Disney on a Discount?

Xstatic3333 · January 2014

My MIL just called us up and very generously offered us her Orlando timeshare for January of next year, free of charge. January is a pretty great time to be in FL instead of MA, so we are going to take her up on it. We'll probably drive to the beach a few of the days, but I'd also like to do a few days at Disney World as childfree adults for probably the only time in my life. We will do the stereotypical "Drinking Around the World" at Epcot and all that jazz.

We'll have about a year to plan and save for this, and I know that there are discounts to be had at Disney that frequent visitors get down to a science. I realize that there might not be too many Disney World fans on the MM board, but does anyone have any good tips to share?

AnnieAnnieBoBannie · January 2014

I'm not much help, but there were a lot of disney posts before Christmas on the SAHM board on the bump. They may be able to help.

hoffse · January 2014

I think the best deals happen if you stay at one of their resorts. You can sometimes get free meal packages, etc. by doing that.

However, you have to catch it. And since you're going with a timeshare, I think you'll probably miss those deals. That said, free lodging is clearly awesome

I would just figure out how many parks you want to visit, and then get the park hopper passes that cover it. I feel like I've seen deals on the Park Hopper passes during the late summer/early fall after the summer rush is done. But I'm not positive. I found this website that tells you where to find the best prices on tickets:

http://www.mousesavers.com/advice-tips-and-tricks-for-walt-disney-world-tickets-and-passes/

You might also want to go into it with a food budget. Food at Disney can get $$$, and you can bring in your own snacks, etc. I do, however, recommend eating in Epcot. The restaurant in Morocco is pretty good and not too pricey. And the little French bakery is completely worth it. Many of the other restaurants are either theme park food or very expensive. If you want to eat at Be Our Guest, you need to make reservations pretty much the day the online reservation block opens for your trip.

Also something to know about France: it's one of the few places in the US where you can buy real French perfume that hasn't been modified for US consumption. Last time I was there I talked to a girl about it for a long time. She said that the countries in Epcot have actual affiliations with the real countries they represent, so they can get things available for sale that you simply can't find elsewhere in the US. All the big French brands are there - and I can tell you from experience that it makes an excellent souvenier

Which beach are you thinking about?

spalko · January 2014

My H and I went to Disney for our Honeymoon in 2012. We were fortunate enough with H being in the military that we got discounted park hopper passes (2 for the price of 1) but even still we went on a budget. With staying off property, you'll have to pay for parking each day and I think it's is $10-15 each time you want to park so budget for that. We also drank around the world and we split drinks instead of buying one for each of us. The only places we bought two drinks was with lunch (in Mexico) and when we bought shots. We were plenty drunk by the time we got to France so it worked out for us! We budgeted for the food to be expensive so we planned on spending $25/meal within the park. The one thing I would suggest is buying your own dollar store ponchos in case it rains! The one day we didn't bring ours with us it rained and we had to spend $30 on ponchos!! That was an expense I did not budget for! Even though you can bring in coolers & back packs, I found that it was a pain in the ass to hual our bag around so after the first day we left it at the hotel. There wasn't anything in there that we absolutely NEEDED so we took our water bottles and headed to the park. There are hundreds of Disney websites with a ton of helpful hints so check those out then make a budget that works for you guys. You'll have fun regardless so don't stress about it too much

Xstatic3333 · January 2014

Thanks for the tips! I got very excited when we heard about this and wanted to research immediately.

@Hoffse, I haven't looked into beaches yet. It also occurred to me that Jan-Feb is not necessarily going to be beach-appropriate weather in Central Florida, so we'll have to play that one by ear. I'd also love to snorkel with manatees. I just want to do a little research first and make sure it's not bad for the manatees in any way.

Did either of you eat at the Coral Reef restaurant at Epcot? I remember loving it when I was a kid, but tastes have changed since then. I'll definitely check out the Moroccan restaurant too, I love Middle Eastern food.

ETA: Clearly the beaches themselves wouldn't be in Central Florida, but you know what I mean.

