Are you willing to share with us?

[MELSMICE]

Like you said - it depends on where you stay - but we went in Nov., stayed on rented pts. at OKW & BC. I would say:

-accommodations & spending money about $4000
-$400 for car
-we have AP's, so we don't actually include them in the cost of each trip
-We had 5 frequent flyer tickets so cost of flights was only $50!

We have done 7 days trips that have cost anywhere from $3000 to $5000 & 2 week trips that cost $10,000 (included 5 AP's in that cost)

We'll be back in April & staying at CR, however, we'll be w/ my brother's family on a military SOG rate, so hotel cost is quite low (especially for a deluxe). We already have our AP's, so 15 days w/ airfare, but w/out ticket costs will probably be about $5000 - $6000.

After so many years & finally realizing Disney was our "ultimate vacation destination" (I sound like a commercial) we finally bought into DVC.

 

[alyssa810]

We stayed at WL in November- 6 nights, 2 adults for $900, we bought annual passes-$750, our airfare was $200 each, and we budgeted $20 each per meal , 3 meals a days, which was way more than we needed because we didn't eat 3 meals each day every day, and we did eat sit table service lunch everyday except one, and counting souveniers and other incidentals it was less than $3000. We also used the mears shuttle and didn't rent a car and were able to use our disney club card for some discounts at downtown disney.

Between the annual pass and the Disney Club we saved a ton, plus we decided to go again in February instead of waiting for our next planned trip in September so we'll get that much more use out of our annual passes.

....we are renting a car in February though, and we're lowering our meal budget a little...and our room rate at AKL was 109 as opposed to 135 at WL...

 

[pewing]

We went in December...stayed 6 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (paid for the savannah view upgrade...couldn't risk not getting it). We paid for the package before we went (room and tickets). That came to $2200. We charged all our meals, snacks and souv. while we were there. Our check out charges were $1200 more We are so bad

At any rate...the total bill (we cashed in for 4 award tickets with our FF miles) was $3400. I thought that was not bad for 7 nights in a deluxe (AKL is AWESOME) and we ate well...

Good luck

 

[QueenOfCelts]

Hotel
+Ticket media
+$110 per day, per adult
+any extras you may need to pack(soda,snacks, etc.), film, whatever.

I used this formula before I had children and found it to be very good. It includes spending money and I like to shop, LOL. It also includes drinks and for my husband that means beer, LOL. Now that I have a child I just sort of add in how much I will allow him to spend and whatever I think I will spend on his meals keeping in mind that it's about $5.00 per meal for kids. Sometimes it goes up to $8.00 depending on where we are eating.

Hope this helps.

 

[skfulkers]

this is what my DW and I are spending for our 9-day trip in February:

airfare for 2 from Cincinnati: $420
2 nights at Poly--garden view using code: $400
6 nights at BW Villa studio (renting DVC points): $850
AP's for both of us (we're going back later this year): $780
Food: $800
Rental car: $170
Misc/Souveniers: $300

So the grand total is $3720. If we weren't planning to go back later this year, we wouldn't be buying APs, so the total price would be about $400 less.
As many people have mentioned above, the time of year, type of resort, type of restaurants for meals, and type of passes will be the biggest factors which will increase or decrease your total expense. I firmly believe that a family of 4 can take a week-long vacation to Disney (staying on Disney property) for a little over $2000, but this definitely requires a lot of pre-planning and sticking to your budget.

 

[MELSMICE]

As I'm rereading all these posts I just realized that everyone (including myself) forgot the most important part of their budget/itinerary -

Trip to WDW - PRICELESS

 

[firecracker]

We spend MUCH less money!

Our family of 4 has driven from Indiana twice and our opinion is that we're there for the parks, not for the bed in the hotel room. We're rarely in the room, so we always stay at a value.

Now, I'd love to stay at a mod or deluxe, but we usually just open the door, plop in bed, wake up, shower and we're gone again, so I can't justify the extra expense.

We also plan (well, I, the obsessive/compulsive one, plan) our meals out well. We eat bfast in the room (usually--we're hoping for Cindy's one day on this next trip) and then we eat one other big meal per day and maybe a snack.

