I'm trying to help someone book a Disney trip for January. His wife died unexpectedly, and we've raised money to send him, an adult child, and two kids under 10 to Disney.
The sister of a friend who is a "Disney Specialist" travel agent sent me these options (six days), which does not include travel:
Grand Floridian Resort
Outer building garden view room
$5356.66 with no meal plan
$6099.08 with Quick Service
$6369.06 with Plus Dining Plan
Polynesian Resort
Standard view room
$4687.27 with no meal plan
$5429.69 with Quick Service
$5699.67 with Plus Dining Plan
Contemporary Resort
Garden wing garden view room
$4453.27 with no meal plan
$5195.69 with Quick Service
$5465.67 with Plus Dining Plan
I have no idea if these are good prices or not. Bottom line: I'm using my credit card rewards points for flights, but the rest is a bit more than we've raised. Any suggestions for cutting the costs, but still staying on Disney grounds, which I'm told is ideal?
I am not a huge Disney fan, but my kids are, so we have been 3 times in the last 9 years. You are not looking for a review of Disney here, but you should know it is very expensive. I took a 10 day trip to Europe in 2015 where the total cost was within $100 of a 7 day trip to Disney in 2014, and that was even with the airfare to Europe being 4x the airfare to Orlando. Disney is expensive.
My recommendation:
Given the circumstances, don't go too cheap. You are going to spend a lot of money on this trip, so if you and your friends have to throw in an extra $50 a piece to top it off, do it.
Get the dining plan. We got one where we had counter service, quick service, and a sit down at a nice place every day. I can guarantee the adults will be sick of counter service food by the third day there and will want real food. There are some other knicks and knacks that come with the dining plans, and it ends up saving A LOT of money if you do even just one sit down meal a day at a nice place. The nice restaurants at Disney cost about 30% more than they should, but then they are discounted for those on the meal plan. The kids will be getting drinks and ice cream every day, which will add up quickly, but 1 or 2 snacks a day per customer come with the dining plan. I let my kids take my snacks, and it did end up saving quite a bit. Get the dining plan. Alternative, since you are picking up the hotel and flights, you can let him get his own meals.
Even the nice restaurants are very kid friendly.
Get park hopper passes. It doesn't cost that much more, and it is worth it for convenience. You don't need them for every day, although I think the cost for 5 days vs. 7 days was pretty close last time we went.
I stayed at the Epcot resorts (Boardwalk, Yacht/Beach club) the last 3 trips. It is a 20 minute bus ride to the Magic Kingdom from those resorts, but the benefit they have is that you can pop into Epcot for a couple of hours for dinner and it isn't a big trip. Most of the best restaurants are in Epcot. There is also a lot for kids to do in Epcot, and it has a decent end of day light show. Magic Kingdom is a get there and stay there kind of place, including watching the parade and fireworks at the end. It is also a place that unless they are both girls, the kids should be all set after 2 or 2.5 days. He is going to want to mix it up, and it is easier to do that from Epcot. Also, MGM is not really a full day park, so being able to do Epcot and MGM the same day is convenient. I could be wrong, but I believe the Tier 3 (or whatever they are called) Epcot resorts are a little cheaper than the Tier 3 Magic Kingdom resorts. The Magic Kingdom resorts are fine too though.
