Is It Possible?

[Disnerd6838]

My fiance and I are getting married next November (2019) so money is VERY tight due to wedding savings. My question is, would it be possible to plan a trip for under $1000 (air hotel park tix food)? I've tried every combo but it really seems impossible. We are total disnerds and want to go even if for a weekend or so. Should I be checking certain websites or anything? I know its very unlikely.

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

I think the air is what's going to set you over. My family (me, mom, stepdad) always drives, so we were able to go to Disney last November for 5 nights at a value resort, 4-Day ticket, for about 1,500. This didn't include food though...

 

[Tiki_Sara]

Have you got any airmiles saved up? Where are you intending to fly from?

 

[stazmatic]

If you have flexible schedules the best bet is to plan a trip around cheap flights. I've gotten round trip tickets as low as $60 on both Southwest and Spirit. Once you get there, there are lots of ways to stay on a budget with food and hotels. The only thing you won't find a deal on is park tickets.
You may want to try opening credit cards and using points to pay for some expenses. There is tons of information out there for ways to earn free flights and hotel nights. It is doable - but takes some creativity.

 

[kymom99]

Here is a question for you. How did you arrive at the figure of $1000? With well over a year before you go, it might work better to plan the cheapest trip you could comfortably agree to take, and see if you could save up for it between now and then. There are lots of ways to cut back and save. Also, do you expect gifts for your wedding? You will probably get at least some cash. Maybe you can have a honeymoon a little bit after the wedding when you see what your finances look like. I have even had a niece on my husband's side set up a honeyfund for people to give money for honeymoon activities. You could probably do the same to buy your park tickets, if you are comfortable with that sort of thing.

 

[Marionnette]

My fiance and I are getting married next November (2019) so money is VERY tight due to wedding savings. My question is, would it be possible to plan a trip for under $1000 (air hotel park tix food)? I've tried every combo but it really seems impossible. We are total disnerds and want to go even if for a weekend or so. Should I be checking certain websites or anything? I know its very unlikely.

IMO, you would be hard pressed to be able to do a trip for 2 nights/3 days for two people and include everything you're expecting. Two 3-day base tickets would cost $611 at a ticket discounter. That's better than half of your budget.

Cheap RT airfare? That depends on when you're flying from. And weekend fares to vacation destinations tend to be costlier because everyone wants to begin and end their trip on a weekend. You might be able to get a $60 RT ticket for each of you but it will take a lot of work to find it and would likely have to be on weekdays with less desirable flight times. But let's just assume that you do. Another $120 spent, not including any of the extra fees at a cut-rate airline for carrying your bags onto the plane. You're already at $730, leaving you with $270 for a room and food.

You still need a place to sleep for 2 nights. Stay at Disney and expect to spend $300 for a Value Resort room in a non-preferred location. IF you can get a discount, it might save you $30. So, $270 for accommodations but hey, you get free transportation to and from the airport! You're already at $1000 and you haven't eaten.

Stay offsite in a less expensive resort and you will pay for a shuttle to/from the airport and possibly back and forth to the parks as well. Figure on $35 RT (minimum) for airport transportation on Uber or Lyft and another $35 RT to go from I-Drive to/from the MK. So, figure on about $100 more than whatever your cheap hotel costs to make up for the free transportation that Disney offers. This might leave you a couple of bucks for food. Choose to take a Lynx bus (public transportation) and you can save a lot on the transportation costs but you will spend a great deal of time either waiting for your bus or getting the scenic tour of Orlando en route to your hotel or from your hotel to the parks. On a short weekend, time is valuable and spending a good portion of it on public transportation in order to save money may not be the best choice.

Pack food in you luggage (and possibly end up paying to check your bag) and there's a possibility that you can squeeze in a trip right at $1K but all of the stars need to align properly. If you manage to do it, I would love to see a trip report when you get back. It would be an interesting read and a lesson in making a cheap trip work.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

There's some great advice in this thread! But to offer better suggestions, we'd need more information.

Which airport are you most likely to use to fly to WDW? (And are there other airports nearby which you could use if you found a better deal?)

What type of hotel do you have in mind? Luxury? Budget? Off property?

Are you willing to skimp on a few meals to have a few bigger meals together?

