What Are Your Best Money Saving Tips at Walt Disney World?

Kristen, we usually just fill them up at the water fountains, as we see them. I've always been too scared to ask for ice in my water bottle at the restaurants, but you say they'll let you?? That would be awesome.

And about the splitting of the meals things at table service restaurants: that's totally acceptable? Someone mentioned that they'll bring you an extra place, so I guess they don't scoff at the splitting of meals. Is that the case?

These are awesome tricks and tips, guys! Keep 'em comin'!

Where do you order your tees from? I think this is a great idea!

I actually went searching for some and although these are a tad pricey some of them are SO CUTE!!

http://www.redbubble.com/shop/disney+t-shirts?page=1

Took a case of 24 water bottles down with me last time. Worked out wonderful. We stayed at the Pop, so we would keep them in the fridge and pack a few in my sister's backpack for the parks! We wouldn't need a ton of them at once, since we'd usually come back midday for a nap. I bought the case for $5 and since bottles are like $4 a piece I think I saved a LOT of money doing that!! I would never ever go down there without bringing my own water (though I drive, so I realize it's easier for me to do this)!

Though asking for water from the QS places is a neat idea too. Never would have thought to do that!!

We also went to Walmart down there (don't ever go to Walmart) and bought some snacks and breakfast-y items. It saved some money, but next time I'm planning on submersing myself completely and only eating Disney food (though I may stop at the McDonald's on property for a cheaper iced coffee).

Those are cute, Karlipants!!

I usually wait til Disney Store has a good sale on T-shirts, but occasionally I luck out and find Junk Food tees with Disney characters on them at either Gap or Old Navy. I've even found a couple of cute tees at Walmart!

If we don't do the dining plan (which we've done the past four visits) we would usually either camp in the motor home at Wilderness Campground or stay in room with kitchen area. We would eat all meals at room or campground. Saved a ton of money for our family.

Campground was nice because we would hit the parks when they opened, leave for lunch and take a siesta. We would eat and relax at our camp from 11 - 3, then hit the park up again until close. We avoided most of the hot sun and we would enter again as crying children were leaving! Win, win!

Does this tshirt place tinkerbell for adults?

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See M

- Always stay on Disney property and take advantage of Disney's Magical Express transportation to and from your resort.

- Bargain shop online for Disney toys, T-shirts, books, pajamas for the kids (think Target.com) and have them shipped to your resort. You can even include a gift message to your child from Mickey & Minnie or Cinderella or whoever they like. My 4-year old got a "special package from the Princesses" on our last visit and she loved it!

- Order breakfast items, favorite snacks and a case (or two) of water from Gardengrocer.com a week before your trip arrival date. It eliminates the need to bring/rent a car and drive to the store, checkout, drive back, etc. You simply specify your resort and arrival date and it will be waiting in your room even before you get there! (Refrigerated items are always stored properly.)

- For those with little girls, buy Disney princess dresses at home (think Disney store, Target Halloween clearance) and bring them on your trip. This could easily save you $40-$50 per dress as they are very pricey in the parks ($70-$75)!

- Purchase glow necklaces, bracelets, glow sticks and glow wands at your local dollar store and bring them with you to the parks for the kids to have at night during Fantasmic, Electric Light Parade, or anytime you're out at night. A lot less expensive than one spinning glow toy for $20 that they will forget about the second they get home.

I've done these on the last 3 trips with my daughter and it definitely saves a little (or a lot) here and there!

This is true. I have purchased Disney Parks princess dresses in the past for my nieces when I still had my Cast Member discount, and they are detailed high quality garments, just a little expensive for my taste at full price.

However, as my daughter only wears her princess dresses once or twice, we find the less expensive dresses work well for us and I was able to let her wear her own princess dress to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Because she had her own dress, we were able to get the $54.95 package instead of the $239.95 package which includes the dress and accessories from the Disney parks. This is what worked for me, but to each his own.

Kristen, your daughter is GORGEOUS! And she looks JUST like Snow White!

Our big three savers...

Annual Passports. We lived in the Kansas City area, were 1265 miles away and drove every trip, but still stole incredible value by getting annual passports. We got them two different times. The last time (2008) our trips amounted to 10 days in the parks late summer, 6 days over New Year's, 6 days during spring break, and another 10 days in the parks in the early summer. That translated to a daily ticket cost of just over $15 per person.

Sleep outside of Disney. We stay at places that are just about as cheap as possible, but still close to the WDW entrance. The cost was half of Disney value resorts and we got breakfast (even if it was just cereals, bagels, (bad) danishes, juice and milk).

