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Disney World can be a super expensive vacation for any family. I hear a lot of families say they cannot afford to take a Disney World vacation. Anyone can take a Disney World vacation, you just have to be a little creative. As a repeat guest with over 1,000 visits, I share my 7 secrets for a cheap or free Disney World vacation.
Cheap or FREE Disney World Vacation
Secrets from a Travel Expert with Over 1,000 Visits to Disney World
#7 Trusted Housesitter
One of my favorite ways to travel is by Trusted Housesitter. This is a house sitting or pet sitting website. You get selected to stay in a home for FREE. In return, you either watch their house…aka water the plants or just living in their house (while they are gone.) You may also be watching their pets. It is an incredible way to visit Orlando (or other destinations) for FREE!
#6 Publix Delivery
With a Disney World vacation, there are (3) main expenses. These expenses include your room, tickets, and meals. To help with the meals, try Publix Delivery. Publix is a local grocery store that will deliver groceries to your hotel or home. Almost all hotels in Orlando have a mini refrigerator. You can order simple meals like bagels or donuts for breakfast and sandwiches with chips for lunch. These are easy and tasty meals, perfect for a vacation. Eating just one or two meals with Publix Delivery can save a family of 4 over $700 for a week long vacation.
In addition, easy meals like sandwiches and chips are perfect for playing at the Disney Parks or Water Parks. Just be sure you pack a small foldable cooler to carry your food in your backpack.
#5 House Swap
We have not tried house swap yet, but have lots of travel friends and that use this opportunity in their travels. If you ever saw the movie The Holiday with Cameron Diaz, this is the perfect house swap situation. You can either swap a house with someone else or use points to pick your own house in Orlando. If you like traveling, this is a fantastic way to travel for free.
#4 Water Park Tickets
As I mentioned earlier, tickets are a huge part of any Disney World vacation. Disney Park 1-Day tickets start at $99. Instead of a Disney Park, you can visit at Disney Water Park. For Floridian, the water parks are our favorites. You will stay cool and have tons of fun! Most people come to Florida for the sunshine and pools. Spend some time enjoying the Disney Water Parks vs sweating at the Disney Parks. Your family will have a lot more fun! These tickets start at $57 per adult and $51 per child (3-9.) For Disney tickets, that is cheap!
#3 Free or Nearly Free
The Walt Disney World Resort is twice the size of Manhattan in New York City. There is a lot to do, besides the Disney Parks. Plus, a lot of FREE activities. You can check out a recent post with our favorite free things to do at Disney World.
One of our favorites is exploring Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. This lodge has several activities for the kids and you can explore the savanna with several animal viewing areas. In the evening hours, you can even grab a seat at the fire pit and enjoy some stories by a Disney Cast Member.
#2 Conference Tickets
Did you know Disney has a special ticket for the parks called After 2 PM or After 4 PM tickets? This is an exclusive ticket, just for groups. These tickets are for the Disney Parks, but for entry after 2 PM or 4 PM. Since it is not good all day, you are paying a much lower price on the tickets. For Disney tickets, this is one of the cheapest tickets you will find anywhere.
You can only book these tickets with a group booked through Disney Groups. This means you are booking your hotel at one of the Disney Resorts (at a groups discount price) and then you can order your tickets from the groups shopping cart. It is an amazing deal.
As you know, Tim writes for Traveling Dad and Traveling Mom. They are offering a special groups package for Spring 2018 that you can jump on. Click here to check out this Spring TMOM group.
#1 Camping
The ultimate cheap Disney World vacation is camping at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort! I love camping at Disney World. It is such an incredible opportunity to relax and capture those family moments. A lot less stress! The rent is super cheap staring at $53 per night for a partial camp site.
Plus, you have a campfire so you can cook most of your meals. If you cook most of your meals for a 5-Night vacation, this can easily save you over $900.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort also has so much extra magic. They have amazing pools, trail rides, boat rides to other Disney Resorts, Campfire Singalong and Movies with Chip & Dale, carriage rides, archery, canoeing, fishing, and so much more. You can even sit on the chairs at Bay Lake and watch the Electrical Water Pageant and Happily Ever After Fireworks. You never have to visit the Disney Parks to have an incredible Disney World vacation.
When we stay at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, we never visit the Disney Theme Parks. We are not alone in this vacation idea. I have friends that booked a vacation camping at Fort Wilderness. This was their 1st time at Disney World. They wanted to save some money, so they camped. However, they still spent $1600 on Disney 4-Day Park Hopper tickets to visit the Disney Parks. The kids never wanted to leave Fort Wilderness! They spend a ton of money on tickets and only spent a few hours at the Disney Theme Parks. The family had more fun playing at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.
These are our favorite ideas to enjoy a cheap Disney World vacation. We hope this helps you follow your dreams and experience at Disney World vacation with your family.
We have another Disney World that may interest you:
Disney World Packing List | 9 Things to Pack for Kids & FREE Printable