Would your like to go on a vacation to the Disney theme parks in California or Florida without going into serious debt? Believe it or not, you can go to Disney without breaking the bank. You just need to have a plan and follow some basic cost-saving strategies.
Introduction
My five-year old daughter starting asking my wife and me to take her to Disney World almost as soon as she could talk. Since our family lives off of a very modest income, however, I always worried that we would not be able to take her until I finished graduate school. With some careful planning and penny pinching, we were able to make the trip in January of this year. In addition, we were able to pay for the entire trip in cash, which was much less expensive in the long run than paying off credit card interest. My goal in this entry is to share some money saving tips that will help you make your Disney vacation plans a reality. We had a great time on a small budget and so can you.
When to go
If you want to visit the Disney Theme Parks in Florida or California without breaking the bank, you should take your trip during a slow time of the year for the theme parks. Disney refers to these times as “value seasons.” The value seasons vary by year, but generally occur in parts of January-February, September-October, and November-December (after Thanksgiving weekend and before Christmas week). I have included a link to a page on the Disney website that provides dates for each of Disney’s “seasons” and provides examples of how much you can save by traveling during a value season. Keep in mind that your savings are based on staying at a Disney Resort. If you stay in a non-resort hotel, your prices will vary (though non-resort hotels will also be less expensive during off-peak times).
How to get There
On our Disney vacation, we traveled to Florida by air. As a result, this advice is for those who intend to fly to Florida or California. My best advice is for you to use online resources to comparative shop and purchase your airfare. Travel agents may be helpful, but in my previous experience you can do better on airfare if you shop online yourself. If you have flexibility in departure and arrival times, you should check the fares on the various online services, and then bid for the tickets on Priceline.com. I have included the links to websites that sell airfare at the conclusion of the article. Don’t be afraid to bid 20-40 percent below the lowest recorded price when you visit Priceline.com.
Here is an additional hint about bidding for your airfare on Priceline.com. If Priceline.com refuses your first bid request, you cannot simply bid slightly higher in an attempt to find an airline that will accept your offer. You will need to change one of your flight preferences. There are several flight preferences that you could change. For example, you could add additional airports for which you are willing to depart. My advice is for you to change your preference from a jet aircraft to indicate that you are willing to fly in a non-jet aircraft. Since jet aircraft make the vast majority of trips to major airports, your chances of actually having to fly in a non-jet aircraft are quite low. The point is that you can switch your preferences, raise your bid a bit, and still get what you want. For the record, my family saved about 25 percent of the lowest advertised rate by using Priceline.com.
If you are flying to Disney, and are not renting a car, you will also need to arrange transportation to your hotel. There are several options available. For example, a bus company called Mears provides most of the transportation from the Orlando Airport the Disney Resort Hotels. In addition, as of summer 2005, Disney is providing free transportation from the airport to a select number of resorts. The problem with the free transportation is not included for the Value Resorts (you will want to check before your trip to see if Disney changes this policy). The best deal our family found was through a company called Happy Limo. They charge a flat fee from transportation from the airport in a luxury vehicle. Not only is this a much nicer way to travel (since you do not have to stop and unload at every resort), but the per person cost is less than Mears if you are traveling with five or more people. In addition, Happy Limo includes a free 15 minute stop at the grocery store if you want to pick up some food. This could save you a great deal of money if you follow my advice about bringing food with you to the theme parks. You should make a list of what you want to buy at the grocery store before you leave for your trip. That way, you don’t waste any time at the grocery store.
Where to Stay
The are an overwhelming number of lodging choices to consider when you are planning your Disney vacation. Having visited Disney World multiple times, my advice is for you to stay at one of the Disney Value Resorts. There are several reasons whey the Value Resorts are a great choice. First of all, they are cheap and comfortable. With taxes, our original room rate was slightly less than one hundred dollars per night (during value season). Believe me when I tell you that this is a good deal for the Orlando area. However, a few months before we left, Disney temporally cut the price of lodging at certain value resorts to 56 dollars a night plus tax. We simply changed our reservation to the new resort, and saved a bundle. The point is that even after you book your room, you should check periodically to see if you can get a better rate. Disney value resorts also have heated pools and laundry facilities.
Second, you can save money on transportation by staying at a Disney Value Resort. The Disney bus system runs often, has courteous drivers, and is free to Disney Resort guests. Of course, if you want to see non-Disney sights you will have to arrange alternate transportation. If you are on a tight budget, however, you have a very full vacation just by visiting the theme parks and Downtown Disney. If you plan on only visiting the theme parks and Downtown Disney, you can skip the car and rely on the bus transportation.
Third, guests of Disney Resorts, including the value resorts, get extra benefits. By far the greatest of these benefits is Disney Extra Magic Hours. Extra Magic Hours are times when only Disney Resort Guests may attend the theme parks. Extra Magic Hours rotate from park to park. Our family used these hours to get on rides that were too crowded during the day and to watch fireworks and light shows that go on during the evening at several parks. The nighttime experience at Disney is wonderful.