Get the majority of food outside of Disney. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon almost every day in the summer and about half the days of the other two trips. During those breaks either my wife or I would run to the store for supplies. We got stuff for snacks throughout the day, as well as things for lunch and/or dinner. Sandwiches, hummus and pita, lots of veggies and fruit, and anything we could find and tolerate for microwave eating. I know what you're thinking--we must not like food. In fact, the exact opposite is true. We're big time foodies. We just don't find value in paying Disney prices for theme park food. The exception is at Epcot where we purchased something to eat every afternoon/evening, whether it be a meal (always a late lunch for the cheaper prices) or a delicious treat. Oh, and a meal in Cinderella's Castle.

Yes, all of these things are extreme budget-conscious decisions. We found it was worth it. For our family of four, we had four trips totalling 32 days at the park, 2 days at the beach, and 8 full days on the road, and it cost us around $5800. Friends of ours went for a week and spent just $1000 less than us. They stayed and ate at Disney the entire trip and loved it; that wasn't for us, though. We willingly pinched every penny to get as many days at the parks as we could.

Annual passes to me are one of the biggest ways you can save. I know with our Florida resident passes, anytime we buy anything on property we give it to a CM to see if there are any discounts we can take advantage of. Usually it's anywhere from 10-15% all the way up to 20% off the bill. That goes a long way when you drop $150+ on dinner at EPCOT.

We have received a discount on just about every purchase we have made. From souvenirs to meals and everything in between. It may not sound like a lot. But after a week of spending and receiving discounts, it can add up pretty fast for some good savings.

I would think packing and taking your own water would be a big saver as everyone has pointed as well. We're lucky. The Best Western gives us four free water bottles per day. We take two and just refill them in the parks with a portable filter my wife found at some fitness tore here where we live. You figure if you drink say three waters per day, and had to buy them at $4.00 a pop. You can save $12.00 per day by just refilling a bottle. That adds up fast to savings.

When visiting Epcot, instead of getting your passort stamped at each country, let them stamp your body- arms legs, forehead. Then go to MNSSHP as a human passport. There, you just saved money on a halloween costume!

Very impressive! 32 park days is priceless! I did that kind of thing last year - over 4 weeks total in Orlando, offsite, skimped on food, used Marriott points (and earned some too).

Yeup, and the small wine bottles (4 to a pack) are actually legal flight size so I pop them wrapped into my carry on. DH and his friend (the husband of the other couple going) are trying to squeeze a trip to Hess in somewhere to get beer but I think we are covered with the other items.

I get jars of peanuts and such (protein) and then put small servings in snack ziplock bags. That way when someone becomes peckish, he/she can nibble away. I also find that have something to suck on helps, so a roll of favorite flavored lifesavers helps.

I learned a trick from dieting: If you think you are hungry, drink a glass of water and wait. If you are still hungry 15-20 min later, you really are; otherwise you are thirsty. So water bottles go everywhere!

I also used to buy too much stuff at Disney and now I just order what I want from online sources for far less. That way if I troll a store and fall in love with something, I either take a pic and see if I can find it online once back at the resort OR since I didn't buy other stuff, I don't feel so guilty (if we can do it on our budget in the first place).

Always love reading your responses ...This one is right on the Scots saver package..LOL..

You don't have to wash. After all, you are on vacation.

I will admit, we didn't try to save money this first trip. We wanted to immerse ourselves in the full experience of food, drink, resort, DDP, etc.

For this two day DL trip that was not planned, we are going much cheaper. We are not staying on site, as the conference hotel we are at is 3 blocks from DL, so walking. The conference rate was extended to a week prior, so huge savings. Breakfast is provided at the hotel, so no cost for that. We went to the Disney Outlet store last weekend and I found a Mickey water bottle, in a pouch, with a shoulder strap that is long enough to be worn cross-body. I will be filling that up in the morning, and then refilling with water throughout the day. Bonus, I will use it again 6 weeks later on our cruise and probably for years to come.

Also bought one clearance Mickey shirt to wear for $5.00 there and I still have the tie-dye shirt I made that I love for the other day. DH still has his two favs. Still have the dollar store ponchos that we ended up not needing. We decided to basically just do counter services this trip, OOP and actually will probably split a lunch one as it was so much food last time. Taking my glow ears that we already bought at WDW.

I was already going to purchase snacks and food stuff when we got to California for the week as we will be going sightseeing for the first couple of days, so I'll have those too to carry in the park. We also had planned on stopping at a liquor store when we arrived as we can keep it and beer in the room to save money on drinks all week.

Probably one of the best money saving things I did the first time was to make all but one of our shirts beforehand. I made us each 4 different t-shirts for $20.