Posts from — April 2008

OVERVIEW

When you make your Walt Disney World hotel and ticket reservations, also sign up for the package “Magic Your Way Plus Dining,” and request a refrigerator for your room.*

Assuming you eat where this site’s itineraries suggest you do (see Where to Eat), this will save you a lot of money.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

OVERVIEW

Your plans should be firm more than 180 days before your arrival date. See this for why.

If it is already fewer than 180 days from your planned arrival date, see the items below.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

OVERVIEW

Your plans should be firm–that is, you should be able to commit to all required Walt Disney World reservations–more than 180 days in advance of your arrival date.

WHY SO FAR AHEAD?

The specific driver of this timing is the need to make what Walt Disney World calls “Advance Dining Reservations.”

To read the rest of this article, click here.

OVERVIEW

While doing so will not provide you with the best possible first family visit, of course you can design your trip around a target budget.

For example, if the recommended trip at Pop Century for $4,300 plus transportation is too much, you could follow the steps below instead to design a trip you can afford.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

FAMILIES GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD ON A TIGHT BUDGET

This site has two sets of guidance for families going to Walt Disney World on a tight budget.

• One set is designed for families aiming at the recommended December itinerary, and can be found here.
• Guidance for other families can be found in the links below.

WHAT TO BUDGET LINKS

For the basic December trip recommended by this site

• See this for what to budget during the basic December trip
• See this if you are on particularly tight budget, for (difficult) ideas to reduce the December trip budget by more than $1,000

If you can’t go the week this site recommends, see Estimating Budgets for Different Trips

For help getting to much lower budget numbers,

• See this for links to current Walt Disney World deals and discounts
• For basic Disney World budgeting concepts, see Planning Your Walt Disney World Budget
• To design a trip around a specific budget target–e.g., what you can do for $2,500–see this
• For reducing your lodging costs,
  • See The Tightwad’s Guide to Where to Stay at Walt Disney World
  • See this for links to current Walt Disney World deals and discounts
• For reducing your dining costs,
  • For ideas on cutting your dining costs compared to what this site recommends, see this
  • For a period during which dining is sometimes free, see The Tightwad’s Guide to When to Go to Walt Disney World
• For reducing your transportation costs, see this

For Walt Disney World price seasons,

• See this for resort price seasons
• See this for Disney Dining Plan price seasons
• See this for Walt Disney World theme park admission tickets

For the Tightwad’s Guide to Walt Disney World, see this

For the Comfortable Guide to Walt Disney World, see this

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OVERVIEW

The budget figures on What to Budget are valid for a family of four, with one child between three and ten, and one ten or older, who are following the Basic Itinerary and the other instructions of this site.

The simplest way to define a budget for a different trip–slightly different, or very different–is to decide on the key components of your visit to Walt Disney World and then go through most of the booking process on the Walt Disney World website.

Doing so will give you the core costs of your hotel, park tickets, and dining plan. Add to this your transportation costs, and $30-50 per person per night for extras, and you will be close.

To read the rest of this article, click here.