Whichever way you slice it, Disney World is an expensive trip. Flight, hotel, food, activities, things add up really quickly. When you’re on vacation you don’t want to feel like your skimping out either. However, there are ways to cut what you’re spending. I have some tips for those with kids too!

One of the biggest money savers I can suggest is to stay off property. Those of your who enjoy the extra magical touches that Disney World has at the resort may strongly disagree and honestly, I did too for a long time. But after my last trip and having stayed off property, I truly recommend staying elsewhere. ESPECIALLY with children. You may be asking why and here it is: for small kids, they are not going to remember the hotel room they are going to remember the rides and characters they meet. So save the money to put toward your next vacation.

My suggestion would be the Bonnet Creek resort. It is on Disney property (SUPER CLOSE TO EVERYTHING), but does not have Disney price tags. Although you do not have Disney Extra Magic Hours, there is shuttle transportation and they have a great pool area for the days you want to stay at the hotel and relax. The resort is located very close to Disney Springs and is a great option. They also have suite style rooms, with several bedrooms, living area and kitchen at very affordable prices. So for those of you with a big group, this is a great option!

While there are definitely benefits to staying on Disney Property, like extra magic hours, if you have little kids, sometimes this can be a lot and those extra hours where the park is open until midnight just isn’t worth it!

That leads me in to the next item: make your own meals! Ok, so some of the fun with going to Disney World is the themed restaurant. And I 100% say that you need to eat at some of these places (the food is mouth watering). However, you are not going to need to eat out every meal. In my opinion, skip eating out for breakfast and munch on a bowl of cereal. For those of you with a suite, you can get way more fancy and cook up something amazing.

Even if you don’t want to eat breakfast in, I suggest at least packing snack to save some money. Snacks at Disney are expensive as well. A pretzel can set you back more than $5, so think about it.

Next up, souvenirs. These bad boys are so expensive now a days, but it’s a necessarily evil when you have children. Disney World is a trap for expensive stuff, so my suggestion to you would be to plan in advance and bring things with you. You can find Disney items everywhere, so maybe look around for those Frozen themed items and pack them with you. You can also purchase things like autograph books before you leave.

Another thing to consider, for those with older children, is giving them a Disney gift card. The limited amount of money will be a good way to keep your kids in check to have a set spending limit and you won’t go crazy.

My last suggestion is the Disney Chase Credit Card. Like many credit cards now a days, you can earn points on this card, but it is redeemable for Disney items and you can also apply the points to vacation expenses. You can cash in your points and put them on a Disney gift card. You can also save 10% on minimum purchases for many of the Disney retailers on property and you can save money on restaurants. If you check out the information on the rewards, there is a list of perks you get with the card.

Now, not all restaurants will offer a discount, but many will. You’d be surprised as some as well, like Le Cellier. Yes, you read that correctly. OK, you do have to go for lunch, but this is a GREAT offer.

On the fence about the card? Well, one other perk that I feel is worth it (and will also save some dough) is the free meet and greet that comes with a photo! You know, the photos that Disney charges an arm and leg for? Yes, those. So, Epcot has a character spot where you can meet Mickey and Hollywood Studios does a Star Wars Character. So that’s awesome too.

The card has other perks, like discounted tours but I can’t comment on that because, well, I’ve never done this. But if you are someone that wants a tour of Living with the Land, go for it!

I often look back at when I was in college or high school even and wish I had listened to everyone about saving money. Many a mall trips to buy pointless things that I never wore or used could have been money in the bank for my future. But, no sense in dwelling on the past. Time to worry about the now. I’ve been married for about two years and we are in the process of buying a home. Which means we will be spending a TON of money. Why? Because owning a home is expensive. We have closing costs, moving, furniture for rooms we don’t currently have in our two bedroom apartment and bills that we haven’t had before.

With that said, we have been trying to save money in any areas we can. Some things are logical while others involved work and patience. So I want to share my tips in saving a few bucks with you.

