Welcome and thanks for your interest in The Frugal South!
This ebook contains my top tips for planning an incredible Disney vacation
on a budget and it’s a small thank you gift for being an email subscriber.
I’ve been visiting the Walt Disney World resort in Florida for 30 years now
and have lost track of how many times I’ve been. What is extraordinary is
that I’m not rich (not even close). I’ve just made visiting Disney World a
priority, and I’ve found SO MANY creative ways to save money on Disney
vacations because I love to go there so much!
I think the magic of a Disney vacation shouldn’t be financially out of reach
for anyone. I wrote this to share my best tips and tricks with you,
because I want you to experience an incredible Disney vacation just like
I have. I get discouraged at how many people either do not enjoy
themselves on a Disney vacation or spend WAY TOO MUCH money going
there! I am living proof that you can take amazing Disney World vacations
all while living within your (even modest) means.
My family on one of our many trips to Disney World
I hope you find the tips in this book helpful and that you’ll return to The
Frugal South often. I promise to share lots more Disney tips and general
advice for living a rich life on a budget. Enjoy!
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10 Tips for Planning an Incredible Disney Vacation on a Budget
Text and Photo Copyright © 2016 Leah Crocker Althiser
This book is not authorized or endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with, The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc. or any of their affiliates.
All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are proprietary to Disney Enterprises, Inc. and its subsidiary, affiliated and related companies, as the case may be.
For official Disney information, visit Disney.com. All prices are accurate at the time this book was published. While the book will be updated periodically,
please check for current prices before planning your trip.
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Tip #1: Pick Your Travel Dates Wisely
The time of year you visit Walt Disney World can have a HUGE impact on your
vacation experience. Why? Well, there are actually three reasons: cost, crowds,
and weather.
First, the price you’ll pay for a hotel room at Walt Disney World varies wildly
depending on the time of year during which you travel. As an example, the “rack
rate” for a standard room at Disney’s Pop Century Resort fluctuates from $99 to
almost $200 throughout the year. Yes, that same exact room costs 100% more
during peak travel season than other times of the year. So we aren’t just talking
about a few extra dollars; we are talking about cutting the cost of your lodging
almost in half by traveling at off-peak times!
The second reason I suggest planning your travel dates carefully is to avoid
horrendous crowds at the theme parks. Please just take my word for it that it can
Fall is my favorite time to visit Disney World!
be miserable at the parks when they are ultra-crowded. Nothing ruins a
vacation like shuffling through the parks at a snail’s pace or seeing 2+ hour wait
times for all of the popular attractions.
The third reason you should plan your travel carefully is weather. Don’t underestimate the heat and humidity of central Florida in the
summer months. It can be downright miserable, so I strongly suggest avoiding the summer months if at all possible. If your vacation plans
include pool time, you’ll want to avoid a visit in January or February, when pool days are rare. Also, traveling to Florida in hurricane season can
be dicey, so all but one of my recommended times to visit fall outside of that time of year (roughly June until the end of October).
So, taking into account these three factors, below are my most recommended times of year to visit Walt Disney World. These dates have the
best possible combination of low cost, low crowds, and great weather!
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1. The first few weeks in November
2. The last few weeks in September
3. After Easter until Memorial Day
4. Late November/early December
Get all of the details about why these are my most recommended times (and why you should definitely take your kids out of school for a
Disney trip) in this post on the blog!
Tip #2: Stay on Disney Property
(And Don’t Be Scared Off by Disney’s “Rack” Rates)
After visiting during the right time of year, the second thing that will improve your
vacation is to stay at a Disney resort hotel. There are SO many reasons why you
should stay “on property”: Disney’s world-class hospitality, amazing pools, and free
transportation are just a few. There is usually only one reason people don’t: COST.
Folks starting to plan a Disney vacation may see the rates published on Disney’s
website and think right away that they can’t afford to stay at a Disney resort hotel.
For example, the “rack” rate, or rate with no discounts applied, at Disney’s Animal
Kingdom Lodge during regular season is $414. I know I certainly can’t afford staying
at a $400+ per night hotel, but I’ve used a combination of different money-saving
strategies to stay at this resort MANY times!
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge is our favorite resort
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The first reason you shouldn’t be scared off by Disney’s rates is the availability of discounts. Disney almost always releases a “room-only”
discount for all but the most popular travel dates, usually in the range of 15-35% off the rack rate for resort reservations. You can view all the
