There is so much pull in society now to spend all the money, do all the things, and give our kids all the experiences! Yet, we also know that inflation is high and any money you can save is worth it. I can also, attest that kids love what we love. An experience doesn’t have to break the bank or be super extravagant to be something special for them. Watching a movie with my son is one of his absolute favorite things to do…yet, it’s free and easy! Being a single-income family, as I stay home with our kids, it’s important to us to stay within our budget and save money when we can. A few months ago, my husband was nominated for an award and given the chance to present at a conference at Coronado Springs, a Disney moderate resort. We decided this was a great opportunity for our whole family to tag along. Luckily, we did as he ended up winning the award and it made it even more special that we got to experience the awards ceremony with him.
It was important to our family that we didn’t break our budget with this one trip. Experiences are definitely worth it, but not when it sends you into debt or stops you from saving for other things. Without further ado, here are my best tips for visiting Disney on a budget, so you can have a trip of a lifetime without dropping all the money!
- First, do your research! Determine which splurges you want to do, what’s possible for your family, and what your kids would love the most. People say everything costs at Disney…I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t. There are things to do, that your family will love, that are free or cheap! Our kids had never been to Disney World, but that also, didn’t mean we had to visit all the parks. If that’s your thing and it’s in your budget, then do it! For us, it wasn’t worth it. Our splurges were a half day (available because my husband was attending a conference there) at Magic Kingdom and a dinner at Chef Mickey’s at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Everything else we did were not extraordinary costs. After you figure out your splurges, set up your schedule around those things. Make sure you leave enough time to thoroughly enjoy those special things.
2. Plan your trip ahead. You are less likely to spend on random activities that you decide to do spur-of-the-moment if you plan out your trip prior to your departure. Here are most of the things we did that didn’t cost an extreme amount.
*Summer Winterland Miniature Golf- There are two different courses here: snow and sand. Being from Minnesota, we had to do the snow course. Cost was $19 for adults (ages 10+) and $12 for children (ages 3-9). There is another miniature golf course on Disney’s property called Fantasia.
*Riding Disney’s transportation is a fun activity for families since, you don’t always have access to a monorail, boat, or sky tram in everyday life. Instead of using it just as a means to get somewhere, enjoy the experience! Cost is FREE! Our favorite mode of transportation was the sky tram. Although, if you don’t like heights or get motion sick, this might not be the best option for you.
*Disney Boardwalk- This is a spot with many different restaurants and a few resorts close by. It’s beautiful and a fun spot to walk and explore. If your time is limited, this would be one spot I wouldn’t go as it wasn’t a favorite for anyone in our group. Cost is FREE!
*Disney Springs- Transportation from the Disney resorts is again, free to Disney Springs. There are live performers and lots of stores to see. Our favorites were the Disney store and the Lego store. Within the Lego Store, there was a spot for kids (of all ages) to build and we spent a large chunk of time there.
*T-Rex Cafe- If you have a child who loves dinosaurs or even just animals, this place is a great spot! Not only does it contain tons of dinosaurs that anyone can pet or take pictures with, but it also, has an ice cave section to sit in and an aquarium. Every twenty minutes, the animals come alive and a small show occurs. When finished eating, be sure to check out the sand pit where kids can dig for dinosaur bones and search for rocks in the mill. Prices for adult meals were $19-$35 and kid’s meals were $11.49 for kids nine and under. Definitely a fun experience that was worth it for our dinosaur-loving kids!
*Check out what your resort has to offer! We took advantage of a lot of the fun activities at our resort. Not only did we have a pool and water slide, which our kids enjoyed, but we also had a playground, shuffle ball, soccer billiards, pickle ball, and ping-pong where we spent a chunk of time. Every day, they had a free arcade tournament where anyone could play games for part of the tournament for free! Our son loved doing this! They had a bonfire most nights as well. We chose to bring our own smore’s stuff (which was easy to pack) to enjoy. Another activity we partook in at Coronado Springs was watching a Disney movie outside one night. The night we watched was The Little Mermaid and for our littlest ones, who can’t sit still for a full movie, they were able to participate in lawn games close by (chess and checkers). Last, we also did a resort scavenger hunt where we found Mickey mosaics throughout the resort. This allowed us to actually see the whole property and explore with a purpose. At the end, the kids brought their finished scavenger hunt sheet to the resort store and received a free pin for each of them. All of these things were free!
*Resort-hopping- I had read about doing this from another blogger and thought all right, we will give it a shot. Boy, was I glad we did! This was definitely one of our favorite activities. Not only did we have fun, but we learned a lot too! Read below for more details.
