October Trip Officially Booked & Budgeted !!!

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Wed, 04/23/2014 - 17:08

Eddie G.

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October Trip Officially Booked & Budgeted !!!

OK, so this morning I pulled the trigger and got our October trip officially booked with the hotel room, ticket renewals and now moving on to ADR's!!!

Staying at the Best Western on Hotel Plaza Blvd. (4th stay here) and love the location and the deal I get being a Diamond Elite member of their rewards program. We're staying seven nights and our room cost with taxes, resort fees and occupancy fees is $716.45. It broke down to be $572.90 (room rate) and $143.55 (taxes & fees). I thought it was a great deal for a seven night stay at Disney, on property and close to DTD. Plus our room is a suite and not just some random resort room, which we like very much.

Like I said, we have stayed there three times previously (same room all three times) and love the location. All rooms have baloneys and we always get a Disney facing view which makes it nice to wake up to in the mornings having breakfast on the balcony.

We were going to fly again this year but since Southwest has come to our airport here in Pensacola, they discontinued AirTran flights so plane tickets for both of us would have been close to if not over $700. I can stand the six hour drive to save $700 any day. AirTran use to have flights to Orlando from Pensacola for around $250 (business class) round trip per person. Awww, the good old days before Southwest bought them out. Did I mention my distain for Southwest as an airline and company yet?

We have just about $4,000 for this trip and I like to budget everything out to know exactly how much money we have when we get there and throughout our stay. I hope no one takes this the wrong way as I lay out a budget, but I figure it may do some people some good at the same time. Plus, I wonder if anyone else does this as we do.

Starting Budget - $4,000
Hotel - $716.45
Ticket Renewals - $572.98 (Fla. Res AP's)
Petrol for Trip - $200 (902 miles rounds trip - 4 tanks of gas at $50 per tank)
Remaining for Trip - $2,510.57
Average over 8 Days - $313.82 (per day budget)

Now I take a spreadsheet with us and we collect all receipts throughout the day so our "daily budget" fluctuates each day of our stay. We may splurge one day and we may not spend as much another. I just always like to know when we can splurge and how much we have to last the trip. Maybe a little anal but it's just how I have always done it and it's worked out for us.

Plus, when we do lunch at a theme restaurant, we typically each get an appetizer and for the most part split an entree. My wife doesn't eat a lot at once, but she eats a little throughout the day so this works out best for us, and the budget too actually. Instead of spending $100 for lunch, it's usually around $45 or $50.

Dinner at Disney is where we splurge the most by far. So the bulk of our budget really is geared towards that ... And of course, a few trips around the World Showcase "visiting" each country.

Now that I see this post is getting quite lengthy, I'll stop here. Just excited the trip is finally booked and we are officially headed to Disney in October!!!

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~Eddie G.
Fla. Res. AP Holder Since 1989
404 Days at Disney World & Counting

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Wed, 04/23/2014 - 17:31

crazycatperson

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Congrats on getting your trip booked!

I find it amazing that you would pay more to fly Southwest from Pensacola to Orlando than we will pay to fly Southwest from Baltimore to Orlando. That's absurd. But if I lived six hours away by car I think I'd drive anyway. Once you factor in getting to the airport (even if it's fairly close by), waiting around the airport for a couple of hours, flight time, and then deplaning, getting luggage, getting rental car, and finally driving to your hotel, you wouldn't have saved all that much time by flying.

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 17:35

Kris1971

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Congrats on booking your trip!

October is my favorite time of the year to go! I love love love the Food & Wine Fest at Epcot!

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Wed, 04/23/2014 - 17:38

AnnielovesDisney

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I think having a detailed budget is great! I do it almost every visit to WDW and DH and I go every few weekends. We have Florida res. AP too. By the price, I assume you are renewing a Seasonal AP. We renewed over Valentine's weekend this year and a few weeks later the rates went up. Currently to renew a FL. Res. Seasonal AP it costs $435.59 and a SAP is $286.49. That is a difference of $149.10.
They also raised the price of parking to $17/per day in February. If you are going to the parks all 7 days that will cost you $119. If you pay $30 more(on top of the $119 for parking) for one of you to have an AP, you will get free parking. Only one of you needs the upgraded AP to get the free parking. Normally, only my DH gets the upgrade because he's always the driver. If you only plan on going to WDW this one trip while you have SAP, then it's not worth the upgrade. But if you plan on going even 2 more days in the entire year, you will pay $34 for parking and it would have been cheaper to upgrade to an AP.

I don't know if people are aware of the parking increase, and you may have already considering this. But if not, I thought someone with such a detailed budget would appreciate this information

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 17:48

Eddie G.

