Hello friends! I’ve been a bit MIA lately, but I think I had a pretty good reason! I just came back from a week long trip at Walt Disney World, the happiest place on earth. ;D I know Disney vacations are a hit or miss for people. I personally really enjoy them, but I know others who wish to spend their vacation money on something else. This was my third trip to Disney World, and I’d like to think I’ve picked up some tips in my travels. So if you’re interested in a Disney World vacation, hope I can provide some help!
Just before we start, these tips will be primarily for those that stay on-site at a Disney World resort. This is definitely much more expensive than staying off-site, but these are the trips that I’ve done to Disney World so I have the most knowledge about them.
Booking Your Vacation
Go with a travel agent: Disney World isn’t a particularly hard trip to book, but going with a travel agent can help even so. If you’re in Canada, the one that I use (and can recommend) is Fairytale Destinations (not a sponsored or affliate link). They are a solely Disney focused travel agent and can do everything over the phone and email with you. No need to set foot in their office. They can pull up quotes for you, book all your tickets, your resort, put together an itinerary for you, and more.
Driving or busing to Buffalo saves money on flights: This is for the Canadians in the crowd. I’ve done both: driving to Buffalo and direct flights. When I took a Greyhound to Buffalo and flew out of there, we saved a good $200/ person at the time. Worth it, but it took double the time. If the time is more valuable for you, then a direct flight might be easier.
Understand the different types of Disney resorts: Like many things at Disney, the resorts work on a tiered system. There are value, moderate and deluxe level resorts. If you’re doing a very quick trip where you’ll be out of the room a lot, I would recommend a value resort. On my 2nd trip, I think I could have done a value resort just because we never were in the room. If you’ll be taking it a bit slower (not at the parks every day), the moderate level resorts are great. I’ve only been to moderate level resorts (Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, and Caribbean Beach Resort) and really loved all three.
Book dining and Fast Pass + early: If you decide to stay on-site, you will get advance access to dining and Fast Pass + reservations. For those that don’t know, Fast Pass + is the special queue system from Disney. It is included in your ticket and you can book 3 Fast Pass + reservations per day. You choose a time and then you get to wait in a special line for the ride. I’ve never had to wait longer than 10 minutes in a Fast Pass + line for rides that have standby wait times over an hour. Worth it! By staying on-site, you have access to your Fast Pass + selection 60 days before check in (30 days normally with a regular ticket) and 190 days (180 days normally) in advance for dining reservations.
Research which parks, which days, and which rides: By going with a travel agent you might be able to reduce the time with this, but Disney takes time to plan. If you’re going to have a good time, it’s best to know which rides are must-dos, and then booking Fast Pass + for them, and then hence knowing which parks you’ll be going to that day. There are a lot of little quirks with Disney planning. One of those things for example is Extra Magic Hours where those staying at a Disney World Resort can get into a specific park a hour or so earlier or stay a hour or so later after closing. If you want to take advantage of these things, planning is a must.
See if there are any special events happening at the time: For example, the last trip I went on was during Halloween festivities, so there was a special party called Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This cost extra (almost the cost of another park ticket!), but my boyfriend and I agree that it was definitely worth it.
Decide if Memory Maker is worth it: Disney has photographers set up around the park who can take your picture. These pictures can be purchased at a cost, or if you have Memory Maker, all of those photos that the photographers took are yours. I have never bought Memory Maker and instead buy the digital files of specific photos if there were some that I liked. My manager at work in comparison used it on his vacation and absolutely loved it. It just depends. If you’re just planning on getting a few photo files, Memory Maker probably isn’t worth it in my opinion.
Look into grocery services: If you want fuller meals or have the availability of a kitchen at your resort, looking into a grocery service might be worthwhile. You can order (even from Canada) a grocery order that can be shipped to your hotel before arrival. My manager did this and really enjoyed having milk and other perishables ready for his vacation.
What to Bring
Ponchos: This is a must. Ponchos are so expensive at Disney, and by making a quick trip to the dollar store you can save quite a bit of money.
Sunscreen: This might be obvious, but on this trip we had to buy sunscreen at Disney because we went to a park before we got our luggage. Didn’t pack a mini one in our carry on, oops!
Breakfast: This will save you a lot of money in the mornings. We forgot this unfortunately and had to buy cereal at our hotel. If you bring breakfast bars to munch on, you’ll be ready for the day.
Brita Filtered Water Bottle: One of the reasons we saved so much on food was we did not buy pop/soda with our meals. There are tons of water fountains around the parks to fill up all day. The reason for the Brita Filtered Water Bottle is that Florida water can taste a bit funny if you’re not used to it. The filter really helps to remove any tastes you might not be fond of! This is the one that I have: Brita Sport Bottle.
