Ways to save money at Disney

[whiteout]

Hello all, we're going to Disney in November for "Jersey" week. I'm just booking things this week and was wondering if anyone has any money saving tips.

There are 4 of us going. Myself, my husband and our 2 boys 7 & 10. The boys have never been and it's been about 20 years since my husband and I have been there.

 

[erincon23]

Hi! Welcome to the Dis! Congrats on your upcoming trip!

Ways to save -- bring snacks with you. I always pack a big bag of granola bars, gummies,etc. The munchies will hit,and satisfying them at WDW is VERY expensive. Before we head out in the morning, I let my boys (who are now older than yours, but we've been when they were that age) pick out three or four items and put them in their own fanny packs, so they can get a snack when they want it.

If your boys aren't big eaters,lots of the meals are large -- you're better off getting an adult meal and having them split (and even for you and your husband as well) rather than getting individual kids meals.

Put a cap on souvenier spending. Buy them each a Disney gift card with a pre-set amount and tell them this is what you can spend (or put that amount in cash in a ziploc or something) and NO MORE! Make a rule that they can't purchase anything right when they see it -- they MUST think about it and you'll come back (even an hour later).

Buy some glowsticks at the dollar store before you go if your kids like them -- vendors will walk around while you're waiting for evening parades, selling all kinds of glow-in-the-dark items. If you already have some, you can pull them out and say "here!" And if you buy a few more cheap extras, you can keep them occupied by letting them hand a few out to kids sitting near them.

Bring your own ponchos. They're expensive at the parks.

If you're driving down, bring stuff for breakfast. They've just put fridges even in the value resorts -- buy cartons of milk or oj at the food court, and eat before you leave the room. Don't plan on trying to "picnic at the car" for lunch, though -- it'll take a while to get back to the car, and it's not pleasant (not icky, but not fun) to sit in the parking lot. Either leave the parks and go back to your room, bring a cooler with sandwiches in (you can put it in a locker at the front of the park) or just buy food there.

Research food prices ahead of time -- both the Disney site and allearsnet.com have menus with prices. Then you won't get severe sticker shock.

Have a great trip!

 

[whiteout]

Thank you. From reading around the website I know also know they have codes for discounts for rooms. I never knew that.

My boys and my husband are eaters. I don't know where they put it and never gain an ounce. We're flying down and now that we know Disney has transportation from the airport we're not going to rent a car. So we will be stuck eating resort and park food.

 

[Colleen27]

There are a couple of Orlando-area companies that will deliver groceries so you don't have to be stuck with just resort and park food. We use WeGoShop.com every trip because I'm a Mt Dew addict and WDW's one shortcoming is that they're a Coke place. The delivery charge varies by the size of your order but we've found it to be well worth it to avoid buying soda, beer, and snacks at Disney prices.

 

[blessedby3]

We have used gardengrocer.com for 2 or 3 of our trips (when we didnt have a vehicle). It is a big money saver to have snacks, waters, etc in the room. We also carry them into the parks. For a cheap dinner, we have ordered pizza from Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Giodornios (sp). They will deliver to the lobby of the resort you are staying at.

 

[torinsmom]

You don't have to only eat resort and park food. You could order groceries to be delivered to the resort. I have heard Garden Grocer mentioned a few times on the boards. You could also pack snacks in your luggage. We go with packaged crackers, fruit snacks and other things that stay intact pretty well and don't melt.

You can get free ice water in the parks. All you have to do is ask for it. We bring Crystal Light or similar flavor sticks to add. Just doing that saves a lot of money.

Give each child a souvenir budget before starting your trip. At your sons' ages, I gave my son $50-$60. I kept it for him and kept track of what he had left. Once it's gone, it's gone. You can also limit each child to one park snack per day.

Meals are easily shared or you can get kid's meals for everyone. They are a lot cheaper, come with a drink and it is plenty of food for most people.

Definitely bring ponchos. I get the 2/$1 ones at Dollar Tree and stick them in my bag. I can't stand dealing with a wet poncho, so I just toss them when we're done.

 

[Zhoen]

Hi, happy planning!

Ok, so something I didn't see listed yet, you can mail yourself a package to the resort if you want to bring snacks/supplies but don't have room in your luggage... it all comes down to how much you can fit in your luggage and which airline you're with (meaning how much they charge for luggage fees). You might mail bulky/light things like boxes of cereal, but pack heavier things like juice boxes in your suitcase (weight allowing and packed inside some sort of container to keep them from bursting...) There are threads on how to mail the packages if you search the site, but basically I think you address it to the resort and label it "Hold for Guest (your name here) Dates of stay (your dates here) and then you pick it up at check-in, but do your research, since others have done this and I haven't.

