16 Ways to Save Money on Your 2026 Disney World Vacation
Here’s how to save money on your 2026 Walt Disney World vacation, with tips & tricks for cutting costs on hotels, dining, souvenirs, and more. With these recommendations, you can trim the fat from your budget and get the most out of your travel dollars, with our 16 best tips to do WDW less expensively.
Fair warning: it won’t always be easy–and “less expensively” is not the same as “inexpensively.” To the contrary, Walt Disney World vacations are more expensive than ever. If you haven’t visited in a few years or ever, you might be in for sticker shock when pricing out a trip on DisneyWorld.com.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that “revenge travel” is over, and some costs are coming down. Discounts have improved at Walt Disney World, especially on resort hotels and vacation packages. Sometimes on tickets, too. With that in mind, here are other ways to save at Walt Disney World…
Regardless of your finances, it’s never a bad idea to consider ways to save more money. For some of you, cutting spending may be the only way you can afford a trip to Walt Disney World. For others, spending less might not be strictly necessary, but rather is a way to fund a slightly longer trip, a second Disney trip, or simply not waste money unnecessarily. (No one wants to do that!)
We’ve been in both positions. Although we’re able to splurge on trips now, I still vividly remember the days or ordering an extra bun so we could “split” a double cheeseburger at Cosmic Ray’s. These days, we pay careful attention to our spending and make every effort to get the most bang for our buck. After all, those wasted dollars could be the makings of another trip!
Here are some of our recommendations for saving money on your Walt Disney World vacation. Not all of these things will be for everyone. We each value different aspects of our trips differently, and what is unnecessary for some might be make or break for someone else. If you cut things that are important to you, don’t be surprised if the amount of fun you have is negatively impacted. Our goal with this list is cutting the fat from your budget without hitting the meat or bone…
16. Arrive Sunday, Leave Friday
Stated differently: skip weekends. Above is the room rate chart for Pop Century, and as you can see, the rates are least expensive on Sunday through Thursday nights. This hotel is not an outlier, nor are these months. In fact, holiday weekends and busier times are even worse–with a larger gap between Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays through Thursdays.
Guess what else more or less tracks with the above rate chart? Walt Disney World ticket prices, airfare costs, and even rental car prices. It’s not just this one (large) component of your trip that costs more–it’s pretty much everything! Of course, there’s a reason for this–weekends are often “free spaces” as you schedule around time off work and school.
Nevertheless, it’s worth sharing this for those who have more flexible schedules and don’t look at resort rate charts or comparison shop and just price out a vacation package. Even if you have to visit during a busier season (see #1), you can reduce the cost by simply choosing the right days of the week.
15. Eat Strategically
There are a few entries on this list dedicated to food, and the common theme is making small sacrifices that won’t hurt your experience much but will massively help your wallet. Our general philosophy is that dining is integral to the Walt Disney World experience, so we don’t recommend cutting too much. You shouldn’t be cooking all of your meals in your room or even eating off-site (at all).
However, you might want to consider other options. One common suggestion we’ve heard from readers is to order kids meals as opposed to adult options. This can work, but it’s really circumstantial. Portion sizes are smaller than they used to be at Walt Disney World, and some kids meals are very basic.
What we’d recommend instead is ordering more substantial adult meals and sharing, or even cheaper and nutrient-dense options, like certain salads (most counter service restaurants now have at least one good salad on the menu). To each their own, but there are usually tastier and more filling options than kids meals. You’re not saving money in the end if you end up having to eat an extra meal because you opted for the smaller and cheaper option.
Our biggest piece of advice is not to buy into the hype. When a restaurant at Walt Disney World becomes popular, its prices rise and quality generally falls. It’s a tale as old as time that can be witnessed in several restaurants, with Le Cellier being the most foremost example of this classic ‘dining downfall’ arc. The less you hear about a restaurant…the better it probably is.
That applies to both the cuisine quality and value for money. No offense to Be Our Guest Restaurant, ‘Ohana, Chef Mickey’s, or California Grill, but I’d take the restaurants on our List of Underrated Restaurants at Walt Disney World or Top 10 Best Value Table Service Restaurants at Walt Disney World over all of the highly-hyped restaurants.
You’ll also find that restaurants outside the parks are often more reasonably priced than those inside, so a quick trip to nearby resorts that are within walking, boat, Skyliner, or monorail distance from Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, or Disney’s Hollywood Studios can be a great option. Even though this takes time, it’s a great way to decompress and escape the midday crowds–and see the nicest hotels at Walt Disney World!
