Can You Really Save Money at Disney?

Yes you can. I know that most people don't put the words saving money along with Disney, but with a little bit of planning, you most certainly can save some money on your vacation. Now don't get me wrong, the savings are not going to be monumental, but a little bit goes a long way. Short of winning a free trip or some other contest, the trip itself is still going to cost a decent amount. There are not a lot of discounts to be had out there for Disney itself, unless of course you just love sitting through time share spiels and wasting precious hours of your vacation. If that sounds like a fun day to you, then those deals can be found all over Orlando. If that is not your ideal way to save money, I have a few more that will help soften the blow of the cost.
It is possible to save money on Disney tickets themselves. The best way to get these deals is to head over to mousesavers.com and sign up for their monthly newsletter. In it, there is usually a link to buy park passes at a discount. Sometimes you can also get discounts by using a travel agent, though we have not gone that route since for me the planning of the trip is almost as exciting as the trip itself.
So, there are ways to save a little money on the tickets before you go. What are some other ways? Making a list of everything you will need before the trip and buying it ahead of time can save you a lot just by being able to avoid buying things on Disney property. It is an obvious no brainer that things are going to be a lot higher on property than they would be at your local Wal Mart. So, make a list, and check it twice to avoid forgetting the little things and avoid using precious souvenir money on small things like shampoo or diapers.
One of the biggest expenses once you get on property is food. Everyone has to eat, and Disney knows that. Therefore, the prices are not going to be cheap. Who wants to leave property to eat since that will take away from precious park time (or sleep time in the mornings). So, to alleviate some of the cost, take as much food as you can from home. Even though we have been on the dining plan the last five trips, we still had to cover one meal a day (it covers one sit down and one counter service meal a day). The way we make the best use of the plan is to use it for lunch or dinner, and cover breakfast on our own. We buy muffins, bagels, or donuts before we leave home and eat those every day. The food court has toaster ovens that everyone can use so we toast our bagels when needed and enjoy a quick, cheap meal before heading out to the parks. I think we spent $12 at our local grocery store before we left last year for breakfast foods, juice boxes and small paper plates and that covered our breakfast for the three of us all 11 days of our trip. If we would have bought our breakfast on property every day it would have easily been $10 a day minimum. A bonus was that when we came home, we had all that empty room in our suitcase for extra souvenirs :)
Speaking of souvenirs, if you have small children plan ahead and take small toys to keep them busy. Surprise them with a small, cheap toy that you have bought on clearance at the local Disney or dollar store when they are asking for the $30 doll that they just have to have and it will alleviate some of the begging. If your kids are like mine, they are also going to want that $15 light up toy when the nighttime parade starts. Have some light up glow bracelets/necklaces ready instead. They will enjoy the new toy, plus appreciate the fact that all the other kids around them are asking where they got them since no one else has them. My $1.00 investment last year was well worth it!
One final way to save money is to make the most out of the dining plan. I have talked about this in the past, but the basic plan allows for one counter service meal per day per person. The counter service meals themselves are pretty big, especially since they include an entree, side, dessert and drink for adults. For me personally, this is more food than I can eat at most of the restaurants. On our last trip, my husband and I started sharing meals. We would either order one adult entree and one children's entree, or two adult entree's and all three of us would share all of the food. This not only eliminated a lot of wasted food, it also helped us to "bank" some meals to use on our last day and for a few quick breakfasts through the week. It was a win win for us.
So, here are a few relatively easy ways to save a few dollars on a Disney trip. There are several more ways out there. I will try to post them another time since I have rambled on for so long here. If anyone else has ideas on how to save a Disney dime, I would love to hear them!