New York & Orlando - The Budget Edition

[BevS97]

We are off on another adventure!

My intention is to do two trip reports. I'm going to use this app for all the food / costing information as I can photograph the receipts right there on the go. And I'll do a more traditional this is what we did report later. I want to split them up as I will put my trip report in a photo book and it doesn't need all the costings. But I think they are useful for theDibb and others planning.

There are 4 of us, 3 adults (eldest dd is 19) and a teenager (youngest dd is 13)

The girls have their own spending money but as a family our budget is $200 a day. That's for everything, food, petrol, shopping.

We are off to New York City for two days. Then SSR for some R&R, universal studios for 3 nights and back down to Disney for the final 2 weeks.

Due to the way I booked our DVC we are moving around a fair bit but we are used to that.

Day 1-Getting there

£7.95 in WHSmith for a meal deal and a sandwich.

On the plane from Newcastle they were selling M&S food. It's a while since I flew to London but you used to get free drinks and food.
It's only a short flight so we could have managed without but I liked the look of the yogurt. We had 3 yogurts (all they had on the plane by all appearances). A coffee and a hot chocolate.

The coffee was bizarre. It was filter coffee but the filter was in the lid of the cup so you had to drink through the filtered lid.

Total on M&S food. £11

The AA flight to JFK was fine. We had standard plane food, which I forgot to photograph. Ice Cream which was lovely and then a snack box later.

Loads of movies on the plane. Wifi if you were prepared to pay for it. No complaints about AAalthough more legroom is always appreciated.

We landed in JFK and we were the last people of the plane. I was expecting a long wait but we were straight through immigration (used a kiosk) and then spotted the cabs outside. The plan was to get the Airtrain but before we left I'd thought if we are too tired I'm getting the cab. So we just hopped in the cab. Not great for the budget but what an iconic experience.

The cab ride was $52+$6.50 for tolls and I have an $11 tip which was the lowest option available. So total cost $69.50. I think that's right as I can't find the receipt.

We arrived at the Doubletree at 2:30 which was at least an hour earlier than I'd expected. We were given free cookies on arrival. . After a long journey they were delicious and definitely hit the spot.

We were all exhausted but falling asleep at 2:30 was not an option so we went out for a walk. We were hungry so I decided to head for Ellen's Stardust cafe. I had mane a note of it as a maybe on my list but it seemed a good choice and I thought st 3pm it might not be too busy.

It was good fun and the food was nice too. Although certainly not a budget option. We were told outside we'd have to wait an hour but we only waited about 20 minutes although when we were seated they told us they needed the table for 4:45 so we'd have to promise to vacate it by then.
This gave us an hour and a half term so we were happy with that.

We had 2 Cesear salads and 2 patty melts.
Plus 4 soft drinks. And the total cost including tip was $100. Definitely not a cheap option and the shakes were $18 so we skipped those! But it was a great start to our trip.

Times Square selfie to sum up the day.

We are just about on budget for today so considering the cab and Ellen's I'm quite pleased.

Taxi to airport - prepaid
Food in U.K. £8.95 +11
£20

Taxi in USA $69.50
Dinner $100
Snacks in Walgreens ( can't be more than $10)

$179.50

I should add £5 for using my phone to post this. Wide awake at 3am my will power cracked and £5 to use my phone today seemed a good idea!

Snacks were $11.39. Two bottles of water. Chez mix and ice creams.

Day 2 - New York!

Breakfast At Fresh and co. Near the entrance to our hotel

Pancakes coffee drinks. $60

Well we blew the budget by 8:15 but we decided we had to go up the Empire State Building. $140.
I was going to prebook but I just couldn't decide if we wanted Empire State or top of the rock or something else. But as soon as we saw it we all knew we wanted to do Empire State. So I'm pleased I hadn't prebooked top of the rock

Starbucks in Macy's. $17.20 for 4 'tall' drinks. I have a strawberry acia which is delicious. I will be having a few more before this trip is over.

Take away lunch from au Bon pain. £33.60

We took it to battery park and sat at a picnic bench next to a sea themed carousel which was really peaceful and lovely.

In the evening we saw Aladdin. We had a McDonalds before the show and then we picked up some takeaway soup which we ate in our room afterwards.

