What is the best way you save money at Disney world
- Thread starter mamian16
- Start date
lsusoftball37
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2008
Malibustyle23
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2006
Ask for a cup of FREE ice water at any counter restaurant. Bring a stroller from home don't rent one.
Bring enough batteries, medicine, ponchos, etc. Park rates are highly elevated.
Bring enough batteries, medicine, ponchos, etc. Park rates are highly elevated.
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Dizneydaz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2005
Eat breakfast in the room. Join a Fridge swap if you can find one (if you are staying at a value)
If renting a car check Alamo and/or National often using different codes. Prices can change daily. Use code from Entertainment book if you have one. Use link through mousesavers.com to join Nation's Emerald Club for free (normally $50) Im getting a midsize for 10 days for under $180 (complete) and I will be able to pick from any car in the Emerald Aisle. Last year we got an amazing Buick Enclave with all the bells and whistles! So cool!
Share meals-many are splitable.
Bring frozen water bottles into the parks (during hot weather)
Get the free water in the parks. If you don't like the plain water bring flavor tubes with you.
If you like hot tea or hot chocolate bring tea bags or hot choc. mix with you-you can get hot water for free in the parks at any place that has it.
If you'll have a car, stop off at Super WM or Super Target and get basic food supplies. Water bottles, sodas (if you won't have refillable mugs), breakfast items, snacks, fruit, etc.
Pick up an inexpensive toaster for the room for breakfast. Great for poptarts, toast, bagels, etc. If your room is pretty far from the food court it will save you time in the a.m. by having it in your room.
Bring snacks and sodas into the parks. It's allowed.
Bring stroller from home. Load up the stroller the night before in your room for the next day and you'll be ready to go first thing in the a.m.
Bring soft sided ice chest (the kind that collapses) in your suitcase if you won't have a fridge of even if you will. You can put a small one in a stroller basket or I now take to filling it with a lot of ice, water, and sodas, and leaving it in the car for when we return to the car in the heat of the day. It's great to have a nice cold beverage to look forward too!
Probably too late for this but if you can fly Southwest. No luggage fees. 2 free checked bags per person. And you can still do airline resort check in at most resorts.
If you can't get to the grocery store yourself, bring what snacks you can in your luggage and/or have a grocery company deliver to the resort.
That's it for now.
If renting a car check Alamo and/or National often using different codes. Prices can change daily. Use code from Entertainment book if you have one. Use link through mousesavers.com to join Nation's Emerald Club for free (normally $50) Im getting a midsize for 10 days for under $180 (complete) and I will be able to pick from any car in the Emerald Aisle. Last year we got an amazing Buick Enclave with all the bells and whistles! So cool!
Share meals-many are splitable.
Bring frozen water bottles into the parks (during hot weather)
Get the free water in the parks. If you don't like the plain water bring flavor tubes with you.
If you like hot tea or hot chocolate bring tea bags or hot choc. mix with you-you can get hot water for free in the parks at any place that has it.
If you'll have a car, stop off at Super WM or Super Target and get basic food supplies. Water bottles, sodas (if you won't have refillable mugs), breakfast items, snacks, fruit, etc.
Pick up an inexpensive toaster for the room for breakfast. Great for poptarts, toast, bagels, etc. If your room is pretty far from the food court it will save you time in the a.m. by having it in your room.
Bring snacks and sodas into the parks. It's allowed.
Bring stroller from home. Load up the stroller the night before in your room for the next day and you'll be ready to go first thing in the a.m.
Bring soft sided ice chest (the kind that collapses) in your suitcase if you won't have a fridge of even if you will. You can put a small one in a stroller basket or I now take to filling it with a lot of ice, water, and sodas, and leaving it in the car for when we return to the car in the heat of the day. It's great to have a nice cold beverage to look forward too!
Probably too late for this but if you can fly Southwest. No luggage fees. 2 free checked bags per person. And you can still do airline resort check in at most resorts.
If you can't get to the grocery store yourself, bring what snacks you can in your luggage and/or have a grocery company deliver to the resort.
That's it for now.
DawnM
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2005
OP has that she/he is a DVC owner so I don't think the room deals will matter if they are staying with DVC.
We carry our own food in to the parks, drive down, stay off property, use reward dollars for tickets/passes, did the GAD this year, and visit the Disney outlet stores before purchasing souvies.