Autograph Book: If you end up seeing any characters, collecting autographs is a fun way for all ages to get a free souvenir from the trip. Disney sells autograph books, but you can bring anything for characters to sign. A good idea is to bring a big pen or sharpie. Some of the gloved characters might have a tough time signing with a smaller pen. On my last trip I actually bought some buttons from Parkbound Buttons and I picked up a GIANT button for characters to sign. It was a fun idea!
Comfortable shoes: This might be a given as well, but you will be walking a LOT at Disney World. For the 7 days that I was there I was averaging over 20 000 steps a day. If your shoes aren’t comfortable, you’re not going to have a very enjoyable time!
A good bag: It might not be a stylish purse, but I have a specific ‘Disney’ bag that I’ve brought on every trip. I couldn’t find the exact one (it was bought over 8 years ago at Mountain Equipment Co-op), but this one is sort of close. It has tons of pockets and I can fit a lot in it. I find the side bags are a bit better than backpacks just because a backpack can get kind of bulky, especially going on rides. There are tons of people that are in the park with backpacks though, so whatever floats your boat.
In the Parks
Maximize Fast Pass +: Fast Pass + is a great way to make sure you’re not stuck standing in a line. As mentioned, you can use 3 Fast Pass + per day, but after that you can book one more at the FP+ kiosks throughout the parks. After you use that one, you can go back and make another reservation and so on. The max I’ve used in a day is 6 (just because Fast Passes for the more popular rides run out as the day goes on).
Usually ‘shows’ you don’t need to Fast Pass + for: This includes some ‘stage shows’ such as Voyage of the Little Mermaid for example. Fast Passes for these might set you up for a tad more desirable area, but otherwise I’ve found that Disney shows make every seat a good seat and have never felt that I wasn’t able to see something. This goes for fireworks shows too. If you do your research, you can find spots that you don’t need to use a Fast Pass for.
Get souvenirs shipped back to your resort: For those that stay on-site, if you buy anything in a Disney park store and you aren’t checking out the next day, you can get it shipped to the souvenir shop at your resort. This is great if you don’t want to carry around large items the whole day.
Food
Decide if the meal plans are right for you: Disney has three types of meal plans each with a varying level of food. Some might be ‘quick-service’ meals (fast food) while some might include ‘table service’ (sit down). For my boyfriend and I, we are not heavy eaters at all and did not get a meal plan. By doing this, we saved a good amount of money because we could share meals. If you plan to make a lot of dining reservations with table service meals, the meal plan might save you more money.
Dining room at Be Our Guest restuarant
Different parks (and different vendors throughout the same park) sell the same thing at different prices: I didn’t actually know this until going on my most recent trip. For example, you can get a churro at Hollywood Studios for a bit cheaper than those found at the Magic Kingdom. It’s not a huge amount (more or less a dollar difference or so), but still a way to save money!
Food can be brought into the parks: I’ve never myself tried this, but I saw others bringing snacks and other food items into the park. This is probably a good way to save money too!
Souvenirs
Pressed pennies: Pressed pennies are probably one of the cheapest and fun souveniers you can get from Disney. All around the parks, Disney has these little booths set up where you pay 51 cents (sometimes a dollar) to ‘press’ the penny into a design. There are tons to collect, and it’s a fun and very cheap way to bring something back from your trip!
Some pressed pennies from Disney World
Cheap Disney shirts at Disney Spring’s Uniqlo: I found some of the cheapest Disney shirts were at the Uniqlo at Disney Springs. The designs there are special to the store and they look quite stylish! Most shirts are $15 for one.
That was a lengthy post, but hopefully you learned something new. If there are any specific questions feel free to leave a comment. I could talk about this stuff for ages!
Thanks so much for reading! Hope you have a great day!
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4 Comments
This was an INCREDIBLE roundup! I’ve never been to any of the Disney parks, so I really don’t know a lot about them. I had no idea some of the processes were so involved and this definitely helped fill in a ton of blanks in my head about it. I’ll definitely come back to your post if I ever book a vacation at one!
Thanks Chelle! Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I would definitely say that Disney is not a relaxing vacation. It is always go go go! If you don’t plan it out, you could very easily have a miserable time just waiting in lines!
Aw man, so much has changed since the last time I’ve been to Disneyworld! (I went for my 11th birthday–LONG, LONG AGO) I do want to eventually go back, but I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’VE BEEN THREE TIMES! I do remember the food being really expensive though, so bringing breakfast and refillable water bottles is definitely a great idea! I also got tons of autographs in a notebook….which I actually lost over the years, which totally bums me out. Pressed pennies has always been my favourite souvenir form–not just at Disney, but in general, since I love seeing the different designs. It’s like a Snapchat geo filter LOL
Even the year since I went, it changed quite a bit! Haha! I feel like some people make it a yearly thing. That would be my dream lol.
Yeah for sure, we were calculating it, and if we had bought pop to replace the water we drank it would have been over $80! So the bottle saves quite a bit! Yeah pressed pennies are great! I feel like I don’t see it very much anymore! You have to hunt for those little machines. LOL, love your comparison to the Snapchat geo filter!