There’s something sooooo MAGICAL about Disney!!! It is my FAVORITE place on Earth!!!! And I would honestly live there if I could!!! I meet sooo many people that say it’s just TOO EXPENSIVE so they don’t go!!! But I PROMISE there’s a way FOR YOU TO GO whether for ONE DAY or for a WEEK!!! I think EVERYONE that wants to experience Disney SHOULD!!! I have read COUNTLESS blogs on how to “SAVE FOR DISNEY” or “HOW TO GO TO DISNEY FOR FREE”, and just about everything they are listing is NOT REASONABLE!!! Most will say save your credit card rewards for like 10 years and then your trip is free or use this app that gives you .0004 cents for every survey you complete and you go for FREE…..these ARE NOT ways to do it!!!! I have been saying I will make a blog on HOW I SAVE $$$$$ TO GO TO DISNEY forever and FINALLY it’s HERE!!! Below are REAL WAYS to SAVE on a Disney trip!!!

HOW A FAMILY OF 4 GOES TO DISNEY FOR UNDER $4000!!!

For our trip our total days away were 9 (2 days of travel driving each way from NY to FL and 5 days of parks). My next blog will be HOW TO ROADTRIP TO DISNEY so the link will be HERE when I finish that! Once at MAGICAL DISNEY we did: 1 day at Blizzard Beach (this was our first time there), 1 day at magical Magic Kingdom, 1 Day at enchanting Epcot (a link will be coming here with SECRET SPOTS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT AT EPCOT), 1 day at wild Universal Islands of Adventures (also our first time there…and another blog link coming here on HOW TO SPEND 1 DAY AT UNIVERSAL), and 1 day at Hollywood Studios becoming JEDI. So 3 days of DISNEY Parks, 1 Waterpark day, and 1 day of Universal Studios. And THIS IS HOW WE DID IT….

REAL WAYS I SAVE!!!!!!

1) BUYING DISCOUNT TICKETS

BUY TICKETS FROM A DISCOUNT WEBSITE OR COMPANY (one’s I’ve ACTUALLY USED!!!)

Save $$$ by buying DISCOUNT TICKETS. These are the 3 discount websites/companies I actually have used because I know that’s a big thing when booking…how do I know this is real? I HAVE USED ALL 3 OF THESE and I highly recommended each: Undercovertourist.com , Orlandofuntickets.com , and AAA. For the 3 day Disney tickets this year AAA was the cheapest, so we tried them. The online sites (Undercovertourist and Orlandofuntickets) you place the order online and they email you the tickets….it’s QUICK AND EASY (the last 2 times we went we used these sites and I literally ordered the tickets while we drove)!!! AAA you have to go into a location and pick them up (they might be able to be mailed, but since we were leaving the next day that was never an option). WHAT TO DO: Compare prices of ALL of these!!! Make sure to include ACTUAL Disney tickets b/c sometimes they do offer great deals!

HERE is my comparison:

REAL PRICES for 3 Day Disney Tickets from each discount company for our trip:
Undercovertourist- $596.76 2 kids 3 day / $623.34 2 adults 3 day DISNEY tickets
Orlandofuntickets- $617.66 2 kids 3 day/ $644.96 2 adults 3 day DISNEY tickets

I went with AAA $593.90 2 kids 3 day / $620 2 adults 3 day DISNEY tickets

These websites also sometimes have sales and promotions, so check ALL of them to see which is the cheapest. For Blizzard Beach the cheapest tickets were through Orlandofuntickets.com $235. And for Universal the cheapest tickets were also through Orlandofuntickets.com $455.99

SAVE ON TICKETS BY GOING ON A CHEAPER DAY AND MORE DAYS MEANS A BIGGER DISCOUNT

Ticket prices for both Disney AND Universal are now based on the day. For Disney it is LITERALLY day specific, so one day could cost $78 and another $128. When you book your trip factor in if one week is cheaper than another or if one break is cheaper (ie. winter break over spring). For Universal they have VALUE PRICING days and REGULAR PRICING. We saved money by picking a value day. Below is exact charts for when we left with the prices. Disney tickets will also be cheaper based on the number of days you are going (it actually would have been cheaper for us to do FIVE days at Disney than how we broke it up with 3 days at Disney, waterpark, and Universal….but the kids realllyyy wanted to go to Blizzard Beach and Universal…so we HAD to!). The more days you go the bigger the discount. But there’s MORE WAYS to save on tickets…..

