"I'm going to Disney World!" has become such an iconic saying for good reason. Once you take a look at the price of some of Disney's vacation packages, you may despair at ever being able to afford your Disney dream vacation. Step away from the Disney website and do vacation planning on your own. With some extra time invested and creative planning, you can give your family their dream Disney vacation for much less money than you might have thought.
The best value for a place to stay on your Walt Disney World vacation isn't a hotel. Hundreds of condo owners rent out their properties by the week to vacationers. These condos range from single-bedroom apartments to multi-room houses big enough to hold a family reunion. Prices vary, but with some research you can find a two- or three-bedroom condo for a week for about the cost of one hotel room at a discount Disney hotels. Not only will you get many times the bed space, you'll also have a living room, laundry room and your own kitchen.
If you stay on Disney property, you will be confined to eating at Disney restaurants unless you have your own car with you. Even staying in another hotel means restaurant food for the entire week. Condo living, on the other hand, means saving hundreds of dollars on food alone. Breakfast for a family of four can cost close to $50 at most of the places in Disney, and more than half that at the least expensive Kissimmee restaurant. For that same amount of money, you can buy enough breakfast food to last your family a week. You'll realize similar savings by buying lunch supplies and packing a lunch into the parks every day and cooking dinner in the condo at least once or twice during your stay.
The main form of entertainment in Walt Disney World is the parks. However, if you're going to stay for a week, you can spend four days at the parks and still be entertained the rest of the week for much less than admission to the parks. Spend the day at Fort Wilderness for outdoor fun. Rent fishing poles, go horseback riding and take the kids to the petting farm. Join in with Chip 'n' Dale for a singalong around the campfire after dinner, complete with toasted marshmallows. Spend a day touring the large resort hotel lobbies. This may be boring anyplace else, but not in Disney World. From a tropical paradise with an indoor waterfall to the Northwest woods complete with Old Faithful geyser, the resort lobbies are tourist attractions in themselves. With some research, you can find enough free or inexpensive things to do in Disney World to fill a week without ever entering the parks.
If you do decide to stay in a Disney hotel, pay attention to the season to get the best rates. Walt Disney World has four or five seasons, depending on the year, and the price of hotel rooms changes drastically depending on the season. At the slowest time of the year, your room can cost almost half the price as during peak holiday rates. If you want holiday ambiance, go two weeks before Christmas. The decorations are up and a cheer is in the air, but the prices are among the lowest of the year.
