Ways to save money at Disney

[tinkmom2]

Hi most of what I am going to say has been said all ready

We have been to WDW 5 times and have always stayed on property. Only one of those times was at a Mod because we got a free resort upgrade pin. That being said, we love POP and will probably choose the new Art of Animation for our next trip. We find the rooms to be fine at the values. Also you are at the parks from sun up to sun down for the most part. The other times you are in the pool.

Book your own vacation and airfare. Go during free dining or get the meal plan. For us we like to dine out at new restaurants every time we go and would spend so much more than what we paid for the dining plan. We also didn't use all our meals at once. For example I would split a sandwich with my youngest and later use her credit to buy a breakfast. The rest of us would make oatmeal in the room.

We did order Garden Grocer too for this last trip and loved it. We ordered things like soda, juice, snacks, fruit, cereal, pb and J etc. and even alcohol. They offered to deliver 10 extra items free of delivery charge if we needed it.

We mainly used our taxes to go but most banks do have a vacation savers acct. where you can put away money. Also cutting out eating out really helps..

Sign up for the airlines newsletters to find deals on air if you are flying.

 

[runrussellrun]

There are usually pretty good price packages from Costco or AAA.

 

[Soarin_04]

We "cheat" with souvenairs!

Months in advance, DH and I will keep at eye out at Target, Walmart, the Dollar Store, and the Disney Store for Disney based sales items. We pack 'em and take 'em with us. A few times during the trip our boys will wake up and find Mickey or Stitch or someone has "left" them a little something during the night (now that they're older, they understand exactly who Mickey or Stitch or that someone else is!). They understand that THOSE are their souvenairs unless they want to buy something with their own money...

...and we all know how thrifty kids can be when it's their own dime!

 

[bear_mom]

Things we do/have done:

Ship a box of food to the resort with breakfast and snack foods. Also have a case of water shipped. We eat breakfast in the room while getting ready - saves time and money. Also included in the box are water flavoring packets, we will fill up our water bottles during the day at either a water fountain or from asking at a restaurant (they will give out free glasses if you ask).

Stay at a value resort, we have stayed at Pop for our last 3 trips. Works fine for us, we do bring along an over the door shoe hanger to help with all the bathroom stuff.

Share counter service meals. We do this if we are on the dining plan or if we are paying OOP.

We encourage our dds to start saving their allowance/birthday/gift money. Right now each of our dds has almost $200 saved. We will buy each dd an outfit or sweatshirt or similiarly priced souviner and that is it. The rest of the things they want, they pay for.

We also buy one snack, usually ice cream, per day. The rest comes from our stash we mailed down. No other drinks (well, dh and I will occassionally buy a coffee drink from one of the better coffee places).

Emily

 

[kvnchapman]

I have a different take on planning...
Price out a resort that is onsite (as far as in WDW) but offsite (as in non-Disney owned). Then check out the DisBoards thread on discounted car rentals and/ the taxi rate threads to and from the airports and compare the "Self-made WDW package" vs the official WDW package.
We love WBC (next door to Disney's moderate Carribbean beach Resort) and Swan and Dolphin (walking distance to Epcot and DHS). Both hav nice, free transportation to all of the parks.
Teachers can get great discounts at S & D (maybe $150 per night) and WBC would run approx $100 or less per night for a 2 BR/2BA villa in November. WBC has a full kitchen and laundry in each suite - so this is a huge savings for food prep and baggage charges.
Garden grocer is a great service. S & D have their Pantry service, too.
These 3 resorts are every bit as nice and convenient as Disney's deluxe resorts, and WBC is nicer than several dlxs. We have stayed at AKL, The Poly and CR - all beautiful, but so very expensive compared to these 3 choices.
Big agree on bringing your own snacks and water botteles and Crystal Light. Character breakfasts are always less than character dinners. Not sure if YES classes and ticket discounts are offered during November...

 

[kvnchapman]

Hi again NJ family! If at all possible, this is what I'd do...
According to various website, most Jersey week guests arrive on Friday Nov 2nd. Even if I had to split my group up, I would strongly consider leaving 3 days earlier after school on Oct 30. To save the most money, I would stay at Bonnet Creek (book either through VacationUpgrades or Vacationstrategy - whichever offer better rates). On 10/31, have the boys attend the YES class (the last one offered for the season) and purchase the discounted tickets for your family (8 day hoppers with water park and more are only $220 each) and leave after the convention (either Fri night or Sat am).
Bonnet Creek Resort - $1000
tickets for 4 - $880
3 special meals (I would do TRex at DTD and use the kids 99 cent voucher) and 2 Disney meals (your group might want to consider 1 character meal and maybe SciFi at DHS) - $200
All other meals and snacks/waters in room or packed for parks in room - $300 (think frozen pizzas, lasagnas, bagged salads, pancakes, crockpot meals, etc)
Souvenirs (you can give giftcards for birthdays or occasions) - $50 per kiddo
Airfare - ?
Taxi or rental car - check the boards, estimate $200
Total without airfare - $2680 (and this is an "all out" experience)

I have no clue oif you could coordinate a 10 day stay, splitting the adults up for a few days if necessary, but if I could, this is what I'd do. have fun!

 

[DawnM]

Thanks. Yup, that is the week we will go if Dh has his conference in Orlando again. His conference is always the first week in November.

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

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

 

[Crazy Mother of Two]

I def used alot of the tips mentioned. However, I have not used Garden Grocer. I packed a case of water in my luggage. I also packed cereal boxes, pop tarts, oatmeal, granola and fruit snacks. We purchased milk on site. I had to make sure that we didn't go over weight in our luggage but it also meant that I had an extra bag to pack souvies and such on our way home!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Hi again NJ family! If at all possible, this is what I'd do...
According to various website, most Jersey week guests arrive on Friday Nov 2nd. Even if I had to split my group up, I would strongly consider leaving 3 days earlier after school on Oct 30.

If there's no school on 11/8 & 9 perhaps having your visit start on the 8th would be better if most people arrive on the 2nd. Visit Thur - whenever.