My dear friend Lady Why over at Kudzu Grows is discussing how to go to Disney on a budget. It is EASY to get caught up and when you see that the average family of 4 spends atleast $5,000 to go to Disney for a week...That is too much money. So how do you stay frugal and SAVE money going somewhere like Disney? So how do we do it for ALOT less (half) and still have a good time..??

Here are my special tips that we have learned:

Here are some frugal tips:

1. GO DURING OFF SEASON! THIS IS HUGE! This is where you will save $ on
accomodations!
2. GO TO WWW.VRBO.COM AND RESERVE YOUR PLACE. We stayed 1 1/2 miles from the gate for $85 night. We had full accomodations with full kitchen etc and our own pool.
3. Go shopping at the WALMART nearby and stock up on bottled water, snacks and
food or bring your own. THE PARKS WILL LET YOU BRING FOOD/COOLERS INTO THE
PARK! WATER IS $3 a BOTTLE inside the parks! An average meal for lunch, a
family of 4 is $50 for dinner is $100 inside the park. We put water in the FREEZER the night
before (and koolaid bursts) and packed them as ice in our coolers. We made
sandwiches, had chips and EXTRA snacks. We NEVER EVER ate out at the parks! We
stayed until the shows at the end too so make sure you bring EXTRA snacks! I
made bread ahead of time and packed lunches. Also we made HUGE and I mean HUGE
breakfasts at the Townhouse. We ate eggs, bacon/sausage, pancakes, biscuits.
We ate and ate and filled up! That is SO BIG! We had a soft pack cooler and
put camera etc in one of the boys bookbags. When we got back to the room, we
made our dinner. We might have done like helpers or something but we had
dinner!
3.Also to save $10 for a single and $18 for a double stroller rental PER DAY, go
to the thrift store or consignment store and BUY a double stroller or sit and
stand stroller! We kept our stuff in the stroller. Also we kept a fanny pack
on us to keep our importants in there too.
4. Park at a resort (like Coranado or another one) to save $11 per day in
parking
5. Buy things to do and souviner's at the dollar store BEFORE YOU GO! I bought
the boys autograph books (from the characters), plain ones at Borders for $3 and
bought Disney pens from the dollar store for $1. I also bought Disney snacks at
the dollar store.
6. Look for your Disney shirts where you live BEFORE you go! The average is
$20 in the park.
7. Buy or reserve from the Library "Walt Disney World for kids 2007/08" I
suggest you buy it. It will literally be your bible! It will give you the ins
and outs of the parks!
8. When there is early entrance days for people staying inside the parks, go to
the other parks!
9. When you get into the parks, find out which rides are high demand with
LOOOOOOOOOOONG wait times and DO THOSE FIRST! Like for example, when you get
into Epcot, GO TO SOARIN first!!!!! Ride it as many times as you can, in a row
(we rode it 6 times in a row. Our favorite and you will love it too. That is
why it is SO popular). The line will be 45 min wait within the first HOUR that
the park opens!!!! Also do Test Track FIRST! Make sure you learn how to use
Fast passes. Our BEST day to see characters at Epcot was at 9 am Monday
morning. They were BEGGING us to come in and we had 7 characters to ourselves
for about 30 minutes!
10. Take your own pictures! The people there will not only take your picture
(and try to get you to buy one) but they will also use your camera and take
yours. Don't waste your money on that!
11. Make sure you bring your own laundry detergent, dishwashing powder and hand
dish soap. We did our own laundry at the townhouse and saved a ton. We also
only packed 1/2 of the clothes we would need if we wore them daily and we did
wash clothes alot!
12. Check Large companies and corporate for discounts. We paid for a 4 day hopper and got 3 days free. So we paid the same price for a 7 day park hopper that we would have paid for a 4 day down there.