Saving Money on Food

Eating at Walt Disney World is easily one of the most expensive parts of your vacation. The bill for a family of four will easily come to $70 –$80 for a typical sit-down restaurant in one of the park or resort establishments. This is just for entrées, (non-alcoholic) drinks and gratuity. If you want to add in an appetizer, wine/beer, salad or dessert, you can easily break the $100 per meal mark.

• When we traveled to Disney in 2007, the lowest bill we saw was about $125 for three adults and one child, but most nights averaged more like $150 per meal. We did have the (free) dining plan so our daily sit-down meal included an appetizer, non-alcoholic drink, entrée and dessert. Otherwise, we would not have ordered this much food and the bill would have been somewhat lower. Still, you can see how your meal purchase can quickly get out of hand.

If you plan on going to any of the character meals (which tend to be all-you-can-eat buffets) or the signature restaurants, you can figure on a much higher per-head price. For example:

At Chef Mickey’s Character Dinner  buffet (The Contemporary Resort), you will spend $41.53 - $46.85 per adult and $20.23- $22.36 per child according to a February 2013 menu (menu prices are seasonally adjusted just like the room rates. The Disney site currently lists a total $36- $59.99 per person so the prices may have increased again) Let’s look at those totals for our family of four: (I’m using 18% gratuity because this what Disney automatically adds) 

(((41.53 x 2) + (20.23 x 2)) x 1.18) = $145. 75 for off season per 2/13

(((46.85 x 2) + (22.36 x 2)) x 1.18) = $163.34 for peak season per 2/13 

(((59.99 x2 ) + (36 x 2)) x 1.18) = $226.54 estimated peak from Disney’s current site info

That’s a bit scary isn’t it? Even eating at a counter service restaurant will set you back about $40 for our family of four:

• Dinner at Cosmic Rays in Tomorrowland would probably go like this:
• 1/2 Rottiserie Chicken Meal   $9.99
• BBQ Pork Sanwich                 $9.59
• 2 Chicken nugget kids meals  $11.98  ($5.99 each)
• 2 regular Fountain drinks        $5.18   ($2.59 each)
• TOTAL     $36.74 + tax
• If you'd like to check the menus and pricing for the WDW restaurants, check AllEars.net for a complete list. This is the list I’m using for all my calculations. (Please remember the child rate only goes to age 9 when figuring your totals.)

 So, how can you go about saving money on you food purchases?

Grocery Delivery Services

I would suggest ordering groceries on the internet ahead of time and and having them delivered to your resort. There are several stores in the Orlando area that provide this service for a relatively small delivery charge.

Remember that the Disney Moderate and Deluxe Resort rooms include a mini-fridge and Disney has begun adding mini-fridges to some of the Value resorts, as well. At the other Value resorts you can also pay  $10 extra a day to have a mini-fridge brought to your room. Please note that as of this writing (Fall 2013), Disney has been experiencing some issues with the mini-fridges and is in the process of replacing/repairing them. The fridges should all be replaced by Holiday 2013, but you should contact your resort to find out the status of it’s rooms.

Melanie and I used Garden Grocer on our last trip and it worked out wonderfully. We placed our order several days ahead and the groceries arrived at the front desk the same day we did. We ordered a gallon of milk, boxes of cereal, some donuts, breakfast bars, juice boxes, snacks and a case (or two) of water. The items we ordered for breakfast probably came to about $20 and lasted through the week. If you are staying for a 6-night/ 7-Day trip, you will probably eat breakfast six times since probably won’t need this meal on the day of your arrival. Using the menu for Port Orleans’ Riverside Mill food court, I estimate about $30 per counter service breakfast for four. This means you will spend about $180 just for breakfast. Even with the $14 delivery fee, you will save about $150 on this meal alone.

Drinks

You can save A LOT of money by not buying drinks inside the park. A bottle of water inside the park costs $2.50. If the average person drinks two of these a day (remember this is Florida, so it’s hot and humid), you are looking at $5 person or $20 for our family of four. For WATER. At Garden Grocer, you can get a case of 32 16.9oz bottles for between $9.99 and $12.99. That’s between $0.31 and $0.40 per bottle. For $24.99 our family family gets 64 bottles of water – that’s seven days worth of water with eight extra bottles. Seven days worth of water (56 bottles) would cost $140 at park prices. You saved $115. On WATER! Don’t forget you get that extra eight bottles worth another $20 inside the park.

