How To Save Money At Walt Disney World

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Walt Disney World is one of the most visited and biggest recreational resorts in the entire world. Magic Kingdom alone claims the number one spot on the world list of theme parks, bringing in 17 million visitors in 2007.  Tourists flock to this magical wonderland year after year (I am one of them), contributing to the billions of dollars Disney spends on keeping up and expanding their appearances to give guests a truly spectacular and memorable experience. As with every other vacation, there are a few tricks and tips to saving a bit of cash the next time you visit the Land of the Mouse.

The first thing you want to do is pack appropriately. Bring along everything you need from home where it won’t cost you $20 for a bottle of sunscreen. This includes cameras, extra batteries, sunscreen, rain ponchos (beware the afternoon Floridian weather!), toiletries and anything you might need for babies and toddlers such as diapers. Bring your own snacks for kids from home to avoid high-priced snacks in the parks. You can’t bring a picnic lunch into the parks but if you’ve got kids they’ll let you in with a couple of snack bags filled with fishy crackers and pretzels. Renting a park stroller is convenient, however costly. If saving money is your goal – bring your own stroller.

Park tickets and lodging are the biggest hit to your wallet. The first thing you want to do here is choose the time of your trip wisely. Disney has three seasons – off-peak, regular and peak. Off-peak season is when the lodging prices are the lowest of the year, the crowds are the lightest and the park hours are the shortest. Just after New Years until President’s Day, the week after Labor Day until just short of Thanksgiving week and the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas are considered off-peak season, and obviously the best times to visit if you want to save money. If you are visiting during off-peak season you can stay at one of the Value resorts for only $80 a night.

Your best option is to stay on Disney World property and purchase one of Disney’s packages that includes the lodging and the tickets. If you think you can do better by staying off Disney property you’ll have to consider the cost of parking every day at the parks and gas. Time may be free, but you’ll be spending a bit of it your vehicle. A lot of off-property hotels offer bus service but they run sporadically and many run their last bus the moment the park is closed, not leaving you enough time to make your way to the Ticket and Transportation Center if you want to stay for the fireworks.

If you are staying off-property or just choose to buy your tickets separately you will want to do it well in advance of your trip. Ordering either online or over the phone (407-939-7675) will save you a bundle over walk-up tickets. Another lesser known trick to ticket ordering is searching for a conference being held, usually at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and check out their discounted conference tickets. You don’t have to be attending the conference to get them – you just have to know where to look. Buying for the future will save you money in the long run. If you purchase a 10-day ticket with the no-expiration option it will be good forever until you use up all the days.

Feeding your crew is going to be the next strike on your wallet. Eating at Disney can be ridiculously expensive. If you’re staying at a Disney resort the first thing you want to do is visit your resort food court area and purchase a reusable souvenir cup. It’s $8 to purchase but you can fill it up for free with coffee, tea, soda, milk – anything you want for your entire stay. A good idea for breakfast is to bring along your own variety pack of cereals, get your ‘free’ milk from the food court in your souvenir cup and enjoy your cheapest meal of the day.

An added perk to staying on property is the Disney dining plan. There are a variety to choose from and it really does save you money. The best part is all of your meals are paid for before you even arrive so there’s no concern about traveling with extra cash for every meal. Your dining plan follows you from the resort to the parks so you can eat anywhere on Disney property with just a flash of your card. With a myriad of plans to choose from there is surely a dining plan for every budget.

Something Disney has implemented in the last few years is the Photo Pass. What happens is you get a card the first time you run into a Disney photographer (look out – they’re everywhere!). Every time you see another one you hand them your card and at the end of your trip all of your pictures are neatly applied to this one card (or two for those of you who accidentally leave the card in the hotel room, or send Dad off with one kid while you’ve got the other and LOOK! There’s STITCH! Mommy take my picture with Stitch!). When you get home and view the pictures on your computer you can see the beautiful representation of you’re wonderful family vacation. And then…the price. Now you can shovel out wads of cash for individual pictures or just buy the whole CD for more money than your dining plan was worth. OR…. you can quickly hand YOUR camera to the photographer after he takes the Photo Pass picture and viola! You’ve got the same pictures… on your camera… for free! Every photographer I have ever run into will gladly take the Photo Pass picture and then do the same with your camera. Another bonus of the Photo Pass is most of the rides that have your picture taken while you’re screaming in terror can be applied to your card too. This way you can decide at home whether you really need that picture instead of being pressured into buying it at the park.

So maybe ‘Disney World’ and ‘saving money’ don’t usually end up in the same sentence. But with a few tricks and some know-how you can save a buck or two while visiting Goofy and the gang.

Do you have any tips on how to save money at Disney World?