Patrick & Lydia’s tips for going to Disney World made the Tennessean. Apparently this happened while I was on Mars, because I’m just now finding out about it.
The column was one with which I have a love-hate relationship–Ms. Cheap. I love Ms. Cheap when she’s talking about saving a few bucks on your groceries or at the dry cleaner. I honestly believe there’s a difference between frugality and outright stinginess, though.
Nowhere does stinginess bother me more than at Disney World, which is why Patrick and Lydia’s final “tip” pleased me so much.
Be realistic. This is a vacation. There will be some things that you will want to do that will cost more than you would ever spend in another situation. Plan your splurging opportunities and enjoy them when you experience them.
I would live at Disney World if I could. But Husband and I simply won’t go at all if we can’t afford to do a trip in a relaxed, non-worried fashion. I know it’s a personal taste thing. But my personal taste does NOT include such “money saving ideas” as
- Make a salad for your meal by using the condiments bar at one of the hamburger restaurants. Mix mustard and mayonnaise (provided for free) for a tasty salad dressing!
- Ask for free water in the parks and make your own soft drinks using Crystal Light packets.
- Buy one kids’ meal for up to three children to split, and take turns deciding who gets the main course on which day.
These and countless other ‘money-saving tips’ are at Ms. Cheap as well as dozens of other Disneyphile websites.
They drive me nuts. I know it’s a personal taste thing, but I honestly can’t see how vacation-like it is to put yourself on wartime rations to save eleven bucks a day.
I’ll tell you something right now. Disney World is expensive. It is more expensive to eat a hamburger at Disney World than at your local McDonalds. But not by much. I believe last time we went I calculated that a DisneyWorld hamburger meal was 17% more than a local McD’s combo. The sticker shock comes from being accustomed to paying one price in your daily life.
The thing is that you know Disney World is going to cost some money. You can’t spend a week there as cheaply as you spend a week at home.
We’ve never gone to WDW with unlimited finances. We always have a trip budget, and we always pay cash. But it doesn’t feel so punishing if we just acknowledge our limitations and have fun within our means.
Speaking of “means”, the Irish would call many of the ‘Save Money At WDW’ tips ‘mean’. That’s their word for “stingy”. And I think it fits.
Funny Update: I swear to you I wrote this after reading “Patrick and Lydia”. P comes before W in my feedreader, which is why I wrote this before reading Sarcastro
We are in the pre-planning stages of our 2009 trip (being a Disneyphile I know you understand).
Do you still do planning, not full time, but like for super-special blog-friend type people? 🙂
I have been told that I’m not allowed to do this one commando, and (here’s where I know you understand), it takes a LOT of planning and forethought to appear like you’re being unstructured at WDW.
Speaking of not being cheap, we have to choose between the Contemporary Resort, Poly (a childhood dream of mine), Wilderness Lodge, or the Swan/Dolphin. I swear to you, I change my mind from minute to minute. Care to indulge me?
Here’s my thinking:
Contemporary – Kids are begging to stay here, but we won’t be spending as much time in MK this time, so the geographical advantage is gone. And the place is ancient.
Poly – I’ve been dreaming of staying here since I was 11 years old, but it’s my dream alone. I’ve heard it’s getting a little run-down, and the ducks make the pool unusable.
WL – It looks absolutely beautiful, but it seems “away” from everything. Or maybe that’s a Walt-inspired illusion?
Swan/Dolphin – Probably my first choice because we love Epcot, but I’ve heard the Disney “feel” just isn’t there.
Tough choice.
But my pulse races just thinking about it.
If you don’t do paid planning anymore, can I bug you with stuff like this for the next year?
Do you still do planning, not full time, but like for super-special blog-friend type people?
You bet I do. Planning Disney trips is a favourite hobby of mine.
Speaking of not being cheap, we have to choose between the Contemporary Resort, Poly (a childhood dream of mine), Wilderness Lodge, or the Swan/Dolphin. I swear to you, I change my mind from minute to minute. Care to indulge me?
I admit that I am fully biased on this to the point of being insane.
I am a WL devotee of the highest order. Yes, it is away from things, but only slightly. In fact, I’m just waiting for my husband to pop in here and wax rhapsodic over the Boat Ride.
It’s beautiful. It’s quiet. It’s far less expensive than any other Deluxe resort. It’s family friendly without being overrun with little kids who are out of control. There are not enough words for me to express how much I love the WL.
As for your other choices, my take on it is that both the Contemporary and the Swan/Dolphin are Convention hotels. They may look nice in the pictures, but trust me. Being there makes you feel like you’re on vacation at a very expensive hotel next to O’Hare airport.
I gather you’ll be doing more Epcot/AK things, since you’re doing less MK stuff. But my personal opinion is that most of the Epcot hotels (Boardwalk, YBC, etc.) are like Disney’s version of Manhattan housing.
