Disney Florida...best deals?

[lendaddy]

Looking to send my in-laws, wife and 2 boys to Disney. I gotta believe you guys have the inside track on the best deals.

I don't need Airfare, just the following for 3 adults, to children under 9 (I currently have this deal for $2300) :

Three day pass in the park
2 nights stay at the modest resort
Includes the meal plan (one quickie meal a day, one sit down dinner and one snack a day).

Can I do better than this or is this the going rate? Thanks guys.

[id10t]

Oh yeah... if you want to go cheap on your rooms. My wife found an inexpensive (but clean) hotel with a free simple breakfast for $50/night about a 8 minute drive from Disney. Parking at disney is $15-20/day, park admission is 75ish per day... lunch in the park figure $10/person, dinner the same or more.

2 days is really enough to do disney, I'd plan your 3rd day to be at epcot.

[Eric 951]

That's a pretty decent price considering the criteria. I am guessing that the lodging is a Disney property? If you want to do some further digging, try the allears.net, mousesavers, and undercover tourist websites.

Also, I don't know when the trip is happening, but if you sign up for a chase/Disney Visa, you get a 100.00 disney gift card, and discounts on certain park purchases.

[Christien]

So much depends on when you're going - rates fluctuate wildly between peak and low seasons. $2300 for 3 days doesn't seem like a great deal to me, unless it's over Christmas. Our first trip was $3000 all in for a week, park passes, meal plan, value resort (All-Star) AND airfare from Toronto. Our 2nd trip was $4500, same thing, but at the cabins at fort wilderness (much more expensive), though we saved on airfare because we flew from Buffalo. Both these trips were off-season (February and early December). We went last year over the Christmas holidays, and spent $3000 on the same package (all-star value resort) and we drove. My wife just saw an ad yesterday for a wagjag deal (group-buy type thing) for $1200 per person for a week, including airfare from Toronto: Escape to a Magical Disney All-Star Resort | Disney's All-Star Resorts, Orlando, Florida | Jaunt.ca

Are you booking directly with disney? (through the website?) That's not always a bad idea - we've used a travel agent before and she hasn't always been able to get a better deal than what disney offers directly. But look for their specials - there's almost always a deal of some kind on, so long as it's not peak season (xmas, 4th of july, etc).

[kanadary]

i you are staying at a disney resort, and decide to drive to the parks instead of taking their transportation, we did, nice to store all your jackets and then have someone, the driver head out and pick them up when it starts to get cold, i don't think it will be now but it sure was in feb at night, the parking is free, just show them your parking pass from the resort. also they have extended hours for guests of the resort. if you are staying outside, i would suggest trying priceline. we stayed at the marriott world center for about $45 a night, after staying at the disney resort for about $150 a night.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

Looking to send my in-laws, wife and 2 boys to Disney. I gotta believe you guys have the inside track on the best deals.

I don't need Airfare, just the following for 3 adults, to children under 9 (I currently have this deal for $2300) :

Three day pass in the park
2 nights stay at the modest resort
Includes the meal plan (one quickie meal a day, one sit down dinner and one snack a day).

Can I do better than this or is this the going rate? Thanks guys.

When we went we did just about the same thing. It was just the two of us. The meal plan is a great deal. It was more food than we could eat, and they have good food. Make a reservation NOW for the sit down meal.

We were there for 5 nights. We did the park pass and could go to any park anytime. We just used the Disney transport system which worked great. We really enjoyed the entire week. It is a LOT of walking.

[scottmandue]

Wow... Disney Cali onsite resorts start at $300 a night!

I might be better off flying to Florida!

[Hugh R]

Sorry but I have no insight. When I go there, I don't pay.

[lendaddy]

Good info, thx guys. This is to stay in the park and it doesn't sound like there is a ton to be saved. I'll keep looking though, just wondered if one of you guys knew of any "best deal" packages. The meal deal does sound like a good one though.

[North Coast Cab]

I have been many many times. Heere's my summary.

Disney hotels are expensive. You to pay for the central hotel features and get small rooms, at least at the lower end hotels. For the same money you can get an offsite suite and potentially be closer to other activities.

Staying onsite is a little misleading. You can only be onsite or close to one park and if you are visiting more than one park end up bussing or driving quite a bit.

I prefer to drive and avoid the bus system. Coats, flexibility....

Plan your meals. If you want to go anywhere specific you need to plan ahead, on or off site.

I am not a park hopper fan. It looks great on paper, but the time spent swicthing adds up and you are paying like a 40% premium.

[onewhippedpuppy]

We went a few years ago and had zero luck finding discount tickets, ended up buying them at the park. Three days?! Half of a day wore me out, I'm never going back to that place again.

[ShakinJoe]

Stay at animal kingdom. Quick boat ride (free) to park and no waiting in line. Spend the money and do it. Why wait 50% of your time doing nothing?