If you do have some extra money, it is worth it to pay a bit extra (10 dollars a day during our trip) to stay in one of the preferred rooms at the Value Resorts. These rooms are closer to the main building, which provides several advantages. First, you can purchase a cup in the cafeteria and refill it for free with soda, tea or coffee during the rest of your vacation. However, you can only refill the cup in the food court of your resort. If you stay in a standard room, you could walk for 15 minutes to refill your cup. In a preferred room, you don’t have to walk nearly as far for your refill. Second, the preferred rooms are closer to the laundry facilities. If you plan to do laundry during your trip, this is a huge advantage. Third, you will be dead tired when you get back from the theme parks each day. It takes much less time to get back to your room when you stay in a preferred room. Finally, the preferred rooms are closer to the pool, which we found nice. If you want or need to save the money, it is definitely not the end of the world.
How to save Money during your Trip
There are a million ways to save money during your Disney vacation. Many of these tips and tricks are listed at mousesavers.com. I have included some of the money-saving methods that worked the best for my family.
Bring a backpack and take some food to the theme parks
If you are renting a car, you can visit a local grocery store and do some shopping. Getting a very small refrigerator in your room will cost extra. However, it is still much less expensive than constantly eating at the concession stands or restaurants in the theme parks. Our family would eat a small breakfast in our hotel room, pack some sandwiches and chips for the parks, and eat dinner at a concession stand, restaurant, or the cafeteria at our hotel. You should not deprive yourself completely of the excellent dining opportunities at Disney. However, you can save a great deal of money by eating out once a day, instead of three or more times a day. If you carry in a backpack, it will be searched before you are allowed into the park (this is not a big deal during the value season when the lines are shorter). Make sure to bring some water as well since it is much easier to find a water vendor than a drinking fountain in the parks.
Skip the character breakfasts and meet the characters where they live
We learned this one the hard way. After paying a lot of money for our daughter to “have breakfast with several princesses” we found out that each princess visits your table for about 30 seconds. You can get the same opportunities to take photos of your child with their favorite characters by doing a little homework. If you stay at a Disney Resort, or if you request one before you leave, you can get brochures that will tell you where you can find the characters. You will also find out when the characters will be out and about. If you plan well, your child can be among the first in line to see a favorite character. For example, Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) is often in the French area of Epcot. As you probably know (though your child may not) there are multiple versions of each character roaming around the parks. With some homework, they are very easy to find.
Here is an additional hint about characters. If you have a little girl, bring any Disney princess costume with you on your trip and let her wear it to the park one day. Every Disney employee (Character or janitor) will refer to your little girl as “princess.” This will not save you any money, but it will make your child happier than you can possibly imagine. Make sure, however, that you bring some sensible shoes for your child to put on as they walk through the park. We saw many “little princesses” crying because their feet hurt from wearing princess shoes.
Buy Disney Dollars
At Disney Theme Parks and Resorts, Disney Dollars are the same as cash. If you pay for an item in Disney Dollars, you get your change in regular cash. You don’t get a discount for using Disney Dollars, but you can use them to save money. Several months before you travel to Disney World or Land, put aside some money from your paycheck each week and buy Disney Dollars (you can get them at your local Disney Store). If you are scraping the money together to finance your vacation, you will appreciate having a source of money that is very difficult to spend before you leave. If you try to save some spending money in US dollars, there is a good chance that you will spend some of it before you leave. In this sense, using Disney Dollars could save you a great deal of money. If you do decide to buy Disney Dollars, make sure to save the receipts. That way you can exchange the money for cash if you absolutely have to. Disney Hotels will also convert your dollars back to cash during your stay.
Give your kids (and yourself) a daily spending limit
Do whatever is necessary to set a daily spending limit and keep to it. If you have cash or traveler’s checks, separate your daily budget allotment from the rest of your money. If you have a debit card, try to make no more than one ATM withdrawal per day. One of the best ways to stay within your spending limit is to buy all of your souvenirs once a day. Believe me, if you find mouse ears at one shop, you will also find them at the shop three doors down. That way, you will know at the end of the day how much money you can spend on souvenirs.
Of course, your children are not going to be patient enough to wait until the end of the day to get what they want. The best way to deal with this problem is to give your children a souvenir budget. Your older children will quickly learn to prioritize. Even your smaller children will learn that if they buy one thing, they may not be able to buy another. Keep receipts. If your child finds something later in the day that they have to have, you can have them choose between items if both do not fit under the budget. I am not suggesting that you treat every purchase like the end of the world. Disney is fun. However, in my experience, there is no souvenir that can hold a child’s attention the way that a ride or a visit with a beloved character can.
Our family had a wonderful experience at Disney World. Not a day goes by when I do not think fondly about it. My daughter always wants to look at our Disney photos and video. Every time that we reminisce about the trip, I think briefly about how difficult it was to afford. Thankfully, we were able to take advantage of some basic strategies to make our trip financially possible. With a little planning, your family can go to Disney and have a great time without breaking the bank.
External Links:
Happy Limousine - Great way to travel from the Orlando airport to your hotel