Every week I’ll pose a question for you to share your experiences and tips. If you have a question that you’d like me to post, I’d love to hear from you!
Our family has been invited to attend a Toy Story 3 event at Disney World this weekend, and this will be our first time taking the kids. They’re all beyond excited about meeting their favorite characters and riding the rides, but I know the expenses of a Disney vacation can quickly add up. I’d love to hear your best tips for making the most of our Disney experience without breaking the bank!
What’s your best money-saving tip for Disney? What souvenirs, experiences or meals do you think are worth splurging on? What have you regretted spending money on?
Update: Make sure to check out the Disney discussion on Facebook for more tips. You guys are a wealth of information!
Join the discussion — add your two cents to previous Ask DSM Readers questions too!
Sara Z.
If you are staying on Disney property, I highly recommend the Dining plan. Recently they were even including it free. There are so many wonderful restaurants in the parks. Paying out of pocket they are expensive, but the dining plan really saves money (even if you don’t get the plan for free).
One of my favorite things for kids at Epcot is to buy them an Epcot passport. They are relatively inexpensive and your child can take their passport to each country in Epcot. Someone there will sign the passport and the child can place a “stamp” sticker on it to show that they been there. Its a fun activity for them!
Geraldine
I concur with the many who suggest the advance purchases. We actually freeze half the waer we bring to the parks so that they stay cool and in the afternoon you have cold water.
We alwasy hit the Walmart just be careful and DO NOT go to the one in Kissimee on 192 it is not safe especially after dark.
With the saving we have we always book one character breakfast which is expensive but that is why we save everywhere else so we can have the nice once and a while. I am not a buffet person so we liek the Polynesian which is all you can eat family style. Enjoy and try and stay cool.
Printable Coupon
Great tips. I’m always looking for new ways to save money and these are things I could be doing. With 2 kids almost ready for college (and a dog who eats more than I do!), every penny counts. I’m sure not making any in the stock market these days. I’m excited for our trip to Disney this summer
Abbie
Go to WalMart when you get to Orlando. They have a HUGE selection of souveneirs at a fraction of what you would spend at one of the parks or downtown disney. I loaded up, and my little ones never knew they werent expensive.
Kelly
In the Disney Marketplace there is a $10 and under store. It is mostly stuff that you would find in any Disney store, but there is a 4 for $10 section. I this section I have found really nice mugs, Christmas decorations, and cars. This section of the store is worth checking out.
In the parks, I always get a kids meal. It’s a little over $5 and includes a drink. And it is enough food for an adult I think. It’s really only for kids 9 and under I think, but no one ever mentioned anything to me.
Suzanne
If you book through AAA, you can get a deal with tickets and meals – depending on how much you want to spend on that, you can go with the basic meal package (one really nice, one average, and one snack a day) or super deluxe. If you eat breakfast at the hotel, the other meals are more than enough. Plus, they roll over – so if I got two average meals one day and that was it, the extra snack and nice meal would stay on my “wish card” (they might call them something else now). If that’s not how you’re going, then I’d say always brown bag the lunch. Make turkey sandwiches the night before and freeze them, also frozen grapes, snack crackers, etc. That’s what we did when I was 6. And we each got one treat (or if we had a family meal then that was it) a day. So, sometimes we’d have a meal in the park, sometimes we’d get a mickey ice cream. :)
Adelina
Make sure your hotel room has mini fridge and microwave that way in the morning before you leave they can have cereal and load up their fany packs with cold water or juice boxes for the day.Take gum,granola bars and fruit rollups or fuity snacks,those are great to hold them up on the line those are allowed.Try to eat either eat with Micky and Minnie breakfast buffet around 10:30 or 11:00 and your family will not be hungry for most of the day.Also try to go later when a park you wish to visit opens late and eat at Epcot.They have an oriental section by the underthesea display whtlere is very affordable.Also, the chinese restaurant at Epcot has a value family meal at a great price.They may tell you that you need reservation but if you go and ask and see if they have an opening they will tell you to wait at least 30-60 minutes but they usually sit you around 15-20 minutes since many people forget their reservations.Walmart is your 1st stop for suveniers then also the premium outlet has a disney store outlet which has the best deals.Dont forget to print your coupons before you leave.Your hotel sells a mug which has free refills you can fill it before you go to the parks and at night when you need a fresh drink and is a good walk since the kids love to see other people.Make sure you tune in the disney park channel at the hotel that way it tells you of every day special appearances and park early and late hours to maximize your vacation.
Crissy S.
