What are your best $$ saving tips while at Disney?

[nkjzmom]

I will admit that for a family our size we have to stay off-site most of the time we are there. We just can't beat having our own kitchen. Now that we have AP's we definitely need to find ways to save $$ so that we can take a few extra trips. For our trip in November we are staying offsite the first few days, then moving to ASMu, which I got for the AP rate.

So, what ways do you save $$ to make the most of your trip?

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

We always bring in bottles of water. I put them in a collapsable lunch bag and put ice in ziploc baggies and put those in the lunch bag to keep it cold. If you are bringing a stroller, you won't even have to carry it around. It's always worked out great, and beats paying $2.50 a bottle at the parks!!

 

[LMC]

My kids aren't big breakfast eaters so we always eat in our room (now camper!), muffins, poptarts, rice krispy treats, etc. We always take in some type of drinks (we freeze some of the water bottles to serve as ice so we are lugging around ice too) and most of the time take in sandwiches for lunch. Drinks and snacks at a minimum though. And I limit souveniers to one per day. Doesn't matter if it is a $6 light chaser or a $15 shirt--one per day.

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

I guess our true money savers include bringing in drinks/snacks in a small cooler, bringing our own stroller, and shopping for a few souvies at the Disney Store prior to trip.

But what feels like a money saver is our DVC contract and our AP's that we renew anually. Then when trips come around, our tickets and accommodations are paid, so all we come up with is travel $, meals, and souvies.

I know it doesn't really "save" us money, but it feels like it does

 

[missypie]

Some of your kids may be too young for this, but it will help later on: Give each kid a set amount of spending money at the beginning of the trip. They can spend it on whatever they want; if they don't spend it all, they can keep it. That way, when you've bought all the snacks that are in the budget and they just HAVE to have that Mickey Bar, you can say "Sure, as long as you use your own money." Sometimes they buy it; sometimes they don't, but then it's their decision and you aren't the bad guy.

Since snacks and souvineers at the parks are so expensive, a variation might be to tell them in advance "I am spending no more than $X per day on snacks. That amount of money will buy 3 boxes of fruit roll ups at the grocery store, or one ice cream at the parks. What do you want to do?" Again, it's their choice and helps teach them about money.

 

[nkjzmom]

Originally posted by JessetheCowgirl
But what feels like a money saver is our DVC contract and our AP's that we renew anually. Then when trips come around, our tickets and accommodations are paid, so all we come up with is travel $, meals, and souvies.

I know it doesn't really "save" us money, but it feels like it does

I know exactly what you mean. I was thinking this morning how great it is that we don't have to buy tickets for this trip....but wait we already spend hundreds of $$$ for the tickets. So now we will be spending hundreds of $$$ to make those tickets worthwhile.....

We also carry some snacks and water bottles in. That does save alot.

We are considering camping as a big $$ saver. Not the cabins...real camping !!! I'm just looking over the next year and trying to fit vacations in...which means more $ for lodging...

 

[Towncrier]

Steer clear of the pin carts. I find it hard to resist spending way too much money on those little shiny pieces of metal.

Set a budget for souveniers. And stick to it.

 

[Deb in IA]

Eat lunch as your big meal. Snacks for later in the day.

 

[powellrj]

since you are off site, we found our biggest money saver to be having our large meal of the day off site, unless we are doing a character meal and then have the last breakfast ps of the day and count it as lunch or have the last ps of the afternoon and count lunch as dinner. We also never buy souvies in the park, ( you buy it you carry it) instead we go to beltz and get things there. Not only cheaper, but easier to deal with.

 

[leahannpen]

SHARE YOUR MEALS! They are huge! And as Deb said... eat your big meal at lunch. Same menu, cheaper prices.

We also bring our own water and stroller. We bring ponchos of our own from the dollar store too, as the WDW ones are very expensive.

 

[hipporina]

Most of these have been mentioned, but these are the ones we use.

1. I second the idea of sharing your meals! We shared at almost every meal. The portions are so large that it is very easy to share and still be full.

2. Eat breakfast in your room / tent. We took stuff like Pop-tarts and never bought breakfast.

3. Bake cookies before you go for in-room or in-car snacking. We do this on every trip and it is wonderful. We started this tradition when I was a kid and its always nice to have cookies around.

4. Keep a cooler for drinks.

5. Take refillable water bottles (we got cheap ones at Walmart) with you into the parks. We bought very few sodas because we always had our water to drink. We filled it up with ice water in the morning and refilled as they ran out.

6. Set a daily budget for food and put that amount into an envelope for that day. It let us know when we could get snacks and when we couldn't. We added anything left to our souvenir budget.

7. Don't eat big sit down meals. We ate all counter service throughout the trip. The way we saw it, we could eat nice at home.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Have you checked the Budget board and the Tip board here on the DIS?? Great ideas on both.

 

[shortbun]

We stay offsite now. It's sooo much cheaper. After years of
onsite and "how could anyone stay offsite", it's now exactly
how we save loads of money. We always have our own
car-or a rented one anyway 'cause I can't stand being at the mercy of crowded buses and other peoples schedules. I book hotels about six months ahead and always get great deals at
the suite properties just outside Downtown Disney. Two rooms,
two TV's, a kitchen and breakfast are usually included. Last year
at Christmas, we had a room for 10 nights including breakfast
for $89 per night in a great little suite property with a pool, jaccuzi, workout room, laundry.

