So you want to take your family to Disney World? Not so fast
– read this post by my new guest blogger, JenniMommy, who has written the most comprehensive guide to saving money at
Disney World that you’ll ever read. Here's her bio:
“I’m a mom to two
happy little boys, ages 2 years and 4 months, which keeps me pretty busy. While
I’ve always enjoyed a great deal, two maternity leaves in such a short span has
made me really awesome at checking the flyers for sales and coupons. When I’m not being a mommy, I’m a Grade Two
teacher in Mississauga, Ont.”
With that, please proceed to JenniMommy’s post, “How I
survived Disney World on a budget – with TWO young kids”:
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| Magic Kingdom |
When I tell people that my husband and I took our 2-year-old
and 3-month-old to Orlando and Disney World, most of them look at us like we’re
crazy.
And, to be honest, it kind of felt that way.
It was a pretty daunting trip, given that we’d never been on
an airplane with the kids before, plus we were doing it on a budget since I’m
on mat leave, and travelling with small children can be so unpredictable (thank
you, terrible twos!).
I did a lot of research before we left, looking at prices,
hotels, parks, discounts and ways to keep my little ones occupied. So here are my top 8 tips for travelling to Disney World that kept us
(relatively) sane:
1. Book
through a package deal: Even with discounted airfares and hotel prices, we
found it cheaper to book through Air Transat, which included our
hotel (a 2-bedroom condo at the Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club, 10 minutes
from Disney), airfare and car rental (we rented a minivan, which my 2-year-old
loved!).
We also didn’t travel during high season and
luckily we had the flexibility to leave on a Thursday, which was slightly less
expensive than a Saturday. The downside, of course, is that AirTransat only
travelled on Thursdays or Saturdays, which worked for us but may not be
feasible for other families.
2. Get free
or cheap kid stuff for the airplane: Before leaving, I raided the dollar
store for small inexpensive toys to keep my toddler busy both at the airport
and on the plane. New little cars, a
water colouring book, small figurines and a Megablocks Thomas train (my
favourite dollar-store find!), helped pass the time (and if we lost them I
didn’t really care since I hadn’t spent a ton on them). I also downloaded free apps (endless 1,2,3,
jigsaw puzzles 1,2,3, puzzles 1,2,3 and candy count) and TV episodes (Bubble Guppies, Mighty Machines and Sid the
Science Kid) for my toddler to watch on my phone.
Baby-savings tip: some episodes and apps don’t stay free for
very long; if you see that they’re free, download them while you can!
3. Stay off-site in a condo: I researched a
lot of hotels before booking (thank you, TripAdvisor!), and decided that we
didn’t really need the full Disney resort experience; after all, our kids are too
young to remember it all. I also wanted to have a bit more space and
flexibility. My kids aren’t great
sleepers and when we’re all in one hotel room, we do even worse. So having a separate
bedroom for my 2-year-old and one for my husband, 3-month-old and I was a plus,
giving all of us a bit of space.
Having a full kitchen also meant that we
could store milk, buy simple groceries and pseudo-cook at the hotel (toast,
cereal, BBQ chicken sandwiches); not having to deal with two grumpy children at
restaurants saved a bit of money, too! This was especially great for breakfast
each morning.
4. Find
discounted tickets: Let’s face it, Disney World is expensive! Tickets are
about $100 a person. Luckily, kids ages
3 and under are free. We decided to get
a three-day pass, since that ended up being cheaper per day and we knew it
would take us a few days to get through the parks we wanted to see.
I looked into a few options and decided to
buy our tickets through CAA, which gave us a slight discount (or at least
enough to negate the exchange rate). You
can also order discount tickets through Undercovertourist.com. However, I chose
CAA because I wanted to have them in hand at the park and pass right through
the gate, rather than line up to buy tickets.
And I didn’t have enough time to have them shipped from the United
States (and besides, who wants to pay for shipping?!).
5. Be
smart about eating at Disney World:
An easy way I saved a few dollars at Disney was by bringing my own
snacks and water bottles. You’re allowed
to bring outside food into the parks, so you could bring your own lunch if you
wanted to – but it’s a lot to carry and, in the heat, you might worry about
things spoiling. We brought our own
snacks and used them to supplement our meals; they also kept our little guy
occupied while waiting in line for the rides.
