Disney World Budget Tips to Help You Save Money

Saving money at Disney World is not a big deal.  It's easy to do, but it's most often not what you would expect.  A lot of people think saving money at Disney happens at Disney, as in the choices you make while inside the parks and resorts.  In actuality, like a lot of other aspects of Disney vacations, your success depends on how well you plan ahead of time.  Here are some outstanding Disney World budget tips to help you plan your next vacation.

Evaluate Funds

The first step to budgeting at Disney is having a budget to work with.  Ideally you want to spend even less than what you have budgeted for, and this is easy to do.  The first step is to determine how much you have, or are willing to spend on your vacation.  Using that number, you can start throwing together some basic figures like the cost of discounted tickets from online sellers and the nightly costs of hotel rooms.  without doing a whole lot of in depth research you can come up with a framework of how many nights you can afford and how many park admissions to include. 

As Disney World budget tips go, a good place to start is by comparing the costs of deluxe, moderate and value resorts and how they stack up against your length of stay and your budget.  Pick the closest package you can get and then scrap a night or downgrade to a lower their hotel. The reason for this is because there are going to be more expenses to plan for and you'll want to make room.

Identify Costs

Consider your food costs and research where you plan to eat.  Disney lists all of it's menus and Prices, so you can come up with an accurate budget for food.  Counter Service restaurants are cheaper and have the most flexibility for budgeting meals.  One of the best Disney World budget tips is to use Disney's complimentary Transportation.  Even if you need to use an Uber or Lyft from time to time, you will still save a load of money on getting around.  Disney handles transport to and from the airport for free and uses buses, boats and monorails for transportation on property.

Prioritize Splurges

While on vacation you will want to make certain allowances despite costs.  If you don't you will feel held back and enjoy yourself less.  It's important as you plan to acknowledge what is important to you so you can allocate spending to those more important matters and make your budget cuts elsewhere.  You may prefer to drink alcohol, or abstain from alcohol depending on your preference.  You might plan a big extravagant meal and balance it out by having groceries delivered to your hotel for picnics. 

One major splurge is where you stay.  If you prefer to have more to spend inside Disney World you should consider staying just outside of it.  There are better priced options that are still within walking distance of Disney property and they can really free up your spending money.

Plan Daily Spending

One of the best Disney World budget tips I can offer is to pay as you go.  In just about every instance prepaid plans will end up costing you more money.  If you can do the Disney Dining Plan within your budget and you are not concerned with saving additional money, that is one thing, but remember that even that does not cover all of your meals and you will most likely wind up paying out of pocket. 

Planning daily spending instead will keep you on track and under budget, especially if you round up in rough figures.  This is the best way to be pleasantly surprised when your bill comes the night before check out.

Use Imported Goods

What I mean by that is, bring in to Disney World whatever you can that you don't want to pay a premium for while you are there.  Pack convenience items, water, snacks and anything you think you might use that you could wind up paying for in an emergency.  I also alluded to this earlier, but you can have groceries shipped to your hotel from Amazon.  There are other local grocery apps that you can use as well.