait to see what’s planned for Jan/Feb!
Apparently I totally skipped comments above my last one! LOL!!! I can say from experience, the YES programs are awesome! My kids took the American Story class before and loved it! Offered in Jan/Feb and then again I think June-Oct. We can’t wait to do it again!!
That’s a great idea! I will definitely watch for the classes to be released. Thanks for reminding me. :)
I’m disappointed. The YES tickets for our date were just offered and they changed the program. If only my daughter takes a class, we only save $80, but lose 3 hours of trip time.
If both my kids take a class (and my 5 year old is not going to pay attention to a class about Synergy), we save $180.
So it looks like we won’t be saving on tickets like we had hoped. :(
Kristin – We went that same week in Jan/Feb 2011 and had great weather. Have fun! We leave in 6 days!!!!
How many days are your tickets for?
So jealous of what cheap flights you can get! The cheapest I can get from Idaho is $500 per PERSON!!!!
We are going next month and signed my 13 yr old son up for the YES program. We were able to buy tickets for the whole family much cheaper this way. I know my son will enjoy learning something new at Disney too. Just an idea for cheaper tix.
What is the YES program?
Youth Education Series- you basically take a 2 1/2 hr “class” at one of the parks. My son is signed up for Animation Magic at Hollywood Studios. They will teach him about animation & my husband will be with him. I think my husband is more excited than my son. They have one about sealife, rollercoasters, etc. And for participating, they offer the entire family cheaper tickets. Here is a link:
http://www.disneyyouth.com/youth-education-series/
Are you going as part of a group of 10 or more students? If not, how did you do this?
Look under Individual Enrollment
Thanks so much, Nelly! I’m excited about this!!!
Thank you so much for posting about this! I had never heard of the program before. I would have been excited enough to hear about an opportunity for learning at Disney World, but the savings in ticket prices makes it even sweeter! I am now even more excited to plan our next trip :)
I’m disappointed. The YES tickets for our date were just offered and they changed the program. If only my daughter takes a class, we only save $80, but lose 3 hours of trip time.
If both my kids take a class (and my 5 year old is not going to pay attention to a class about Synergy), we save $180.
So it looks like we won’t be saving on tickets like we had hoped. :(
Thank you for posting this! I homeschool and love finding new ways to learn.
I am curious…Now that they are offering the dining plan to DVC stays, did you look into the cost of purchasing the dining plan for this trip? How was the cost compared to the budget you presented?
Looks like a great plan!! But ouch!!!! When you wrote the price of the tickets I just about had a heart attack. We live in Florida and have the annual passes (maybe that’s why it was such a shock), but that still seems like a lot. I wish they would offer better discounts for people with kids. Bottom line, expensive but doable, if you have a great budget like yours! :D
We bought into DVC in August 2011 this is our first trip as a DVC member, January 2013 13-20 akv here we come, although we wanted to ax park hopper we kept it cause of our one meal, garden grill the kids love it! Funny thing as parents I never went to Disney neither did my hubby but now we go for our kids they are little and so excited! Thank u for all the tips;) I could not make all this possible without your help! My next fund should be saving for Greece;)
LOVE the beach club! Just a thought, we found it cheaper to extend our park pass once we arrived last week (for some reason it was cheaper to do it there than online) and use 2 park passes a day than to do a park hopper. It would only work if you are planning to do 2 parks a day and not 3 or 4, but worth looking into rather than shelling out that much $$ for the park hopper! Can’t wait to hear all about your fabulous trip!
Sarah – It really worked for you to use 2 park passes per day? That isn’t suppose to happen which is why they charge $55 per ticket for Park Hopper.
We tried using 2 tickets in one day and we were told that it wasn’t allowed. We were in Epcot for the day and went over to Hollywood studios that night to see Fantasmic and they would not let us in. We did not have Hopper passes. Airfare is extremely expensive this year. My family of four flew for $725.00 in November of last year from Manchester, NH to Orlando on Southwest. This year it cost us almost $1400.00 to fly in November on Southwest. I just looked the other day and our flight is now almost $1800.00!
I feel your pain… My daughter and I flew SW out of Manchester last July to Orlando for less than $100 OW each. The trip from home (Nashville) to Orlando is averaging $177 OW per person right now on SW :( OUCH!
In january of 2009 we went and used two tickets in one day. that is sad you can no longer do this
if you have two different tickets ~
why can’t you use two tickets in one day.
how do they know if you are using two tickets??
if you DONT finger scan, there is no way they can tell.
I never finger scan.
Well if you have 2 different paper tickets, they won’t know. But if you have a 7 day ticket, you can’t use 2 days worth of tickets in one day.
ok thats why we had paper tickets but this trip we wont
We are going over MLK weekend in January with my MIL. We are staying in a two bedroom villa at WL. My MIL is helping us with 1/2 the bill but it is still expensive. We found great BWI to MCO flights at $120 per person. I am working on our part of the bill, tips and spending money. Spending money and bill is done. Now for the tips.