Day 3

Breakfast snacks in our room


Lunch in Chelsea market. Slice of pizza and some drinks


$32.50

We had tea in the airport. Salads/ Deli sandwiches and Katie had spaghetti & meatballs. No photos as we were hungry!
I had a Philly cheesesteak which was lovely.

$50 as we were a captive Audience in an airport.

Day 4-Saratoga Springs


Breakfast at Saratoga Springs. Our flight was delayed so we didn't arrive at the hotel until 1am. Needless to say we had a lie in and have just walked over to the Artists palette to look in the food shop area. It's quite a bit smaller than the similar shop at the Boardwalk but we pick up some bagels, cream cheese and milk.
£9.18 with DVC discount.

Breakfast was going to be on the patio but a few mosquito bites later we retreat inside.

Pool this morning. We are in Grandstand so we go to the quiet pool which is very nice. There's a kids water area and a hot pool so it's more than a typical quiet pool. The girls get their first Mickey bars of the trip. $5 each.

We walked to Disney Springs with rain threatening all the way. We hadn't eaten yet and it was getting late so we went straight into d-luxe burger.
4 burgers, a large fries and 4 drinks was $80.
They had some combo deals with 2 burgers and fries but I wasn't quick enough to work out that was a better deal but I think it would have been.
I had a Cluck burger which was delicious.

Day 5 - I drive and Universal Studios

Lunch at friendlys. We all choose from the $5.55 menu except me. I got a combo including a small sundae.
After our sensible sandwiches we order sundaes except Phil who correctly gambles there will be ice cream going spare.

$44

My small sundae

Katie's banana split.

We stopped in the Leaky Cauldron for a break and decided we were hungry. This Ploughmans is $19.99 for two but 4 of us shared it and there was plenty to eat.

We also had a frozen butter beer and a lemon squash. The lemon squash was refreshing but $5 for squash!
Total cost $35

Day 6 - Harry Potter

Breakfast in the room this morning. We went to Target yesterday and stocked up on bagels, bread, pop and other bits and pieces. We spent $80 but it should save us over the next few days. Muffins were 4 for $3.99. In WDW they are $3.99 each.

To give you an idea for prices in Target.

Target muffins.

$15.99 for a coke cup. I never know if these are a good deal but it's $3.29 for a coke so we decided to get one cup and share. We've filled it about 5 times so far so I'm happy enough.

Lunch in Universal Studios in Louie's Italian pizza. We ordered a whole pizza and 2 side salads to share. It was $32 for a pizza which is crazy but it was $12/slice so it worked out a better deal for us.
Together with the salads it came to $42.57

Day 7 - Shopping

Breakfast in IHOP. Pancakes all round. Coffee. Hot chocolate. $50

Shopping day today. Lots of bargains.

Bath and body works pocket packs. Molly bought 15. They were 5 for $6 and $3.50 for the carrier.
She's got 15 as many are for gifts.

Victoria secrets was like a jumble sale. Not very pleasant but it was piled high and sold cheap. All the sports bras and talents were $2.99. They are all marked £22.50 and we paid $20 for the lot.

Rack room shoes. Buy 1 get one half price. We got 2 pairs of Nike. Molly can wear the plain black ones for school shoes so she was pleased to find them.

$101 for both pairs ($60 each with $30 of second pair)

Katie got Vans and I got some sketchers sandals. $69.20 for both pairs. $45 for the sketchers. $45 for the vans but then half price and $15 discount.

Vera Bradley bag half price. $34. They had some others at 70% off. Or half price plus 20%

Chili's for tea tonight. I'd signed up before hand and downloaded the app so we had a free chips and dip when we arrived.
We ordered from the 2 for $22 menu and had cheesy chips and onion rings to start. Followed by steak, fajitas, and 2 lots of ribs.
Plus 4 drinks.
Total was $59.60 plus tip taking it to $72.82

The fajitas were so big it would have fed 2 quite easily. In fact, 1 starter and 2 lots if fajitas would have fed the 4 of us.

The ribs.

Texas cheesy fries.

