Ask any Disnerd adult, and they’ll tell you not much beats the magic of a Disney vacation. But as the cost of living skyrockets, the price of a Disney vacation has gone from a savings-worthy splurge to almost prohibitively steep for some families. As a second-generation Disney geek whose parents took my brother and me to Walt Disney World every few years, there’s little I look forward to more than stepping onto Main Street, U.S.A., in my Disney Parks-approved footwear.
After years of watching my coupon-clipping mom plan those trips on a budget, I can confidently say I’ve got the inside scoop on how to make the most of a Disney vacation on a dime. From long hours spent researching deep discount airfare from Oklahoma to Orlando International Airport (the worst airport for layovers in the U.S., by the way) to the number-crunching that helped us get a sweet deal on a suite at Saratoga Springs, I grew up to be a savvy Disney planner. The good news is that it’s still possible to take the family to Walt Disney World without cashing in your retirement savings. The trick to saving on a Disney vacation is a whole lot of research and planning.
Know the cheapest Disney travel dates
If you’re looking for ways to save on your Disney vacation, choosing the right travel dates can make a world of difference. When I was growing up in the pre-internet world of the 1980s, my mom would dutifully pick up the latest copy of her favorite Walt Disney World travel guide and carefully choose our travel dates around the crowd calendar. We always traveled during the lull after Thanksgiving and just before crowds started to pick up again for the holidays. Not only were the parks absolutely magical, all decked out in their holiday regalia, but we would often find the crowds so light that we barely had to wait in line for our favorite rides. And the best part? Both resort rates and ticket prices tend to be lower during low-crowd-density calendar dates.
Although the pre-holiday season seems to have picked up in crowd density over the past decade or so, you can still experience the joy of low-crowd vacationing and the accompanying boost to your pocketbook. These days, the slower crowd periods seem to fall mostly in September, January, and February, depending on the date and whether there are any school holidays. Many blogs and travel sites offer fairly reliable guides to crowd density, which should point you to the dates when ticket prices will be lowest.
Bring snacks to help with food costs
Food costs might seem like a secondary consideration when planning your Walt Disney World vacation, but it shouldn’t be. When you’ve got a party of four or more to feed, food costs can add up rapidly. Even Disney counter meals can run at least $15 per adult. One Redditor who visited with their family of four in early 2024 reported on r/WaltDisneyWorld, “We were just there 5 days and spent about $1500 on food and merch, probably about $1100 [on] food … That included 2 sit down meals and some cocktails.” Overall, they estimated they’d spent around $40 per adult family member per day…