affordable disney vacations

Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part Thirteen: Decide if the Disney Dining Plan is Right For You

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning, Saving Money on Food , , , 3 Comments

This is part thirteen in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

food-797785Now that we have covered some of the major and most expensive portions of your trip…lodging and transportation…let’s talk about food.

One of the best ways to help have a truly affordable Disney vacation is to plan your meals economically. This post will discuss one of the most popular ways to get the most out of your food budget: using the Disney Dining Plan.

On the Disney Dining Plan (DDP), if you have reserved a Disney package, you can have the option of pre-paying for most, if not all of your meals, by choosing one of several plans. (Please note that having a Disney package is a requirement, unless you have Annual Passes or are Disney Vacation Club members.)

With the Quick Service Dining Plan, you get two quick service meals and two snacks per person, per day, and one resort refillable mug per person, per package. With the basic Dining Plan, you will have one table service, one quick service, and one snack per person, per day. And finally, there is the Deluxe Dining Plan, offering 3 table or quick service meals and two snacks per person, per day, plus a refillable mug for each person per package.

So basically, there is a Plan for whatever your budget is. 🙂

Since we enjoy a table service meal each night, our family has purchased the basic Dining Plan on each of our last several trips and it is a huge saving for us. We use the counter service meal (entrée, drink, and dessert) for lunch, the table service meal (entrée, drink, dessert) for dinner, and we use the snack credits for either breakfast…or eat light in our room. For us, it is usually way more food than we can usually eat, and so often get our dessert at dinner “to go” since we are so full. Other times we choose fruit and/or muffins for our lunch or dinner desserts and use these for snacks later or breakfast. We have experimented with the plan a number of different ways, and no matter how we do it, we eat very well, have food left over to bring home (snack credits purchase great edible “souvenirs” J), and we save money.

How then does the Dining Plan help us have an affordable Disney vacation?

Currently, the basic plan costs from $41.99 to $46.99 (depending on the time of year) per adult/per day, which for our family of 3 is usually less than we would have spent out of pocket just for dinner itself. So clearly, it is a huge cost-saver for us.

Will it be for your family? Possibly, depending on your family size, eating habits, time of year etc. In other words, like most other things related to planning an affordable Disney vacation, you’ll need to do the research and then do the math. J Compare all levels of the Dining Plan: if you have small children, you may find the Quick Service Plan to be more suited to your family’s needs than the basic or Deluxe Plan.

Related to the Dining Plan, there are a few additional things you should know:

  1. Disney has offered for the past few years, a package promotion in late summer/early fall that includes the Disney Dining Plan for FREE. Yup, you have that right: FREE FOOD. This is seriously a huge cost-saver, and if your schedule allows traveling at that time of year, you should really consider it. Now there are no guarantees, but in the current economic climate, and since Disney has offered this the past several years now, it is reasonable to think that they MAY offer it again this year. Stay tuned.
  2. While you don’t have to pay for the Dining Plan when you reserve your package, and so technically it is not something you need to decide early in the planning process…..this is so important…..IF you are planning to get the Basic Plan and so have table service meals…you absolutely need to think about what restaurants you will want to eat in, and make your reservations (Advanced Dining Reservations) well in advance. Disney currently starts accepting  ADRs 6 months in advance, and if you are visiting during any of the busy seasons…or during Free Dining…if you don’t reserve well in advance, you risk not eating where you want.  I just can’t stress this part enough…when it comes to Disney table service restaurants during high-traffic seasons, the early bird definitely gets the worm.

So your action plan for this week for planning an affordable Disney vacation: look at the Disney Dining Plan and see if it can save you money!

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Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part Twelve: Getting Around Once You are There

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning , , 1 Comment

This is part twelve in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

boatSo once you get to Walt Disney World, how are you going to get around? What kinds of transportation options do you have for an affordable Disney vacation?

Basically, your options will depend on whether you are staying on Disney property and can take advantage of Disney’s free transportation from the airport and to the theme parks…or will you need a rental car and/or rely on other transportation options.

If staying with Disney, you will have access to a great transportation system consisting of buses, boats, and monorails. Disney’s Magical Express provides travel from Orlando International Airport to and from each of the Disney resort properties. Especially nice with this, is the fact that you can even have Disney handle your luggage, allowing you the chance to get to the parks quicker. All of this is no-cost, reliable, and relatively hassle-free. While there are circumstances where Disney transportation is not the most efficient use of time (the buses do typically service more than one resort property at a time, and going from one hotel to the next can be time consuming), by and large, if you are staying on Disney property, you really don’t need the additional cost of a rental car.

If staying off-property or in a vacation home, then you will need to make other arrangements. Many hotels near Disney World offer free shuttles to the theme parks. But you will still need to get there from the airport if flying. And if there is no free shuttle, then you will need a rental car.

