HELP--Disney on the Cheap

[Spirit Feather]

Dear Experienced Disney Folks:

Greetings! Would any of you believe me if I told you that our family has NEVER been to WDW? It’s true! We have a 7 day trip coming up in April that has suddenly been changed and I am at a loss now. Let me describe what is happening and then I will rely on all of you for your wisdom and advice.

My dh is RETIRED military and we have had reservations at Shades of Green, the resort run by the US Army for DOD-types, for nearly a year now at $66 a night. Apparently Shades of Green is on the Disney property (former Golf resort). I called yesterday to confirm the res and pay for the room and find out the price of the Gold Leaf Package. WE REALLY wanted to go with the Gold Leaf Package. It included the room, Stars and Stripes Length of Stay Passes that included ALL of the parks and breakfast and dinner buffet at the hotel each day. Very easy and budget friendly for our family.

So anyway, I called SOG and was told that they will be closed for major renovations April 1. No SOG and no Gold Leaf package dealie. Shades of Green said they will be putting us up in the Contemporary for the same nightly rate and we can still purchase the 5-day Park Hopper Pass for $210 for adults and $168 for the kiddie. No meals available though. That is what made it so affordable for us.

Also, we have 6 full days to entertain ourselves and a 5 day pass for MK, MGM, Epcot and AK. I would love to go to Cape Canaveral on that extra day, so I am not to worried about that.

We need to do our meals as cheaply as possible. I would love to try to not leave the grounds much. I am figuring on bringing our big cooler and we can keep milk for cereal, yogurt and fruit for breakfast. If we could only have a toaster! And we can bring a case of bottled water.

I am thinking we should spend $$ on stroller rental for our just turned 5 y/o.

I came across a list of all of the free stuff you can do.

I suppose we just need advice on eating cheap. I know I shouldn’t complain, we are probably saving huge boat loads of money—we are just so poor right now and the whole family really needs a little magic right now!

I look forward to hearing your wisdom,

Spirit Feather

 

[Jenn]

Couple of thoughts -

Use your extra day for the pool. If you have never been to Disney and you are trying to see as much as possible in the 5 days you have passes, you are gonna need a day for rest!. The pools are tons of fun, you could also hop on the Monorail and visit the Polynesian and Grand Floridian for a little resort hopping. You could have lunch at one of those resorts, or just look around.

Food - the cooler is a good idea. You could stop at a grocery store and pick up breakfast and lunch stuff to keep in the room. You can eat breakfast in your room before heading out (some easy ideas - cereal, bagels, pop tarts, etc - you might even be able to request that toaster from housekeeping). You also can get back to your resort very easily from MK and fairly easily from Epcot by using the monorail, so you could even head back to the room for a quick lunch.

If you are on a very strict budget, you can also do mainly counter service meals for dinners. Typical fare would be burgers, chicken fingers, pizza, but if you look around you can find wider selections like pasta, baked potatoes, etc. This will run you $6 or so per person.

Bring your own bottled water - it costs $2.50 at Disney or use the water fountains.

Limit souvenir purchases as much as possible. Maybe wait until the end of the trip so you are sure that is the item you want.

 

[ceecee]

Why not pack your toaster or ship it ahead of time....if you really want it. We did a lot of counter service and saved $$. You can always meal share....most portions are good sized at the sit down places. As for the stroller, I would buy a cheap one. I bought one at Kmart before we left $12.99 (I fiqured it only had to last 10 days!). We used it a lot, our daughter had just turned 5...we took it everyday to the parks and it was especially handy at the airport. She was too tall for the sun canopy, we did get one with a basket underneath, get for carrying your stuff at the parks too. That's like 2 days of rental stollers. The best part was I sold it at my garage sale the following year for $5.00.

 

[CarolA]

Ok you probably need to provide a few more details for the budget folks to really start passing out info.

1. Are you flying or driving? If you are flying, are you renting a car. If you have a car you can easily go to the grocery store and stock up on snacks and basic food which would keep your cost down.

