anyone been to Disney recently?

amh_navyblue

So we are trying to plan a trip to Disney World...originally we were thinking about trying to go in April, but after seeing the prices for the time we wanted (over Easter due to DD#1's spring break schedule), we realized that was just more than we were willing to spend.  So now we are thinking late August (I know, I know, Florida in August, but it really is the best time for us at this point).  

Has anyone gone recently?  What was your budget and how much did you spend in the end, including airfare, hotel and everything else if you don't mind sharing?  We have 2 kids (ages 2 and 5) and it would them, me and DH.  We'd love to stay in one of the deluxe resorts, but I think ultimately the price tag will determine where we stay...

I know there are a number of sites out there with info, but I wanted to get a sense of what people in this area have paid...and of course if you have a favorite site or book to recommend, please pass that along.

TIA!!! 

WinesNotWhines

We were just there in January. I'll try to break down the costs:

Flights - Around $300 per person including all taxes and fees. We paid a little more to get flights during the times we wanted. We could've gotten cheaper flights around $225, but those would've been early in the morning or late at night.

Hotel - We stayed at Disney's Wilderness resort. I really liked it. I think our base right was $208 per night (before taxes). This was a low-season weekday fare, plus a 30% discount that they were offering. The moderate resorts are also nice and significantly cheaper.

Food - You can buy refillable mugs at the resorts for $14 that you can use for the entire length of your stay. We got one and it was definitely worth it for us (DH and I shared one cup). You can use it for coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and fountain drinks. We also had some basic snacks that we picked up outside of the park to save money (fruit, yogurt, crackers, a few other things). For the most part, we didn't buy our 17-month old his own meals - he shared our food and ate some of the snacks we brought with us.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at the little cafe in our hotel every morning. Along with the "free" coffee in our mug, and some of the fruit we'd brought with us, we spent less $5 on breakfast every day.

We ate lunch at quick/counter-service restaurants in the parks. I think we paid around $20 per meal for two adults. We ate dinner at sit-down restaurants, either in our hotel, downtown disney, or at one of the parks. This cost more - entrees were in the $20-25 range, plus drinks, tax, and tip. I'd estimate this was around $75 per meal, but you can eat much more cheaply if you stick to counter-service places for dinner.

We also had breakfast at the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian resort on our last day there, which was great and not too expensive. The hotel itself is really fun for little kids to explore.  

Misc: We didn't spend much on anything else. We brought snacks with us, so we didn't have to buy those, although I did get ice cream one day. We filled up our mugs at the resort a couple of times a day, and we took it with us. I also had a refillable water bottle that I carried with me. We got M one souvenir (stuffed animal) on our last day.

P.S. If you go in August, I'd consider spending at least one day out of the parks. Stay at your hotel, go to the pool, maybe check out downtown disney. August in Florida is HOT.

rnin02

We haven't been recently (although hopefully this fall or winter!!) but my two favorite Disney planning sites are https://www.intercot.com/default.asp and https://yourmagicaljourneys.com/ . For our next trip we (well, by we I mean I need to convince DH) are considering renting points and staying at DVC hotel, using this site: https://www.dvcrequest.com/ . We haven't done that before but it looks promising. We have always gone in September in the past, which is a bit cooler than August, but not by much and its bearable. The daily thunderstorm helps, and there are lots of places to hide from the heat inside the parks if you don't want to go back to your hotel.

kbalb

My parents are Disney Vacation Club members; so while we go every year, I really can't help with budget ideas.  (They book the hotel and we just pay for tickets--we usually buy the park hopper add-on, flight, and meals--although with the DVC two-bedroom we have a kitchen so we will often cook in the room.)

However, please let me know if you need any recommendations with anything. There are very few things I haven't done both with and without DD.

My favorite website (which even contains restaurant menus) is allears.net.