Top Tips Of Saving Money At Disney..

I am really looking forward to the responses on this.

We are staying at PORS next year so we will definitely be using that tip on the create your own pasta!

Top one for us UK peeps has to be the free DDP.
Not that i have ever used it .

I agree with your sentiment... You don't go to Disney to save money.

In terms of Disney apparel and the like -- The Character Warehouse down on Universal drive is a clearinghouse of sorts for Disney's park-wear. That was a huge revelation when I found it. The $35 sweatshirt (at the time) was $20 in store -- though it was the previous years design. As long as you aren't looking for dated items (DISNEY 2015!) and you happen to have rented a car, this is the place to go for discounted authentic Disney apparel.

Last trip I got some dated items and some shirts that were still in the parks

I use the Target card to get Disney gift cards love saving 5%. Just make sure to pay in full when the bill comes

I also make sure to use my cash back card for fuel and lodging up and back. My dh also gets tickets from work at a greatly reduced rate.

My number 1 tip to save money at Disney World is stay away from Victoria and Albert's. It will save you a boatload of dough.

Seriously, the only frugal thing I think I do is reuse my rain ponchos- I have a collection from prior trips. One year I had to buy ponchos for 12 people and it pissed me off.

Oh, and this year I bought Tables in Wonderland. 20% off TS meals including booze.

DVC probably saves me a ton- or maybe costs me money because I go more often.

Annual passes of course. I forget how many days of use you need for them to make sense, but it's quite low. Less than 10.

If I'm staying in one resort for a long stay I buy some groceries- breakfasts, drinks, snacks and booze. We don't cook more than toasting a bagel or putting cereal in a bowl.

And I do not rent a car. I stay in the bubble. If I go to the Darkside I take a cab there.

You can get free cups of ice from almost any place instead of buying a bottle of water - that will save you a few bucks!

I always hit up Target for rain ponchos. 2 per person. Wet ones go in the Ziploc bag until we get back to the room, then I set them out to dry. Meanwhile, everyone still has a dry one!

I order water from Costco and have it shipped to the resort. We don't rent a car while we are there, so we aren't running to Walmart or Publix on vacation. Otherwise, we stop and get some water from the QS places that have a fountain. I know you can't get a cup of water at Cheshire cafe, for example.

Hubby and I love to split the Create your own pasta. Usually with pesto and shrimp. Yum!

~We always decline the chips in a combo meal at a CS. This usually takes $2.00 off the combo price.

~Our biggest money saver is bringing our own bottled water. At the start of the day, DH wears 2 Mickey belt clip bottle holders with two drinks we brought ourselves. We also freeze a few bottles of water. If DH is carrying his back pack, he'll put the 2 frozen waters in the back pack for later. We always drive our own car and park hop. We keep a lunchbox cooler in our backseat, fill it with drinks and ice from the hotel ice machine. In between park hops, we grab a few more bottles.

Bringing our own water for the last 7 years has saved us thousands of dollars! We average 35 days a year at WDW, and at least 4 drinks per person a day(8 total). If we bought all 8 bottles at the park it would cost us $700 a year for water. At the grocery store, I buy cases of water and the average bottle costs .20 cents each. Our cost for those 280 bottles a year is about $56. That's a savings of $644 for us each year, just by bringing our own water

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Remember to have an in date driving liscence
Taxi's can be costly

I sense a story behind that statement Mrferret. So out with it please, inquiring minds want to know.

Something I forget to do myself sometimes: DVC discount, AP discount, Disney Visa discount. Ask if it's offered. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Most quick services places like Starbucks, pizzafari and those restaurants with fountain machines, will give out free cups of water. Starbucks has triple filtered water.

Our number 1 money saver has to be using the TIW card. Using it during our family trip cost us around $1000 less than the dining plan would have. We also use our DVC and AP discounts when making purchases.

I'll echo what others have said regarding the AP and TIW cards. Both are absolute money savers. I only wish we had purchased them sooner and would have saved a bundle on previous trips.

We aren't big breakfast eaters, so I'll pack things like cereal, granola bars, and Pop-Tarts in our checked luggage and buy some milk and orange juice at the resort store. When we stayed at Pop Century, I also brought disposable bowls, cups, and spoons.

Be flexible. When I booked my trip for last October, I booked All Star Movies and POFQ. I ended up saving about $300 by changing to All Star Sports and POR with the room discounts available for my stay.

I agree with those who said AP and TIW.

Always take my own water bottle to the park, BPA free and all that jazz, fill it up at the fountains, get some ice to cool it down from the C/S, fortune saved. I've also given up with ponchos, I invested in a lightweight waterproof jacket from an outlet store, a slightly fancier pac-a-mac, a few trips back and just keep taking it back with me! Great for water rides and flash storms, and so thin it doesn't leave me all sweaty and what not.

Always bring a bunch of snacks from home or do a Hess station run and munch on these instead of buying in the parks.

I have a question after reading all of these... I checked the Disney website and didn't find it, how do you get the TIW card?

I really don't think it's "saving money" but I do collect the gift cards monthly and we try to use those and not out of pocket when we are there. I feel like it keeps me kind of in line.

A lot of our other trips are related to hockey and Joe is reimbursed for a lot of the costs so we tend to not cut out too much when we got to the world...

DVC Members, AP holders, and Florida residents may purchase the TIW card at any Guest Relations location.

for JMed--TIW is available to Florida Residents, DVC, and (somebody verify), I believe AP holders. You purchase the card at guest relations for $100-125 depending on which group you qualify in. If you decide to buy a card, make sure that you have enough table service planned to get your money's worth! If you don't save at least the cost of the card over the one year membership, it's not worth it. Also if you would normally eat counter service and you're eating table service just because you have the TiW card and you save 20%, you're not actually "saving" money.

I like the convenience of having a rental car. By renting the economy or compact or whatever cheap little thing I can get (usually from Dollar), I can usually make up the cost of having that car in savings on water and breakfast food. Also, I don't eat cooked breakfasts if I can avoid them, so breakfast out is a waste of money for us and an exercise in frustration for me. We stop at Publix on the way to our resort and buy water, granola bars, hard boiled eggs, nuts, etc. Our total shopping bill is usually around $60. 10 days of bottled water = $100-150 for us. 10 days of breakfasts = $150-200 for us, so even with our added rental car expense (usually $150 for 10 days), I can still save $40-140 total. If your traveling party can fit into one of these cheap little cars, you can save even more by venturing offsite for dinner or hitting the Disney store at the outlet mall for souvenirs.

Another way that we save is by asking two simple questions before we buy any souvenirs: 1. Where will we use it/display it in the house? 2. What will be its fate if we decide to pack up and move? If it's not useful and it won't be displayed anywhere and we'd get rid of it if we move, it doesn't come home. (If you could see my dad's "shop" where all of his treasures are stored that he's now face with selling and/or moving, you'd understand why!!) This keeps our souvenir buying mostly limited to pins and the odd shirt or Christmas ornament. Don't get me wrong, I have a TON of Disney stuff in my house, but most of it has been gifted or purchased somewhere other than the parks, often second hand.

Here's the link for TiW.

http://tablesinwonderland.com/

TIW is great if you use it. We use it - a lot. It's paid for itself many times over for us. If you do TS, Signature Dining, or spend a fair amount of time in the lounges, then definitely look into it.

thanks y'all I am debating it!