The cost Break Down for -
2 Adults
1 Child (3yrs)
1 Infant (1yr)
*1 additional adult (I will add this as a sub point, my mom went with us and paid the difference of our package. I will add her numbers but she is not included when I list our Total Family Cost)
Disney Vacation Package - $2,156.09 ($2,593 w/ my mom)
What it included -
- Room - 2 Double Beds, we stayed at the Pirates of the Caribbean Resort
- 6 Days of Park Tickets (Isaiah was free since he was under 2)
- FREE DINING PLAN! (I will talk more about this below)
- Free refillable mugs for each person (except Isaiah). Could be filled with Soda at your resort any time all week.
- Free magic bands (I didn't realize this was an extra but they charge if you want one at the park and you don't have a vacation package)
- Free transportation to parks or free parking if you choose to drive to the parks :)
Hotel - (For one night during the travel down to Florida) $88.23
Tolls - (In FL) $9
Gifts/Souvenirs - $153.78
Other - (food, drinks at convenience store, ice, misc.) $150
Tips - (This is for 3 adults and 1 child at 3 meals) $98
Disney Total: $3,048.38 ($3,485.54 w/ an extra adult)
Tax included in above prices
If we bought these separately-
Hotel: $1,400
Tickets: $981.93
Dining Plan Value: (What we would have paid out of Pocket if we got all this food) $1,000+
Magic Bands: $51.80
Travel Mugs: $71.96
Parking: $102
Total: $3,607.69+tax
For 3 Adults, 1 Child and 1 infant we would have paid $1,000+ if we didn't do a vacation package.
My Thoughts
On Vacation Package:
I absolutely loved doing the vacation package. I am a penny pincher and always looking to save money but I would do a vacation package every time. I think that you could get a way cheaper hotel outside of the Disney resort but I think in the long run it won't save you as much as you think and it will cost you a lot of time. You are closer and there are a lot of perks to staying at a Disney Resort. They go above and beyond to make you feel special and to make your trip "magical". Other perks, you get to make your fast pass+ selections 30 days earlier than non resort guests and they send you so many awesome little extras to get you pumped for your Disney vacation!
On Free Dining Plan:
I don't want to go to Disney again and NOT have the dining plan. We stayed at a moderate resort to get the regular dining plan which included 1 quick service meal, 1 table service meal and 1 snack each day for each person. All meals (even quick service) got a dessert and drink. Would I have gotten this much food on my own? No Way! It was soooooo much food! Sometimes we opted out of desserts or took them home. We had to spend 15 snack credits the last day because we were always so full, but they made great gifts for people! You could get all sorts of fancy Disney treats. Because we had the dining plan we ate at some nice and VERY fancy places I wouldn't have wanted to pay for out of Pocket. We got to eat at Cinderella's Royal table (Fancy food and you get to meet lots of princesses, free professional pictures with Cinderella, swords for boys, wands for girls) and the nicest steakhouse I have ever been too (we racked up a bill over $250!...and it was the best steak I ever ate.) These meals cost us 2 table service credits so we had 2 other table service meals while we were there (both at Ohana...It was sooooo good!). The portions were so big that we often would share some of our quick service meals so we never had to pay any money out of pocket for food the whole 6 days were were there. I would purchase this plan if it wasn't in the promo window when you are going but the fact that it was FREE, made it that much more AWESOME!!!! For the table service meals children MUST order off of a kids menu, but the quick service meals weren't required so we would order adult meals and share. For Isaiah, he didn't get a meal but we had plenty to share at quick service meals and at the table service meals they would bring him 1/2 of a kids version at no cost :)
Tickets:
We did the base tickets only, no park hopper. With as many days as we stayed we didn't need to hop parks. We went to each park one day then decided where to return on our extra days. We spent both extra days at Magic Kingdom. It is the biggest park and has the most rides, and most of the rides even Isaiah could ride!!! As far as parks go, if I go again I would skip Animal Kingdom. Maybe I am just spoiled with our zoos but I would rather go to the OKC or Tulsa zoo. Only benefit was some of the extra characters you can meet. Hollywood Studios was fun, and Epcot was REALLY fun, more than I expected (It actually ended up being my 2nd favorite park).
Disney Resorts:
If you stay at a Disney Resort they are really nice. Ours had a super cool pool that Maddie would have spent a full day at. It had 2 cool slides, a play area (it was under construction while we were there) and several sand beaches to hang out on too. Plus, you are so close to the parks you save time in travel. You can take buses and get dropped off right at gate doors or drive yourself and park free at the parks (our preference).
Other Thoughts:
I kind of wish I had done the memory maker. It's $149 if you order before you go which is a lot, but if you order their pictures after it's OUTRAGEOUS ($15 to download a single photo)! They have a lot of cool special effects pictures you can't take on your own, plus you get everyone in the pictures. Their photo people will take your picture with your camera but it's just a hassle. Plus, I carried my nice camera 2 times when I wanted special pictures but the rest of the time it was plain iphone pictures. Fastpass+ is so cool! Make selections - check out blogs for the best ones to use your fastpass+ reservations on and get your picks in the morning, you can't roll additional ones until you use all 3 original ones. Also, if you have kid(s) that don't meet height requirement, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PARENT SWAP! One waits in line to go and then when they are done the other gets to go in fastpass lane so you don't both have to wait in long lines! It was awesome!!!
Things I learned:
- Disney People are serious about their Disney. Planning is a MUST. It takes time and planning to get reservations at the best restaurants and certain fast pass spots (I stayed up until 12am eastern time to get a coveted meet Elsa and Anna fastpass)
I was scared of doing this, but I would do it again. It saved us so much money and the kids were AWESOME! They did better than I could imagine. We went hard and did most of it in one day but they didn't complain or cry really at all. I had a bunch of "emergency" toys, snacks and tricks and didn't have to really use any of them. It was a long trip but we got all of us there for about 1/3rd of the price of flying...plus we like driving. Me and my husband are use to road trips and want our kids to be road trippers too :)
There you have it! Disney World from a 1st timer's point of view! Feel free to ask any questions you want :)
Special Thanks to all of my Disney experts that helped know where to go and what to do. Big Thanks to Kenda Lacefield, Susie Sexton, and Taylor Bolton :)
Ahhh! :-) That's my favorite place in the world! So glad to hear you all had an awesome trip! :-)
ReplyDelete