Dawn
We carry our own food in to the parks, drive down, stay off property, use reward dollars for tickets/passes, did the GAD this year, and visit the Disney outlet stores before purchasing souvies.
Dawn
Best way and most savings, IMO, is to bring food into the parks with you (either have groceries delivered or if you have a car...) - stock a soft sided cooler with fruit, sandwiches, 'treats', and lots of drinks. If you don't have a stroller to put it in - rent a locker.
Little things that we do....
We bring in our own drinks and water (along with flavor packets) rather than paying their drink prices.
We usually buy disney store t-shirts and little "gifts" from the Target dollar spot to give the kids while we are there vs paying the higher costs in the parks.
We bring in our own drinks and water (along with flavor packets) rather than paying their drink prices.
We usually buy disney store t-shirts and little "gifts" from the Target dollar spot to give the kids while we are there vs paying the higher costs in the parks.
LSchrow
life without the BWVs is <null and void>
- Joined
- May 11, 2000
-one of the biggest savers is using frozen water bottles (we pick up a case from walmart, etc.). keep little snacks with you, and limit mickey bars, etc
-we use dme, then rent a car at the dolphin (when staying at the BWVs, it is a short walk)
- eating offsite is often better, and cheaper. since we don't need it the entire time, we play with the dates to get a good rate
-skip the souvies, or bring some from home for the kids. give them money, and only allow them to buy near the end of the trip. window shop all you want, but resist purchasing impulse items in general (will anyone ever wear that goofy hat at home??!!)
- eat most meals in the room
-enjoy the free entertainment: performers on the BW, swimming at the resort, community hall and free dvd rentals for dvc, etc
-buy passes from a discount broker in advance, if needed
moderation - book a tour, or dinner, but keep it special by not doing the big money things often (the hot air balloon ride in dtd is fun and relatively inexpensive)
-we use dme, then rent a car at the dolphin (when staying at the BWVs, it is a short walk)
- eating offsite is often better, and cheaper. since we don't need it the entire time, we play with the dates to get a good rate
-skip the souvies, or bring some from home for the kids. give them money, and only allow them to buy near the end of the trip. window shop all you want, but resist purchasing impulse items in general (will anyone ever wear that goofy hat at home??!!)
- eat most meals in the room
-enjoy the free entertainment: performers on the BW, swimming at the resort, community hall and free dvd rentals for dvc, etc
-buy passes from a discount broker in advance, if needed
moderation - book a tour, or dinner, but keep it special by not doing the big money things often (the hot air balloon ride in dtd is fun and relatively inexpensive)
*We split meals or we buy one meal and something al carte. This saves money but most importantly to us, it saves our waistline. LOL
We usually spend $60 a day eating 3 meals at Disney for a family of 4 (kids 5 & 8).
*We only sit down for one meal the entire stay which is usually the Sci-FI.
*We drink ice water and it happens to be free at Disney!
*We ship or bring snacks for the hotel room.
*We only buy $150 worth of souvenirs for family back home and 1 for each kid.
*We drive from Chicago if we have to stay in budget.
*We read the disboards for deals....last year MK had Pirate Make-overs for 50 percent off. So my then 4 year old had a make over for less than $30 instead of Bibbidi Boutique Princess make-over. Or we go to the barber shop for a glitter and gel hair style for less than 10 dollars.
*We only buy the basic Magic Your Way ticket for 8-10 days. We used to go to Seaworld and Universal but now with the base ticket, it is $400 cheaper to just stay at Disney parks.
A couple Christmas gifts that pertain to Disney are popular in our house. Disney bucks when they were available at the store. Disney shirt or two for the trip.
Now with this being said our trips are 2 weeks long and we have to make the money last. If we were only going for 5 days, we may spend the same amount of money differently.
I would love for my daughter to have dinner at the castle but then I would have to cut 1 or 2 days out of the trip. I can live with visiting Cinderella in Toontown. If the kids really want to do something out of budget, they save their birthday money or ask Santa.
Hope this helps.
Lisa
We usually spend $60 a day eating 3 meals at Disney for a family of 4 (kids 5 & 8).
*We only sit down for one meal the entire stay which is usually the Sci-FI.
*We drink ice water and it happens to be free at Disney!
*We ship or bring snacks for the hotel room.
