How much money should I bring?

[offwithyourhead]

There are a LOT of ways to cut your costs down, especially for food. But as other people have said, do your hotel booking asap. Prices only seem to go up the closer to your date you get.

Here are some things we did to save money, I spent very little overall on food and we were there for 2 weeks:

-Get a hotel with free breakfast and a room with a microwave and fridge. Go to Target and Viva Bargain Center and get food there to take into the parks with you. Be prepared with snacks so every time hunger hits during the day you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for food.

-DON'T eat in the parks for every meal, and if you choose to have meals there consider splitting food, and get counter service instead of table service. It's less money for the same food. Bring in your own bottles of coke, water, etc. They're like $3 each at the parks or you could pay half that if you grab them at a convenience store on the way. Disney seriously doesn't care if you bring in food, so take advantage of that. Grab Subway on the way in (if your kids like that, the subway across from the 7-11 is 24 hr) and put a frozen water bottle in the bag you're carrying the subs in to keep them cool until lunch.

-Sign up for mailing lists, tons of them. I signed up for Buca Di Beppo (free 'small' pasta, would feed a family of 4 pretty easily), Joe's Crab Shack (free appetizer up to $11 with entree purchase, again an easy thing so that you could split a dinner), Mimi's (free muffins), etc. Lots of other restaurants also have % off offers when you sign up. Do a google maps search of eateries nearby and look for signups for every one of them that would interest your family.

-Buy your souvenirs offsite, for the most part. The surrounding shops and Target all sell Disney clothes (buy your tee shirts outside the parks! 3 for $10 is a LOT better than $40 a shot...), keychains, lanyards, hats, stationary, magnets, photo frames and albums, and the generic stuff for a fraction of what they cost inside the parks. EVERYWHERE sells that stuff, do NOT waste your money on stuff like that in the parks. If your kids want something from inside the parks that's unique and going to be a longer-term treasure, then that's where you splurge a little. Like an ear hat.

 

[agamble]

Speaking of souvenirs from outside shops, where's a good place to buy T-Shirts if I wanted to buy them while on vacation, but not at the parks? I often buy my kids t-shirts at Walmart, etc., but I'm having a hard time finding one for my son. And the selection for adults is often non-existent. I've seen a lot of shops around the parks, so I'm sure there's some great places to get them, and they probably have a better selection than Walmart.

 

[offwithyourhead]

Outside the parks, try:

-Target (my mom got adult-sized tee shirts and a hoodie that were disney themed for a very good deal) but those were ladies ones, we didn't look for any men's. They probably have more there because they're close to DL than your local store would have.

-ABC market, beside 7-11 on Harbor. Lots of cool designs, but pricier than some other places, I think they were 10-20 but still a better deal than in-park.

-CA souvenirs, in the strip mall across the street from 7-11.

-Value MAXX clothing on Harbor near Target had some shirts I think.

And basically any hotel gift shop along the way has stuff that will certainly be cheaper than in the parks, but maybe not target-cheap.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I have never seen the 3 for 10 tee shirts. Can some one tell me are they at the gift shops in the hotels sometimes? Like best western Park Place inn, or others?

 

[offwithyourhead]

I think 3 for 10 was kids' sizes, and I recall seeing that at ABC market. You can sometimes find really big 'kids' sizes that would fit a smaller adult.

If a hotel gift shop is having a sale like that you WILL see a sign outside, they all need to advertise to get your business so just look as you walk down the street.