While we are talking about water, Florida law requires that any restaurant give you water for free. You can always go to any counter service restaurant and ask for a cup of water – they will probably also refill your empty bottles or a refillable cup. Ordering water with your dinner is another great way to save money.

If you are a soda fan, you will also save big money buying your drink outside the park. Bottled drinks in the parks retail for about $2.75 a piece. A 6-pack of 16.9oz bottles will cost between $5 and $6. You will save between $10 and $12 per 6-pack. Also, if you are fan of Pepsi products, you won’t find them on Disney property because of the exclusive deal with Coke.

Another way to save money on drinks is to purchase the refillable mugs at your resort (they come as part of the DDP if you decide to purchase that.) You can purchase a refillable mug for anywhere between $8.99 for 1 day to $17.99 for up to 14 days. Currently, the mug is only good at the Disney Resort where you are staying, but they are testing a system that would allow you fill your mug at any resort. Refillable mugs are a great value if you drink a lot of soda or coffee, provided you are at the resort. They are also a nice, usable souvenir you can treasure for years to come (Melanie still takes hers to work for coffee) :

Snacks

Snacks inside the park run from about $2.50 for small snack like a cookie to $10.25 for the Turkey Leg. Many of the snacks are big enough to share, but you can still save a lot money buying pre-packaged snacks that you know your kids already like. Small packs of crackers, fruit snacks and such are great to throw in the old back-pack. They also make great distracters while the kids are waiting in line.

The Disney Dining Plan (DDP)

I’ll write a much more in-depth post dealing with the DDP at a later date, but if you are planning on going to multiple character dining experiences, you should seriously consider the DDP. Adults tend to break even versus paying out of pocket, but you really save on the child’s meal price. The Standard DDP price per child 3-9 is $17-$18. For this you get: a counter service meal worth about $8-$10, a snack for up to $5 and sit-down meal. Most of the character meals range from $25- $40 per child. This means will save at least $20 per child per day:

$25 (Dinner)+ $8 (Lunch) + $5 (Snack) = $38     $38 – $18 (cost of DDP)  = $20 savings

We are going to a character meal five out of the seven nights we are there every day to keep our spirited three-year-old daughter occupied during meal time. So, this would save us at least $40 per day or $200 for the five days. When you consider that some of the character meals are more like $36 per child, you can see how the savings add up.

The biggest savings if if you can get one of the big Disney deals like Free DDP. We figure it will save us just north of $1000 on our upcoming trip. Disney has offered free Dining for parts of August and September for about 7-8 years and has extended it into the later Fall (non-Holiday) for at least the last 5-6 years. If you plan your trip for these times, history points to you getting free dining. Disney is also offering a Pay What Kids Pay price for early parts of 2014. This would save you nearly $40 per day per adult (adults pay $55-$56 per day for the DDP)

Food for thought

If you just add up the $150 savings from not buying breakfast and the savings on drinks, you can save $265 – which can buy you a 7-Day park pass for one of the kids or four tickets to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party / Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

Additional Tips and Tricks

These are tips I’ve used, but if you want an even more extensive list, check out these tips compiled by the fine folks over at MouseSavers.com

Things to buy ahead of time

Here’s a little list of things you can buy ahead of time and save yourself a decent amount of money. This list will be an ongoing project, so check back for updates.

