Hi, everyone! I've been to Disney World several times with my parents and sibling, and with my husband before we were married. Now, we have a baby boy, and I'm planning his first trip to WDW in a couple of years. I like to put a little aside each month far in advance. I have some experience in saving money at WDW, but I've never had to make it convenient for a small child. We normally stay off Disney property near the Marketplace so we can catch Disney transportation around. It seems like this would be too much traveling for a young one. Does anyone know how to save the most on Disney hotel rooms? I can't find their most off peak dates to plan around. I remember visiting in November and the price at the Caribbean was significantly lower. We learned to save money by buying the refillable cup at a resort near the park (even if you are not staying in that resort), We found the Dining Plan to be wasteful- we could never eat all of that food! Also, we take snacks and eat one restaurant meal a day. Sometimes, comfort has been sacrificed to get us to the parks. We once took the city bus from the airport to WDW with the Disney employees! I'm not sure I would recommend it for others, it took a long time and we got some dirty looks when we loaded our suitcases on, but the shuttle would have been $140 round trip for four and we got there and back on about $10 with the city bus. What are your favorite Disney money-saving tricks? I could use some fresh ideas.
My daughter is in Florida at the moment. This post is really helpful to me because I am now saving up so as we can all go as a family. I have three younger boys too and I would love them to have the experience.