Finally, eating at lounges instead of table service restaurants is a great way to trade down on price…but not on quality. Splitting a few small plates (many of which are anything but small) at one of these venues can be much less expensive and more filling than a full table service menu. Families are often scared away from these spots, but every single “bar & grill” and all but maybe 3 lounges at Walt Disney World are family-friendly. See our list of the Best Bars & Lounges at Walt Disney World for recommendations.
14. Stay On-Site (Yes, On-Site.)
This is going to buck conventional wisdom, which is that it’s cheaper to stay off-site. When looking at hotel rates in a vacuum, that’s absolutely correct. Central Florida has a surplus of hotels, and you can score decent accommodations for $50 to $75 per night–far cheaper than comparable rooms at Walt Disney World. At the other end of the spectrum, luxury hotels in Orlando are a fraction of the price of on-site Deluxe Resorts.
Our most recent hotel stay was at All Star Sports and, honestly, it exceeded expectations. The rooms at the All Stars have recently been remodeled and the grounds are fun for kids. These are still very much budget motels that would not fetch rates this high if they were simply ‘real world’ hotels.
These are the cheapest hotels at Walt Disney World, with rates that are frequently $125 to $150 after discounts. That’s still at least $25 to $75 more expensive than their off-site counterparts. (This range varies widely, depending upon demand, season, and occupancy. Walt Disney World hotel prices do not spike with real-time demand, whereas other Central Florida hotels do.)
However, these are not apples to apples comparisons! Pretending like on-site hotels are the same as off-site ones, and rates should be set accordingly, overlooks the first three rules of real estate. More importantly, it overlooks the on-site perks and ancillary costs of staying off-site.
Specifically, if you stay off-site, you’ll pay for parking at the parks and transportation to them. This is a direct monetary cost, and one that closes the gap quickly. You will also pay indirectly in terms of time, both due to the commute and by not having access to on-site perks such as Early Entry. Don’t dismiss that as “only” 30 minutes–it can be a huge head-start, especially at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
For our recent All Star stay, we paid ~$130/night during the holiday season after discount. That was only about $30 cheaper than other options. It would have easily cost ~$50/day for transportation and parking, were we to stay off-site and incur those costs–making the total cost for the cheapest off-site hotel more than the cheapest on-site hotel.
In short, spending a little more upfront on your hotel can potentially save a lot over the course of the trip–while also having a superior experience and getting more done in the parks, in a more efficient manner. This is not to say that staying on-site is always for everyone–it’s not. In fact, we frequently stay off-site and recommend others do as well. Rather, it’s to suggest that you take a holistic view of costs and benefits, rather than simply a cursory glance at sticker prices. You actually need to do the math and take everything into account.
Which brings us to #12 on the list, which is arguably the biggest and best piece of money-saving advice for Walt Disney World…
13. Never Pay Full Price for Hotels
For most people, hotels are the single most expensive component of a trip to Walt Disney World. If you plan on staying in a Deluxe Resort, your hotel could eat up more than half of your entire vacation budget. While we love the Deluxe Resorts, we hate their pricing, and (frankly) think they are not worth their rack rates. We have four alternatives to paying full price for Deluxe Resorts, with the best option last, so you have plenty of options if you “need” posh accommodations.
First, consider “downgrading” to a Moderate Resort. Two good options for this are the new Gran Destino and Caribbean Beach Resort. Both are essentially “Deluxe Minus” hotels, albeit for very different reasons. Gran Destino has upscale amenities, fine dining, and feels reminiscent of a Las Vegas tower.
By contrast, Caribbean Beach has beautiful grounds, a relaxed setting, and efficient transportation via the Skyliner gondolas. The rooms and dining aren’t on par with what you’ll find at Deluxes, but this is a distinctly Walt Disney World resort, and it shows. It’s now often overlooked, but perfect for anyone wanting a relaxed setting for their vacation and easy access to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
If you want an actual Deluxe resort at a Moderate price, your best option is renting Disney Vacation Club (or DVC) Points. Here’s our top recommendation for the best, safe, and least expensive option for DVC point rental. If you want to know more, we cover the exact steps for doing this, and why we recommend it, in our Tips for Renting Disney Vacation Club Points post, which offers a great way to stay in Deluxe-caliber on-property rooms for significant savings.
Perhaps the most straightforward way to save on accommodations is simply booking a stay at the third-party Swan & Dolphin, which is located on-site within walking distance of Epcot and Hollywood Studios and actually offers better perks than Disney’s Value and Moderate Resorts. As we discuss in our Swan & Dolphin Review, these hotels are incredibly nice, just lacking in “Disney” theme. Yes, they have a bunch of annoying fees, but the net price is still significantly less expensive than the nearby Boardwalk Inn or Yacht & Beach Clubs.