3. Plan a relaxing day at your resort or resort-hop! Trust me when I say you will be tired on your trip. Disney resorts have so much to offer, so make sure you take advantage of all your resort has to do. Many of the things are free and your body/kids will thank you for a down day. If staying at your resort doesn’t seem like something you want to do, then I highly suggest resort hopping! Each resort on Disney’s property is stunning in it’s own way and it’s an experience just walking through each one. I researched each one before we went to determine the ones we wanted to visit. Since we had five kids with us the day we were going resort-hopping, I picked ones that would appeal to the kids. Best part of this day was with some of my other tips, our day was completely free!
Here was our route for resort-hopping:
*We took a sky tram to Disney’s Caribbean resort. This resort has a playground on an island. Our kids loved playing there and enjoyed being on the island.
*Then, we walked to Disney’s Riviera Resort. At this resort, they had bocce ball, connect four, and several other lawn games. The kids loved playing these. They also, had beautiful artwork that the adults enjoyed.
*After Riviera, we took the sky tram to Hollywood Studios where we caught a bus to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. This was, by far, my favorite resort. It was stunning! They had a waterfall here and a geyser that erupts every hour. We ate lunch next to the geyser and enjoyed all the beauty here.
*From the Wilderness Lodge, we took a boat to the Magic Kingdom. Then, we took a bus to the Animal Kingdom lodge. My kids loved this one! First off, they had a beautiful savanna in the middle of the lodge. Here, we saw giraffes, pelicans, tortoises, zebras, flamingos, and many other animals. Guides were outside who told us lots of information about the animals and answered all (and there were a lot) the questions. Inside, there was a guide playing music with African instruments who let the kids try and another guide carving wood animal sculptures that we got to watch. There was a playground that we did not get to play at, due to time, here too.
4. Buy your souvenirs ahead of time. We knew there would be a few things we would want to buy at Disney, so we purchased them ahead of time. Everything is a little more expensive on Disney property than it would be other places. For instance, we knew our girls would love to wear Minnie Mouse ears around Disney. At the park, the ears are $35 each. I bought a set of two for $6 total on Amazon prior to the trip. For our son, we bought a Mickey mouse hat online. One souvenir that I loved when I went to Disney World, as a kid, was an autograph book. In fact, I still have it with my baby book. So, I bought an autograph book online prior to our trip for our son and I bought two Minnie Mouse purses for my girls to get autographed. They LOVED having a purse signed by the characters. Last, we always buy an ornament on every trip for our Christmas tree. Instead of buying one at Disney, we bought a Minnie Mouse ornament at Hobby Lobby on sale before leaving. Same memory and idea for our tree at a much cheaper price! If you want special outfits or other things, buy them ahead. There are many places to purchase adorable Disney gear that is cheaper than on property. Other than those items purchased prior to the trip, we did not buy any other souvenirs there.
5. Buy the re-usable mug from a resort. At the Disney resorts, you can buy a re-usable coffee mug for $21.99 and you can get free refills of coffee, soda, or iced tea at any resort and on the Disney Boardwalk. If you drink any of these things, this is definitely worth it as individual drinks add up very quickly! As for my kids, they each brought their water bottles everywhere we went. When I filled up my mug, they filled up their bottles with cold water for free instead of buying waters at each location.
6. Plan your meals out and bring food from home or get a grocery order there! This was a huge savings for us. We have started doing this more when we travel as eating out all the meals not only costs a ton of money, but makes you feel disgusting by the end of the trip. The food on property definitely costs more than it would off property. Is it super expensive? No. Does it add up when you have a large family and eat every meal out? Yes. Do you have to plan prior to the trip to make this happen? Yes, but it’s worth it. Another bonus to having your own food for meals throughout the days is that you pack it along and eat it wherever you are. This helped so much because our kids didn’t have hungry melt-downs because I always had food easily with me. Waiting in line…take out a sandwich and no big deal. For breakfast, I made a loaf of banana bread and a batch of pumpkin muffins. We also, brought granola bars and I bought apples and bananas from a small grocery order. Kids easily ate in the morning while I got ready. As for lunches or dinners, I packed a wide variety of things that I planned for each day. Ideas include: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, crackers with beef sticks and string cheese, hummus and crackers, chicken salad with crackers, bread or naan bread, tuna salad packs, protein balls with fruit, and yogurt parfaits. Snacks included: raisins, yogurt covered raisins, apples, bananas, apple sauce pouches, granola bars, cereal, chex mix, protein balls, and goldfish. Though the planning process is daunting, it really does save a lot of money, mental load, stress, and melt-downs to have your meals planned out prior.
7. Buy Disney gift cards from Costco or Sam’s Club prior to the trip. While the savings are not enormous for buying gift cards from here, it’s still savings. Depending on how much money you are planning to use on Disney property, you save more the larger the gift card.
Overall, these tips helped us save so much money at Disney and I hope it can help you as well! Taking a huge trip doesn’t have to break the bank or make you sacrifice experiences. Spend your money on what’s important to you and save your money on everything else! Enjoy Disney, it truly is magical for the whole family!
Adventures with Sota Mama 
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