How to Have a Low Cost Disney World Trip
Growing up, Walt Disney World was one of my family's favorite vacation spots (though, who am I kidding? At nearly 30, it is still one of our favorite places to go!).
By the time I started college, I had visited the House of Mouse more times than I could count since my family went at least once during the summer with several smaller weekend getaways scattered throughout the year.
When I began to make the trip with my sister or my friends (without my parents or their pocketbook), I quickly realized how easy it was to blow a budget at Disney World. After the first few times flying solo at WDW, I came home with far less money in my pocket than I had originally planned.
Where had I gone wrong? As I got older and wiser, I realized that Disney World will always have something for me to buy, try, or eat beyond my original budget. It's just a matter of reigning in unnecessary spending and re-alloting that money to what really matters to you.
Feeling quite British at the old version of the afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian
If you want to treat your kids to a lunch at Cinderella's Castle, go for it. It's pricey, but worth the money if your children will make lasting memories. Just consider that you can't eat like that for every meal every day if you want your budget to stay in tact.
As we've started planning in earnest for my daughter’s first Disney trip in December, my husband and I are trying to make the best trip that we can while still feeling comfortable with what we're spending.
Here are a few ways to save money at Disney World:
Use Disney gift cards
Many grocery stores sell these nowadays, and even allow you to use your store perks or rewards system to get a discount on them. Sam's Club or Costco sometimes reduces their Disney gift cards by a dollar or two off of the marked price, which doesn't seem like much at first, but can quickly add up if you pay for your entire trip with gift cards.
Go during the low season
Save money on rooms and time in line when you travel in January, February, September, or (early) November.
Avoid the week of Thanksgiving, the week between Christmas and New Year's, and any weekend that has a special event occurring (Star Wars, Food and Wine Festival, etc.). Note that some rides may be closed for refurbishment in January, so check before you book to make sure your favorite ride is up and running!
It's blurry, but my sister and I were having a blast on our sisters only trip a few years back!
Have breakfast in your room.
All Disney hotel rooms now have a mini-fridge in them (with microwave). Bring oatmeal packets, cereal and milk, protein bars, or pastries for a quick breakfast for mere pennies.
Eating breakfast in the parks, even at the bakeries, can quickly add up to a $25 meal for a family of four. Use that toward a character breakfast or a turkey leg later in the day!
Go to a late character breakfast.
If one of these fun-filled, but expensive, dining sessions in on your "must-do" list, make your reservations as late as possible (usually 10:30 or 11:00 a.m.).
Have a light breakfast in your room before heading to the park, then let your character breakfast do double duty as a hearty breakfast and a big lunch during this brunch time.
The breakfasts are incredibly filling, so your family will be happy and full well into the early evening. As an added bonus, the character breakfast cost is significantly less expensive than a lunch or dinner character experience.
Buy tickets from an authorized Disney ticket re-seller.
By doing this, you will usually save around $10 a ticket off the gate price; sometimes re-sellers will also kick a free day or other perks in there too. The best known Disney re-seller is Undercover Tourist, though there are others out there.
Be careful, though, as there are plenty of non-authorized ticket sellers trying to scam vacationers out of their money. Especially avoid anything on Craigslist or eBay.
Keep those food costs as low as possible.
Most counter-service places will give you a glass of hot or cold water for free. Bring your own packs of hot cocoa, instant coffee, powdered lemonade, or powdered juice packets, and you have a quick, free beverage!
These restaurants also usually provide peanut butter and jelly packets for free in their condiments section; order two slices of bread (around $1), and your picky eater just got lunch.
If you’re on a meal plan, you’ll have some meals covered, but your kids (like mine) might always seem to be hungry or thirsty.
You can carry soft sided coolers and food and drink into Walt Disney World and so we did that to save a few bucks on all of the overpriced in park snacks.
Great snack ideas include fruit pouches, individual chips, individual cereal packs, Capri Suns, granola bars, oranges, bananas, apples and gummies.
