What is the best way you save money at Disney world

[ChristopherMarry]

The best way I save my money at Disney to use coupons and save money..

 

[pampam]

I buy a loaf of bread in the food court. It was the cashier who mentioned this. It's not listed on the menu, but it is available. Just ask.

 

[Patience]

I agree with the others who said not to buy souvenirs in the parks.

I purchased Disney items inexpensively before we left for our trip and Tinkerbell left a gift or two each day for my kids. Tink brought princess dresses and wands (purchased on sale and/or for free with bonus gift cards), Pez dispenser, Mickey t-shirts, earrings, stuffed Mickey, etc. My kids never asked for anything in the parks and it was a huge savings. We did choose to buy a Mickey stretch bracelet and a balloon for our 4 year old and pick-a-pearl ring and a dress with earrings (applied a free gift card to the cost) at The Curl in Downtown Disney for my teen girl but we certainly could have foregone those items and our girls still would have had a blast.

 

[mrseace711]

We booked during the kids play free promo we have 4 kids and this saved us LOTS, we went during Sept and stayed in a value resort more money saved. We did add of the dining plan and LOVED it!! We had cereal and oatmeal in our room in the morning more money saved. I purchased 50 trading pins on ebay from a trader that lived in FL. And we took a bottle water fopr everyone in every day in a soft sided cooler. Our trip was UNDER $3500 total for a family of 6 I think we did well that included traveling, extra food, and 1 night at a hotel on the drive.

 

[ReneeA]

We go during value season with a PIN code. Last year we stayed for 9 nights/10 days with 10 day park tickets and the DDP for a family of 4 at CBR for $2900. Since we have the dining plan, we only pay OOP for tips. I bring granola bars in our suitcases for breakfast, I order water to be delivered to the resort, and I also give my kids each a $25 gift card for them to spend when we are there...and that's all they get...once it's gone, it's gone.

I think it's fairly affordable when you know how to do it.

 

[MapleGirl]

DH and I are doing a budget trip in April.

• We're flying out of Worcester instead of Boston and flying into Sanford instead of MCO. That is saving us about $300.
• We are staying at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek (next to the Pop Century) for $53/night for 7-nights in a 1-bedroom suite.
• We'll have breakfast and dinner in our hotel room.
• We'll split counter-service lunches in the parks, drink ice water and bring our own snacks.
• I make Disney shirts (with the help from my DISign friends!) before the trip so we won't buy shirts there.
• The only souvies we will get is a coffee mug and a Christmas ornament to add to our collections.
• We are going to buy (2) 10-day non-expiring hopper passes with the water park and more option. These tickets will last us for our next 3 trips. I have some gift cards, some rewards points on my Chase card and (2) 1-day tickets that we'll upgrade. The total oop for the 10-day passes should only be about $300.

I am still looking for a good car rental deal.

 

[DisneyCher]

I am looking for all the tips and tricks out there. What is the best way you know of to save money at disneyworld

A lot of people gave tips about saving on food, but I want to suggest forgoing "extras" like BBB, or the Pirate Adventure. There are plenty of free things you can do (OK, stuff included with park entry), and for a whole lot of people, just being at the park is enough without all of these additional experiences.

 

[eliza61]

A lot of people gave tips about saving on food, but I want to suggest forgoing "extras" like BBB, or the Pirate Adventure. There are plenty of free things you can do (OK, stuff included with park entry), and for a whole lot of people, just being at the park is enough without all of these additional experiences.

Totally agree. Personally I have yet to find a place at wdw where both me and my dh can split a meal and both of us be satisfied. My sons are worse, they will eat perpetually, even when they were kids splitting wasn't happening.I keep reading htese threads and going to the places people suggest and have come to the decision that my family are gluttons!!!

We tried splitting salads, buying extra buns and splitting burgers, splitting sandwiches at Earls and 99% of the time what happens is that 35 mins later the two people who split are buying a snack to tide them over.

I'm more of a "saver" before hand. while I don't buy souvenieers, I really don't want to buy one outside. Why buy some thing that is so common? the object imo of a souvie is to remind you of the vacation. If a buy one at the dollar store, sort of defeats the purpose.

 

[shoppingqueen]

Buy tickets from the Y.E.S program

Rent points for your resort from a DVC owner

We have done this for several of our Disney trips and hve saved at least half of what we would have spent.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Rent a car so you can eat off property!
For example last May when we got home I added up all of our food receipts, now keep in mind there are only two of us and we spent $25 dollars a day per person so a total of $50 a day to eat. The total cost of the rental car was $86 with Alamo for 6 days plus gas.

We ate pizza a Giradno's, late lunch at Joes Crab Shack and then had an appetizer at Rain Forest for dinner since we had a big lunch, Bahama Breeze had emailed a $10 off coupon to me that just so happen to be good during our trip. We signed up to get the coupons from Sweet Tomatoes and used the BOGO coupon for dinner.

Fly into Tampa because it is cheaper and is only 1 hour and 15 minutes from Disney but we fly home out of Orlando. For our upcoming Feb trip our we saved $135 verses buying a round trip into/out of MCO.

** we have the Disney rewards card. We use it for major purchases and grocery shopping and pay the card in full every month.

 

[RumpleMom]

I signed up for the Winn Dixie loyalty card, so I'm sure to get the sale prices when I shop. The card stays in my vacation purse until our next trip.

I love Southwest, you can rebook your airfare if the price goes down and have the difference as a credit for future travel. A Soutwest credit and an annual pass, Tables in Wonderland discount card and DVC points makes it a no brainer for planning another trip. I constantly watch Southwest fares.

You can rebook a car rental if the price goes down too.