Tell about Money saving in Disney World

Went went in February and loved it. Short lines. Wasn't too hot.

We used to buy park hopper passes but never really used them. It’d save a lot of money to not buy them.

Are you wanting to stay on property?
pennyscraps is a Disney travel agent. She is awesome. If you need, and she doesn't pop in in a timely fashion, I can get you her info

Get a Disney planner. The price includes their fee. Mine was amazing! She made an itinerary for us.

Staying off site will be cheaper, but there are perks for staying on site. You can make dining reservations 6 months prior to your visit. Reserve Fastpases 60 days before your visit (only 30 days if off-site). The travel agent will take care of all reservations for you as well.

At certain times of the year, they will offer complimentary meal plans. Again, the travel agent will know if there are any sales, etc.

We went for 7 days, 5 at the parks. We thought of going to Universal, but there was no way to fit it in. It was our first time in Florida. We will have to go back longer to do both next time.

Good luck!

Its was low 60's at night and about 80 durning the day. Rained every day for about 20 min in the afternoon. 

What are the ages of your kids?  

Here's my tip that works for my family.  The portions they give you are HUGE.  A burger and fries could feed an army.  Split some meals.  

OR, get one entree and order another burger and split the fries.  There's plenty.  

You can take food into the parks (I don't think that's common knowledge since many places don't allow it). We enjoy eating while we're there (adding the deluxe dining plan is the only way I convince dh to go every 4-ish years ) but we still carry in waters/pop/gatorade. Last year I used Amazon Prime Now to have cases of drinks and things like protein bars delivered to the hotel. I think the hotel charges a small fee to bring them to your room (like $5) but that's only the cost of like 1 bottle of water bought in the park. If you wanted to go all out you could pack a cooler for lunch even (check the rules, you can't use loose ice and there might be size limitations).

Avoid holidays at all costs (Christmas/Easter/July 4th); it's most crowded and most expensive.

Don't buy cheap tickets, there are almost no 3rd party ticket sellers that sell valid tickets, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

You don't need park hoppers and if you get there and decide you do want them you can add them for the same price (unless ticket prices have increased, be careful of that....this is where a travel agent helps).

Speaking of travel agent, absolutely get one! They don't cost you anything and they can help you stay organized, on budget, and sane

Determine your 'must do' activities/meals well ahead of time then watch your dates and make your arrangements ASAP (180 days for dining reservations, 60 days for Fastpasses.....I think these dates are from the first day of your stay). You can't do it all, limit it to a couple of must dos each day.

Yes, but not between Christmas and New Year, right? Early December is supposed to be a great time to go (I've not done it because of the kids' schedules....damn kids ). We almost went to Halloween party last August but the first party got terrible reviews due to crowds so we opted to skip the 2nd party (our last night). I'd love to go back in October for that too.

Up north...Mid February is sometimes spring break....around the President's Bdays...I think it's crowded around that time

I've bought tickets through Undercover Tourist for multiple trips to Disney (and Universal) and they are completely valid and include all the "perks" that tickets purchased directly from Disney include (such as being able to use FastPass, linking to your MDE account, etc). Never had problems with any of them. The prices they list on their website include all the taxes and free shipping (if you are pricing on the Disney website, taxes & fees are added at checkout). Plus, if you sign up for the newsletter at mousesavers.com, every month there is a link to get an additional discount on Undercover Tourist.

Pam

Thanks for the heads up.  I'm planning to be there the first full week of February so I think I should miss it.   Since my boys aren't school aged I tend to forget the school holiday seasons.  

How long of a trip are you planning? Have you been to Disney World before? Disney World is really big, 4 major parks, 2 water parks, and a large shopping district. If you are only planning on staying a week I would recommend only doing Disney. 7 days isn’t enough time to do Disney and Universal in my opinion. It will also be a lot more expensive to do both. Disney passes are cheaper per day with longer stays.

If you can go in the off season it will be somewhat less crowded. Google some of the Disney planning websites. Some of those have great crowd calendars and advice on best times to go. Disney has different special events that can up crowds even during slower times so it’s helpful to look at those calendars. I think one is WDW prep school or something like that. Disboards website , allears.net, and easy wdw are some to check out. If you have never been before these websites can help you tons.

We always stay on-site , but many people love staying off-site. I prefer on- site because we split up a bunch and do different things and the on property transportation makes that easier. I have also found it’s not really that much cheaper for us since it’s usually just 2 or three of us. A larger family appreciates more space they can get with off-site accommodations.There are different perks with staying on-site like early admission to the parks and earlier access to booking fast passes.

I would only buy passes through Disney or Undercover tourist. There is really no place to buy discounted tickets. We get park hoppers because sometimes we like to eat in a different park or spend the evening in a different park. You can save money by not getting them. 

We we have always gone with the dining plan because it just works for us. You do have stay on-site to get it. If they offer the free dining plan you pay rack rate for your room so you need to make sure that it’s the best discount. This is where using a Disney planner helps. If you give them your budget they will work with you to plan the best trip. I always do my own planning because I enjoy it, but if you don’t want to do that a planner is the way to go. 

The best rest advice I can give is to look at some of the Disney planning websites and the Disney website to get an idea of how it all works and prices. You can price out a vacation on the Disney site. Look at the deals and special offers they have.

Have fun planning and I hope you have a great trip.

In my experience, these are the two big promos (semi-)regularly offered for staying on-site; the free dining and (actually "or" since you can't take both) 30% off room discount. I agree with @tallgirl to run the numbers for your family. The meal promo may make sense, especially if you have big eaters vs younger kids/picky eaters/dieters/etc.

We like staying on the Stone Harbor Club floor at the Beach Club near Epcot, so the 30% off room discount is definitely a better deal for us.

Stay onsite. I can’t tell you the amount of value that this adds to the trip. The transportation is awesome and the whole resort aspect adds so much to the Disney experience. I also like the meal plan. I’m sure there are people who will argue against it but it makes the experience so effortless, and to me the great thing about the Disney experience is that it is so effortless.