The Dollar store

When you’re heading out on a Disney trip, the Dollar Store is your friend. Here are some great inexpensive things to pick up:

• Glow bracelets, necklaces and wands: The night-time parades (Main Street Electrical Parade), shows (like Fantasmic)  and nightly fireworks at WDW are amazing. You will invariable see Disney cast members selling all sorts of glow-in-the-dark paraphernalia at inflated prices. Do yourself a favor, buy packs of glow stuff ahead of time and put a few in your purse/backpack for these nightly extravaganzas. We did this when we took Katie in 2007  and she had a blast. Better yet, she had fun sharing with those around us, getting into the spirit and spreading the Disney magic. Since they were from the dollar, we didn’t mind giving them away and if they got lost, so what? I think I’ve spent $10 or $11 for our upcoming trip and I should have enough for our whole trip. You might get one or two items if you wait to pay Disney prices.
• Rain Ponchos: At WDW, it isn’t a question if it will rain but when. You always want to carry a rain poncho for each member of your party. because you don’t want to have to pay Disney prices for the ponchos they pull out as soon as the rain starts. Melanie and I forgot ponchos on our last trip and ended up paying $5-$7 each for ponchos (the actually Mickey mouse ones are more). I just bought 4 for $4. That’s a $6-$8 savings.
  • Another tip for ponchos: Take a few Ziploc bags to stick your wet ponchos in after the rain stops.
• Games and toys: Depending when you go, you may spend a fair amount of time waiting in lines. Pick up some of the little pocket games and toys, stuff them in you purse or pack and pull them out when the kiddos get antsy. Again, if they get lost… Who cares?
• Trial –sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, etc.

The Disney Store
Wait, why would you go to Disney Store before going to WDW? Don’t they have enough stores? Yeah, WDW has tons of souvenir shops with some really great and often pretty expensive items. Do yourself a favor and go to your local Disney store ahead of time and save some serious cash.

• Princess Costumes: If you have a young daughter(s), you’re pretty much guaranteed  she is going to want to dress like one of the princesses while she’s at WDW. Do yourself a favor and buy one before you go. I was at the my local Disney Store over the weekend and the fancy princess costume were averaging about $45. This isn’t cheap, but if you buy similar costumes in the parks or at Downtown Disney’s World of Disney store, you can expect to pay over $80. Also, if you get on the DisneyStore.com mailing list, you can often get sales and deals on shipping.
• If you are planning on taking your little princess to Bibidi Bobidi Boutique, I would encourage doing this even more. You can get either the Coach Package (hair, makeup, sash & tote for $54.95) or the Crown Package (hair, makeup, nails, sash & tote for $59.95) and bring your own costume. To get the Castle Package (hair, makeup, nails, complete costume and a small picture package), you’ll need to shell out $189.95. (I think if you have PhotoPass you get these shots anyway. I’ll let you know after our trip.)
• T-shirts: Everyone one wants to wear Disney shirts at WDW, right? It’s what the cool kids do. If you buy them in the parks, expect to pay anywhere from $14.95 to $24.95 for kids tees, $21.95 to $24.95 for men’s tees and $24.95 to $39.95 for women’s tees (yes ladies, they really nail you!) Disney Store puts their shirts on sale several times a year and you can get some great deals. The deal over this past weekend was kid’s for $8 and adults for $12. Even their normal prices are usually better than the parks – two adult t-shirts for $30.
• You can also check other retailers:
• Target often carries Disney themed clothing in the men’s, women’s and kid’s sections.
• Old Navy just released reasonably-priced retro themed line of  Disney shirts to augment their more modern line.

Saving for your Disney Vacation

Listen, we all know a Walt Disney World trip isn’t going to be cheap. Park Tickets alone for one person will be anywhere from about $100 to over $300 depending on the number of days you visit. Add in the room, food and souvenirs. Then there’s the travel cost – our plane tickets for this trip are about 2 1/2 times as much as what we paid in September 2007. For a family of four staying at a moderate-level Disney resort, you can easily spend between $5k and $6k for a one week trip. It is very easy to go into sticker shock.

