How we made it "affordable" in 2015- family of 5:
6 nights onsite WDW(3cbr/3BC) booked through Orbitz stack discounts with WDW spring discount and 15% off Orbitz code. Went through ebates for cash back. I have an Orbitz CC so had reward dollars saved. Did same thing for one night at Universal (RPR) to get 2 days EP (had enough rewards to get a club level too).
Another week in our timeshare. We had buy 2 get one day free tickets to universal bought through reseller (
UT- has cashback on ebates as well). Bought WDW tickets through cheap tickets (Buy 4 days get 3 days free I think) Ebates at the time had cash back of 15%with cheap tickets.
Disclaimer- I've not seen anything like the discounts I found in 2015 since. And it was still expensive! But I saved several hundred dollars doing it this way
I did a spread sheet when I got back and not doing a dining plan saved us money-we simply don't eat that way. I think we also added a day into WDW tix when we were there, plus had a couple down days to relax at resort amenities.