Recently, I have had a few people ask me to share our
‘secrets’ when it comes to being able to afford several Walt Disney World
vacations per year. Honestly, there are so many variables, and so I can’t
really tell you how you can do this- in my family, we don’t have to send our
child to daycare even though my husband and I both work full-time (edit: I work part-time at my job at the hospital, and the rest of the time I work as a Travel Agent), which saves
us thousands of dollars per year, as we simply work opposite days of the week. We don’t have weekends off together unless we are on vacation,
as one of us is ALWAYS working on the weekend, and so the traditional
‘entertainment budget’ that other families may reserve for weekends at the zoo,
the beach, the museum, and other fun locations goes straight to our ‘Disney
budget’, and when I pick up extra shifts at the hospital, that money also goes
into our Disney account.
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| (At the entrance to the Magic Kingdom in the fall season) |
Despite every family having a different budget and financial situation, I CAN offer some tips that may help make your
dream of going to Walt Disney World a reality. The first thing to consider is
the time of year you will be visiting. I would recommend comparing different
times of the year to see when is cheapest- if you have flexibility in your
schedule, you are much more likely to score a deal. We have found that January
(after Marathon weekend) and early February are some of the best months to
visit in terms of price. The week after Thanksgiving through the week before
Christmas may offer some good discounts as well. I HIGHLY recommend staying
on-property. Recently, I was looking at prices for the value resorts in
January, and I found All-Star Sports for just over $100 per night- for 5
nights (this was back in 2017- the costs have risen a bit, but there are still great prices to be found!), the total was just a few cents over $600 with tax (you can read more
about the Disney Value Resorts here). This is a great price, as you get all of
the benefits of staying at a Disney resort, including free transportation to
and from the airport, free transportation to all of the parks during your stay,
Extra Magic Hours (extra hours at the parks reserved specifically for Disney
resort guests)- and my favorite, being right in the middle of all the Disney
magic 24/7!
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| (Staying in the Lion King section of Disney's Art of Animation Resort means that you never have to leave the Disney magic during your stay!) |
Since my family knows that we always have a trip to Disney
on the horizon, a common gift that we receive for birthdays and Christmas is a
Disney Gift Card from multiple family members. I would suggest you start
telling family that if they are looking to purchase a gift for you and/or your
kids, that you would really love a Disney Gift Card. My parents also gift us with
Southwest Gift Cards from time to time, as they know that this is the airline
we always use to fly to Orlando.
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| (My son enjoying his Southwest flight) |
And speaking of Southwest Airlines- a few weeks ago, I
scored a $69 fare from Indianapolis to Orlando, and a $69 fare back home in
February (edit: This was back in 2017, but last week I scored $79 fares each way, and so this pricing definitely still exists!). You HAVE to be quick with these, however. I had told my dad that we
were looking to go back to Disney in January or early February to celebrate our
son’s 4th birthday, and he checked the Southwest website every day
for me to see if fares for this time of year had been released yet. The day
they finally were released, he called me and told me to get on and book. For
the three of us (my husband, son and I), it was just over $400 round-trip- this
is a VERY good price! I booked these flights a little over two weeks ago-
today, these SAME FLIGHTS are over $1000 for the three of us. This is why I say
that you have to be quick when purchasing these flights- Southwest only offers
a limited number of seats at the low price that is shown when the flights are
released, and once these seats are booked up, the price continues to go up-
though at times, Southwest will offer a sale, and I am sometimes able to get a
credit for a future flight (which I have to use within a year of booking). Due
to the (Southwest-only) money I frequently receive back, I often do have some
sort of credit to apply, making the price we pay to fly to Orlando even
lower. We also rack up Southwest
frequent flyer points- in November, my husband is flying free, having used his
frequent flyer points for free flights (this is where using the same airline
every time you fly comes in handy).
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| (My son's first flight- on Southwest Airlines- at 8 months of age) |
On our last trip, we stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort &
Spa in a Studio. This is a Disney Vacation Club resort, and the studios have
small kitchenettes with a sink, toaster, refrigerator, and plastic utensils and
paper plates (there are also one-through-three bedroom villas, which all
contain full kitchens). To save some money on breakfast, I brought pop-tarts for
the family to share and applesauce packs for our son, and we bought a carton of
milk at the resort upon check-in. Even though we only stayed two nights, as
this visit was before we set sail on our Disney Cruise, we probably saved close
to $60 bringing our own food, as I estimate we probably would have spent about
$10 per person, per day on a ‘Disney’ breakfast. Even if you are in a regular
resort hotel room, you still will have a refrigerator in your room (please call
to confirm this before arrival!)- you could bring granola bars, cereal bars,
cereal with milk after purchasing some milk in the resort gift shop, etc.
Disney also allows you to bring soft-sided coolers into the parks- you could
pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies, and drinks,
which would, on average, save you about $15 per person, per meal.