12. Skip Lightning Lanes (Sometimes)
Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass are Walt Disney World’s line-skipping options (and, I guess, Premier Pass, but that’s likely irrelevant to anyone reading a money-saving tips post). Everything you need to know is covered in our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
While Lightning Lanes can save you time and are worth purchasing at least some of the time at 2 parks, they are not always necessary. Be careful not to fall into the FOMO trap, and utilize these options strategically alongside itineraries, rope drop, early entry, etc.
One new wrinkle to this is not to rely on outdated recommendations when it comes to Lightning Lanes, as they’re not as useful or necessary as they once were. See Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass Still “Worth It” at Walt Disney World?, which analyzes standby vs. line-skipping.
Check out Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World, which is the result of extensive ‘testing’ to determine the best and worst ways to beat the crowds. Especially if you’re staying on-site, there are other strategies for saving time waiting in line.
11. Avoid Upcharges
We love Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and have attended these events every single year that they’ve been held since 2007. We wouldn’t miss either one of them, and that’s despite both parties roughly tripling in price during that time and getting more crowded.
Likewise, we think the After Hours events are good hassle-free ways to accomplish a lot. Just recently, we recommended the new-ish Jollywood Nights Christmas Party and After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as the easiest way to beat the crowds there, better than Early Entry, Lightning Lanes, or staying late on a regular night. So, what gives?
None of these things, or any other upcharges, are necessary in order to have a great trip to Walt Disney World. There are always alternatives to beating the crowds or outsmarting the masses. When it comes to planning and social media, there’s a pervasive sense of FOMO that drives many people to spend large sums of money on unnecessary experiences at Walt Disney World. Planners see other fans rave about these things or how quickly the events/reservations sell out, and assume they’re must dos.
That is not true. While many upcharges will enhance your trip, they’re far from necessary to having an enjoyable vacation. To the contrary, most of them are (objectively) not worth the money. Sure, they’re a fun splurge–but if your vacation dollars are limited, you should absolutely put those towards the core experience (tickets, hotels, dining) rather than the extravagences.
Consider the demand for upcharge offerings at Walt Disney World a form of keeping up with the online Joneses (or Kardashians, these days). This is exacerbated by certain popular experiences booking up quickly, but that’s less a reflection of quality and demand than it is limited supply and the FOMO machine. Don’t buy into the hype–it’s almost always exaggerated.
10. Skip the Dining Plan (Disney Adults)
The Disney Dining Plan is just as divisive as ever. Some Walt Disney World fans love it and others hate it. This blog’s official position is that the Disney Dining Plan is neither good nor bad, but has the potential to be either depending upon your specific circumstances and how you use it.
We’ve already written a lengthy article about Is the Disney Dining Plan Worth It in 2026? That weighs the strengths & weaknesses, and helps you determine whether the Disney Dining Plan is right for you.
One thing we can tell you without knowing anything about your unique situation is that the Disney Dining Plan will not be the cheapest way for you to eat at Walt Disney World. If paying bottom dollar is your bottom line, look elsewhere. The Disney Dining Plan is a splurge that can save you money if you dine a certain way, but there is literally no one who won’t do better by using other money-saving strategy for meals.
Walt Disney World loves the Disney Dining Plan because it results in a minimum spend on food and locks guests into eating on-site (by extension, it makes DDP users less likely to venture off-site at all, meaning a lower likelihood of visiting Universal). It’s incredibly advantageous in creating a captive audience, which is why Disney is willing to offer up potential savings on meals via the DDP. In the most reductionist terms, it’s kind of like a discount for buying in bulk.
If you don’t lock yourself in via the Disney Dining Plan, you open the door to a variety of money-saving options, such as those suggested above and below. You could also do a couple of dinners off-site or in on-site third party hotels. The Orlando area has an excellent (and underrated) food scene, and our List of Great Restaurants Near Walt Disney World covers options that aren’t too far from the parks. This includes everything from spectacular steak to an Italian restaurant with old school EPCOT Center bloodlines.
9. Don’t Skip the Disney Dining Plan (Young Families)
The above advice to skip the DDP to save money normally applies pretty much across the board. However, that may not apply to young families this year, because Kids Eat FREE All Year in 2026 at Walt Disney World.
Throughout all of 2026, guests staying at one of Walt Disney World’s more than 25 on-site Disney-owned resort hotels will get a free Disney Dining Plan for their kids (ages 3 to 9 at the time of travel) when purchasing a Disney Dining Plan as part of their package for the other members of their party. Kids get the same tier of the DDP that adults purchase.
The Kids Free Dining Plan at Walt Disney World deal can be combined with other select special offers, meaning you may still be eligible to take advantage of other deals released for 2026. This is huge. Already, we’ve seen all 2026 room-only discounts eligible to stack with the Kids Free Dining Plan offer, from bouncebacks to general public discounts. Even DVC point rental is eligible for the Kids Free Dining Plan!