2) Having the cost of your hotel lowered and how to do it!

SAVE MONEY BY ADJUSTING THE PRICE OF YOUR HOTEL

When looking at hotel prices it was MUCH cheaper to stay offsite. I know, many people MUST stay AT DISNEY, but this saves us a TON of money!!! And if you’re going to be in the parks ALL day your hotel is really only somewhere you’re going to rest and not super important. We LOVE Marriott and have stayed at one each time we go. Our little guy has an issue with his blood sugar (it gets low) and only has 3 things he will eat so we have to stay at a hotel WITH a kitchen (so I can cook him everything he needs and bring it with us). Our off-site hotel is super convenient and only a 10 minute drive to any of the parks. This also saves us a TON of money on food…which I will get to below. But to save money on the hotel I book in advance. Make sure you pick a hotel that DOES NOT have a locked in rate, ie you can’t cancel once booked (it usually says so in the hotel listing). When you do this you don’t have to pay right away, which is GREAT!! Almost EVERY hotel has a AAA discounted rate so MAKE SURE to apply that when checking out (this saved us at least another $300). My super trick is… as the price goes down I adjust the price either directly on the hotel website or I call and they just adjusted the price over the phone. I checked the rates bare minimum once a week and got our hotel down from $1500 AAA rate to $895 by doing this.

SAVE MONEY ON A HOTEL WITH HOTWIRE and get FREE money from Ebates

You can also save a TON of money by using websites like Hotwire.com. You put in Walt Disney World and the dates and it will come up with prices and star ratings. The trick to Hotwire is they DO NOT tell you what hotel you are staying at UNTIL AFTER you booked with them. I have used this for countless other trips. We looked to use this for our trip but we left 5 days after we decided to go so by then the prices for the area hotels were more than what we already booked at our Marriott. BUT…if the price for their hotel was cheaper I would have 100% gone with them to save money. Make sure you do not stay at anything less than a 3 star, and you can get INCREDIBLE deals!!!! SAVE MORE MONEY BY USING EBATES!!! EBATES GIVES you money for using websites like Hotwire (they also give you back money for Groupon, Walmart, Target, ect…and sooo much more!!) All you have to do is login to your account on Ebates and click on the HOTWIRE offer and then make your purchase on Hotwire (it’s basically a link through to Hotwire). Once you complete your stay the money will go into your account. At the time of our trip they were giving up to 4% back for using HOTWIRE. I used Ebates to link to Hotwire to purchase the 2 hotels we stayed in on our way to and from FL, and for our Marriott booking. WE MADE $84 using EBATES on our trips hotels!!! REAL CHECKS come in the mail every quarter. This is another real site that I have really used and actually got money back from! Click the below link if you do not have an EBATES account yet and you get a REAL FREE $10 RIGHT NOW for using my code to sign up <3

FREE $10 from EBATES RIGHT NOW (click here)

3) BUYING DISCOUNTED DISNEY GIFT CARDS

A SECRET that I thought could NOT be true is YOU CAN BUY DISCOUNTED DISNEY GIFT CARDS! This secret is REAL!!! We tried to use the Target RedCard to get 5% off Disney gift cards…but that didn’t work!!! What I DID DO that 100% worked is I purchased discounted Disney Gift cards at BJ’s at 4% off!!! The AMAZING part about this is YOU CAN USE ANY OF THESE GIFT CARDS TO PAY FOR ANYTHING AT DISNEY!!! When I say ANYTHING I mean ANYTHING: a Disney hotel, parking, food, toys in the parks, memory maker, Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique (…you get the idea)……AND you can use them at secret places like the T-Rex Cafe and Sprinkles and MORE at Disney Springs. We used this secret to PAY FOR ALL FOOD in the parks, to PAY FOR ALL PARKING, to PAY FOR OUR MEMORY MAKER, AND for our dinner at T-REX CAFE!! Below are the REAL prices of the BJ’s Disney Gift cards when we booked our trip. Costco and Sam’s Clubs also have the same discounted Disney gift cards! I just happen to have a BJ’s membership.