Things I have seen people talk about here, but haven't tried yet are 1-crystal light to put in your free cups of ice water 2-bobbles (sort of like a water bottle with it's own filter inside. Apparently the Florida water flavor doesn't sit well with some people.

I found a soft-sided cooler at our local grocery store (Giant) that has a pretty black and white pattern and looks a lot like a purse. Disney only allows soft-sided coolers for bringing things into the park, and I am planning to use that back for bottled water and fruit (we are planning to buy most of our meals)...bonus, I bought it last spring when we started planning, so I've already gotten a year of use out of it.

I'm also planning to have large ziplock bags to double-wrap our leftovers before they go in the cooler. My girls never want to eat at mealtime, but the minute the table is cleared, they are "starving", so we save the food and give it back to them later... plus our last day we plan to have a "picnic of leftovers" at AK, with a fallback plan of buying something there if there aren't enough leftovers or we're feeling picky or whatever For that meal I found a soft-sided cooler/picnic set for $10 at Kohl's the day after Christmas, so we can be all "civilized" (And while I truly hope to re-use it in the future, if it gets messy, at $10 I wouldn't cry if it ended up getting ruined and pitched)

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I definitely recommend purchasing your own bottled water. The bottled water at Disney is expensive (as it is at any theme/amusement park these days) and the tap water is not so good. We also utilized Garden Grocer.com even though we had the dining plan. We had two cases of bottled water, ground coffee, coffee creamer, milk, juice, snacks, and breakfast foods delivered to our Disney hotel room. I agree with the suggestions of packing your own ponchos and putting a limit on souvenir spending. Getting Disney gift cards is great for having a set limit for souvenirs and other spending. Have a magical trip

 

[Vivianne]

Have a great trip. Not having gone for 20 yrs counts as a 2nd first time, if that makes any sense. This is not a money saving tip but just helpful. Take a nightlight along.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Take a look at this thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2897710

 

[torinsmom]

Well, the water from the water fountains is pretty nasty, but the ice water you get from restaurants or kiosks comes out of the drink machine and is filtered. It tasted much better than the water from the fountain when I tried it.

 

[dhardawa]

Watch for PIN codes in your email as well as general public specials. In the fall, Disney often offers free dining plan promotions. If you can get one of those, you'll save a bundle on food.

 

[POOHsie]

When ordering off a counter service menu board, all items listed are presented as entree and side. However, you can just order an entree and save about $2. Let's say you order one combo plate with fries, everyone else gets an entree only. You all share the single order of fries. Do that over the course of your entire vacation and the savings will add up.

 

[DawnM]

What week is Jersey week this coming November?

 

[Vivianne]

What week is Jersey week this coming November?

Ok...Nov. 8/9, 2012.

Source:
http://**************.net/2010/05/02/jersey-week-at-walt-disney-world/

 

[iluveeyore]

To help with preplanning - go to allears.net and click on dining for menus for each park/resort/DTD - lists prices so you can budget and learn what meals you can split. We always share if we have to eat out. And definitely pack the breakfast stuff for in the room and use the free water from counter services as it tastes just fine and it's cold (and free!!).

 

[luvMickey72]

For months ahead of my trip, I buy Disney giftcards ahead of time with "found" money. I have been selling some items online, and using that money for gift cards. So far, I have over $100.00 in giftcards, I will give 1 $50.00 one to my son and that is his fun money, anything else he wants he will use his own, I will use the other giftcards for ice cream, drinks some fun stuff while in the park. I also do mypoints and usually get a $50.00 card for Rainforest Cafe, so that will be a lunch or dinner one day!

 

[tekoa]

Rent DVC points and stay at a deluxe resort for less than a moderate.

 

[christineann]

Check the fine print before choosing a hotel. We wanted to stay at DTD in December because the values were already booked, and we got a good rate at the one hotel there that doesn't charge a daily parking fee (I still don't get why a hotel guest has to pay for parking on hotel property). We like the DTD hotels because of the bus service - no need to use our car or pay parking at the parks.

We took breakfast bars because we're not big breakfast eaters.
We split entrees unless we were very hungry. We also asked for ice water at the restaurants (free, as another poster pointed out. and I'm trying to drink more water anyway).

When my kids were little, our end-of-trip tradition was to go to the World of Disney store at DTD and let them pick out a stuffed animal then. They usually had a favorite character they had seen in the parks (instead of buying one at the beginning of the trip and changing their minds!), and it gave them something to look forward to on the day we had to leave.

 

[honeydiane1953]

My family sometimes 3 sometimes 4 of us go to WDW. First we r deluxe snobs. However we have tried driving, flying, dining plans and paying OOP. We have had room discounts and paid for our food. Bottom line the trip cost us 5000. no matter which way we plan its the same 5000.