I know you are all dying to know the grand total cost of this trip…..
3 nights at the Polynesian in a Garden View Room
2 adult 4 day tickets with Park Hopper
Deluxe Dining Plan (that’s 3 table service meals and 2 snacks per person per night of your stay + a reusable mug) — $2232.94 for the room, tickets and the dining plan
2 round trip plane tickets plus 1 suitcases each – $800 (on Delta; plan to fly Southwest in the future. I had no idea they didn’t sell through Expedia. Lesson learned.)
Cinderella’s Castle, Monorail, a photo album, photo frame, and a couple miscellaneous souvenirs – $250
2 meals out of pocket plus food on the flight down there and back – $75
Photopass CD (shared with my friend) – $50
Tips for meals and MouseKeeping – $100
Grand total cost of the trip: $3507 (I had saved $3650, so we came in almost $150 under budget!)
The Deluxe Dining Plan is $78.99 per night per guest. It includes 3 Table Service Credits and 2 Snacks per day. We spent a total of $473.94 on the plan. Here’s the breakdown of what we spent:
Ohanas – $66
San Angel Inn – $80
Hollywood and Vine – $66
Cinderella’s Royal Table – $90 (gratuity included)
Tony’s Town Square – $71
Spirit of Aloha – $126 (gratuity included)
Ohanas – $42
Snacks – $36
2 reusable mugs – $28
Grand Total: $605
So the dining plan saved us $131! It’s definitely worth it if you want to eat like a king. It was a ton of food though and not something that I plan to repeat with the whole family, but it was wonderful for the 2 of us.
*Note: This is not the average cost of a Disney trip. We spent right at $3400 on 12 nights last May for the 2 of us plus our 2 kids. This was just a very special trip that was 10 years in the making and hubby and I decided to go all out on this one. The next trip won’t be like this. ;)
Barbie says
It sounds like you had a wonderful time! Congratulations!
Dawn says
Are you planning on taking that left over $150 and adding it to your Disney fund for November?
RK says
It’s fun to go all out sometimes, isn’t it? The way I see it, that’s what we save FOR … to pay for those things we need and want … and sometimes, it’s a Disney getaway! :-)
Diana R. says
The 10 year anniversary is definitely worth celebrating!! Congratulations!! We didn’t get to go for our 10th which was almost 2 years ago. I am hoping one day we can!! I am so jealous!! But you both deserve it and since your going again soon the kids aren’t left out!!
So so sweet!! You look awesome in the pictures!!!
Stephanie says
I’m SO glad you guys had a great time! I would LOVE to go to Disney for my 20th anniversary in 2014. That would be awesome! Maybe I can talk my husband into doing that. *wink*
teri aka nana2 says
i absolutely love this website and cant wait to see if everyday…we folks in Florida are so spoiled…we can pay monthly for our yearly pass! Thanks for the budget breakdown. Cant beat Disney Dining and Mouse People..get on board with the DISNEY VACATION CLUB…nothing better
Charlene T says
Congrats! We were there this past April for our 10th Anniversary too (with our 3 girls). We stayed 5 nights at the Bay Lake Towers and it was $3991 for everything. No matter what the cost, most magical place on earth!
Teresa says
I am so glad for the 2 of you. I felt guilty the last time I went without my kids. I can’t wait to take them in 2012. I was reading other messages on the DVC credits? What are those? I am trying to get over the scare factor our sticker shock. I also think that I am trying to do more in a short period of time. I need to sit down with my family and figure it out. It if nice to see the list of the dining plan and how it does save. Thank you for the support and great ideas.
