Is it possible to not spend any money while in the parks?

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We have done it on day trips. With proper planning it can be done. Work a dining plan you shouldn't have an issue pending on what your plans are for the missing meal on the regular plan

You do need to cover your TS tips though.

 

[Chickee123]

Good to know! Thanks everyone!

 

[lustergirl]

Even when we go on the dining plan I still budget out a certain amount each day to spend.

Good Luck

 

[Kellykins1218]

My husband is cheap & when he's with us we don't spend anything. Imagine my shock when I came out of the restroom on the last trip and found him wearing Pirates of the Caribbean Mickey ears!

 

[fbb]

It's very easy not to spend money in the parks, once you run out of money to spend.

 

[kerplop]

We always go with "free" dining and honestly I think we spend a grand total of $100 in a week between 3 people and that's for gifts for back home and the occasional thing we really want like when my mom wanted a $40 hat at AK because of the sun. We do spend another $150 on tips for table service meals, but apart from that if we really wanted to it'd be easy to spend $0 on extras.

 

[lovedonald]

We have a large family and always prepay our entire vacation before we get there. We usually do the dining plan. Our kids aren't big eaters so the dining plan is always plenty of food. It is nice not to spend a lot of money when you are at the parks. We bring our own water bottles to the parks and fill them at water fountains. When we went last year, each child was given a gift card and they were able to spend it on whatever they wanted. They realized that once they spent it, that was it. I was impressed that they really budgeted themselves and waited to spend it on something they really wanted. I like the gift cards so the spending is controlled. I hate bills when I come home. I get my gift cards at target when I do my regular shopping and you get 5% off. I think some of the other posters had some nice ideas on doing some in room meals. We usually did donuts or peanut butter and jelly at times for a couple of meals.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You'll need to pay table service tips on the dining plan, if you have one with table service (if you have the quick service dining plan no tips are necessary). If you buy no souvenirs and get free water from the QS restaurants when you want an additional drink, then you won't need to spend anything else.

 

[LBIJim]

That's why Disney came out with Magic Bands. Everything is "free" while in the parks!!!

 

[NYDisGuy]

The only park we spend money at is Epcot and that's more for the drinks/restaurants. We typically don't spend money at the other 3, not even for food.

 

[mediadiva]

I might be getting laughed at for this question. We have a dining plan and plan on bringing our own drinks to the parks. Wishfully thinking we won't need to buy anything else, right?

I never felt the food plan was enough for us we tend to eat smaller portions more often so we don't use the meal plan and we will be bringing nuts, refill water bottles at drink fountains with water and other easy to carry snacks (gold fish and cheese bunnies are always good). Honey Nut cherrios is also really nice dry.

 

[Luv2Run]

We're very thrifty and find ways to avoid extra spending (we're not big on souvenirs, either), but I always like to have a little wiggle-room in funds in case something happens while we're out. Stuff like needing to buy footwear because my sandal broke, feminine needs, run out of sunscreen, get a blister, or heck if I want some alcohol lol, so I keep a bit of cash at the ready. Usually no more than $50 or so.

 

[Woodmnky]

We don't do the dining plan. We bring in our own water, snacks, and lunch. We buy maybe 1-2 souvenirs for DS (3yo) the whole trip. I always have a budget available for things like when DH forgot our lunch bag, but most often this budget is not exhausted. If you have your food taken care of and can avoid the stores it is not impossible at all.

 

[suzimar57]

even with everything paid ahead (tix, DDP) i still always buy something....

there will always be something shiny to get my attention, like a pin

or a churro - another pin - maybe a sweatjacket - an iced coffee....

the list goes on and on - nope, can't do it - i drank the Kool Aid.

 

[kwdw]

even with everything paid ahead (tix, DDP) i still always buy something....

there will always be something shiny to get my attention, like a pin

or a churro - another pin - maybe a sweatjacket - an iced coffee....

the list goes on and on - nope, can't do it - i drank the Kool Aid.

Yup. This is me. There's always something calling out to me each trip. Now - it has gotten better since I've been more recently (1or 2 times a year) - spending has decreased ALOT, but for me, while I could get through one day without extras, there will ALWAYS be a souvenir purchase.

 

[tsme]

I can't. There's always snacks or something pretty that catches my eye.

 

[texasroni75]

Depends on the dining plan. With QS plan, we paid for breakfasts OOP. We also wanted to try a few food items here and there that weren't included on the DDP. (Like the frozen cappuchinos outside Tower of Terror exit - you can't use a snack credit for them.).

That said, we spent very little on our last trip, but we did bring about $100 a day for "just in case". Since we drove, I was able to bring lots of things from home that I would not have packed had we flown to WDW. Little things like that come up can put a dent in your budget. So, if someone got a headache, we weren't shelling out $10 for 4 tylenol pills on site. Our goal was to see how much we could come home with - and put towards our next trip. We did pretty darn good and did not feel deprived whatsoever.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

Easily, bring your own water and snacks, you only get one snack a day and you may need to refuel if you are doing a full day. Have breakfast in the room and you still have two meals and drinks to play with, keep an empty bottle if you know one of your party likes fountain drinks, decant them into the bottle and carry around with you or fill with ice from the fountain machines.

 

[katt789]

You could make it work yes

-Remember you still have to tip at TS places, and pay for anything not covered by the dining plan (appies, alcoholic beverages, etc)

If you bring in your own snacks & a refillable water bottle, yes, you could get away without buying anything, but things like sunscreen running out, not liking the taste of the tap water in MK (it's nasty), getting too cold or too hot and needed a change of clothes, your sunglasses breaking & needing a new one, seeing something you REALLY like, deciding you want to start collecting autographs, etc, can all end up being things you need money for.

Otherwise you can link your CC to your magic band if you just don't want to carry anything