Food, Lodging or Time - which to Budget?

[smallworld0]

When the budget is a little - OK, a lot - smaller than anticipated, what is the part of the WDW budget that you look to cut?

Can you live with fewer sit-down or PS restaurants?

Do you consider a value or moderate, instead of a deluxe resort? Or, even look offsite?

Or, do you look into shortening your trip by a day or more?

[Brer]

Wow, 100%,but I would say, i would cut back on days also, cause when i am not at work, i don't get pd :(

[Barb D]

We already have a small food budget since we share our meals and eat at our hotel for breakfast so cutting this more would be hard. We generally stay at a Delux but if it meant going longer and not going longer we would go to a lower class of hotel including off site. Off site would even be better than not going at all to me.

Barb

[WillCAD]

I do all three.

The first thing I do is find the cheapest place to stay. In December I'm staying at an AmeriSuites off-site for $49 a night.

When in WDW solo I usually eat counter service the whole time, saving money. This trip, I've been saving Disney Dollars, so food is the largest part of my budget! But usually, I don't mind eating counter service for my whole trip, and maybe one or two sit-downs. I fint that it frees up a lot of time during the day.

Shortening the trip is my last resort, but I'd rather have 3 days at WDW than no days.

[LimeGreenCheri]

I say cut the lodging budget. We stay quite frequently at the Allstars and love it. We don't spend much time in our room so, a value resort is ok with us. I had much rather stay on Disney property though!

[SuzyQ]

My vote was for the food budget - all of a sudden my vacation will turn into a spa trip since I will be smaller from lack of food! :eat:
~Suzy

[Sheryl]

My vote is to cut the lodging. As much as we love staying at the deluxe resorts, we also thoroughly enjoyed staying at the moderates and All Stars. It does not really amtter where on property we are, as long as we're there.

Sheryl :minnie:

[Snickerdoodlesmommy]

I know that most people really get into the character meals and all, but I personally think the meals are the way to go if you want to cut your budget. By eating breakfast in your room, and purchasing a cooler or fridge for teh room for snacks and cold cuts, you will save a small fortune!
Plus, there are a TON of off property choices in restaurants that are very reasonable and yet still close by to all the magic!

LindaC :sun:

[cheesehead]

I have to agree that cutting out a few character meals can save a small fortune if you are on a tight budget. When we went last month, I was shocked at the total for our family of 5 to eat at Chef Mickey's for dinner! I knew the prices before we went, but once you add the tip (we had a GREAT waitress) and have it all right there in front of you, I had sticker shock! Plus, I kind of feel once you have been to a character meal, it certainly isn't as exciting the next time around...but that is my opinion! We repeated Chef Mickey's and CRT this trip and it wasn't as thrilling as the first time. We also do have breakfast in the room and do counter service for *most* lunches.

[HappyCamper]

I'd cut lodging and food. As long as I'm there for as long as I can, then I don't care where I sleep or what I eat. Just let me be there for as long as possible.

How's that for a Disney fanatic/addict?

Debby

[Belle]

Food, definitely food. You can't go wrong with a brita sport bottle, kids meals, and store bought snacks for in between meals. The WL store carries all sorts of groceries (fruit and wheat bread too!), and often times we'd pack PB&J's and a piece of fruit for lunch in the small WDW bags :D cheap? yes... but eating money seems such a waste. I'd rather play with it or sleep on it! :lol:

{hugs}
Belle

[LuvmeDisney]

My vote gets cutting a little from everything. Firstly, I wouldn't mind cutting the accommodations, however, I would remain on site if at all possible. Secondly, we always eat cheap. We keep to one good meal a day and use any discount available (Ie AP for resort meals). As well, I keep lots of those snack type foods in the hotel room for those munchy kids. I also agree with cutting out the character meals, but someone mentioned to me earlier this year to do the ice cream social, and it was perfect! Gave you a bit of a character meal and you didn't spend a fortune.

[Stinkerbelle]

I normally go with cutting costs from the room but for my upcomming trip I had to cut the room & # of days. I always stay at the AllStars. I would never consider stayong offsite no matter how good the deal. I need the magic and the transportation as I never get a rental car while at WDW. Right now I am in the process of moving into a new house and have expenses coming out of the wazoo. Between the hotel cost and an extra day on a hopper and difference in flight prices I "saved" the cost of the new sizal rug I want for my new living room. Sure its a short trip but its better than no trip at all. 8)

[SusanP]

Since we are talking Canadian dollars here, we start out with a small budget. What I mean is that we have a set amount to spend for our vacation and start with All Stars rooms and counter service meals. I could never eat $30Cdn worth of food-it's just fuel to keep moving! With 4 in the family, that's $100 US for a sit down meal-$140 out of our pocket (better than the $155 last year, but still painful!) If we are ahead on the food budget we have stopped for a character lunch but the kids don't really get into them anymore-too old! We then count the days we can stay after that, taking into account the cost of admission. We have gone with annual passes twice (for the last 4 trips-very economical) and count $60/day US for food, not each, but for the family. That includes breakfast in the room and snack groceries. When we drove I brought as much as possible as our groceries are much cheaper here. So it is a combo deal for us-though I'm not sure I could stay offsite...think of the gas/parking you save too...

[Sandfisher]

Since we don't go frequently, I'm totally against cutting the length of stay. Some day I hope to go for two whole weeks!
We tried staying off site 3 times in our early trips and have stayed once at Downtown Disney area. Now we stay at a moderate, but staying at a deluxe is something I'm hoping to do too. :-)
So that leaves food. We don't do character meals, and unfortunately that means avoiding some restaurants we'd like to visit. We also don't do PS because we figure we can eat "out" and have a lovely meal here near home and not spend huge amounts of sit-down dinners while at Disney.
We love some of the specialty snacks and food items that we can only get at Walt Disney World and those are our food splurges. I'm there for the parks, the attractions, the mood, the atmosphere, etc., and I don't even look at our food attitude as cutting.
Everyone seems to have a good approach to making sensible money decisions as usual. :sun:
Sandy