Category — e. What to Budget for Walt Disney World

THE LEAST EXPENSIVE ON-SITE OPTION FOR LARGE FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Teal. Enjoy the ride as this month we discuss some lesser known tips and tricks for Walt Disney World visitors.

This site has tons of advice for large families trying to figure out where to stay.  It begins here, then continues with

• Large Families: Value Prices
• Large Families: Deluxe Spaces and
• Beds and Sleeping Spaces

But there’s no great lower-priced answer for staying on site with a really large group–say ten people.

What I recommend on Large Families: Value Prices for groups of this size is a family suite and a standard room at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, at a price (during the 2013 Fall price season)  of $45/person/night. Another even less expensive option is two Alligator Bayou rooms at  Port Orleans Riverside, at $41/person/night.

The problem with both these options is that your rooms might be a real hike apart…and no one would ever call them cheap…

Or ten people could tent-camp at The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort for about $62 bucks a night during the same season*…or about $6.20 per person per night.

Fort Wilderness campsites hold as many as ten people, and, in a change from past practice, there’s no difference in cost between one person and ten on the site. That’s my lesser known tip!

However, tent camping at Disney World is not for the inexperienced, and not really a good idea for first time visitors.

PROS AND CONS OF LARGE FAMILIES TENT CAMPING AT FORT WILDERNESS [Read more →]

MYMAGIC+ AND FREE DINING IN 2013 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

On Tuesday, Disney released its Q1 (October-December 2012) earnings and discussed them with analysts on its earnings call.

There wasn’t anything momentous in the earnings or the discussion, but a few tidbits, when combined with some recent Disney behaviors and my experiences at Disney World last week, lead me to two inferences (“inferences” being  a two dollar word for “guesses”):

• We won’t see a lot of free dining at Disney World in 2013
• MyMagic+ as a way to pre-reserve attraction times and manage your day at Walt Disney World is a ways off. Update 4/3: For more on MyMagic+, see this.

FREE DINING IN 2013 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

[Read more →]

FREE TRIP TO WALT DISNEY WORLD CONTEST

Disney has a contest going on right now that every day in January is awarding a free trip to Walt Disney World!

To enter, go here, click one of the five “favorite vacations” shown across the bottom of the page  (the part that looks just like the image to the right) and fill out the entry form.

One trip will be awarded every day through January 31.

You can only enter once per day…but you can enter every day.

Good luck…and let me know if you win!

(Thanks to this site’s Facebook friend Brian for reminding me to post about this.)

DISNEY WORLD DISCOUNT FOR LATE WINTER AND SPRING 2013

Walt Disney World has released a discount that covers most dates from April 2, 2013 through June 14 2013.

The new Disney World deal includes hotel savings ranging from 15% to 30%. It also claims additional savings on tickets if you add at least 4 days of tickets to the package, but I haven’t yet done the math.

The April through June dates need to be booked by March 31.

See the image below for some more specifics, or see Disney’s page on this deal here.

ROOM RATE DISCOUNT COMING OUT JANUARY 3?

Update: This discount is out!  See this.

There’s good quality scuttlebutt out there that a new Disney World deal will be coming out on January 3, including from crack commenter Terri.

It will offer discounts of between 15% and 30% at most—but not all—the Disney World resort hotels for most dates 2/18/13-3/23/13 and 4/2/13-6/14/13.

Assuming the scuttlebutt is true, I’ll post about the deal next week, and also put links to it here.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

Disney World currently has two deals out covering most arrival dates from January 2 through early March 2013.

These deals need be booked by December 31, so if you are interested, book them soon!

For more on the deals, see this.