Day 8 - Hogwarts and the Boardwalk

$8.something to refill the cup but it's been filled about 4 times already. We discovered you can get ICEE refills so Molly was pleased to have a blue raspberry one as her mean mom won't buy them.

We are this before we took a photo as we were hungry. So a google photo. But we got 2 chicken platters with pieces of chicken which we shared. We used our refillable mug.

Plenty of food for 4.

$30

2 shakes in The Chocolate Emporium. $26.64

Day 9. Magic Kingdom

One cinnamon bun from Gastons. We shared this 4 ways. We could probably have had 2 buns but you definitely don't need one each.

$4.69

We had water in Gastons. They had a dispenser set up so you could help yourself. I also saw these in our hotel. I don't know if they are going to become more common.

Bit late with the photo. But we deviated
From our favourite Columbia harbour house and got flat breads from Pinnochios. We had 2 flat breads and an order of breadsticks. Plus water all round. No dispenser but we got 4 cups of water with our order

$25

Since we had a small lunch we decided to treat ourselves to ice cream. We had 3 ice cream cookies sandwiches and a 1 scoop cone. It was $26 for all 4.
Unfortunately it was raining very hard when we came out of the ice cream shop so we had to eat then hiding under the awning and which wasn't quite the idea I had in mind.

We made Dinner in our room. One advantage of the one bed villa is a full kitchen so we made use of the stove.
We got the enchiladas from Target for about $13.
There weren't many Fresh ready meals. Possibly because we were in Target rather than Publix so had to get a frozen one but it was delicious. I would get them again.

Day 10 - Hollywood Studios

Chicken and waffles in Backlot Express.

We had 2 chicken and waffles and 2 Caprese sandwiches with fries. 4 waters.
$44.69

The chicken and waffles were big enough that we could have shared. But we didn't waste any either!

3 frappachino and a strawberry acai in Hollywood Studios. $20 ish.

We had dinner in Olive Garden. They have a deal called buy one take one. You get a meal in the restaurant and a takeaway meal for the following day. I assumed we would need the oven for these but they are in plastic with microwave instructions so good for anyone in a studio or room with a microwave.

I had the 3 cheese ziti, The girls had spaghetti and Phil had ravioli. I think this is the ziti. It was very nice. We also got soup or salad and breadsticks.

This is the same 3 cheese ziti that we brought away. We also have some ravioli and spaghetti.

It was $66 for tonight's meal and also for another meal tomorrow or Saturday. For two meals I think it's a good deal.

I signed up to the Olive Garden e-club so we had a voucher for free appetiser or dessert. We had soup and salad to start to we chose dessert. We got these 3 little desserts to go as we were full from our meal.

Day 12. Disney Springs and Animal Kingdom

A trip to Ghirardelli this morning to meet a friend. We had this sundae which Katie and I shared, a shake and a smaller sundae. We got DVC discount . We can't find the receipt but it was about $27 before the discount.

Satuli canteen. These were delicious. We had 2 bowls between 4. I think we may splash out on a Bowl each as they were so nice. We had 3 waters and I had pink lemonade as I was feeling grotty and wanted some sugar.

The beef bowl is $12.99 and the chicken is $11.50

Satuli beef with potato hash. This was delicious. Everyone's favourite

Day 12 - Epcot

Lunch at Seasons. Beef Mongolian and sweet and sour chicken.

$26.72

Take out pizza in a friends villa. It was $60 for all this pizza and garlic bread. More than enough for 9 of us.

Day 14 - At the pool and Epcot

Not my photo. But we had Mickey bars at the pool. They are $4.25 each so $19 for a round of ice creams adds up. But you have to have one occasionally.

Today we splashed out on a pizza at Via Napoli. The large pizza was $34 which isn't bad for a table service meal in Epcot. We had salad and drinks so we bumped the total up to $70 including tip. For a real budget we should have definitely skipped the salad. It was nice enough but $14 for lettuce is a bit silly.
We did get 15% DVC discount which was a nice bonus.

This is what $14 worth of salad looks like...

We were going to have a break in the DVC lounge but it was after 6, so we found ourselves in the boulangarie in France instead. We splashed out in 4 cakes and 4 drinks. So it came to $34. They were delicious but you really have to watch The snacks as they add up quickly.
We stayed for Illuminations and then had sandwiches in our room for supper. Do these cakes were really our tea.