From our perspective, this makes the Disney Dining Plan a great option for young families with a 2:1 adult to child ratio or better. Meaning two parents with 1 or more children are winners here, whereas those with an adult (ages 10 and up) to child imbalance are not.
If you’re a young family, we highly recommend doing the fully-fledged Disney Dining Plan and using your credits on character dining experiences. No, it is absolutely not the cheapest, bottom-dollar way to dine at Walt Disney World. But a vacation is exactly that, and sometimes strategic splurges are in order. In this specific scenario, the 2026 Disney Dining Plan qualifies.
With that in mind, if you do skip the Disney Dining Plan, here’s another way to save money on food without sacrificing on vacation quality or wasting a ton of time…
8. Grocery Delivery
Thanks to big box retailers entering the market, grocery delivery is faster, cheaper and easier than ever. About the only thing that’s more simple and straightforward is buying groceries from gift shops at Walt Disney World, but holy cow, is that more expensive!
We cover all of the ways to get groceries in our Tips for Buying Groceries at Walt Disney World post, with our current favorite being Walmart Plus. If you don’t want to use a grocery delivery service or visit a store, and just need smaller snack, another option is mailing yourself an Amazon package (details here).
Many of you probably don’t want to cook on vacation, and that’s completely understandable. That is NOT our recommendation, anyway. Instead, it’s a good idea to order items for a cold and quick breakfast in your room. This kills multiple birds with one stone. It’s cheaper than eating in the parks or your hotel food court, it’s faster and more efficient, and offers the opportunity to eat a well-rounded meal with fruits, vegetables, and other healthy options you might not get at Walt Disney World restaurants.
Eating a good breakfast can be a gamechanger. There’s also the opportunity cost, or lack thereof. With a few exceptions, breakfast is the weakest meal at Walt Disney World. You aren’t missing much–unless you enjoy powdered eggs and rubber bacon–by eating breakfast in your room. Put that saved money towards better lunches and dinners!
The one-two punch of renting Disney Vacation Club points and doing grocery delivery can pretty easily cut the cost of your Walt Disney World vacation in half. (If not save you even more!)
7. Use Credit Cards
This one is not for everyone, and comes with an opportunity cost (if you use the points at Walt Disney World, you can’t use them elsewhere). Nevertheless, leveraging credit card rewards can be a great way of getting “free” airfare or hotel rooms…or just paying for some meals.
We’ve earned tens of thousands of dollars in rewards on credit cards, without ever paying a cent of interest (although we have paid annual fees on certain cards). We cover which credit cards we recommend using to save money on travel in our Best Credit Cards for Disney Travel post.
Beyond travel-specific credit cards, getting a good “everyday” credit card for daily purchases can be a great way to earn money that you can earmark for vacations. This gives a different meaning to “saving” money, but it’s an idea nonetheless. Rather than using the Disney Chase Visa credit cards that are popular with many Disney fans, we recommend cards like the Chase Freedom Rewards or Amex Blue Cash for everyday use. Also, you don’t necessarily want to avoid cards with annual fees–quite often, the added perks or superior cashback or other rewards more than offset the fee.
These cards have better reward rates, and you can allocate their cash back to your vacation account, or use the rewards for airfare or other components of a Walt Disney World vacation. Just because rewards aren’t in the form of a Disney gift card doesn’t mean that you can’t save them for Disney. Hate credit cards if you want, but there’s no arguing that paying your balance off in full each month and using credit cards responsibly can save you money.
6. Skip the Park Hopper
It pains me to say this since I love Park Hopping, but if you’re on a budget, it might be wise to skip it–depending upon what park ticket discounts are available when you book. It’s tempting to upgrade to the Park Hopper tickets because they usually aren’t that much more, but if you aren’t going to Park Hop much, it’s still a waste. Plus, for your family, the “small” cost of Park Hoppers does add up quickly, and you might be able to save $250 or more simply by skipping the Park Hopper option.
Determine whether this is something you need or can drop in our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. If we were not Annual Passholders, Park Hopping is not something we could live without, but your mileage may vary on that. We like to stay in the park that is open latest, and that usually means hopping to that park towards the end of the day. For us, it would unquestionably be worth the extra cost, even if on a budget, and even if that meant sacrificing something else.
Many guests, especially those with young kids, aren’t staying late at night anyway, and calling it an early night rather than park hopping to the one that’s open latest each night isn’t going to be a big deal to them. If you are on a tight budget, consider how important Park Hopping is to you, and whether you can do without it.
