Your best Money Saving Tips for Orlando Holidays

[Rascal1003]

I thought it might be useful to see what the best money saving tips are for those who travel to Orlando regularly, especially with prices of everything generally going up.

Here are a few of ours after 6 or 7 trips...

1. Shop around and Book your rental car direct with the rental company or outlets such as AirlineNetwork - their rates are fully inclusive and therefore dont require additional insurances etc. Booking with the travel agent will cost you more, especially Virgin Hols, who charge as much for insurance as Dollar do for the rental (yet VH include the car in the price of the holiday !)

2. Publix/Walmart - Soft Drinks, beer, food - top up here and fill your hotel room fridge with those items that are great to have on "Pool days" or when you get back in the evenings.

3. Ponderosa - Big time breakfast for pennies! Top up for the day and no need to have lunch !

4. [Disney Resorts] Free refill cups - keep daytime drinks costs down to zero, buy a refill cup for about $15. Drink 2 or 3 cups a day at around $2 and you will have efectively saved a small fortune (in theory!)

5. Gas/Petrol - Fill up away from the main tourist areas where gas prices are cheaper. Check the prices before filling up as gas stations can vary dramatically.

6. Kids Eat Free - Look out for those deals in many restaurants!

7. Voucher Books - You will know them if you have seen them, if not, look out for them in restaurants, hotels, malls etc. They are books of discount vouchers for loads of attractions and shops that you are like ly to use anyway.

8. Clothes Shopping - TJ Maxx, Target, Walmart are much cheaper than mainstream malls.

9. Currency - Travellers Cheques are often a slightly better exchange rate and are accepted just about everywhere just like cash...and more secure too!

I am sure there are loads more, so let's see what everyone else can suggest...

All the best,
Russ

 

[amystevekai&bump]

4. [Disney Resorts] Free refill cups - keep daytime drinks costs down to zero, buy a refill cup for about $15. Drink 2 or 3 cups a day at around $2 and you will have efectively saved a small fortune (in theory!)

All the best,
Russ

Great thread Russ!!

One thought - Can you take your refillable mug with you when you do a split stay at two disney resorts?? Or is that a big NO NO!!

 

[mushumadness]

take minimal clothes, you know your going to buy loads while there

oh DH I should save money by stocking up on baby cothes in Florida instead of dragging him around the shops here (imagine that a man incouraging shopping)

 

[Claire L]

Great thread Russ!!

One thought - Can you take your refillable mug with you when you do a split stay at two disney resorts?? Or is that a big NO NO!!

With the YOMD mugs as long as it is consecutive stays no problem from what I understand

Also use a zero % foreign transaction fee credit card even better than travellers cheques, esp Nationwide, Post Office or Thomas Cook as go through about 4 cents to the £ higher.

Plus if travelling twice in 12 months or for more than 3 weeks consider annual passes for WDW and Universal, they also ogve discounts on some shopping and eatting.

Claire

 

[kevin harrison]

Best advice to save money...

When you land, get off the plane onto the steps, throw your wallet onto the runway and get back onto the plane.....

 

[Cyrano]

Great thread. Keep them coming

 

[Rascal1003]

Best advice to save money...

When you land, get off the plane onto the steps, throw your wallet onto the runway and get back onto the plane.....

....and miss all the fun of watching the cash haemorrage from your bank account ?? And of course, how you might get all that crap that you will never wear again into your suit cases??

Re: Refill cups....I dont think there is any problem with taking them to other resorts. We are DVC'ers so use them throughout our DVC stay which saves a heap of cash as we refill at leisure by the pool. I think they are also good for hot drinks int he self-service restaurant too.

Further ideas...

Again, on refill cups - SeaWorld cups (I believe) are valid for use at Bush Gardens if you are headed to both parks, so the discounted refills can save a few $'s here and there over the course of the 2 days.

Share an Entree when dining out, or better still, dont even have one. The main courses are ample and if you still have a bit of room at the end, share a dessert. This will knock $15 off your bill straight away! And dont forget, you wouldnt eat a 3-course meal everyday at home, so maybe save that for the weekends? (one for the slightly health/weight conscious too).

Disney souvenirs and clothes - Great bargains to be found at the Disney Store outlets at [formerly] Bells Mall and also the Premium Outlet at the south end of I Drive. Same Disney quality, but previous season's stock at a quarter of the park prices.

Toll Roads - not expensive when compared to the additional fuel you would use to avoid them, so plan ahead and dont assume that the tolls will be an unnecessary expense. Check the amount of distance you will save.