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| (A quick breakfast option- Pop Tarts and the coffee provided in the room- in a Disney Vacation Club studio) |
The food at Walt Disney World is so good that I would
recommend splurging on dinner at the park or a nearby resort. Quick-service
eateries are going to be your best bet, and all of the theme parks have several
that we love- listed below are our favorites in each of the theme parks. Please
keep in mind that the option to visit a nearby resort’s quick service eatery is
also an option!
Magic Kingdom
Pecos Bills Tall Tale Inn & Café (burritos, fajitas,
nachos)- Frontierland
Columbia Harbour House (chicken, salmon, fried shrimp)-
Liberty Square
Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café (BBQ, burgers, salads)-
Tomorrowland
Epcot
Sunshine Seasons (sandwiches, rotisserie chicken, Mongolian
beef)- Future World, in the Land pavilion
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| (The strawberry shortcake at Sunshine Seasons is out of this world!) |
Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie (quiches, sandwiches,
salads)- World Showcase, France
Tangierine Café (chicken, beef and lamb combination
platters)- World Showcase, Morocco
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| (A chicken Shawarma platter at Tangierine Cafe in Morocco in Epcot) |
Lotus Blossom Café (orange chicken, pot stickers, fried
rice)- World Showcase, China
Hollywood Studios
ABC Commissary (fish and chips, burgers, steak)- Commissary
Lane, near the Chinese Theater
Min and Bill’s Dockside Diner (foot-long chili cheese dogs,
sausage in pretzel rolls)- Echo Lake
Woody's Lunchbox (Sandwiches)- Toy Story Land
Woody's Lunchbox (Sandwiches)- Toy Story Land
Animal Kingdom
Flame Tree Barbeque (ribs, chicken, pulled pork)- Discovery
Island
Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafes (stir fry BBQ chicken,
teriyaki beef bowl, honey chicken with rice)- Asia
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| (We love the honey chicken with rice at Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafes) |
Please also note that at any quick service location, you may
feel free to ask for a cold cup of ice water for free at any time, alleviating
the need to purchase pricey bottled water in the parks.
The park tickets into the 4 theme parks are, more often than
not, the most expensive part of a Walt Disney World vacation. My family does
not do the theme parks every day, which saves us HUNDREDS of dollars every trip.
If you are doing a five-day trip or longer, I suggest taking a day in the
middle of your trip to check out everything else that Walt Disney World has to
offer. Every resort on property is fun to walk around and explore- for
instance, if you are staying at the value resort Pop Century, you can walk over
to Art of Animation across the lake and check out the Cars, Finding Nemo, The
Lion King, and The Little Mermaid theming, before coming back to the pool at
Pop Century to cool off!
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| (The main pool- the Hippy Dippy Pool- at Disney's Pop Century Resort) |
What else is there to do in the World? You can take a bus
over to Disney Springs to check out this fun and newly redesigned shopping and
entertainment district. You can go miniature golfing at one of the two mini golf
courses, Winter Summerland and Fantasia Gardens. You can hop a bus over to Fort
Wilderness and enjoy a horse-drawn wagon ride in the evening, or a campfire
sing-a-long with Chip and Dale. You can take a monorail tour of the three Magic
Kingdom-area monorail resorts to check out the fun theming, and maybe grab a
small treat or drink at one of the quick-service spots or lounges at these resorts. You
can visit one of the water parks. You can visit the Boardwalk Resort, which
is especially fun at night, where you can always catch a free ‘street performer’
or grab ice cream at Ample Hills Creamery. Every Disney resort has a free
‘Movies Under the Stars’ outdoor movie night. You can rent a surrey bike, or a
boat, which the whole family can enjoy for an hour or so (available at select
Disney resorts). You can enjoy a character breakfast or brunch at one of the
Disney resorts, and enjoy taking your time and not feeling like you have to
rush out to maximize your park time. Truly, there are countless ways to enjoy
Walt Disney World without stepping foot in a theme park!
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| (Ample Hills Creamery- a new spot for delicious ice cream- at Disney's Boardwalk Resort) |
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| (Enjoying the Christmas store, Days of Christmas, at Disney Springs) |
It should be no surprise to you at this point that I spend a
lot of time looking for ways to stretch my vacation dollar. Just last week, I
was checking to make sure the price of our hotel room for an upcoming stay
hadn’t gone down, and I realized that a cheaper view was now available. Let me
explain, using Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort as an example. There are
multiple room ‘views’ that you can purchase at this resort- standard view,
garden view, pool view, and river view. The layout of these rooms is EXACTLY
the same. The only difference is the view out of the window (this resort
doesn’t have balconies)- honestly, we don’t spend any time looking out of our
window, so this does not matter to us in the least. When I booked this resort,
I had to book a garden view, as standard was not available at that time. I
hated to pay extra, but this is where we wanted to stay, and this was what was
available. However, less than 2 weeks after booking, I found that the standard
room was now available, and would save us over $60 for five nights. It’s little
things like this that you can do to decrease the price of your Disney vacation (oftentimes I am able to change my clients into a less expensive room type as well after initially booking their trip if they do so choose).
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| (A king bed room at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort) |
