What is everyone's best tips for Disney on a Budget???? I am already a big clearance/coupon/sale shopper. I want my family to have a great experience when we go in June, and not skimp out on anything we want to do. At the same time this is a big splurge we've been planning for years and I'd love to be able to cut some corner and save some money without realize were doing so (if that makes sense, LoL).
Best tips I know/can think of.
Book everything separately.
- First things first, get an Ebates account. This will help double-dip on any savings when you book online under the following bullets.
- Even when Disney puts their MYW packages together, you're not really getting a 'deal', you're getting convenience. If you want to spare a decent chunk of change, book your room through sites like Travelocity, Orbitz, or Hotels.com. Sign up for their email subscriptions, and always look for coupons to add on top of the discounted room rates they offer. You can easily save 25%+ if you play your cards right. Add in the average 5%-10% cash back under the Ebates link you'll use, and you can easily end up with a nice chunk of spare change.
- Get tickets through a secondary site, like Undercover Tourist,
AAA, or Orbitz. If you book under Orbitz, you'll need to know exact dates. But, under the Ebates thing, again, you'll save a pretty penny, making the savings well worth the minor hassle.
- Plan carefully with your flight. Use sites like Kayak to check high and low price estimates around the time you intend on leaving. Look to see if adding a stop or two stops to your flight to decrease the cost. You'd be surprised. Example, when booking my fight for February 2014, it would have cost me $306 to fly direct to Orlando. When I added a layover stop, the price shot down to $274. Big difference.
You don't NEED to have nothing but ADRs.
-You will be incredibly surprised when you see some of the portions at QS spots in Disney, some almost rival regular portions! When you want to save a bit, go for it, don't lock yourself into having to sit down and eat every meal. Flying by the seat of your pants here and there can be fun, too!
-Eat at lunch, not dinner. The portions are almost the same, the price is almost a quarter of a difference or more. Dinner for my and my SO at Chefs de France runs an easy $110+. Lunch kept us under $60.
Souvenirs? You can make 'em!
- This is mainly for things like t-shirts. If you had the chance to, say, spend $35 on a t-shirt in WDW, or $10 for a t-shirt and materials to make your own design, what would you choose? This isn't to say you can't get souvenirs, just think on which ones you want.
- Don't buy it immediately. Most impulse buys will haunt you, and easily eat your budget. If you like it, take a picture of it, take a picture of the outside of the store, and keep moving on. Second to last day of your trip, go through your phone, and look at all the things you took photos of for potential souvenirs. Chances are, you'll pass on over half the items, and the ones that you do want, well you'll know exactly where to get them no problem.
Other Misc. Bits.
- Signing up for Target REDcard Debit card will save you 5% on all purchased, including Disney World gift cards. If you plan on paying for your dining experiences this way, you'll save a bit.
- Sign up for Shopkick, Viggle, and other survey based sites you think you can devote some oddball time. These are usually apps or things that you can use while watching TV or shopping out, and simply using the app to 'check in' earn you points towards redeeming for things like gift cards. Even if you can't use the gift cards you redeem the points for, you can sell them for cash on other sites like giftcardgranny, and put the cash towards your trip.
Best wishes, and hope you find some saving bits!
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