saving money at disney..

[wdwishes2005]

buy x number of disney dollars BEFORE your trip for souveneirs.

eat a big breakfest and late big dinner at DD.

use the resort mugs.

get an AP, its usaully cheaper if you factor in the discounts at restauraunts, and stores, and AP rates on rooms.

Have fun.

 

[DisneyFreak529]

As mentioned - EAT A HUGE BREAKFAST. Have energy for the day!

My husband & I are on the same page as you!!
We have a BIG BREAKFAST, it gives up a lot of energy!! We don't eat again till like 3-4pm then we have a good dinner. Then we are done for the day as far as eatting goes!

I'm am a really bad impulse buyer. I give my self a certain amount of money every day for everything. I end up buying every thing I want.

 

[Wilson_Matua]

Try lookin in at Disney.com for even more seasonal deals. Last year we stayed at Pop Century during the value season. Then... like two weeks before we left, an add for cheaper nights in the value resorts came up, so I called Disney Travel Co. and they lowered our value season prices to like 60 or 70 bucks a night.

Also, as far as merchendise goes... try to befriend (if you aren't already friends with) a cast member, and get 20% off.

 

[Space]

Go get a Disney Visa Credit Card.
You can get money off at Disney.
Just go to disney worlds main site and there is a link at the bottom.
Dan

 

[awalte7]

True disney fans will probably smack me...and if you have kids you should stay onsite just for the extra magic. BUT I stay offsite and find a hotel that costs about 35$ a night. As long as it has a pool and is clean and safe I am happy. better than paying 155 a night to stay at disney. Once I have kids I would be sure and stay onsite for their sake. at least once that they can remember.I am also one of those people who spends 0 time in their hotel so if you are a lounger this might not work for you.

 

[DisneySam]

True disney fans will probably smack me...and if you have kids you should stay onsite just for the extra magic. BUT I stay offsite and find a hotel that costs about 35$ a night. As long as it has a pool and is clean and safe I am happy. better than paying 155 a night to stay at disney. Once I have kids I would be sure and stay onsite for their sake. at least once that they can remember.I am also one of those people who spends 0 time in their hotel so if you are a lounger this might not work for you.

This is true, as much as I LOOVE the onsite hotels, we usually stay at a time share or the Hampton Inn right across I4 from the main WDW gate. Mainely because we are never there except to sleep, we usually don't even use the pool [we usually go to one of the waterparks instead] but then again, its always adults travelling with us.

 

[MINECAR]

Don't eat at all. This works well if you are on a diet, or planning to go on a diet, when you return.

lol good advice but why try to save money when you are in disney . do what I do ....................





SPEND IT SPEND IT ALL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
ummm.. sorry for that:lookaroun

 

[beagle 1]

Eat a big brunch type breakfast and for lunch eat a light snack. What me and my wife do is that we have one dinner that we splurge money and another dinner in which we do not. In addition, carry bottle water in a pack.

 

[wdwishes2005]

True disney fans will probably smack me...and if you have kids you should stay onsite just for the extra magic. BUT I stay offsite and find a hotel that costs about 35$ a night. As long as it has a pool and is clean and safe I am happy. better than paying 155 a night to stay at disney. Once I have kids I would be sure and stay onsite for their sake. at least once that they can remember.I am also one of those people who spends 0 time in their hotel so if you are a lounger this might not work for you.

but staying on site has soooo many perks, besides the atmosphere, theres extra magic hours, free transportation,and outstanding service by the CMs. back when we stayed off-site it didn't seem as magical. (Yes i do have some very interesting off-site adventures.)

 

[barnum42]

True disney fans will probably smack me... BUT I stay offsite and find a hotel that costs about 35$ a night.

I am a true Disney fan and will NOT smack you as I do the same. I fly to Florida to spend time in the parks. The hotel is just for sleeping, so I find myself late deals on overbooked hotels from UK tour operators. Even if I booked an on-site Value resort with Annual Pass discount, I'd still be paying at least twice the offside price. That amounts to a lot of nibbles when inside the park, or will cover the cost of purchasing the Annual Pass.

 

[RickEff]

If you have an annual pass, take advantage of the Disney Dining Experience card for $50. That will save you 20% off of all food and beverages (including alcohol) at all sit-down restaurants in the parks and resorts. Basically, every fifth meal is free!

I also try to have late lunches instead of dinners (with a couple of exceptions like Le Cellier - I just have to have dinner there! :slurp: ) and then a light snack in the evening.

As others have mentioned, buy souvenirs offsite if possible. I go to the Walmart in Kissimmee and get all kinds of Disney t-shirts, towels, etc for about 35% of the price at World of Disney.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I am a true Disney fan

All be it a tight fisted one. Do I detect Skorrish Blud. :drevil:

 

[Heatherbell]

Well I think almost everything is covered in this thread however I cannot help but put my two cents in

A million people have said it.....eat a big breakfast. My husband and I eat right before we go to the parks and we are stuffed. Typically in the middle of the day we have a snack and then dinner later on in the night.

Now here is another little tip, get a backpack and bring snacks. Now I have done this, I don't know if it is necessarily "allowed" but I did it and no one said anything to me. Before we left I went to the grocery store and I got granola bars, little bags of chips and crackers etc. We also bought juice boxes. When we wanted a snack we sat down and pulled out our snacks. We would go to the nearest concession stand and ask for a cup of ice, dump the juice box in it and we were good to go. Again...don't know if it is allowed but I saw many other people doing it too.

