Tips about Planning and Saving

We bring a sleeve of plastic disposable cups to the Disney parks in our backpack. That way we can buy two or three water bottles and share them among the five of us. The cups are light and when we buy five individual bottles no one ever finishes theirs. - Gail Geiser

For all those folks writing about nightlight options -- Make sure your wall-mounted hair dryer is plugged in! Each room I've ever stayed in, regardless of pixie dust level, has the built-in night light feature. Though, as a retired teacher, I admit that the cyalume sticks (glow sticks) are always fun! - Scott Stuart

We have vacationed many times at Walt Disney World since 1993. Oftentimes, I will ship a package a week in advance, filled with snacks and surprises. I've learned the hard way, if you're staying at a conference center resort (for example, the Contemporary or Bay Lake Tower) send the box via USPS. If it is shipped UPS or FedEx, you are charged a service/handling fee when you check-in and claim your package. - Ann

When traveling to Orlando from the UK you tend to get to Orlando about 3 p.m. By the time you get to your Disney hotel it's about 6 p.m., so instead of rushing to the parks we head to Disney Springs, pick up our park tickets at Guest Relations (this saves doing it the next morning when you want to hit the parks), then go and have dinner and do some shopping. We are then fresh for the next morning. - Ruth

Save the little bottles of bubbles you get at weddings and bring them with you to Disney. Our daughter keeps one in her fanny pack. She has stopped many a potential meltdown by blowing bubbles for a fussy toddler as we waited in line. It's portable pixie dust! - Karen B

-- I bring along suction cups to stick to the bathroom walls. This gives everyone their own place to hang washcloths or other personal bathroom items.

-- A power strip gives everyone easy access to plug in their electronic devices instead of searching for an unused one in the room.

-- Lastly, we always have a spot in the room (a table or the spot next to the door) where we put the things we take with us each day -- for example, sunglasses, backpack, water bottle, celebration pin, jacket. That way when you are ready to walk out the door, you can just grab your stuff instead of scrambling around the room trying to make sure you remembered those things. - Traci Regan

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.

If you feel the cold easily, consider bringing a sweater or sweatshirt! The air conditioning on the buses, and in the restaurants, hotel rooms and indoor attractions can be quite cold. - Kristy

We have gone to Walt Disney World every year for the last five years with our two kids (now ages 5 and 10) and I have one "must purchase" item prior to a summertime Disney trip: a personal size water fan -- and extra batteries. The water fans in the parks are around $20, but you can buy your own at home for $5 to $7. If you have a stroller, a clip-on stroller fan is great, too. - Ingrid

If a member of your party likes to wear certain types of pants with fairly loose pockets (i.e., athletic or cargo pants), and carries a wallet, it would be a very good idea before your trip to purchase those small Velcro closures and sew them inside the top edge of the pocket. These are just small round bits of Velcro with adhesive on the back so you can place them where you want them. Then just a couple of stitches to secure the front of the pocket to the back, and you are good to go. The Velcro will come apart easily with just a finger tug. We learned the hard way that wallets tend to pop right out of some pants, especially the very loose and comfortable exercise pants my husband favors for park-wear. Luckily, the wonderful people at Cosmic Ray's were able to find his wallet and return it, but we know next time to add a little security! - Joyce A. Deen

We started planning trips around events so that even if we could only go for a weekend, it was still possible. Just last October, we took in Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. That was our only visit to a park during our three-day stay, but not our only Disney adventure. We visited the Winter Summerland miniature golf for the first time -- what a blast! We also visited a few resorts, eating in some of our favorite locations like the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. Although we enjoy spending four, five, or more days in the park, these shorter trips have meant just as much, and we have plenty of memories! - Shawna

We are Disney Vacation Club members, Annual Passholders and have the Tables in Wonderland dining card... I go on AllEars.Net and look at the menus to help me get a feel of how much we will be spending on each meal -- don't forget to add on some drinks. Then I include my discounts and tip so I can estimate how much we will need per day for food. It is a lot of work to do this planning, but it helps us a lot and I will pretty much have it paid for before we leave. - Michelle G.

Sam's Club sells Disney gift cards at a slight discount. Some other discount and grocery stores also sell them and you can in turn earn points on your grocery account for them. - Heather

It all begins at home. Every Sunday I do my grocery shopping. I always use coupons, and whatever the value of the coupons are I take out in cash and put it in my Disney travel case. If I feel I cannot take out that much this week I will take out half the value of my coupons. Then when I reach about $50 I buy a gift card for Disney with the cash. I do this because if I leave it, I know it is there and I will tend to spend it! - Michelle G.

Did you know that the cost of booking a vacation with a Disney travel agent is the same as booking a vacation yourself directly through Disney? Sometimes it can even be cheaper, as the agent will watch for discounts to help you get the most value for your hard-earned dollar. - Melissa Weis