Ideas for Saving Some Money While at Disney

[KramerTM]

Hey everyone,

New here, but am very happy I stumbled on these message boards.

My wife and I were really looking to sneak in a Disney World trip this year because it's been almost 6 years since we last went, and it suddenly dawned on us that this may be the last chance we have to go before we have kids!

That said, our budget is super tight this year and we weren't really sure if we could justify going. I travel a lot for work, so we already planned on cutting a ton of expenses out by using hotel points and Amex points. But I was wondering if anyone else had any tips from experience about how to avoid some pitfalls while in Disney to save a buck here and there (while not spoling the whole Disney experience, of coruse!)

Our plans thus far:

5 nights at the Dolphin - free (Starwood points)
2 roundtrip flights to/from NY - free (Amex points)

Thanks everyone! :wave:

 

[monkeysammich]

Someone mentioned grocery delivery. I agree with this. We had Garden Grocer deliver cases of water, snacks, milk for the kids and bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Even with $12 delivery fee it was a lot cheaper (especially for the water) then buying in the parks.

Just make sure you order enough water for the week. 2 adults can drink 3 to 4 water bottles each/day x 5 days and you end up with close to 40 bottles.

On our last trip we had our car so we just plugged "Publix" into the GPS... there's one relatively close to Disney... and we were able to buy a gallon of milk and cereal. Saved a bucket load on breakfast food.

 

[Lisalyn]

They are staying at the Dolphin, so they are not able to purchase the dining plan.

Why can't you purchase the DDP if you stay at the Dolphin? Isn't that a Disney resort....or are some Disney resorts kept off the DDP list for some reason? Any input please.

 

[Mikester71]

You might want to check out MouseSavers.com. If you go here and scroll down to "Meals, Snacks & Drinks," you'll find lots of great tips about saving on food.

http://www.mousesavers.com/wdw.html

Spent the last 30 minutes or so reading through all of these GREAT tips for saving money on food. Have already done quite a few of them on there and found quite a few more that I plan on doing on our next trip. I actually had mousesavers already bookmarked from before, but never really "dove into" that section of the site before!

EXCELLENT link! :sohappy:

 

[Mikester71]

On our last trip we had our car so we just plugged "Publix" into the GPS... there's one relatively close to Disney... and we were able to buy a gallon of milk and cereal. Saved a bucket load on breakfast food.

Agreed!!! We usually drive down from Canada and usually hit up the Sam's Club or Target just off-property the first or second day down there to stock up on food and beverages for breakfast/snacks. WAY cheaper that way!

 

[erstwo]

Why can't you purchase the DDP if you stay at the Dolphin? Isn't that a Disney resort....or are some Disney resorts kept off the DDP list for some reason? Any input please.

Actually, the Swan & Dolphin are NOT Disney resorts. They do enjoy some Disney perks (Disney busses, etc.) but not others (no dining plan, no charging to your room in Disney parks, etc.)

Here's a link to allears with some info:
http://allears.net/acc/faq_dol.htm

ETA- I think a lot of the confusion about the S & D (at least for me) comes from the fact that they are on Disney property, but not Disney resorts.