When we brought our three year old I even went as far as making her a PB and J sandwich, throwing it in the backpack and giving it to her when she was hungry.....

 

[barnum42]

All be it a tight fisted one. Do I detect Skorrish Blud. :drevil:

Mother is a Glaswegian with Irish Parents. (Try not to hold that against me :lol: )

 

[shari71]

Don't buy souviners the first couple of days. Remember what you like and then buy them the last few days. I always find something I like and then something else. By waiting I can decide between the two vs. regretting buying the first or end of buying both. Especially true if you have children who want everything.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Don't buy souviners the first couple of days. Remember what you like and then buy them the last few days. I always find something I like and then something else. By waiting I can decide between the two vs. regretting buying the first or end of buying both. Especially true if you have children who want everything.

The down side to that is that you may forget to get it in all the excitement or if its attraction /park specific (does Disney still do this :veryconfu ) you may not plan to go back. Ive even missed out on a pin!!! cause it sold out. NEVER AGAIN

Having said that Im making a list this year so hopefuly I wont forget, its old age.

 

[slappy magoo]

The problem with trying to save money on food is that I find everything to eat at WDW so damn good. A lot of it's bad for you but it's good going down!

Having a late breakfast-snack-early big dinner combo, or a light breakfast-huge lunch-late light dinner combo works well. Keeping your own water bottle works well. Not needing tons of alcohol at night to have a good time works well.

If you know you're going this year & next year, an annual pass is probably the smartest investment to make, provided you time your second trip be within a year of the first trip. Along with the DDE membership.

Other than that, try to avoid buying souveniers, and if you must, hit those outlet stores nearby. If you have friends who want souveniers, tell them you think they suck just before your vacation and then apologize when you get back. Become a Jehova's Witness so you don't have to buy birthday or holiday presents. If your partner likes to swing, pick up a wealthy coed along the way to share your room. Slip on a wet floor and threaten to sue. Tell everyone it's your birthday or you just got engaged wherever you go and see if they'll give you free cake or drinks, so you don't have to spend your own money. If any old people fall asleep on a public bench because they're exhausted, take their wallet and justify it by saying it's an "additional night's external stay" surcharge. Always remember: It's not stealing if you don't get caught.








:wave:

 

[monorail_driver]

Best kept secret that I realized on my last trip...
FREE WATER! (not in bottles, but it is actually quite good. I'm not really into drinking water, but give me a cup of Disney water any day [at Disney], saves you from having to buy a drink just to wet your whistle, where you'll probably be going into an attraction after you get it and want to throw it away. It's also much healthier!

 

[disneyfamily]

We try to eat breakfast as late as possible without passing out from hunger, then eat a good lunch as close to the time that they start charging dinner prices. Then if we get hungry later we can get a snack later, but not another big meal. Also if we dont stay at the resort but just a day trip we pack a lunch in a cooler and then go to the Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf and unpack the lunch and eat by the water. Its usually not to busy there, and the water and palm trees provide some coolness.

Also try to marry a cast member.

 

[LUV4Goofy]

Being a single mom of a 9 yr old whose been to WDW with her 5 times now, I'm gradually learning the tricks and the trades of saving a bit of money while vacationing at Disney. I know it does sound like an oxymoron to save $$ @ Disney but it can be done. It's not a whole heck of alot of money but, to this single mom, every cent saved means a better souvenier to bring home for her.
I totally go shopping before my trip and gets snackies & b-fast foods on sale. I then actually pack a pilot's suitcase with the goodies......the small one-serving boxes of cereal, Pop-tarts, granola bars, individual one-serving bags of chips, pretzels, Cheez-its, Ritz-bitz. Also fruitsnack, fruit roll-ups, raisans, dried fruit (apricots) are good. We always eat breakfast in the room. Not only does it save money, it saves time. The kids (and you) can get ready and eat at the same time so you're at the parks right when they open. For the milk part of the cereal, we stop at the food court (we usually stay at one of the Value resorts) on our way back to our room the night we come back from the park. We keep the milk in the ice bucket or the sink w/ice and it's ready for the morning. During the day, we try not to buy anything from park so we pack our back-pack with tons of energy snacks. If we do buy something from the parks to snack on, its usually an ice cream or box of popcorn. We don't save any money for dinner because I make it a point to always have a nice sit-down dinner (Sci-Fi Drive-In, The Brown Derby, etc). Since we've been there many times, we bring our Mug that I've kept from a previous trip and get that refilled at the food court for free. You'd be surprised how much you save on that. Also we buy one bottle of water for the day and refill it with drinking water fountain. We use the water-holder strappie thing from one of our previous trips to carry the water bottle around just like the folks who just purchased one. Since it's usually just me and my girl, we always stay at a Value Resort and always keep a look out for "discount codes" that I get via email and see if we can work a trip date good during the dates that honor that discount code. We just can back from WDW last month and we stayed at the All-Star Music resort for $59.00/night using a discount code. Plus I make sure not to go overboard shopping. These little tips have worked for me and I'm sure I'll find out more during my future trips.