Little Known Ways to Save Money At Disney

What family hasn’t dreamed of an exciting Disney vacation? Unfortunately, lots of people put off this fun trip because they think they can’t afford it. Disney doesn’t have to be hugely expensive. By planning early and putting a little bit of time into your planning, you can have an affordable and fun Disney trip.

Disney Rewards

Now this is a credit card so you need to be careful with this one. If you are the kind of person that can pay off their balance monthly A Disney Rewards card is a great option, if not, you should probably skip this one.

A premier card earns 2% in Disney Dream Reward Dollars at gas stations, grocery stores and most Disney locations and 1% on all your other card purchases. So this could be a great way to pay for some of that Disney trip for free.

Go Off-Season

Of course it’s easiest to go when the kids are out of school and the weather is gorgeous! Unfortunately, this is also when it’s most expensive. If your kids are young, you may be able to pull them out of school for a few days without affecting their education. Going during early spring or fall can save you hundreds of dollars, since hotels and other vendors still want to fill their quotas.

Buy Your Souvenirs in Advance

When you get to Disney it can be can be easy to get caught up in the fun, and kids are going to want to buy everything that is in sight. A good way to off set this cost is to buy souvenirs in advance. A few months before you go, keep an eye out for t-shirts and little trinkets (thrift stores and even the dollar stores can be a great place to find Disney stuff). Pack them up in a bag and dole them out during the day to keep the “buy-mes” away.

Bring in your Own Food and Water

You may not know this but Disney will let you bring in your own food and water bottles. Doing this can save you a small fortune. And on top of that there will not no arguing over where everyone wants to eat. Double Score!

You can give your kids a fantastic Disney vacation without going broke. Just keep these tips in mind as you book the dream vacation!

What are your favorite ways to save at Disney?

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Grimm says

February 7, 2015 at 6:41 pm

We took our daughter for her first trip to Disneyland this past December. I priced the tickets and how many days we wanted to go. It was cheaper to buy the annual pass for the three of us than the multi-day passes. We did not add the parking to the passes as that was an extra $180 each. We figured that paying the $17 for each of the 4 days we went would be cheaper. Be careful bringing your own food and drinks. Disney is no longer allowing this. You can enjoy your own food but you must leave the parks and eat your own food in the 'picnic' area by the lockers. You can bring a small bottle of water as they sell these in the park ($4 each) but don't be surprised if the security check makes you toss your food or put it in a locker. If you have young children bring your own stroller. This will save you $15 a day in rental fees. Same with wheel chairs. Bringing your own souvenirs is great if you want to carry extra things with you the whole day. If you must I suggest dollar store glow sticks for the after dark fun. They sell glow wands etc for an extreme mark up so bringing $5 worth of dollar store glow toys will save you tons during the night parade and fireworks shows. My daughter loved this because she had the glow toys they sold but I saved tons by getting them at the dollar store. Cheap and fun in-park souvenirs are the pressed pennies. Each one costs 51¢ and they have machines all over the resorts with different characters! Another cheapie would be to exchange $1 for a Disney Dollar at the ticket booth. It isn't really an expense since you can use it as $1 towards any in park purchase. The best way to curb the 'wannas' from my daughter was to avoid the shops all together. We side tracked her with trips to meet the characters. Worked great. If getting the most attractions done each day is important get to the park when it opens. The lines are 5-20 mins for popular attractions like Peter Pan's Flight and Haunted Mansion first thing in the morning. If the lines to meet the characters scare you I recommend spending the money to have one meal for the family in the park or hotel. The best meals would be the character meals. You can take your time eating and the characters will come to your table to spend quality time with your little ones. We did this for my daughter's first trip and she was in heaven! We got many pictures of her with the 10 characters at the breakfast and it was worth the money on the buffet. We didn't have to wait in lines or stress that we would only get a few minutes with the characters as they roamed the restaurant and made many trips back to our table making my daughter smile from ear to ear the whole time! A freebie is to grab a map (and/or show schedule) on your way out. You can use it in your scrapbooking about your trip or tuck it with photos and ticket stubs in your child's memory box. If it is your child's first time to a Disney park go to the town hall building and ask for a 1st visit button. They are free and you can write the date on the back. They can wear the button during the trip and cast members will give them the VIP treatment. The cast members also seem to have a soft spot for children that dress up as Disney characters during their visit. They all seemed to love my daughter's Young Princess Anna dress (grandma made it for her) and she loved the attention they gave her.

Comments

Grimm says

February 7, 2015 at 6:41 pm

We took our daughter for her first trip to Disneyland this past December. I priced the tickets and how many days we wanted to go. It was cheaper to buy the annual pass for the three of us than the multi-day passes. We did not add the parking to the passes as that was an extra $180 each. We figured that paying the $17 for each of the 4 days we went would be cheaper. Be careful bringing your own food and drinks. Disney is no longer allowing this. You can enjoy your own food but you must leave the parks and eat your own food in the 'picnic' area by the lockers. You can bring a small bottle of water as they sell these in the park ($4 each) but don't be surprised if the security check makes you toss your food or put it in a locker. If you have young children bring your own stroller. This will save you $15 a day in rental fees. Same with wheel chairs. Bringing your own souvenirs is great if you want to carry extra things with you the whole day. If you must I suggest dollar store glow sticks for the after dark fun. They sell glow wands etc for an extreme mark up so bringing $5 worth of dollar store glow toys will save you tons during the night parade and fireworks shows. My daughter loved this because she had the glow toys they sold but I saved tons by getting them at the dollar store. Cheap and fun in-park souvenirs are the pressed pennies. Each one costs 51¢ and they have machines all over the resorts with different characters! Another cheapie would be to exchange $1 for a Disney Dollar at the ticket booth. It isn't really an expense since you can use it as $1 towards any in park purchase. The best way to curb the 'wannas' from my daughter was to avoid the shops all together. We side tracked her with trips to meet the characters. Worked great. If getting the most attractions done each day is important get to the park when it opens. The lines are 5-20 mins for popular attractions like Peter Pan's Flight and Haunted Mansion first thing in the morning. If the lines to meet the characters scare you I recommend spending the money to have one meal for the family in the park or hotel. The best meals would be the character meals. You can take your time eating and the characters will come to your table to spend quality time with your little ones. We did this for my daughter's first trip and she was in heaven! We got many pictures of her with the 10 characters at the breakfast and it was worth the money on the buffet. We didn't have to wait in lines or stress that we would only get a few minutes with the characters as they roamed the restaurant and made many trips back to our table making my daughter smile from ear to ear the whole time! A freebie is to grab a map (and/or show schedule) on your way out. You can use it in your scrapbooking about your trip or tuck it with photos and ticket stubs in your child's memory box. If it is your child's first time to a Disney park go to the town hall building and ask for a 1st visit button. They are free and you can write the date on the back. They can wear the button during the trip and cast members will give them the VIP treatment. The cast members also seem to have a soft spot for children that dress up as Disney characters during their visit. They all seemed to love my daughter's Young Princess Anna dress (grandma made it for her) and she loved the attention they gave her.

Little Known Ways to Save Money At Disney

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