2. How many kids and their ages?

Thanks!

 

[Spirit Feather]

We are driving down so hauling stuff will not be a problem.

We have two kids, ages 13 and 5. The 5 y/o only eats french fries, pizza and bagels at this stage of his life. The 13 y/o eats fruit, cereal and yogurt three times a day. I know I have strange children!

Spirit Feather

 

[Spirit Feather]

We are driving down so hauling stuff will not be a problem.

We have two kids, ages 13 and 5. The 5 y/o only eats french fries, pizza and bagels at this stage of his life. The 13 y/o eats fruit, cereal and yogurt three times a day. I know I have strange children!

Spirit Feather

 

[CarolA]

Well based on those habits I would suggest you take a cooler and stock up on yogurt and fruit! You can take a toaster so if you think that would help go ahead and take it. Just read thru this board and you will get LOTS of budget meal ideas. If you do want to leave Disney there are lots of less expensive buffet type resturants on US 192.

 

[mooses41]

I know everything is expensive but congrats on only paying 66 a nite for the contempory, i wonder if that is less than when it opened?

 

[ckmommy]

Hi,
Welcome to the boards! Many of the previous posters already gave some great advice, but a few other ideas:

Bring a toaster! The resorts do not mind this at all! If you have an electric fry pan, bring that also! It will make great grilled cheese sandwiches!

Do not rent a stroller! Buy a cheap one at Target, or find one a goodwill or a garage sale ( I did not look where you are from, but here in TX, garage sales are really big this time of the year!) The $10-12 you invest in one will pay for itself by the 3rd day at disney!

Find the carts that sell the baked potatos or turkey legs ( you may feel like Fred Flintstone, but a very good and cheap meal).

Bring water bottles and refill them with water from fountains. But because you have never been to WDW, you do not know that the water tastes really bad! I would bring a container of Kool-aid or simmilar powder to mis with the water to make it taste good! (I love water, but really the water dose taste very bad!!)

Hope some of these ideas work! We will be using them in May at the Comtemporary also!

 

[katefromny]

I also recommend bringing a toaster. You can also rent a refrigerator in the room (sometimes they're free!) for about $10/day--though that might negate any cost you'd save by eating in the room. Since you're driving, stop at the Publix or Goodings near WDW and stock up on water, lunchmeat, fresh fruit and snackie type foods.

 

[punkin]

I second the turkey and baked potato idea. Sometimes the kids just want something at the park and not a brown bagged lunch from home. One of those turkey legs fed Me and my two daughters (3 and 9) for under 5 dollars. They are huge. I challenge even a big eater to finish one of those babies by himself.

 

[deena]

I would suggest eating as less meals in the parks as possible because after a while they can really add up; also lunch tends to be a lot cheaper compared to dinner. So, I ususally bring in small snacks and grab lunch at one of the counter service restaurants that carry fast food; bringing along your own bottled water can cut down on buying a lot of sodas as well. I would definitely seek out eating dinner at the many offsite restaurants next door on 192 like mentioned above during some of time because the money saved will be phenomenal and go a really long way.

There are many great buffets (whether breakfast, lunch, dinner) at places such as Ponderosa Steakhouse, Sizzler's, Shoney's, and Golden Corral; also many other chain restaurants such as TGIF , IHOP, and Outback to name a few. If you want to save even more on eating, fast food restaurants are available too. Also, shopping for souvenirs outside the parks can save lots of money as there are numerous gift shops in the vicinity along with a nearby Super Walmart that carry lots of great things nearby at half the prices inside WDW.

If you need to stop by and get some perishable food items or snacks, the Super Walmart stocks a large selection along with Publix grocery store at low prices and there's a Walgreens drugstore close as well.

