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Original poster

How to do Disney world cheaply

105 replies

Rossigigi · 30/05/2017 00:37

Posting for traffic- basically the above. Want to take dc in 2019 but obviously need to start saving now.
What tips do you lovely people have to keep costs down please? We are looking at 14 nights....

OP posts:
KeepServingTheDrinks · 30/05/2017 00:40

Go somewhere else.

2014newme · 30/05/2017 00:42

Go on the dibb website they have loads of tips
Fly indirect
Stay offsite
Eat offsite

mygorgeousmilo · 30/05/2017 04:26

As 2014 said. Villas etc can be pretty cheap in Florida, so is car hire and a supermarket shop. It's much cheaper to do it all separately.

manicinsomniac · 30/05/2017 05:36

It's not exactly cheap but I think you can get a 1 day pass to Disneyland Paris for about £50 online (or you could a few years ago.)

Then, if you buy advance eurostar tickets, stay in a Paris youth hostel and get the metro to the park , you can probably do the holiday for about £600 (1 adult, 2 kids?)

There might be combined deals with travel and park ticket to make it even cheaper, I'm not sure.

NSEA · 30/05/2017 05:54

Disney world is cheaper than paris! You also get more for your money. Don't be swayed to go there if you can afford usa.

Book flights separately, maybe fly indirectly depending on age of kids. Look at hotel offers on international drive or villas. Find another family to go with maybe, to bring villa cost down.

joannegrady90 · 30/05/2017 06:18

I wouldn't go for 14 nights personally.

That's a very long time to keep visiting the same parks again and again, mickey mouse and his chums aren't that great imo 😂

Herewegogo · 30/05/2017 06:24

Book separately, unless going last minute. If travelling in the holidays then fly indirect to save about £400 per person, and look at flying into Tampa or Fort Lauderdale. Use The Dibb or DisBoards Budget boards for tips. Subscribe to Undercover Tourist newsletter for deals.

We always stay onsite with the free dining plan so we don't have to budget for food and use Disney transportation but this doesn't work out cheaper for everyone.

Ignore the snobs who look down on Disney. It's an excellent family holiday.

Dumdedumdedum · 30/05/2017 06:29

Nearer the time, check on the Disney World Tickets website to see what deals there are. I put in the furthest date I could for 2 adults and 2 children for all Disney theme parks in Orlando, and there was a special offer on a 14 day pass for them, don't know if that helps you! Also, make sure you get a "Fast Pass" wherever you can as it really cuts down on queuing time.
Otherwise, what everyone else says about hiring a car and staying and eating off-site is the best idea, I think, as you can also explore Florida that way.
Enjoy!

CountryCaterpillar · 30/05/2017 06:31

Nsea - not sure we could do Disney world cheaper than Disney Paris!!! We went in January at the new York hotel, ate a meal a day onsite and all up for 3 of us was less than a grand!!

Creampastry · 30/05/2017 06:34

Look at the free dining offer for the cheapest onsite hotel at Disney world - don't bother with Paris - then book flights separately. Use Disney transportation.

bigchris · 30/05/2017 06:38

Are you talking Florida or Paris?

Florida you can definitely do fortnight, Paris not so much....

Lulusmother · 30/05/2017 06:39

Book flights separately, stay off site. Buy tickets on the gate....first four days most expensive, days after are very cheap. Book car hire here in the U.K. Have been a few times, it's as you make it, can be cheap if you wish, eating out etc. Florida is fab, could go loads ! Just have to be mindful of our summer is hurricane season, i.e. It will rain every day and extremely hot but still parks are doable....enjoy!

HPandBaconSandwiches · 30/05/2017 06:39

Go for 2 weeks but just do the parks for 7-10 days and have some time in the villa/exploring.
Stay off site, take a picnic and drinks. Queues are silly for food anyway.
Buy tickets before you go for multi park access, look for offers.
If this is a dream holiday, pick when you go carefully - you don't want to be there in thunderstorm season. Personally I think Easter holidays are ideal.

I thought Disney was overhyped nonsense, but I had a fabulous time and would go again in a heartbeat!

Don't forget to budget for parking too, think it was about $20 per day.

honeylulu · 30/05/2017 06:43

Agree with creampastry
The year we went (Disney world Florida) we booked late and no availability left with any UK packages for the dates we wanted. Booked direct with Disney in the US and it was a lot cheaper.

We're going to Majorca for the same 2 weeks this year and its a grand more expensive!

