Is My Budget Reasonable?

[lfw]

We are planning our trip for end Feb, and my DH is a worrywart about money. Does this budget sound reasonable? Airfare for 4, Syracuse to Orlando,on Jetblue.com ( $990 USD, X 1.5% exchange rate) = $1500; Airport parking for 1 week $75 cdn; food $80 USD daily, $120 cdn. Accomodations $600 ( Oak Plantation is $54.90 while we are there, exchanged rate would be about $80. cdn, $560 for the week but I rounded up just in case) Car rental is the unknown, I'm guessing at about $300 cdn for the week. We are choosing Oak Plantation because it looks beautiful, has the seperate bedroom and full kitchen. We will eat breakfast and one other meal or light snack in room daily, and have one nice sit down each day. I am choosing Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner, and the Trail's End Buffeteria lunch, late in the day around 3:00. (followed by the afternoon evening at FW doing campfire, petting zoo, pony and carriage rides). Other meals will definitely include Olive Garden,and other American offsite chains we don't have in Ottawa; Friendly's,Bob Evans, Cracker Barrell, Jungle Jims, Steak & Shake etc. Most of these meals will probably be late lunch, with a snack or sandwich later in the evening. Park tickets, including Seaworld, I'm estimating $1300. ( 5 day PHP,1 day Seaworld, 2 adults/ 2 kids with the Cdn special, assuming it matches last year)

Total Budget $1500 airfare
$75. parking
$600 accomodations
$840 meals
$1300 tickets
$300 car rental
$300 Incidentals and Souveniers
---------
$4915
Does this seem reasonable, have I been too generous? I assume that I will get a better price on the airfare and the car rental, watching seat sales and codes, and I am certain I can shave some of the food budget, as soom meals will probably be pizza, etc. The kids will also have some money of their own for snacks/ souveniers, saved from birthday and Xmas (I've asked the grandmothers to send American or Disney Dollars for gifts) If you can show me where I can save, I'd appreciate it.

 

[E.Jane]

When we were there last year I budgeted $50 US per day per person for food/snacks. We had a sit-down lunch each day, but other than that, everything was counter-service. I think the killer was the snacks. A coke and ice cream at 3 pm would end up costing $20! Add to the fact that the kids are starving all day long because of all the walking. We literally had to budget for snacks 3 times a day - morning, afternoon and night! We did come home with a bit of cash, but then again, we put a little on visa.

Which ticket deal are you referring to? I know they often have the buy one, get the second half price on the 7-day pass, but do they offer deals on 5-day passes?

 

[lfw]

I thoght the special was on all types of tickets, is it only offered on the 7day PHP? If so, that kind of sucks, I'd rather pay less and have 5days in the parks and 2 at the water parks than have the 7/4 options that we don't have time to use them all and then the unused ones expire! Any idea on the cost of the 7day plus?

 

[E.Jane]

I believe 470.00 Cdn. (approx) for adult. No idea what childs pass would cost.

 

[SandraC]

Hi ~

Trail's End Buffet lunch ends at 2:00pm. Before we went I read that the lunch ended at 2:00pm, but when I got to WDW, I read 3:00pm. At the main bldg at FW it stated 3:00pm too. When we arrived at Trail End's it was indeed 2:00pm ~ it was just after 2:00pm when we got there. They were great and let us have lunch anyway. It was very good, a great deal, only $8.99 US adults, $5.99 kids!

The CDN deal is only on the 7DHP, so you get 11 days really, 7 park days and 4 option days. They do expire. We bought them in 2001 and 2002, I love these tickets because it gives us the 'come and go' freedom that I like. We paid under $500 CDN for first adult and $250 CDN for the second adult, kids regular price was under $400 CDN.

In 2001, we spent too much money on food, so I was more careful in 2002. Good Luck! S

 

[SandraC]

Oh yeah, I forgot, I think your car rental budget is a little low. Car rentals seemed to really go up in the last couple years. We got a Dollar code for a mini-van $199 USF per week. We rented the van for 10 days and paid $39 USF per day (3 extra days) on top of the $199. Our rental came to about $600 CDN ~ and that was a deal. S

 

[lfw]

SandraC., Thanks for the info on Trail's End, I thought the lunch was on until 3:30! I got a rate of $128 for a compact with Dollar using the entertain code, but I really don't know how the "add ons" are with a car rental, we haven't rented one in years, and never in the U.S. I remember reading your report from April where you talked about your food budget, but I couldn't find it on this board to review again last night. (My DH and friends who are travelling with us think I've lost my mind because I am obsessed with planning this trip, and it will be almost 14 mths in the making before it's over!) When I told them I was reviewing menu's and making meal choices they just about fell off their chairs, but I would like to have a great trip and I don't want to overspend if a little planning can keep things in line!

 

[SandraC]

I love the planning part too! Pouring over menus on Deb Wills site is a whole bunch of fun for me. We did much much much better with our 2002 food budget compared to 2001. I tried to get out a couple of character meals and did more grocery shopping. ds eats free and that is a huge help.

All the 'extra' cost add up too. I spent $300 on film, processing and new photo albums for the 2002 trip. I didn't buy many new clothes, but I di get a few new things which added up too.

We like Dollar Rental Car very much, it was fast and easy.

