Trying to DisneyWorld On a Budget

[mjenni27]

My wife and I are trying to do Disney on a budget. Any suggestions on cutting costs? We already have our hotel onsite, paid for with tax return. We still have one day on a parkhopper each from our honeymoon and one single park each from then (long story) We are taking our DS (6) and DD (1) for their first trip. We are thinking about buying single park tickets as we don't plan on anything besides the parks. Is this a wise idea or are we !! Any other ideas to cut cost would be greatly appreciated

 

[emmalgin]

I always laugh when this question is asked. #1 in my books is stay off site!!!! Get hotel that includes breakfast (i.e. Hampton Inn or Hawthorn). Then use transport from there. Can stay in LBV for $40-$50/night depending on season.....

Food much cheaper offsite also.

But few ever listen on these sites (LOL).....

 

[ceecee]

We too, used to stay off site....UNTIL....we stayed on site and now we will always stay onsite. Free transportation to parks, Mickey's wake up call, all the magic, no parking or driving, great. I don't think the food courts are that expensive either.

 

[LKS]

Depending on how many days you will be at the parks, a park hopper could be cheaper than individual day tickets. The 5 day park hopper without pluses is cheaper than 5 individual tickets and the 6 day PHP with 3 pluses is cheaper than 6 days even if you never use the pluses. And, of course, you can save the pluses for a future visit. I have read that there is a bounce-back pass where you can get 2nd and maybe 3rd days at a slight discount, so if you don't want 5 days, you might look into that.

We also like to stay on site for the convenience (not that into "magic"), but we save money by bringing our cooler with OJ and Milk plus some cereal, disposable bowls and spoons etc... and eat breakfast in our room. Add some bread, PB&J, chips and carrots with dip and do one other meal each day in the room. Saves some major bucks. That's our trade off - Stay on site but eat some meals in the room. When you're on site, it's pretty easy to get back to the room for a meal and a swim.

 

[Minnesota]

Not to go against the grain here but I actually think Onsite is cheeper. If you stay off site, you waste valuable time commuting. Puls if you have to rent a car (Hotel transportation often ends before I want to go back especially e-nights but that is up to the travelers) the cost for that In m,y opinion would be better spent on an onsite hotel with free close transporttation. This will be ny second trip on a tight budget and here are a few more ideas, but then again it all depends on the travelers When I go it is commenly commando Disney7am to 12am (yes am)

1. Bring your own snacks from home (i.e. granola bars, fruit snacks etc. Stuff that travels well and doesn't mealt)
2. Book airfare seperatly, you can usually get cheap fares through regional airlines that Disney doesn't book through
3. Know what you want to see and cut out what you don't.
4. Buy supplies like film and such at home Way cheaper than Florida.
5. Check out options like AAA or Orlando Magic Discounts - Orlando Magic Card is great for Cars, offsite hotels and offsite food.

Thats about all I can think of now. As I said previously, this depends on the travelers. It works wonderful for me in Minnesota. I once did a trip in 2000 at the Caribbean Beach for 4 nights for a total of 950 including souvinears. Good Luck, Let me know if you find any new ideas, I am a broke college student who really wants to go back Hopefully Tax returns will be friendly!

Minnesota

 

[mjenni27]

We got our onsite for $94/ night. Not as cheap as some offsites, but reasonable for the quality hotel we prefer to stay at. Since it is the kids first trip there, we wanted the "magic" of staying on site. Granted we had to pay for it, but to us it was a worthwhile trade. Bringing the food for in a cooler sounds like a good way to save money, but how much does ice cost. Also, do you bring a cooler or just buy a styro when you reach Orlando? We will be driving most likely, unless God blesses us with a significant influx of money, so that money is not really being taken into account. That is why we are looking for any other way to pinch the penny just a little more, we want our son to really enjoy himself, but do not want to mortgage the house for it. The fun part is that he doesn't even suspect that that is where we are going for vacation this year

 

[LKS]

We drive and take our own cooler, then refill from the ice machines at the resort. It has never been a problem. It also helps to fill a couple of 1/2 gallon plastic milk cartons with water and freeze before you leave home. By topping off with fresh ice, those stay frozen for days and help keep things cold, and let you use less ice.

I wouldn't fly from Pelzer - (I'm originally from SC - Clemson Grad) - you'll be glad to have the room to pack cooler and snacks in your car and the drive's not that bad. Plus, you'll save on airfare - even after you add in gas expense etc... We even drove to Michigan last year - we just like to have our stuff!

 

[bobcat]

You came to the right place for advice! We are always on a budget! LOL

If you are driving then definately bring a cooler. The only place you will pay for ice is on the road if you run out. Ice at the hotel is free. I freeze an empty milk jug and this usually lasts from Ohio. We pack snacks and drinks for the car trip. I also have sandwich fixings and stop for lunch on the way down, saves a little money and the kids get a break from the car.