Baby-savings tip: Instead of pop, order
water – it’s free and you can use it to refill your water bottles.
P.S. When you order meals, order
off the kids’ menu! It’s not really less
food than an “adult” meal, and it includes pre-packaged snacks like apple slices
and carrot sticks, which make great snacks for nibbling on later. Our favourite
restaurants were “Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn” at Magic Kingdom (they had a
fantastic pulled pork sandwich and amazing salad topping bar) and
“Restaurantosaurus” at Animal Kingdom (a fantastic burger topping bar,
including caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms!); kids meals come in a pail
with a shovel that you can take with you to the “Bone Yard Dig Site” to play
with and also makes a great free souvenir to take back to the pool at the
hotel!
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| Animal Kingdom |
6. How to get FREE souvenirs: Souvenirs can be pricey,
but there are lots of free souvenirs you can pick up at Disney other than the
guide map. If you’re going for a special
occasion (first visit, birthday, anniversary) you can get a free button from
guest services. It doesn’t need to be
the day of your celebration, just within 6 months of the date and often they’ll
personalize it for you by writing your name and the year on the button. We got “First Visit” buttons, which I plan to
turn into fridge magnets for the kids to play with at home.
At Magic Kingdom, you can play the Sorcerer’s Game throughout the park
and get free trading cards with various Disney characters on them. You can also go on the Pirate’s Treasure Hunt
in Adventureland and get a treasure map.
At the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, you can get a sprinkling of fairy dust;
meanwhile, at Animal Kingdom, kids can earn badges (stickers that go on various
pages of their guide book) when they complete various tasks or answer questions
around the park.
We only did these two parks, but I know
that there are other freebie activities/souvenirs for kids at Epcot and
Hollywood Studios. Don’t forget to bring your camera and take pictures. There are tons of professional photographers
at the park taking photos to sell to you; but they will also happily take the
picture with your camera too, so take advantage to get some awesome family
photos!
Baby-savings tip: Don’t forget to check if your airline gives
out free kids packs. Canjet/AirTransat
gave out a little backpack that had a beach ball, keychain game, a reusable
sticker book and card game! They also
often have free headphones for children under 12.
7. How to save money buying
souvenirs: Okay, let’s be real here:
you’re probably going to have to buy some souvenirs. My suggestion would be not to buy them at the park.
Hit a Target or Walmart instead! Target near our hotel had a section of Disney souvenirs (many of them the same as in the park) and Walmart had an even
bigger section with cheaper prices. You
can definitely pick up a t-shirt, toy or mug for a few bucks less and you don’t
have to lug them through the park.
In fact, I even bought my boys their Mickey Mouse t-shirts here in Canada
(Walmart, Target, Old Navy) – that way, we already had them to wear to the park
and for photos!
8. Bring
the stroller – seriously, just do it: Even if your kid doesn’t usually sit
in the stroller, bring it along. Seriously.
If you can get away with an umbrella stroller that takes up less room, even
better! There are tons of spots for
stroller parking and they are monitored by Disney cast members (however, that
doesn’t mean you leave your purse there!).
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| Epcot |
It can
be a long, hot day and even if you go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a
nap (FYI: your parking pass is good for re-entry), your little one may want
somewhere to chill.
Your stroller also
makes a great spot for them to sit during parades and a convenient place to put
the backpack and water bottles. You can
rent them from the park, too (I think it was less than $20 a day) or various
stroller rental companies in Orlando, but it’s also handy to have it along in
the airport for waiting or toting stuff.
We preferred to have our own double stroller since our 3-month-old was
too little to sit in the plastic park strollers and needed to still be in the
car seat in the stroller.
Ahh, the car seat – if your kid doesn’t need to be in it for a
stroller ride, don’t bring it to the park. You can bring the stroller and fold it up on some rides or trains, but
this isn’t possible with the car seat. In that case, the baby carrier was a must and our little baby spent a
lot of time in ours, which also made it easier to get on and off rides
quickly or wait in lines.
How did you survive
Disney World with young children? Share your comments below and keep an eye out
for Part 2 of this Disney World series.
