The Vacation and Travel Blog

Walt disney world is definitely the happiest place on Earth. But your happiness shouldn’t be limited by the cost of the trip. There are plenty of ways that you can save money on a Walt disney world vacation. Some of the easiest ways to save money you can take advantage of before you even arrive at Walt disney world.

One of the easiest ways to save money is to earn Disney Dollars using a Disney Rewards Visa Card from Chase. You will earn $1 in Disney Reward Dollars for every $100 in net purchases. This may not seem like much, but if you only travel to Disney once every two to three years, you can easily earn hundreds of dollars in reward money. The Reward Dollars are sent to you in the form of a Disney Debit card that you can use to pay for souvenirs, snacks, or meals. Your Disney Rewards Card has additional benefits of discount savings on select merchandise, theme park tours, and dining locations.

Another simple way to save money is to make sure that you stay at a Walt disney world resort. This is typically referred to as staying on Disney property. This is especially advantageous if you do not live within driving distance of Walt disney world, for several reasons.

If you stay in a Walt Disney World resort, you will save money by not having to rent a car, or even pay for a shuttle bus or taxi from the airport. All of your transportation needs will be taken care of. When you land at Orlando International Airport, you can use the Disney Magical Express, which will bring you directly to your Disney Resort. Vouchers and luggage tags for the Disney Magical Express will arrive with your vacation package several weeks before your vacation. They will also pick up you luggage and bring it to the resort for you, so you don’t have to wait at the baggage claim. This is a great stress free way to start your vacation. Also, since you’re staying on the Walt Disney World property, you can use Disney’s transportation system (bus, monorail and boats) to travel from your resort to, and between, all of the theme parks, water parks, Downtown Disney, and all resorts.

If you have to fly to Orlando, you can also save money by adjusting your vacation plans to mid week. Instead of flying during the peak weekends, or Monday and Friday, save money by shifting your vacation so you travel on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. You can easily cut the cost of your airfare in half.

When travelling to Walt Disney World, the time of year will also affect the cost of your stay, in more ways than one. Disney’s peak season is during the summer when kids are out of school and most everyone goes on vacation. Because of this, Disney offers few, if any incentives for you to save money. However, if you have the flexibility to travel during Disney’s non-peak (or value) season you can save money on the cost of your room. Living in the northeast, we like to visit at the end of August when all of the southern schools have already started, so it is less crowded, and Disney lowers its room prices to attract more people. This is also the time of year when Disney will typically make their free dining plan offer. This is a great way to save money on your vacation. For a family of four, this is a savings of over $600 for a 7 day stay.

Also, since you’re staying at a Walt Disney World Resort, which one should you stay at? The cost of a Disney resort room ranges from ~$80 per night at the Pop Century (Value Resort) to the priciest Grand Floridian at ~$400 per night. For a 7 day vacation, you can easily save over $2000 on a room you’ll only be in when you’re asleep.

With some advance preparation, careful planning and some sensible choices, you can easily have saved over ~$3000 before you even arrive at Walt Disney World.

Let’s face it; we all want to bring our families on the trip of a lifetime without breaking the bank. If you have kids bringing them to Walt disney world can cost a pretty penny. We know how little ones are, each shop has the “one toy” that they want. But it’s impossible to buy everything. Below are a few tips to help you save your money when purchasing souvenirs without really having to skimp on anything.

-Purchase Disney items at a local Disney Store, websites such as eBay and Amazon, online Disney Store or other Disney merchandise seller without your kids knowing. Pack them in your suitcases when you go to Walt disney world. Then each day surprise your kids with a new Disney themed toy. They will never know you didn’t buy them in Walt disney world and they will even stop bugging you to go into the shops in Walt disney world and pay twice as much for the same or similar item. Another plus to this is you will already know how much suitcase space you will need, there will be no surprises when it’s time to pack up and go home.

-You can purchase Disney Dollars or rechargeable Disney Gift cards at your local Disney Store or online. Add these to your kids/family wish list for birthdays and other gift-giving holidays. They add up quickly and it also teaches kids how to manage their own money. Disney Dollars are fun because each year they change the characters that appear on each dollar. If you are planning a trip a few years down the road you can make a fun game out of collecting all the different characters. They come in a $1, $5, $10 and $20 dollar bills. They are redeemable at all Disney Stores and Walt disney world. The gift cards are great because you don’t have to hold on to “cash”, you can add money to your gift card anytime. They are easy to keep track of and are redeemable at all Disney Stores and Walt Disney World.

-Kids love to play games. Sit down with your kids ahead of time and make a list of some items they want to bring home from Walt Disney World. Take that list and make it into “Walt Disney World Scavenger Hunt”. Your kids will be so busy looking for the items on their list and checking them off they most likely won’t notice the other things in the shops. If your kids stick to the list of scavenger hunt items perhaps a special gift will given.

-Pressed pennies. Collect one from each theme park and add them to your scrapbooks. Remember to take a picture of making the penny and on the back of your photo write about your favorite part of that theme park.

-Post cards are always a fun inexpensive souvenir to collect. Use your post cards to collect signatures from your favorite characters. A unique idea would be to buy a post card for each of the family members on the trip with you. Write down your most favorite moment shared with them on your Disney vacation and mail it home. Have each member in your family do the same. Don’t peek at what each person wrote. When you get home there will be a nice surprise waiting for you.

-Remember that most restaurants’ in Disney World gives kids their drinks in plastic cups. They are free and fun. They are also handy to have around your hotel room. Try collecting as many as you can. TIP: even when you order a cup of water off the menu you still receive a free plastic cup in most places.

-If you are a person who loves to scrapbook it’s very easy to get free and cheap souvenirs. Napkins, bottle wrappers, pictures, the wrappers of the soaps and items that come with your hotel rooms, deflated balloons, baggage claim tickets, room keys, brochures from your hotel and theme parks, receipts, parking tickets, basically there are endless little tidbits all throughout Walt Disney World that are free and most people throw them out. The sad thing is, most of the time your room key is more memorable than the overpriced key chain you use for a year then throw out.

-Mickey’s Mart. This is a store located in Downtown Disney. Everything in this store is $10.00 and under. They have items of the week and also offer grab bags for $6.99. You may find a great deal if you have a certain item in mind.

-The best tip on saving money when purchasing souvenirs in Walt Disney World is to be cautious. It’s so easy to fall in love with Disney when you’re visiting and want to bring it all back home. Everything looks fun and cute when you’re there and it’s easy to think you need it all. When making a purchase ask yourself if it is something that will really be a great piece of memorabilia and will last for years or if it’s something that will end up in the back of a closet and eventually be thrown away. You can have the vacation of a lifetime without paying through the nose for it. Create a reasonable budget and stick to it. When your vacation is all done you will be glad you did.