Have any money saving tips/secrets?

[wdwteen]

my family is planning a WDW trip in june/july and we are just wondering if anyone has any money saving tips? any would be helpful..thanks

 

[Cynt]

Check out the Budget Boards.

 

[Robo]

We eat SEVERAL meals throughout our WDW stays over at the "Trail's End" buffet at Ft. Wilderness Campgrounds.
(Its RIGHT next-door to Pioneer Hall, home of the "Hoop De Doo Musical Review".)

It is very low-priced compared to other WDW restaurants, and is a kid-friendly, all-you-can-eat buffet, with a rustic checkered tableclothes and log cabin styling.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are served every day.
(Again, the prices are comparable to "non-Disney" family restaurants.)
They close for a couple of hours in-between each meal's serving times.
Check before your trip for the current serving hours.

Breakfast offers lots of choices including cereals, bagels, eggs, breakfast meats and a (very popular) Breakfast Pizza.
Lunch and Dinner also have many choices, including fried chicken, BBQ beef and pizza. Veggies, breads, desserts are all there too.
A salad bar with many choices is always available in the serving area.

It is delicious and the CM servers are Disney-friendly.

To get there, (when asking, say you are going to Ft. Wilderness/Pioneer Hall)
1. Take a boat from in front of MK.
2. Take a boat from the dock at the Contemporary.
3. Take a boat from the dock at Wilderness Lodge.
4. Take a bus from Downtown Disney.
5. Take a bus from the TTC (Transportation & Ticket Center) near where you board the monorail to go to the MK from the MK parking lot.

 

[mhingher]

We just took a trip in March with a strict budget. It's just DH & I, we don't have any children. We went with 3 friends.

- After landing at the airport, our driver took us to a local foodstore where we stocked up on snacks for the trip including milk, peanut butter, jelly, bagels, juice, snacks and cold cuts. We had a fridge in our room at All Star Movies.

- Most days we had breakfast in our room - cereal, fruit, muffin, etc. We also brought fruit and snacks with us into the parks, and some days even brough PB&J for lunch.

- I also carried a Brita sports bottle, so I never had to get bottled water (hint- just fill it at a fountain as you are thirsty. If you carry it around full itcan be heavy!)

- I also brought packed some snacks and cereal in a small suitcase. This helped b/c we spent less at the food store, and we had extra room on the way home for any souvenirs!

- If you're going to eat in the parks, use counter service places. And remember most portions can be shared unless you are extremely hungry! (i.e. if you and another person in your group want a burger, you can get one order of fries and/or large drink and share it)

- If you are going to eat at sit-down restaurants, go at lunch. They usually have lunch menus that are smaller portions of the dinner menu and not as expensive.

- Not everyone likes to do this-- but I like to plan my day. Not to the minute, but if you research your dining options in each park you'll know where the less expensive places are.

Definitely check out the budget board, I know I spent a lot of time on there before my last trip. Have fun!

--Melissa

 

[wdwteen]

thanks guys i will definately prints this out before we go.....keep them coming

 

[kjs1976]

Our big saver is to buy snacks and b-fast foods so as not to eat the over-priced Disney ones, too. We make a grocery stop and get milk, pop, OJ, bread, sandwich fixings, and a couple of other cheap snacky things. Not only does it save us $ for b-fast and snacks, but TIME as well! It's nice when we hit the room for a rest or the pool about 3-5 in the afternoon to make a sandwich and tide us over until dinner at 6 or 7. We also share meals too. We might not be super hungry, since the portions are big, and just split a burger and again, have snacky things or a sandwich when we get back to the room for the night.

Another way we sometimes do it when we have a couple of fav restaraunts we want to hit, we make those meals the big splurge for the day. We usually do this for lunch if the restaraunt allows, because it is cheaper for lunch, and then just have a snack at night or again, make use of what we bought in the room. Unless it is one of my all time favs I can't get anywhere else, I can't justify spending extra just to eat it. Also, Earl of Sandwich at DTD is very reasonable...$4.95 for a huge sandwhich of your choice and $5.95 for a more than you can eat salad...again worth sharing!

We do the change jar thing and save between $200-320 each year for rental car and meals.

We have the Disney card and put big purchases on there and then pay them off right away, earning the points. I always offer to buy or get things, like various airline or concert tickets for family and groups of friends just so I can get the points. I just put over $1000 on it for our family's airline tickets for this summmer and scored the points. They'll be able to pay me before the bill is due so I can pay it off and the the points We had over $45 points banked from 2 1/2 years on our card last year and we chose to use it on one special meal with the pictures at Chef Mickey's...something we might not have done w/o the points.

Some people treat saving their money like an extra "payment" for the month and put it into a seperate "do not touch" account. Like we just paid off my husband's truck so that's almost $300 that goes into the bank that we still keep track of like his truck payment, only come June, it will be in our savings and put towards Disney and it never felt like we were doing anything different.

I could go on...saving for WDW is an art form of sorts!

 

[Danemom]

If you are a big souvenier person and have a car, be sure to go to the Disney outlets at the outlet mall. We got tshirts for $5, sweatshirts for under $20.
Probably the best way to save a lot is with your hotel, stay offsite or in a value resort.

 

[KaryCam]

Where are the outlet malls that have Disney stores? We'll be staying at Pop Century.
Thanks

 

[dimoe]

Yes do let us know where these outlets are . I want a sweatshirt next time I go and 20.00 sounds like a good price? ARe they far from dtd or from the resorts? How much would it cost appprox. for a taxi to go ? Sounds like it might be worth it.
Diane

 

[Matt]

We put all change and singles into a large change jar. I just counted the money up and over the past 5 or 6 months, we saved 400 bucks. I also have 200 bucks a month from my paycheck automatically deposited into a separate savings account. That way, I don't miss it and I use that money for spending money on trips!

