Tips for Disney Parks & Cruise Lines
The best discount for Sammy Duvall's Watersports at the Contemporary last summer was from AllEars.Net. Thank you! - Gail
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If you are planning on playing mini golf at the Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course you may be able to pick up a free unique souvenir. At the check-in counter there is a board that posts the low score of the day thus far. If you beat this score your name, hometown, and score will be posted and you will receive a colorful award certificate from the cast members there. Also your Disney Vacation Club discount can be used here, I always forget this! - Gail
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If you are planning on playing mini golf at the Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course you may be able to pick up a free unique souvenir. At the check-in counter there is a board that posts the low score of the day thus far. If you beat this score your name, hometown, and score will be posted and you will receive a colorful award certificate from the cast members there. Also your Disney Vacation Club discount can be used here, I always forget this! - Gail
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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.
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.
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.
Being a DVC member saves us loads of money especially with booking a 1- or 2-bedroom villa that has a full kitchen. We plan on having breakfast in the room almost every day. - Linda B.
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Prior to attending the Food and Wine Festival, we had read that it was sometimes difficult to get a table to rest your food and beverage, but that people were happy to share their space. Being rather private, we weren't sure we would be comfortable with this. However, out of necessity, we found ourselves asking, "May we share your table?" Everyone was very gracious, and we found ourselves enjoying the brief conversations that took place. It was just enough interaction to make us feel a part of the excitement, but not so much that we felt awkward. - Melissa Mercon Smith
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Prior to attending the Food and Wine Festival, we had read that it was sometimes difficult to get a table to rest your food and beverage, but that people were happy to share their space. Being rather private, we weren't sure we would be comfortable with this. However, out of necessity, we found ourselves asking, "May we share your table?" Everyone was very gracious, and we found ourselves enjoying the brief conversations that took place. It was just enough interaction to make us feel a part of the excitement, but not so much that we felt awkward. - Melissa Mercon Smith
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We're a family of three that lives about 90 minutes from Walt Disney World. We usually pack our own picnic lunch of sandwiches and bottled water or sports drinks that we take with us when we have a Disney Day. It's amazing how hungry you get when you're touring, so we always bring our own snacks (packs of pretzels, cheese crackers, apples, bananas, etc.). It is a little inconvenient carrying a backpack loaded with food, but I figure that one small inconvenience saves us in the neighborhood of $50 per day that we spend in the parks, so it's worth it. Even though we love the Magic, we just can't look past some of the disproportionately high prices for things like bottles of soda and water. Lately, our favorite picnic spot has been the porch of the Main Street train station, where you can overlook all of Main Street, USA. There are tables and chairs up there that never seem to attract too many people. Once, we even had the Trolley Show cast members perform right in front of us on the porch as part of the "Walkin' Right Down the Middle of Main Street USA" show, and then as they left, they tried to bargain with us for a couple of the homemade chocolate chip cookies we were eating at the time! My son thought that was hysterical! We've also enjoyed the outdoor porch area of the Mexico pavilion at Epcot, which also has a number of tables and chairs that are usually vacant. - Diane C.
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We live in Florida, so we are at the parks all the time. Spending even just a few hours at the parks can really hurt the wallet, especially when there are seven mouths to feed. What I began doing is making sandwiches for everyone, keeping them in a cooler and heading out to the car at lunchtime. I will have everyone tell me what they would like on their sandwich and assemble them at home. I will keep lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard and Italian dressing on the side in the cooler. I label each of the lunch bags and finish adding the condiments as each person would like at lunchtime. We have drinks and bags of chips in the car as well. I will spend only 1/10 of the amount of money on lunch and it is delicious and more nutritious than eating in the park. We do this even if staying on Disney property or at our timeshare on 192. You get away from the rush of the park and it really does not take too much time out of your day. This does require a little extra work in the morning, but it is well worth it. I couldn't see spending $80 for lunch a few times a month, every month for the past four years... that adds up!
- Margaret
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I bring most of our beverages with us. I will bring a 12-pack of soda or three different two-liter bottles, a flat or a couple gallons of water. My biggest money-saver is bringing my own chocolate milk. My son drinks a lot of chocolate milk so I scope out the ads for the 10 for $10 sale and stock up the two weeks before we leave. One dollar milk is tons cheaper than the approximately $2.50 milk at Disney. - Shellie
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