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!

 

[wizards8507]

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.

What happened? I know that many people prefer staying on property (I do to, if money isn't an object), but it was horrible? Lol please let me know what you did and where you stayed so I can avoid it.

 

[nankeldisney821]

We had friends who have a timeshare at Vistana, which is beautiful, & they had told us we could have a room for our family, so Vistana confirmed that.. About a week before we were to leave they called and said we would be staying at their sister resort, the Parc Corniche. My mother and I got there first, we drove down, so we checked in. They brought us to our room on the third floor and no one offered to help with the luggage but when they opened the door there was a family in the room already! We had to go back to the office and they brought us to our next room which was all the way at the back of the resort looking at the woods and it wasn't a nice view. The pool was closed and they told us they had a nice breakfast area but that turned out to be a walk up window that you could get snacks in.

When we actually got in the room, it was not the cleanest place. When my sister got there with her kids, we had pulled out the sofa so they could get settled in bed, and there were potato chips in the bed!! There were dead bugs in the corners of the rooms and it was just not pleasant & the refridgerator smelled bad too. We did complain but they said they had no more rooms available and definitely not at Vistana. We did get a small discount on the rooms when we left but it wasn't much from what I remember.

Just a side note, this was in 1999 and it was our first trip with the whole family and it was also the last trip my mother was ever able to take to Disney, she passed away in 2002. It was also the ONLY time any of us had stayed off property.

The other things that bothered us were having to drive in and out of the parks everyday and paying to park. It was just such and inconvenience to have to get to the car then drive to the hotel late at night, not to mention spending extra money on gas. I would much rather wait for a bus and just go right to the room, while carrying our sleeping kids instead of having to buckle them in the car and waking them up. I know someone mentioned taking a shuttle but then you have to be on someone else's schedule and if you miss the shuttle then you have to pay for a cab, so then what's the point of saving money!

Sorry for the long story but I had to just fill you in on a little of it.

By the way, another thing was, anytime we bought anything in the parks, we had to carry it around all day and to the car and then into the rooms. If you stay on property, you can have whatever you buy sent to your resort. The only thing you have to do is pick it up the next day in the store in your resort and bring it to your room! This is probably my favorite perk about staying on property!

Not sure if this would be an option for you but we drive down a lot to also save money. Not sure how that would be with the gas prices now but if one of you has a decent car, take that down and take turns driving so you don't have to get a hotel room. It usually takes us 18-20 hours straight through. My sister and I are doing this again in October for my 40th birthday!

 

[AEfx]

By the way, another thing was, anytime we bought anything in the parks, we had to carry it around all day and to the car and then into the rooms. If you stay on property, you can have whatever you buy sent to your resort. The only thing you have to do is pick it up the next day in the store in your resort and bring it to your room! This is probably my favorite perk about staying on property!

They will send and hold packages at the front of the park for any guest to pick up when they leave.


To the OP, personally staying on-property has lost it's appeal to me. For the price of a value resort at Disney (basically a Disney motel) you can get quite a nice luxurious hotel only a few miles away, and even though you'll need to rent a car it's still far cheaper and nicer. Expedia has some amazing deals on packages.

Driving for me is much preferable because the bus service is adequate, but overall I find it annoying and a waste of time. I can get where I want to go far quicker (especially mid-day park hopping) on my own, in control of my own vehicle, climate, etc. and not having to wait for buses you never know when they are coming. And after spending all day waiting in lines and on Disney-operated vehicles, I'd much MUCH rather just get to my own vehicle than wait in a line with 100's of other tired, grumpy people just to get on a bus with standing room only (I personally find the overpacked buses not only uncomfortable but I think they are unsafe - what happens if one of the accidents that happens happens to a bus so full of people?).

It really depends on your preferences, but I am able to travel much more frequently to WDW, and spend a LOT less time sitting/standing and waiting when I have control over my own transportation, and there are some wonderful resorts and weekly condo rentals in the area where you pay the same, or far less, than even a "value" resort to be in much more comfort.

 

[WDW_Emily]

Thanks again for the Replies!

