You’ve been dreaming of taking your family on a Disney vacation for a while. You imagine your little one running over to Mickey and giving him a big kiss. You envision your child’s eyes filled with magic when they see the castle for the first time. Maybe your own memories of Disney vacations in the past fill you with nostalgia and you simply cannot wait to go to the Happiest Place on Earth once again!
Then you actually start planning a trip to Disney and you get sticker shock when you actually go to book your trip.
Wait, HOW much does it cost?
Never fear. There are some EASY ways to save money on your next Disney trip!
1. Use a Travel Agent!
Did you know that travel agents have access to all the latest discounts and special offers? Booking your trip with a Travel Agent is 100% free. After booking, if any discount is released, your travel agent can apply the discount to your package. That means you don’t have to spend hours monitoring the discounts yourself, or even worse, paying more for your trip than you need to because you didn’t know a discount existed.
2. Know when the dates are the cheapest.
Are your dates flexible? If so, try to find the best time to go to Disney. For example, a ticket for August 1, 2020 is $115 but a ticket for August 22, 2020 is only $103. Disney tickets are generally more expensive on holiday weekends such as Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Thanksgiving week, and Christmas. Try to play around with your dates and figure out what works in your budget. (A Travel Agent can also help with this!)
3. Understand your ticket options and find what is best for your family.
Usually I do not suggest going to the parks on either your arrival or departure days since you’ll likely not utilize a full day at the parks. Also, if you have little kids and you know that they will get cranky by mid-afternoon, don’t get a Park Hopper and try to do multiple parks per day on a feature that you will not use. Are you going to Disney for a whole week? See what the difference is between getting a four-day vs. five-day pass to see if the expense of an extra day is worth it.
4. Get your groceries delivered to your hotel.
Did you know that if you are staying at a Disney hotel, you can order groceries and have them delivered to you? Some of my family’s favorites are using Garden Grocer or even Amazon Prime Now. You can order your groceries ahead of time and have them delivered to Bell Services, or for a small fee you can have them delivered straight to your room. This is my favorite way to stock up on snacks and breakfast foods that we keep in the hotel room so we can save money from not buying all our meals at the parks, which tend to be pricier.
5. Bring your own food and snacks into the parks.
The treats at Disney are tempting, but they quickly add up when you spend $5 for one ice cream bar and $6 for one pretzel. When I pack for my family, I usually bring fruit such as apples, some granola bars (but none that have chocolate and can melt in the Florida heat!), and Uncrustables. Plus, bringing in your own snacks saves you a lot of time from not having to wait in lines. Seriously, one time I waited thirty minutes for popcorn.
6. Bring large, refillable water bottles with you on vacation.
Don’t spend money on $5 water bottles. I like to pack my Hydroflask and then the night before we go to the park, I fill it with some water and freeze it so it stays cold all day. If the water runs out, you can always ask any quick-service restaurant for a cup of water and they will give it to you for free.
7. Make a budget for meals.
My daughter loves to meet all the Disney characters but dining at character meals is very expensive. The average cost of a character meal can range from $30 to $60 per adult. We book one character meal and for any other characters we want to meet, we use the FastPass+ reservations since those are free. For the rest of our trip, we stick to quick service meals, which can range from $15 to $25 per adult, or the snacks that we pack.
8. Give kids a Disney Gift Card for souvenirs to avoid the end-of-ride gift shop trap.
Budget a certain amount of money for souvenirs and give this to your kids on a gift card. Explain to your kids ahead of time that they can only spend that amount. Since most rides at Disney end with walking into a gift shop, having the kids understand that they have a predetermined amount to spend will avoid them begging for something to buy each time. If your kids are too little to understand the concepts of gift cards, you could also buy small souvenirs at home before your trip and give them to your kids throughout the trip as a surprise. The souvenirs you buy ahead of time tend to be less expensive than the ones you will find in the gift shops (but no less magical).
9. Plan a park-free day.
There are SO MANY things you can do at each Disney resort without going to the parks. Spend the day at the pool and just order a pizza. Walk around Disney Springs and have some appetizers by the water. Go to the Boardwalk for some ice cream. If you are not staying at a Disney resort, try going orange picking or maybe some mini golf. There are many free things to do in the Orlando area.
10. Decide if a car is worth it.
If you are flying into Disney and renting a car, overnight parking at your Disney hotel will range from $15 – $25 per night. If you are staying off Disney property, parking at the theme parks is $25 per day. Factor that into your budget and see if renting a car is worth it or if you could use another service such as Lyft that might save you some money.
My hope is that years from now, all the stress of planning and saving for your Disney trip will have faded but the memories of a wonderful trip will remain.
