I was reading somoe blogs and saw that miclason is going to be going to FL soon, as my family is. This is our first major trip (ten days) with the kids. The trip is booked and paid for with four nights on-site and a four day Park Hopper pass.
I am looking for practical advice to keep the price down while we are there.
Is there a Disney outlet for souvenirs in the area?
Any and all advice from frugal folks are appreciated!
Attn DisneySteve and any other Disney Goers
April 28th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
April 28th, 2008 at 11:46 pm 1209426416
1. Drink tap water. It's free. We bring in a sport bottle filled with ice and water in the morning and just refill it throughout the day. The restaurants will give you more ice and water.
2. Share food. Most meals, even at the counter service places, are big enough to at least partially share. So if there are 4 of you going, you may only need to order 3 meals for lunch, for example. Or one order of fries may be enough for 2 people.
3. You can order food that isn't on the menu. This is one of those hidden secrets that can save a fair amount. For example, the menu might only list a cheeseburger and fries combo meal. You can order just the cheeseburger and save a couple of dollars. Or you can order a plain burger and save a little more. What we'll do is have one person get the combo with the fries and the other 2 of us just get the sandwich. Then we all share the one order of fries. Some places also sell a double burger. You can order one of those and an extra bun to get 2 single burgers at a big savings. You need to be sneaky and creative.
4. Give the kids a souvenir allowance for them to spend as they wish (if they are old enough to do so). Make it clear that when that money is gone, they're done. Or you may agree to cover certain items, like a t-shirt for each or a hat and they're on their allowance for the rest.
5. If you have a car, eat some meals offsite. The Lake Buena Vista area along route 535 and the Kissimmee area along route 192 is loaded with every possible kind of restaurant you could possibly want and offsite prices are much better than onsite ones.
6. The nearest Disney outlet is at Orlando Premium Outlets on route 535 just across I-4 from Disney property. Leave Disney property using Hotel Blvd. near Downtown Disney. At the light, turn right on 535. Cross under I-4. At the next light, turn left into the development. There are some restaurants and a few Marriott hotels and then the road leads you to the outlet center. If you walk through the food court, the Disney store is on your right when you exit.
I'd be happy to answer any other questions or give any other tips you might need. Where are you staying the other 6 days?
April 29th, 2008 at 12:15 am 1209428149
We are driving down from Chicago - two days each way - and plan on visiting the Gulf og Mexico (some family members have recommended a state park along there) and then have to hit the Weeki-wachee Spring of Live Mermaids and Tarpon Springs (some fond memories when I was a kid adn there about twenty five years ago) and Dinosaur Park and some general Orlando city sites. Thank you for your tips, I thought you would be the resident Disney expert here. And we have purchased Disney gift cards - one for each child and when their money is gone they'll have to resort to spending their own money (which there isn't that much of) So I thought that would be one way to impress upon them the important of good choice making.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:51 am 1209469908
We go to Disney often ... and we do it "cheap" by staying at Fort Wilderness in our RV (I say cheap b/c our May trip, the site cost $100/night ... and we bring the "hotel"!) so we eat the majority of our meals in the RV. I alway bring small snacks into the parks ... usually we'll share a small lunch or something between Julie and I, and then head on back to the rv for a nap and an early dinner before we go back to the parks later in the evening. We don't tour "comando", that's for sure.
What state park are you staying at? I live right off the Gulf Coast, love it here. You and your family will have a wonderful time. Are you talking about Dinosaur World down I-4, or something in Orlando?
I think giving th kids a chance to spend there own money is areally good idea.
We'll be at the parks May 31-June 2nd.
April 29th, 2008 at 04:55 pm 1209488136
I love Fort Wilderness. I stayed there a few times back in high school with my best friend and his family who used to have an RV. He and I would pitch a tent and sleep in there and the parents would stay in the RV.
"Cheap" is a very relative term, though. We don't spend anywhere near $100/night for our accomodations but we do stay off-site. We usually rent a timeshare or condo unit. We've paid less than $40/night for a 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit. But I'd have to concede that the atmosphere at Fort Wilderness is better.