Day 14. Animal Kingdom

Emergency flip flops as Mollys primark sandals fell apart on the way into the park. They are $14.95 but we got 20% DVC discount.

Back in Satuli Canteen. We liked this so much we've come back for a bowl each.
4 beef bowls and one coke $58.85

We've decided that we don't all need a meal. 3 between 4 here would have been about right.

4 milk shakes at Ben & Jerrys. $27.00

Day 15 - Magic Kingdom

Breakfast from the Boardwalk bakery. 2 cinnamon buns and 2 muffins. $15

We stopped into Publix for some supplies. We got a frozen Enchiladas for a dinner. This is $14.39 which isn't cheap but much cheaper than eating out.
Bread, ham, cream cheese, bagels. Muffins. Etc.
We didn't buy a huge amount but spent $88.20
I think the supermarkets are quite pricey particularly Publix.

But it is definitely worth having some food in so we can have a sandwich or even makes meal without having to go out for every meal.

Columbia harbour house is a family favourite. I usually get the Tina Sandwich but tried something new. Chicken pot pie It was ok but I think I prefer the Tuna Sandwich. Katie had shrimp and fish combo, Molly had a pot pie and Phil had clam chowder and some of Katie's fish.

Total $43.41

Day 16 - Shopping

Applebee's is always a favourite. We are having a lazy day so came in for a late lunch / early Tea. We had 2 of the deals which are 2 for $20 or 2 for $26.


We had boneless wings and Mozzarella sticks to start

Molly and I had the $26 menu. She has ribs and I had Mac and cheese. I should have ordered something else as the Mac and cheese was huge.

Katie had lime chicken and Phil had a beef stir fry.
This was from the $20 menu.

Total bill including tip was $55.

Smoothies and cookies while we wait for Rivers of Light. $33

Day 17 - Hollywood Studios

Pizzarizzo in Hollywood studios. The place was deserted as it's tucked out of the way. We had 2 pizzas. Which came with salad
$22.
They are small pizzas so half a pizza is more of a large snack than a full meal.

4 sundaes from Hollywood scoops to take into the Music of Pixar Live.

$27

Day 18 - Typhoon Lagoon

I forgot to take a photo at lunch today. We were in Typhoon Lagoon and got food from Typhoon Tilly. We had a shrimp and fish combo and a chicken wrap plus a drink. We also had some drinks we'd brought with us.

Total cost $26.92

Dinner in sweet tomatoes. It's my bithday next week so my meal was free and 20% off the other 3. We also had Drinks which pushed the cost up to $41

Day 19 - Epcot

Lunch in Katsura Grill. This is a favourite of mine although I'm not sure if I ordered something different as it wasn't quite as I remembered.
We each had s meal. 2 chicken and beef teriyaki. 1 chicken curry. 1 shrimp noodle.
Plus 4 cups of water

$52.19

One of our more expensive park meals.

Quite a few picture coming from our meal in the Lounge at Saana.
We didn't want a full meal so we opted for the lounge and bar snacks. The lounge is smaller than we expected but we managed to get a spot at the end of a large shared table.

This is the bread service.

We also had Samosas and a trio of Salads. We love the Samosas but were less keen on the Salads. We wished we'd got 2 Samosas instead.

The bread service was superb. We had 3 plain naans and 2 flavoured ones plus 9 dips. We ended up ordering an additional naan bread to finish up the food.

Since we were in the lounge we had a drink! Serious splashing out for us. I had my favourite Godiva martini. Phil had a Sam Adams. Katie had a raspberry lemonade and Molly had a Mango Smoothie.

Total cost including tip. $75

Day 20 - Budget, what budget?

Breakfast at Saana.

With a view

This is a table service restaurant but they do a quick set breakfast

Lunch in Columbia harbour house. Budget going ok so splashed out on 4 meals. I placed the order on the app which was super easy and skipped a massive queue.
Phil and I got Tuna Sandwiches and had choice of crisps or fries. We chose fries but ended up with both!

$53

We had 4 breakfasts which included drinks.
Boere breakfast. Croissants sandwiches. Safari waffle. Savanna platter.

