Disney World on a Budget

[hwdelien]

Let me start by saying, I Love Disney. My parents took me once as a child and I've been there a dozen times as an adult. Unfortunately, my finances aren't what they could be and sometimes have a lot of trouble making the trip. Here is what I do to save money. I'd love to hear anyone else's ideas.

* Give tickets as Christmas Presents - This allows you to divert some of your Christmas budget toward the vacation, and the kids are thrilled to get them.

* Don't buy park hopper passes - realistically 1 park 1 day is more than enough. Having the option to jump around is nice, but usually the only day I do that is the day I go to animal kingdom, since it closes so early.

* Only eat 1 meal per day in the park - The last time we went, the budget was REALLY tight. We own a timeshare, so the room was paid for. Park tickets were paid for, so all we needed was gas to get there (about $600 from Pittsburgh, PA round trip) and food. We hit Super WalMart as soon as we got in town, ate breakfast before the left the room every day and packed a picnic lunch. You would think this is increadably inconvenient, but it was nice to go out the the van and relax for a half hour. Even a sit down meal in the park is still chaos and not very relaxing. The parking lot is silent, there are no interruptions (except for Disney Security drives by and gives a wave), and it really is relaxing.

* Bottled Water - We have a few softside coolers and we freeze bottled water and take that with us. We still had a stroller for our 2 Year old so we didn't have to carry it. I'm not sure what we'll do without the stroller.

* Disney dollars make great birthday presents - We always get one of our relatives to give the kids Disney Dollars for birthday presents. This way they have their own spend money and it saves a lot of arguments.

All told we spent a mere $1200 on our last trip. That included a nice dinner at the Yak and Yetti and the Japanese Steak House. And don't forget $600 of that was gas.

Any other ideas?

 

[laynalee07]

Having a refillable mug from the resorts really comes in handy...
the drink prices can get a little ridiculious if you have to buy a new one for each person several times a day.
It is well worth the money to get a mug and use it your whole trip... esp. if you have a long stay.

 

[Darth Angelo]

Remember that US 192 and International Drive are both really close to WDW. So you might want to take a break and eat a meal at one of the 1,000 restaurants on one of these roads. There is literally one of every chain restaurant there, and sometimes two.

Hotels. Choose carefully. Do you really need to stay at the Poly or Contemporary? Is being on the Monorail that important? Save a few hundred a night and stay at Pop or the All Stars.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Stay offsite!:wave:

I do.Everytime.

 

[MichRX7]

It's a vacation, buck it up and stay in a tent in Ft Wilderness. The accomodations are great, the "comfort stations" are clean and err... comfortable. You don't get inundated with TV, radio, etc. There are a ton of things to do just inside Ft Wilderness and it could cost as little as $40/night during the off season! Plus you can buy groceries and cookout and eat breakfast before even going into a park saving more money.

 

[disneymyway]

Your advice is good and I have one too.

Save all things that you don't need a park ticket for for one day - and do downtown disney, resort character meals, kids' events like bbb, everything not in the parks all on that day so that you don't need a park pass for every day.

 

[C&D]

Stay offsite!:wave:

I do.Everytime.

No never, once we stayed the first time on property we never stayed off site again. If you check the Disney site for specials, the difference in price is not that much, and if you stay at a resort with a food court, their prices are very reasonable (many dinner entrees can be split for two people if you're not real big eaters.) So for us, it is breakfast in our room, maybe a coffee and pastry around 11AM, then dinner where ever (food court, downtown Disney, or one of the multitudes of other restaurants available).

 

[ToTBellHop]

Your advice is good and I have one too.

