My family recently visited Disney World and I some easy tips for fitting in an amazing trip to Disney World on a budget. There are a lot of small things that you can do that can save you hundreds of dollars on a trip to Disney World. All of it centers around planing ahead, so read through this post if you are planning your first trip.
Legal note: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. I have no affiliation with Disney- these are just opinions from my personal experience.)
1. Disney World On a Budget: Bring a Backpack
My most essential baseline tip for visiting Disney World on a budget is to bring a backpack. Disney is amazing and provides just about everything you need if you arrived straight off a plane. However, everything sold in the park is significantly more expensive. Each of the main four parks allow you to bring backpacks on every ride. Some rides have lockers if you can’t put your bag at your feet, so you don’t have to worry how you will manage your bags and also go on rides. You can bring everything that you will need for the day in your backpack and not have to spend extra money inside the parks. Each member of my family had a backpack so that one person wasn’t unduly burdened by lugging everyone else’s things.
Our family portrait: represented in backpacks
If you don’t want to look so much like a tourist (remember, EVERYONE is a tourist at Disney, so it really doesn’t matter) you can get a cute backpack. I love my Fjallraven backpack. You can get it on Amazon
2. Disney World On a Budget: Food
You are going to be hungry. The food at Disney is delicious- far better fare than normal theme park food. It is also expensive, so if you are trying to plan a trip to Disney on a budget, this can save you a lot of money.
Unless you rent a scooter, you are going to be walking a lot and will probably get pretty hungry. I quickly learned that I had to triple the amount of food that I thought my family would eat. We went to one of the local “big box stores” and bought tons of snacks. I packed a variety of granola bars, fruit and sandwiches; I also threw in some treats and tried to have different food each day. We did eat at the park a couple of times, but at least this way we didn’t have to spend money for every meal and snack. I estimate that we saved about $100 per day doing this!
3. Disney World On a Budget: Drinks
It isn’t advertised, but you can get cups of tap water at nearly every concession stand. We brought reusable water bottles in our backpacks and filled them up several times during the day for free. I would recommend bringing a bottle rather than trying to just get cups of water at each stand because while there are a lot of stands, the park is huge and they are not always nearby. I did a bit of research to find the most leak-proof water bottles for kids and these bottles by Contigo are what I used for them and highly recommend. If you feel badly about asking for free water, remember that water is healthier than soda and you aren’t sending yet another plastic bottle to a landfill.
4. Disney World On a Budget: Personal Items
There are a few personal care items that you may find yourself wanting at the park. One of them is sunscreen. We forgot to bring our sunscreen and I greatly regretted that we had to buy it at a gift shop.
Another great item (if you are prone to overheating) is a cooling towel. I would have had to be near heat stroke to wear a towel around my neck, but my husband, who is less vain, swore by it. Many people at the park used them. You wet it and wear it around your neck; it uses the powers of science and magic to help keep you cool. These are sold at the parks for a LOT more money than if you bought them ahead of time.
Another incidental is that kids love getting autographs from characters, so you can buy a little autograph book ahead of time. I got ours for about $2 each at one of the local “big box stores.” The stores near the park are chock full of tourist items and are a great place to shop for stuff you will need inside the park.
It rains a lot, so we brought some small rain ponchos just in case. You can get them in both child and adult sizes. I brought my own packable rain jacket, but used those ponchos for the rest of the family who didn’t have packable rain jackets.
5. Disney World On a Budget: Cheap Park Tickets
Disney lists special promotions on their website that could save you money ahead of time. For example, if you or a member of your party is a veteran or in active service, you can buy your tickets for Disney World at a much cheaper price. We were traveling with a family member who was a veteran and got our park tickets at the military resort Shades of Green for a reduced rate.
As you can see, there are a lot of things you can do to reduce the overall cost and fitting in Disney World on a budget without sacrificing the fun. Most of it is about simply planning ahead and bringing necessary items with you so that you don’t have to buy them in the park.
