Disney on a budget

gljk83

Hi all.  We’re looking to go to Florida next April and are keen to get in as much as we can afford - however I’m someone who doesn’t like paying full price if I can help it!  We’re a family of 4.  

Are there any hacks, tips, tricks etc that people do? 

We are limited to going next Easter school holidays (April).  We are looking to share a place with another family so won’t stay in the park. 

Interested in as much as we can do out of: Disney (don’t have to do alllllll the parks), universal studios, Busch gardens, NASA, sea world etc....

Duckyduck

Buy your tickets before you.  14 day tickets in the U.K. tend to be not much more than single day tickets, the Disney ticket sold in the U.K. includes park hopper so you can go to the all the Disney parks during your stay. 

Also at Disney you can take food in, so go to Walmart/Publix to stock up and then take picnics into the park rather than paying the extortonate prices inside the parks.

be aware that Easter is a peak time, so it’s going to be extremely busy.

strawb_shortcake

When we went we would go to ponderosa and fill up on a big breakfast and then a light snack during the day at the parks. Same as anywhere I find it's the drinks that cost a fortune on any day out.
 If you are in a villa I assume you'll be happy to cook on an evening? 
I know some families buy the Mickey ears and accessories before they go as its much cheaper than in the parks. 
Buy tickets through quidco so you get a little something back.
NASA was my favourite bit,  and the main reason I'd go back. 

ComicGeek

It can be exhausting, so don't try and squeeze everything in. We go for 14 days and just about cover the 4 Disney parks and have pool time, don't have time for Universal - so you can save money by not buying park tickets for everything.

Food in the park is crazy prices.

If you're not staying on site then you'll only get disney fast pass allocation 30 days before, so most of the key attractions won't be available for fast pass. You can still queue but significantly reduces what you can get done each day with hour long waits for each ride.

izzitme

Lots of info on The DIBB here. https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums. I understand that Ponderosa is pretty much non-existent now (think there may be one on the 192 in Kissimmee?).

Golden Corral is a buffet/all you can eat restaurant that offers food for all tastes. Some love it & some hate it, there doesn't seem to be a middle ground of "it's alright but nothing special".

You might find that eating out is just as cheap as buying & preparing food in the villa.

SweetPotatoPie

If you’re doing all the parks then you are best off looking at the Orlando passport on a site such as attraction tickets. 

Villa will be cheapest if you are visiting with another family. If not, then international drive will be cheapest. You will need to factor in parking costs (parks charge for this).
plenty of ultra cheap food on international drive - Denny’s, ihop, cici’s pizza, maccies, subway, millers ale house etc. 

As above - look on the dibb 

Sharon87

ComicGeek said:

It can be exhausting, so don't try and squeeze everything in. We go for 14 days and just about cover the 4 Disney parks and have pool time, don't have time for Universal - so you can save money by not buying park tickets for everything.

Food in the park is crazy prices.

If you're not staying on site then you'll only get disney fast pass allocation 30 days before, so most of the key attractions won't be available for fast pass. You can still queue but significantly reduces what you can get done each day with hour long waits for each ride.

In terms of Fast Pass. We booked a day ticket to Disney 1-2 days before we went and the only ride in the Magic Kingdom we couldn't book was the 7 Dwarf Mine Train. All other rides we could book Fast Pass for, they were just limited times. So it's still possible to book your Fast Passes 30 days before, just not for every ride. 

You can book 3 Fast Passes per day, once they're gone, you can book another one at a time - depending on availability of course. You will need the Disney app to book the Fast Passes on the day - and you can use it to book the fast passes in advance. I would recommend the app as it has the queue times for each ride, so you can look now to see what kinds of queues there are! 

Definitely take food into the park for most of the time - especially waters and snacks. If you want to eat in a Disney restaurant reservations are usually required. Cafe type places don't need reservations, but there's also the 'street food' which is a bit cheaper, but if you take sandwiches or something that's even cheaper - but there are some Disney snacks (Mickey waffles/toofee apples.etc) you might want to try, so save your money for these instead of spending money on a rubbish burger and fries!

We also went to Kennedy Space Centre - it was really amazing. we did a tour of the launch sites (costs extra but worth it). They don't do these tours on launch days obviously, so check before you go to see if there are any scheduled (but they often get cancelled). But seeing a rocket launch would be awesome! My friend was lucky enough to see one when she stayed at Disney last year - we missed the Tesla car going into space by a few days!