Disney Cheap

[WDW_Emily]

Hey Everyone! My friend and I are planning a trip for 2012! we would like if you guys could share any tips to save money. We are both college students and therefore, money is tight. We are both working like crazy this summer to save up for the trip. So far, we know we are going to stay at a value (hopefully for 6 days) we want to do all 4 parks, and possibly IOA. We are also going to be flying and relying on Disney transportation. The only TS meal we really want to do is 1900 Park Fare.
So please post your money saving tips!

 

[disneygirl76]

Hey Everyone! My friend and I are planning a trip for 2012! we would like if you guys could share any tips to save money. We are both college students and therefore, money is tight. We are both working like crazy this summer to save up for the trip. So far, we know we are going to stay at a value (hopefully for 6 days) we want to do all 4 parks, and possibly IOA. We are also going to be flying and relying on Disney transportation. The only TS meal we really want to do is 1900 Park Fare.
So please post your money saving tips!

Bringing/cooking your own meals, as well as bringing your own snacks/water/soda, can save you big. Since you would have to rent a fridge to keep things cold in your room (Value doesn't come with a fridge), you can do bagels, granola bars, protein bars, etc for breakfast. If you decide to rent a fridge, you can keep lunch meats and bread and things like that to make your own lunches. For dinners - some of the portions are huge and you can totally split them. Just be careful that where you are dining doesn't have a charge for splitting. Also - get a filtered water bottle - that way you can just fill up any where in the park.

Skipping the park hopper option on your ticket will also save you money.

If you head off to IOA, you will have to pay for taxi/car service over there b/c there is no Disney transportation to IOA.

Check the different sites out there for discount - for example, it may be cheaper to go when you can get a room only discount and buy the tixs separately. If you don't know these sites, send me a private message and i'll send you some.

Go during a less crowded time - you might be able to score free dining too. I know you are in college so you might be on a set schedule on when you can go.

It's hard to tell you exactly where to cut more b/c everyone defines "budget" differently. But I hope this has helped!! :wave:

 

[wizards8507]

If you want to save money, don't stay on property. I've been to WDW for all four spring breaks of college and staying off site is the best money saving option there is. You can get rooms for like $40-$50 a night at some of the places on Irlo Bronson or I-Drive, and the majority of them have a complimentary (or small fee) shuttle to the park every morning.

 

[Sassagoula-Rvr]

I would say REALLY try to schedule a time when they are offering free dining....That is HUGE...and you have a little "wiggle room" as you don't have to have your whole trip during the free dining period...you just have to check in during the free dining period.

I mean you guys would get to eat at Disney's awesome restaurants for free, It's going to save me like 1200 this summer!!

And filtered water bottles are huge!

 

[Hot4Hudgens]

Here's one that never fails: Move to Florida. You'll qualify for a FL resident discount.

 

[oommggitskait]

Get a coin jar. A few actually.
It'll be a nice unexpected chunk of change (my filled piggy bank always gets me somewhere around $40) that you can use for spending money. I know it's not much, but every little bit helps!

 

[echovictor]

Ask for Disney gift cards for birthday and Christmas from family/friends.

We usually find that we save more money by taking the room discount rather than the free dining b/c we normally wouldn't eat as much as the ddp provides. We usually eat breakfast in the room, have one TS or CS per day and snack on things in between.

I also suggest like another poster that you investigate offsite hotels.

Finally, value season is definitely your friend! If you have to go during peak season due to your class schedule then discounts may be slim. Check into AAA or sites like mousesavers.com for possible savings.

 

[WDW_Emily]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Ask for Disney gift cards for birthday and Christmas from family/friends.

We usually find that we save more money by taking the room discount rather than the free dining b/c we normally wouldn't eat as much as the ddp provides. We usually eat breakfast in the room, have one TS or CS per day and snack on things in between.

I also suggest like another poster that you investigate offsite hotels.

Finally, value season is definitely your friend! If you have to go during peak season due to your class schedule then discounts may be slim. Check into AAA or sites like mousesavers.com for possible savings.

That is what we would do since both of us don't need to eat at TS places(although it would be nice )

Disney gift cards as gifts is a great idea! Definitely will be asking for those!

We have to go with our school schedule which stinks. We will either be going the week after new years, The first week in March, or the second week in May. I do have AAA though so hopefully that will save us some!

Get a coin jar. A few actually.
It'll be a nice unexpected chunk of change (my filled piggy bank always gets me somewhere around $40) that you can use for spending money. I know it's not much, but every little bit helps!

I actually just got one today! I'm planning on taking out like $20 every 2 weeks from my pay along with adding change. Hopefully that will add up to enough to buy plane tickets.