Mom987 · January 2014

We are in similar situations! My boss offered his condo on the beach for free in September, so we are going there and then go to Disney World for like 3 of those days (kids will be almost 4 and 1.5).

smbenevides1989 · January 2014

I just went to Disney for my honeymoon in July. Our DD stayed with my parents for the week, so we just budgeted it for ourselves. We tried to stay within budget so this is what we did:

We stayed at a military resort, so we saved some money that way. We also got a discount on the park tickets because of where we stayed. We also did not drive, we used their transportation services. For you, I would definitely check out Mousesavers.com. They give the best ways of saving money.

When we went to the parks, we chose to only go to two parks - Epcot and Magic Kingdom. No park hoppers, but we did do the Waterpark and Fun option. We just alternated days with the waterparks and used a fun option at the Disney Quest in Downtown Disney. We did one park a day, and on the days we did the water parks, we went to downtown disney to enjoy the live music.

If the timeshare you will be staying at has a kitchen, definitely go shopping to buy some breakfast items and some dinner options. I would also pack snacks in a small bag and carry a filtered water bottle to fill up at the parks. I never had to buy water except for the sit down meals for lunch and dinner.

Enjoy the time there. We are going again in December (its 6 adults, 2 kids and an infant going) and planning on staying in a home rental to save up costs of food and hotel costs. I could go every year if I could!

Xstatic3333 · January 2014

Thanks @smbenevides1989! I think we'll just do those same two parks. The park hopper option is a bit spendy for me. I might consider swapping Magic Kingdom for Animal Kingdom since I haven't been there before, but it's tough to imagine not going to the Magic Kingdom for me.

Question on the waterparks-Typhoon Lagoon was my FAVORITE as a kid, but how are they for adults? Are they worth it? I love the slides, but am wondering if I'll be able to get over my germaphobe concerns about being in a pool with hundreds of children...

ETA Congrats on that new siggy you've got there!

smbenevides1989 · January 2014

I had never been to either water park before, but I liked them both! We went on all the rides we could, and we had a blast! I'm not sure which one we liked better, but we were able to go around 10 and finish everything by 2. When we go in December, we won't be going to any water park because the house we will be staying in has a heated pool. Also, I would check on which water park is open when you are there because they like to update/refurbish the pools in the winter months. I think Blizzard Beach is currently down for maintenance.

And thanks!

HarryCanary · January 2014

Xstatic3333 said:

I might consider swapping Magic Kingdom for Animal Kingdom since I haven't been there before, but it's tough to imagine not going to the Magic Kingdom for me.

I recommend you do check out Animal Kingdom, especially since you are going sans kids. I really enjoyed the rides and the safari there. As an adult, I found them more interesting/thrilling than many of the rides in the Magic Kingdom. Have fun!

CuriousKiddosMama · January 2014

We did the same thing when I was younger, my parent's got my grandparents timeshare. It was great because we were able to make breakfast, and only eat out for lunch and dinner, or just lunch. One thing that we did was purchase the park hopper pass, you could go to any of the parks you wanted to over the 3,5,7 days and it just cost you the one fee (it ended up being cheaper than paying every day) Other than that, I don't really have any advice. I was 16 when we went.

hoffse · January 2014

Xstatic, yeah it might be a bit chilly for the beach but you never know. We have days in Alabama that get up to the 60s/70s in January - it's somewhat rare but we seem to get at least a few every year. Not sure about snorkling with manatees though. That might be frigid. Your odds are better if you go to the gulf side. That water will be much warmer in the gulf than the atlantic.

FWIW I loooooved animal kingdom. I thought it was great. But I'm also a big zoo person.

goldiemu · April 2014

I love going to Disneyland. I got some great information here Disneyland. It has some unusual recommendations that you don't see typically. They have one for disneyworld as well. Disney World

short+sassy · April 2014

Here is my odd tip for any one traveling to another area. Sign up for the area at some of those "deal" websites like Groupon and Living Social. Though certainly wait until you are closer to your trip. I suspect it won't help with anything related to the parks, but it is a great way to get big restaurant discounts.

I went to Orlando years ago...before Groupon and the like existed...and actually bought one of those Entertainment books for Orlando off of someone on Ebay. I used 3 of the coupons, got more than my money back in savings, and then resold the book on Ebay for almost the same price I'd paid, lol. (Of course, disclosing the few missing coupons)

Disney on a Discount?

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