It’s the happiest place on earth! It’s also the #1 vacation destination in the USA. With that, comes with a hefty price tag. Can you do Disney on a budget? Is it even possible?! Here’s what we did!
1. Book your sleeping accommodations with an actual WDW hotel.
A. You will get a free ride to and from the airport (with the Disney magical express! They even get your bags from the plane and bring them to your hotel room!) Savings: $30 each way to and from the hotel
B. You get free transportation to and from all the parks with the Disney boats, buses and monorails! Savings: $10 each way to and from the park
C. You get magic hours! On magic hours you’ll either get an hour before the park opens or after the park opens. This is a whole extra hour in the park without all the guests!
2. Book your accommodations with friends and family! We chose to stay in a 2 bed hotel room and split the cost of the trip in half! We were originally going to stay at one of the lower end hotels, which was completely fine. But then we decided to bring some family with us and stay closer to the parks! We only ended up paying $200 more to stay closer to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks! Savings: $800
3. Share food and pack your own snacks! There is no need to eat every meal in the park! Bring granola bars and trail mix with you to keep your energy levels up! We brought Cliff Bars and they saved us! Sometimes we were super hungry and eating a Cliff Bar held us over and didn’t cause us to buy a meal.
A. On the day we went to Epcot, we decided to eat “around the world”. Epcot has a world showcase with a variety of countries like Morocco, Canada and Norway! This could have come with a heafty price tag, especially since it was the Festival of Arts while we were there. We decided to only buy 1 item in each country and split it 4 ways. Because we did this, we only spent $20 a person and go to try food from all 11 countries!
4. Bring a reusable water bottle. Don’t be forced into buying a $5 water bottle every time you are thirsty! Bring a reusable water bottle with you and fill it up throughout the day. You can also ask any food stand for a free cup of water! We would each ask for a cup of water. We would drink 1 or 2 on the spot and then use the other 2 to fill up our Hydroflask.
5. Don’t buy souvenirs. Unless you are a super fan, when will you ever wear Mickey Mouse ears? Before we got to WDW we bought our Disney shirts from Target for $5-8 a piece. Now that’s a good deal from the $40+ you’ll pay in the parks!
What money saving tips do you have to stay on a budget in Disney World?
Remember to follow us on Instagram at @lifeofthepilotswife and on Pinterest at Life of the Pilots wife.
Also give my sis a follow on instagram! She took many of these photos and pretty much planned the whole trip! She is a Disney pro! Her instagram is @rebecca_quam
Life of the Pilots Wife 