My household of 6 loves going to Common Orlando. We spent $2000 for a 7 day journey, together with meals, lodging, and tickets.

• I am a mother of 4 youngsters, ages 8 to 16. 
• My household has visited Common Orland Resort 5 instances and spent about 4 weeks within the parks. 
• I packed snacks and drinks to have useful on the park and opted for an annual go. 

Over the previous yr, my household of six visited Common Orlando Resort 5 instances and spent about 4 weeks whole within the parks. 

Though it takes me 12 hours to drive to Common, the parks work nicely for all of my kids, ranging in age from 8 to 16. It is not simple to discover a vacation spot the place everybody has a very good time, so I discovered a strategy to make it work. A seven day go to price my household of six about $2,000, together with meals, lodging, and tickets. 

Here is how we did it. 

Be artistic with buying tickets

Common makes use of dynamic pricing for his or her tickets, so tickets are dearer throughout peak seasons, together with the vacations and spring break. Visiting within the low season can save some huge cash. Common additionally provides reductions for army households and Florida residents. It could even be attainable to get reductions from AAA or Costco.

One other method to save cash is to search for specials. Common appears to supply three-day tickets for the worth of two a few instances a yr. Sadly, I wasn’t fortunate sufficient to get any of those reductions or specials, however I did look carefully at choices to seek out the least costly choices.

Take into account an annual go

Though I used to be not capable of get discounted tickets, I spent fairly a little bit of time evaluating choices earlier than my journey. I found that getting an annual go was roughly the identical value as park-to-park tickets for 3 days throughout peak season, which is once I was visiting. I opted out of getting a three-park go to save cash, which meant I could not go to Common’s water park, Volcano Bay. I additionally obtained the bottom tier go that labored for my dates.

Getting an annual go meant that we might go to for added days on our first journey and go to once more all year long with out paying any further admission charges. Plus, annual go holders get a number of helpful perks. The particular advantages differ based mostly on what sort of go you get. My advantages included free parking, discounted resort charges, reductions on meals and merchandise, and early admission.

One profit my youngsters actually loved was entry to the passholder lounge, which is a cool, quiet place to relaxation. The lounge can also be identified for pop-up surprises like a scorching chocolate bar or visits from the highly regarded Grinch. As soon as I noticed how a lot I might be saving with an annual go, I prolonged my first journey and shortly deliberate others.  

Purchase souvenirs outdoors of the parks

There isn’t a scarcity of merchandise to purchase at Common, particularly for my Harry Potter and Jurassic Park-obsessed youngsters. I splurged on wizarding wands as a result of they can be utilized to carry out spells all through the park to make it rain and get a skeleton to bounce. I solely obtained one for my youngsters to share. Buying a wand was value the additional expense to me as a result of I believed it added to the expertise. Nonetheless, I later realized there’s an energetic second-hand marketplace for wands. Had I identified that upfront, I might have bought a used one as a substitute.

Relatively than shopping for different souvenirs, I took observe of what my youngsters appreciated and allow them to every select one related merchandise elsewhere.

Convey your individual meals into the parks

My household normally ate breakfast in our resort room, which helped preserve prices down. When it got here to days within the park, I at all times packed snacks since Common permits company to herald their very own meals. Water can also be free and simply obtainable, so I packed a water bottle and refilled it all through the day. To provide my youngsters some inexpensive treats, I purchased a refillable bottle on one in every of my first visits and reactivated it for about $11.00 a day. This included limitless soda refills and slushies, which have been an awesome pick-me-up. Though some individuals carry coolers with full meals into the park to avoid wasting much more on meals, I feel that might sluggish me down an excessive amount of. I normally purchased lunch in parks however I scoped out inexpensive choices like pizza and burgers. 

There are budget-friendly motels

Common has two lower-priced motels, Infinite Summer time and Cabana Bay Seashore Resort. I’ve stayed and each. They each have microwaves and mini-fridges in rooms, which makes it simpler to avoid wasting on meals. One other huge perk is that they each supply free shuttles to parks. This protects on transportation and parking prices.

One thing I realized a few journeys is that costs fluctuate. As soon as I booked my room, I stored an eye fixed on costs and referred to as for an adjustment if costs went down.

Between the 2, I want Cabana Bay. Though it could price a bit greater than Infinite Summer time, the rooms are a bit greater, and my youngsters love the on-site lazy river. Cabana Bay additionally provides pool hopping privileges so we might go to swimming pools at different Common motels, even swimming pools on the premier motels. I priced out off-site motels and located costs comparable. 

Budgeting has helped my household get pleasure from way more journeys than we’ve got in any other case. I set expectations with youngsters early on about shopping for “extras” on the park, and this labored nicely for avoiding disappointment as soon as we obtained there. Though it sounds cliche, the recollections made on holidays actually are priceless. I am glad to have discovered a spot and formulation that works so nicely for my household.