I'm all for luxury...but I can't afford it. We do our best to treat our kids every 1-2 years, which is more than many poor souls in our country can afford. We're really thankful that frugality pays off...even at Disney World.

Believe it or not, our last 5-day stay cost us less than $1800 total.

 

[MadMadamMim]

Interesting.. I haven't seen anoyone on one of their 'plans' yet..

plane tix for 2 - $400
5 nights YC with 'silver plan' - $3000

we use our 'magical wishes' for the 2 meals a day, so that pretty much covers us food-wise (except the snacky stuff in the parks)

 

[eller]

Our budget for a family of five for a 10 day trip is $2500 - $3000. On occation, if we have to pay airfare or we do a lot of sit down meals or the trip we buy the APs it will go up to $4000.

We would rather go more often than be lavish every year and a half.

For example: Dec 2002 -- $3500
Oct 2003 -- $3500 at present, but is likely to go down as we only have two airline tickets in hand, but are likely to reduce the $3500 by $650 once we have the other three tickets.

Have fun! It's great fun to plan, I mean research for you trip!

Lori

 

[lindylou]

Thank you all for all your info..........budgets are so diverse! I'm really impressed at some of the budgets for the delux resorts.

 

[dansyr]

This year we are doing deluxe pkg at AS movies...for 2 adults and it is costing us approx. $3200 w/ airfare.
Last yr we did resort magic pkg at ASmovies and it cost us about 1800 for the pkg and about $600 for food and recreation for the week.

 

[Jen D]

We are two adults, one child.

Our last trip was only six nights (shaving off a night is a good way to save, and just schedule your flights to arrive early your first day and leave late your last day.) We got a good deal renting points at BWV, spent about $730 for six nights at a studio (comparable for moderate code rates that were out at the time.) About $430 on airfare from New York. About $800 on six day park hoppers. About $700 on food- including a meal at the California Grill, some other sitdowns and a couple overpriced character breakfasts And another 200-300 on everything else: Towncar, groceries from Publix (mostly breakfast and drinks), souvineers, and Kids Club expenses. We did it for about $3000.

Our next trip we are planning seven days at the Poly and hoping for code rates. Our estimates

1) Hotel-- approx $1400
2) Airfare-- approx $430
3) Hoppers-- $800 (we'll stick with six day hoppers and use the options for off-days)
4) Food-- $1000 (over-budgeting; we'll spend less)
5) Towncar, souvineers, babysitting-- $300

That's about $4000. Ouch! I added one day to my trip and $1000! How did that happen? Well, by choosing the Poly, even at code rates, I've almost doubled my lodging charges. If we get squeamish about costs I may choose AKL or WL instead; that knocks off a couple hundred. Airfare has been very low, so I may get lucky and get tickets for well under $400. Hoppers will stay the same. Food, I've overestimated, we may spend more like $800. The $300 for "everything else" is probably accurate, though.

It might be smart to figure out what YOU can-- or want to spend-- and plan your vacation around that. I have no doubt I could plan a seven day vacation and stay on property for a little over two grand, but that involves value resorts, and lots of frugality with food and extras. Our family only manages a vacation every two or three years, so we prefer to save and do a little more. Everyone is different!

 

[mom23guys2]

This is really depressing. I just try not to think about the total costs,just each individual bit
Airfare $200 pp
Dolphin $143 per night(Teacher rate)
Car $187 for the nine day stay
Food about $100 a day Some days less, some a whole lot more)
Tickets $475 Disney, $184 Universal(we always have a few left from our last visit.
We don't spend much on souveniers since we go every year, but we do shop at the outlet malls.

 

[JalensMom]

This is only my 3rd time visiting Disney and I decided to rent a dvc members points. If I were to make the reservation on my own, my 5 nite stay at OKW would have been about $1600.00. By renting the points I got that same stay for only $870. You can see the difference.

Visit the DVC Rent trade board for more info. They have a point calculator which will let you know how many points are needed and then you can just post your request.

I hope this helps.

Cara.