To everyone saying to stay off site, could you name some hotel that would have a shuttle to/from the parks? We will both be under 25 when we go and therefore cannot rent a car.

 

[wm49rs]

Thanks again for the Replies!

To everyone saying to stay off site, could you name some hotel that would have a shuttle to/from the parks? We will both be under 25 when we go and therefore cannot rent a car.

I'd probably check out some of the travel web sites to find which hotels offer shuttles, or look at the hotel web sites themselves. I know that generally, the hotels near DtD (such as the Holiday Inn and Hilton, I believe) have a regular shuttle service, but I'm uncertain as to the others in the area.

 

[Kristamouse]

When DH and I were in college and my Brother and his girlfriend were in college we stayed at the Grossvenor which is now a Wyndham and has a fridge in your room and shuttle service...and you are a short walk from DTD were you can eat on the cheap
Not sure of your car situation but could you just drive? We drive from KY and it is not bad at all...our cars were crappy in college and we borrowed my parents and paid them with a oil change and a full tank of gas and a gas gift card when we got back...just an idea to save the flying $$...

 

[wizards8507]

Thanks again for the Replies!

To everyone saying to stay off site, could you name some hotel that would have a shuttle to/from the parks? We will both be under 25 when we go and therefore cannot rent a car.

If you're under 21 that's another problem. Many of the hotels won't let you check in unless you're 21+. If you want a CHEAP hotel with a free shuttle that will let you stay under 21, my college friends and I had a blast at the Legacy Grand Hotel and Suites. It has some horrible reviews on TripAdvisor but I can tell you we didn't have any problems, as it was only a place to put our heads down at night.

 

[diddy_mouse]

Share meals! The portions on some of them are larger than you think. My husband and I went for a weekend back in October and we split almost everything we ate, just because money was a little tight. My favorite place? Sunshine seasons at Epcot! We had a delicious salad, one soda, and a giant brownie(which was for me) and it kept us going. Funny thing was, we were about to pay $8 for a salad then I saw a simple green one for like $5 less and the portion was basically the same.

For us the park hopper option was a must, but we are the type of people who can do all four parks in one day. We also had a free ticket thanks to the "Give A Day, Get A Day" promotion that we upgraded to a 2-day hopper ticket. What saved us on a day's admission was having a ticket to MNSSHP on our arrival day. That way we didn't waste a whole day's ticket, especially since we only go to the MK on our first night.

As far as off-property, a number of years ago we stayed at the Holiday Inn near DTD. It was within walking distance to the Marketplace and we just used the bus transportation from there. the only downside was the food options there were horribly lacking. We ended up eating at DTD or the theme parks. But at the time $99 a night wasn't too bad being that close to property.

It's been a number of years since I went to Universal and every time we did we had our own car, because we drove down to Florida.

 

[wizards8507]

Share meals! The portions on some of them are larger than you think.

This! Can't believe I forgot to post it. Kid's meals are also a great way to save.

 

[disneymojo]

If you're under 21 that's another problem. Many of the hotels won't let you check in unless you're 21+. If you want a CHEAP hotel with a free shuttle that will let you stay under 21, my college friends and I had a blast at the Legacy Grand Hotel and Suites. It has some horrible reviews on TripAdvisor but I can tell you we didn't have any problems, as it was only a place to put our heads down at night.

We stayed at the Legacy Grand in December of 2007. We were done with our Disney part of the trip and wanted to see some other things. One night was enough of that place, maybe it changed since I was there, but I would sleep in my car before I stayed at that place again. We ended up staying at a place called the Palms, (not Gaylord Palms) it was off of 192, on Parkway Blvd. there is a Radisson Inn next door too. The Palms was a 2 bedroom and we payed $80 a night and it had a full kitchen. It was called Homewood Suites when I checked in 2009, 3100 Parkway was the address. You have plenty of time to do some research. Most of the places should have websites and that should tell you if they have shuttles going to the parks or not. Keep in mind though if you decide to stay off site, that the shuttles may only come back to pick you up at certian times, if you miss those pick ups you will most likely have to get a cab to take you to your hotel. So check the shuttle schedule and see what their pick up options are. Have a great time when you are there!!