A refillable mug costs around $9 at the resorts and you can refill it for free. I drink a lot of diet coke so this paid for itself quickly.

Your one year old gets in the park free. They do offer a bounce back pass which offers a slight discount on up to four days in the parks. You buy the first day for full price and then can buy up to three more days for a lottle less. If I remember right it was $5 off the second day, $7 off the third and we didn't use it for the fourth. These are one park passes and you can't hop from park to park. We used these for a short four day trip and they worked great. They keep changing the name of these but if you explain what you want they should be able to figure it out.

Souviners can get expensive so I usually buy inexpensive items ahead of time and make treat bags for each day. I have bought disney beenies, stickers, b-day party treats and the like on clearance and saved a bundle. This stops the gimmies and the kids are more selective of the toys they want to buy. We also stop at the Beltz outlet mall on the way into Orlando and pick up t shirts and other park merchandise. I have always found good prices here.


Good luck! It can be done!

 

[crusoe2]

We always take a cooler and plenty of food and drinks to keep in our room. I believe all of the resorts have a toaster and microwave in the foodcourt or snack bar and lots of folks use them to prepare stuff they brought from home. We also take our own water bottles and snacks into the parks. A bottle of water costs about $2.50 so that can really add up. It is also much more convenient to carry it with you so that you don't have to stand in line everytime someone gets thirsty or hungry.
If you have a Disney Club membership you get a discount at quite a few of the shops at Downtown Disney as well as on multi-day park passes. We've gotten the bounceback deal on tickets before - at that time you paid full price for the first day, got $5 off the second day and $10 off the third day. I don't believe it was available for a fourth day.
I have to agree with a couple of the points made by Minnesota. First, I think it can be just as cost effective to stay onsite. All these folks who say that it is quicker to drive yourself to the parks rather than taking the bus must be talking about parks other than MK (and with small kids this will probably be where you spend alot of time). By the time we took the monorail or ferry from the park back over to the TTC, caught a tram out to our car, waited for the car to cool off, and then drove back to our hotel and found a parking place ... well, you get the idea. We've found it much easier to catch an air conditioned bus back to our resort for a much needed midday break. This means we are also much more likely to go back and use that food we brought from home, too.
Second, get familiar with what is in the parks and decide what you can save for another trip. There is no way you can do it all, anyway, so I recommend focusing on the things that will be most enjoyable for your kids. There will never be another "first time at Disney World" and things that they will enjoy so much now (like riding Dumbo over and over or playing in the fountains) will be no biggie when they are older. Enjoy it while you can.
Hope this helps.

 

[AuntBJ]

I've stayed off-site and on-site and have decided that if I only need one room, definately on-site. With a large group, we rented a 7br house with a pool and stayed for about 25% of what it would have cost us on-site. But your group sounds to me like the perfect on-site size.

BTW, LKS's tip about the cooler is pretty good, even coming from a Clemson grad. (Go Gamecocks!!!)

We drive down and it is a fairly easy 7 hour drive for us. By the time you budget your time to get to the airport, arrive 2hrs early, check-in, wait for plane, then wait for luggage when you get there, you really haven't saved much time anyway. Not to mention the cost.

One important tip - make sure nothing is going on in Daytona when you drive down. i.e. race or biker's week. This can really mess up traffic but there is another road you can take around Daytona if you need to.

If you have time, stop at the outlets in St. Augustine. The one on the northbound side has a pretty good Disney Outlet.

We just got back with my 6yr old niece. The trick is to realize you are going to spend money on souveniers but try to limit it as much as possible. This was fairly easy with her as she got to spend the Disney Dollars we gave her when we invited her along with the $ her grandparents slipped her before she left. We found the easiest way to keep her from "needing" everything she saw was simple. Don't go into the shops until we were prepared to let her buy something. We saved shopping for the end of the day. (That was hardest on my sister, 40. (LOL) Another trick is to have a notebook for your son to write down what he wants, how much it cost and what store it is in with the understanding that at the end of day/trip, he can come back and buy his favorite thing.

Your son will probably want an autograph book for the characters to sign. I think it is $5.50 at the parks. IMHO, the outrageous thing is the $2.50 for the pen to sign it with. Bring a "fat" pen from home.

Buy film at home and buy at least 50% more than you think you will need.

If you decide to do a character meal, I recommend the dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We decided we HAD to do a character meal this trip and I would rather spend $20 ($11 for children) on all-you-can eat "real" food (turkey, ham, roast) than $17 on breakfast. We saved this for a surprise for the children. I am not sure, though, if there would be a charge for the 1yr old (I would hope not)

If you decide to eat outside the park, Golden Corral has a pretty good buffet bar that is pretty inexpensive. Otherwise, we ate pretty cheaply inside the parks and at the food court in the resort. Most of the items at the counter-service restaurants are listed as meals but you can order ala carte also.