I was gobsmacked when we toured them on our 2004 trip in planning for our 2005 trip. In the pictures they all seem to stand alone, but in reality they butt up against each other like Brentwood McMansions. It feels crowded and inhospitable to me. I’d just as soon suck up the extra travel time from the MK hotel corridor.
If you don’t do paid planning anymore, can I bug you with stuff like this for the next year?
Yeah, absolutely. What’ll probably end up happening is that we’ll have you guys over for dinner because a lot of this stuff is something I could write a book about. Literally. It’s easier to talk through than type through.
Not sure how rhapsodic this will be, but yes, I’m a huge fan of taking the boat to/from the WL to the MK. The ride itself is always enjoyable, whether you get one of the smaller launches or the large, two-level boat. Most trips are direct runs to the Contemporary, though you’ll occasionally make a quick run to the Ft. Wilderness campgrounds. This tacks on a few minutes, but only adds to the enjoyment in my book.
To me, spending a few minutes cruising across Bay Lake is the ideal way to transition into and out of the hyper-stimulation of the Magic Kingdom. I’ve always felt a little guilty when leaving the park at the end of the day, watching people pack into busses and monorails like sweaty, cranky sheep while we grab the first – or, at worst, the second – boat for a relaxing moonlight cruise back to the WL. Transportation at Disney simply doesn’t get any better than this. It’s uncrowded, efficient and runs like clockwork.
Admittedly, most of the time the boat only takes you to the Contemporary, which leaves you with a jog through that hotel to pick up the monorail to the MK. I can see how this would be less than ideal for people with very young children – particularly those in strollers, as there is an elevator/escalator ride involved. However, we’re also big monorail fans and even enjoy stopping in the Contemporary on occasion to check out the gift shop (one of the better ones among the hotel shops, IMO) or to grab a quick drink, so adding this extra leg to the journey is almost a plus for us.
Of course, I’m such a big WL fan that I’d probably crawl across broken glass to the MK and be happy to do it. Take away the rest of the whole Disney World experience and I’d still gladly pay through the nose just to stay at the Lodge for a week. Except for the Dole Whips. Gotta have those!
Gah. I know I’m going to get hatemail because I said this, but I just don’t see the lure of WDW. Yes, everyone needs to go once or twice in their lives (and by all means, take the kids…. several times), but I’ve never understood the draw of the place when there are just so many other wonderful places in the world to see.
I’m not trying to set of a flame war here, and I’m open to enlightenment, but the thought of going to WDW six times in one season makes me a little light-headed.
Sorry P&L. You know I love ya.
Jason
The Sibling and The BIL are discussing taking Baby Fishmouth to WDW in a couple of years. They already have to spell it because Baby F begins to babble about Mickey and Goofy, so I don’t think that bodes well for anything but very secretive planning on their parts.
That said, I think I may refer them to you or at least to this post for advice. Baby F is quite the fan already of transportation modes (BOATS! TRAINS! PLANES!) and it sounds as though she’d be quite fascinated with a place such as the WL. Plus, as a potential fellow traveler, I think I’d vote for that place just on y’all’s descriptions alone. Why would you want to be in the middle of what you just left? And besides, the kids are going to keel over asleep on the boat/monorail trip home, anyway. Sigh.
Slarti – Kat’s WL testimony notwithstanding, if this is your first deluxe resort stay, let me encourage you to try the Poly. It’s got a retro-cool lounge feel, and it’s the ideal monorail stop – one away from the Magic Kingdom (Grand Flo) and two (contemp/TTC) towards. The other plus is the TTC proximity. You can walk to the Epcot monorail very conveniently instead of having to take the resort monorail to it like you would at the Grand Flo or Contemp. If the kids are high on the Contemp, schedule a breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. We did that on our last trip and were very pleased both with the breakfast and the character meets.
the thought of going to WDW six times in one season makes me a little light-headed.
Me too, but we won’t be going for the forseeable future after February! Also, three of the six trips were pre-planned business trips, so I was gonna be in Orlando twice and on property once anyway. That accounts a lot for the “why.”
Also, we made a conscious choice this year to go the annual pass route instead of paying a la carte for park admission. Disney is more fiscally manageable when you buy it in quantity – the more days you buy, the cheaper it gets. The entry price is $75.62 for a one day, one park ticket, but our season tickets will end up ringing up admission to the tune of just over $20 a day. See MouseSavers for a ticket primer (and can allot 45 minutes to study…)
And, it’s not like we’ve had six full-on, hit it hard trips. On one of those trips, the entire Disney portion consisted of staying in a hotel on property for three days and going to a park for about three hours (when Lydia was at her worst with pregnacy issues.)
When we were planning our trip to WDW in ’06, I remember reading lots of “on the cheap” ideas and thinking, “how lame!” Why do Disney at all if you’re constantly worried about saving $$? We planned accordingly, like you, had a trip budget and paid cash AND had an absolute blast!