current discounts here on Disney’s website.
On top of Disney’s discounts, I save an additional 15% by booking room only reservations on Orbitz using their promo codes. So in total I save
from 30-50% off of Disney’s rack rates using both discounts. Plus, there are package discounts such as the wildly popular “free dining”
promotion offered throughout the year. These packages may or may not be a better deal than a room-only reservation, depending on where
you stay.
Another money-saving way to stay on Disney property is to stay at one of the five “Value” resorts. There are three main categories of resorts
at Disney: Value, Moderate, and Deluxe. The five Value resorts are the most affordable and also some of the most kid-friendly resorts on
property. They offer fun pools, huge icons of Disney characters, and ALL of the benefits of staying at more expensive Disney resorts! You can
read my review of Pop Century resort to get an idea of what to expect at a Disney Value resort. Rack rates start at around $100 per night which
means you can sometimes get rooms for less than $80 per night after discounts. I value the ground transportation that is included at no
additional cost at over $90/night. I think they are a great option for families or first-time visitors who plan to spend lots of time at the parks.
A third way I stay on Disney property for far less than Disney’s rack rates is by renting DVC points for stays at Deluxe resorts. DVC stands for
Disney Vacation Club, which is Disney’s unique version of a timeshare program. Folks purchase an ownership contract to join DVC. Then they
pay annual dues and get a set number of DVC points deposited into their account each year. They can use their points to stay at any DVC resort
at Walt Disney World (there are nine) and elsewhere. Some members don’t use all of their points, so they “rent” their points to others and
make reservations for folks in exchange for payment. We regularly stay in a Studio Villa (a step up from a standard hotel room) at Animal
Kingdom Lodge for around $130 per night by renting DVC points. Booking the same room through Disney would cost over $400 per night.
So for all of these reasons, don’t be scared off by the price tag at Disney resorts! There are many ways to pay far less than you might expect
and get all of the incredible benefits of staying at Disney resorts.
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Tip #3: Use a Free Crowd Calendar to Plan
Park Visits
No matter what time of year you visit, there will be crowds at Disney
World. It is the world’s #1 vacation destination, so there are always
thousands of people at the theme parks. The key to having the best
possible vacation experience is to avoid these crowds as much as
possible!
Luckily, some wise folks have done the hard work of figuring out crowd
patterns for you. I regularly use free crowd calendars that give
recommended parks to visit and parks to avoid for each day of the year,
Avoid gobs of people with a crowd calendar
such as those published by Undercover Tourist. I try to visit only the
recommended parks each day in order to avoid ridiculous crowds. This is
particularly important at the Magic Kingdom, the smallest and most
popular park.
Here is an example of how powerful the crowd calendars are. Against my better judgement, we went to Disney World over Christmas about
five years ago to celebrate my birthday (I was born on Christmas day). Christmas is likely the busiest day of the whole year at Disney World.
Using the crowd calendar as our guide, we visited Animal Kingdom on Christmas Day and were shocked to discover a practically empty park!
We rode all the attractions with little wait and roamed freely around the park – on the busiest day of the year. That same day Magic Kingdom
was filled to capacity and had to close its gates around noon. So do not underestimate how much using a crowd calendar can affect the quality
of your vacation experience!
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#4: Make the Most of Your Dining Dollars
To get the best bang for your dining bucks at Disney World it helps to know a few
things. First, you have likely heard about character meals. Character meals are an
opportunity to meet a bunch of characters (usually around four) in one place while
you dine. They are expensive (think $30-$50 per person) and the food quality varies,
depending on the location. For a few reasons, I don’t think character meals are
necessary for having a fantastic vacation experience.
First, you can meet all of the characters at intimate meet and greets in the park, many
times with no wait thanks to FastPass+. Second, there is better food at much lower
prices found throughout Disney World. Third, I think kids can reach character
saturation if you do too many and they don’t seem special anymore! For these
reasons, I limit Character Meals to a maximum of one per trip. This keeps more money
in my wallet and makes them seem like a special experience.
Ribs at Flame Tree Barbecue, Animal Kingdom
My next tip for making the most of your dining dollars is to not underestimate quick service (aka counter service) dining locations. Many first
time visitors think counter service=hamburgers and chicken fingers, but this is definitely not the case at Disney World! Many counter service
locations serve fresh and creative food with entrees in the $10-$13 range. Here are my favorite and most recommended quick service
locations in the parks and a few at the resort hotels (view menus for these and all other Disney World dining locations here):