 

[rcyannacci]

Originally posted by Towncrier
Steer clear of the pin carts. I find it hard to resist spending way too much money on those little shiny pieces of metal.

Set a budget for souveniers. And stick to it.

Isn't that the truth? I usually do OK with money, unless I'm collecting something.

I have this way of justifying money spent at WDW when I'm there that's hard to combat. It's a kind of "life is short and I'm having such a good time" mentality. Then I'm eating bag lunches all the next month to make up for my excesses.

Most people already mentioned our budgeting tips. A big one is breakfast at the hotel (except for 1 character breakfast a trip). Also, our digital camera will be saving us a lot of money this time since we won't be needing all that film and processing expenses.

 

[JetMom]

I withdraw the money I have budgeted for food and souveniers from my bank account and convert it to travelers checks. Many people have asked why I don't leave the money in the bank and use my debit visa when I travel. I find that it is much too easy to overspend my budget when I put everything "on the card." With the travelers checks I have a visual confirmation of how much money I have and I am careful to make it last. I take the day's allotted amount ( plus a little extra just in case) and leave the rest in the room safe. It works like a charm. I always come home under budget.

 

[Jockaroo]

Lots of great ideas here.

When hubby and I want a really nice meal, we will book a PS for one of the nicer restaurants at lunch. Check the menu prices. There is often a significant difference in the cost of lunch vs. dinner. Then we can grab a counter service, or off-site snack for supper.

When we want a sweet something, we will split a dessert--portions are large.

Since you have kids with you, you might want this tip from the budget board. Get the double burger meal (if the kids eat burgers) and request an extra bun. It is a an additional cost, but under $1. Separate the patties. Let the kids dress them as they choose and split the fries. I haven't done this, but thought it was very clever.

We also eat breakfast in the room and bring our own water to the parks. Also, make sure you have enough sunscreen for the family. This stuff is way expensive in the parks.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

We do two meals a day out, one in the room. We usually do breakfast in the room and have cereal or something else easy.

Shopping is saved until the last day (unless it is an item we know is not available anywhere else on the property). This is really helpful with kids because that way they have a chance to see what is available before choosing what they want to bring home. I know with my cousin's two DD's (mostly her 12 yo) she wants everything when she sees it, but then forgets about it an hour after they leave the store. Cutting down on impulse purchases saves a lot.

Bring your own snacks into the parks. Now I know we all like to have Mickey ice cream etc. but for things like Cookies and chips, it's cheaper to bring your own.

We also bring our own water bottles (the Brita ones).

When dining in fast food places in the parks, you can ask for meals a la carte. If the meal deal is for chicken, fries and a soda and you just want the chicken, ask for it that way. You will pay the a la carte price and not the full meal price. This adds up with a large group.

I disagree with the tip about "not eating sit down meal" however. There is a big difference between eating a meal at home and eating at a themed WDW place. However, these meals do not have to cost a fortune. Kids can usually share meals, and if you have your own water bottles, or just request water, for a drink, you can save money that way too. PLEASE try at least a few of the sit down places. We found on our last trip (just 2 adults) that the sit down places were not all that much more than the counter places, unless you are ordering 5 course meals. Adults can share meals too. We are both light eaters and did this a few times. We weren't even really doing it for $$ sake, we just hate wasting food.

 

[Kallison]

Originally posted by Towncrier
Steer clear of the pin carts. I find it hard to resist spending way too much money on those little shiny pieces of metal.

Set a budget for souveniers. And stick to it.

WHat?? No Pooh pins ! Or you can do what we did and buy cheapie ones in advance to trade. We lucked out and got 75cent ones at TDS. TDS in our mall doesn't carry them anymore, but I'm sure you can order online.

I tell the kids one snack per day. We bring in snacks and water too. I fill up the extra sink with ice at night and cool them down. I found too that giving them so much money helps with the souveneirs.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Originally posted by JetMom
I withdraw the money I have budgeted for food and souveniers from my bank account and convert it to travelers checks. Many people have asked why I don't leave the money in the bank and use my debit visa when I travel. I find that it is much too easy to overspend my budget when I put everything "on the card." With the travelers checks I have a visual confirmation of how much money I have and I am careful to make it last. I take the day's allotted amount ( plus a little extra just in case) and leave the rest in the room safe. It works like a charm. I always come home under budget.

I do this also. I works out great for us.


I like to buy meal vouchers before our trip. I don't worry about getting the greatest deal by using them. I just like the idea of having most of our meals paid before we leave for the trip.

Park snacks are a must for us. We can have a bag of Lays or fruit roll ups any day. However we can't pass up the Mickey bars, fudge, (my son MUST have his fudge fix each trip), popcorn, candy and caramel apples...
I budget $20.00 per day for snacks. We never use that much so the extra money goes to our last day shopping spree.

My son's spending money is divided by the number of days we're there. He takes that amount into the parks each day and can spend it as he sees fit. During our Easter trip he spent most of his money on pins and snacks.

I use mypoints often. This allows use to have one free meal and a free shopping spree at Rainforest Cafe.

We shop throughout our trip. This way we're sure to get the things we want.

 

[nkjzmom]

Thanks for all the ideas. I am also wondering how everyone affords staying onsite all the time. I was looking over the list for Nov over on the strategies board and there are only a few of us staying offsite and all of us have at least some time planned at an onsite resort. I guess it has just really sunk in how much lodging can cost at the Disney resorts. I knew the prices, but to actually stay at one for 8-9 days....WOW!!!

Sorry if it's too personal a question.