Bringing/cooking your own meals, as well as bringing your own snacks/water/soda, can save you big. Since you would have to rent a fridge to keep things cold in your room (Value doesn't come with a fridge), you can do bagels, granola bars, protein bars, etc for breakfast. If you decide to rent a fridge, you can keep lunch meats and bread and things like that to make your own lunches. For dinners - some of the portions are huge and you can totally split them. Just be careful that where you are dining doesn't have a charge for splitting. Also - get a filtered water bottle - that way you can just fill up any where in the park.

Skipping the park hopper option on your ticket will also save you money.

If you head off to IOA, you will have to pay for taxi/car service over there b/c there is no Disney transportation to IOA.

Check the different sites out there for discount - for example, it may be cheaper to go when you can get a room only discount and buy the tixs separately. If you don't know these sites, send me a private message and i'll send you some.

Go during a less crowded time - you might be able to score free dining too. I know you are in college so you might be on a set schedule on when you can go.

It's hard to tell you exactly where to cut more b/c everyone defines "budget" differently. But I hope this has helped!! :wave:

THANK YOU FOR SAYING TO SKIP THE PARK HOPPER! I will have to show this to my friend because I said the exact same thing!

I know very little about getting to IOA because I haven't been to Universal since I was really little. I heard you have to go though Mears to get there and it's about $18 a person? That plus the cost of tickets to go might make us just do disney this trip.

I always forget you can bring food into the Parks! Thanks for the reminder because we will definitely bring some of our own stuff.

If you want to save money, don't stay on property. I've been to WDW for all four spring breaks of college and staying off site is the best money saving option there is. You can get rooms for like $40-$50 a night at some of the places on Irlo Bronson or I-Drive, and the majority of them have a complimentary (or small fee) shuttle to the park every morning.

We were considering this did you end up renting a car or just using shuttle? How did you get from MCO to the hotel??

I would say REALLY try to schedule a time when they are offering free dining....That is HUGE...and you have a little "wiggle room" as you don't have to have your whole trip during the free dining period...you just have to check in during the free dining period.

I mean you guys would get to eat at Disney's awesome restaurants for free, It's going to save me like 1200 this summer!!

And filtered water bottles are huge!

Free dining would be a plus! I doubt it would be offered anytime we are thinking about going though:shrug:

Here's one that never fails: Move to Florida. You'll qualify for a FL resident discount.

:lol::lol: I wish we could but we're in school in Boston

 

[disneygirl76]

You are very welcome! I like the asking for gift cards idea too - that is a really good idea!! Also, we used Mears one year. We didn't have a car and were staying off property. It was like $36 each way if I remember correctly. Cheaper then a cab, but I didn't like how we had to wait for them all the time. And the hours were not the most convenient. We always were missing time at the parks b/c we had to be picked up in a particular window. It was so stressful. I will NEVER do it again. Where we stayed off property was a free week at Marriott Grande Vista so we saved big that way. But it also showed me that you don't really save that much staying off property. There are ways to break even or even stay cheaper on property.

Happy planning! :wave:

 

[TinkerBelle8878]

I agree with the skipping of the park hopper as a way to save money. I'd gone when it was the 'Buy 4 Get 3 Free' event a few years back. In my total amount of time there, I manged to only spend around $100 total foodwise.

What I basically stuck to was mostly QS places to eat. I'd order the kids meals. You get a drink, grapes, carrots and whatever the main food item is. Either hamburgers, grilled cheese, etc.

At Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, it was a small sandwich at the deli counter with the additional fruits and veggies mentioned above.

I bought a few packets of Pop Tarts at the food court at All Star Sports and a few Cran Apple juices to eat breakfast in the room before going to the parks. They were pretty cheap since I only eat 1 Pop Tart per breakfast and there's 2 to a packet. The juices I bought were the small bottles that are considered 2 servings. I'd drink half and put the bottle in the ice bucket to keep it fresh until the next morning. Used it as a kind of makeshift fridge.

I didn't do any of the Table Service places though and it was so darn hot that the last thing I wanted to do was really eat. So the small portions were just enough.

The other peace of advice I can give is to maybe skip the 'mugs'. It works out to how much soda and stuff you're really going to drink during the trip. If you just really drink alot of water most of the time and only occassionally drink what's covered under the mug, it doesn't pay.

I'm not a huge soda drinker so to me it didn't seem worth the money for the 1 or two times I wanted one.

Those are the best tips I can think of aside from the ones mentioned above.

