The Great 'Disney Cost Cutting' Hunt

GentleGiant_2

Edinburghlass wrote: »

Disney for Disney Annual pass...

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/tickets/ticketsLandingPage?id=TicketsLandingPage

Thanks - but it asks me for my country and having selected the UK the annual pass option vanishes from the next page

toshkininny

this is a fantastic thread, thanks all.

Mike_Bell_2

Just returned from Florida last week and am keen to recommend a fantastic Tip for everyone travelling to the USA/Disney etc...

Go to Wal-Mart the day you arrive (Open 24hrs). I bought two Net10 mobile phones for $29 (£15) each. (I have seen them on sale at just $19, but missed that deal)

The phones INCLUDE a Net10 sim card AND 300mins of Local, National, Cross network mobiles AND International calls.

We were able to keep in touch with the rest of our party in the theme parks and make and receive calls from home for the two weeks we were there and still only used less than half of the packaged free minutes. we also had a great souveneir to bring home. As the 300 mins have a 60 day time period to be used in, we are giving the phone to a friend who is travelling there next week to use up the credits. (Or you could just give it to someone arriving in the USA at the airport!)

One other Communication option I saw was also available at Wal-Mart. A set of TWO Walkie Talkies with 7 mile range for less than $30 (£15 for the pair) An absolute essential for allowing your party to slpit up in the Theme Parks... especially good if you use a 'Runner' to nip ahead to get your 'Fast Pass' tickets! You could take your UK walkie talkies with you, but my 5km (3mile) range ones were pretty useless in the parks when we were in buildings and restaurants, as well as the UK frequency being ILLEGAL in the USA!

Hope these two money saving ideas help someone.

greenern

Im off to Orlando in October & have spent hours searching the web for cheaper park tickets and I have to agree with the majority on this forum, massive savings are'nt possible to purchase before you go.

I ended up with a 3day hopper for Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM & Animal Kingdom (which upgraded to 6days) & a flexi ticket valid for 14days to Universal, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld, Aquatica & Wet n Wild.

I purchased them online from Undercover Tourist for £280, they show their prices alongside the gate prices & whilst they were a little more expensive than others online I couldnt guarantee that the other sites were'nt ripping me off & Undercover Tourist come highly recommended by other forums & friends.

Hope this of some use to others & hopefully I'll enjoy my holiday LOL :rotfl:

Amys

it is often cheapest to purchase hotel rooms direct with the hotels, as many in the US (including Disney and universal) will give you the triple A discount (their equivalent of the AA), which can be between 10% - 20%. The hotels will also be more flexible, often allowing you to cancel up to five days before the booking with no penalty, this means that is the prices reduce you can get the reduced rate.

Hotwire can also be very useful. We have got Rosen Center for $65 and Dolphin for $125 a night. We make sure we chosen high star ratings as you do not know what hotel it will be until after you are committed, but with guidance from web sites such as better bidding.com it is possible to get a good idea which hotel it may be.

If you have a hire car the petrol stations near Disney are sometimes some of the cheapest, a good site is http://www.orlandogasprices.com/

There are many web sites that you can download discount vouchers, these are a few, some of which are very useful
http://www.iloveorlando.com/documents/ILOSM08Coupons_website2_000.pdf
http://www.internationaldriveorlando.com/hotDeals/index.asp
http://www.flamingoworld.com/retail
http://www.orlandoconventionaid.com/ (click on special offer brochure)
When looking at these and the expiry dates do not forget that the US use the formate MM/DD/YYY

If on a budget cheap meals are everywhere buffets such as Golden Corral (with vouchers it can be $8.99 for an all you ccan eat steak buffet), CiCis Pizza etc are very common.

Many restaurants will send out regular vouchers, as well as introductory vouchers if you sign up for their newsletter, but only do this within a couple of weeks of the travel date as they are usually only valid for a month. They may also send out vouchers for Birthdays and Anniversary's. This includes Tony Romas, Texas d'Brazil, Denny's Breakfast Club (this is two weeks only on the intro voucher), Friendly's.

If you are traveling during September there is usually a promotion called Magic Dinning Month which sees a large selection of restaurants offering three course meals for a set price, $19 for the casual restaurant and $29 (plus tax and gratuity) for the more formal restaurants, details are here http://www.orlandoinfo.com/magicaldining/index.cfm

For univeral tickerts check the US web site rather than the UK web site they are often cheaper, if you cannot access it go thoguh a US travel agent site (such as dreams unlimited) who will allow you to purchase tickets only. You can also call Universal to ask for prices, For example, atm you can get a 7 day ticket for $94 through the US ticketing arragments, but it is $117 for two days only through the UK site.

These are a few, hope it helps.

Amys

opps sorry duplicate

Amys

GentleGiant wrote: »

Thanks - but it asks me for my country and having selected the UK the annual pass option vanishes from the next page

You need to select US and it will stay there

Amys

CSI:Jude wrote: »

Thanks VIVATIFOSI. Be sure to take my card with me incase we decide to go get a few bits.

Obviously a big money saving thing is not to eat in the parks but take food with you. But the rules of Disney appear to say you can't. Do they enforce this vigorously? Really don't want to max out the CC when I'm there.

I know this is off topic a wee bit but where's the best shopping bargins in orlando?

Jude :j

I have seen families bringing in cooler boxes on wheels, so they do allow this. There are lockers at the front of the park, so you can store back packs etc. They may not let you bring in glass bottles, and at Seaworld you cannot take in straws. If you have bottles or cups most stands will fill them with water for you free of charge.

A good tip is to freeze a bottle of water the night before and use it to keep food cool during the day.

MargaretMcMillan57

Rosani wrote: »

Every time I travel to Orlando I call up my local friends who work for Universal and Disney - free tickets every time!

How do you arrange this? I have a villa & I always have to pay

theshed

Not strictly a discount, but when we stayed at a Disney hotel Florida in 2008 we were given a selection of discount and offer cards at the resort.
These were for various offers such as golf, water parks etc. We had some left at the end of our stay and decided to try and sell them at the various booths around the resort offering 'discount tickets'.
Those around the International Drive area where a bit dismissive and only offered a few Dollars. We stopped at one out of town near Kissimee and they checked the dates, but could only give us $8 each.
This amounted to nearly $60 ! We 'reluctantly' accepted this. Took our money. And skipped out to blow our new found wealth :j