My fiancé and I recently took a trip to Walt Disney World and had the most magical time. Of course, we are incredibly fortunate that we were able to make this happen. Walt Disney World is one of my favorite places to visit and has been since I was a child. This destination has always served as a nostalgic and explorative place for my family and me, and has such a wonderful way of bringing us all together.
When I found out my fiancé had never been, I knew immediately that we needed to visit!
Of course, as many of us know, Disney World is not particularly the most affordable vacation. This would be the first time that I would be paying for this trip completely out of pocket, in cash! The last thing we wanted was for this trip to be stressful.
Thankfully, I had a few tricks up my sleeve after years of visiting the park with my family and creating a game plan. The following are 4 things my fiancé and I incorporated for a magical, yet affordable, Walt Disney World vacation.
Stay at a Disney resort
While this may sound counterintuitive, you may actually be able to save some money by staying at a Walt Disney World resort! The commute to and from the hotel can add up quickly with Uber, Lyft, and Minnie Vans. If you’ve rented a car, keep in mind that park parking runs pretty steep. By staying at a resort, almost all of the transit is already included, making for an easy trip there and back. For those wondering, we stayed at Port Orleans - French Quarter and had the most wonderful and immersive experience!
This being said, I may suggest looking into Good Neighbor hotels for more affordable hotel rates. However, by staying at a resort, you have the option to bundle the hotel and park tickets, with included additional perks, which makes trip planning super simple!
Admittedly, we were a bit bummed to find out that Disney’s Magical Express shut down in January of 2022. Because of this, do prepare to pay for a ride to-and-from the airport.
Create a daily budget, including travel days
After having booked the flight, hotel, and park tickets, my fiancé I and sat down to have an honest conversation about what we realistically wanted to spend on the days we would be traveling. This includes food, drinks, coffee (of course), souvenirs, etc. Once we had a solid total that we felt comfortable with, we divided the number by 6 (the days we would be in Walt Disney World, including travel days). We ensured that we did not go over that number whatsoever, no matter what. By doing this, we not only avoided mindless overspending and impulse purchases, but we spent way less than intended!
We honestly spent most of our budget at the 2023 International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot's World Showcase, not going to lie. The food there was phenomenal!
Only eat out once a day & pack lots of snacks
Dining is certainly one of the best features of Walt Disney World! There are just so many incredible options to choose from. My fiancé and I did extensive research to find the very best dining locations, all thanks to the Disney Food Blog! We’d snuggle up to one of their many YouTube videos on Sunday mornings and soak in all of the knowledge, excited for our trip.
However, we limited ourselves to eating out for just one meal a day. Dining at Disney can swallow a budget, and we wanted to save our money for other things, too. Between meals, we ate many hearty snacks like mixed nuts, beef jerky, fruit leather, pop tarts, and Clif bars, which we stowed away in our suitcases before departing. We also brought our own Brita filtered water bottles to save money on both food and water!
Additionally, eating out can take up a lot of time. While it’s nice to rest up in a comfy, cozy booth with A/C, sometimes, we just don’t have time for it three separate times of the day. When there’s so much to do in Walt Disney World, it’s nice to be able to eat a quick snack and go, go, go!
We each only bought one souvenir
Being self-proclaimed “things” people, this one was hard. If I see something I want, sometimes I feel like I need it, especially in Walt Disney World! However, we made a promise to each other to only splurge on one souvenir, each. I settled on a cute Tomorrowland (my favorite place) shirt, and my fiancé got some neat Tron patches! Truly, it’s the experiences that matter most, anyway.
Also, if you want some souvenirs, everything you may find in the parks is available at www.shopdisney.com!
Save up for the trip, little by little
This is more like general budgeting advice, but it’s a habit that my fiancé and I got into recently, being young adults and all. Each paycheck, we each set a little bit aside until we had enough to book the trip. The initial deposit was made about a year in advance, so right before the trip, we had enough in our pockets to pay for everything in cash, as well as have a little bit left over. Rather than put everything down at one time and deal with it later, we had everything we needed before it even began! This way, we could enjoy the trip free of stress, and feel rewarded by the fact that we returned home without any debt.
Of course, this is probably just common knowledge. But, it is something that made the trip more enjoyable overall.
Are you a Walt Disney World fanatic like me? What are some Disney tips you've learned that I may not have mentioned? Let me know in the comments below!
Talk soon!
Brittney