$700 question

I got a call the other day from a family wanting to plan a trip to Disney World in October. After investigating, I boiled it down to two options.

The first is for them to stay at one of Disney's resorts. The benefits of doing this include the continual shuttle service between resorts and theme parks, extra hours at selected parks on selected days, and the opportunity to purchase the Disney Dining Plan - which in this case gives them three meals per day for $32.75 per person.

The other option is to stay at an offsite hotel. While this option comes in $700 less and includes a continental breakfast, the question becomes is that $700 worth the trade offs. First of all, there's only limited shuttle service between the hotel and parks - twice a day. So, you're pretty much confined to that time schedule. Second, can four people eat two meals per day at a theme park for five days for less than $700 ($18 per meal)?

That's the $700 question.