What Disney expenses will you forgo next time?

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We are cutting out TS meals. My kids are ages that the character meals aren’t that magical. My boys do get tired of having the same thing every meal, so I do intend to bring some groceries to essentially pack them a meal/heavy snack each day. They are picky enough to not care that they aren’t getting to “eat out” every meal. We drive, so we bring our own bottled water and sodas from home with refillable mugs.
Our family enjoys outlets so we usually go there and to Walmart if we want souvieneers. The boys like to each get a light up toy in the parks. I buy Disney t shirts and stuff before we go when I can catch them on sale at Walmart or the Disney store.
We are doing the photopass this trip, only because it’s the first family vacation with my fiance. We’ll use it as an excuse to get some good family pics. He and I were able to go to Disneyland last year for a few days when I had a work trip in LA and we used the maxpass and stopped at all the fun photo op places during Halloween and have a ton of great photos. But it’s not something I’ve ever utilized before and probably won’t on subsequent trips. I used to have family near Orlando, so I have some favorite regional restaurants that I don’t have back home that we will visit to cut down on some of the park food costs.
We are staying in CBR this time because of the remodel and how much less expensive it is than the rest of the moderates right now. But a lot of my past trips have been offsite and we did crockpot meals in the room occasionally.
We really just try to mindful of where we are spending our money. We don’t save a ton of money going local restaurants vs QS, so we are doing less of that then I have on past trips to maximize time in the parks.

 

[here757]

I’ll be parent of the year..
I’m trying to go with my 3 kids. Gotta save me a few bucks

 

[LizzyS]

I want to say that I've cut back on souvenirs at Disneyland as we go annually, but when we went to WDW in February, with it being our first trip, I went a little crazy, haha. I love souvenirs, but I'm at the point where I'm more choosy as to what I buy just due to having stuff I love already.

 

[LizzyS]

I enjoy it too. I won't pay for fried everything at a place like Casey's Corner but a lunch at Satu'li Canteen is delicious.

We also love the food at Disney, but I suppose it really depends on what your tastes are.

 

[Countrywife45]

I am going with 2 grandsons in July. We were there as a family group in January so we have a better idea what we want to do. We are skipping the TS meals but keeping QS dining plan. Mostly just for simplicity. I would rather pay it then cook. Breakfast in the room QS for all else. We always carry water bottles and then there are the drink cups on site. Staying CBR for a good price. Have hoppers. Now, all that said, the only reason we can do this is because Disney is incredibly generous to the military. Pop Pop is career retired and Dad served multiple tours in Iraq/Afghanistan. So we do get discounts on rooms/tickets but not dining plans.

The boys will be told in March we are going and will be responsible for earning their own spending money.

We will probably drive, but I do have a SW card so if a good fly deal comes up we are on it.

And I will not leave without my trip traditional coffee cup and last trip I discovered socks. I need more socks

 

[marcyleecorgan]

It is very likely that we will forego the Dining Plan... unless we are still going to eat at character meals. There are several I still want to experience!
But definitely we will be bringing water bottles and refilling them during our Park time, UNLESS they set up Rapid Refill stalls to refill the resort mugs inside the Parks. *little tiny wish*

I hope we spend a little more time exploring the resorts, so maybe saving money by not being tempted by gift shops and meals constantly?
We're not big souvenir people unless it's really useful and it will get daily/weekly usage at the house.

I could see us paying for a dessert party or EMH or DAH session if Star Wars is open and it's madness and insanity... more time to get what we want done, not so much less people but more time! I don't know, if it's the 50th Anniversary when we go, I think we might have to shell out a few bucks for extras just so we can actually see the castle LOL it's gonna be busy...

 

[bpesch]

We did a couple of dessert parties and would not do them again. Factoring in the cost and what we got, they were way overpriced. The Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam party was very disorganized, we were in very a crowded seating area and they could not keep up with the food and drinks. So not worth the money to us.

 

[kandb]

We go yearly and stay on property. We buy Minimal souvenirs. We do have a sit down dinner every night, we are a family of 5. We don't do appetizers and desserts. All of us get water to drink and an entrée. My 15 year old daughter gets a kids meal because it's enough. Our dinners are usually $100. We do breakfast in the room and a few counter services for lunch (sometimes split pizza or hamburger platter). We don't get a lot of $4-5 snacks, they are a rip off, only once in a while. We get a great labor day special at deluxe resorts and have a great vacation.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

I think we balance well what we cut and what we keep to feel like we are on “vacation”. I am NOT preparing meals while on vacation, but we don’t do sit-down breakfasts at Disney (cost and time efficiency). Quick muffins, things like that are a good go-to unless we have dvc and have an kitchen. We do a mix of QS and ADRs. I savor the sit-down service meals to catch up with the family about our day. Overpriced? Yes. Underwhelmed quality? Often. But being taken care of and having a little more semblance of relaxation and conversation than self-serve places makes a vacation a vacation.