5. Gift Card Hacks
This is one we learned about a few years ago and we’ve been utilizing since. There are a few different methods for saving money on Disney gift cards, and we cover all of the methods in our Tips for Saving Money on Disney Gift Cards post.
It’s easy to save money just by making strategic Disney gift card purchases at Kroger, Sam’s Club, Best Buy, and other stores. We pair these gift card sales with credit cards that offer rotating 5% back categories and other time-limited incentives to sweeten the deals.
You can regularly save around 5%, and during sales and by stacking with cashback portals, that can increase to 10-15%. Not too shabby!
4. Plan a “Free” Day
There’s some duplicity of meaning in “free” day. Here it means both a day where you don’t have the theme parks on your schedule, and also a day when you focus on things that are free. The idea is that you do something that is actually free in practice, not just in theory.
Do a resort tour (we’re partial to this one around Christmas!), go swimming in your hotel’s pool, or go for a walk around the resort. If you want something fun that’ll offer transportation entertainment, consider our Disney Skyliner Sip & Snack Stroll. We also have 1-Day “No Parks” Walt Disney World Itinerary that provides a plan of how you can enjoy a great day outside of the parks.
If you can’t do an entire day, the upside to this is that it doesn’t need to be the entire day. You can have it be the morning before a hard ticket event (if you feel these events are worth doing in light of your budget) so you don’t have to use a park ticket.
Even if you do have to use a park ticket, if you can stay out of the park for more than half a day, chances are that you’re going to save some money by buying fewer snacks, cheaper meals, etc. On long vacations, we are fans of the free day for recharging your energy for the rest of the trip, so even though this might not be a source of great savings (and we’ll be frank–it’s probably not), we still recommend it.
3. Skip Souvenirs
“Collect moments, not things.” This has become a mantra we’ve adopted over the last few years as we’ve prioritized great experiences over stuff. Mind you, we still buy souvenirs and a fair amount of things, but we’ve gotten rid of a lot of our junk, and buy far fewer souvenirs these days.
If this is a tough sell with your family, look at it this way: how many extra experiences or days in the parks could that souvenir budget buy you? The memories will last a lifetime, that Mickey Mouse bobblehead someone just had to have will wind up in the garage sale or on eBay in a few years.
There are two alternatives to this if you’re not ready to give up souvenirs cold turkey. First, advance-purchasing souvenirs when they’re on sale on Amazon or at the DisneyStore. Pre-purchasing Disney Pins is also popular, albeit controversial (details here). Second, consider making a trip to the outlet near Disney Springs for deep-discounts on parks merchandise–read our Disney Character Warehouse Outlet Tips for info & details.
2. Say No to Soda & Snacks
Large drinks at Walt Disney World are over $5 a pop (no pun intended–used in the colloquial sense, as I don’t want to start a pop vs. soda vs. coke debate!). If you’re soda-addicted, you could be spending $20 or more per day on soda. I speak from first-hand experience, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m guilty of this.
In looking over receipts from a trip a few years ago, I was so shocked at how much I had wasted on soda that I swore it off at Walt Disney World from then on. Since then, I haven’t purchased Coke in the parks a single time! If you need the caffeine, get your fill of coffee in the morning from your hotel room or get your fix at a restaurant offering free refills.
We’re also big advocates for packing your own water bottle (filtered is a must), as there’s an ever-increasing number of refill stations in the parks. (See our Ultimate Packing Guide for Walt Disney World, which offers recommendations for water bottles, caffeine fixes, snacks, and more.)
Snacks are now similarly overpriced, having increased in price more than anything else in the last few years. Don’t get us wrong–we love Dole Whips and other tasty treats, but pretzels, popcorn, and even churros just aren’t worth the hefty prices these days. You don’t need to swear off snacks entirely, but we’d recommend cutting out the ones that aren’t unique to Walt Disney World. If you’re hungry between meals, Mobile Order an entree from a counter service restaurant and share that.
1. Visit During the “Right” Weeks
We highly recommend traveling during the off-season, or at least non-peak times, which we highlight in our 2026 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars. The obvious upside to visiting during the off-season is lower crowds. Intuitive but less obvious is that prices are more reasonable. Pretty much everything–from airfare to park tickets to hotel rates to Lightning Lane prices–is cheaper during the off-season.
Walt Disney World has done a decent job of normalizing crowds throughout the year, so there’s no longer a “ghost town” off-season. However, this is accomplished in large part via aggressive discounting. On top of that, some off-season dates (like early November and December, January/February, and early May) are also among the best times to visit Florida in terms of weather. Lower crowds and prices…plus nicer weather–truly the best of all worlds!