*We only buy $150 worth of souvenirs for family back home and 1 for each kid.
*We drive from Chicago if we have to stay in budget.
*We read the disboards for deals....last year MK had Pirate Make-overs for 50 percent off. So my then 4 year old had a make over for less than $30 instead of Bibbidi Boutique Princess make-over. Or we go to the barber shop for a glitter and gel hair style for less than 10 dollars.
*We only buy the basic Magic Your Way ticket for 8-10 days. We used to go to Seaworld and Universal but now with the base ticket, it is $400 cheaper to just stay at Disney parks.
A couple Christmas gifts that pertain to Disney are popular in our house. Disney bucks when they were available at the store. Disney shirt or two for the trip.
Now with this being said our trips are 2 weeks long and we have to make the money last. If we were only going for 5 days, we may spend the same amount of money differently.
I would love for my daughter to have dinner at the castle but then I would have to cut 1 or 2 days out of the trip. I can live with visiting Cinderella in Toontown. If the kids really want to do something out of budget, they save their birthday money or ask Santa.
Hope this helps.
Lisa
We do a lot of the things already mentioned:
Stay off site in a townhouse
Bring food for breakfast and 1 other meal. You can read how we do that here and here.
Drink water in restaurants.
Don't eat in table service restaurants or choose wisely, like Sci-Fi and Kona breakfast so it will be cheaper.
Share meals and snacks.
Set the amount of spending money for kids. I use our saved change to give them money to spend.
Bring your own ponchos and other items like that.
Stay off site in a townhouse
Bring food for breakfast and 1 other meal. You can read how we do that here and here.
Drink water in restaurants.
Don't eat in table service restaurants or choose wisely, like Sci-Fi and Kona breakfast so it will be cheaper.
Share meals and snacks.
Set the amount of spending money for kids. I use our saved change to give them money to spend.
Bring your own ponchos and other items like that.
Ava
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2006
Don't buy souvenirs. Almost everything they sell in the parks can be found outside for less.
Or, if your kids have to have something, limit it to 1 thing. I think the souvenir is more appreciated if they wait until the end of the trip to get that 1 special thing they've chosen over everything else.
Or, if your kids have to have something, limit it to 1 thing. I think the souvenir is more appreciated if they wait until the end of the trip to get that 1 special thing they've chosen over everything else.
We buy annual passes every other year, yet still visit WDW annually, just two weeks earlier than the year before. For example, I purchased APs on August 20, 2010, used them from August 20-September 7th and will use them again in August 2011 from August 6-20th. I won't need to buy them again until August 2012.
Local_Girl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2002
Here's what we do:
-Drive down (MI to FL).
-Use points for the hotels coming and going (one night each way)
-Stay offsite in a condo (1 week) we reserved through Skyauction
-Staying extra 3 nights at cheap but nice hotel in Davenport area (a bit farther to drive to the parks, but not bad for 3 days)
-Bring food: we eat most b-fasts in the room; bring picnic lunches to the parks most days; eat dinner in the condo at least 50% of the time.
-When we eat out, we share meals if possible
-We bring water into the parks (Water bottles w/Brita filter)
-We're buying our park tickets through the Y.E.S. program this year (the kids are taking a class in the MK)
-The kids' spending money is on gift cards they got as a gift
Doing this trip in Nov/Dec for about $2500 for 10 days at WDW, with 2 adults and 2 teens.
-Drive down (MI to FL).
-Use points for the hotels coming and going (one night each way)
-Stay offsite in a condo (1 week) we reserved through Skyauction
-Staying extra 3 nights at cheap but nice hotel in Davenport area (a bit farther to drive to the parks, but not bad for 3 days)
-Bring food: we eat most b-fasts in the room; bring picnic lunches to the parks most days; eat dinner in the condo at least 50% of the time.
-When we eat out, we share meals if possible
-We bring water into the parks (Water bottles w/Brita filter)
-We're buying our park tickets through the Y.E.S. program this year (the kids are taking a class in the MK)
-The kids' spending money is on gift cards they got as a gift
Doing this trip in Nov/Dec for about $2500 for 10 days at WDW, with 2 adults and 2 teens.
hollypoast
Travel Planner Specializing in Disney
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2007
Wow, I'm inpressed. I have a new goal this year... $75 per day for meals. (We are a family of 5)
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