3) LOOK FOR CAR RENTAL DISCOUNT CODES

The first year we went to Disney we flew. Our little guy threw up on me the entire flight home so that was the end of flying for us, so the past 2 years we drove to Disney from NY (blog coming next with HOW TO ROADTRIP FROM NY TO DISNEY). THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!!!!! *****MAKE SURE YOU USE A BIG BRAND FOR YOUR CAR RENTAL!!!!!***** I stress this because god forbid you have a problem Bill Bob’s Car Rental is not going to be as helpful as a LARGE brand like Budget, ect. Next, when renting a car I’ve found it’s cheaper to rent from an airport location, so check locally by you BUT ALSO check the prices of the local airport locations. When I was searching on Universal for ticket prices they offered the below code for a discount with Budget. We ended up booking with Budget and using that code…so we saved an additional 25% off the rental. Our car was AWESOME and the kids LOVED it!!! Actually considering buying it now!!! The Ebates trick is another way to save money AND make money on a car rental! Check Ebates for discount codes for car rentals. We did not use Thrifty, but if they were cheaper we would have had 10% off the rate PLUS 3% cash back!!! If an Ebates affiliated car rental is cheaper click the link through Ebates to book your car rental and use the code they provide….Ebates will PAY YOU, like below their deal was 3% back on Thrifty. Link again to get a FREE $10 FROM SIGNING UP FOR EBATES from me <3.

4) SAVE ON THE MEMORY MAKER

I thought I could live without this, but I LOVE THE MEMORY MAKER!!! If you’re on a SUPERRR tight budget and having this means you can’t go on your trip then drop this and bring your own camera and have someone take pictures of you. But I ADORE THIS!!! AND I get to actually be in pictures!!! Which as the picture taker is AMAZINGGG!!! The Memory Maker links to your Magicband and basically stores ALL the pictures you take on your entire trip! So if you’re there 1 day or 10 you pay one price and your photos include: EVERY photo with a character, on ride pictures (like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mines, Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen and sooo much more!!), Jedi Training (my kids HYSTERICAL forever memorable photos below), pirate training, magic shots, and soooo much more!!!! First, buy in advance to save money. NOTE: if you buy a memory maker the day of it’s more money. I usually buy 3 days in advance. Next, USE THE DISCOUNTED DISNEY GIFT CARD TRICK to pay for the memory make on the Disney website and SAVE 4%!!! We used this trick for our trip and IT REALLY WORKED!!

5) BUY BEFORE YOU GO

Disney is EXPENSIVE!!! And buying toys and fans, ect AT the parks can add up QUICK!!! My trick is to BUY BEFORE WE GO! My kids are going to want to have presents, and I brought special things to give them with us!! I found these AWESOME Light Sabers at Marshall’s for JUST $4.99 each vs at least $25 at the parks!!!!! I also brought with us light up swords ($2 each online), Harry Potter wands and glasses (which I found for $2 or $3 in the birthday party section of Walmart, and you can see in the photos below which were HYSTERICAL ON!!!), glow sticks ($1), fans ($10 online), ponchos ($1), a waterproof case for our phone, and for our autographs the boys picked out their letter at AC Moore (I think $3 each) and I always get a frame for around a photo (also at AC Moore for $2 or $3) to have everyone sign and then hang up when we get home. At the end of the trip everyone is allowed to pick out something special but this SAVES US A TON of money buying in advance~!

These are our ACTUAL prices for our March 2019 trip:

Disney 3 day tickets: 2 children $594, 2 adults $620= $1214
Hotel for 6 nights, 7 days= $895
Hotel parking $10/day x 6 nights= $60
Car Rental for 9 days= $360
Blizzard Beach 1 day Ticket x 4 people= $235
Disney Parking= $75 ($25/day)
Disney Memory Maker= $169.99
Universal Studios (1 day/1 park 2 kids 2 adults)= 456
Universal Studios 1 day parking= $25
Hotels on the way and home= $175.29
Gas= est $200
Tolls= est $150 (2 east coast tolls $25= 50 x 2=100 plus FL tolls)
$4005.48

Now minus the 4% saved on Disney parking and memory maker using BJ’s discounted Disney gift cards= $9.80. We got back $84 for using Ebates to book our hotels. And our credit card gives us back 1% for all purchases ($39.95). Bringing our TOTAL PRICE TO GO TO DISNEY TO $3871.73. This price obviously does not show any food…so keep going and I’ll tell you HOW TO SAVE HUNDREDS ON FOOD for your Disney Trip!!! COMPLETELY DOABLE so far RIGHT!!! Now go on an off season and save SEVERAL HUNDREDS MORE on ticket prices and hotels and MAKE YOUR DREAM TRIP A REALITY!!