Columbia Harbor House in the Magic Kingdom

Sunshine Seasons in Epcot

Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom

Tangierine Café in Epcot
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Starring Rolls at Hollywood Studios

Landscape of Flavors at Art of Animation Resort

Capt. Cook’s at Polynesian Village Resort

Mara at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Next, you also have likely heard about “Free Dining” at Disney World. This is a package deal that Disney has offered mostly during the fall
for the last several years. For this promotion, when you pay the full rack rate for your room and buy park tickets (lately with the Park
Hopper or Water Parks option) you will receive a “free” dining plan for everyone on your reservation (check out my eBook for everything
you need to know about the Disney Dining Plans). It takes some math to determine if this promotion will actually save you money
compared to a discounted room-only reservation with discounted tickets. But if you are traveling with a party of three or more and want to
stay at a Value or Moderate resort, free dining is an INCREDIBLE deal. It is also very popular so book immediately if you see it offered!
Finally, table service dining at Disney World almost always requires an Advance Dining Reservation (ADR). Many of the best table service
restaurants book up 180-days out, as soon as the ADR booking window opens. If you want to have the most dining options, you’ll need to
make your reservations as early as possible. This is particularly true during a free dining promotion – it is incredible how much more limited
reservations are during that time compared to others. Some of the dining locations that book up the fastest represent the best value for
the money at Disney World, including the following:

‘Ohana at Polynesian Village Resort

Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom

Sci Fi Dine-In at Hollywood Studios

Via Napoli in Epcot

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot (an incredible deal on the Dining Plan but not so much out of pocket)
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#5: Don’t Assume Flying to Orlando with
Your Family Will Bust Your Budget
We live about 10 hours from Disney World by car and we have driven
there several times. Lately we have been flying there and I don’t think
we will ever drive again! It has become so affordable to fly to Orlando
from many cities thanks to these low-cost airlines: Frontier, Spirit
and Southwest.
It is not unusual to see $19 fares each way (non-stop) to and from
Orlando on Frontier. The other airlines have lowered their rates on
this route to stay competitive. Keep in mind you will pay extra for
checked bags, carry-ons and seat selection, but even with the
Flights to Orlando can be surprisingly cheap!
additions the total cost for a family is reasonable. Also keep in mind
that if you stay at a Disney resort, you will receive free ground transportation to and from the airport as well as all around the “World”.
We never rent a car when we fly to Orlando because we take advantage of Disney’s transportation.
When you add up gas, wear-and-tear on your car, parking fees, overnight accommodations, and tolls, flying might actually be the cheaper
option! Also consider the additional time you may have to take off work due to driving time. It took us two additional days to drive versus
fly so flying won out when we factored in lost wages.
An additional note: parking at the Disney theme parks now costs $20 per vehicle. Many off-property resorts also charge parking fees from
$5 - $20 per day. Parking is free at the parks and resorts if you are staying at a Disney resort hotel. Be sure to factor in these costs when
you are comparing rates at hotels!
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#6: Save Money on Park Tickets (and Start a
Fund for Your Disney Tickets Right Now)
I wish there was a way to save significant amounts of money on Disney World
theme park tickets, but there really isn’t. Tickets are likely going to be the single
biggest expense of your trip. But there is one piece of good news. You will get
incredible value from the money you spend on tickets to Walt Disney World.
There is huge bang for your buck in the parks! Here are some of my best tips for
saving money for/on park tickets:

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
Hey Goofy! Tickets ain't cheap so save up!
Buy discounted tickets from Undercover Tourist, my trusted ticket
broker. You can save up to $40 per ticket (average savings is around $15 per ticket) and their prices include tax and free shipping.
They also offer a 365-day return policy, so if your plans change you won’t be stuck with tickets you don’t want!
Opt to add an extra day or two to your ticket instead of going for the Park Hopper option. Adding a day costs around $10 but the
Park Hopper option (which allows you to visit more than one park in a day) will set you back about $65. Instead of park hopping,
visit the parks for a few hours on your arrival/departure day and you’ll save around $50 per ticket! I rarely have found the need
for a Park Hopper ticket and I think many people get convinced by Disney that they need it for a good vacation.
Since little ones are free up until their third birthday, I suggest taking a trip before they turn three if you are at all interested in
taking them when they are little. We had a fantastic vacation with my daughter a few months before her third birthday! If we had
waited a few months we would have had to buy her a $300 park ticket.
If you only want to visit one or two parks and are visiting in the fall/winter, I would consider getting a ticket to either Mickey’s NotSo-Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. You can get a full 8 hours in the Magic Kingdom and will save
over $40 compared to a one-day ticket.
Start a “Dimes for Disney” piggy bank using an empty 20 oz. soda bottle. If you fill it up with dimes you will have saved around $130!
It’s a fun challenge and way to save without really realizing it.
Read more details on these and other tips in my post on how to save money on Disney park tickets.
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#7: Look into Using Points & Miles to Help Fund Your
Trip
I have paid for some of our trips to Walt Disney World entirely with points and miles
earned through my credit cards. The best and easiest way to earn points and miles is by
opening new credit card accounts. If you have good credit and a solid history of using
credit cards responsibly, then you may want to consider using credit card sign-up bonuses
to help fund your trips.
I use a credit card to pay most of our bills (cell phones, electric, internet, car insurance,
health insurance) and to buy essentials such as groceries and gas. Then I pay the balance
off at the end of the month. This is how I meet the minimum spending requirement that
most cards have in order to earn bonus points or miles. I carefully monitor my spending
with this simple method.
Enjoy the Beach Club using your points & miles

