The true cost of a WDW Vacation - a post mortem analysis

[Barbaraann]

There are many different reasons for the vacation decisions that we all make. Sometimes cost isn't the only deciding factor. I have booked 2 value rooms for three people basically for the reason that we will all have our own bed to sleep in. Comfort determined that decision.

Cost did determine my decision not to buy parkhoppers. The $150 saved will more than pay for our one splurge at Ohana.

The fact that I am splitting my stay between Pop Century, and an off property hotel made it necessary for us to rent a car. It will nice to have it when we need it for going to all parks except maybe the Magic Kingdom.

I looked at the Cabins and they start at about $265 a night. My 2 Pop Rooms were cheaper by about $100 a night.

I believe the trundle beds are great for families with younger children. I have stayed at POR, and it was fun when my grandson was younger. He especially loved the fishing there.

[Mouse princess]

This was an interesting analysis. I just checked mine, I did get it a bit cheaper than you.

Your total was $3654 for 5 people for 5 days- total per person per day is $146.18 - not bad for a vacation.
We went in May, 6 people for 7 days (two rooms), the total cost of the trip was $4,690 - per person per day is $111.68. Room/tickets $2288.60, Car $261.70, plane tickets $1125. But we also disney points for meals, and Disney had the 7 days for the cost of 4. We did not do the dining plan becuase we were going to use the Disney points for sit down meals. We had 275 points, so dinner for two nights was $235 - Ohana's and Biergarten. the remainder we used at the 50's Prime Time to reduce the dinner expense. We also kept shopping to a minimum. I bought the 3 kids each a $50 gift card befire we left. this was their spending money. They were able to buy anything they want as long as it was within their spending money. It worked out wonderfully.

[flynnibus]

Yeah, the earlier promo for the three days was huge. The hotels are by far the part that costs can run away from you on. Tickets are cheaper longer... rental cars are pretty much the same.. airfare is indifferent or cheaper. Hotels are the one thing that eat you up.. so the 4/3 promo was especially nice.

[disneyfann121]

As far as I could tell, that seven days for four offer was an illusion. They just charged you their "undiscounted" price for the four days, so you ended up paying the same amount. I know it wasn't any cheaper for me, on a per day basis, then my previous trip to WDW. The only incentive for me was the gift card -- and I even got stiffed out of that one because I changed my trip from January to May.

[flynnibus]

Well.. if you find 40%+ discounts off the standard rack rate normally, I'd agree with you. But the reality is that is the upper limits of discounts, so its pretty good.

[Psyure]

Originally Posted by flynnibus

Yeah, I discussed this somewhere previously in that we considered the cabins. The suites at All-Stars and the cabins are the two cheapest ways to get a party of 5 in a single room. However the suites were not available, and the cabins were more expensive even even buying 2 separate rooms at All-Star. But the cabins have the advantage of the kitchenette as you mentioned. I haven't stayed at FW before and having a nearby pool and the cheaper costs is kind of what was the tipping point.

Anyone know the parking situation at the cabins? Can you park at your cabin itself?

We personally didn't have a car but most of the cabins around us had minivans parked in front of thier respectful cabins. Some cabins even had 2 vehicles parked in front. If you rent a golf cart there is a place to charge your cart in front of the cabin. We actually didn't need a car except to go the grocery store for water and other incidentals. The bus system is really impressive. Thing is, Fort Wilderness is soooo huge that it has internal resort busses that only run guests throughout the resort! The golf carts really help, now if only you could drive them to Epcot! Hope that clears up some questions.

Originally Posted by disneyfann121

As far as I could tell, that seven days for four offer was an illusion. They just charged you their "undiscounted" price for the four days, so you ended up paying the same amount. I know it wasn't any cheaper for me, on a per day basis, then my previous trip to WDW. The only incentive for me was the gift card -- and I even got stiffed out of that one because I changed my trip from January to May.

I looked into going in August for the same amount of time and it was a full $1000 more due to no promotion, granted that was before they started the free DDP which probably equal the same amount of money due to our group size! I believe we saved a pretty penny.

[pixie chick]

This is a great thread! I was just trying to come up with a budget for our trip. Anyone have a cost breakdown for their DCL vacation?

[Thomas998]

Originally Posted by flynnibus

Yeah, I discussed this somewhere previously in that we considered the cabins. The suites at All-Stars and the cabins are the two cheapest ways to get a party of 5 in a single room. However the suites were not available, and the cabins were more expensive even even buying 2 separate rooms at All-Star. But the cabins have the advantage of the kitchenette as you mentioned. I haven't stayed at FW before and having a nearby pool and the cheaper costs is kind of what was the tipping point.

Anyone know the parking situation at the cabins? Can you park at your cabin itself?

Yes you can park at the cabin yourself. Each cabin has a parking space right by it so you park your car or whatever right there by the cabin. Unfortunately there is no place to park near the dining facilities or the pool so you have to use the bus or walk to them from you cabin (or rent a golf cart, they used to allow you to bring your own golf cart but I understand that is no longer allowed).

