Saving Money Tips for a trip to WDW?

[lorapinky]

Hi everyone

I have noticed that there had been alot of threads on how much a disney holiday costs and how we afford to go etc

So I thought seems that any WDW is never cheap that it might be useful if we could share tips on how to get a trip to WDW cheaper?

It could be tips on dining, spending money etc anything that may help us all save a little money here and there

Its only a little thing but when you have finished drinking your water from the bottle refil it at the water fountains in disney, it will save you some pennies.

As for the holiday I find booking early allows you to get some great deals and we have benefitted from an early booking discount also which ranges from £50.00 - £100.00 per person!

Any tips from you lot? We would love to hear them.

 

[AndRu]

Avoid park food. It can be expensive, bland junk food.

Buy a cinnamon & raisin loaf from Publix. Butter it all and put it back in the bag. Take to the park in a rucksack and you'll be suprised at how long it keeps you going.

On the same theme, buy some baguettes(sp?) and make your own Subway style snacks. Wrap in cling film, put them and some drinks in a cool bag and leave these in a park locker near guest relations. Go back and grab them when you're hungry to save buying burgers and chips. Again.

Cook for yourself? If onsite this is probably not applicable but it's far cheaper to knock up a spag bol / curry (if you can find the stuff) than it is to eat in a restaurant.

 

[Goofyish]

Here's a few off the top of my head:

Use a credit & debit card that doesn't charge for foreign currency transactions (like the Nationwide credit and debit cards)

If staying on-site for more than 10 days look at an Annual Pass for resort room savings, shop discounts, mini-golf discounts, waterpark ticket discounts and restaurant discounts.

If got an Annual Pass - get a DDE (Disney Dining Experiance) card and get 20% table service meals.

Split meals between two.

Skip breakfast (or just have some breaksfast snack bars in your room) and then go for an early lunch.

Book table service lunches instead of dinners - menus are often the same but cheaper

Get the Refillable Mugs at your resort if staying onsite - for only a few $$$ you can save quite a lot if staying onsite for even a few days.

Try and book to avoid school holidays - even booking a day before the prices go up can save you a fortune!

If you book with Virgin, sign up for the Virgin Flying Club and earn flight points to get free flights and upgrades or point-plus-money flights.

 

[Eljay]

Buy a cinnamon & raisin loaf from Publix. Butter it all and put it back in the bag. Take to the park in a rucksack and you'll be suprised at how long it keeps you going.

I don't recommend doing this if the temperatue is over 80 degrees, which it is almost year round. You will have a greasy mess in your bag!

 

[AndRu]

Trust me ... our kids love it.

 

[k-herm]

Leave the kids at home.

 

[Laurafoster]

We were given some great tips alst year - i always totally forget them when im out there!

As Tim said AP's can save you money if staying on site for more than 10 days or so when you have discounts etc.

Water bottles - fill them up all day at the fountains.

Food - not ever tried this but read it somewhere on another board/post! Places like Pecos bill in MK you can order a double cheeseburger and ask for an extra burger bun then pinch one of the burgers out of the double cheeseburger - combined with the salad/fixins bar.

 

[fizz13]

If staying onsite, don't leave a credit card for room charging, but pay in cash for everything. Its amazing how much you end up charging just to keep the cash in your pocket. My bill was scary

Definately share meals. If you buy the counter service platter meals there is definately enough food for two.

have a holiday account with a direct debit to it so you don't have to think about saving the spending money, it will just be there in a few months time. (not really a saving, but a good tip all the same )

If you're taking kids, but them treats to take to the park, like light up toys and candy, so you don't pay disney prices. same goes for trading pins, buy them cheaper on ebay and trade them for better ones when you get there. Much cheaper than buying them at disney.

If I think of any more, I'll add them here. great thread,

 

[Groovee]

Before we booked for WDW, I got prices from every travel agent including the internet. I took my cheapest one in and the travel agent matched it saving me £556. Meaning I have a start to my holiday money.

 

[mushumadness]

I have web accounts with direct debits going into them for different aspects of my holiday, for example

mvmcp tickets
sundries
airport hotel

etc then I know what I have for what

 

[KayleeUK]

have a holiday account with a direct debit to it so you don't have to think about saving the spending money, it will just be there in a few months time. (not really a saving, but a good tip all the same )

We do this too Claire

Not so sure about sandwiches and cooking - I am on holiday, I like to dine out and there is so much more than Burger and chips if you look

We buy a big pack of bottled water to keep in our fridge and use that to take to the parks

 

[paulh]

Like Tim said we use nationwide CC and debit card,at todays rate we would get $1.89 to £1.You get 2.75% more for your £ over TC and outher cards
We also have a separate account for holiday expences(no guessing which bank )

If staying onsite in a value get a strofoam cooler make a small hole in bottom then fill with cans beer or coke .The melted water rtrickles out of the hole so you dont have to keep emptying it. Also you can store your bread meat and butter at the top of the ice.We would keep in bath acover with towl when showering.

