What is the cheapest way to go to Walt Disney?

Question

My family of four are planning a trip there in the next few months. And it's going to be expensive. Especially for the meals. Is there a cheaper way of going? How can we get around the meal plan? Help!

Answer 1

Probabily,by far, the cheapest way to go to Disneyland is dressing in your shabbiest clothes and hopping a Westbound freight train or you might point yourself West and stick up your thumb and hope for a stright through ride.Since your whole family is going, you might each make a sign that say "will work for food". I think that anyone could get buy on pennies by following this advice on the "cheapest way to travel"!

Answer 2

Honestly, I started to answer your question, but tech_fanatic answered it perfectly. Anything that I was going to add would only be repetition.

I agree with him, make sure you are staying on the grounds. In order to take advantage of everything Disney has to offer, staying at a Disney run hotel is a must. Staying at the off-site hotels may save money, but the amount that you will save does not make up for the services you lose. Also, you won't be able to use the Disney transportation, and getting too and from the parks off-site is a pretty big hassle.

I always tell people who are going to make sure that you get the park hopper option on their tickets. If you want to be able to come and go as you please, you need the park hopper option. It is worth the extra money, by far.

Read what tech wrote, he knows his stuff. The only difference I would have said is that I always make the reservations myself. I just can't see spending money to pay someone to make the arrangements for me. The first time that I went I called the Disney vacation people a number of times, and they were always happy to answer any questions I had.

Have a great trip!!!

Answer 3

My husband and I offer a Disney Vacation Planning Service. We do all of the planning and research to create a Disney vacation that best suits your family. If you are interested, please check out the link and info below.

The only way to take advantage of the Disney Dining Plan is to stay on property. That in itself can be quite expensive. However, the All Star and Pop Century resorts are currently going for $82 a night. If this is too much for your budget, I recommend you stay off Disney property, but close by. And choose a location with a full kitchen so that you can save money on meals by preparing them instead of eating out every night.
Check out The Lake Suites located off Hwy 192 in Kissimmee. They are condo style hotels which can accomodate small or large families. A family suite with full kitchen is only $69 a night. A bi-level suite for a larger group (like say 5-8) is $89 a night on up. They also offer a complimentary shuttle service to and from the parks, which leaves ever 30 minutes. Preparing your own meals is the best and least expensive way to go when vacationing at Disney World. My husband and I do it all the time. We plan for a few cheap meals inside the parks (quick service rest. - which are about $5-$10 a person) and at least one, nice sit down meal or buffet for the trip.
You can save on park tickets by purchasing them at any of the following legitimate locations:

AAA (membership required)
your local Disney Store
Costco (membership required - travel services)
Sam's Club (membership required - travel services)

If you would like help planning for your next trip or if you would just like to read up on some fun tips and ideas that are updated monthly, visit my Disney Vacation Services My space page, at:

http://www.myspace.com/disneymickeyvacation

Have a great time!

Answer 4

I think staying in a Disney Hotel is worth it, you wont have to spend on parking neither on transportation unless you are planning to go somewhere else. As far as the meals go, they are expensive, however... you can always make one trip to the grocery store and stock up on certain things that wont get bad too fast.

Answer 5

Well, no one says you have to stay at one of the many Disney owned hotels. Food inside the magic kindom is expensive. SO I think is best if you get a hotel that has a kitchen or rent a house for that time period. If you want to save on tickets try to find a Disney employee. Disney gives its employees a couple of free tickets so that they can take their family to the parks. Employees get tired of going to Disney all the time so they sell their tickets. Price may vary but I've seen them for $20. These tickets allow you to go to all parks albeit for only a day. Well, thats how it was when I worked there. Things might had changed.

Answer 6

If you are wanting to stay in a budget, but really want to reduce the amount of time you have to put into the research, I would look into a Disney specialized agent. They can work a budget like magic so you can get so much more with their knowledge, and it takes so much less time.

I'm not sure of what your budget is. If you really want to have a fantastic time, I would try to stay onsite. The value resorts at Disney are really cute (Pop Century, All Star Movies, All Star Music and All Star Sports) they aren't fancy, but they are a lot of fun, and most kids like them better than the moderate or deluxe resorts which cost alot more.