$38.30

Coke and sprite floats.
$22.54

This used to be my favourite spot for a coffee float. But they have stopped coffee

We met up with a friend of mine from University for dinner. She recommended Kimonos at The Swan. We have never had sushi before so we chose some non sushi things and then they also recommended some sushi we might like. We all loved thbeDragon roll but forgot to take a photo.

There were 7 of us and we had a bottle of wine and many plates of sushi and tempura. It was a budget busting figure. But an evening with an old friend was priceless.

After dinner we got the bus back to Kidani via Disney Springs so we picked up some cupcakes in Sprinkles for later.
4 cupcakes were $20.
They were delicious. I had Salted Caramel. Highly recommended

Day 21 - Disney Springs

Coke Float tasting tray. $10

From the Disney Springs CocaCola Shop

We'd give this experience 10/10 but the flavours really only 4 out of 10. We liked the Coke, sprite, Fanta and cream soda.
Not so keen on root beer. Pibb grape soda or cherry coke.

No purchase so far but for Disney tshirt uniqlo in Disney Springs is very cheap. Loads of cute designs.

Loads. Adults too

A bit of a shopping day. Molly bought this makeup palette in Mac. It was $40.

They both got make overs while we were there.

Lunch at Wolfgang puck.

Pizza and cobb salad.

We had a voucher from theDibb I've been carrying around for weeks.
I realised it had expired but they honoredbit anyway.

4 fountain srinks.

$39.80. With $7 off for the voucher.

It may seem like all we are doing today is eating. It's probably true.
I had Amorettes on my must do list and we hadn't been yet, so being a little full from lunch we got some to take away.
2 Mickey cakes, a cheesecake and a key lime pie

My key lime pie was delicious. The third photo is the inside of the Mickey. It has quite a few flavours of mousse inside and some crunchy bits which reminded Molly of muller corners.
$35 for 4. So just for a special treat really.

Day 22 - Animal Kingdom and then home

Night Blossom with glowing seed. $9.58
But we are just sharing one as it's quite big.

Just ridden Pandora. Simply superb.

Final lunch at the Kidani pool bar. Food choices here are quite limited. Katie and I had hummus and chips. We should have shared as it was a large portion.
Molly had chicken cesear salad. Phil had roast beef sandwich.
Plus 4 drinks
$53

The last supper. In outback at Orlando airport. 3 burgers and a chicken burger.
Drinks and even a beer. We really are splashing out now .

$70 including tip.

I've totted up all our expenses and we spent $3857 over the 3 weeks.

That's an average of $175.27 a day over 22 days.

This doesn't include the girls shopping. They had each saved and had $500. They managed to spend most of it. But a lot on clothes or pocket bacs.

We had some expensive days and some very cheap days. We shared a lot of meals and mostly drank water, and we ate in our villa 5 or 6 times. We all felt better for eating less and the last few days when we relaxed the budget a little we found we weren't finishing meals and felt too full.

We all agreed we were quite happy to share meals but we do like a fizzy drink. However the water was fine particularly when it was so hot.

Having the full kitchen at the Boardwalk definitely helped. I'm not sure I could have managed 5 meals with just a microwave.

The figures also include mine and Phil's shopping which wasn't much. Some shoes, trousers a handbag and some craft stuff.

One negative.
I ordered a post office credit card but I didn't realise you have to get a specific one for travel abroad and got the wrong One. and Nationwide now also charge, so we have paid £40 in foreign transaction charges which is annoying.

[Alien]

Subscribing! Have great trip

[darbs]

Look forward to reading! Have a great trip x

[mick]

Have a great trip I will enjoy reading along

Joan

[juless77]

? How do you subscribe ?

[Juliemack]

Originally Posted by juless77

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Looking forward to reading, hoping for some tips for New York... I just can't seem to get going with the planning

[BevS97]

My planning isn't great. I may refine it tomorrow or we will be winging it a bit.

[yellowrose78]

Following this with interest as we are doing similar next year, and I've enjoyed all your previous reports

[Carolynmf]

Wow sounds like a great trip

[Michelle]

Not long to go now Bev.. I'll be reading along

Have a great time.