Disney World on a budget??

Question

My three friends and I want to visit Disney World, but don't want to stay in a hotel / motel outside of Disney grounds. What are some recommendations for spending minimal amount of money INSIDE the park grounds?
i.e. what are the good, less expensive Disney hotels? cheap restaurants in Disney World / Downtown Disney?

Answer 1

One of the best things you can do is to travel during the value season - the rooms can be more than $50 a night cheaper, and the parks are a lot less crowded as well. The value seasons for the All-Stars and the Pop Century are August 27 - October 4 and November 26 - December 19 for 2006 and January 1 - February 14, August 5 - October 3 and November 25 - December 19 for 2007. "Standard" Value season prices are $79 for 2006 and $89 for 2007.

There are lots of tips and tricks for saving LOTS of money at Disney - way too many to include here. Some of the best places to find really useful good stuff is at Mousesavers (http://www.mousesavers.com/wdw.html) and the DIS boards forums (http://www.wdwinfo.com/chat.htm). There you can find discounts on rooms, ways to save inside the parks, and lots of ways to get the most for every dollar you spend. The Mousesavers newsletter also can give you up-to-date info on limited discounts, as well as links to special deals.

The single second thing that makes the biggest difference for us, though is to get the "Disney Dining" add-on and to plan our eating out very well. Lots of the more expensive places are included in the dining plan, so you can "splurge" a bit without breaking the budget and with good planning you many not need much more beyond that for your food budget. (Even with us having several special-diet needs, we usually only have to buy a few snacks to add to the meal package.) There are menus to help plan at http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm , and Dining Plan info at both the DIS boards and MouseSavers. (And watch the discounts and promotions closely - sometimes you can get the Dining Plan add-on free or at a substantially reduced price when Disney is running a special!)

Answer 2

The value resorts are going to be the least expensive. You can stay at Pop Century, or the All-Star Music Sports or Movies. They all run the same price.

If you go during value season you will have the lowest rates, also they run the best promotions during that time. For example, Disney offerred free dining from mid-August through September this year. They are still running lower rates, but they aren't quite as low as the free dining.

As far as where to eat, Disney has tons of counterservice restaurants that cost around $10 per person. It isn't fancy, but it does the job. Some that are still under ten per person, but a little nicer than just a hamburger would be Earl of Sandwich, Tusker House, even the Wolfgang Puck Express can be an inexpensive option.

There are also a lot of books that you can buy that tell you how to do Disney on a budget. Disney gives a lead in rate for two adults, one child and one junior for seven nights, with passes of $1500. This is for value season pricing in a value resort. So that can give you an idea of how much you will spend, you also have to add in food, an transportation, etc.

I hope this helps!

Answer 3

You can stay at the Pop Century or All-Star Resorts. Those hotels are more in the style of Holiday Inn, Days Inn hotels and are fairly inexpensive. You should also check into going during the Value Season, which is typically August through December, except for around the holidays. You could get rooms at the resorts for $79 during this time.

Another good way to save money is to use Disney transportation to get around property. Every park, hotel, Downtown Disney, is all accessible via the shuttle buses on property.

One thing people don't realize is that (if you're willing to carry it around) you can bring a bag with bottled water and snacks, rather than eating at the parks. Most of the quick service meals are relatively inexpensive, but they can start to get expensive if you don't plan well. Also, you can refill water bottles at the water fountains in the parks because the water is nice and cold and doesn't taste too funny.

Most of the fancier restaurants are kinda expensive but every locale has some sort of quick service/ snack food place. There's also a McDonald's located at Downtown Disney and by Animal Kingdom.

I've attached a link to the value resorts below. And here's a link of the Magic Your Way promotion designed to help people save money.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/magicYourWay/index?id=MagicYourWayIndexPage#

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

I've stayed at the All Star Movies and we're going to Pop Century this September - both are "value" hotels and start at $79 per night. The All Star Movies was nice - the rooms were clean and they had a nice food court. My only complaint would be the bus service wasn't great - they didn't have enough buses running - so we would wait a long time and then have to stand during the whole ride because there were never seats left.

As far as food - I haven't found any "cheap" restaurants at Disney - even the counter service places run at least $7.00 per person for a cheeseburger and a coke - I think that's a little high. Last time we went, we drove - so we would eat at a counter service place for lunch - then leave the parks at dinnertime - get our car and go out to a regular restaurant for dinner. The prices are more reasonable and the food is better.

