Best tips for saving money in parks

[ggeorgiagirl]

BTW, the Walmart in Orlando (the nice, new big one on I-10) has AWESOME Disney stuff! Plus you could get your waters and snacks there! Use the $7 shipping fee and take a cab.

I also like the Flea Market at the end of International Drive (they have lots of "Coach" and "louis vuitton" types...the ones that look real)

I agree with eating breakfast in your room! I get white donuts...some pop tarts...and we are out the door!!!!!!!!!!!

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ZoZo]

Can't help you with the bottles, but I can tell you that any place at WDW that sells fountain soda pop will give you FREE ice water. It doesn't taste the best, but it does save money. I am a very picky water taste person, and I really didn't think it was bad. Tons better than the water fountain water. I know, its the same water source, but still....

I do the same thing - they give you free cups of ice water at any CS restaurant, even if you're not buying anything. The water tastes just fine (much better than the drinking fountain/tap water does in Florida). If you have an empty water bottle, just ask for a cup of ice water and fill your bottle up!

Other tips: share/split meals (many are too big for one person to eat, anyways!); get breakfast items and eat them in your room (cereal, milks, donuts, granola bars, etc.); eat a late lunch and take advantage of cheaper lunch prices at table service restaurants (schedule the latest lunch seating and treat it as an early dinner!); have a late breakfast at a buffet restaurant and treat it is "brunch"; have an appetizer and/or salad or soup instead of ordering an entree (usually much cheaper).

Also, there are lots of good CS restaurants that serve things other than burgers and hot dogs. Some of my favorites are Columbia Harbor House (sandwiches); Sunshine Seasons (great rotisserie chicken, and they also have a good chicken Caesar salad); Yorkshire County Fish Shop at Epcot (fish and chips); Earl of Sandwich; Wolfgang Puck Express.

 

[rccruiser]

We go to the theme parks more than 5 or 6 times a year both in Florida and in California. Both my kids are 5 and 7 years old. One essential thing that I do to save money is to get the kids small fanny packs that they keep around their waiste. Get the better quality fanny pack that holds the bottle on the outside. Find out what they like before you leave home so you can pack the right stuff.

Pack them full of the kind of treats that they really love at home.
fruit roll ups
gummy bears.
dried fruit and nuts
Peanuts
(chocolate melts) but M&Ms are a best bet.
Bora Bora are those organic wellness bars at costco that have nuts and fruit in them.
Doritos are a big hit but you can't get cool ranch flavor in the park. Pack the specialty small one serving size in the suit case.
I like the one serving size Cheese It's but you can't find those in the parks.

Splurge on what they like because if they don't eat it,they will be carying it around all day long. Check their bags when you return and see what is left. Don't forget to restock the fanny packs when you get back to the hotel room for the next day with a fresh water bottle and Crystal Light 1 serving packets.

Get the small child size bottle of waters that have the reclosable sport tops on them and 2 or 3 crystal Light 1 serving packets. The kids LOVE this stuff. You can refill the water bottle with drinking fountains around the park and then sprinkle the crystal light in the water. I know this sounds like just Cool Aid but this stuff tastes great! It will keep them hydrated all day long and save you $$$ dollars. Plus you will be recycling that plastic bottle too (how environmentally friendly is that?)

Encourage (dare I say train?) your kids to spend the $$$ on something they can keep, not on expensive overprised candy, Ice Cream and soda in the parks.

All that said, I often have to splurge and get one of those toll house cookie Ice cream bars in the park. They are my favorite.

 

[ssawka]

Instead of having water delivered, buy a filtering sports bottle and one bottle of water for each family member. When one of the bottles is empty, fill up the sports bottle at a water fountain or faucet and "squeeze" the water into the empty bottle. A more expensive option would be to buy each family member a filtering sports bottle.