One thing which I read on another thread was to ask people to give you Disney gift cards in lieu of wedding gifts. Ask for the gift cards for showers, birthdays, holidays, wedding gifts - you get the idea. It would help offset some costs.

And finally - congratulations on your impending nuptials. I hope that you have a wonderful life together and many happy trips to Disney.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Are you interested in travel hacking via cc? If so, come over to the cc thread and we can help!

 

[JessicaW1234]

You should get a southwest credit card for the points bonus & use that to pay for your plane tickets. you could get two airline tickets for about $20.

 

[MKOATEYW]

Question do you like to camp??? Assuming you already have or could borrow a tent, extension cord, air mattress, and a heating blanket , you could ruff it at Fort Wilderness... Looked at prices this year midweek first week of December (of course prices always go up...) 3 nights at the Fort $233, 2 day base ticket for 2 persons $446, split counter services and bring some from home $50 per day - $150, totals about $830 leaving $170 to get the pair of you to Disney... You didn't say if you were driving or flying!

 

[Doug McCoy]

It’s possible if you go during off-season and for not many days. Also staying off property can save money.

 

[kymom99]

Question do you like to camp??? Assuming you already have or could borrow a tent, extension cord, air mattress, and a heating blanket , you could ruff it at Fort Wilderness... Looked at prices this year midweek first week of December (of course prices always go up...) 3 nights at the Fort $233, 2 day base ticket for 2 persons $446, split counter services and bring some from home $50 per day - $150, totals about $830 leaving $170 to get the pair of you to Disney... You didn't say if you were driving or flying!

She mentioned airfare in the original post

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm leaning towards no. Park tickets will run several hundred for 2 people even for low amount of days--also depends on when/if they actually do decide to tier multi-days on tickets, airfare probably will run several hundred too (it was nearly $400 RT for one person for SWA for us until a sale came along and bumped it down to just under $300 RT for dates in September--different markets of course will have different price points and sales), food you can scrimp here and there and share and not spend a ton, and hotel if offsite you'd likely be able to get a reasonable enough deal. But all that for under $1,000? I'm thinking unlikely or just no period.

You could see what airline tickets are running for when you are thinking of going just to get a sort of idea. Is driving completely out of the equation? I know for me driving would save a ton especially because we already get a rental car when we go on vacation but it would take 18+hrs which is 2 full days of travel just to get down there and 2 full days of travel just to get back home. If I had to absolutely no way could I ever get there any other way due to finances other than driving it would be back on the table--though time off from work would be added to the equation.

 

[SharonZ]

I think the $1,000 budget won't do it.

 

[DreamIsaWish]

The best I've ever done was $1500 inclusive for a week, but that was during the recession (10 years ago) when the stars aligned and we were able to stack two or three discounts during one very specific week. Tickets were way cheaper back then as was pretty much everything else and they were practically paying you to stay onsite.

In today's market? The tickets alone will eat up so much of the budget. I think the only way to do it is with miles/points as others have suggested and picnicking for most meals. Food you could definitely wiggle down really cheap. But tickets, travel, and hotels...

 

[gottalovepluto]

Not unless you want to use credit card bonuses towards it.

 

[firefly_ris]

The biggest cost is the tickets. Even if you are using a discount site, the most you are going to shave off is like $100-$200 bucks.

My DH and I just went by ourselves October 2017 for our 10th anniversary. We did the following:

- Had Southwest Rapid Rewards points stocked up and paid for the full round-trip airfare with these points. We earn points using our Southwest Visa.

- I earned gift cards and extra $$ using the Ibotta app and G2 Rewards for Starbucks gift cards (a tech software survey site)

- Stayed on site for 3 nights at POFQ, did not use a rental car, relied completely on Disney transport. I got the room booked on Orbitz for 20% off -- even then it was still $220/night, but at least we didn't have to pay for the rental car I guess. I prefer having a vehicle on property as I do not like the buses, but we had to cut corners where we could for this trip, and with just 2 of us (instead of the usual 5 with my kids) I sucked it up and rode the bus. I did like the boat ride to Disney Springs though. We could have gotten nicer and cheaper accommodations off site, but since this was an anniversary trip and probably the only time we are low occupancy enough to fit in the room, I decided on POFQ. Because we were on site we also did DME to and from airport.

