Disney Money Saving Tips: Avoid Crowds, Be Flexible, Shop Around

I haven't talked about our trip to Disney World in awhile, but as we get down to the last weeks before the big event, I thought I'd share some general tips that have been real money savers for us. Here goes:

1. Go at an off-peak time. We're going to Disney at the end of September, a very low traffic time of the year. Most people have just ended their summer vacations and the kids are back in school, thus creating less demand for Disney's parks. Less demand means lower prices. Lower priced airfares, lower priced hotels, etc. Oh yeah, and fewer crowds to deal with.

Let's put this into context with a couple examples:

• We're going to be renting a three bedroom condo. The low season rate is $79 per night. The peak season rate is $139 a night. Savings over the course of seven nights: $420.

• One of my co-workers flew to Florida on spring break (certainly a peak time of the year). She paid more for one airline ticket that what we'll pay to fly four of us to Orlando at the end of September.

2. Be flexible. By this I mean be flexible on when you can go (covered above -- being flexible allows you to go at a non-peak time) as well as how you get there. In our case, we were flexible enough to consider leaving from different airports. For instance, here are the airline prices we received from Expedia to fly roundtrip to Orlando from various airports in our state:

• Grand Rapids: $254 per person; $1,016 total
• Lansing: $204 per person; $814 total
• Detroit: $123 per person; $492 total

Sure, there will be additional costs in driving two hours to Detroit and paying parking, not to mention the hassle of doing so before and after our trip, but there are also additional advantages -- it's a direct flight, we won't have to worry about missing a connection, there are many flights that can get us to Orlando if ours is canceled for some reason, etc. I'd call these a wash compared to the extra costs. But even in a worst case scenario, we'll save a couple hundred dollars and (likely) some headaches, so I'd call this a good deal.

3. Shop around. For the airfare, we costed out Expedia, Costco, AAA, and airline sites. These were all fairly close, but they all had some baggage (no pun intended) except for Costco and the airline site. Expedia only had certain times available -- none of which we liked. AAA required us to also rent a car from them (at $40 more than we could get elsewhere.) In the end, the airline site offered both the best deal and most flexibility (in times and seat selection) so we went with it.

When it comes to hotels, you first have to decide whether you want to stay inside the park or outside. We started out thinking we'd stay inside the park, but after considering the costs (of the rooms as well as food -- you almost get locked in to eating at a Disney restaurant if you stay on property) not to mention the other downsides to staying on property (travel within the park often isn't as easy as one might think/hope it is and the sizes of the rooms, while nice compared to hotel standards, didn't hold a candle to what we could get outside the park -- think one room versus a three bedroom, two bath condo.) So we decided to stay outside the park -- about two miles from Disney. From here we shopped around various condo/townhome sites and found differences as much as $1,000 more for the same thing (sometimes the exact same dwelling layout in the same complex offered by a different company.) Eventually we picked one that matched our price range as well as offered the features we desired.

Rental car prices are the ones that seem to vary the most. We searched several sites, made calls, and so on until we located our best deal at around $130 for the week. This was about $40 cheaper than the second-best rate we found and les than half of many places. Good, old-fashioned shopping around is all I can recommend here.

That's the update so far. We still have a few things to buy and, of course, the trip to take. I hope to do a summary of the trip once it's over to let you all know what we liked and didn't like, so stay tuned.

Comments

[Rich Schmidt]

We went to Orlando for our honeymoon a little more than 10 years ago... and we never rented a car. I haven't checked into it lately, but we loved staying at Disney, eating at Disney, and using their transportation. Other than breakfast, we were usually at one of the parks for mealtimes anyway. And with their transportation system, we could get to any of the Disney parks in a relatively quick and comfortable way with zero hassle involved.

By contrast, when we rented a car on our California trip a couple weeks ago, we ended up waiting for quite a while to pick up our car because they were so backed up. Nothing like starting your vacation by standing around a car rental place with your luggage! :)

[FMF]

Rich --

I was there a few years ago and I stayed on property. As long as I wanted to go to the MK or Epcot, it was a breeze -- the other places were more of a hassle. Disney is now the size (in area) of Boston (or at least that's what our tour book says), so even if you're on property, it can be quite a haul to some places.

That said, we've had friends stay on and off property and they've all loved their choice, so who knows what's "best"? We're staying in a place where some good friends stayed a couple years ago and they loved it. We'll see how it goes. I'll let you know in October! ;-)

[juanny]

the problem with going during off-peak times is that they are off-peak times for a reason. People don't want to take their kids out of school for a week to go on vacation. Having teachers in the family, I know how hard it is on both the teacher and the student to be out of the classroom for a long period of time. One of those non-monetary factors to be considered.

[Rick]

Juanny: I think FMF homeschools his kids, so being out of school is not an issue for him.

[Jessica]

I have now been to Disney 3 times and ALWAYS stay on property as does my extended family. With the addition of Disney Dining you have almost an all-inclusive trip including transportation from the airport (where Disney handles your luggage from the moment you drop it off and delivers it to your room for you) to taking you to the parks and entertainment areas throughout your trip. Last year we made the trek twice. My first time back since I was a child. The first time we went in May (a moderate attendance time) I used the magical express service from the airport and I have no complaints. As soon as I arrived in Orando I was whisked away in a bus to Port Orleans Riverside. Also, as you mentioned, the value/slow season is best. Upon returning from Disney in May we learned that during the value season in September they were offering free Disney Dining. We promptly booked a second trip. Although they frequently offer "bounceback trips" at that time where you receive the same deal the next year we did not book at that time but are in fact again going in September. Also keep in mind that if you book with Disney at one rate and see another special the will reimburse you.My bottom line is that I really believe that Disney offers a way for any family to have a little magic in their lives.