You can also take lollipops for your kids while they are in line, so if you have antsy waiters, you may want to have a few of those on hand too!
We also took in bottled water and then just refilled the bottles throughout the day. If you are on the dining plan and have snacks, you can use your free snack at Starbucks for a fun treat.
If you have to stay onsite, stay in the value resorts.
I, for one, love staying onsite because that way I never have to leave the Disney magic. While the value resort prices may be anywhere from $10-$40 more per night than an offsite hotel, I'm willing to pay the difference for the free bus shuttle, Disney guest services, and the many amenities onsite. Plus, when you add in parking money you'll need once you actually get to the parks, the margin between the onsite and offsite hotels looks a lot less daunting.
My value resort of choice is Pop Century because of its history-based themeing, dedicated bus service (it doesn't have to share with any other resort!), and its availability of rooms (it's the largest resort in the Disney chain).
Coordinate Clothes and Packing
For us, shopping smart before our trip and a bit of planning paid off while we were there. Here are five ways that you can save as you plan, travel and play at Disney World.
Lets be honest. Everyone matches at Disney. Whether its for a family reunion, a newlywed couple or just the kids, its kind of like Disney law that you at least coordinate for a day. We saw people who had shirts made for everyday - including the drive to and the day they were leaving - and people who had attire all day and then PJ's at night!
Personalizing clothes (and purchasing them for night and day) can be cute but pricey. While I wanted my kids to match a day or two, I knew I couldn't afford to have monogrammed, embroidered, fancy outfits for every day of the week.
The Target online clearance had a HUGE section of Disney clothes and then Walmart always has a decent selection for less. We got matching shirts for our family and I snagged the kids a few extra outfits that were on clearance...we're talking $3.50 for an Elsa shirt - which in five-year-old girl world is like winning the lottery. I put the boys in Frozen shirts too (one was $4.50 and the other $3) so for $11 they matched. They were thrilled with their new stuff and it fit the budget.
Dollar Store and Traveling
The Dollar Store always has Mickey and Minnie trinkets and we stocked the kids car to-do bags with goodies from here.
They consisted of Mickey stickers, little Disney pencil boxes filled with crayons and pencils, coloring books and more. Totally got us in the Disney mood and my kids were happy to have new things to play with as we drove....Mommy and Daddy were happy that they had things to do and weren't asking over and over, "if we were there yet!?"
Also, some friends said that they have purchased toys from the Dollar Store, traveled down with them and when the kids ask to buy stuff in the park, they give them a selection of these to choose from instead. You do have to carry, hide and keep up with that, but it is a thrifty option!
Press Pennies and Trade Pins
All over Disney World are little booths that you can press pennies. They have a variety of designs in each one and my kids loved searching all over the parks for the penny pressers. We took a sleeve of quarters since each machine is around $0.50 and all the way up to $1.25 and my kids loved looking for them, choosing which one they would make and then cranking them. This saved us from going in and out of stores and having the gimmies as we made the penny pressing a game and they were so into that they didn't think anything of shopping. I think we came home with over 20 pressed pennies!
At Disney World, all of the cast members wear a ribbon around their neck full of Disney pins. You can trade pins with them and this is lots of fun too. Since my kids were into the penny pressing, we saved this for a future trip down. They sell starter kits at Disney for around $20, but one of my Disney loving friends recommended picking up some at the Outlets and said it was cheaper there. I have not tried it, but am filing that one in the back of my brain!
Event Plan with Glow Sticks!
Lots of Disney's evening events have lights, fireworks, flashing lights and more. They sell all of the glow stick paraphernalia you could ever want, but its pricey. We snagged a few from the dollar rack at Target and took them with us. The second that my kids asked for one, I pulled our cheap ones out.
I threw a glowing necklace and bracelet on them and they had wands in each hand and were happy campers.
I hope that helps as you plan your trip and think about ways to save and where to splurge!
Do you love Disney World? What's your favorite way to save money while on vacation?