 

[>>^..^<<]

If you are interested in concierge rates... 6 nights at AKL, BC, Poly or YC is $3750.00 (August - value season) including taxes, park passes and transportation.

With this rate you get upgraded service, daily continental breakfast, snacks and high tea, appetizers at dinner time, desserts and cordials in the evening and soda, bottled water, coffee, tea, etc all all day long.

 

[Pam Lau]

The bottom line is that you have to determine what your budget is and what you value in a vacation. We used to stay off-site, sometimes using reward travel vouchers and we had a great time. Now we own DVC and love the convenience of the Deluxe Resort locations. We have eaten outside the resorts as well as at some of the better restaurants. What do you consider a MUST for your vacation and take it from there. Regardless of where you stay or where you dine, the parks are the same. You have to determine the price you are willing to pay for the convenience of staying/eating on property. Who knows you may actually enjoy getting away from WDW. But always budget in a little extra for those unexpected things. If you do not spend it, great, but at least plan for it.

 

[BethC1952]

We aren't really into all the luxury of a deluxe resort. We prefer to spend less money each trip and go more often! We're on vacation to have fun and relax for a while. That being said, our 11 night trip last month (first-second week of Dec., still value season) including a 4 night Disney Cruise Line cruise cost us under $4,000 for everything, including food and souvenirs, roundtrip Greyhound bus transportation from Newark, NJ, for three adults (FIL refused to fly, Amtrak is very expensive and saved no time compared with the bus) and Tiffany Town Car service to and from the Greyhound bus terminal in Orlando.

We spent our first night at All Star Music, the second night at Port Orleans Riverside in Oak Manor, the next three nights at the Dolphin (a free upgrade through Disney Cruise Line from Port Orleans), a four night cruise on Disney Wonder (category 11) and two more nights at Port Orleans Riverside, Alligator Bayou, Bldg. 17. Our cruise package included LOS passes for the days at the Dolphin and round trip transfers to and from the port. We ate mostly at counter service restaurants and food courts (our choice--we eat plenty of fancy meals when we're not traveling). Character meals aren't at all important to us, and we don't like to plan ahead so we made no PS's at all. We did eat at Boatwright's (Port Orleans, very good) and we did eat at Boma (awesome) and we went to the Luau at the Polynesian (an exception to our not liking to plan ahead, we booked this in July and had terrific seats), which we really enjoyed. Of course, the cruise included all our food. In fact, it included so much food that I wasn't sure I'd ever want to eat again!

We aren't really drinkers, so alcohol costs weren't high. We had wine with dinner once or twice, and had some very good drinks with dinner at Boma.

We saved enough money on our budgeted costs for this trip ($5000) that we'll be going back in the spring for a long weekend, and doing the same in the early fall.

Beth

 

[taylor1293]

We spent $5,000 for our trip last August. 2 Adults and 2 children ages, 8 and 2.

Our expenses included:

Driving down from Illinois

1 night in a hotel through Priceline

4 nights HIFS

5 nights Polynesian LV Concierge

2 Adult PAP and 1 Child PAP

Food and Drinks

Film and Devloping

Boarding our 2 dogs

Souviners

Our trip this coming June we estimate to cost us a little more ($5,500) even though we already have our AP's. Our lodging is going to cost more.

Teresa

 

[minnie56]

from AKL...not concierge....

Room was $109.00 per night plus taxes so around $1200 for 10 nights...

we charged most things to the room...and ate really well....not including one nights deposit previously paid...our total bill was around $2850....for four people.On top of this we probably spent approx $350-$400 cash on 'stuff'.....

We drove..so cannot factor in gas and hotels along the way really as we spent 2 days in Savannah on the way down.

Hope this helps...it's tough to do Disney on less than approx $200 a day for four..excluding hotel...

 

[minnie56]

we also had the Disney Dining Experience card which significantly reduced our food cost at 20%....made a big difference...but still pricey! A cup of coffee is $2.00.....that hurt! Here in Canada that's Starbucks price (affectionately called 'Big Bucks' here!) and let's face it....Disney coffee is not Starbucks coffee!!