Mini Adventure Golf - If this is your thing it can be quite expensive to try them all, however, play one and you will get a good discount to play at their other locations (eg Smugglers Cove I-Drive will be valid at other Smugglers Cove adventure golf locations such as US192 etc...same applies to Tiki Golf and also Congo River Adventure), so check the voucher to see where else you can go. Great ways to spend an evening if you can keep the cost down.

Plan some activities in the evenings - have some stuff lined up to do because it is too easy to just wander round Downtown Disney or along I-Drive and go in the shops. You are on this forum because you cant say no to all things Disney and accordingly, will be buying stuff all the time. Why not go for a walk around Downtown Orlando or something?

 

[stubb]

sign up with restaurants you know you will be going to ie sweet tomatoes etc etc tell them you have a birthday during your time away and you get a discount voucher, also sign up for the premium outlet and you get lots of printable vouchers. When going into golden coral get one of the kids to pick up a voucher book on the other side . Take minimal toiletries with you and buy them there. If you know you will be going back within 12 mon consider buying aps even if only one member has one will save on parking and discounts off food and shopping. Shop around for tckts look ay both uk and us sites { probably preaching to the converted}
michelle

 

[Rascal1003]

Sun Creams - Much cheaper in WalMart than any stores here at home.

 

[bazzanoid]

Stay away from the DVD shelves in Walmart.........

When driving, use a satnav (if you own one) to get the best routes... if you don't own one, plan in advance using google or microsoft's directions facility on their mappings.

Tell the car hire company you'll bring it back full - avoids paying for a full tank of gas at about half as much more than you would locally. make sure you do though, or they'll charge you - generally filling up within a 5 - 6 mile radius of the airport is sufficient.

 

[Lizzybear]

-Book things separately/compare this to the package deals. It's time consuming but worth it for the money you can save.
-Refillable mugs: Only buy if you're sure they will save you money. We were on the dining plan and with the included drinks and extra bottled water (from Walmart) we didn't need anything else.
-Freeze some bottles of water to take to the parks if possible/practical.
-If you like to trade pins buy a lot on eBay before you go or check the outlet stores for cheap ones.
-You can buy an extra bun for something like 50c with a double burger at Disney CS restaurants, could be handy if you want to share.

 

[UKMark]

We go twice a year. Three weeks in April/May and two weeks in October/November time. The only way we can afford to do it is by booking the villa through a company that does allocation on arrival. We paid under £800 for 3 weeks in April this year for a villa and got a 4 bed villa in Lake Wilson Preserve Shame there were only 2 of us.

 

[paulh]

when going out for a meal at outback,hit it at happy hour 5-7pm.2 drinks for the price of one

 

[Daysleeper40]

Definately buy bottled water outside of the parks and fill them up at the water fountains.

Frequent Sweet Tomatos for your dinner - its lush and an absolute steal!

Don't feel you HAVE to hire a car - consider your options and work out if you really need to. We didn't and had no problems using public transport. The I-Ride trolly is particularly cheap and easy for I-Drive

Food portions are generally on on the large side - we shared lunch practically every day and made the mistake of ordering too much for dinner a couple of times too. Share portions to save $$$

 

[scojos]

eat cheap. big expense with kids, ponderosa, golden corral, IHOP, sweet tomatoes etc.
Buy a water bottle holder and fill up at CS restaurants, you do not have to buy bottles.
have basics delivered to room, are using wegoshop, its like using tesco.com here- i only get what i need not what i fancy
do not let dh in virgin megastore under any circumstances.
refillable mugs at water pparks are transferable too.
take basic snacks into park, either carry if light or leave in lockers.
souvenirs are on last day only.
dtd is where the kids spend their money not mine.
(this is the same for dh as virgin is there too!

tracy

 

[rpbert1]

we dont take bottled water to parks, just ask at the carts for cup of iced water , much better than carrying bottles with you.

 

[Lizzybear]

Not sure if it's just me but I find the tap water in Florida totally rank, sort of sulphury almost! I'll use it for brushing teeth but that's all.

 

[scojos]

the cs places give you filtered water, better than fountains, imo
tracy

 

[UKMark]

We buy a pack of those drink powder sachets from Walmart. We refill the water bottle from a fountain, add the power and it's fine.

 

[lensgirl]

We buy a pack of those drink powder sachets from Walmart. We refill the water bottle from a fountain, add the power and it's fine.

what are they for?