Despite being the parents of three Disney-appreciating children, my husband and I never explored the option of a Disney World vacation, assuming it was too pricey for us. Then, an opportunity fell into our laps, and a few months later we were driving home from an epic vacation without cashing in our 401ks. Here’s how we did it.
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Timeshare Tours
I called to book a room through a major hotel chain for our anniversary and found myself on the line with a vacation planner. This person was in charge of scheduling discounted vacations in exchange for a tour of one of their properties, coupled with a two hour-ish sales pitch. If you like what the company has to offer, you can become an owner, and if not, you say no and still stay at your hotel at the discounted price.
It just so happened that several timeshares were located in Orlando. We had months to book the vacation, as well as other incentives like a free night on the hotel in another city. I’ve since studied about all the benefits of staying on property at Disney, but the timeshare was a fraction of the cost of any other option we found in Orlando. Plus, they fed us on the day we were touring, so one less meal to purchase!
The Gift of Experience
We talked to our kids about going to Disney, but the oldest rightfully assumed it would cost our family a lot of money. So the kids agreed this trip could be in lieu of Christmas presents for 2018 (Santa still treated them well, though). We told our extended family of our plans and also received Disney gift cards for Christmas.
Speaking of Gift Cards
We bought our snacks and meals in the park with gift cards, although we always ate breakfast in our hotel suite. I bought a few Disney gift cards with my Target Redcard (it’s linked to my debit card) and automatically got 5% off those purchases.
I also was a new consultant for Thirty-One when we booked our vacation. I had joined for the discount, honestly, as I wanted a few more organizing pieces (that I’ve written about previously). But, one sales incentive for new consultants is paid in Visa or Disney gift cards. I earned enough and watched my spending enough to have money left on the gift cards when we returned home. I used those funds to purchase a new Belle dress and plush dolls for my daughter for her birthday. (So you know, maybe consider joining my Thirty-One team, too).
Oh, and we also purchased our souvenirs with gift cards. We found out The World of Disney in Disney Springs has allllll the souvenirs, so we allowed ourselves to only window shop until our final day. Luckily, we found everything we wanted on that day inside Epcot’s shops, but Disney Springs was a nice option in case we needed it.
Ticket Purchase (Plus, a Note on Universal Tickets)
Our biggest cost on this trip: the tickets. Our youngest is still two, so he got in free. No, he didn’t need a birth certificate to prove it. Still, four park tickets for four people for three days wasn’t cheap. My husband’s membership in a professional organization offered a discount on tickets, which did help a little. At any rate, ordering online ahead of time through a reputable vendor seems to be the ticket here (har har).
My daughter and I spent one late afternoon and evening at Universal, mostly on a whim, so I purchased discounted tickets at our hotel. And let me first be clear here; I didn’t immediately realize Universal was NOT part of Disney and would require a different ticket.
We took an Uber to the park (free with a code I found online) and breezed right in with our tickets. After a day in Disney, I was used to Disney’s FastPass system – each ticket holder receives three fast passes per day to use to jump to the accelerated lines, and I was personally a fan.
But at Universal, this free pass concept is not a thing. An Express pass will add a hefty fee to each ticket, but the passes do help ticket holders to the front of the lines for each ride. Which is great for them, and terrible for those of us who paid the normal ticket fee and waited in line for one coaster for over an hour as the express people breezed past us.
Plan Or Panic
As my friend, a seasoned Disney traveler, and I planned out an itinerary for this trip, I began to feel less overwhelmed and more excited. I looked over park maps (Kenny the Pirate’s were fabulous) and plotted our course for each day, starting with booking FastPasses in the Disney app. We made plans for potential lunch spots and where we might want to grab snacks in addition to where we would be riding rides and watching shows. I perused menus to jot down not only food items but also costs.
And then, right before the trip, my daughter ended up in the hospital and vacation planning went to the bottom of our list. Add my son’s burst eardrum to the chaos and we were amazed to finally have everyone healed and on the way to our destination!
Which reminds me of one additional savings: we drove 16 hours to Disney. We split this up between two days and stayed in Choice Hotels so we could take advantage of a free night after a few stays. After we finished at the parks, we drove four hours north and hit the beach for a few days. Even with all of these additional costs, we spent less than we would have on plane tickets for our whole crew.
Anyway, those early plans served us so well as we stepped into the Magic Kingdom, breathed in the grandeur of Cinderella’s Castle, then said things like, “Ooh, look! There’s that Peter Pan ride! A carousel! Do you see that Dumbo ride? There’s a Mickey ice cream bar! Let’s go meet that princess! Wait, isn’t that Rapunzel’s tower?” But instead, we went back to our list and followed the plan (with some flexibility, of course!) so that we didn’t waste time or spend money in places we didn’t really wish to spend it.
And next time, my plan won’t include Dole Whip. That stuff is soft-serve sherbet or something. Hard pass from us and money savings to boot.
Splurges
We really only had one splurge, aside from the Dole Whip: The Star Wars Dessert Party at Hollywood Studios.
I carefully researched character dining and asked my friend’s advice to determine this splurge, and I think we chose well. The freeze-fried chocolate hazelnut mousse and the Lightspeed Margarita each made this experience worth it for me, as well as the Storm Troopers keeping we citizens in line, and the exclusive viewing area for the fireworks and light show was nice. All of the other events we did that day, for example, were included in the cost of admission, including Jedi training, meeting characters and riding rides.
Next time, I think we will splurge on character dining.
In Conclusion
Before we left for vacation, I was searching message boards and online groups for advice on all things Disney, such as what to bring into the park and what to leave behind. (Ponchos were nice for rain, by the way, and cheap enough that we had multiples so we could toss them when one set got too soaked…extra socks were also an amazing suggestion). But I became pretty distressed when veteran Disney-goers said over and over, “Just bring more money.”
There’s a theme park more local to us called Silver Dollar City, which is affectionally nicknamed “Steal Your Dollar City.” I grew up going to that theme park several times per year, and aside from the ticket cost and the occasional bag of saltwater taffy and a frozen lemonade, I rarely spent much at the park and still had a blast. My Disney experience was the same; you must purchase tickets, but after that, you can even bring your own food into the park and not spend another dime there if you so choose.
I can see how it is easy to spend all the monies in Disney, but with a plan in place beforehand that included splurges, we were able to arrive home from our road trip without being too shell-shocked. The only problem: now we have to start saving our pennies as we plan our return trip.