 

[Cory's Gal]

Great tips everyone! My DH and I always split counter service entrees, it's always plenty of food!! We also limit ourselves for TS meals while we are there. For example our last trip, we did CP buffet and 50's PTC. We did breakfast at CP, it's the cheapest priced, and then lunch at PTC instead of dinner. We also brought the small pack of cereals from home along with plastic bowls and spoons and just got a half gallon of milk at the food court. Cheap breakfasts!! Also, if you don't want to order groceries, the POP food court sold 2 slices of bread for 60 cents, and I brought Peanut Butter from home. Our DS age 2, had a nice lunch for 60 cents and then we just bought a carton of milk for him and he would eat one of his snacks with it!! Great savings on his lunch! My dad even did that a couple of days!

Before we leave we set aside a certain $ amount for souveniers, and when it's gone, it's gone. Setting a budget for us always helps!!

 

[pfalcioni]

If you're a Costco member, don't pay shipping for water delivery:
The Costco water is $7.66 for a 24 ct - that includes shipping!

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11150807&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

This is the cheapest price I've found (delivered) from anyone.​

hematite153 - I agree about the souvies! We always keep it to one shirt each, and something for the gal that watches our cats. We take tons of vacations a year (7 to 8 weeks) so anything extra really adds up quickly. Gotta keep as many $$ in the pocket as possible to make the fun last

 

[kimis]

I watch the disney store sales also. However I did notice that a few items are cheaper at WDW than the Disney stores so you have to be careful.

 

[Creekermom]

I just wanted to add that I purchased almost all of our souvenirs before we went to WDW. I shopped at Disneyshopping.com and purchased T-shirts for everyone including extended family members like MIL and FIL. I also got Mickey and Minnie and took them with us.
I went to the $1 store and got the light up night stuff but I should have gotten smaller packages, they did fit in the luggage BUT it was too long to carry throughout the parks all day... So unless we went back to our room I didn't get to use them for DD.

We drove and took 2 cases of water for the 3 of us and came home with a 1/2 case. We went in September and I wrapped 3 bottles each day that were in the cooler in a hand towel from home and that kept them cooler since it was still quite warm outside.

We too ate breakfast in our room and had snacks too. I did manage to plan our meals later so that helped. If we at a late lunch then we had a light dinner later on in the evening.

One more thing that was invaluable to me was the Gallon size zip locks. I stuck everything in a zip lock bag. I even had one for my camera and my cell phone.
It rained a lot when we were there... plus it kept everything organized

 

[pskorf]

We also found that if you are eating at a CS restaurant to order the kid-sized meal. It is cheaper and still is plenty of food! Especially for breakfast!

 

[D&DDisney]

Food
Buy or have bottled water delivered.
Bring along some Crystal Lite packs to add to the water (tastes good and only 5 calories)
Buy a 1/2 gal of milk at the resort (same price as off-site we found) instead of buying small single cartons. Much cheaper!!!
Bring your own cereal in bags or individual boxes.
Have pizza delivered from off-site. Much cheaper than the on-site pizza delivery (no 18% tip added or delivery charge either) More choice of toppings too.
Bring some hamburger buns in a Tupperware container to take to parks. Order the double cheeseburger and put 1 patty on the bun you brought. Add own toppings at the bar.
Bring some uncrustables for kids and juiceboxes.
Get in on a fridge swap or bring a folding cooler to keep stuff cold.

 

[rgrgirl]

I like the idea about bringing buns. Going to the places that you add what you what to your burger will save you money. I know there is one in MK. Since you can pile stuff on the burger, we would split one and that was plenty of food for two adults.

 

[hipchickie]

Instead of having water delivered, buy a filtering sports bottle and one bottle of water for each family member. When one of the bottles is empty, fill up the sports bottle at a water fountain or faucet and "squeeze" the water into the empty bottle. A more expensive option would be to buy each family member a filtering sports bottle.

