One way to save money and enjoy Disney World

[NightGuardianAngel]

believe pretty much is Disney is losing a lot of its money on streaming services (Disney Plus, Hulu, etc.) and acquiring brands like 20th Century Fox, Touchstone Pictures, Searchlight Pictures, Marvel, Star Wars, etc. I believe one way to experience Disney on a budget also is to stay off property or, if you own an RV or a travel trailer, is to rent a campsite at a locally owned RV park (paying the weekly rate) or at a state park and just pay for the parks (at least in an RV or a travel trailer, you can cook your own meals as well so it definitely saves you money in eating out), especially since a lot of the perks of staying on property are now gone and resorts charge for parking as well (unless you are staying in the most expensive ones on the property). However, you do have to pay for parking if driving your own vehicle to Disney World. To my knowledge, best budget months to go is January (after New Years) and February, since the holidays are over and many have already spent tons of money on Christmas gifts and traveling during the holidays and especially since kids are back in school (most states, including Texas, and school districts count absences due to family vacation as unexcused and may result in loss of credit and having to repeat the same grade next school year) and vacationing is during the off peak during that time of year.

As for me, I would support a school calendar that would involve going to a nine week grading period and two week break after the first and third nine week period, and one month break after the second and fourth nine week periods (end of school year after fourth nine week period).

 

[JenniferParker]

Even though budget months have traditionally been January & February, I've haven't found my Feb bookings to be economical AND the crowd calendars all look like it could be more crowded in Feb than usual.

 

[kanerf]

I think all of the goofy requirements for international travel have impacted the number of folks that just stay in the US and go to Disney instead. Florida does not require test results to visit.

 

[karen4546]

believe pretty much is Disney is losing a lot of its money on streaming services (Disney Plus, Hulu, etc.) and acquiring brands like 20th Century Fox, Touchstone Pictures, Searchlight Pictures, Marvel, Star Wars, etc. I believe one way to experience Disney on a budget also is to stay off property or, if you own an RV or a travel trailer, is to rent a campsite at a locally owned RV park (paying the weekly rate) or at a state park and just pay for the parks (at least in an RV or a travel trailer, you can cook your own meals as well so it definitely saves you money in eating out), especially since a lot of the perks of staying on property are now gone and resorts charge for parking as well (unless you are staying in the most expensive ones on the property). However, you do have to pay for parking if driving your own vehicle to Disney World. To my knowledge, best budget months to go is January (after New Years) and February, since the holidays are over and many have already spent tons of money on Christmas gifts and traveling during the holidays and especially since kids are back in school (most states, including Texas, and school districts count absences due to family vacation as unexcused and may result in loss of credit and having to repeat the same grade next school year) and vacationing is during the off peak during that time of year.

As for me, I would support a school calendar that would involve going to a nine week grading period and two week break after the first and third nine week period, and one month break after the second and fourth nine week periods (end of school year after fourth nine week period).

You still have to pay for parking at the resort if you are staying at the most expensive resort. Unless you are a DVC member and staying at a DVC resort.
if I drive(rarely do) and stay at POFQ then I pay for resort parking.

My most missed perk for staying onsite is the Magical Express and luggage service.

we enjoy staying onsite because our resort is just a short walk, boat, monorail or skyline ride away.

My husband has toyed with idea of purchasing an RV but not to stay at WDW, since we own DVC. We don’t own enough points for my liking and we rent points and stay on AP rates often.

I think there are plenty of budget friendly ways to enjoy WDW. Rent points, stay in a rental like Airbnb, rent an offsite timeshare like Marriott, even some of those timeshare companies offer deals for listening to their presentationand tickets are sometimes included (according to their ads).

Dining options are actually better if you stay offsite. Eat breakfast in the room, share QS meals or buy kid size QS meals. My husband and I often share meals at dinner by ordering one entree and two apps-that way we can try new things.

buy tickets from UT. Buy one adult AP if possible to get those AP rates for rooms.

buy discounted Disney gift cards. Use a rewards CC.

Travel is our “entertainment“ budget. We rarely eat dinner out, don’t go to the cinema, and so we have a decent travel budget (we bought DVC in 2019) and the main thing that comes from that are the yearly dues and AP costs.

 

[kathy884]

I'm doing one day at the MK (doing the Keys to the Kingdom Tour) on Sat. Feb. 11th after visiting a cousin who lives in Tampa for two days. The one item that I found significantly less expensive for me at this time of year compared to other times of the year was airfare. My return flight from Orlando on Southwest was 35% less than my return flight in March of 2022 (popular spring break week). My one day park ticket though wasn't in the least expensive category ($168 ouch) and my tour was the same as the tours always cost (high, but they always sell out right away - lots of demand).