Teresa
Deanna says
A special trip saved for doesn’t need to be clarified. You both deserved a beautiful and fantabulous trip and got it! Good for you! (The only reason Southwest does not sell on Expedia is they save money by selling direct. In fact, if anything happens to their flights they are unable to reaccom any guest on another carrier because they choose not to participate with other carriers, either. While they may say they include a lot of incidentals, don’t let it fool the consumer when the price is higher than other carriers. Just an FYI.) Good job on staying under budget while celebrating a huge achievement in your lives! Welcome back while saving to go HOME! :)
Debbie says
We took our 3 grandkids during mardi gras 2009.We bought 10 day passes for all of us that don’t expire.The tickets ran us 2000.00 & still have 4 days left on them.I have 1 ticket to still use from years past & 1 day on mine being I got in free for my 50th birthday.We stayed in a fully furnished 2 bedroom condo for a week which cost us 600.00.We couldn’t of stayed in a hotel for that price lol.Anyway I think the whole trip cost about 4 grand but we bought & did whatever we wanted.
Can’t wait to go back 2012!
Happy y’all had a good time!
danielle says
That is awesome! I would love to go with just my hubby! how did you explain it to the kiddos!? lol
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
We didn’t tell them where we were going until we got back and we gave them the toy they always begged for (a castle and a monorail). This was their response “I’m so glad you chose to go to Disney so I could get my favorite toy!”. HAHA!
Diana R. says
Kids!!! Ya gotta love them!!
Hippy says
We have been to Disney many times staying at different resorts . Poly is my fav, but Port Orleans and Carribean beach were nice too. Each resort has its pluse’s and minus’s. The major difference in resorts is whether it has a food court or not. Value and Moderate have nice food courts which is nice if kids are small. We now have an rv. Fort Wilderness is a fab resort too. We live in Florida and go to the Fort alot and don’t even go into the park.
Melissa says
For those of you who are looking to go to Disney and stay at one of the value resorts you can book them cheaper on expedia.com…we are looking into the end of August and two of them are coming up for $69 per night at that time. Also, if you don’t mind staying slightly off property Downtown Disney Hotels has a Best Western, I haven’t stayed there but the reviews seem very good. If you go to the downtown disney hotels site and click on the Best Western they have a 15% discount for Georgia and Florida residents. We looked at the prices and they are coming up to around $62 per night for a standard room. Not too bad. We live about 30 minutes away from Disney and have seasonal passes, so the only reason we are planning an over night trip is because friends are coming down from AL to take their son to Disney for the first time! :o)
Michelle C. says
I would definitly try to compare it with the disney site though to make sure you are getting a better deal. Sometimes you get a cheaper rate through disney on tickets and dining if you book a complete package.
Devene says
So if you’re $150 under budget does that money go into the Disney Fund for the November Trip? ;-) Sounds like a fantastic trip. I think my kids are now a little scared that their dad and I might go without them!
Crystal S. says
The dining plan is a TON of food. When you figure that you get a dessert with every meal you stop needing those snacks. I know we weren’t the only ones that ended up with a bunch of snacks we just needed to use up at the end of our trip. Good thing you can get pre-packaged things with your snack credits and just take them home with you.
Lauren says
Congrats on 10 yrs. My DH and I love Disney but we only live 3hrs away. We went on a whim in 2006 for our Anniv and splurged and stayed on the Club Level at the Wilderness Lodge. LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!! We still go every year for our anniv since that year just for a long weekend but we now take our RV and camp. I’m glad you had such an awesome trip you are right you could have gotten way more for your money but sometimes it isn’t about the money. We will be going again this Oct for our 23rd Anniv. I know we won’t go on our 25th already planning the cruise to Alaska again without the kids.
laurie says
sometimes ya just gotta go for it – I am so glad you did…you deserve it
the deluxe plan is almost too much food sometimes, but oh so so yummy, plus is nice to try so many great restaurants in one trip
am kind of worried now about me liking the tonga toast …since you disliked it so much
Shannan says
I’m planning trip number 4 and hope I can get as good a prices as you! We have a family if 5 and can’t get a standard room. What are your thoughts on “renting” from a DVC member vs getting a family suite? We don’t need a kitchen as we aren’t in the room enough and we do the regular dining plan ALWAYS.
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
I’d totally rent DVC points! We stayed on DVC points in January and it was awesome and easy to do!
Shannan says
Can you still get the dining plan? I’m assuming you can’t use the free dining plan option??