In fact, if you cross-reference our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026 & 2027 and the Cheapest Dates to Do Walt Disney World, you should spot a ton of overlap. Once you visit during those sets of the best dates, it’s hard to go any other times. Both because you’ll enjoy Walt Disney World so much more…and because you’ll have a hard time justifying paying a lot more to deal with worse crowds and longer lines!
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to save money on your Walt Disney World vacation, and what works for one party may not work for others. How much you can save all depends upon which compromises you’re willing to make, and what parts of the Disney experience are really important to you. Some people may be able to save a lot, others may find that none of these tips will work for them (others still might already be doing all of these things!). Hopefully, there’s at least an idea or two here that’s helpful to you!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you have any of your own “quick tips” for saving money on a Walt Disney World vacation…or saving for a Walt Disney World vacation? How do you cut the fat from your travel budget? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I highly recommend swagbucks! I started doing it to save money for Disney world but now I use it for extra money in general. I average about $150-$250 a month and only do it for about 30 minutes a day. I use it to fuel my target addiction but you can cash out to PayPal too.
While planning for my upcoming Disney trip I discovered an easy way to save 5% off of everything including airfare. With the Target Red Card you get 5% off on everything including gift cards. They sell both Disney and Delta gift cards so I’ve been purchasing the gift cards at a discounted price and then using my saved vacation money to pay off my Red Card which has saved about $600 for a 3 person trip.
I was always a free dining promo junkie but while trying to convince my husband of another stay during the promo time I actually sat down and figured the cost of each meal we typically eat when we pay out of pocket (breakfast in the room, qs lunch and either qs dinner or a TS) versus what we HAVE to eat on the FDD promo to break even and I was surprised that even with a free 2 yo on the FDD plan it was still cheaper to pay out of pocket and forgo the FDD. That is with 3 adults, one 6 yo and one 2 yo. We upgraded to the table service last year bc we were sad to see the cabins were downgraded to the quick service plan. I did like the FDD promo however because it allowed us to eat at places we normally wouldnt have bothered paying out of pocket for…so it definitely has it’s perks…but after 6 days of eating we were stuffed! So I think this year we are going to skip the FDD promo. It makes me a little sad bc part of the fun with FDD was the thrill of the chase…getting the dates you want etc but we always ended up upgrading our tickets from the minimum 2 day park hopper to 5 day FL resident so it’s turned in to more work that it’s worth for now. When the kids get older and it’s just me and the hubs we may consider it again!
My advice, stay longer! How does it save money? Well it really does not, but the avg cost per day goes down as to add the last day of tickets from a 8-9 day is $10 each. As a loyal Tom reader we followed his tips and bought DVC right before price spike at OKW. Are we staying there? No, you will l find me at poly lake view for under $150 a night. Actually with the price increase of nearly $40 a point we are staying for free if you consider the increase in contract value. The only thing Tom and I disagree is which cheap DVC to buy, he is SSR and I am OKW. This is biased as to when we use our points, but we are drinking the same kool aid
Thanks for all of the awesome tips! I’ll be sure to take a few of these into account when I go back in 2018! 😀 You guys ROCK! Stay Magical!
Thanks for the great tips. I used Uber car service during my recent trip to Walt Disney World. We took a Uber from I Drive to the Disney Ticket and Reservation center at Magic Kingdom and it didn’t cost us anything, Free! We used a free ride code which I listed below. Which was great! Our hotel did offer a shuttle bus to the park but we decided to use Uber cause we didn’t want to ride in a late and crowded bus as the shuttle had picked up passengers from adjacent hotels before it reached us.
The driver picked us up within 4 minutes of requesting the car and we got to the Ferry terminal at Magic Kingdom about 15 minutes late. We also took an Uber back from the park to our Hotel at 11PM and the fare was just $9.50 for 4 passengers. The Uber driver was friendly, told us where he would pick us up and we went back to the hotel in a nice, clean, AC cooled car.
Wonderful experience and we would definitely use the service again.
Hello. Can you please provide the Uber free ride code? I do not see it listed below. Thank you!
bfec1 is a free ride Uber code
Great post as always Tom. My wife and I just returned home to WI after a week at All Star Sports. We decided on a late minute trip and decided to not use our points at SSR. We constantly bring ceral and protein bars, buying milk for the breakfasts. Lunch is usually splitting a meal, free water, or getting kids meals with milk, grapes, or ? We will also carry an older mug for water or bring an empty soda bottle to use. Dinner is again, splitting a meal even if we end up at DS. The food can add up extremely fast if your not careful. Are we cheap? Not really but we are frugal and the savings really add up. We have the annual tickets, and wished we had purchased DVC membership years ago. We did buy used, adding 25 points direct for the Blue card benefits. We are now looking for a small amount of used points at BLT, or Boardwalk for a short vacation every 2-3 years. Our flights are usually $22 due to points we get from Southwest. Because of our business purchases, we get a free companion pass every year so it takes 1/2 the points. You can do Disney for a very reasonable cost if you skip all of the frills and plan ahead. Your tips also help save! Remember when you could buy a soda mug and use it for years! We’re probably those people that forced Disney to change its soda policy and chip the cups. Anything else to save?