Our Trail's End lunch day was probably the most economically eating day for us. We ate breakky in room from groceries, lunch was about $30 USF for the whole family ~ when I think that ONE adult cost $22 USF at Crystal Palace dinner ~ Trail's End Buffet at lunch is a steal of a deal! We had dinner at Beaches and Cream ~ ICE CREAM CONES! LOL! Single scoop $2.49 each x 3 = $7.47 USF FOR DINNER! So the whole day cost us about $40 USF to eat ~ that's 4 of us! We quite enjoyed coming back to the room for a rest, swim and lunch. We had lots of great food from Goodings. I think next trip, I'll cut out more character meals, we seem to do 6 character meals each trip ~ that's just too many.

GOOD LUCK! S

 

[E.Jane]

lfw, the "add ons" for a car rental really add up. Usually the rates quoted do not include insurance which was something like $14 a day, plus, plus, plus. If you use a gold Visa, you can usually waive those charges, I believe, or at least the bulk of them, as you will have insurance coverage through the card. And remember to fill the tank before you return the car, otherwise they'll really nail you.

And I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who plans waaaaaaaaay in advance! I'm planning our trip in Dec/03 already! I figured if I spent a good 12 months watching the boards and codes, I'll be ready to spring into action this time next year. This will be our third trip. The first one, we were totally upreprepared as far as eating was concerned. The second trip I had so many things planned, we were like commandos! I'm looking forward to trip #3, because we already know what's a "must do" and what's a "don't care to do again", so I'm thinking we can enjoy more resort time and things like afternoon tea at the GF. Of course, the kids will hate that, but they're old enough now that if we stay at the Poly, I won't be nervous about them taking off to the MK on their own while we do the "grown up" stuff.

Gees.....18 months away and I'm getting excited just thinking about it!!! Sorry to babble....

 

[DSNY FN]

We spend on average 4 to 5 thousand a trip mind you that is for 3 of us as our youngest is still free in the parks. Although this trip will be less expensive due to the fact that we don't have a hotel that we have to pay for. We also budget about 1000 to 1500 US for spending money and our trip is always great. All these figures are US funds not canadian mind you. We also go for 12 to 14 days at a time we drive down and bring our electric cooler and have breakfast in the room then a light lunch and a good dinner. We do 3 character meals per trip and eat off property alot of the time. We tend to go to Shoneys and Sizzlers and Olive Garden places like that we also do Mc Donalds. Hope this was some help.
Darren

 

[tlens]

Your exchange rate may be a little low. Let's hope it's 1.5 but I did all my budgeting at 1.6 (if I had extra left over because the dollar recovered, it was just extra for me!) Depending on what type of car you want you can get very good deals. We have booked at a couple different places and right now, we have an intermediate car at Dollar booked for $125.00/wk and a compact at Avis for $119.00/wk (we got burned once so I always make reservations at two seperate places). With taxes etc you're looking at about $160.00 US x 1.6 = 256.00.Cdn.

The 7 day passes sound like a good deal but if they expire and you're planning on going back another time, you may wish to buy the reg. passes. We had days left over from our 1999 trip so our park visits are "free" this year.

 

[DisneyLisa]

I agree that your exchange rate may be a little low. We just got back & the exchange rate on my credit cards was about 1.58.

As for food...I think that you should be fine with what you budgeted - based on where you'll be eating.

We were 2 female adults & 2 teens (daughter 14 & nephew 13) and we spent 7 days in WDW. We averaged $140 US per day including 7 Character/PS meals. Our other meals were at the Food Court at our resort or something quick at a park.

I think we spent way too much on food & a lot of it was a waste: eg. 'Ohana's: DN ate his money's worth but the rest of us (3 females) ate the appetizers & were full (so only ate a piece or two of the meat)...and it was $120 US w/tip (and that was just for the dinner ($21.99 + tax each) & 1 soft drink ($1.99 + tax each). Imagine...that was $45 Canadian each for a few appetizers & a drink for 1 meal. Now I'm not saying that 'Ohana's is not worth the money - it just wasn't for us. We'll avoid that type of thing next trip...it was great food but it'll be just DD & I, and neither of us is big eaters.

Just wanted to give you an example of how easy it is to spend lots of $$ on meals, but it sounds like you've planned your meals well. We wanted to do the Olive Garden (a must on each trip as we miss ours in Ottawa as well) but left before getting there. Enjoy & happy planning.

 

[twinz]

Can't you save on paying the insurance if you have insurance for your own car here in Canada? We have saved on paying for the car rentals insurance and used our own from State Farm. It takes a BIG chunk of money off the bill. Just be sure to check with your insurance company to see if they do this.

 

[grover]

You can buy your car insurance here in Canada- I just go to the place that sells me my regular car insurance. Here it cost me 8.00 per day and you can list any number of drivers as long as they have a valid drivers liscense. A big savings over buying it at the rental car and paying in US dollars!
Grover in Winnipeg

 

[SandraC]

Years ago (when I worked for an insurance company) we used to issue endorsements stating that you'd be driving to the states and auto insurance coverage was extended to the states. I don't think we charged anything for it.

I called my car insurance broker for the last three trips and our coverages is extended into the states without an endorsement.

However, April 2002 at Dollar Rental Car, the guy at the desk tried really hard to sell us additional insurance. He said he was from Scarborough, Ontario and knew that not ALL Canadian coverage extended to the stated, only the collision, I think it was. But we didn't buy any extra coverage for the car.

I always buy medical/trip cancellation. Our dd has a pre-existing medical condition that could run into the 100,000's if someone went wrong in the states. This year we bought our insurance thru Air Canada's broker, we were very happy with it. S

 

[DSNY FN]

We have it on our regular insurance at no extra cost and it covers both of us and it is full coverage just like our regular car would be