 

[Bri1121]

These are some great tips!! In my opinion its worth every penny to stay on property! We are staying at the Dolphin this time for $152 a night! That is cheaper than our trip to Hilton Head last year. We get to take the boats to Epcot and HS. And only need the bus to MK and DTD. To me its all part of the experience but hey to each his own!

Getting some of your own food is definitely a great money saver. For our family of 4 we can easily spend $40 a day on just breakfast not including character meals. So we hit the store and spend $40 on breakfast foods and snacks to have through out the day.

Sign up at some airfare watch site to get deals on airfare.

 

[Bri1121]

We had friends who have a timeshare at Vistana, which is beautiful, & they had told us we could have a room for our family, so Vistana confirmed that.. About a week before we were to leave they called and said we would be staying at their sister resort, the Parc Corniche. My mother and I got there first, we drove down, so we checked in. They brought us to our room on the third floor and no one offered to help with the luggage but when they opened the door there was a family in the room already! We had to go back to the office and they brought us to our next room which was all the way at the back of the resort looking at the woods and it wasn't a nice view. The pool was closed and they told us they had a nice breakfast area but that turned out to be a walk up window that you could get snacks in.

When we actually got in the room, it was not the cleanest place. When my sister got there with her kids, we had pulled out the sofa so they could get settled in bed, and there were potato chips in the bed!! There were dead bugs in the corners of the rooms and it was just not pleasant & the refridgerator smelled bad too. We did complain but they said they had no more rooms available and definitely not at Vistana. We did get a small discount on the rooms when we left but it wasn't much from what I remember.

Just a side note, this was in 1999 and it was our first trip with the whole family and it was also the last trip my mother was ever able to take to Disney, she passed away in 2002. It was also the ONLY time any of us had stayed off property.

The other things that bothered us were having to drive in and out of the parks everyday and paying to park. It was just such and inconvenience to have to get to the car then drive to the hotel late at night, not to mention spending extra money on gas. I would much rather wait for a bus and just go right to the room, while carrying our sleeping kids instead of having to buckle them in the car and waking them up. I know someone mentioned taking a shuttle but then you have to be on someone else's schedule and if you miss the shuttle then you have to pay for a cab, so then what's the point of saving money!

Sorry for the long story but I had to just fill you in on a little of it.

By the way, another thing was, anytime we bought anything in the parks, we had to carry it around all day and to the car and then into the rooms. If you stay on property, you can have whatever you buy sent to your resort. The only thing you have to do is pick it up the next day in the store in your resort and bring it to your room! This is probably my favorite perk about staying on property!

Not sure if this would be an option for you but we drive down a lot to also save money. Not sure how that would be with the gas prices now but if one of you has a decent car, take that down and take turns driving so you don't have to get a hotel room. It usually takes us 18-20 hours straight through. My sister and I are doing this again in October for my 40th birthday!

18-19 hours straight through from MA?! We are driving from NJ (very north) for the first time and thats how long I thought it would take us!! You don't stop? We have 2 kids so we will be stopping! We plan to stop for the night also once we hit Florida.

 

[bmarkelon]

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!

We do this with the kids. They each have a Disney piggy bank (Buzz and Snow White of course) that they save money in between trips. They each had about 40 bucks to spend our last trip.
You have so many great suggestions here to check out! Happy planning!

 

[dreamfinder]

Stay on property. Yes, you may be able to get rooms offsite for less, but then you are tied to their shuttle schedule. The shuttles don't always run that frequently. Not to mention you will may have to pay for transit to/from the hotel and the airport. That alone could negate a chunk of the savings. And then does the hotel have free breakfast? If not, your breakfast could end up costing much more than a CS at a value.

Personally to save money, I would skip IOA. WWoHP is amazing and all, but it will cost you each $100 plus for that one day. Going from 4 to 5 or 5 to 6 days on property w/o hopper only costs an extra 5 bucks. Huge difference in price there.

Look at your eating habits. Can you get away with bringing a sleeve of bagels each for breakfast? If you can do that, you save 5-10 bucks a day. Maybe you guys eat kids meals to save a few bucks? Stuff like that adds up.