Doing Disney Cheap

Stay at a resort! This sounds contrary as resort rooms are inevitably more expensive than off site hotels. But if you stay off-site, the savings quickly dwindle. You can ride a bus at no extra charge to where ever you want to go if staying at a resort. That saves your gas money and time – time waiting in the car lane to enter the park, time at the park gates, and time in the car parking lot … And what is your time worth? That, and the buses pick you up at the resort you are staying at and take you to the park of your choice. If you stay at the Polynesian or Contemporary, for instance, you can catch a monorail to the different parks. How cool is that? Parking – expect to pay parking if you drive. One sign I glanced at read $14 to park. We did drive to that park, but had our resort parking pass in our car window, so did not have to pay parking. Cha-ching! There are other fringe benefits to staying at a resort. You can go to the parks at what is called Extra Magic hours – these are extended hours just for resort guests. The parks are relatively crowd-free during these hours. Hours range from an extra hour in the morning to up to three extra hours at night. Minimal line waits, and hardly any crowds (unless you just happen to pick the park where all the resort guests are heading, and even then, the crowds are manageable.)

Lay down the $13 and get a refillable mug. These mugs can be used at the resort food courts. Fill up on coffee in the morning, iced tea or pop in the afternoon. Refills are free. And, psst, two people can share one mug if you get your refill, and split the drink back in the room using the plastic cups that magically appear each afternoon! Or, if you don’t care about germs … or know the person you are sharing with … you can share from the one mug.

Do a package deal! Our package deal included 6 days and 5 nights, with no air fare. (Yes, we drove.) Certain packages deals include a pre-loaded gift card good at gift shops, restaurants and, you got it, the food court at the resort. We spent a total of $21 above and beyond the amount of our gift card, and ate very well, thank you very much.

Back to the previous paragraph ... Drive! … if you can, if your car is dependable, and if you live in a part of the country not terribly far from Orlando. We live about 1200 miles away from Disney World, so right at about a 19 hour drive, depending on who is driving. Even at an average of $2.66/gallon and at a highway average of 30 mpg, our two-way driving trip was cheaper than one round-trip airline ticket even through a (once good) service like Priceline. And, the sum total of the 4 hotels we stayed at on the drive there and back was also less than one round-trip airline ticket even through a (use-to-be-better) service like Priceline. There were four of us, so our travel costs were literally cut in half by driving, and we saw the seasons literally change there and back again on the scenic drive. PS: Marry someone like my wife who can still make Priceline sing and dance. She will save you a bundle on hotel fees.

Bring food. Dry goods. Boxed snacks. Nuts. Slim Jims … love the Slim Jims. Especially for the car ride and for snacks in the park. For the room, consider packing dry cereal, canned fruits and soups, microwaveable Mac and Cheese and tortillas, not bread. Tortillas are easier to store in your trunk and make for a tasty peanut-butter and jelly quesadilla. The resorts typically have microwaves you can use to heat your soups and Mac and Cheese. Just don’t forget to pack the cereal bowls and can opener! We ate most of our lunches out in the parks using our gift card. Sometimes dinner, too. Breakfast we typically had in our room with stuff we packed. Did you know you can make oatmeal with a coffee pot?

Pack snacks for the park. Bring a backpack or bag for your snacks and bottled water. While this will slow you down at the park entrance while they check your bag (which in these times, I appreciate that they did), you will save a bundle of loot on snacks and water for kids. Here’s a tip! Propel and Lipton make single-serving, flavored packs you pour into your bottled water to mix things up. I personally prefer the Lipton “Energy Tea” with a whopping 50 mg of caffeine. (Some mornings, I would put two in my bottle of water!)

Bring ponchos! While we did cave and buy the kids “souvenir” ponchos – on our gift card, naturally – we did pack enough ponchos for each of us. These were good for the water rides on the cloudy, cool days (we went in March), and for the mini-typhoon we experienced the last two days of our vacation.

Sorry, luggage services, but I suggest visitors haul their own bags. (It might be different if you fly in and use the shuttle service from the airport, but we drove in) Check out a folding dolly and haul your stuff to your room. Let the luggage services guys and gals be free to help the big tippers or those people that really need help. Besides, you will need the extra exercise to stay up with the kids every day!

Here’s a good one – buy your souvenirs and t-shirts NOT at Disney World. Find a Disney outlet near your home town or en route, stop there and buy your goodies. A $14 dollar t-shirt is a heck of a lot cheaper than a $38 one, and fits just as nice! Actually, we found t-shirts in an outlet that were unique and unlike any ones we found at Disney World. (I had the grumpy Mickey! Too cool!)

Lastly, two words – fridge swap! While I won’t say too much about it here, as I don’t want to mess up a good thing, fridge swaps are “legal,” the resorts allow the practice to go on, and it’s a great way to save $15 a day while giving you a more convenient option to keeping your dairy, lunch meats and other perishables cool … as opposed to icing down your cooler every night. The budget resort rooms do not typically have a mini-fridge in them, unless you want to shell out another $15 a day …. Again, two words – fridge swap! Look it up.