I would say that $2000 would give you a nice stay onsite. The meal plan is a great deal and will save you a lot of money, depending on your kids ages, kids under 10 eat for only $10.99 and under 2 are free. You really can't find less expensive food for the kids, that is a big savings. You can eat for less, you just can't expect to eat at the nicer places you are able to eat at on the meal plan. Bringing some snacks and things will help you save some money and maybe you won't need to eat as many meals in the park. If you go offsite that will also save you money. Have a large breakfast someplace like Denny's and then go to the park, have a snack and then have dinner in the early evening. The meal plan can save you 40% off your food if you want to eat at the nicer places, so if you plan to eat onsite, that is really the way to go and one of the biggest benefits to staying onsite. Counterservice meals only cost about $10 per person, but most only offer hamburgers and fries. There are some that offer other foods for around the same price, but not as many.

Staying onsite also gives you a ton of benefits that you can't get offsite. Here are a few of the reasons I would stay onsite:

1). Better transportation- Especially if you are travelling with younger kids or older adults that need to rest in the middle of the day. Many offsite hotels, if they offer a shuttle (if they don't that is an additional cost you will have to pay) only run in the morning and in evening. You usually need to schedule the shuttle, etc. It can also be a long ride and take away a good portion of your time at the park. Onsite transportation is fast and easy, and it runs all day. Depending on where you would stay you have different transportation options, all resorts offer buses, some of them offer boat transportation and three offer a monorail for transportation.

2). You can take advantage of the Disney dining plan. This plan can save you 40% off of your food and you get to eat at the nicer restaurants that you may not eat at otherwise. It is a great deal.

3). I'm not sure when you are going, but Disney offers promotions for just about every date of the year. Unless you are going in the next few weeks, you should still be able to get a promotion for your dates. Currently they are offering free ticket upgrades, but they often offer free dining, especially during value season. So if you add up the saving there, you will more than likely be spending less, or possibly a little more than an offsite hotel, but you get all of the extra benefits and probably a lot more included.

4) The Disney touch- When you stay at Disney you know you are going to be staying at a nice place. I've gone past some of hotels that offer lower rates, and in some cases the same rates as Disney's hotels, and I think I would be afraid to go inside. Most of them aren't very clean, they can be a few miles away, etc. Also, you get the Disney service. If there is a problem, Disney will go above and beyond to try and fix the problem and do everything they can to make up for it. Even in cases where it isn't even their problem, they try their best to compensate in some way.

5). You can charge purchases to a room card so you don't have to bring your credit cards and cash with you everywhere you go.

6). Parking is free at your resort and you will also get free parking for the theme parks and some of the other places on property.

7). You packages can be delivered to your room. I know this doesn't sound like much now. But when you are in the parks, it is hot, you've been there all day, your tired and you have a ton of purchases to carry around, put on the bus, take back to the room (especially if you have kids that have purchases and/or diaper bags, strollers, etc.) it is nice to be able to make your purchase and then let Disney deliver it to your room.

8). Disney also offers Magical Express. Now, this isn't the best service and it does have some room for improvement, but it is also free. So that is another $100 or so dollars that you can save just for your transfer to and from the airport.

These are just a few of the benefits. I think that if you actually figure out your costs, everything that is included, etc. you will probably find that an offsite hotel actually ends up being more and you don't get all of the benefits. Most people think they are saving a ton of money by staying offsite, but they don't figure in the costs for everything else, or consider other benefits. After everything is said and done, I can almost guarentee you can save money by staying onsite, and you know you have a good room and things like that.

Unless I am in Orlando for business, or have to attend a convention, meeting, etc. I always stay onsite, I even stay onsite when I am just there for business because I like the Disney hotels that much.


If you need any ideas or need some more help, please e-mail me. I go to Disney several times a year and I love to help.

Answer 7

did you get their dvd? also, i wouldn't stay in their hotels. i'm guessing they're much more expensive than the ones around the park. when i went there a couple years ago, i just stayed at a hotel a couple miles away, and the hotel had a free shuttle go there every day.