We have just returned home from our sixth trip to Orlando as at yesterday, spending 1 week at Disney and the second week split between Universal and chill/shopping days.
Disney and the words ‘cheap’ are not easy bed fellows but there are ways to minimise the cost and have a better experience, The trouble is they all involve spending a bit of money first. For example, the 14 day tickets are the best value as they include park hopper and memory maker (for all photos). You can buy tickets at the gate but Disney has moved to dynamic pricing so at Epcot last week, a single day ticket was $149+tax and park hopper was $189+tax. This was end of August, one of the quietest times of the year, it will be more at Easter which is one of their busiest times as it’s also spring break. You might find the tickets slightly cheaper via Under cover tourist but not by much.
Hotel wise, you get the best perks staying in a Disney hotel (e.g. free transportation and early entry to the parks) but again they don’t come cheap. However, the value hotels such as Art of Animation and Pop Century can be a good option especially now they have the Skyliner. There is also a hotel in Disney Springs called the Drury Plaza which lots of people rave about. It’s not a Disney hotel but I understand they have good rates and they provide breakfast, light snacks in the evening and transportion to the parks so that’s worth looking into. Food is very expensive too, we typically book with a the free dining offer but in 2022 when we didn’t have the dining plan, we spent £3k on food for the four us in one week (we did do a lot character dining though).
The other thing to bear in mind is that the Disney parks are huge so even though you could say do a day or half a day at each park, you will miss loads. There are so many shows, attractions and parades that make up the overall experience. Queue times will be at their peak at Easter as it’s Spring break so you will either have to do early entry (if staying on site) or pay for lightning lines to skip the lines. Lightning lane prices also vary by park by day too.
Universal is an alternativebut be aware that their ticket pricing is fast catching up to Disney since they opened Epic Universe (which was a shit show when we were there last week, half of of the rides down, blazing hot with not shade). However, Universal Studios and islands of Adventure you can breeze through in day and half if you have the express passes (but you must stay at either the Royal Pacific, Portofino Bay or the Hard Rock hotels only). You can expect to pay £450-600 per night for those.