 

[Raven66]

When we go I pack pop tarts and granola bars. I made my own trail mix to carry in the parks with us and I filled little snack bags with ice tea mix to add to the drinking water from the fountains in the parks. You can buy the little packets, but it was cheaper to make my own packets. I did that when we still flew there. I have a change jar, and we got free dining with our upcoming trip. Good luck and have fun!!

 

[franksharonri]

Most QS meals come with a burger and fries. You can order just a burger and no fries and they take off 1 or 2 dollars. We do that because we do not eat alot of fries.

 

[Sassagoula-Rvr]

Alot of these are awesome....although if you rent a car I would recommend a Walmart run...Since I almost always fly, space is usually at a premium...The only things I take with me are what I absolutely must take. Especially now with the fines if baggage is over a certain weight or size.

 

[wizards8507]

We were considering this did you end up renting a car or just using shuttle? How did you get from MCO to the hotel??

We used the shuttle. The under-25 car renter fee is absurd and the shuttle left early enough in the morning to get us there for park opening. There were multiple morning and night shuttles at different times. There was one night we wanted to stay until close at Hollywood Studios but the Hollywood Studios shuttle didn't run late that night, so we just hopped Disney transportation and took the night shuttle from Epcot.

We had a friend who lived in the Orlando area who got us to the hotel, and we actually used Orlando public transportation (which picks up at the TTC) to get back. It was a bit of an adventure for two college freshmen. Even if you had to take a cab each way, you'll make up for the cab fare in one or two nights worth of off-property lodging.

 

[coltow]

As soon as you know dates start looking at airfares. If you can fly mid week the airfares are usually cheaper. We have found that Tuesdays and Wednesdays to be a little cheaper. You can also look at flying to/from Manchester or Providence, occassionally Southwest is cheaper than Jet Blue from those airports. -From 1 Bostonian to another ;-)

As others have said bring pop tarts/granola bars for breakfasts and eat in the room or on the go. Jet Blue lets you take 1 suitcase free, make it a BIG one. Buy 1 resort mug and share it. You could also prob get away with buying 1 counter service meal and splitting it. I always end up sharing my meal with one of my kids.

 

[Susan Savia]

The first thing that comes to my mind for saving is staying offsite. That alone would save a LOT. Plus most offsites have at your door parking, microwaves, fridge, newspaper, pool AND the internet for no extra charges. If you rent a car your able to get around to other parks, stores, Walmart or wherever need be. Food is expensive in the parks so eating offsite is a big saver also. We usually eat a light lunch in the parks then dinner offsite. We save change all year long and it usually nets an extra $200 for our trip. Travelling off season is great and picking up Disney gift cards ahead of time might help.

 

[MMCoffman]

Use bookit. com, you will find decent hotels for as little as $39. You could get a 2 bedroom townhouse for $50 to $60 a night. These have full kitchens, you'll save about $500on food eating at a townhouse, that's a lot! Don't do park hopper, no need to. To save on parking I've heard people park for free at Downtown Disney and ride the bus to any park from there, that's $100 total for six days. If you must eat at a Disney restaurant do lunch, it'll save you a lot too.

 

[wm49rs]

Since you're in Boston, keep turning in those bottles and cans for recycling money.....

 

[GeoDonJac34]

Last year when we stayed at POP, we used gardengrocer for a food and beverage delivery. We saved a lot of money this way. A case of water was around eight bucks, so that alone saved quite a bit. We used them for other beverages too, which saved also. They have all sorts of food available. They delivered a styrofoam cooler to room which we packed with ice from hotel ice machine. I would highly recommend looking into them.

 

[nankeldisney821]

I personally would NOT stay off property. I did it once and it was horrible. I also have friends who have done it and they hated it also. Just my opinion.

I am not sure how much the value resorts are now, but I used to stay at them all the time with my daughter when I was a single mother and there were times I had paid under $100 per night. I am sure that also had to do with the time of year when I went.

I know you need to save money but you also want a Disney vacation, not something where you have to stay off property and not get the whole Disney experience. You can stay at the regular hotels just about anywhere so why not spend a little more, if that's what you find, by staying on property and saving on food like everyone else says to do. Bring your snacks and eat in the room if you can.

I had looked into going to IOA when I went last July and it was $78 + tax just to walk through the door! We didn't end up going...then on top of that we would have had to pay for food and whatever else we would want and that would add up to be too much!

Lastly, what I do when I know I am going to Disney is go to a Disney store and purchase a gift card with whatever you can put on it at the time. Then whenver you get a chunk of money saved, put that on the card too. And yes, being from MA myself, I also return my bottles and cans!! It definitely helps...along with saving your change! Good Luck!! And have a GREAT trip!