If a pool is a high priority for you then I would say the cabins are a good bet. We have two kids that get ear infections any time they get in a pool so for us it was actually nice to be far enough away from the pool that they were constantly trying to get us to let them go swimming... But if you wanted to walk to it from even the closest cabin it is probably a 3/4 mile walk... So you would likely want to take a bus... The only real issue with the cabins is what you might expect isn't what you get... their are probably half the cabins which sit in what appears to be a drained swamp... which means aside from the road and parking spot the land around the cabin is bald cypress knobs sticking up so your kids can't really play outside like they can in some other parts of the campground.

[Thomas998]

Originally Posted by flynnibus

Yeah, the earlier promo for the three days was huge. The hotels are by far the part that costs can run away from you on. Tickets are cheaper longer... rental cars are pretty much the same.. airfare is indifferent or cheaper. Hotels are the one thing that eat you up.. so the 4/3 promo was especially nice.

I agree with most of that except for the rental cars...

I'm a cheap SOB and have after numerous trips and a near obsession with checking prices found that rental car prices are like stock prices. They vary, sometimes daily and sometimes for no reason you might expect.

If you are trying to keep these prices down as much as possible their are a few things you can do.

Start looking early. when you find a good deal make a reservation.

Then each day go look for a better deal... if you find one then make that reservation and cancel the other one (the beauty of rental car reservations is there is no penalty or payment in making or cancelling a reservation). I've seen swings in a 1 week rental at the same company for the same car drop over 125 dollars... I'm sure if I hadn't checked back they wouldn't have told me about this and been glad to charge me the price I had first reserved.

Also, don't be locked into a particular car size... sometimes you can get a great deal on larger cars than you actually need and if you aren't going to be driving a great deal the lower MPG doesn't really matter much... Some SUV have been less than a full size car...

lastly don't assume you have to rent from the airport. One trip I found a car for 200 less by renting it from a Hertz location away from the airport at a satellite office in a hotel... The only downside was I had to take a 20 dollar cab ride to pick it up... but I was able to drop it off at the airport for no additional charge. I also avoided the airport service charge this way.

So if are really cheap there are things you can do to lower your rental car fee... they just take time and effort... maybe not worth it for a 3 day trip but if you are planning on at least a week they are worth it.

[flynnibus]

Interesting.. my biggest concern with FW was simply accessibility and having to use the internal buses vs. being able to park right outside your building like I could at Sports. If you can park at your cabin, and have a kitchenette they sound like a great alternative for those not looking for the hotel portion of the stay.. just a place to sleep, eat, and leave from.

Thx for the extra info.

[flynnibus]

Originally Posted by Thomas998

So if are really cheap there are things you can do to lower your rental car fee... they just take time and effort... maybe not worth it for a 3 day trip but if you are planning on at least a week they are worth it.

I've found the hotwire rates pretty much hard to beat.. and they tend to be pretty stable. The other nice thing is it's easy to compare rates as their quotes are 'all inclusive'. However, they are more 'walled in' so its harder to do bargain hunting with a different drop off site like you mentioned. That is an interesting angle to look at next time.

But for $189 for 5 full days.. That's less then $40 a day. For anything but the tiny cars.. its tough to get close to $30 a day. If I'm at $35/day... I think I'm close to the point of diminishing returns to add cab rides, and more fanfare to get much lower.

My advice to others would be if you have larger groups going, be flexible in your car setup. You might get 2 smaller cars cheaper or vise versa.

[Aaron Morrow]

Flynnibus mentioned getting a military discount for tickets.
Anyone eligible for Shades of Green should know that the rooms fit 5, and start around $100 a night. (Also home to the cheapest dinner buffet on property - which is very good.)

[flynnibus]

Originally Posted by Aaron Morrow

Flynnibus mentioned getting a military discount for tickets.
Anyone eligible for Shades of Green should know that the rooms fit 5, and start around $100 a night. (Also home to the cheapest dinner buffet on property - which is very good.)

True, except to check in at the Shades of Green (which I did stay in last time) you need to have your military ID to check in. Where as tickets you can buy anywhere with military ID, and do not need ID again to use them. So my father who is military can buy tickets for me at our home base, but I can't stay at the shades of green unless he is on the trip. Which - he was not.

That said, MWR also has discount travel agents too, etc.

[Psyure]

Originally Posted by Thomas998

Yes you can park at the cabin yourself. Each cabin has a parking space right by it so you park your car or whatever right there by the cabin. Unfortunately there is no place to park near the dining facilities or the pool so you have to use the bus or walk to them from you cabin (or rent a golf cart, they used to allow you to bring your own golf cart but I understand that is no longer allowed).

We were there just last week and I saw plenty of personal golf carts.
But yeah, no parking next to pools or dining areas.

[ryno1986]

Originally Posted by DLcastmbr

why pay for a rental car, with WDWs free transportation service?

Because the buses are slow and unreliable for the most part. Not to mention you've got a 50/50 chance of standing. My family learned that driving to the parks saves a bunch of time.