Here is a tip which will save you quite a bit on food, and increase your enjoyment, too.
Few people realize that it’s perfectly acceptable to bring your own food into the parks. So get each guest a fanny pack, and fill them with things you can nibble on throughout the day. I found Triscuits to be an excellent choice. They are fairly healthy—unlike chips and candy— and they’ll give you energy and keep you from getting hungry. Since you have that fanny pack strapped around you, you have the perfect spot to hang a water bottle! Of course you can fill it with juice or lemonade or whatever you like. Ice is free whereever they sell drinks, all you have to do is ask.
If you’re concerned employees might judge you or give you funny looks, forget about it! They’re all trained to be as helpful and friendly as possible. If you need something, just ask. It’s really just that simple! But if you’re still hesitant, send your kids to the counter to do it for you! Most kids love to help, it makes them feel needed and important. Of course Disney staff bend over backwards to help children even more than their parents.
P.S. I was a little concerned when I learned that bags and purses would be searched before entering the park. I needn’t have been. In fact, people carrying small bags and fanny packs don’t have to stand in line with the people carrying big bags, backpacks and such, so it’s fairly painless and quick.
Make sure all you Canadians check out the WDW website as there is a huge saving for Canadian citizens.
I just finished booking our first WDW VACA through a Disney Agent. I work in the travel industry and usually tackle the planning and deal finding on my own, but Janelle had my price beat in a matter of hours. We did use the gift card idea for our plane tickets. For 3 of us to fly RT only cost us $714.80 on Southwest. I wouldn’t fly any other airline simply because of the FREE checked bags!!
I like to recommend to anybody use the website http://www.ticketsatwork.com I get a seller deal for WDW tickets. 3 day park hopper tickets for the price of 5 days. Our travel agent even stated its the best deal we could get other than finding a “free” day. Check with your company for discounted tickets through this website. If your company doesn’t participate ask to sign them up or see if a friend could let you use their discount. Its for all Disney locations plus many more! The best part is when you get the tickets and sign up for my Disney experience you can still get the magic bands!
Re saving money on DGC…I live in the middle of nowhere, and the closest Target/Sam’s Club is over 2 hrs away via Interstate. However, the small local grocery store chain near me also sells gasoline, and has a ‘valued customer’ card. (One of those “for every $50 spent you earn 10cents towards gasoline” type of cards.) I found out (thanks to my travel agent!) that if I buy DGCs at the grocery store, I can use the DGCs to pay for my trip, and at the same time earn free fuel for my car. And sometimes, the grocery store runs a ‘special’ where instead of getting 10cents for every $50 spent, you get 20cents. Hope this helps some other traveler.
You never have to eat at Disneyworld if you don’t want to. I saw some people mentioned they bring in bottled water. But you can even bring in cans of soda if you want and any snack you want so long as it isn’t in a glass container. This alone will save you about $100 a trip if you plan things out right.
We pay a small fee to get extra nights at my mom’s timeshare when we go and it is a huge money saver at $400 or less for seven nights. But I have seen the nearby hotels for $600 for seven nights. We also buy our tickets online and re-use our magicbands.
We get the free water for the quick-service stores. And we plan out what we will order before we go. For example I love Artist Point. So I printed out the most current menu we could find online (allears.net is helpful with this) and then me and my boyfriend preplanned our meals for that reservation. If you do your sit-downs this way you won’t be surprised when your meal comes.
I also troll the disneystore website a couple times a week and look at the deals and coupon codes. Then I order our stuff ahead of time. I just snagged two Jack the Pumpkin King beach towels for $10.99 each to use on our Fall trip. Then I put them in the closet and we don’t take them out to use them until we pack them for our trip. This way we still get park “souvenirs” but we don’t pay park prices.
For the soda and other drinks just carry in a small cooler that’s what we’ve always done and powdered drink mix and water bottles you can refill at water fountains.