Save all things that you don't need a park ticket for for one day - and do downtown disney, resort character meals, kids' events like bbb, everything not in the parks all on that day so that you don't need a park pass for every day.

if you stay for more than a few days, that doesn't save you very much money though. After you pay for a 4-day ticket, the increase in price of the ticket per day is only $3 per person. One thing I would say, though, is get more bang for your buck--if you can, depart for WDW on an early morning flight and head home on a late night flight. It's senseless to pay for a hotel room on the first evening if you arrive at 5 pm, and it's also senseless to pay for a hotel room on your last night if you are going to fly home the next morning. Either way, you are paying for an extra room night for no reason. You can sleep in your own bed at home for free.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

No never, once we stayed the first time on property we never stayed off site again. If you check the Disney site for specials, the difference in price is not that much, and if you stay at a resort with a food court, their prices are very reasonable (many dinner entrees can be split for two people if you're not real big eaters.) So for us, it is breakfast in our room, maybe a coffee and pastry around 11AM, then dinner where ever (food court, downtown Disney, or one of the multitudes of other restaurants available).

I usually stay in a Hampton Inn or Wingate and they have free breakfast.

 

[SAV]

#1 is to stay off-site using either the entertainment book discount(50% off of rack rate) or using hotel credit card points.
#2 Use the Disney Visa points to pay for park passes or food.
#3 Use any special codes you can find for Car or hotel. Mousesavers is a great resource.
#4 Use any credit card points or Frequent flyer points for Airfare.
#5 Go to the Grocery store so I can freeze and bring my own drinks along.
#6 Go to the Grocery store so I can bring alot of my own snacks for the kids.
#7 Learn to say...No you don't "need" that...you "Want" that.
#8 Explain before the trip that the kids will get to pick one thing for a souvenir and that's it. (I wish my wife would remember that, though).

 

[Tink423]

I start as soon as I know I'm going: socking things away that I find on clearance for the kids to do on the ride there. (Stuff Disney themed that can be found at the dollar store, walmart, etc...) So when they get there they have already gotten some souvenirs. They are than given a souvenir budget of $25 how they spend it is there call, but not a dollar more is spent!

Also, When I find non-perishables on clearance, I pick up a few for the trip. I just got Juicy Juicy drink boxes for 75c for pack of 8 or 10, I bought six for the house and six for the trip(healthier choice for the toddler, easy to throw in a back pack and much cheaper than in the park!)

I am a big one for the trip being part of Christmas! It saves me trying to plan a trip and shop for Christmas and it is my favorite type of present an experience rather than something broken in a few months!

I'm all about the budget! My DH is who must be controlled though!!!!

 

[JimboJones123]

We got one of those 1 1/2 - 2 qt. drink coolers for our last trip. Ice up and mix up before you head out. We carried it in a backpack and refilled with the free cups of ice water around the parks. Usually we went through 2-3 a day. Saved TONS on juices and sodas throughout the week. We mixed about 12 for the week, costing us a total of $10 for cooler and mix. Sure I had to carry it around, but didn't notice the backpack very much, and could also hold cookies, crackers, and sandwiches. Our food budged stayed at around $30 per day for food and drinks.

 

[smk]

Whenever possible we eat "kids" meals at the food courts and in the parks (better portions and less expensive). This time down we are driving so we have the option of leaving the property easily to go to eat, we most likely won't tho. We will have a cooler and soft drinks, fruit and snack foods from the drive down and we will take a refillable water bottle for the parks, buy the refillable mugs from POP and limit our expensive meals to dinner. We don't do the DDP, never have, but we manage to eat were we want.

We are getting tickets thru the conference web site ( sorry, have to be a registered attendee to get them) but they are "after 2" tickets that are really a bargin. No park hoppers, we will have to adjust to that but it will work. Staying at POP and going to MNSSHP once, driving down and I think we are spending a little over 1900 (including gas, hotel down and back and souveniers) total. I think the souvenier budget is too low but that can be adjusted once we find the stuff we are looking for! Not too bad for a 8 day trip, 5 of those days in Orlando. I can't hardly wait!:sohappy:

 

[TheKeeler7]

We gave last trip as a christmas gift to kill to birds with one stone, and Santa was smart enough to give them things they could use on the ride down. Video games , DVD's ect.

Also we told relatives ect, so some of them gave the kids Disney Dollars as gifts, that plus money earned helping around the house allowed each kid to buy what they wanted and when the money was gone it's gone.
It's amazing how much more they think about wheter they NEED somthing when it's their money.

