WDW on a college budget?

KY_Minnie

Mousketeer
Joined
Aug 6, 2016
Planning a trip with some friends on a college budget. Best tips for saving money at WDW?
 
Rent a condo off site that has a kitchen. Eat breakfast before you go to the parks and pack your lunch. Drink water (free cup at counter service) instead of buying beverages. Plan your counter service meals carefully as some have meals that are big enough to share or child size options that will satisfy many adults. Have fun!
 
Stay offsite or if wanting to stay onsite, split a Value room (sleeps 4 adults, but you'll have to pay the fee for the two extra adults). Order groceries. Order kids meals at the parks if eating there. Don't buy Park Hopper tickets.
 


If you decide to rent at an off-site location, make sure to factor in car rental and parking fees or Uber/Lyft fees. I ran the numbers and for us it was about the same price to stay on-site in a value resort, but we don't mind sharing a room.

If you stay at an off-site hotel that offers a free shuttle service, keep in mind that the hours can be limited and some share with other hotels. Bonnet Creek offers a shuttle but you have to pay for it.

Don't get park hoppers, don't add water parks & more, get grocery delivery, share meals, drink water, don't buy souvenirs.
 
Stay onsite in a value and share the room. I think this would be cheaper than staying off site since you have to add in a rental and parking or Uber/Lyft.

Do an amazon order for water, snacks and breakfast. Maybe even lunch items to make sandwiches.

If you drink, place an order for alcohol for the room.

Skip alcohol in the parks. They really expensive and not even that strong.
 


Go to A after hours party, my DS24 and Ds25 they skipped the day and had so much fun going till 1am with few to no lines.
They did not take my advice to plan a year ahead and pay it down $25 at a time so they did not have FPs.
 
If you consider staying onsite the Values are probably going to be your best bet and the refurb rooms will have queen beds rather than double beds. If offsite consider a hotel suite style that allows more people and room to sleep but split multiple ways is still economical or consider for rent by owner style places. Factor in distance into though in terms of transportation options and costs associated with that. Also consider looking into the Disney Spring area hotels that have 60day FP and EMH including in their benefits through the end of 2020 (at the moment). Those hotels are onsite just not Disney owned.

Look at what you want to do at the parks and the time period you may want to go (as that will affect park hours) with respect to park hoppers. I love park hoppers but if you don't know that you'll really use them it's an easy way to save money (bonus that if you have additional funds you can upgrade to park hoppers at the parks themselves should you find yourself really wanting them).

Drink the courtesy cups of water--not necessarily for cost savings reasons but they are free and available why not utilize them. We've gone in September when it's just very hot so water was really our main drink of choice. Along with that depending on your appetites you can totally find food to share. My husband and I shared several meals QS really. You don't have to go bare bones either if you want count in 1 meal that y'all will just splurge on (within reason) and keep the rest of the meals lower in costs.

Don't base your budget on exact dollar amounts as pricing changes frequently at Disney, be that an increase on park tickets or hotel costs (if staying on site) to food costs and paid events like parties. Add in some room for those increases in costs.

Flying vs driving---depends on where you live and how much time you have but that is an option. Also would depend on the vehicles y'all own as like another poster mentioned under 25 surcharge can be cost prohibitive--still may be worth looking into though especially if airfare is much higher than driving would be.
 
I’d go to DL knowing what I know now. It’s cheaper. I did go to WDW after I graduated from uni. However, it was a lot cheaper back then. And we split a townhouse at what is now Saratoga Springs.
 
You do not have to buy water. Bring your reusable water bottle with you and refill it at QS soda machines (there's a spot for water) or at your resort/motel/rental. There are even water refill stations inside the queues on some of the rides. I did this last trip and never had to search around for water.

I advise staying onsite in a value. That way if you want to split up, there's no transportation difficulty, since you'll be using WDW transportation. This assumes you're not driving to WDW. If you are, then you have to factor in the added cost of parking your car at your resort. The convenience of being onsite, though, is huge, especially for a group where everyone will probably not want to do everything at the same time.

Staying offsite would be less expensive until you start factoring in things like renting a car (if you didn't bring yours with you), since you can use Disney Magical Express from the airport if you fly in. And parking at the parks, which is $25/day.

Get breakfast items to keep in the room. No need to spend $ on breakfast. Have a late lunch--it can be both lunch and dinner, saving you on a third meal, or you can have a small snack at dinnertime.

Don't drink alcohol--I'm saying this because of the expense. It's pretty steep at WDW.

Share meals if you can or want to.

Don't buy park hoppers. That's very hard for me to advise since I'm a major park hopper, but it will save you money.

Buy your tickets from a discount broker--several are referenced on this site. I've used both Undercover Tourist and Parksavers in the past. This isn't a gigantic savings but it is somewhat of a savings.

Book your room at a room-only rate during a discount period. Discounts are listed on mousesavers.com if you want to take a quick look at what's out there. You can also just go to the WDW site and see the current offers there.

Go at the least-expensive time possible for you. Avoid the week between Xmas and New Year's or Easter weekend, for two big examples.

If you have a car and everyone in your group is willing to do everything together (and you're willing to live with the possibility that even if they say they are, they won't be), the absolute cheapest thing to do is to find an off-site motel or vacation rental that's super inexpensive and eat off-site as much as possible, Remember, if you do consider this, to factor in the cost of parking at the parks unless one of you has an AP.

If you're planning a vacation for a group of more than you and one other person, be aware that some of these people may bomb out on you and decide not to go. Just sayin'. Keep that in mind when you're adding up what everything costs.

Do not buy the Disney Dining Plan--a complete waste of money for someone traveling on a budget.

Whatever you do, make sure to ride Avatar Flight of Passage in Disney Animal Kingdom , Rise of the Resistance in Disney Hollywood Studios, and take in at least one of the classics (Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Pirates) at MK.

There's no way to make this a cheap vacation, since the price of park tickets, even discounted, is anything but cheap. But you can keep a lid on the expenses and still have a great time.

(Edited to fix typos.)
 
If you don't want anything on the kids menu, split a meal with someone. There's almost always enough to share!
 
My DD has gone to Disney twice on a college budget. First, she works quite a bit to HAVE cash. Second, she stays in a value which she splits with friend, buys base tickets, packs breakfast food in her luggage. She also asks for Disney gift cards for birthday/Christmas gifts. She goes in January during break. This is the cheapest time for her and her friends to go.
 
Definitely estimate the costs for a rental or Uber daily if you stay offsite. Those under 25 fees can be pretty expensive to rent, and may offset any savings to staying off property. Plan your dates as best you can to do cheaper rooms/tickets. Bring as much food with you as you can. A PB&J made in your hotel room is a lot cheaper than even a kids meal at ~$8. If you do eat CS meals, order just the entree, IE just a burger, say no fries. That takes a few bucks off the price on the menu.
 

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