 

[DebbieTN]

We hardley ever buy sodas with meals. They will give you a free glass of ice water. If you don't like the taste of the water, take presweetened kool-aid to flavor it.

 

[HunnyPots]

We hardley ever buy sodas with meals. They will give you a free glass of ice water. If you don't like the taste of the water, take presweetened kool-aid to flavor it.

This is our favorite money-saver, not just at WDW but anytime we eat out.
Oh - and another way to improve the taste of that Orlando water is with a slice of lemon or a packet of "real lemon".

If you are looking for pre-trip savings, this is what I have started doing recently: Every week when I buy groceries, I write my check for $20 over the amount. That $20 goes into my secret WDW stash and we never miss it. By the time we go in June, I will have enough to pay for our hotel in cash.

 

[The Sweetness]

Eating a late breakfast or early dinner at a buffet or all you care to eat family style (garden grille etc), can really fill you up. Sharing CS meals is easy, as portions are large. You COULD carry little snacks, and your own water bottles. Even pop tarts and cereal bars for breakfast if you are really trying to conserve. I will be trying the dining plan next trip. Seems like $40 a day would be totally worth it for a CS, a TS and a drink or snack.

WHEN IT COMES TO ACTUALLY SAVING UP $, TRY SAVING ALL OF YOUR CHANGE WHENEVER YOU BREAK A DOLLAR. If you dont trust yourself to save it, go to the disney store and buy disney $ with it Thats what Ill do once Ive filled my 8 mousekeeping envelopes

 

[skiingwife]

A couple things that saved us, a family of 5 a lot of money:
We ordered water at restaurants, rather than pop. This saved us at least $12 each meal.
We did not buy park hopper passes. We just got the base ticket. We had plenty to do in one park per day and never felt we were missing out by not hopping. If we went back to our room for a break, we went back to the same park at night if we wanted to. I think park hopping would be too exhausting and time wasting.
My 13 and 11 year olds often ordered from the children's menus. It always was enough food and the waitresses never had a problem with it. Kids meals were usually about $5; adult prices always $10-12 or higher.

 

[amarberry]

If you are a big water drinker, order bottled water from Staples and have it delivered (free with their rewards program) to your hotel. We ordered two cases of water (48 bottles) for $11 last fall.

 

[Disney Doll]

Probably the biggest time and money saver is the breakfast foods and snack thing. Eating breakfast in your room saves a lot of time and money. Having some snacks in your room saves those expensive trips to the gift shop for the $14 package of cookies!!!
I personally would not go so far as to be lugging sandwiches etc into the parks...I like to travel light, and schlepping around a backpack full of food doesn't appeal to me. Usually we get a less expensive meal in the parks anyhow...burgers or chicken fingers.

Water is another place where you can save HUGE $$$$$. Buy a couple of 2 gallon things of water, carry a water bottle. Fill the bottle with ice, fill it with water, carry it around all day. You can get ice water at the restaurants to refilloyur bottle while in the parks. Or get a coupel fo cases of water...the cost per bottle still ends up being less than the $2.50 that Disney charges.

 

[krissyh]

A warning about the water bottle. I would bring bottled water and freeze it (if you are able). It will stay cold and weigh less as the day goes on. I find Florida water undrinkable. Sorry, but I do.

 

[Pig Pen]

We always find that the meals are huge. We frequently order a salad each, then split the entree and a dessert. DH always drinks water. I have to have my caffeine unfortunately.....

If a sit-down is open for lunch, we go then to save $.

We stock our little fridge with water and diet coke. If you cannot get to a grocery store, the resort stores are a bit cheaper than purchasing in the parks.

Beg for Disney dollars for Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries. I got a $250 jetblue gift certificate from my boss for Xmas...which I am using to fund my December 2006 trip.

Save change. We have $400 for March already.

If you are okay with being a Disney captive for your entire stay, use the Magical Express and forego renting a car/taxi/shuttle for transportation. We have rented cars before and generally agree they are a waste of money for the entire trip. I have never done this, but I know WDW has an onsite car rental service...so if you find you need a car for a day or two it might be cheaper to rent at WDW just for the days you need it?

 

[Pig Pen]

Freezing water bottles....The only problem I had with this is that the bottles sweat and drip all over you!

 

[dbarker]

DH has to have his coffee. We got 1 refillable mug. We drank water all day. I brought presweetened Kool-Aid. Pre-measured some into snack size baggies. We had instant oatmeal in our room for breakfast. We shared meals. I bought t-shirts, stuffed animals, glow sticks, etc b/fore we left home. "Mickey" left these on our beds some mornings after we left for the parks. Mousekeeping was wonderful in laying the "gifts" out on the beds--and I didn't even ask, they just did it.

I found out the prices for food at all the restaurants and was able to make a budget for all our expenses. This helped me most b/c if I know ahead how much stuff will cost then I can figure out where I can cut corners.

Everyone had to save their own money in a jar for souveniers. We participated in the pin trading. That seemed to satisfy everyone's souvenier fix. I got some free pins from Kellogg's.

We budgeted so well while we at WDW that I had enough left over to buy a brand new Washer and Dryer when we got back. (Washing machine motor fried on second load of vacation clothes)

Start saving $ now. Get everyone in the family involved. I got each of us our own plastic jars. I glued the lids on after DH cut slits in them. Then we decorated them w/ Disney stickers. We still have our jars and our NY resolution will be to save $ for WDW. We will start out w/ change and every once in a while put green in there also.

You will find more tips on the Budget Board. You will probably have to do a search.

Good Luck.