So, how do you pay for your magical journey? There’s the typical bank vacation club account and spare change jar routine, of course. Here are some other options to get you closer to your goal:

• Couponing to Disney has some great tips to use the savings from extreme couponing to save money which you then use toward your trip. Extreme couponing takes a bit more time/work than I’m willing to commit. I’m pretty lazy like that. But if you are willing to put in the time, you’ll be surprised at how fast you can save a tidy sum.
• Use a credit card that gives you some sort of cash back reward. There are quite a few of these around these days so check them out and see what fits your lifestyle. Disney, of course, has it’s Disney Rewards Visa Card (DRVC). We had held off getting the card because the interest is pretty high ( an average of 14.24% variable APR). Last August, we finally decided we should get the card, use it for all of normal monthly expenses and pay it off at the end of the month. By doing this, we get 1% back of what we spend in the form of Disney rewards dollars – you get a refillable rewards card you can use at the Disney parks and Disney Store (brick-and-mortar and online). We also got a $200 bonus just for signing up and spending some threshold amount of money ($250, I think). This we immediately applied to our trip. Since then, we have racked-up over $300 of additional Disney dollars which Melanie just applied to our trip balance. By the time we go in November, we’ll probably have received over $600 in-total of free money!

          You also get a few other nice perks:

• Special 6month 0% financing on your vacation. Think about that, you use the card to pay for your trip, get the reward points for the money you spent and get special financing for 6 months.
• 10% off at Disney store, DisneyStore.com and WDW in-park merchandise purchases over $50
• 10% off at select in-park restaurants
• Special character card-holder only meet-and-greet
• As of August 2013, the DRVC is offering $100 gift card after you spend $500 in the first 3 months and the Disney Premiere Visa Card (DPVC) is offering $200 after spending $500 in the first 3 months. DPVC gets you 2% for certain types purchases but has a $49 annual fee.

• Also, until the just released Free Dining Special or Room Only Discount for Fall 2013, DRVC card-holders received Disney Special Offers about a week before the general public. This was not the case for the current deals and rumor has it that this perk is gone for good. We’ll have to see how this pans out in the future.

• Remember, the biggest thing with this option is PAYING OFF THE BALANCE EVERY MONTH! It doesn’t make sense to earn 1% and pay back over 14%. We keep all of our normal household expense money in our checking account, don’t touch that money and apply it directly to our bill at the end of every month to avoid any charges.

• This one comes from the manager of our local Disney Store: You can add money to a Disney Gift Card at anytime in any amount. Several times a week she will skip her coffee or bring lunch instead of buying it and add the money she didn't spend to her gift card. This is easy since she works at the store, but the strategy can work for anyone. Put aside the money you would spend on these little luxuries and stop by your Disney Store every few weeks to top-off your card. You don't have a local Disney store? Add the money to your vacation club or save your money until you can buy a Disney gift card in a preset amount (usually $25 or $50, available at stores like Target.) This way you will lock in your money and won't be tempted to spend it one something else.

I hope this helps. If anyone else has methods they used to save some extra cash for their trip, please feel free to post them in the comments or email them to me and I’ll add them to this post.

When is the best time to visit WDW?

Deciding when you are going to visit Walt Disney World (WDW) has a major influence - maybe the greatest impact- on how much you enjoy your trip. Many of the people who report having a terrible time at WDW cite either (or both) the weather and the large crowds as significant reasons why their vacations were just not as fun as they had hoped. And let's be honest, when you are committing to the cost of the average WDW vacation, you really don't want to feel as though it wasn't worth the trip.

So, what are the best times to visit WDW? According to Mousesavers.com:

• Mid-November through mid-December (except the week of Thanksgiving). The weather is usually cool but pleasant, the Christmas decorations are up, special events are running, and the attendance is usually moderate. Expect crowds on Saturdays, especially at the Magic Kingdom. Disney’s resorts typically fill up early for all of December, but this doesn’t necessary translate into huge crowds during early December.
• Second week of January through mid-February. It’s cool (sometimes even a bit cold) at this time of year. This is one of the least busy times of year and hotel prices are lower. However, some rides will be closed for refurbishment at this time of year. The first week of January can be busy due to extended holiday vacations and the Walt Disney World Marathon. Avoid any holiday weekends.
• First three weeks of May. The weather is warm in May, but usually not unbearably so. Crowds and hotel prices are moderate. Memorial Day weekend will be more crowded, but often not as bad as you might expect.
• Late August and entire month of September (even Labor Day weekend). It will be extremely hot, and this is peak hurricane season. Plan on taking afternoons off and visiting water parks. Crowds are low. Off-site hotels usually have their rock-bottom deals during this period, and Disney has offered “free dining” packages in this time frame each year since 2005.