1)CUT GOING OUT! I know, I know, it’s an obvious one. We don’t go out often for activities and try to do what we can at home. This means eating as well. Luckily we are always working, so eating out is not something we have a lot of time for, but even on weekends, we try to eat in. When we go out, in New York, we are spending easily between $40-$60 for one meal. When we eat at home, we probably average about $15-$20 per meal, depending on what we have. I try to cook meals that have leftover potential to stretch our dollars even more.

2) Cut spending on things you don’t really need- So most of us have areas in life that we spend money on that we don’t need. Ours was cable and a house phone. Like I mentioned, we are always at work, which doesn’t leave us much time for talking on the phone at home and we barely watch cable. It made sense for us to get rid of it. Will I miss The Real Housewives of Orange County and The Walking Dead? Yes. lol But at the end of the day, we have HULU, Netflix and Amazon Prime, so we have plenty to keep us entertained. No need to spend more money each month.

3) Downsize– Ok, so you’re probably wondering what I mean by this since we don’t own a home. Well, we do own cars. Cars cost a TON of money but the are a necessary evil where I live and with my husband’s job. For those of you who can have one car in your family, do it! AND DON’T LOOK BACK! I fully support only having one vehicle. You will save a ton of money. For me that was not an option. Although I commute to work and my husband drives, he also works weekends often and needs the car. That means that if I need to go anywhere (laundry, grocery shopping, family events, etc), I would need to ask someone to take me or wait until my husband came home. So, one car was out. The weekend is my only chance to do a lot of errands, so I needed a vehicle.

However, what we did to save some money was downsize on the vehicles we own. I own my car outright, but my husband leased. As the end of his lease approached, we went to Nissan and asked what deal we could get. We spent nearly two days back and fourth with them, but in the end we got a new car for HALF of what we were paying for the original car. Well worth it! Yes we still have a monthly payment but it is much smaller and we have a reliable vehicle that we can take on longer trips. Yes, mileage is limited but that care is not driven during the week, so it works for us.

4) Shop around– While we were looking to reduce monthly payments, we took getting the new car and cutting those payments as an opportunity to cut our insurance. While at the dealership they have you sit with an insurance agent who tries to get you go with the insurance that they make a commission on. Don’t do it! I did my research before we went and received a quote from Geico showing that we could cut the insurance payments in HALF. I told the agent I was set on Geico and in the end, I reduced my payment in half. So now, we pay less for two cars than we did previously with one car. TIP: many insurances will give you a discount for having multiple vehicles!

5)Use what you own– Sounds dumb, but I found that so many people have an abundance of crap, yet they still buy stuff. For example, Bath and Body Works is having a semi annual sale. Tons of people are going to stock up on lotions and shower gels. Do they really need it? Probably not. I personally am guilty of this, I will see a new scent and need to own it. But i have tried to make it a habit to go through everything I own so I can make a note of what I currently have. In going through everything I own, I probably have enough body lotion to last me a year (maybe more). So now when I see sales and think that I need something because it’s a good deal, I can note that I have something at home that needs to be used.

6) DIY- It’s so easy to go to the nail salon or hair salon or even Starbucks. We live in a world in which convenience has become something we need. Convenience though comes with a price. You could be saving so much money by carving out a little extra time and doing things yourself. A bottle of nail polish is between $3-8 bucks, and a manicure is also about $8. You are going to get 30 manicures out of one bottle of nail polish!

I love Starbucks as much as the next girl, but’s it’s expensive! I’ve started brewing my own coffee at home and sticking it in the fridge. Now when I’m craving an iced coffee, I don’t need to go out, it’s in my home and I save $5. (The same amount of money that my bag of coffee cost).

So there you have it, some of my tips for saving money. Let me know what tips you have for saving!

Anyone who knows both my husband and I knows that we have a slight obsession (okay, maybe more than slight) with Disney. When people hear that, they often turn their noses up and give me some comment about that being lame or for kids. Well, let me tell you, Disney World is not just for kids. There is so much to do at Disney World that is designed for adult fun and in my opinion, would be incredibly difficult to do with children.

