Lowest cost for summer hoildays trip?

[Ricky_Spanish]

We've just returned from a late Aug trip. I booked in January and somewhat threw caution to the wind. As it was our 1st trip we just did disney, stayed onsite CBR with dining plan. I booked it all including direct flights from Machester with disney. Also did NSSHP.

Having come back and totted up, I now know the full cost. I would like to go again next Aug but cannot justify that cost every year. I would also be tempted to hit universal next time. Staying onsite isn't a must but getting 60 day fast pass would be useful. My wife isn't convinced thinking 2021 is better, but if I can get the costing down she may be swayed.

For 2 adults and 2 kids going late Aug and returning just before uk schools start, what kind of cost could I reasonably get down to all-in? Ideally I would like to be around 2/3rds of what it cost this time.

I'm aware flights for this time will be released shortly.

[mermaidhair]

Just out of interest what did it cost you this time?

I'm looking at similar dates to you for next year and at the moment packages are coming out around £8500 for a moderate with free QSDP plus Disney and Universal tickets. I am undecided whether to book now or hold out until all flights are available for those dates. I priced up offsite but the cost difference wasn't significant enough to justify it as far as I could see.

[Elmhurst 5]

Can you say what your costs were this year to compare different options for you.

[TheHughesCrew]

It's kind of like a piece of string question... some hotels will be £500/night, others £60. You could spend £200/night on dinner, or self cater for £20.

We have a £12k budget for next August. That needs to include flights, car, hotels, all parks and spends. We're going for a month, so it will be a stretch with this budget, but we're prepared to make sacrifices (ie. cheaper hotels, meals etc) in order to manage it. I've also heard friends say that they spend double that in a fortnight. I guess it depends on what part of the trip you're happy to compromise on...

[Ricky_Spanish]

I should have added it was for 2 weeks. The booking with Disney was just over £8.7k. I earned about £300 topcashback and got about 1% cc cashback. Parking, cattery, insurance, spend, bought new suitcase and some clothes, passport, esta, upgraded return seats, NSSHP etc took overall to just under £11.5k. Admittedly some costs can be spread over future holidays (unless the clothes don't fit as they were getting tight towards the end and the cases got hammered coming back), but they weren't big costs anyway.

[Ricky_Spanish]

I priced up the same holiday as flights are available July and it's just over £10k. Can only select pirate room at CBR for some reason. Is the price usually less late Aug?

[mermaidhair]

Originally Posted by Ricky_Spanish

I priced up the same holiday as flights are available July and it's just over £10k. Can only select pirate room at CBR for some reason. Is the price usually less late Aug?

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I don't think the accommodation price through Disney varies much but the flights tend to be a bit cheaper and the parks should definitely be quieter late August when most US schools have gone back.

As for the pirate rooms, I believe the availability for free dining was more restricted this time. At CSR it only seems to be Preferred Rooms that are available. Also remember that CBR is now the most expensive moderate with the addition of the Skyliner. POFQ was coming up cheapest for me.

[Shani]

If you booked January this year, that'd mean you didn't get the free dining plan included, but paid for the QSDP? Availability with the free dining will be limited for the full 14 days by this point in the free DDP offer, so you're probably only seeing more expensive room categories.

You can do it quite cheaply, depending on the type of accommodation you're prepared to stay in and eating in / take aways etc and not eating on site.

Generally speaking (not always the case, but mostly) booking a package can work out much more expensive. Look at costing it up by booking Disney with Disney, Universal with another provider, and flights either direct with the airline (Thomas Cook are already released for August next year) or with a 3rd party once your dates are out.

You could also split your stay - 10 nights at Disney, 4 at Universal etc.

Being completely honest though, I think you're going to have to compromise somewhere to reach your cost target. You're aiming for around 8k all in? Park tickets for Disney an Universal alone is going to eat up almost £3k of that budget. Direct flights in August will be around £1kpp (but indirect you could have a good go at halving that).

It just depends on what you're prepared to compromise on, and what you won't.

[macadoo]

Your biggest saving will be on your flight if you’re prepared to fly indirect.

This year, by booking a bargain indirect flight we stayed at cbr for 16 nights 28 July til 13 August, 4 adults with park tickets and free qsdp for £5,988.

On top of this we had a standard suv car and other park tickets but that’s the cost if we had done just Disney.

The pirate rooms are quite a lot more than the standard so it’s hard to price up the same for next year.

[Ricky_Spanish]

That's interesting. I wouldn't mind indirect to shave the cost, I would just have be careful it wasn't too close to school starting back. When booking I missed the free dining, but got 4 free nights I think. It was listed as about £840 saving when I booked. I'm not sure if booking with the dining offer would have saved anything more as I guess they put the base price up to compensate, but could just be cynical. Some friends went a few weeks before us (same except pirate room 2A2C) but flew with TC and got free dining. Their overall cost was the same as ours almost exactly. Maybe ours would have been cheaper with the dining given it was later, but then their flights were supposedly cheaper.

On skyscanner flights are about £3500 atm direct. Playing with dates I can get to just under £2k for 1 stop. 16/17h though. Could visit Toronto on the way.

Edit: I can get coronado and indirect to £8199 ish. Direct and it's up to £9k. Do prices tend to drop near xmas? QSDP would shave around £600 (plus tips) off.