5) HOW TO SAVE ON FOOD!!!

FOOD!!! This is one of the MOST expensive costs! But YOU CAN SAVE!!!

1) First, we stay at a hotel that offers FREE BREAKFAST!!! At the cheapest a breakfast will cost you at least $20/day. So a week of breakfast would be at least $140 saved.

2) Next, WE BRING LUNCH EVERY DAY TO THE PARKS!!! Lunch at the parks can be expensive!! It can also take a lot of time waiting on lines for food. I do ONE BIG food shopping as soon as we get to FL and I BRING ALL non-perishables with us in the car (see below a cute photo with my munchkin with all the snacks we bring in the car…this is also helpful for when they are hungry on the way down)! This way when I go to the supermarket I just need to grab the things that need to be frozen or refrigerated. For lunch my husband and I eat a salad and I buy a carton of eggs and hard boil them to include an egg each day. Our older son likes to eat things like Lunchables, hummus with pretzels, or chicken nuggets. And the picky eater son will ONLY eat one brand of chicken nuggets so I cook it for him each morning to bring with us. Our lunch each day is about $12. For drinks I pack a drinker cooler that I fill halfway with juice and then freeze it the night before. The next morning I add the rest of the juice and it stays cold the entire day at the park. I also freeze water bottles and Honest Juices that get packed in the food cooler, and take them (and some non-frozen ones) out to let them thaw as we go (these also act as our “ice” to keep our food cold).

3) BRING DINNER WITH YOU. This year I tried to SAVE MORE MONEY by making dinner for us adults. I AM NOT a good cook so will have to work on this one lol. My first dinner idea was chicken cutlet parmesan sandwiches with fresh mozzarella and balsamic on a roll. I packed everything separate so nothing would get soggy and gross. Tim said it was good…I was not a fan so my plan to make it another day was smooshed. My next meal idea was grilled chicken Caesar wraps with Parmesan cheese. Those ended up not being too bad. Each night the kids had something at the parks like a hot dog and hamburger, pizza, ect. And this saved us a TON of money!

4) SHARE MEALS! The food at Disney is decent sized, so sharing is definitely an option. We always treat ourselves to dinner at Nine Dragons in Epcot (in China)…it’s our tradition…plus the food is DELICIOUS!!! We saved money by us adults sharing a meal and eating whatever the kids didn’t finish from their kids meals (which is usually a lot!). Saved even more by using our Disney Gifts card trick to pay.

5) PACK YOUR OWN SNACKS! I pack the obvious snacks like chips and goldfish…but then my kids also like weird snacks like pickles and olives, cheese, ect.. I buy a small container of pickles, cheese, and olives and separate them into small ziplocks for each day (this is especially helpful for our picky son that won’t eat, so he has things to keep him going). I do this all at the start of the trip so we are ready to go each day. This is also a FUNNY trick I do…at least 2 weeks before our trip I no longer have their favorite snacks in the snack pantry…which include Cool Ranch Doritos, Chex Mix, Poppables, ect…it makes them want to eat those snacks THAT MUCH MORE lol (so less being picky). I always carry snacks for them on long line as well.

If you budget $100 a day for food for a week will add $700, which is completely doable with the food tricks I said above. If you do the Disney Gift card trick for food the total will be $665, so a total with food your TOTAL FOR A DISNEY TRIP will be $4536.73, and then you get another at least 1% back on your credit card for the gift cards you used for food. Now I know…that’s $500 over budget, but again if you book during a slow time you can easily save another $500+++!!! So do it!! And THAT’S how YOU CAN now AFFORD a MAGICAL memorable trip to Disney!!!!!

Hope you had FUN reading my blog AND THAT YOU GET TO GO TO DISNEY NOW!!!!!

If you like ALL the outfits I wore visit my website HERE to snag the SUPER CUTE Disney Inspired looks I make and MORE!!!!

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xox