What is your biggest money saving tip for trips to WDW?

[Katzateer]

I have never gotten a package except when we traveled with a group last year. So this tip won't work for everyone.

Before we go, I purchase our park tickets in the biggest number of days available, usually from the ticket sponsor here on Intercot. If you get a 10 day non-expiring park hopper it ends up being around $55 a day to get into the parks. We can get 3 trips out of a 10 day hopper because we don't go to the parks everyday.

[c&d]

For those who do laundry at Disney. We usually go for 8 or 9 days, so I pack our foldable laundry baskets, detergent and fabric sheets (much cheaper than buying it from the machine). Usually on our last afternoon I'll do our laundry as we hang at the pool. That way when we get home I don't have 3 suitcases of dirty laundry staring at me and I've gotten some quality tanning time.

[HoosierDisneyFan]

I bring indivivdual serving breakfast cereal boxes and raisins and buy milk at the resort gift shop. Saves time & money!

[Dopey's Girl]

I have a bin that's delivered to the resort with all my toiletry items, plus tennis shoes and laundry items. Even with the storage fees, I save a ton by not checking bags with the airlines. I also almost always eat breakfast in the room. I don't like most breakfast items, so it's cheaper and easier just to eat before I hit the parks.

The best Disney money saving tip for me though, is Magical Journeys. Wendy saves me a darn fortune!

[WDW&MK]

When we are on the dining plan we use our snack credits to buy breakfast items (like scones and muffins). Then eat breakfast in the room.

[Tigerinvestigator]

I use the same tactics every time. Not really one tip but a few that really help us out.

1) Buy Tickets from the Official Ticket Center only--- And they are an Intercot Sponsor!

2) Stay at the Swan/Dolphin with my wife's nurses discount (which is also usually available to teachers and gov't employees as well.)

3) Get a Starwood American Express card and collect starwood pts during the year. Every 10,000 pts is a free night at the Swan/Dolphin, and we usually get a free upgrade!

[azcavalier]

For those who do laundry at Disney. We usually go for 8 or 9 days, so I pack our foldable laundry baskets, detergent and fabric sheets (much cheaper than buying it from the machine). Usually on our last afternoon I'll do our laundry as we hang at the pool. That way when we get home I don't have 3 suitcases of dirty laundry staring at me and I've gotten some quality tanning time.

We have started doing this as well, except for that we don't pack clothes for an 8-9 day stay. We usually pack four or five outfits, and do laundry in the afternoon about the middle of our stay. But just bringing your own laundry soap is a big money saver.

We also eat breakfast in the rooms, usually. We always get the DDP, and use the QS meals for lunch, and the TS meals for dinner. So, breakfast in the room, instead of paying the $$$ at the food courts, is a lot cheaper.

[Disney Doll]

1. Off season
2. Southwest airlines
3. Annual passes. We generally go once each year, but I can move the dates by a few weeks to get in two trips in a 365 day span.
4. Disney Visa- we use it for everything and rack up the points.

[PETE FROM NYC]

If your room has a fridge, eat breakfast in- room, and pack lunch for the parks. Thats what we do so we can splurge for supper if we want.
Also remember to bring extra batteries.

[princessgirls]

Disney Rewards Visa!!! We use "free" money in the parks. So easy...any guest services desk at any of the parks can load a card for you. You can use your reward dollars for anything and everything on WDW property. Had a nice $403 for this trip!

Breakfast in the room. I have no patience for the food courts anyway. We don't typically eat big breakfasts daily, I do make 2 ADR's for character breakfasts during our stay.

I had bottled water and some quick breakfast items delivered to my room from Garden Grocer. More expensive than I would have paid at home, but cheaper than the parks and it was delivered to my room!!

Know your financial limits. I booked value season and used the free dining promo, and that was nice...we ate nice lunches and good meals every night! By doing both, I was able to stretch the dollars and ended up with a 10 day trip.
Julie

[mydisneygirls]

Because of the amount of food you get, I stretch out the meals on the DP (there are 3 of us). Since I'm not a breakfast eater, I use one counter service in the morning and my DD's split pancakes, 2 counter services for lunch and we split again. We use the TS meal for dinner.