Chrisinthemorning · 30/05/2017 06:47

14 nights is a nice length of time to do Disney World. It's hot and doing too much in one day takes the fun out.
I reckon you need 2 days Magic Kingdom, 2 days Epcot, 1 day HOllywood Studios, 1 day Animal Kingdom, 1 day each water park. Cape Canaveral is great, that's a day.
So 9 days already, plus shopping/ rest- it is a holiday after all!
I think off site in a villa and eat off site where possible makes it cheaper.

honeylulu · 30/05/2017 06:49

Also if you do Florida in the summer, it is hot but perfectly doable. Lots of shade and water sprays in the queues. We had 3 rainy days in 2 weeks but we wore disposable ponchos and it wasn't cold! We'd go to the parks early in the morning when not hot or crowded, have lunch there (dining plan - amazing value), head back to hotel for a swim and relax and then back to the park about 6pm, have a meal and then more rides. We stayed at Pop Century and used Disney transport the whole time.
We loved it. Went for our son mainly but the adults had a fantastic time, even my husband who can be a right holiday/ culture snob!

ChunkyHare · 30/05/2017 07:05

If you know what you are doing the flights can be cheaper than flying to Spain. This information is shared on The Dibb which is a forum for Brits who love Disney World.

To go at peak times ie August Virgin will charge you £1000pp for a flight but you can fly for under £500 and around £400 if you are on the Dibb, they share when cheap flights come up and so everyone bags a deal.

Stay in a villa and rent a car. Again the Dibb has villa reviews and recommendations. We stay onsite so it is more expensive but we get free dining so all our meals are paid for whilst we are at Disney.

PolkaDotFlamingo · 30/05/2017 07:07

Avoid package holidays and book it all separately. I've PM'd you about a Facebook group that's really good and will help you keep the cost down.

BlondeB83 · 30/05/2017 07:08

All the advice is good but the rubbish exchange rate means it's not as cheap as it once was. I wouldn't do Disney World on a budget though, even when the exchange rate was almost $2 to the pound we still spent a small fortune.

Mandraki · 30/05/2017 07:10

Turn the central heating up, talk in an American accent and charge yourself £20 every time you all want a cup of tea. Disney movies optional.

Seriously though, it is expensive and I don't think there's any way round it, if you want the Disney experience.

NannyOggsKnickers · 30/05/2017 07:19

As an ex-Floridian, I would suggest staying on the west coast- Treasure Island, St.Petersburgh etc and using it as a base to do a few day trips out to Orlando. It also means you can do Busch Gardens ( my favourite as a child) and take day trips out to Tarpan Springs and Cape Canaveral (not sure of spelling).

Also, go at Easter. It is far too hot in the summer to be out and about in the middle of the day. The end of August is the start of hurricane season, so the weather can be a pain.

I can also recommend going to the Seminole Reservation and watching the gator wrestling.

You could also split the week and go down to the keys.

sysysysref · 30/05/2017 07:21

I did it for under £6k for 5 of us. Fly indirect to Tampa, rent a condo off site, eat in decent restaurants not in Disney and work out exactly how many days you will be in the parks and search online for tickets. I bought a 5 day ticket which gave 7 days and then universal separately. I'm glad we didn't spend more as it wasn't that great a holiday and after that we could tell the kids they had done it and get back to holidays we actually liked but I would never ever spend more than that

Babynamechange · 30/05/2017 07:31

I go there every year, as a single parent, with my son (just such an easy guaranteed good time holiday ) and this is how I do it....

  1. Ramada hotel gateway.... £350 per room for 12 nights.... alternatively stay at Universal's cabana bay ....great location about £900 per room for 12 nights
  2. Car hire without all the stupid extras they try and con you with
  3. Disney all in one tickets are expensive but include access to all the water parks....water parks are the best thing!
We won't be doing Disney this year...just too expensive!, but will be doing the Disney water parks
  1. Depending on how old your children are, mine is 8 now, universal is more fun, cheaper and they've now got a universal water park.
  2. This year we will be doing universal, all water parks, Busch gardens combo ticket etc etc and staying in cabana bay ....I'm expecting it to be less than £2000 for everything including airport parking.... but I do get v cheap flights which is our way of making it doable ...and I save all year, by having a direct debit each month which goes into our holiday account...
Hope that helps 💕 Feel free to pm me... I'm the cheap Orlando holiday expert .... well slightly I also have a very strict daily spend budget.... despite this we always have the best time x
Iamastonished · 30/05/2017 07:38

"alternatively stay at Universal's cabana bay"

We stayed there last year, and it was OK. The rooms were fine and the beds insanely comfortable, but if we go again I would prefer to self cater as we found that we had to eat out all the time or picnic in the room. The food in the hotel was overpriced and mediocre. It was great location-wise for Universal and Islands of Adventure, but we found that eating out was quite expensive until we found some great self service places to eat.

Another tip is that tax is added on to everything at the till so nothing is the price it is displayed at in shops.

Babynamechange · 30/05/2017 07:47

Iamastonished..totally agree. We loved it because of the location, but didn't eat there at all..... food definitely mediocre! x
We would self cater if there was more than 2 of us for sure, but it's more expensive when there's just two.. so we ended up going to Wholefoods supermarket a lot and then picnicking in the parks ....or at least adding our own salads to the shocking park food