While Disney is a great spot for families and kids, adults can have so much fun as well. To tell you the truth, Disney is the one place I have been where I do not think about my troubles. Oh yes, the only thing I am thinking about is what attraction to visit next. However, whether you are in the theme parks, at the resorts or visiting Disney Springs, there are a bunch of places to visit that are designed with adults in mind.

My husband and I love going to restaurants and lounges to sit at the bar, we split a couple of appetizers and have a drink or two. I don’t know why but this is our thing. Disney has a BUNCH of bars and lounges to grab drinks and bites, some of which may not be appealing for kids. One of our favorite places is Crew’s Cup at Disney’s Yacht Club resort. The place is small and nothing fancy, but they have great food and it’s a cozy atmosphere. After long days in the park, it’s a great place to unwind.

The menu does change from time to time, but one thing that has stayed on our last two visits was the truffle fries! Yum. The menu is also decently priced, so it’s definitely a win.

Another bar/lounge that we visited on our last visit just a week ago was the new lounge at PaddleFish, all the way up top. We sat outside, at the bar and shared Lobster guacamole and some fried green tomatoes. They had some live music as well which was awesome. This place may be difficult for kids, because of the atmosphere and the flights of stairs to get up to the top. Additionally, this place is pricey! Expect to pay nearly $40 for guacamole.

If you want just some drinks, head over to Disney’s Boardwalk resort since they have the fairly new Abracadabar. It’s a magician themed bar/lounge with mysterious elixirs. This place  only has drinks and they are on the pricier side. But it was cool to check out and I recommend this to anyone that enjoys good themed places, since Disney does themed places like no other.

While at the Boardwalk, I highly recommend going to Jellyrolls. Jellyrolls is a dialing piano bar and of course you need to be 21 or older. It does have a cover charge, but it is worth it, trust me. The piano players are amazing and can just about play any song you can think of. Although they do deny requests with a lot of profanity (You’re still at Disney!). The drinks are pricey, but that is to be expected. However, they typically have a  drink special which comes in a giant red cup which comes in at about $10. The last times we visited the special was sex on the beach and it was actually really good. They give you a big basket of popcorn as well and they keep it coming!

The song-a-long action is amazing and they get the crowds going. And what I find so fun is listening to them play songs by the Spice Girls or Eminem. Oh yea, they play anything. Even if you don’t drink alcohol, I believe anyone can have a good time here.

Then there is Epcot. You can grab a drink and bite around the world, stop to see the street performers and shop the various pavilions. Our favorite time at Epcot was for food and wine festival. If you are planning to visit during end of September through early November (roughly), you can catch it. Epcot does get busy, but it’s a lot of fun to visit the booths that have been set up for cuisines from all around the world, not just at the countries that have pavilions.

The last thing I tell people to do is to resort hop! If you don’t have kids with you, this is a must! Kids are not going to want to visit the resorts or go to the various bars that are nestled within the resorts. Disney resorts are themed so well and with such attention to detail that it’s so fun to see it all. They also have various bars with cocktails that fit the theme of the resort.  For example, Disney’s Polynesian resort has Trader Sam’s which is a cute little lounge with tiki inspired beverages, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. They have the indoor area and and outdoor spot that overlooks the lagoon. Visit the outdoor area in the evening, around 9pm and you can even see the fireworks from Magic Kingdom (romantic eh?). 

So that’s that, those are some of my reasons that everyone should experience Disney World before you settle down and have children. Disney is great for everyone but if you want to see a bit more than characters and want to get a feel for what else Disney can offer, then plan a visit. Disney is one of my favorite places partially because you can feel like a kid again and it’s totally acceptable! They are always adding new things to see and it makes you want to continually go back. So if you are one of those people that think Disney is just for children, think again and give it a go!

 

 

Hi Everybody! Welcome to my blog. My name is Ashlee and I live in Queens, New York.  I wanted to start a blog not just because I love to write, but because there are so many experiences that I would like to share with you that I think would be helpful. I am always on Pinterest looking for advice on traveling, saving money, cooking, DIY and even looked for advice when I was planning my wedding. I often wish there were things that people wrote about when I needed to figure out things and that is why I decided to start blogging.

Thank you for reading!