My opinions:

• September is EVIL and just as bad as June-August. Unless you are accustomed to god-awful heat and humidity, avoid Orlando at this time of year. We took Katie for her first Disney trip in September of 2007. We made the mistake of thinking that by mid-September the weather would've moderated (we left on September 11th). We spent the entire week dripping in sweat. We also had horrendous dowmpours which forced us to leave the park nearly every day. The storms were bad enough that Magic Kingdom (MK) only had fireworks once during our stay. There is a reason Disney habitually offers free dining for August and September - no one in his/her right mind would go other wise.

• The October is nice, though possibly a bit more crowded than in November. EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival usually begins the end-of-September/beginning-of-October and and runs to the first/second week of November. International Food and Wine Festival is an AMAZING time to go if you are a foodie. All of the World Showcase Pavilions have extra food booths and many additional countries have food/wine/beer/spirits booths as well. You can also take cooking lessons from famous chefs or attent awesome wineseminars/samplings. Melanie and I went in 2011 for our 10th anniversary and had a blast. Additionally, MK is totally decked out for Halloween which is just awesome! I would suggest attending Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP). MNSSHP has a limited number of tickets so you are automatically dealing with a less crowded park. Benefits: you can trick-or-treat in the park and see a special parade which is just a ton of fun:

• November is usually still warm enough for us Northerners to swim and pleasant enough for all the walking you do at WDW - an average of 10 miles a day! The Christmas decorations are up -a gain, Disney does a fantastic job - and by the second week, you begin to have dates for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP). Like MNSSHP, MVMCP has a limited number of tickets and affords you special events like carolling in MK, "free" cookies and hot chocolate and a special parade:

 

            Additionally, you have the The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studio (DHS)

 



          Melanie, the girls and I will be attending both these events for the first time this year, so I'll let

          you know my thoughts when we return.

 

          Overall, everyone I spoken to says the second or third weeks of November are pretty much

          perfect. The weather is nice, you are at the tail end of hurricane season and the rates are very

          low.

• One caveat, the second week tends to be a bit busier for "Jersey Week" when NJ schools have off for the NJ Teachers Convention.

             Thanksgiving week is usually quite busy and the room rates jump significantly for the

             holiday.

• The first two weeks or so of December show also be a good bet with, good weather, low crowds and reasonably room rates. Once you hit the week before Christmas, watch out! Prices and crowds jump drantically. Melanie's aunt took her kids/grandkids this week the other year and encountered horrendous wait times. Think of it this way, everyone wants to do the magical Christmas at WDW. I would strongly advise against going from the week prior to Christmas until after New Year.
• I don't really have much info on the other seasons listed above. January-February are low attendance and low room rate times, but you run the risk of having fairly cold weather - remember Florida can drop fairly low in these months, which makes walking the parks a less than enjoyable expeience. I've heard stories of vacationers getting off the plane ready for warm weather, only having to sprint for the gift shops to buy cold weather gear.

Another tool for determining when you visit is a WDW crowd calendar. Touringplans.com has a great crowd calendar was well as all sorts of tips and tricks to get the most out of your trip, but you will need to pay $11.95 for a 1-year subscription. A free option is EasyWDW. Just look on the right sidebar for the month you are interested in. You can even look at the previous year's calendar for a close approximation if your month isn't available. The great thing about these calendars is they tell you which parks will be more crowded on which day, allowing you to further manage the amount of crowds you encounter. Weather... Well, that's always up in the air.

 

Basically think of it this way, any time your kid has off from school, so does everyone else's kid. These are NOT the times to go to Disney, unless you like standing in lines.



Welcome!

Lately, several friends and family members have asked me and Melanie for our tips on travelling to Walt Disney World (WDW). Apparently, we've become the resident Disney nuts - and I'm okay with this. Thinking and talking about Disney Travel is one of our favorite past times. If our mania can help some else have the best possible Disney vacation, all the better.

For everyone's ease of access, I decided to put together this blog with everything we've learned about planning Disney vacations.  I'll post our experiences, links to articles and podcasts, and anything else that seems relevant.

If you have any questions, please email me at ikehorton73@gmail.com