Try looking for ideas at the Yahoo group, “The Mouse for Less.”
Crissy S.
I almost forgot…if you are a Verizon member, you can take advantage of their new Disney “app” as a free trial once per phone. We don’t have a fancy smart phone, but we could still download the app.
Disney2000
Hmm… Disney… So much fun!!
As for saving money, here are some of my favorite tips.
1. If staying on-property at a disney hotel, be sure to buy a refillable mug! They run about $10-$12, and can be refilled at any hotel on property. We used them for coffee/hot chocolate in the morning, then took them on the buses with us to the parks filled with lemonade or soda. We also refilled them at night, or while hanging by the pool. Definitely a good deal if staying at a Disney hotel for a few nights.
2. Pack snacks and lots of water, but DO NOT FORGET TO SPLURGE! When people think theme parks, they think overpriced chicken fingers, burgers, and fries. This is 100% completely untrue at Disney world. They have some of the greatest foods and snacks that you can find. Turkey legs (a meal in itself), Popcorn, Churros, and Mickey ice Cream bars are all staples of Disney theme park food. However, whether It’s a dole whip in adventureland, or a foreign treat from a country in World Showcase, don’t miss out on disney’s food! Don’t deprive yourself, chances are it’s worth it.
3. First visit buttons can be found at City hall, which is on your left as you enter the magic kingdom. They make a great (and FREE) souvenir
4. As far as souvenirs go, You’ll be inundated with gift shop after gift shop. Which, is not always a bad thing. There’s lots of selection. Three of my favorite and under $10 souvenirs are Disney Pins (there’s one for everything!!!), Pressed pennies (the machines are everywhere… only $0.51 per souvenir!), and a new disney collectable called vinylmation (lots of selection… only $10 each for the 3″ figures!)
5. Pictures and Autograph Books! If the kids are into meeting the characters (Who isn’t!?) be sure to buy an autograph book for them to collect autographs. Be sure to take lots of pictures. There’s no better way to preserve memories like pictures. They’re only young once, and the possibilities of scrapbooking, frames, etc. are endless!
6. Have Fun!! Be sure to try and save money, be a little conservative, but be sure not to be too tight! It’s vacation! Yes, you’re going to spend money, but if you budget and watch how much you’re spending, everything will be a-ok!
HAVE A GREAT TRIP!!!!!!!! (How could you not? …It’s Disney!)
Carolyn
I don’t mean to be controversial here, but one of my family’s favorite parts of going to disney world is the food. We usually bring our own bagels for breakfast in the hotel room, but we always eat at least 1 nice meal at the parks a day (in a sit down restaurant). The atmosphere and food is so good and is really part of the whole experience to me. (especially when I went pregnant and couldn’t ride or with little kids who can’t ride the rides anyway).
We do bring snacks in (string cheese, crackers, etc…) but we always budget for the food and make reservations ahead of time so that we can make sure to eat at our favorite restaurants. (we like pretty much every one of the countries’ restaurants in epcot. In Disney Studios we love prime time and the brown derby, though the brown derby is more expensive. Ohana at the Polynesian resort is awesome and at animal kingdom, we always go to flame tree barbecue. It’s a counter service so it’s cheaper but it’s so good!)
Have fun :)
Margaret
Many people complain about the water there but it does notbother us. At any counter that serves fountain pop, you can get a glass or more of ice water for free! This is great on hot day.
Stacy
There are many restaurants with big breakfast buffets with discounted coupons in the area. We ate a big buffet style breakfast around 9-10Am then headed to the park. Tke kids were still full and ate a snack about 2-3Pm and we left the park arount 5 or 6 and ate dinner back at the hotel (order pizza, sandwich, etc) and went swimming in the evening. We were there about a week.
(The first day we ate a continental breakest and lunch in the park and it was twice as expensive than eating the breakest buffet. I have three kids and food it our biggest expense when we go on vacation.)
Patricia
As an frequent Disney guest, I agree with some of the statements above, (getting free ice water at the soda fountains, buying a case of bottled water to supply the trip, walmart having cheaper disney merchandise, bringing in snacks). I am also a HUGE fan of the outlets. While the Lake Buena Vista store doesn’t have a great selection, you can sometimes walk out with a good amount of stuff, and the premium outlets and prime 1 outlets each have a character premiere store where all theme park exclusive merchandise is often 50% or lower. There have been times when I see current park merchandise in the store for half off! I try to buy most of my souvenirs there and my and my hubby often take note of what we like at the parks and try to find it on our next trip at the outlets (and we’ve been successful). We go about 2x a year so we catch the season clearouts. Buy discounted pins here and trade in the parks. Take advantage of character dining rather than racing across the parks and waiting in endless lines for a quick photo and autograph..it’s much less stressful for them to come to you. On our last trip, we had a WDW tote bag and white pillowcases that we had characters sign (put the pillowcase in an embroidery hoop for even coverage). They made great birthday gifts to little disney fans back home (we’re disney newlyweds so no kids for us just yet)! They are always in view unlike an autograph book…If you want any more tips don’t forget to visit the disboards at disboards.com.