 

[AuntBJ]

BTW, which resort are you staying in and when are you going? Did you check out the sites like mousesavers.com to make sure you got the best deal possible?

 

[frost5000]

We went in Sept. and had the same ticket issue as you. We had to keep costs down and didn't want to lose the magic doing it. We also had 1 hopper day left over, and 1 plus day left. We decided to buy the "bounce-back" single day tickets, and it worked out great. They give you a $5.00 discount on day 2, and a $15 discount on day 3 or more. This worked out to 3 days - $136.74 for adults, $104.94 for the kids. This was much cheaper than the 4 day hopper, and we didn't miss the hopping after all. In fact we weren't racing around nearly as much as when we hopped. Hope this helps!!

 

[mjenni27]

AuntBJ,

We are staying at POR for three nights and staying at a cheap offsite the first night because they didn't have an opening when we want to go. I am the Children's Pastor at our church and, starting last year, my wife and I decided to take my Vacation the rest of the week of VBS because I am usually fried by then. I am pleased with the price of the room, it was cheaper for the moderate onsite than the value. Now we just have to choose where to go for food and all. We plan on letting him look for souvenirs, but he has been trained already that he cannot buy until the end of vacation.

 

[mjenni27]

Wow Frost that is a great deal!!!! I hope that is still there in June! WOOHOO

 

[AuntBJ]

It sounds like you have a good deal room-wise. Surprisingly, I have found that we do not spend much more on food at WDW than we do on most of our vacations. We don't do many large sit-down meals and try to eat breakfast in our room. I have seen on these boards that some people have taken their George Foreman grills with them but I haven't tried that. There is a "budget food tip" thread on this board that I believe I have seen posted to in the last couple of days. You may want to check that out.

We have packed sandwiches in those insulated lunch bags with small bottles of frozen water to keep them cool and had lunch in the park.

One last word of advice, don't wait until you get in the park to buy milk. It was $2.95 for a 1/2 gallon when we were there in March.

 

[Mic]

Since you are spending a total of 4 nights, I am assuming(I know, I know...don't ever do this)that you plan to spend 4 days in the parks. Since you already have 4 days' worth of adult passes(if combined), your best bet would be to purchase 1 adult 4-day hopper for yourself and 1 child 4-day hopper for your son at Wal-mart or other discount location for @ $350, and let your wife use the individual passes that still have one day on them. That way, plan to "hop" on 2 days, and not hop on the days your wife uses the 1-day/1-park pass.(Would that be too confusing?) Even with a night off-site, 3 at PO, and passes, you will have spent @$700 at this point. You should have no problem eating for $300. We always eat lunch at the parks, since it is more reasonable if you do a sit-down meal(wife may NEED this by lunch with a 1-year-old), and I would check Deb Wills' site for menus. We always KNOW what park we will start the day in, and eat lunch in, so making lunch plans is easy. With young children, after-lunch plans could easily change, so leave dinner open. You could do off-site 1 or 2 nights, pizza 1 night, and a food-court or counter service meal 1 night. You could save a little money by eating in your room 1 night(like sandwiches), and definitely take your own coke/water for your room as well as the parks. The resorts have free ice for your cooler, so take one as it may come in handy for the drive down, too. ALWAYS eat breakfast in the room to save time and money, unless a character breakfast is planned for 1 day. From SC, the gas should not cost more than $75-80(I live in NC, drive a gas hog, and spend @$120 at the current prices), leaving only "incidentals" to plan for. We give all 4 of our kids a set amount of disney dollars I purchase a few weeks before the trip at the Disney store, and when it is gone, they get no more. At 6, your son will love spending these! I hope this helps!

 

[LKS]

I second the recommendation for Liberty Tree Tavern - a family favorite! And, at the character buffets, your one-year old is definitely free! We also found ordering a whole pizza was a decent deal for dinner, esp. if supplemented by some carrots and ranch dip from your trusty cooler! We even had it delivered to the room because everyone was too exhausted to walk down to the food and fun center. Way cheaper than going to a restaurant and the kids thought it was just great to get a pizza delivered to the room!

Mic's ticket deal sounds pretty good because it lets you hop on two of your four days. The only downside is that there is no price break on that 4 day hopper. It costs the same as 4 individual tickets if you go by the gate prices on this site. You may find it cheaper at one of the places that sell discounted tickets, though. If you don't hop, you can get a little price break on those bounce-backs.

Oh, AuntBJ, I just forgot to mention that I did give equal time by getting my Master's at USC. Somehow, it's that undergrad affiliation that sticks with me!