These bottles are THE BEST - do yourself a favor and get some! I can't even imagine the savings we have realized over the years for a $8 investment, we bring our bottles everywhere (fairs, amusement parks, day trips, etc)

I think most things we do have already been mentioned, but a couple thoughts I haven't seen are:

buy ponchos at the dollar store at home (or pack some trash bags), cheaper than the last minute purchase in the park.

Pack well! nothing blows a budget like having to buy sweatpants because all your packed clothes are shorts, or a tank top because you packed t shirts (BTDT)



Our souvenier rule is that everyone is allowed to buy 1 tshirt and 1 other souvenier per trip. You can buy it at any time during the trip, but once you buy it you are done. We usually go to downtown disney our last night to buy it, or last day might include a trip to a certain park to get it. My 6 YO son is so fantastic with this, he spends the whole trip looking for which item he wants, he does not bug us the whole time to buy things because he knows the deal. He would never even dream of asking for something like a balloon

 

[gwiser]

Here's my best tip for souvenirs: pressed pennies! When my girls were younger we bought the pressed pennies books (less than $10 each) and spent the entire vacation filling them with pennies. I took along rolls of quarters and shiny new pennies and kept them in baggies in the fanny pack. The pennies reminded them of favorite rides and shows, and they had a blast searching out their favorite characters. We took along a list printed off the internet with most of the locations, and it felt like a big scavenger hunt. The whole kit and kaboodle cost less than $30 per child.

 

[VAN]

Okay, I must have missed something ... regarding ordering water and having it shipped.

We will be staying at POP in March. When do you ask for delivery and what address do you use? When it arrives at the resort, will they keep it for your arrival and then you just ask for it at checking? Please fill me in as this sounds like something I may want to do.

Thanks!

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

yup, from what I understand as long as your name and info are on it, maybe even your reservation number too, they will hold it for you. I have shipped stuff down before for my sons birthday and it had all my info on it including cell number. I called about a week later and they said they recieved it without a problem. PLease correct me if Im off on this info

 

[earthfaries]

I'd like to know about that too. We have spent a small fortune on those pins!

The only thing I know about is the big WDW outlet store on International~which by the way is my tip on saving money at WDW-we got there our first night in Orlando and then on our way out. Then at WDW they end up buying only one or two stuffed toys or lollipops ~We have found the Disney pins for a couple of dollars there. I think they had a few .99 and some 1.99 and 2.99 and higher. It just depends on the day and the stock. Last year they didn't have any really cheap pins.
I suggest looking on ebay. Last week someone had 100 of the same authentic pins for $100.00.

 

[Minnie_me]

We had bottled water and snacks from Staples mailed to POP. It was AWESOME! When I ordered the water, I just wondered if they also had any food. They had pretzels, nutrigrain bars, even fruit cups!

We brought bread, cereal, peanut butter and jelly and the above mentioned food. We purchased milk and oj at POP.

We ate breakfast in our room almost every morning. The kids ate while DH and I showered. We packed lunch, OR packed snacks and returned to POP around 2:00p.m. and ate lunch in the room.

The kids NEVER complained about eating pb&js all the time. They were just so happy to be there, and they were STARVING!

We ate dinner out every night, but did it cheaply (we loved POP's food court!). My girls aren't big eaters, so two kids' meals usually fed them and me.

I think we saved an absolute TON of money on food.

We did get occasional treats, of course. We had Mickey ice cream bars twice, and frozen lemonade a couple of times. But when the girls were hungry, they were just happy to have whatever was in our backpack most of the time.

 

[tinkerbell_girly_96]

great tips!

 

[Lthouseprincess]

Not sure if this was mentioned but we order the double cheeseburger and an extra bun. They even have a button on the cash register for this. it is still cheaper than 2 cheese burgers!

 

[rgrgirl]

PM
Lthouseprincess Not sure if this was mentioned but we order the double cheeseburger and an extra bun. They even have a button on the cash register for this. it is still cheaper than 2 cheese burgers!


Where do they do this? Is this just any where they sell double cheese burgers?