LeShelle
If staying on property get the dining plan. The basic is more than enough. People are saying there’s too much food, but I didn’t think so. For breakfast we would go get a one meal to share between the two of us. The same for lunch or dinner. We did this a few times and save up for the few restaurants that took two sit down tickets. We never went hungry. And the cost is cheap, about the cost of one sit down dinner per day, you get a sit down, a fast food and a snack. Not bad.
Millie
You can always get water for free at the parks. Don’t bother packing bottled water and drinking from the fountains (which taste rather gross). Most walk up food eateries will give you ice water in a cup…some can’t give you water but will at least give you ice in a cup. The cups are the same as the sodas – so you feel cool for walking around with it – and the water tastes great!
Also – bring your own lunch OR if you really want to eat there choose the sit down places for lunch and do a walk up place for dinner. Otherwise it’s quite pricey.
Be sure to grab the free pins at the front of the park – it’s a fun way to get a free souvenir!
Carrie
We JUST returned on Friday from our trip. I have to say that hands down, the biggest money saver for us was staying on property and the Quick Service Dining Plan. We were able to stretch our meals enough that we could eat breakfast at our hotel the last two days. We brought donuts and muffins from home for the first four days, and then we had enough meals left on our dining plan to get us breakfast in the hotel, as well as lunch and dinner the last two days. The buses from the resorts to the hotels are no brainers, and we never waited longer than 20 minutes. We had 8 snacks left on the last day, and cashed them out for the car ride home-small boxes of cereal, pop tarts, cookies, etc. all count as snacks. Also, the refillable mugs come with the dining plan. We would fill them everyday, many times, because we’d come back to the resort for breaks in the middle of the day. With each meal, you get a drink, and they are almost always bottled. We saved those up for in the parks, etc., and drank from our refillable mugs most of the time. We actually came home with about 6 bottles of pop/vitamin water, etc. Another perk with staying on Disney property is the buses. They run constantly, and going back to the resort in the middle of the day to rest, go to the pool, or do some of the resort activities can provide a much needed break from the parks. The resorts, even the Disney value resorts, have nice quick service food courts, as well as playground and many have more than one pool. We didn’t want to schlep around a cooler, along with the backpack with baby essentials, as well as the stroller. Since you have to park your stroller well before getting in line, leaving our cooler with it didn’t seem very appealing. We’ve done the taking our own food before, three years ago on our last trip, and will never do it again after doing the dining plan. Have fun!
Shelley
Tour Guide Mike- www,tourguidemike.com was the best money (not too much)I spent. 3 others that work with me were on family vacations at WDW at the same time I was. They said that they had to stand in line forever. We used TGM and walked on every ride!
Stay on property and watch for code on http://www.passporter.com, http://www.disboards.com to save even more.
Value Resorts are great and you are hardly there so your room doesn’t really matter!
Heidi
I just returned from our 1st ever Disney trip ! We all earned the free vouchers through the Give a Day, Get a Day volunteer opportunity. This saved me a TON of money! I am hoping they do it again next year.. I would highly recommend jumping on the opportunity in January. This year, the program was already over by March 15th!
Also, I would say DEF bring a small cooler. The website tells you the dimensions of the cooler you can bring in. We spent probably $80 just in drinks the day we went. The cooler would be a great idea. Put in some drinks and some small snacks. That way you can save on food too. Also my husband and I ordered kids meals… that helped save about $10 or so each time we ate.
The Mickey ears are a MUST… but forget anything else. Balloons are $8. There is SO much to see with all the different characters and parades going on… Shouldn’t need anything else!
Cristalle
We spent a week at Disney World back in 2008. We didn’t have access to a car, and the cost of a taxi was outrageous! I found a local grocery store online that delivered directly to the resort. I spent a little over $100 and had breakfast and lunches for my family of 4 for the entire week! While this is more than we would usually have spent, it was MUCH less than eating out for every meal. We also bought drinks and had brought our small cooler with us, so we brought our drinks and lunches into the parks every day.
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