For many families, Disney World is the vacation destination. Far and away one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world, Disney World has been drawing in millions of tourists a year since its construction was finalized in 1971. With thousands of delightful things to see and do, there’s no question that this is one of the best ways to spend your paid vacation days!
The breadth and variety of things to do in Disney World is truly staggering. The popularity of this attraction is not without good reason! The city of Orlando has grown up around this singular location, developing into the thriving metropolis that it is today. With an economy centered almost entirely around tourism, it’s no surprise that there’s plenty to see here!
Considering how popular Disney World is, prices are understandably high inside the parks and outside. Admission, lodging, food, transportation and just about everything else you’ll need throughout the course of your vacation will end up lightening your wallet by a substantial amount. What’s worse, each additional person you bring will end up costing you an additional sum for their expenses. To cut a long story short, Disney World is expensive.
If you aren’t fabulously wealthy, there’s a good chance you’re going to be looking for ways to save money while you’re visiting Orlando. If this is the case, you’ll be happy to learn that we’ve got a number of tips that will help you save your money and make sure you make it home with as much of it in your pocket as possible. Let’s get into it!
Saving money on your Disney vacation
Disney is expensive, there’s no doubt about that. There are, however, a number of clever ways in which you can cut costs and make sure you spend as little as possible. With a dollar saved here and a voucher redeemed there, you can easily make sure that you don’t sink into poverty before you return home. Let’s take a look at some of these tips now.
Take advantage of the economy of scale
As any first semester economics student can tell you, the economy of scale is the secret to the success of many a large company. This concept is quite simple in practice; the more individual units you have, the lower the cost of each individual unit. As it concerns your vacation to Disney, this means that the larger your group is, the less each individual person will cost to house, feed, and buy tickets for.
As we’ll explore in more depth a bit later in the article, having a large group is most beneficial when it comes to lodging. Orlando is home to thousands of rental homes, many of which are far more affordable than you might think. For larger rental homes, the price per family can be significantly lowered by traveling with two or more families.
Other costs can also be significantly lowered by traveling with another family or two. The cost of transportation, for example, can be lowered by renting a larger vehicle such as a minivan or passenger van, thereby eliminating the need for more than one rental car. The cost of food can also be minimized by purchasing food for the entire group and cooking larger portions.
Use vouchers and group deals
Another great way to save money on your vacation to Disney World in Orlando is to search for and use as many vouchers and group deals as possible. These are more common than you think, and you can potentially save hundreds or even thousands of dollars by incorporating these deals into your travel plans.
When purchasing tickets for the parks, for example, check to see if there are any family packages available. The standard cost for a one week ticket to the four parks at Disney World is quite high (especially when you add the cost of your kids and spouse), so a package deal can easily save you quite a bit of money.
One great way to find deals such as these is by downloading Honey, a browser extension that works with all major browsers. This simple but surprisingly effective extension automatically checks for vouchers and coupon codes from around the web when you reach the checkout page of any online vendor, after which you can simply select the one that offers the best price.
Take time to enjoy the free attractions
While there is a lot at Disney World that costs money to participate in, there are also quite a few things you can do without spending a dime. Sometimes referred to as “the free Disney”, these attractions are just as fun and engaging as many of the attractions you’ll find in the parks, yet they can be enjoyed at absolutely no cost to you.
Perhaps the best known entry on the list of free attractions at Disney is the nightly fireworks show put on just after dusk each day. Each of these shows costs a staggering amount of money to produce, with tens and often hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of pyrotechnics on display. In spite of this, you can watch the fireworks for free from anywhere in the Disney World complex of hotels and resorts!
There are a number of other attractions that can be enjoyed completely free on the periphery of Disney World. You can catch one of the shows by big band or jazz music groups in one of the resorts, or watch one of the many acts on the boardwalk by experienced and skilled street performers. The important thing is that they don’t cost money to enjoy!
Book a tour of the city
If you’ve never been to Orlando and are interested in seeing what else the city has to offer besides Disney, the best way to do this is by booking a city tour. This will accomplish two things. First, it will give you a chance to see parts of Orlando that many people never quite get around to seeing. Second, it will help you save money. A day touring the city is bound to be a lot cheaper than tickets to the Disney parks!
In terms of things to see, Orlando has a whole lot.There are great places to eat, a number of fun tourist attractions, more than a few excellent bars and clubs and much, much more. Even if you don’t book a guided tour, you should have little trouble finding things to do. What’s more, a lot of these attractions are free as well!
One of the most pleasant things you can do while you’re in Orlando is take a trip through Celebration, a delightfully serene and meticulously groomed residential area that is about as close as you can get to heaven on earth. With perfectly manicured laws, picturebook homes, vibrant parks and relaxing greenery, this is simply a very relaxing place to spend time!
Avoid park shops and restaurants
While you can certainly save money by simply not going to Disney World, we’d wager you want to spend at least some time actually enjoying the parks themselves. If this is the case, we’ve got a few ways in which you can save yourself quite a bit while you enjoy yourself in one of the four parks at Disney World.
First and foremost, avoid spending time and (more importantly) money in the shops that lie in and around the parks. These may seem like a great place to buy merchandise and memorabilia, but they very much are not. These shops charge exorbitant prices for almost everything they sell and actually function as one of the largest revenue streams for Disney Inc. If you want to save, buy the knick-knacks outside the park!
Food is another thing you can easily spend hundreds of dollars on over the course of a few days if you buy at the artificially inflated prices you’ll find in the park restaurants. In order to avoid spending inordinate amounts of money at these establishments, always pack yourselves a meal or two for the road!
Conclusion
For many, the dream of visiting Disney World is simply too costly for consideration. Hopefully, with this article, we’ve given you a few ideas as to how to make that dream a reality. With some careful budgeting and good financial planning, we’re willing to wager that a trip to Disney world is a very reasonable goal. And who knows? With the help of the real estate agents in Orlando FL, you might just make this place your home!