 

[NewfieFan]

if you stay for more than a few days, that doesn't save you very much money though. After you pay for a 4-day ticket, the increase in price of the ticket per day is only $3 per person. One thing I would say, though, is get more bang for your buck--if you can, depart for WDW on an early morning flight and head home on a late night flight. It's senseless to pay for a hotel room on the first evening if you arrive at 5 pm, and it's also senseless to pay for a hotel room on your last night if you are going to fly home the next morning. Either way, you are paying for an extra room night for no reason. You can sleep in your own bed at home for free.

Unfortunately this tip can't work for everybody either... flying from NL, Canada I have no choice but to get to Orlando in the afternoon and leave early in the morning - I guess I have two extra nights for no reason!?! But on our first night we still head to the parks for the very reason you mention above (when you stay for 9 days, it's "nothing" to add on an extra day). And our last day is very relaxing and then we can get up the next morning, eat a nice breakfast, pack, and head for the airport!

My money saving tips are similar to other suggestions that have already been mentioned here. I encourage family and friends to give my kids a little spending money for special occasions (if they ask my opinion, of course). My son has already accumulated $35 and he's only 5! Their spending money comes out of "their own" pocket! We also scale back Christmas and birthdays if there is an upcoming trip planned. We just explain to the children that in order to take a vacation there has to be cut backs in other areas - and they understand!

 

[H20Babie]

10% of each and every paycheck, government refund, rebate, etc., goes into my Vacation Account, and that's what I have to spend

 

[davinakb]

• Room: Longer stays, off site. We get a multi-bed/bath timeshare for a week, that sleeps 4-6 adults for the average cost of one room at a value resort. Free internet, laundry, full kitchen. More space for less money, IME. If we don't need a big room, we try Priceline.
• Tickets: Longer stays, if possible. As someone pointed out there is little increase from a 3 day ticket, all the way up to 10. So the cost per day goes down on the longer ticket. Or: . Buy an Annual Pass. We try to go once a year, usually in October for a week. One year we do last half of the month, the next the first half. We enjoy two 1-week trips on one AP, the second trip being "prepaid."
• Food: With AP, we buy the DDE card for our one on-property meal each day, which we usually split items and try more things. (We like signature dining with wine, so this helps us save while we splurge. It is a vacation after all.) Do a small and cheap grocery store run to stock the condo for the week. Eat filling breakfast, prepare waters and snacks, saves $.
• Stuff: buy discount souvenirs at Disney outlet.

Everyone has their own budget ideas, this is how we get the most bang for our buck and the kind of WDW we want. FWIW.

 

[MousDad]

we never stayed off site again. If you check the Disney site for specials, the difference in price is not that much,

If you stay in a Value - true. If you stay anywhere else - false.

 

[Highland_Holly]

Subscribe to fare alerts from Travelocity, et al. Then you will know when there are great rates on flights... if you can be flexible you can save a lot!

Join the $9 fare club at Spirit Airlines (if they fly from your airport). We got our tickets through them for $16 rd. trip in January. They run great deals quite often! If we weren't so busy this month, we would've been on a plane to CA to DL/DCA for $6 rd trip!

Search eBay for DVC accomodations. They are not always a great deal, but sometimes you can find gems!!! For that same January trip, we purchased 5 nights at Saratoga Springs for $325 (=$65/nt).

~ Holly

 

[Zip-a-Dee Do Da]

We stay offsite as well, at Westgate Lakes. It's really awesome because we get the standard rate, $82 a night I think, then when you get there, you tell them you want a screened in porch. So they have to put you in one of the nicer rooms. So we get washer/dryer, full size kitchen, dining room, bedroom with twin beds and attached full bathroom, another half bath, big screen TV, master bedroom, a jacuzzii, another full bath, and a screened in porch of course. It rocks!

Another thing is when you get your rental car, go for the cheapest, then usually by the time you get there, they are out so they have to upgrade you.

And as for food, we eat out 2 times max down there. We hit the grocery store first thing when we get there and get all our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.