Disney on a budget is possible! While it is not the cheapest vacation, there are still plenty of ways to save money on your magical trip.
Disney On A Budget
This year my husband and I decided to take our kids to Disney World. They have been begging us to go and now that they are a little older 5, 7 and 8, we thought it would be fun. Today I am sharing a few tips on how we saved money but still had an unforgettable vacation.
Disney Tickets
Before purchasing we looked over different sites to find the best deal on tickets. You want to make sure to purchase tickets in advance of your trip. Disney offered a deal on DisneyWorld.com that included all of the parks that we couldn’t pass up. If you don’t purchase tickets from Disney, make sure you get them from reputable places (not ebay or sites like that).
Places to check:
- AAA,
- ParkSavers
- Military discount
- Costco
- Florida residents discount
There are 4 main theme parks; Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Our deal we purchased was a 4 park ticket. If you have the time I would highly recommend visiting all of them. They each have wonderful rides and attractions to offer. Toy Story land is opening in Hollywood studios summer 2018 and Star Wars land will open 2019!
Food
One huge thing we did to save money is bring our own food into the parks. Disney allows you to bring in food and drinks. We made a trip to the grocery store and picked up snacks, fruit, water and supplies to make sandwiches. We brought a small cooler and water bottles into the park with us everyday. Disney offers free water so it was easy to get a refill throughout the day. We also brought our own umbrella stroller for our 5 year old so we were able to put the cooler in the stroller when we went on a ride.
Where to stay
We decided to stay off property on this trip. Since we stayed for 7 days we rented a condo through VRBO for a great price. It was nice because with 3 kids we had plenty of room to spread out and a kitchen to make meals. The draw back to staying off property is having to get to the parks but since we drove it made it economical.
I will say if you are able to spend a little extra money staying on property is nice and of course a little more “magical”. By staying on property you get Magic Bands, free transportation to the parks, extended magical hours and access to the Disney dining plan.
Souvenirs/Apparel
Before our trip I purchased t-shirts and Disney toys to bring on the trip. Target, Old Navy, The Disney Store all have great items. We did splurge and let them each pick out one thing while we were at the parks. (It’s hard to say no to that face. 🙂 )
I think my biggest tip for a Disney vacation is to try and plan as far in advance as possible in order to find the best deals. You don’t want to waste time and money while your there so pre-planning is key and so much less stressful!
If you have any tips I would love to hear them!!
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