Disney at a Discount

didn't know if you were aware, but you are allowed to bring in a cooler with food.

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T.,

I don't know where your hotel is in relations to the parks you plan to visit but here's an idea I hadn't seen anyone else post yet. When I was a kid (long ago) my parents would take us to the parks EARLY - since many other people were still doing breakfast and getting ready to spend the DAY at the park. They'd feed us beforehand and bring some snacks. By mid-day (lunchtime) my brother and I were exhausted and the lines were long. So my parents would take us back to our hotel/campground where we'd eat lunch, crash and/or play at a vacant pool. Then we'd eat something again and head back to the park for the evening's activities and ice cream.

It was great - we missed the biggest crowds, my parents saved money and we kids got a desperately needed rest before we did more walking.

Hope that helps,

Sara

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check out www.disboards.com at the budget board. I have read tons of tips on saving money on food. Some people are hardcore. You can buy a double cheeseburger and then buy an extra bun. The extra bun is only like 80 cents or something like that, and it is much cheaper than buying two burgers. You can also buy groceries and have them delivered to your hotel. www.gardengrocer.com seems to be the most popular that I found through that site. I recommend that site highly. I know it saved me a ton of money on our trip in January. It also helped in tons of other areas as well.

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many of the resort/disney hotels have souvineer cups that if you buy one you can refill the cup for free (at the hotel) the rest of your stay. fill it up before you got to the park with juice/pop and then use it for water the rest of your time in the park.

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Don't do the discounted meal plan, too difficult to figure out and what you do get is kind of crappy! We did it at Universal and I still spent so much on food cuz I have picky eaters. Sometimes if you go to the disney website you can get a discount for prepurchasing them. If you are not staying at disney your hotel may offer a discount too. Also try travelocity and those types of websites. We were just there in January, we had a blast but came home broke...lol! Some of the best advice I can give you is to stop at the grocery store and stock the hotel fridge with snacks, breakfasts and quickie things. You can cut out one meal a day by doing that. I know we were paying almost 70 bucks for a breakfast buffet for 5 every morning. It was outrageous!

Have fun!

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Hi T..

We have 4 kids and take my parents with when we go. Generally we go every other year. The last several times we've gone we've stayed @ a local condo, so we always go out to breakfast on the way to the parks. There are so many all you can eat breakfast buffets that are very reasonable. Since we'd have a big breakfast we'd have any early "dinner", but it was still considered lunch time at the parks. Lunch is cheaper than dinner at the restaurants, but they pretty much serve the same food. Food can be very expensive so I would recommend not eating more than 1 meal in the park. Have fun! We're going again in May I can't wait!

As far as park tickets they always tell you not to trust the people that are selling them on the street throughout Orlando. Maybe try Ebay if you're looking for a deal. I always get our park tickets directly from the Disney store at the mall, that way there is no standing in line once you get to the park. Also, since Disney changed their tickets packages a few years ago you can really pick & choose the options that are best for your family and that helps keep costs down. Personally, I never recommend getting the park hopper option, especially when going with kids. We've never gone to more than one park a day. I know some people do, but it's just so rushed and we like to experience most everything.

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Hi T.,

My family & I go every year to Disney & we have never done the meal plan. The way we usually do our meals is to have bagels or donuts in the morning, have a very late lunch(3:00 to 4:30) and then have little "snacks" later at night. By having late lunches, most sit down restaurants have the same meals as on the dinner menu & they are cheaper at lunch.

have fun
C.

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We've been to Disney twice and here is what we did to help cut food cost.

Our hotel had a small fridge in it. We kept drinks and lunch meat in it. Snacks and bread, PBJ too, in the room. We would eat a sandwich when we got back to the hotel at night. In the morning we took advantage of continental breakfast.

We ate 1 meal each day at the park, it is expensive. And although it is not allowed I did take in water, juice boxes and fruit snacks in the diaper bag/backpack. No one ever told me to throw them away at the park.

Have a great vacation!
L.

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Dear T.,, Try not to eat at the park, bring snacks and water.. you could buy lunch ables or make sandwiches and keep in a cooler in the car. When everyone is getting crabby.. get your hands stamped and go have a lil picnic buy the car. also if your a triple aaa member you can get a break on some items. have fun and remember this is a vacation RELAX.
S.
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T.,
I went last year with 3 kids, 7, 4 and 2 and we brought lunch every day in a cooler. They don't allow large hard sided coolers, but lunch size or 6-pack soft sided ones are allowed. We saved a ton of time waiting in line for food and my kids prefer PB&J to burgers anyday. We also packed other snacks like fruit & grain bars, granola bars and baggies of chips or cheetos to eat as well. Anything that did not need refrigeration. We also got the kids disney sippy cups on a long string to hang over their neck (or a stroller handle) to fill with water. Again, my kids aren't big pop drinkers anyway.
We saved a ton of money on food and time as well. We did buy the occasional ice cream, but most meals were not purchased at Disney.
I agree on the ebay tickets, beware!!! Also, depending on your childrens ages, make a careful choice about the parkhopper. We decided against it and saved money. Our kids were too small to last more than 6-8 hours, so parkhopping was not necessary. That option adds alot to the park admission tickets. Another thing to consider is to buy more days than you think you will use. Then if you don't go all the days, you can convert the tickets to a "no expiration date" ticket for a fee and then have the tickets for the next visit.

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The only discount I found was to pay for a stroller for the week all at one time. I believe they gave us $2 off/day and then each day you simply presented your receipt and they gave you the stroller.

As far as food goes, I am a mom of boys as well and actually packed an extra suitcase of snacks/bottled water to take into the park with me! We brought those crystal light to go packs, too, to make "kool-aid".

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