Only hire a car for a week and shop around for it prices very a lot.When you pick it you get it from the car care centre as there is a free shutle from the onsite resorts.And when you take it back there is a hess garage next to it so you can stock up on beers,sodas and krispe kream donunts, then take free shuttle back to resort

If you buy annuals have 2 trips planed in that time fame .Or buy the 7 day hopper plus (5 water park days)these usaly last us 3 trips

Keep an eye out for codes,offers and discounts.We got free dinning this year we were going to book the room with disney anyway then saw the offer .We just had to buy a single day base ticket for everyone in party for each booking(had to make 2 as only can book 10 nights)cost for Pop for the 4 of us $995.00 for 14 nights

If flying to MCO use ME its free

Will try to think of some more if i can

 

[BiGGy]

On our first night we go to walmart and buy drinks and snacks that we keep in the hotel room, we also get a throw away cooler box that we keep in the car if anyone needs a drink.
Last year we booked our holiday 8 weeks before and saved a lot on flights, as much as we can we pay for tickets, hotels etc in $ to gain on the exchange rate.

also the house is full of money jars, funny enough my son just emptied his jar and i match what the kids save.

We always have a breakfast buffet as we find you dont need lunch and then we normally buy a pizza to eat in the room on the way back.

Check for loyalty cards and points cards (ie hilton honors - our breakfasts were free)

Check all the coupon books, theres always some sort of saving for whatever you want to do.

Keep your wife and daughter away from belz, premium outlets and the florida mall

Rgds
BiGGy

 

[Lindy Loo]

We have brought flashing ice cubes and glow sticks off e bay, ready for MNSSHP. Much cheaper.

My 4 yr old dd, has photocopies of £50 from Monopoloy (sp?)in her purse to "spend". These are worth $20, and when she "spends" them, we of course just secretly hand over the dollars. It really helps her budget ,and stops her buying or asking to have 100's of things. We were so proud of her, last holiday, she saved enough to "buy" all of us ice creams.

We also use Nationwide CC, wouldnt travel with out it!

We dont make our own sandwiches and carry, in case it went "off" and any way its my holiday too. Howewver we try and balance a big character meal one day, and then eat in Sweet Tomatos, or Ci cis the next ( off site)

hope this helps.............. xx

 

[paulh]

They sell glow sticks in walmart thing 75 cents each not the high price at disney
Have a big meal in evening and a small breakfast next day as its hot tend to eat less

When we go to a waterpark we take our own cooler with cokes in bread ,meat,chesse and butter.We would get some fries to go with meal

In the water park have been told that the barcode for the drink machine is the same say for each monday and so on so tape it over and get 2 mondays out of it (honest heard that some people do it)

Go to tony romas on a monday night as its all you can eat ribs for the same price as a rack of ribs carnt wait for a week on monday

Paulh

 

[wayneg]

for cheap meals use cicis if you like pizza, went there a few nights ago for 3 adults it cost $16.55 for all you can eat and drink. Or Sweet tomato if you like salad, soups and pasta, that cost us $26 for 3. So many cheap places to eat its not worth cooking.

 

[Lizzybear]

-Rent a fridge if your accomodation doesn't have one (or you could do the cooler + ice thing as already suggested) You can save loads by buying your own water and chilling it ready for the parks (freeze a couple of bottles too for later in the day) We also bought some fresh fruit, bread, cheese etc for a few light meals in the room.
-If you don't want to carry lots of water around use the park water fountains to refill your bottle or ask at any Disney CS location for a cup of iced water (free)
-Have a good check through the coupon books in most hotels for money off meals and attractions, also keep in mind a lot of offsite restaurants will give 10% off future bills if you show your receipt.
-Bring non-perishable/meltable snacks to the parks like crisps, apples (should be OK as long as you cushion them against bruising) and non-chocolate candy like gummi bears.
-Change jars! Great way to up your spending money. Don't use the Coinstar machines though they charge 10%, banks are free.
-Have a direct debit each month for holiday saving the day you get paid so you don't notice the saving as much as you would if you were depositing the money yourself.