Taxis and limousine services can prove, believe it or not, to be an affordable option to get from the airport, as can a shared airport shuttle. As for getting around once you are at your hotel, there are a lot of choices for rental cars.

If you decide to rent a car at the Orlando airport, you will have the choice of 8 different car rental companies. In addition, you will find that there are car rental locations on-site in Disney World as well as at several hotels in Downtown Disney. This makes renting a car for a day or two, if you would like to visit neighboring theme parks, convenient and hassle free.

The best way to get a good rate for a car rental is to be persistent and check the rental companies’ rates on a regular basis. Register for the “preferred renter” option at each company in order to save time when picking up your car, and to get money-saving discounts. Don’t be afraid to book with a company when you see a good rate: if you get a better one later on, there is no penalty for cancellation. Doing this can, over time, save you several hundreds of dollars if you are keep trying. Be sure to check sites like Travelocity and Expedia to compare rates. And feel free to check the cost for a larger vehicle than you think you need: sometimes the companies have more requests for small cars than they can handle, and so the larger vehicles are seriously discounted as a result.

As with most everything when traveling to Disney World, if you want to have an affordable Disney vacation, you need to do some research and be sure to plan well in advance to save the most money.

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Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part Ten: Why Not Take a Train?

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning , , , 1 Comment

This is part ten in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

monorail_train_118065_tnsOn our first visit to Disney World with our then 7 year old daughter, we made the decision to take the train. I had grown up traveling by train when I was young and loved the sense of adventure. And since we live in the Baltimore/Washington area, we had the ability to use Amtrack’s Autotrain, which allowed us to take our car with us. We wanted to have a car, and found out that doing this was a great way to help us have an affordable Disney vacation. We took the train down, and drove home at the end of our trip and found out we loved the train! On our second trip we again used the Autotrain, only this time we drove down and took the train home (it was VERY nice to relax and not worry about driving at the end of a Disney World vacation!).

So if you are interested in doing this and you live on the East Coast of the US, what should you know?

First of all, you will have a couple of options as to trains as well as seats/accommodations. If you choose the basic train, you will make a number of stops along the way, so be sure to look at the travel time on Amtrak’s schedule to see how long it will take…and realize that it may actually take a bit longer than estimated. It is nice if you can time the trip for overnight so you wake up the next morning in Florida, ready to go! There are several stops that are close to Disney World: Sanford, Orlando, and Kissimmee. From each of these stations you can arrange for a taxi to take you to your hotel, or from Sanford and/or Orlando, you can rent a car.

For the Autotrain, it goes from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL in about 15-16 hours, departing around 4 p.m. and arriving the following morning. While this version may seem pricier, it will include the cost of transporting your car, as well as dinner and continental breakfast the following morning. Plus you have the added bonus of being able to bring with you as much “stuff” as you want for no additional charge, provided it can fit in your car. 🙂

With both options, you have the choice of just buying a seat, or a compartment. While seats are clearly the least expensive option, you will want to make sure you will be comfortable sleeping pretty much upright for the night, and that you don’t mind not having any real privacy for the duration of your trip.

But if you plan ahead, a compartment may be an affordable option. Compartments come in various “sizes” to accommodate different family needs, often including toilets, and always including dinner and continental breakfast.  This is what we chose and it was so much fun and very relaxing. We brought games, read, talked, enjoyed the scenery, and watched dvds.

If you decide to go by train, be sure to watch Amtrak’s site regularly, and check out their specials. Once you book, continue checking, since if your cost goes down, they will usually refund the difference.

Traveling by train is a totally unique experience, and can really help you have an affordable Disney vacation. If you have never done it before and have the chance, I highly recommend it! 🙂

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Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part Eight: What to Know if You Want to Stay at a Walt Disney World Resort

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Saving Money on Accommodations , , , , , , 0 Comment

This is part eight in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

100_0827OK, so you are going to Walt Disney World, and you need to figure out where you are going to stay. You have looked at rental properties, and non-Disney hotels. What if you want to stay in the heart of the “magic”?

Well, you have a lot of choices! 🙂

Briefly, Disney basically has four categories of hotel accommodations: Value, Moderate, Deluxe, and Deluxe Villas.

While there are clearly some differences among these categories in terms of size, location, amenities, and cost, all Disney resort properties share in a number of “perks”. Disney resort guests all have access to free transportation to and from Orlando International airport, and between theme parks and hotels. In addition, resort guests can participate in Disney’s “Extra Magic Hours” at the parks, as well as the Disney Dining Plans. And depending on the time of year, Disney may also offer some very attractive package deals that include free days, park tickets, and even free dining….all of which can weigh very heavily when planning affordable Disney vacations.

