Tips about Budget, Kids and Resorts

If you're not on the Disney Dining Plan, I recommend purchasing a Disney gift card to pay for all of your snacks and incidentals. I wish I had done this. We just got home and I have a very thick stack of credit card receipts for amounts ranging from under $3 to $10. It would have been much easier to just buy a $50 or $75 gift card and use that each time we purchased a drink, ice cream, etc. - Christy B.

You can also ship baby items to your resort so they are there when you arrive. Address all boxes with the name the reservation is under, reservation number, date of arrival, and resort name and address. Do not send a month in advance as then you will risk boxes being misplaced but instead try to have a box arrive no more then a week in advance. When you check in let them know you have a box that was shipped and they will get that for you and arrange for it to be delivered to your room. Please note that some convention resorts might have a small fee for box shipments.

I just read through your Tips database and didn't see the one thing we use for keeping our kids safe -- temporary tattoos that you can order with a variety of messages. We have my cell phone number on ours, but you can also have them blank (so you can fill in your resort number) or with a specific allergy. I say "temporary" because we have to use maybe two per child for our entire trip -- they DO NOT come off easily, even when wet. - Kim P.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Do an internet search on "child safety tattoos" to find the various companies that manufacture these temporary tattoos -- there are several!

Pop Century - If staying at the Pop Century Resort, you might want to bring along a noise maker or a fan. The rooms are very quiet, not a lot of background air conditioner noise like you get at many hotels. To muffle the sound of people outside, we always bring a fan. - Jenifer Markham

I noticed in last week's AllEars Hears that someone mentioned the removal of the a la carte menu from the Grand Floridian Garden View Lounge's afternoon tea. Be sure if you see something like that to ask about it. We noticed the same thing, but asked and were still able to get everything we wanted a la carte, including the cheese plate (which had disappeared from the menu entirely). They have been changing the tea process and the strawberries and cream are now pre-made and are no longer gluten-free, so always be sure to ask questions every time you go somewhere! - Melissa Barlett

When we were at Disney World, we ordered self-contained cereal bowls and other fruit snacks from an online service. They arrived at Pop Century a day or so before us. Pop Century held the packages and delivered them to our room when we arrived. We then picked up milk every morning. It was quick and easy and saved some money. I did not use them all, so Pop Century helped me send the remainder back home. - Brenda Fitzsimmons

We packed small boxes of cereal in our suitcase when we flew to the World. We stayed on WDW property. We got styrofoam cups from the resort food court, and bought milk from the resort convenience store. The kids were able to eat breakfast in our room as soon as they got up. We did not have to use a dining plan for the meal. It allowed us to get to the parks sooner by having things organized this way. As long as the children were fed, we were good to go. It also freed up some space in our suitcase on the way home for some souvenirs. - Dana from Nova Scotia, Canada

Boardwalk Villas - I have a money-saving tip for all of the BoardWalk hotel guests staying without cars. As DVC members we almost always stay at our home resort, the Boardwalk. We also use Magical Express and never bother to rent a car while there. (Gotta love that free Disney transportation!) Luckily there is a Hess station across the street from our resort entrance. On our first day there my husband and I will unpack one of our large suitcases and wheel it on over to that Hess station where we fill up on gallons of water, bottles of soda, orange juice and beer, plus some snacks and simple breakfast foods to stock our hotel fridge. We may look a little strange loading all that up into a suitcase and walking back to our hotel but we are able to stock up on drinks for a whole week at less than half the cost of the resort. - Erin

The best discount for Sammy Duvall's Watersports at the Contemporary last summer was from AllEars.Net. Thank you! - Gail

We're a family of eight, traveling with the in-laws and wife's sister's family, making our party size 14 people strong! We decided to stay off-property at a four-bedroom, 2,340-square-foot condo at Lighthouse Key Resort and Spa. Thanks to AllEars.Net we got 10 percent off and, along with other discounts, our room cost was under $1,000 dollars for four nights! Yeah, yeah you're going to tell me about all we are missing by staying off-property, but before you go there let me tell you the difference and savings: At Port Orleans Riverside Resort the room size was 370 square feet with only two queen-sized beds and one bath! The total for three rooms at Port Orleans Riverside came to $2,489, not including theme park tickets! Staying at Lighthouse Key we got a four-bedroom luxury condo with two king master suites, a queen suite, and a twin bed with trundle bed kids' suite with three baths and full kitchen, living room and laundry room. With our savings, we were able to buy theme park tickets and an all-week premium parking pass for Disney, SeaWorld tickets, and a $145 reservation at Splitsville! - Nick G.

I usually know well in advance about when we'll be traveling, and since we love the Epcot resorts I will book a room at The Walt Disney World Dolphin using any and all discounts I can think of (government employee, Starwood preferred guest, Annual Pass, whatever). I'll book 9 to 11 months in advance for at least seven nights. I can usually "modify" a few days either way depending on my flight without a price increase. You need to pay a one-night deposit, but that's OK. I've kept my reservation, modified it, and even cancelled it with no problems. The reservationist even gave me ideas for nabbing a better deal once! - Mary Ann W.

My cardinal rule for Disney vacations is to have everything paid for before we leave. I bring a coupon folio with cash for tips for our full service meals, the boys have their spending money, my sister and I have our money. Meals, transportation, park entry, it's ALL paid up already, so we feel like we're staying for free and I know when I get home I won't be facing a mountain of debt. How does this save me money? NO INCIDENTALS, NO SURPRISES. Do I spend more money than others do on their trips? I'm sure I do! I've seen some miraculously affordable plans. But I always come in on or under OUR budget, and to me the workable budget is almost more important than the dollar figure itself. - Susan

If you are staying at Pop Century or Art of Animation, you can ride the other resort's bus from the park to the resort. The bus stops at the parks are next to each other (except AK) and it is a quick walk across Generation Gap bridge. My wife and I would take whichever bus arrived first instead of waiting. For example, we recently stayed at Pop Century (the '60s) and would sometimes ride the AOA bus if it came first, the Pop Century line was really long or if a scooter needed loaded. It only takes a couple minutes to walk from the AOA bus stop across the bridge to the '60s. - Mark

Many attractions at WDW are tied to amazing stories, but some of the stories are not as popular as they once were. We recommend watching classic movies like "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Tom Sawyer" so young children can understand, appreciate and experience the attractions. Otherwise, climbing a tree house or rafting to an island may not have the same "magic" as it could. Also, as a mother of boys who are not as familiar with princesses, we watched "Snow White," "Cinderella" and "Little Mermaid" so they are familiar with the stories and could recognize the princesses more easily. - Sandy

We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort in the Little Mermaid rooms from April 21-28. I was a little apprehensive since I read so many posts about how far the walk to the building was! We stayed in building 9 (even got a free upgrade to a King bed for our anniversary), and we had no issue with the walk. Walking to the buses in the morning is easy, using the sidewalk on the outside of the buildings. This was especially convenient because they set up a breakfast cart by the Flippin' Fins pool every morning with grab-and-go items, so we didn't have to deal with the crowds at Landscape of Flavors. - Ginger