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
Yes you can still get the dining plan, but you will have to pay rack rate if you are renting. :)
Nichole Waggoner says
Are you sure about paying rack rate? When you do the points, it’s flat system based on dates and room size. We were able to buy dining plan last month with nonproblems
Jill says
Hi Shannan- We are going in January again and we are renting points from a vacation club member. We are paying about 830.00 for a family of 4 for 6 nights at Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Village. The tickets will cost us about 500.00 because of military rates and we will have the dining plan. The person you rent the points from has to book the dining plan for you but that was easy to do. So we are staying at one of the best hotels on disney property and paying what we paid to stay at all star music last year.
Shannan says
Thanks for the info. We have several friends that are DVC members so it would be easy. Guess I need to get out a calculator and try it all ways!
Teresa V says
My husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary at Disney. We took out three girls with us. Our anniversary was June 15. Anniversary dinner Medieval times.Our trip was very hot with record setting temps at 100. We stayed 8 days we must have been out of our minds. It was hard with 5 people we did 4 Disney park hopper waterparks and more. We didn’t use one day and two days at Universal ( Harry Potter). First day our middle child who has migraines passed out after less than an hour at Hollywood Studios after riding the tower of terror. Second day our youngest got sunscreen in her eye at Blizzard beach and we had to leave. It was so hot we just went with the flow and stayed at the pool alot. we stayed at Coronado Springs. We went to Disney in early April last year and the temps were great. I will go in fall or winter next year.
Nancy says
We have done DisneyWorld twice. Once in May and once in October. Both times, the weather was great, warm but not unbearable. And the parks are crowded, but not crazy, insane crowded.
Amie Dalbec says
We did 2 full wks last June with 6 of us for $4,500 Free Dining and 2 rooms at Pop. It was Great
Kristen says
I am trying to plan a trip for a family of four and have priced both disney world (preferred) and disney land and they both come in areoun $5000 or up!! I guess I need to find some better deals to hit the $3400 you guys spent on your family trip :) Job well done Kristin!! Love your blog by the way, keeps me a kid at heart and so excited for our trip to the magical kingdom someday!!
shauna_ash says
Did you look at annual passes for you and your husband? Especially since you will be going back within the year?
Clare C. says
I was curious about cost comparisons with that too…
Michelle C. says
I think the thing with annual passes is, if you don’t live in Florida or close enough to make sure you get ample use out of them, you might not be saving anything. Annual passes only cover admission and give you discounts, but not sure those discounts are worth it if you only are going one time that year. I think if Kristen knew earlier in the year that they would be going to disney 3 times (counting her December/January trip) she would have benefited I think but it is a big price gamble if you aren’t sure you can get at least 3 trips out of them, staying more than one day. I live in Florida and even with florida discounts, the passes would cost me about $1200 for all 4 of us. A non florida resident would be about $1500 or so. Cheaper if you do seasonal passes, but that limits you to when you can go, which wouldn’t be convienient for an out of state person because chances are, too many conflicts with school on the on season dates you can use it, and not close enough to just make a weekend trip on the on season dates.
shauna_ash says
Ah hah…Thank you…I am currently looking at them for DL since my husband has an additional business trip in September which would make it a better deal for us to do the annual pass now and use it again in March with daughter’s choir trip, but I wasn’t sure how the WDW passes worked! Thanks!!! :)
Allyson says
I would like to know how you did 12 days for so little also! Drive or fly? Dining plan or not? I think I spent more than that for my 6 days at Mardi Gras this year….do you have any posts about how you did it so cheap? Maybe a breakdown of costs like you have this time?
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
I think this is the closest thing I have for that trip….
http://www.couponingtodisney.com/2010/03/09/our-disney-vacation-rebooked-again/
We drove for it though. Not flying makes a huge price difference. :)
Allyson says
Yes it most certainly does make a difference! We live right outside of New Orleans, LA. To fly this year would have cost us over $1000. So for the first time, we drove. It wasnt horrible, we broke it up into 2 days and stayed halfway in Tallahassee on the way there and on the way back, even though it is totally do-able in one day. Even with the extra 2 nights in a hotel room (booked thru hotels.com at $62 each x 2 = $124) and the approximately $200 in gas, we still saved roughly $700 bucks!