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crazycatperson - Yes, it is absurd for that to be less and you are coming from Baltimore and we're in the same state. I hate to drive but I can stomach 6 hours to save $700. I don't mind airport life, I did it for a good majority of my life and still do with my work. It's still the $700 we're saving for me. We have a DVD in our SUV so the trip (hopefully) will go by rather quickly. It's never the drive there I dread ... It's the drive home that's sad.

Annie - Yes, they're SAP not the whole year. But we only go when there are no blacked out dates anyway so it made sense for us to get SAP's. We don't drive to the parks we take the busses from the hotel. I hate driving and I certainly do not want to drive on our holiday. But yeah, I saw they raised their parking prices. Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever been in a Disney World parking lot. And I have spent a great amount time there over my life so far.

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~Eddie G.
Fla. Res. AP Holder Since 1989
404 Days at Disney World & Counting

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Wed, 04/23/2014 - 18:56

Allie

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Eddie G. wrote:

Like I said, we have stayed there three times previously (same room all three times) and love the location. All rooms have baloneys and we always get a Disney facing view which makes it nice to wake up to in the mornings having breakfast on the balcony.

Sorry, I know you meant balcony but this still made me giggle! Anyways, congrats on securing the trip! Where are you thinking for ADRs?

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Wed, 04/23/2014 - 19:09

Eddie G.

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Allie wrote:

Eddie G. wrote:
Like I said, we have stayed there three times previously (same room all three times) and love the location. All rooms have baloneys and we always get a Disney facing view which makes it nice to wake up to in the mornings having breakfast on the balcony.

Sorry, I know you meant balcony but this still made me giggle! Anyways, congrats on securing the trip! Where are you thinking for ADRs?

Hahahaha, nice. Yeah, I meant balcony.

ADR's already booked ... Did these at lunch today

San Angel Inn
Via Napoli
50's Prime Time
Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table
Chefs de France
Le Cellier
Coral Reef
Sci Fi Drive Inn

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~Eddie G.
Fla. Res. AP Holder Since 1989
404 Days at Disney World & Counting

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Wed, 04/23/2014 - 19:35

AnnielovesDisney

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Eddie G. wrote:

Annie - Yes, they're SAP not the whole year. But we only go when there are no blacked out dates anyway so it made sense for us to get SAP's. We don't drive to the parks we take the busses from the hotel. I hate driving and I certainly do not want to drive on our holiday. But yeah, I saw they raised their parking prices. Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever been in a Disney World parking lot. And I have spent a great amount time there over my life so far.

Sounds like there's no reason for you to upgrade to AP. I assumed since you were driving your own car, and not staying at a Disney resort, you would be driving to the parks. Even when we stay at the Hilton lake Buena vista hotel(also an official WDW hotel) my husband and I always drive our own car to the parks because we like the freedom of having a car. My hubby would rather ride It's a small world(which he can't stand) for 24 hours straight then rely on buses to get us to/from the parks. But it's nice for someone who doesn't want to drive to have the option of the buses!

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 21:36

Eddie G.

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I've stayed at the Hilton there as well. Actually, I've stayed at every hotel on Hotel Plaza Blvd. at one time or another. Even when the Wyndham was the Grosvenor Resort, Regal Sun and the Dutch themed (can't recall the name now) when it first opened. It even used to have a night club in it back in the day.

I remember free hot dogs and hamburgers at the Royal Plaza (now B Resort) and drinking with off the clock cast member from DTD at 'The Kook' in the Buena Vista Palace when it was called something else I can't remember off the top of my head.

See, I hate to drive and whenever I get the chance not to ... I take it. But yeah, the SAP works best for us 99% of the time.

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~Eddie G.
Fla. Res. AP Holder Since 1989
404 Days at Disney World & Counting

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Thu, 04/24/2014 - 00:36

JoAnn C

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congratulations on booking your next trip! Great ADRs.

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Mon, 06/09/2014 - 16:55

Eddie G.

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Received our Magicbands a few days ago!!! Always cool getting packages from Disney ... Now, only 117 more days until we head out for the World for a week!!! I'm just ready to see double digits ... Seems to go by a little faster when it's just under 100 days for whatever reason.

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~Eddie G.
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404 Days at Disney World & Counting

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Mon, 06/09/2014 - 17:03

Kristen K.

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Whoo hoo! I love the colors

Mon, 06/09/2014 - 17:25

Eddie G.

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Mine = Orange = For Tennessee where I went to school

Pink = Wife = Obvious Reasons

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~Eddie G.
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404 Days at Disney World & Counting

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Tue, 06/10/2014 - 00:39

Magic Mirror

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oooohhhhh Passholder! Awesome!

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Tue, 06/10/2014 - 10:34

designedbydisney

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Your bands look amazing

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October Trip Officially Booked & Budgeted !!!