Last minute-ish budget trip plan thoughts

[Kmpcfp]

We had a vacation planned to another destination for the end of September that we had to postpone. We are looking at Disney as an alternative for end of September. Our days are a little flexible, so I am looking at getting the 4 day 4 park magic ticket and renting DVC points for a studio at the Boardwalk (edit, JK). We would be flying in and hoping to get away without renting a car, so if we could stay on site, that would be desirable. We are a family of 5, kids 8-12, so it's a little tricky to find a budget on-site room.

The last time we were at Disney was 2018 during spring break, when FP+ was still a thing.

Crowds during this time look to be low, so I am hoping to be able to get the kids on as much rides as possible.

Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

We had a vacation planned to another destination for the end of September that we had to postpone. We are looking at Disney as an alternative for end of September. Our days are a little flexible, so I am looking at getting the 4 day 4 park magic ticket and renting DVC points for a studio at the Boardwalk. We would be flying in and hoping to get away without renting a car, so if we could stay on site, that would be desirable. We are a family of 5, kids 8-12, so it's a little tricky to find a budget on-site room.

The last time we were at Disney was 2018 during spring break, when FP+ was still a thing.

Crowds during this time look to be low, so I am hoping to be able to get the kids on as much rides as possible.

Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated.

It doesn’t sound like you have the studio booked yet. If you don’t, the chances that there is availability for 4 consecutive nights at the boardwalk in a studio is about 1% so have a backup plan.

 

[Kmpcfp]

It doesn’t sound like you have the studio booked yet. If you don’t, the chances that there is availability for 4 consecutive nights at the boardwalk in a studio is about 1% so have a backup plan.

I just realized that after actually searching for availability. Renting DVC points was a new one for me . I did find some confirmed reservations for other resorts with our dates but outside our price points. Did find some decent deals on Priceline for other WDW resorts, so will probably go moderate.

 

[robinb]

I just realized that after actually searching for availability. Renting DVC points was a new one for me . I did find some confirmed reservations for other resorts with our dates but outside our price points. Did find some decent deals on Priceline for other WDW resorts, so will probably go moderate.

You're looking for next month? The way that DVC works is that a reservation becomes more difficult to cancel 30 days and less from the check-in date. You can always call/email the people selling the reservation and make an offer if your proposed check in date is 30 days or less away. Just so you know, the current going price for DVC is around $18-$25 per point for non-distressed points. Distressed points (like those in a reservation 30 days or less in the future) go for the mid-teens ($13-$16). So, if your price point is the old $10-$12 per point, you will be disappointed.

There is also a pretty active DVC rental community on Facebook. Make sure that you take care when renting from an individual. Check their name in the Orange County Assessor's office, check their post history, and get the reservation in your name and hooked up to your MDE before you pay in full. If you PM me, I can send you a link to some FB groups I follow.

Another option would be to stay offsite in a timeshare. You can get some great deals at Wyndham Bonnet Creek in a 2BR that will be more comfortable for your family.

Here's a thread about Bonnet Creek:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-we-loooooove-club-wyndham-bonnet-creek-part-4.3366139/

 

[Kmpcfp]

You're looking for next month? The way that DVC works is that a reservation becomes more difficult to cancel 30 days and less from the check-in date. You can always call/email the people selling the reservation and make an offer if your proposed check in date is 30 days or less away. Just so you know, the current going price for DVC is around $18-$25 per point for non-distressed points. Distressed points (like those in a reservation 30 days or less in the future) go for the mid-teens ($13-$16). So, if your price point is the old $10-$12 per point, you will be disappointed.

There is also a pretty active DVC rental community on Facebook. Make sure that you take care when renting from an individual. Check their name in the Orange County Assessor's office, check their post history, and get the reservation in your name and hooked up to your MDE before you pay in full. If you PM me, I can send you a link to some FB groups I follow.

Another option would be to stay offsite in a timeshare. You can get some great deals at Wyndham Bonnet Creek in a 2BR that will be more comfortable for your family.

Here's a thread about Bonnet Creek:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-we-loooooove-club-wyndham-bonnet-creek-part-4.3366139/

Thanks, we actually did have a reservation for Bonnet Creek back during spring break 2021 that we ended up cancelling due to a family emergency. We did look into Bonnet Creek for this trip as well, but we are trying to avoid having a vehicle, and it seems necessary to have one at Bonnet Creek.