As to the resorts themselves, Value resorts such as All-Star Music, or Pop Century offer fun themes, food courts, smaller rooms, and the lowest prices on Disney properties. They are also typically located farthest away from the theme parks.

The Moderate resort category, as the name implies, is “in-between”. These resorts, like the Caribbean Beach, or Port Orleans also have food courts, have slightly larger rooms, and are usually a little closer to the parks.

The Deluxe category hotels, which includes properties such as the Polynesian, Yacht and Beach Club, and Disney’s flagship Grand Floridian, are the closest to the parks, have the largest rooms and most luxurious amenities, and do not typically include the “food court” option. They are also the most expensive….most of the time. I say this because they are also the properties that, when Disney offers resort discount promotions, are most likely to be discounted the heaviest because they do not book up as quickly. This is where having some flexibility as to when you are traveling can be beneficial: it is not unusual to be able to stay at a deluxe resort during non-peak times for less money than a moderate during peak times.

The final category is the Deluxe Villas which are really a “different” category entirely, because they are Disney Vacation Club properties that are not booked by vacation club owners. These properties can be perfect for larger families since they include one and two bedroom villas that have kitchens. Again, depending on the time of year and potential promotion available, a Deluxe Villa can be the most affordable option for your family.

So as you begin to finalize this part of the process, compare your needs as to size, location, and budget with the options available for the time of year and promotions that are available. It is really important, if you want to have the most affordable Disney vacation possible, to do this part of your research and do the math. You may be surprised about what is actually the most cost-effective: it is not always the option you think it will be. 🙂

Finally, your last stop before booking, should be to compare different pricing options…no matter if you are staying on or off Disney property.

You should always check sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, Priceline and Travelocity to see if you can get a better price than the one offered directly by Disney or the off-site hotel: frequently you can. Be sure to also check for discounts through organizations like AAA, AARP, and if you are a teacher look into that as well: the Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin often offer good promotions for teachers.

So there you have it. Lots of options for where to stay on your Walt Disney World vacation. Explore your options, compare your choices, see where you can get the best price, and then get it booked!  We have more planning to do! 🙂

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Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part Seven: Should I Stay ON Disney Property or OFF Disney Property?

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Saving Money on Accommodations , , , , 0 Comment

This is part seven in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

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Should I stay ON Disney property or OFF Disney property?

This is probably the single most frequent question I get from folks planning a Disney World vacation. And the answer that I give….depends on a number of things.

(You should probably see a pattern here by now if you have been reading along with the series…:))

Let’s talk about why you would want to stay off-site first. To start, you may save money, possibly a good deal of money, or at a minimum, get larger/better accommodations for the same price. (Note that I said “may”, because depending on the time of year and if Disney has any promotions…and a couple of other factors as well…this may not always be the case.) If you have a larger family, where a standard size hotel room is not going to do it for you, this can be important if you will be getting more than one room. And, you may also find it easier to find rooms in your price range if you are planning on traveling during peak travel times, or if you are trying to book all this at the last minute.

Other things that will come into play here however, are things like transportation to the parks and meals.  You will want to see if the off-property hotel you are considering offers things like free breakfast, or free park shuttles…or will you need to rent a car?

The transportation part should be looked at very carefully in fact. Traveling to and from the parks can be a challenge, depending on the available shuttle service: some hotels share shuttles, or charge for their use. If you want to take afternoon breaks from the parks, you may want to consider renting a car, but if you do, realize that there will be a parking fee, and if visiting on peak holidays, the parking lots may be closed to non-Disney guests.

Now why would you want to stay on-site? Well, the already-mentioned transportation issue is a big one. Disney “perks” like “Extra Magic Hours” are a nice way to get additional time in the parks. Plus Disney offers the Disney Dining Plans, as well as those increasingly frequent promotions that should never be overlooked when planning affordable Disney vacations.

Then there is “the Magic factor”. 🙂

Arguably the most important thing that a Disney property provides, that you will not have if you stay off-site, is that 24/7 immersion in the Disney “magic”. Of course, for many folks, that may be the biggest disadvantage! After all, how often can you stand to hear “It’s a Small World” in one day? It may be that for your family, having a break from all that pixie dust may be a very good thing indeed.

Now you should also take a look at the “non-Disney” hotels that are located on Disney property: there a few in the Downtown Disney area, as well as the distinctive Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin located near Epcot and Hollywood Studios. These hotels, while not owned by Walt Disney World, still offer a number of those great Disney perks, but without the corresponding Disney property cost. It’s a nice compromise if you are trying to save money but would still like the Disney ambience.

Both on-Disney and off-Disney properties have their pros and cons, and as you can see there really is no one perfect-for-all solution. Even for your own family, the best choice for an affordable Disney vacation may be different depending on the year, season, month, or even week.

Our next post will discuss the accommodations available at the Walt Disney Resort, and then it will be time to book! 🙂

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