Answer 5

Well, if you stay in a hotel outside of WDW property you will have to rent a car unless your hotel provides transportation to the parks, or you have your own car. In that case you will have to put out money for gas. WDW has several budget hotels that are practically the same price as any decent hotel outside of their grounds. If you stay at Pop Century or any of the All-Star hotels it will be about $80/ night.
Bring your own snacks and drinks into the park instead of buying them there. A bottle of water in the park is $2 and the food is kind of pricy too. When I go with family or friends we usually split meals. The best restaurants to do this are Columbia Harbor House, Pecos Bills, or Cosmic Ray's in Magic Kingdom; Sunshine Seasons or Electric Umbrella in EPCOT, etc. If you don't want to split then kids meals are the way to go. They are $3.99 come with a drink and a decent amount of food.
Souvenirs are what kills my budget when I go. Try not to buy too much stuff. I try to hinder my shopping by asking myself "where will I put this once I get home?" Some of the stores do have things on sale but they are hard to find.
Downtown Disney is an upscale shoping and dining area so everything there is pretty expensive but walking around is free and there are lots of things to see and do there. We like to go into Pleasure Island around dinner time because there is an Irish Pub there with live music and a beer garden called Raglan Road. The food there is expensive but if you go next door they have the same food for half the price and you can still sit outside and enjoy the music and a beer. Also, in the Marketplace tehre is a place called Earl of Sandwich and is is sooo good and pretty cheap. We saw Al Weiss there once!
Hope this helped!

Answer 6

Pop Century and the All Star hotels run about the same price as staying at a Holiday Inn or similar hotel would cost you in the Lake Buena Vista area, plus you get the benefits of staying on Disney property, such as a concierge in the lobby of your hotel, beautiful swimming pools, bus transportation to the parks and Extra Magic Hours in the parks.
Disney has also started a dining plan package (ask about it when you book your hotel room) where you pay a package price for hotel, tickets and some meals (you get 1 table service, 1 counter service and 1 snack per person per night of your stay). It's a really great deal. Also, try going during "value" season- it's the off-season, and hotels at Disney are much cheaper, plus, the parks aren't nearly as crowded, so you can do more during the day. September (after Labor Day)-October and January-early March are great times (plus the weather's nice!)

Another thing to think about-- Disney will let you bring outside food and drink into the park, as long as you don't bring in glass containers or alcohol. So you can bring in your own drinks, snacks and sandwiches to cut back on the money you're spending inside the parks! Sodas and waters in the park can really add up fast!

Answer 7

Hi there! To save money on a Disney World vacation, you'll want to stay at Disney's economy hotel.. the All Star Resort. It's still a Disney hotel with all of the perks (free transportation, package delivery to your room, etc..) but at a much more reasonable price. The higher-end hotels run in the $400 a night category, while these are around $120/night or less, depending on the time of year. I recommend the All Star Music -- it has a great swimming pool! My husband used to lifegaurd there. :)
As for restaurants... you really have a few options. If you really want to save money, you'll make a PB&J sandwich and put it at the bottom of your bag (they do check bags, but just the top portion... they just look in, so no worries) and eat it inside the park. To eat cheaply inside the parks, check your park map for listings of quick service dining. Quick service is the cheapest food at Disney.

If you would like help planning your trip or would like some other tips and ideas, visit my Disney Vacation Blog, I'm All Ears at:

http://im-all-ears-disney-vacation-services.blogspot.com/

I used to be a Disney Cast Member... it's where I met my husband. So now we help folks plan their vacations! Have a great time and let us know if we can help you guys out!

Answer 8

The Pop Century Resort is your best value for staying on the grounds at Disney World - It is about the price of your average Motel 6. By staying on the grounds you can then utilize the meal ticket package. When purchased for about $35 for an adult - it includes 1 lunch, 1 dinner and an afternoon snack. It includes everything on the menu, the only disadvantage is that it can only be used at select resturants in the park, but you have a great choice anyway. We saved about $300 for 2 adults and 2 children during our stay in February 2005. Check it out on line. Also try www.mousesavers.com for some good tips. Have a great time.

Answer 9

They have what is called Value Resorts. They are the Pop Century, and the All-Star resorts (movies, music or sports) These are the less expensive ones.

As for in the parks: If you can get by on visiting one park per day, don't bother with the "Park Hopper Option". Many people like this, as it allows you to spend part of the day say at Magic Kingdom, then spend the rest of the day at another park, say Epcot. I personally find that one park per day is sufficient, especially if you are staying for more than 4 days.

Inside the parks: one way that I have saved money before is to share meals. The portions are usually enough to sustain 2 people. (We had to do this 2 years ago due to the fact that we went crazy with souveniers and were running low on cash-LOL) Some inexpensive souvenirs: pressed pennies. There are machines in every park and every resort. Cost: 51 cents each for the pennies.

Have a good trip!

Answer 10

You really only have one resort choice..Pop Century, it is the best “value” resort, stay clear of all-stars, Pop Century is much newer and just a better overall resort for the $$ if your looking to do all of this on the cheap..

Try to go to a local market and stock up on poptarts, cereal and milk, that will at least save you $$ on breakfast.

Be sure to eat at the Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney, this is the best value for a quick meal on the run and it is GOOD, when you see the line you will see that the secret is out!!