If you do t alteady know this: Try the walmarts out near Disney. They have rockin’ souvenirs at a wayyy cheaper price tha a trial Disney. Maybe go before your trip so of the kids want a “light up stick” or something they have it and you won’t spend $20 on it at the parks!!
Do you get to use the gas and food money allotted to that week toward your vacation?
I usually do
Woot woot! To everyone who is going! And a bigTHANKS to Kristin for sharing how to make our dream vacations come true also! ;)
My family is going to DW in November. My son is 21 and we all still love DW. He worked for The Disney Store and employees are given 4 free tickets a year. So we have those which will help alot on our budget. We are flying through Allegiant out of Lexington, KY and our airfare was less than 400 round trip for all three tickets. Hope everyone has a great time!
I am taking my daughter to Disney World for her first time on December 13th for 10 days (It’s a surprise Christmas present), and so far, all I can find on those dates would cost us $715 just for the two of us to fly from Birmingham to Orlando!!! My vacation dates aren’t flexible either because if we leave any earlier, she will miss more days out of school, and if we leave later, we wont be home in time for Christmas day (so she can be with her dad too)…
they just sent out an email this week from southwest that had good flight deals to orlando. I had to choose one ticket at the discount and two with the higher rate. Just an idea if you havent done this already
We will be there the same time! We always go the first week of Feb. for my Birthday!
You’ll be getting there the last “Park night” (and my birthday!) i’ll be there. I”m going the 20th-27th. We are struggling to get the money together. we went through a travel agent who is wonderful but of course there is the added fee. Saving all our pennies for a date with the mouse! I think that this will be the best birthday i’ll ever have cause i’ll be in Magic Kingdom! :) Hope you enjoy your trip! It would be funny for the two “Kristin E’s ‘ to run into each other. Hope you and your family have a great trip!
I am trying to budget my family trip to WDW for this coming up year. I never realized when I was younger how much it cost to go :-/ I’m trying to get all the nitty gritty down before presenting it to my husband (and the cheapest I can get it so he will be willing and wont be fussing the whole time we are there.) If I said 3000 he would laugh and we would never get to go. It will be his first time and my 5th and we also have a 2yo, 4yo and will be 7yo when the trip time comes to be next year. I’m excited and I know the kiddos will have a ball!! I can’t wait!
I am going to WDW in Nov of this year,,,,our first time :) The cheapest airfare I was able to find was $220 roundtrip per person. I am glad we booked it when we did, now I don’t see anything even close to that! I think I did pretty good; our total cost including airfare for 1 adult and 3 kids staying for 10 days is approx $3400 (hotel, dining plan & park tickets) Thank you for all your awesome tips!
Wow that is a really great deal Kelly!!!
We stayed in a 2 bedroom at the Beach Club…loved it! It is a great location since it’s close to two theme parks and it’s beautiful to boot!
We live in WA state and airfare kills us everytime…$80 would be dreamy to fly anywhere! We don’t have the option to drive to WDW…we haven’t drove to DL either but it may come to that! Have a awesome time!
I remember the days of cheap airfare. Our very first family trip to WDW was in August 2010 and we paid under $400 for three round-trip tickets via Southwest. Cheapest I’ve seen in the last 6 months has been $115 one-way. Keep hoping they will go down. It’s a 10.5 hr drive for us as well, so it will still cost us a bit of gas money if we drive and since only two of us are going in December, may not be too bad to fly (plus, I have a $100 Southwest GC thanks to Swagbucks). This trip will be a little more expensive for us though since we didn’t renew our annual passes back in June and will be purchasing them in December.
Wow……10 hrs! We live in Opelika and we make it in 6 1/2 hrs…..door to all star resorts. We stop once for gas in Tifton and at McDonalds drive thru in Sylvester . We go 280-82-520 to Tifton and pick up 75s. It is pretty quick and easy! Have a great trip!
Soooo exciting!! We just went in August. I cannot wait to go back!!!!
What an amazing DVC deal with your friend! Never stayed there but it would be my first choice by far!
Sometime would you post what you’re planning to fix for your in-villa meals? I bet you plan for quick and economical so I’d love to get some ideas for eating then getting back to the parks!
I sure will! What a good idea. As soon as I put the menu together, I’ll be sure to share it.
Another idea is to take a crock pot! We do this when we go camping, too. There’s nothing like coming back from a fun day and food is ready and waiting on you!!
Wow…where do you find flights for $80 round trip, and where are you flying out of? We’re in Dallas, and the cheapest I have seen flights is $400/person, round trip. And that’s on Southwest!!! We *are* going at Spring Break, which is a more expensive time…but I thought the days of $80 round trip tickets were long gone, with the cost of fuel being what it is.
Kerri – It was Southwest from Birmingham to Orlando in Nov of 2011. :)
How Cool!! We will be there also Jan 26-Feb 5. We r staying @ POP..
Us too!!
Kerri~ Try Spirit airlines out of Dallas. They run a lot of specials and I have found rates under what Southwest has to offer frequently.
Spirit Airlines cannot be trusted! Horrible, horrible customer service. Stranded hubby and I in Florida for 24 hours with no apology and no compensation. I would NEVER fly with them. Read reviews on them.