Here are the credit cards I most recommend for helping fund a Disney World trip and why
they are the best.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa– After you meet the minimum spending requirement of $4,000 in the first 3 months, you’ll earn 50,000
in bonus points. You’ll earn an additional 5,000 points if you add an authorized user and they make a purchase (my husband and I
added each other). This card earns 1% back on most purchases (travel and dining earn 2%) so if you meet the minimum spend, add an
authorized user (my husband and I just add each other) and get the bonus you’ll have earned 59,000 points.
Those 59,000 points are worth $590 in statement credit for ANY purchases. That means you can use your Chase Sapphire Preferred
card to purchase park tickets, flights, or your hotel, and use your points to essentially erase these purchases. If you redeem your points
for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, you’ll get 25% more value, so those points can be worth up to $737. I’ve never booked
Disney resorts through Chase, so I would suggest comparing what you’d pay with discounts through Orbitz with what you’d pay with
the 25% bonus through the Ultimate Rewards site.
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This card has a $95 annual fee that is waived for the first year. I kept this card for about 10 months and then cancelled it because I can
earn better rewards with other cards. Also keep in mind that Chase will likely NOT approve you for this card if you have opened 5 or
more credit cards in the past 24 months.

Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Mastercard – After you meet the minimum spend of $3,000 in the first 3 months, you’ll currently earn
50,000 bonus miles (the regular bonus is 40,000). You earn 2% back on ALL purchases with this card, plus you get 5% miles back each
time you redeem miles. The 56,000 miles you will have after meeting the spending requirement are worth $560 in travel statement
credit! This card has an $89 annual fee but it is waived for the first year. I keep this card in my wallet year after year because the 2%
back I earn more than offsets the annual fee.
What I like most about this card is that you can shop around for the lowest prices on Disney tickets and hotels and apply your
statement credit to these expenses. For example, book your Disney resort room through Orbitz to save an additional 15%, pay with
your Barclaycard, then use your Barclaycard miles for a statement credit to pay off the Orbitz charge. As long as the travel expense is in
the categories of hotels, airlines, rental cars, travel agencies, and taxis (there are a few others) and over $100, you can apply your
statement credit to the charges. Park tickets bought directly through Disney would NOT qualify for the statement credit, but you WILL
be able to get the credit if you purchase through a travel agency such as Undercover Tourist or AAA.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Visa – Southwest flies many nonstop flights out of Orlando and is a great option for getting to/from
Disney. I have had the Chase Southwest credit card for years and I highly recommend it. You can often earn a 50,000-point sign-on
bonus after you spend $2,000 in three months. This sign-on bonus is worth about $850 in airfare! These points are sometimes enough
for roundtrip flights to Orlando for a family of four.
Though there is an annual fee of $99, you get 6,000 points deposited into your account each year on your card member anniversary.
These points are worth over $100 in airfare so really there is no fee, as long as you fly occasionally on Southwest. Points never expire so
you can even save them up for a big trip that is years away. Read more about the Southwest card in this post.
If you or a partner got the bonuses for all three of these credit cards (which with advance planning isn’t hard to do at all!) you could fly your
family to Orlando for free plus get $1,150 towards your hotel, ticket and food expenses. That can really help make a Disney trip affordable!
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#8: Buy Souvenirs Before You Leave Home
I know this might sound a bit drastic, but I highly suggest buying some souvenirs before
your trip and taking them with you. Here’s why: I found the exact same pack of Disney
Princess pencils for $1 at the Dollar Tree that cost $9 in a gift shop at Disney World. I’ve
also seen a t-shirt almost identical to one my daughter was wearing selling for $30 in a
gift shop – and I paid $4 for her shirt at Target!
As you can see, you can literally save hundreds of dollars on your vacation if you
collect some t-shirts and little souvenirs before your trip. I usually bring along a new
Disney t-shirt for my daughter, some Disney stickers/coloring books/activities for the
plane, and some glow stick bracelets on our trips. I put the glow stuff in my park bag
and give it to her when it gets dark instead of spending $20 on some light-up doo-dad
in the parks. I’ll bring out the other goodies when we are on the plane or have some
down time in our hotel room. In total I spend less than $10 and she thinks everything is
so special because she is getting it at Disney!
I also let her pick out one little thing from a Disney gift shop when we are there so she
gets to choose something herself. I try to guide her to something in the $10-$20 range,
however.
Here are my favorite places to find Disney souvenirs before our trips:

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Me in my $3 Mickey shirt from Swap.com
Dollar Tree for glow stuff, activities for travel, lanyards for pins, etc.
Target/Walmart for Disney t-shirts
Target’s and Michael’s $1 bins for activities for travel/little presents
I get gently used Disney clothing online from Schoola and Swap.com. I can usually find plenty of choices in the $3-$5 range!
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#9 Take Full Advantage of the Free FastPass+
System
Lots of folks going to Disney for the first time (or the first time in many years)
ask me how much the FastPasses to ride attractions without the wait cost.
The FastPass+ system, which allows you to skip the line for three or more
attractions each day, is included with park admission at no extra cost! I think
people get it mixed up with Universal Studio’s front-of-the-line passes, which
range in price from $20-$50.
Another misconception is that you must be staying at a Disney resort to take
advantage of FastPass+… also not true! Anyone with a valid admission to one
of the Disney World theme park can take advantage of the totally free
FastPass+ system!
Here’s how it works… first, buy your tickets well in advance of your trip (I
recommend at least 2 months before your trip). Then visit the My Disney
Experience website or app and connect your park ticket to your Disney
Don't wait to ride Expedition Everest (or anything!)
account. Then, 30 days before you visit (60 days if you are staying at an on-site
Disney hotel), you can select FastPasses for up to three attractions at a single park for every day of your trip. You will select a one-hour window
for each attraction during which you can ride it with little to no wait.
I know it seems crazy to plan when you will ride an attraction 60 days before your visit, but a little planning in this department will make your
vacation SO MUCH BETTER. You don’t have to plan your every step of the day, just roughly where you will be when to take advantage of
skipping the lines on the most popular attractions. If your plans change, you can update your FastPasses on the go with the mobile app or at
kiosks in the parks. And after you use your first three FastPasses, you can get more during the day.
I honestly can say that (with just a few exceptions) I have never waited in line for more than 10 minutes for any attraction. Just by getting to
the parks early and planning to ride the most popular attractions with FastPasses, there is no reason to ever wait in long lines on your
vacation! Using FastPass+ can vastly improve the quality of your vacation experience with no extra cost to you.
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#10 If You Need a Rental Car, Consider a OneWay Rental
One trick that you may not have considered is to fly one-way to Florida and rent
a car for the other leg of your trip. Under regular circumstances, this wouldn’t be
very frugal advice, since one-way car rentals are usually way more expensive
that round-trip rentals.
However, due to the influx of seasonal residents and tourists that Florida sees
each winter, one-way rentals to and from Florida can be really cheap certain
Get a cheap Florida one-way rental car
times of year. Since there is a much higher demand for rental cars in Florida in the
winter months than during other times of year, car rental companies actually move portions of their fleets down to Florida in the fall, then
move them back in the spring. And these companies would LOVE your help moving their fleets of cars around in the spring and fall!
The major companies often offer rental cars for as low as $5/day during the spring and fall when they are trying to re-position their fleets. You
can even rent a car from Alamo right on Disney World property at the Car Care Center or the Dolphin hotel. To take advantage of these oneway rates, you usually have to live east of the Mississippi, though sometimes they apply to locations in Texas. You also likely need to return the
car to an airport, as opposed to a neighborhood location. Rates are often good up through full size cars, with nice discounts also available for
SUVs and Minivans.
So if you are planning a trip to Disney in the spring or fall (which are two times that I highly recommend visiting – read why here) consider
driving one-way to save on your transportation costs. I would especially recommend this strategy for these visitors:
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Those already planning to rent a car to stay off-property or with friends
Families for whom round-trip airfare is cost prohibitive
Those who live close to an airport from which Allegiant offers cheap flights into Sanford International Airport, which is not serviced by
Disney’s Magical Express

Those who want to visit Universal, Seas World, Cape Canaveral or other spots on their trip
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Conclusion
I hope these tips help you take an incredible Disney World vacation while living within your means! If you have any questions about planning
a Disney World trip on a budget, you can reach me directly at [email protected]. You can also follow me on social media for more
frequent updates. See you at The Frugal South again real soon!
With Love,
Leah Crocker Althiser
Leah @ The Frugal South on Pinterest
@thefrugalsouth on Instagram
The Frugal South on Facebook
On one of many magical Disney vacations
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