Originally Posted By stitchcrazy My husband and I are really hoping to help his brother take his wife and 4 kids (ages 5-10) to WDW the first weekend of December with us (Thursday 12/7-Monday 12/11) So far we know that: 1-we'd really prefer to stay on-site 2-we'd like to do 4 days of parks (no hopping) Basically I'm looking for anyone's suggestions on making this as affordable as possible. We're opening to doing 2 rooms (with 2 kids staying with us) to sharing a big suite (suites we have zero experience with). We're thinking maybe the dining plan and probably DME assuming we're on-site so we don't have to get a rental car that would fit 4 adults and 4 kids. I'm going to keep doing lots of searching myself but I thought maybe someone had done a similar trip or just had any good ideas in general! Any help would definitely be appreciated!
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy Oh! I should also add that we know that getting an AP might be a great help and are open to ideas that involve that too.
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m Look on mousesavers.com for info on renting DVC points. From what I've read, its a lot cheaper to rent points for a villa than it is to pay rack rates. Look into a cabin at Fort Wilderness. There is a double bed and bunk beds in the bedroom, and a murphy bed in the living room. They sleep six. You can save money on food by cooking breakfast in your cabin. Oh, but you have 8 people, so you'd need 2 cabins. That can get pricey.
Originally Posted By jazzfan4 A room at the POP for 2 Adults and 2 kids is $352.40 so for the 8 of you two rooms would be just over $700. That is a VAlue season price so and AP would not help much. Two rooms at a moderate woiuld about $1240 and an AP rate might get it down to les than $1000 but the AP rates aren't available for that season yet. Tickets are slightly cheaper for the advance purchase but when packaged with a room the total can be slightly more than when purchased seperately from Disney. There are discount tickets advertised but I have no experience with them. The rooms at the POP can be adjoining so the kids could go back and forth, the same is true at the moderates and you would have more space and refrigeraters. I doubt if I would get the meal plan, My kids would not sit still for a table service restraunt at that age.
Originally Posted By danyoung On site and cheap means only one thing - the Pop Century. It's much nicer than the older All Star resorts. Usually on the moderates an annual pass would save you $25 a night on each room. So 2 rooms for 4 nights would be a $200 savings. You'd have to do the math to see if this savings is worth it. Also with an AP you can purchase the Disney Dining Experience, which saves you 20% off of almost everything.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I'd suggest the old townhomes at the Disney Institute... if they still existed. I stayed there once with a bunch of Disney Store co-workers and really enjoyed my stay there. The cheapest option will be to get two adjoining rooms at a Value resort. There are few suites on property that could accomodate all eight of you, and those would be insanely expensive.
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy See already I never even thought about adjoining rooms - duh! That is a great idea. Especially since if two kids stay in our room, as much as they love their aunt krista & uncle kevin - I think they might freak out if they didn't have easy access to mom and dad. For adjoining rooms can you ensure adhead of time that you're getting one though? Or is that considered a special request that they couldn't guarantee? I did do a bit of poking around looking at suites and the really big ones are big money for sure. Although they look really nice...
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy t1lersm0m - I've never heard of renting DVC points. I'm definitely going to look into that.
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 We are doing a group of 8 in Dec. as well. We are staying at Wilderness Lodge. When I was reserching pricing the best way to do it price wise is to get to side by side rooms at one of the value restorts. I would do Pop Century. I would do the Dining plan we are and it is going to help so much with a large group. I don't know if you are paying for everyone, but things can get pricey when there are 8 people. We are paying for our extra people. With staying on site you will be able to use the DDP and the buses, if you fly you can use the Magical Express. That way you will not have to have a rental. Saves you money that way. If you go have a great time and if you use the DDp make your PSR asap.
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy Disneymom, I'm really torn so far about the dining plan. I like that my brother-in-law wouldn't have to worry about food expenses, that it can be taken care of ahead of time. But I'm worried with the nieces and nephews that figuring out a dinner somewhere every night will make it too planned out if I make ressies for everyone but that with 8 we'd be shut out from eating at a lot of places if we didn't make reservations. Back and forth back and forth I go in my head...
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb You can use your meals for character breakfasts and lunches. We twice used the dining plan for lunch at the Prime Time.
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 I got all 8 of us together and we dat down and discused what resturants there are and voted on the ones to eat. I'm doing lunches for my table service. That way at noght if someone is to tried they can go back to the resort. And use a countier service for Dinner. Character breakfast are really good to use your Dinning plan on too. It may take away some of the spur of the moment type, but it will pay off in the end.
Originally Posted By Crazy4WDW I'd definitely make some reservations for meals. You can always cancel them if you decide not to go. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't want to park hop. With the extra magic hours it's a great way to get more time in the parks.
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy We're thinking no park hopping partly because of the littlest nephew who will only be 5 by the time we go...and for the other 3 kids. Last summer my husband's parents paid for condos for a week long family trip. The families were only able to afford one day at MK and they stretched it out for that day but the kids all lost it about 4 in the afternoon. We did a lot of sitting and waiting for SpectroMagic and Wishes from there on out and didn't accomplish much more. So for this trip we'll do 4 days one for each park and hopefully rest mid-day but I don't want to push the kids and I thinking park hopping could contribue to pushing it. That and most importantly by the time my brother-in-law takes care of the airfare for all 6 of his family...we're thinking he'll already feel like he's spent a heap of money (because he will have). So we're hoping to potentially pay for the hotel, tickets and possibly the dining plan for them. There's a price difference to consider then for my husband and I between paying for all that for 8 people and paying for all that for 8 people plus having the tickets be park hopppers! Like $300 which is huge when the trip is already something of a "gift" we want to give them. Otherwise when its just me and the hubby we always do parkhoppers. But we're definitely of the go-crazy-from-open-to-close types.
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy And I really like the idea of a character dinner for breakfast and doing counter service for dinner. Never even crossed my mind! Here is where I admit I've always wanted to do Breakfastasauraus and this would be a great chance to do that! Thanks Autopia Deb and Disneymom!
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Rent DVC points...no way to get in cheaper and you get an awesome suite that can EASILY accomodate you ALL. Second, take a lot of your own food, or shop at Walmart after you get there to buy food. You will have a fridge in a DVC suite and a full kitchen. Don't cook but eat you know, shandwiches and all that kind of thing. Don't rent a car. Use Disney Transportaiton. I never thought I would say that, but it's certainly free to use. TICKETS: You can looks at many places for savings on tickets. However when I am taking extended family, and paying for their 4 day passes, I usually go to the Disney Store nearby and buy a ticket a week or a ticket every two weeks. It makes it easier to spread the cost out over time. The cheapest or most vaule priced meals as for sit down dining IMHO are character breakfasts. Most of them are the same price. This sounds silly, but drink a lot of water. That is good advice no matter if you are trying to limit yourself and the kids to three meals a day or just plain out trying to be healthy. If you go in the summer you WILL get dehydrated if you don't drink water. Last, if you have a child in the party that is anywhere NEAR age 2...such as 4 years old or less, claim that they are only 2. This is stealing and cheating and very dishonest, and I have never been questioned as to the age of my kids.
Originally Posted By danyoung I just found out that you can actually get into Breakfastosaurus before the park itself opens. I'm doing it this time - should be fun!
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy DVC_dad I really think a 2 bedroom DVC would be perfect. However I talked to my husband last night about it and we're very hesitant about renting points. It sounds like it could be a fab experience or could go horribly wrong. Has anyone around here done it before?
Originally Posted By stitchcrazy danyoung I'd love to hear about doing that breakfast before the park opens after you go. That sounds like a great start to a day to me!