I looked at staying both onsite (prices were high even for values -- too rich for my blood) and offsite (some better deals, but not that different than other times, and I was just looking at a hotel for one night. I can almost always find pretty decent offsite deals, and usually stay offsite in one of the many lovely timeshare condos for longer stays. In the end when my Nephew who lives in Orlando invited me to spend the night at his place in his guest bedroom (I went for that) - free.

Touring plans predicted a crowd level six, which is pretty light actually, so that could be a good reason to go. They are off a lot of times though.

When I went end of January of 2018 crowd levels ranged from 6-10. Our MK day was a crowd level 10 day for a Saturday late January and had 20 minute waits for the People Mover and Carousel of Progress which are almost always walk on (some special NFL event that had a lot of people in Orlando for the weekend). Touringplans had predicted an 8 on that day, but it was a 10. You just never know.

 

[NightGuardianAngel]

You still have to pay for parking at the resort if you are staying at the most expensive resort. Unless you are a DVC member and staying at a DVC resort.
if I drive(rarely do) and stay at POFQ then I pay for resort parking.

My most missed perk for staying onsite is the Magical Express and luggage service.

we enjoy staying onsite because our resort is just a short walk, boat, monorail or skyline ride away.

My husband has toyed with idea of purchasing an RV but not to stay at WDW, since we own DVC. We don’t own enough points for my liking and we rent points and stay on AP rates often.

I think there are plenty of budget friendly ways to enjoy WDW. Rent points, stay in a rental like Airbnb, rent an offsite timeshare like Marriott, even some of those timeshare companies offer deals for listening to their presentationand tickets are sometimes included (according to their ads).

Dining options are actually better if you stay offsite. Eat breakfast in the room, share QS meals or buy kid size QS meals. My husband and I often share meals at dinner by ordering one entree and two apps-that way we can try new things.

buy tickets from UT. Buy one adult AP if possible to get those AP rates for rooms.

buy discounted Disney gift cards. Use a rewards CC.

Travel is our “entertainment“ budget. We rarely eat dinner out, don’t go to the cinema, and so we have a decent travel budget (we bought DVC in 2019) and the main thing that comes from that are the yearly dues and AP costs.

In my humble opinion, you are correct about having to pay for parking at the resort even as a hotel guest. To me, that defeats one of the purposes of staying at the resorts also and the free transportation between hotel to parks. That is why, in my opinion, it is just cheaper and worth it just to stay off property and use ride sharing services like Uber or Lyft (you definitely want to give a tip to the driver as well). Uber and Lyft fares within the city are usually cheaper than Disney’s parking fees. At least before 2022, they used to have the free Magical Express shuttle bus service if flying into Orlando International Airport if you have a reservation at one of Disney hotels and there was no need to worry about parking fees. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.

 

[stephk1981]

believe pretty much is Disney is losing a lot of its money on streaming services (Disney Plus, Hulu, etc.) and acquiring brands like 20th Century Fox, Touchstone Pictures, Searchlight Pictures, Marvel, Star Wars, etc. I believe one way to experience Disney on a budget also is to stay off property or, if you own an RV or a travel trailer, is to rent a campsite at a locally owned RV park (paying the weekly rate) or at a state park and just pay for the parks (at least in an RV or a travel trailer, you can cook your own meals as well so it definitely saves you money in eating out), especially since a lot of the perks of staying on property are now gone and resorts charge for parking as well (unless you are staying in the most expensive ones on the property). However, you do have to pay for parking if driving your own vehicle to Disney World. To my knowledge, best budget months to go is January (after New Years) and February, since the holidays are over and many have already spent tons of money on Christmas gifts and traveling during the holidays and especially since kids are back in school (most states, including Texas, and school districts count absences due to family vacation as unexcused and may result in loss of credit and having to repeat the same grade next school year) and vacationing is during the off peak during that time of year.

As for me, I would support a school calendar that would involve going to a nine week grading period and two week break after the first and third nine week period, and one month break after the second and fourth nine week periods (end of school year after fourth nine week period).

Some counties have adopted this school schedule in the past, and have since gone back to a traditional summer off schedule. The main complaint at school board meetings was that child care was incredibly hard to find for just 2 weeks after each 9 week period....it was very hard for parents with children that could not stay home alone after school. This is why we homeschool, that's the only way to really vacation ANYTIME you'd like without worrying about attendance.

We are local, ALL times of year are busy now. We have not encountered even one week this past year that could compare with the slow times there used to be. There is only busy and busier.