Tom, in regards to the Kroger 4x fuel points, Discover also offers %5 cash back on fuel at various times. When you’re at the pump simply side in your Kroger card then it will ask you if you want to charge it to Kroger card or another. We used this feature and saved quite a bit. Also when purchasing GC at Target/Kroger/Disney Movie Rewards you can go here and link all the GC’s into ONE. But do NOT throw away those GC’s, if there is a remaining balance you can transfer it back onto them. Here’s the link: https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/questions/
There are all such great replies. I know a lot of people have talked about buying groceries but some fail to recognize how overly important it is to take a day pack into the park with water, snacks, and ponchos in it. I failed to do this one of my many trips and spent almost 1K on my family and I being thirsty, and hungry at the parks.
we travel to Disney World from the Uk, hire a car at the airport and usually stop off at Walmart to stock up. There’s myself, husband and 2 kids 3 & 5.
not sure if covered above but we usually purchase the folding ‘essentials’
– bottled water for taking into the parks and rehydrating
– healthy snacks such as apples, raisins etc for us and the kids
snacks, chips etc
– beers/wine. we find that as the kids are still young, when we put them to bed after a day in the parks, we like to sit in the balcony, chill, chat, read, watch the Water pageant…with a beer or a glass of wine (and not pay $6 a go!). normally we just put these in our fridge and use when we want.
When we go again in April we’re going to try garden grocer for the first time to save time. the last thing you want to do after a 9 hour flight is hang out in Walmart!
We are wanting to go to Orlando next May from the UK with our (will be 2 year old) daughter and wondered what other groceries you got? We were thinking bread, something to put in the bread for sandwiches, crisps, bananas, juice, water. To cut down price at the parks.. can you recommend anything else? Oh and nappies so we don’t have to use up space in our suitcases!
Peanut butter (if you like it), cheese and crackers, almonds or trail mix to eat in line/keep you going between meals, maybe some chocolate or other sweets/candy for an evening treat? Have a great trip!
The only thing you have to be careful of is the heat. It’s hard to keep anything cold. I put jam in the boys sandwiches as the heat didn’t affect it. We purchased pre packed fruit in Walmart, things like sliced apples with a peanut butter dip. They went down well. The only place that wouldn’t let us take much in was Sea world
When we need to do Disney on the cheap this is our game plan:
Stay during non-peak times (no holidays, spring break, summer)
6 day non-hopper tickets from undercover tourist
7 nights at Wyndham Bonnet Creek- $90 a night (ebay)
Fly southwest using our rapid rewards points- (average $200 per person round trip)
Rent a car- Priceline bid usually gets us a mid-size car or better for $120 (total) for 7 days
Walmart for breakfast foods, bottled water, snacks etc.
Overall, it’s about $2,000 for a 7 night vacation for my wife, my infant son, and myself. That includes a few nice meals. Considering 7 nights at the port orleans riverside is over $1,500- we think that is a solid deal for a great vacation we look forward to all year long.
Great tips. Someone else mentioned the Wyndham Bonnet Creek tip, and that seems like a great option. We stayed on the hotel side in October, and it was quite nice. Definitely worth $90/night.
Mitch, another way to save money is to take the disney bus (Magical Express) to and from the airport–and its free with a Disney Hotel Stay. It’s very easy and if you need groceries, just have them delivered to your resort via Green Grocer online delivery.
We just returned from our 3rd annual WDW trip and have saved more money each year thanks to your suggestions! We used our Southwest Visa to pay for our 4 RT tickets (and got them at a ridiculously low 4,500 points each). I bought gift cards at Target to pay for nearly all of our food and hotel stay. We spent our arrival day taking the monorail to the deluxe resorts and the evening at Disney Springs. We don’t drink soda but we do drink a hefty amount of tea and coffee, so we packed a Ziploc full of various tea bags and instant coffee and each brought a Contigo thermos. You can ask for hot water at any food service. We ate quick breakfasts at the hotel room and early lunches (no wait for tables at 11:30). Our big splurge was on dinners because we wanted to eat at Disney Springs with family members who live in Orlando. BTW, our 4 yr old said his favorite memory of the trip was the dancers at Raglan Road. For souvenirs, I gave each child a coin purse with $10 in quarters for the pressed penny machines (they’re young and it’s still thrilling to them) and each got a small stuffed toy picked up at the Disney Store black Friday sale. Our last evening we went to the Polynesian and watched the MK fireworks again from the beach. No need for park hoppers, because that view is fantastic! Also because we are planning another trip within the calendar year and staying much longer next time, I bought a season pass for myself so we could use the AP discounts and Magic Maker photos for both trips. Thank you for the tips!
Love these tips! Most of them we do use, but it was great to see a few new and forgotten ideas. We skip getting combos when we are home the majority of the time (our boys are not big fry eaters, so it just gets wasted), but we forget to take advantage of this at the parks.
We are also trying to get away from our soda use, and maybe we can’t avoid it all the time, but definitely enough to save a bit here or there.
Another tip that I’ve seen others use is sharing a meal, and then getting an appetizer or dessert. While I could do this once in a while, sometimes I just don’t want to share!
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