Saving on a trip with around 11-12 highschool seniors and 2-4 adults?

To elaborate on the title: my friends and I, who are just finishing up our sophomore year of high school, are trying to put together a trip of epic proportions for our spring break of senior year. Seeing as many people of our group have never been to Disney World or Universal, we thought it would be nice to take a trip to Orlando to do this stuff. When my fellow planner and I started looking at potential prices (looking towards the cheapest rooms for //I think// December of this year) It totalled to about $1,000 for each person- I honestly can't remember if that was with tickets or without, but I know it didn't include out airfare. I guess what I'm asking is if anyone knows how to get the price down for each person?

The way they keep the senior trip costs low for my son's school trip is by putting 4 kids in one All Star room.

Can you give more information on what you are looking for? What dates? Are you wanting to do both Universal and Disney? Doing both increases the cost quite a bit because short trip tickets for both parks are expensive. Are you ok staying off property? It will be less expensive but you will need transportation to the parks.

Campsites allow for 10 people. So two campsites-, 16 people- that's probably about 10 bucks a night per person. That includes all your transportation because you get all the resort perks. It would be hard to get an offsite place for less than that.



But your base price is only part of your problem. You haven't said how many days you want, what type of tickets you want. Those are set prices.

But let's say you each buy a 4 day park hopper. $425. Book 5 nights. 50 bucks per kid. Half the $1000 you're talking about before airfare food and souvenirs. I don't think you'd find anything less than that.

I would only do Disney. A day at universal will involve paying for transportation and tickets, and was a big added cost on my trip.

Marymc001 said:

To elaborate on the title: my friends and I, who are just finishing up our sophomore year of high school, are trying to put together a trip of epic proportions for our spring break of senior year. Seeing as many people of our group have never been to Disney World or Universal, we thought it would be nice to take a trip to Orlando to do this stuff. When my fellow planner and I started looking at potential prices (looking towards the cheapest rooms for //I think// December of this year) It totalled to about $1,000 for each person- I honestly can't remember if that was with tickets or without, but I know it didn't include out airfare. I guess what I'm asking is if anyone knows how to get the price down for each person?

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Which park do you want more? To keep this reasonable, you'll likely have to pick.

I would choose only one destination either WDW or Universal, but when choosing you need to be smart about it, and see what you can get for money and how it fits into your budget. Transportation at WDW you can use ME ( Magical Express Bus service)to get to and from the airport and resort and back again. I would suggest looking at a family suite as there are 2 bathrooms which is a must for larger families or larger groups in your case I think that they sleep 5 or 6. These rooms have a small kitchenette, a small frig and microwave. You might want to try to come when free dinning is being offered, even if not you might want to include this, in the cost when budgeting. I as a parent I would want to make sure my kids meals are included, also not everyone has the same ability to pay, so one price for room, park tickets and dinning plan might be the way to go. As a team mom for 4 years, adding in meals was always important, again I can tell you that I have had to pay for a kids meals as their parents forgot to send any cash for meals. This way if something happens lost wallet or whatever, at least meals are included.

I do have a thought would it be possible to do a caravan from where you live, driving would cut cost and you could make it part of the adventure. Also you could bring water, snacks which helps cut down on the cost. I used to drive for my daughters team, you might only need 3 large vehicles to get everyone in. Add in cost for gas to the budget.

If flying is going to be the way to go, see if anyone has AAA to help, we used then for a trip and I surprise at the cost was pretty low, around 300.00 for Round trip, also start talking to mom and dad about airline miles to use to help with the cost.

From now till you go ask for Disney gift card, for birthdays, Christmas to help add to your spending money.

Also just so you know that when talking about a trip like this is fun, but when it comes down to it some might not be able to go or bail out at the last minute so you need to be prepared. If someone does how will this affect your cost. Lots to consider and plan for.

You need to create a real budget, and have a meeting not only with friends going, but with mom and dad included... So that everyone is on the same page and understand all the cost of the trip and what it includes, sleeping arrangements, any medical issue. The more you are prepared and able to answer questions the better it will go.

If you pick universal, I think there are onsite options there with rooms for 6, at much lower prices than onsite Disney. But for truly cheap , I like the idea of driving,campsite,onsite at disney. That's a cheap trip, but sounds fun.

For college graduation, we rented an RV and stayed at Fort Wilderness. Driver had to be over 25, so beware. It was SO much fun but FL gets hot even over spring break, so camping might be hot and sticky. Staying offsite would be cheapest, but requires driving back and forth to the parks every day which could be a major hassle if people wanted to come and go at different times. The All-Stars Resort rooms are probably your best value for an epic trip--about $50pp/nt. Tickets will likely run at least $400 each, but adding extra days is pretty cheap (ie, 7 day tickets are only $50 more than 4 day tickets). Adding on the dining plan is usually more expensive than paying for your food out of pocket, but either way food will cost a lot. Depending how far you live, the easiest way for you to save on cost would likely be driving down instead of flying. Have fun planning!

My dd and 2 friends went to Universal for their Spring Break this year, she paid $350 for her room (6 nights) and RT airfare, plus another $250 (+ tax) for her 4 day park to park Uni tickets. A 4th person was supposed to go, but she started a new job and couldn't get the time off, if she has then that $350 would have dropped to $325 I think it was. It was through Expedia or Travelocity and it was not onsite at Uni but one of their "value" partner hotels with free shuttle service to the parks.
She probably spent $1000, maybe a little more in total (between airport shuttles, uber, food and souvenirs) and it was in mid March so not Holiday season December pricing.
I think you have to pick one park to do, it will be expensive to do both (Uni and WDW).