Even though driving was kind of a pain in the butt sometimes compared to flying (we can be from here to there in a little under 2 hours), we could stop wen we wanted, didnt have to wait in lines, didnt have to go thru security, didnt have to listen to a crying kid all the way there (except my own, LOL!) so there are definitely some advantages to driving. And the extra $700 I have for my next trip didnt hurt either!
Allyson says
and to clarify, we went to Seaworld and Discovery Cove, not Disney this year.
Jason says
I think she meant to say NOW flying makes it cost more.
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
No I meant to say that by not flying it costs less out of pocket than if you do fly. Husband. :P
Brynna says
I soooo wish we lived close enough to DL or WDW to not have to fly!! Our cross country flights cost us $2000-3000 each time!!!
RK says
My husband and I always debate the driving vs flying when we go somewhere. I think it really depends on the situation. In the past, driving has usually been cheaper, but now, my husband is working a contract job, paid by the hour, so the extra driving time means lost earnings … so it just depends. We usually drive for close trips, though.
I will definitely be re-reading all these posts when we finally go to Disney … such a wealth of information!
Celia says
I’ve really enjoyed your trip report! Just curious, you bought a 4 day hopper pass but it looks like you only used 3 of those days. Do these tickets expire, i.e., can you go back later and use the 4th day?
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
No. :( I should of only bought 3 days but I wasn’t thinking clearly. They won’t give you days back but will let you add them at any time. :-/
Carrie @ My Favorite Finds says
FYI, we always do the QSD for the 5 of us. By the way, the Dining Plan is a total steal! We love it. As far as we know, they don’t keep track of kids vs adult meals on the QSD. So, sometimes we’ll order 2 adult meals and share amongst the 5 of us…hubby and I don’t eat a ton when it’s hot out. Or, we’ll order 2 adult and one kids meal when it’s time to eat and share/graze. We actually left in June with 3 meals left on our plan that we didn’t use. In the past, we’ve also been able to do 3 QS meals a day if we share..the kids love their Mickey waffles :).
Pamela says
I would love details on how the 12 day trip went so cheap. That is amazing!!! We are military and I had planned to stay at the militarty resort there, but at that price I would love to stay some where else.
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
We stayed at Pop Century which is cheaper than Shades of Green, but the rooms are a little bit smaller. :)
Teresa V says
Hi Pam my Husband is We used military discounts saved 35% off Coronado Resort. We had two rooms on cost us 139.00 night for each. The tickets were 168.00 Military for 4 day park hopper with waterparks and more, You get discounts on all disney resorts with Military ID.
Tonya says
Okay, next time we go, I follow YOUR rules!! I don’t think we did anywhere near that good. We should’ve gone w/ the dining plan.
kristin 2 says
Don’t feel bad about spending that money on yourself. It is a once and a lifetime experience for the 2 of you and you deserve it after a rough, rough year. Enjoy the memories for years to come=priceless.
Joann says
Glad u guys had fun! We went for 10 nights with our son in Sept and only spent 2500 including airfare and souvenirs. We stayed in a pirate room at the Caribbean and loved it! Thanks for sharing – my hubby & I want to go back, just us, and were trying to figure cost for a long weekend with just us… This helps!
Heidi says
Glad you had a “magical” trip!! You deserve it!
Sarah says
I would love to go hog wild some day at Disney. I always wonder who these people are that get to stay at the nicer resorts when we ride the monorail, though I know when it comes down to it, I’d prefer to get 2 vacations for the price of their 1! SO glad you had a great time and got to really spoil yourselves on your trip. Here’s to another great time in another 10 years!
Dana says
That’s awesome! Glad to see you had a great trip and still saved money! The Polynesian Resort is amazing. :)
Donna says
Wow thats alot of money for 3 nights!!! Glad you had a good time
Kristin from Couponing to Disney says
LOL yes it was. We spent that much on 12 nights last May, but it was our 10th anniversary trip and our first honeymoon so we went all out for this one. :)
Donna says
Ahhh ok good for you!!!!