 

[Kmpcfp]

I am seeing on Priceline a reservation for a "garden view 5th sleeper" at Port Orleans Riverside, it's a non refundable rate for 170.43 a night... but it is only showing up when I type in 4 guests, but this is definitely a 5 person room. We are traveling with 2 adults, and 3 kids.

When I put in 5 guests, that 170 non-refundable rate goes away, and only shows the $299 refundable rate for the 2 queen pool view room... hmm?

Book and link to Disney Experience and add youngest child to reservation through disney? I feel like I did this once many years ago to Pop Century

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

We had a vacation planned to another destination for the end of September that we had to postpone. We are looking at Disney as an alternative for end of September. Our days are a little flexible, so I am looking at getting the 4 day 4 park magic ticket and renting DVC points for a studio at the Boardwalk (edit, JK). We would be flying in and hoping to get away without renting a car, so if we could stay on site, that would be desirable. We are a family of 5, kids 8-12, so it's a little tricky to find a budget on-site room.

The last time we were at Disney was 2018 during spring break, when FP+ was still a thing.

Crowds during this time look to be low, so I am hoping to be able to get the kids on as much rides as possible.

Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated.

You could try to find a room with a 5th sleeper at POR or CBR. The pull down bed under the TV would work well for the youngest child. I don't know your dates but with the summer discounts through end of September, you can get a room at POR for $249/nt. There's also the family suites at All Star Music and Art of Animation. AofA can be pricy but you get a room and 2 full bathrooms, same for ASMu suites. For closer proximity to Ep/DHS, you could look at Swan/Dolphin, not as disney themed but great location and do the rollaway cot.

Just a suggestion, we did the 4 park magic tix too this summer and we "threw away" the 4th park day and skipped AK. The 4 park magic tix were less $$ than 3 day tix for us and we didn't have an extra day for it anyway. So theoretically, if you're trying to be budget friendly, you could just do 4 nights at the hotel and skip the 4th park day if it makes sense. Just throwing some ideas out there, you don't have to use all 4 park days and for us AK is sort of blah for us right now given we only really enjoy EE and Pandora. We just didn't have enough time but even if we did, I'm not so sure the extra hotel night and cost of food would really be worth it since we're not huge AK fans.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I am seeing on Priceline a reservation for a "garden view 5th sleeper" at Port Orleans Riverside, it's a non refundable rate for 170.43 a night... but it is only showing up when I type in 4 guests, but this is definitely a 5 person room. We are traveling with 2 adults, and 3 kids.

When I put in 5 guests, that 170 non-refundable rate goes away, and only shows the $299 refundable rate for the 2 queen pool view room... hmm?

Book and link to Disney Experience and add youngest child to reservation through disney? I feel like I did this once many years ago to Pop Century

Just seeing this now that you were trying to book POR, I've booked priceline before and you can enter your conf number into MDE but adding a person will likely need to be done via the original reservation with priceline since they own it. I would try to clear your browser history and make sure you have your entire family in the search. Also may not hurt to try the app instead or another browser.

ETA, the most important thing would be ensuring your whole family is in MDE for park tickets, G+, etc.

 

[Kmpcfp]

Just seeing this now that you were trying to book POR, I've booked priceline before and you can enter your conf number into MDE but adding a person will likely need to be done via the original reservation with priceline since they own it. I would try to clear your browser history and make sure you have your entire family in the search. Also may not hurt to try the app instead or another browser.

ETA, the most important thing would be ensuring your whole family is in MDE for park tickets, G+, etc.

I ended up booking the 5th sleeper garden view POR through the Priceline app, which never gave me the option to adjust guest count. It ended up giving me two guests when I went to sync it up to MDE. After 40 minutes on the Priceline chat, they essentially told me to call Disney, which they were able to fix in about 10 minutes. It was a little nerve wracking though, and not recommended. BUT, I did save 33% off Disney website rates, so I'll take it.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I ended up booking the 5th sleeper garden view POR through the Priceline app, which never gave me the option to adjust guest count. It ended up giving me two guests when I went to sync it up to MDE. After 40 minutes on the Priceline chat, they essentially told me to call Disney, which they were able to fix in about 10 minutes. It was a little nerve wracking though, and not recommended. BUT, I did save 33% off Disney website rates, so I'll take it.

Nice I’m glad they were able to get it fixed. That’s a good deal!!

 

[jtopp]

Five in a studio might get a bit cramped. Being budget conscious, have you considered off site? You don't get all the bells and whistles, but it might make more sense for you cost wise.