- I purchased 3 day hopper passes from Boardwalk Ticketing. Since this trip was short and I really wanted to focus on hitting all the big headliners that my kids are still too small to ride, we made good use of the hoppers. But you can save $$ by not getting hoppers.

- I packed granola bars and other snacks, we had those for breakfast in the room. I did go down to the food court and got beignets one morning.

- We did all counter service except for one table service meal. It was hot and I don't eat much when it's hot out. I did splurge on some treats (a sundae at Plaza, some adult beverages, etc).

- Brought a Brita water bottle with me to the parks.

- I used the aforementioned gift cards to purchase coffee once in the park.

To create extra money when I want to do something or take a trip, year-round I sell stuff on eBay and Craigslist (my own things and garage/estate sale finds).

However, we still didn't end up under $1000, it was more like $1500. I hope some of these ideas can help though.

[eta] The camping at Fort Wilderness suggestion is great, and if you can drive also a great money-saver.

 

[Sagginit]

I would say for two people I can't imagine getting a WDW trip with airfare to under 1,000. I've had the disney itch but we just haven't been able to work out going, went to DL in fall 2016 but may be years before we go again due to adulting. When I have the itch I think about how much nicer it would be to go later when we have more money to budget.

 

[leebee]

I think it all depends on how soon you want to go to WDW and how responsible you are with credit cards. If you can qualify for a Southwest credit card through Chase, meet the minimum spend, and pay off the card every month, you could earn 50,000 points which should be enough for 2 RT tickets (if you pick the cheapest flights, wait for a sale, etc). Regarding "money" for Disney, Chase also sponsors the Disney Visa card. You can occasionally find offers (search online) where, if you open a premier card with a $49 annual fee and meet the sign-up requirements, you get a "free" $200 Disney gift card. If I were doing it (and I did), I'd open one card in my name (with DH as the second person on the account), meet the requirements and get the $200 gift card, collect the rewards points and then close that account and open one in DH's name, with me (you) as the second person on the account. Meet the requirements, pay the card in full each month, get the $200 gift card, but leave this second DIS VISA account open until 11 months. You can charge groceries, gas, and restaurants and earn 2% back, 1% on everything else. Might as well make a little "money" before ordering the rewards points and closing the account (but close it before you pay the $49 fee for the second year). NOW you have "free" airfare on Southwest and $400 or more towards your Disney resort hotel and food.

Make your reservation as "room only" at a Disney VALUE hotel; our "room only" reservation in August, with no discounts, is $135 a night; if you can get a discount or go at a lower cost time of year, you'll pay less than this per night. A Disney resort hotel room will give you free round-trip transportation between MCO and WDW, and you won't have to pay for a rental car or parking fees; just use the Disney bus system. Not my favorite, but it's free if you are onsite (and with the cost of rental cars and now the cost of parking at a Disney park/resort, it's worth it, especially if you can get a discount on the room). At this point, after meeting the minimum spends on the cards (which means charging everything, groceries, gas, restaurants, any bills that don't charge an electronic funds fee, etc), you will be "spending" $49 on each of the Disney credit cards (annual fees) and $5.20 to $11.40 per Southwest ticket. Southwest will give you 2 free suitcases per person; bring breakfast food and snacks from home to save money at WDW. DON"T get a dining plan; you'll do better buying your own food, especially for a short trip. Park tickets will be your biggest expense; check Undercover Tourist (sign up for the MOusesavers newsletter for a little bit of a discount), Maple Leaf Tickets, etc. If you find someone on Ebay or whatever selling WDW tickets, DON"T DO IT. You have no way of knowing if there are actually days left on these tickets, until you get to WDW, and no recourse if the tickets are crap.

Honestly, if you have the stamina/determination and a year to line up all the credit cards you need to juggle, you could probably squeeze in a short trip for 2 for about $1000. Our seven day trip in August for 2 adults, airfare from Boston, staying 6 nights at a value resort with 6 day base tickets and the DDP, is costing me about $600 OOP... but I've been planning and juggling this for about 2 years, saving our Disney points (some of which are on the basic card and only at 1%), using our SW miles and two $200 "free" Disney gift cards. It can be done, but it takes time and planning.

 

[la79al]

Am I really the only one thinking-skimp on the wedding to pay for Disney?