[gaffz70]

Ship a box filled w/ BF foods, snacks etc. since we go in the summer, we buy those spray fans at Walmart for $5 instead of $20 at WDW. We also take our ear hats and a light up toy so we are not buying those things again.

Also buy everything n our Disney visa, pay it off each, and end up with at least several hundred reap ward dollars to spend.

[Janmac]

I like the rewards from my Disney Visa but I think the biggest single money saving idea was one my niece came up with two trips ago. She rounded up all her DD's Disney plush toys and we took them with us - we were driving down. Each morning and evening her DD could pick out a "friend" or two from the Disney plush toys to go to the parks with her. My niece did not buy any Disney plush toys.

Jan

[brownie]

Go during value season and use your Disney VISA rewards. In addition, your Disney VISA can get you 10% off merchandise purchases of $50 or more at certain locations.

[Jeri Lynn]

We charge all of our gas on our Disney visa, I also charge my four kids college tuitions, and one of them is 10k per semester so that adds up!! I make sure to pay off my VISA each month though!!

I also save all my change! I've been saving since last year, I am leaving in 10 days for a trip with WDW so I am not turning my change in, I am saving it for my "girls" trip next year...I am also not using my disney rewards money that has accumulated, $921 so far...I am saving that for next year also!!

[Airblue1]

To be very honest we have done Disney in each way. On a dime, quarter and dollar.
To save $ we went with Disney Visa. We have racked up thousands of PTS over the years.
Find a hotel on property that meets your traveling needs. Remember time is $. So you can get more bang for your buck staying closer to your favorite park etc. Even if it is a lil more expensive.
Magical Journeys seems to be the best agency to book through. They work very closely with you and will help make the trip meet your financial goals.
Research before you go. There is a lot of great info on this site and others to help with your planning.
They print money in Disney and Vegas if you accept that you will have a BLAST!!!

[kcrc]

I agree with a few posters above. We send down a box to the resort with breakfast items, snacks, spray bottles, etc. We usually send a couple boxes of cereal and some instant oatmeal. For snacks, we'll hit our Sams or Costco, and buy the large snack packs of pretzels, etc. to send down and then bring with us when we go into the parks. Don't forget paper bowls etc to eat in the room.
We also share a lot of things, so our snack credits are stretched. So, we don't each need our own popcorn to end up throwing 1/2 of it away... or maybe we'll split an ice cream sandwich from Main Street Bakery (they're huge!). This way, we never seem to run out of our snack credits!
Plus, some counter services will give us a water instead of a dessert, so that saves on even more snack credits.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We bring cereal bars,pastries, fruit and juices so we can do a light breakfast in our room each morning. It saves money and time and we treat ourselves to one big breakfast on the day we check out.

Also, if you are a soda drinker and don't buy the refillable mug it is much cheaper to bring a 12 pack of sodas to keep in your room. We also bring a case of bottled water and refill those as needed at the water fountains in the park. Bottled Water runs anywhere from $2.00 to 3.00 a bottle if you buy it there.

[alaMode]

My biggest money saving tip is to forgo the Magic Your Way package and book room-only reservations. The DDP is a huge waste of money for my family, and we'd rather buy APs or 10-day no exp tix (whichever makes more $ sense for our upcoming trip plans) separately.

We usually travel off-peak, and we've ALWAYS gotten at least 30-40% off of our room rate each trip.

My other tip is ship yourself a case of water from Costco.com. It costs around $8 incl delivery and it really comes in handy!

[rubato]

Travel off season.

Don't do the dining plan.

Stay in moderate resort so you have a fridge and coffee pot. Then, eat most breakfasts in room.

Only buy souvenirs on the last day, so children can really think about it all week.

Book room only for great discounts.

Don't do any signature dining. If I want great food, I'll find better in my home city.

Bring refillable water bottles. Ice water is free everywhere at Disney.

Fly Southwest. 2 checked bags free per person.

Bring ponchos, batteries, chargers, extra shoes, etc..... so I don't have to pay premium prices for things I have at home.

Bring light up toys from home that we bought on our last trip.

Make our own autograph books.

Buy Disney pins on Ebay for trading. As long as they're Disney pins, it doesn't matter what they are, since my son will be trading them. We've gotten them for less than $1 each.

I probably have a million more, but all along these same themes.