 

[crusoe2]

Here are some more ideas:

All of the Disney resorts sell plastic mugs in the food court or snack bar - these mugs cost about $8 - $10 each but can be used to get unlimited free refills from the drink station. Most of the resorts offer sodas, tea, coffee, lemonade, water and hot chocolate for these mugs. The mugs are a little pricey but they make a nice souvenier and, if your family drinks lots of the beverages offered, the mugs will pay for themselves quickly.

The resorts usually have a toaster and microwave in the food court or snack bar, also. If you have the room, you might still prefer to take your own toaster - more convenient for making breakfast first thing in the morning. But you might consider taking some things to pop in the microwave. There are several threads going on this board and on the Tips board with great ideas for quick and easy meals to make in the room.

Hope this helps.

 

[suevee]

We always make our first stop at WalMart. We stock up on water, soda, juice, snacks etc. It really saves a bundle. Also check out the times the parks are closing. Maybe you could do a late dinner or early breakfast on Rt 192. If you can afford it and want a character meal for the experience go for the breakfast and make it around 10 or so. Then it can be a brunch. This can last you all day!!!! Have fun!

 

[LKS]

Even a room service pizza at the CR is decent and much less expensive than eating out. We did that on Valentine's Day once when we had a tower room and were all too bushed (3 little kids) to go out. It would have been even cheaper if someone had walked down and bought it from the food court. Since your little one would eat that, it would be a nice break from the packable food. We eat all our breakfasts in the room, except perhaps one character breakfast and the cooler works great. BTW, we park our car and never drive it again - so relaxing. If you are OK with sandwiches in the room and counter service, there is no need to go off driving in search of a restaurant. We do like one restaurant meal a day, and if you want to do that, make it lunch since it's cheaper and do your cooler food for dinner.

If you park hopper is a park hopper plus, I'd use the free day for a waterpark.

 

[disney4us2002]

Spiritfeather,

Did the SoG actually tell you that the only ticket option is the park hopper? I ask because it has been reported that their entire ticket office is relocating to the Contemporary North Garden Wing and because we have every intention of buying the Stars and Stripes (aka Length of Stay) pass and to get discounted tickets to the Medieval Knight Dinner Show. If this isn't the case then I need to plan accordingly.

Also, since you're going ahead of me (June for us) I hope you will post back here after your return so we can hear all the specifics about this relocation! Please?

Carla

 

[shefor24]

I read your post, but I flew through the replys- I'm on lunch at work right now- but yes- take a toaster, also a suggestion- since you're driving and will have a cooler anyway, pack lunches in the cooler to leave in the car and then you and DH can take turns going back to the car if you need something out of the cooler. I know it would be a lot of running around, but so worth saving money. This has probably been suggested, but I wanted to throw my 2 cents in here.

 

[BuzzandWoody]

Hi Spirit Feather,

You can bring a cooler into your room. You are probably staying in one of the wings, right?
So it's not like you have to go through the lobby with it. I say that cause I always feel funny carrying in a cooler.
Get paper bowls and spoons. Stop at grocery store off site and get your groceries.
Ceral and such for breakfast. You can pack sandwhiches for parks.

A couple of the places in MK that have burgers are real resonable. The fixins bars are great.

Trails End buffet is another low cost meal maybe I'll see ya there, when are you going?

Another thing we usually always do is order a pizza from Pizza Hut or PaPa Johns. They deliver to the lobby where you are staying. The front desk should have the phone #
There is a bunch listed in the phone book, I never know which one to call.

 

[Disneydenise]

As is often the case you get wrong information from CM's. i think that you will still be able to get the stars and stipes pass. Call the phone number that is specifically for the military folks. They may have better info than what you have recieved.

 

[tina95]

I am not sure if this will help or not, but we booked a condo thru Armed Forces vacation club for $234 for 7 nights. I think that comes out to about $33 per night. It is a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom with a full kitchen and livingroom. It also has a washer and a dryer. I have been told that it is only 5 miles from Disney. This will help us save money by eating in the room some. With our savings we are able to do 2 char breakfasts, lunch at Beaches and Cream, lunch at the Coranado resturant and Lunch in Ecot.