I need every sneaky trick to get my family to disneyworld on a budget?

IDK. Their terms say 5% can't be used on Target gift cards or prepaid cards. Mine won't allow it anymore, so maybe they are counting Disney GC's prepaid?
Their terms have always said that. The cashiers have always said you won't get it. The only way they could disallow it was if they force you to pay cash for gift cards. If you charge it to your RedCard debit or credit the receipt will print out at the end and you'll see your 5% off. (I always recommend people buy a $25 gift card and then look at their receipt to verify it works for themselves before going all in.)
 
Their terms have always said that. The cashiers have always said you won't get it. The only way they could disallow it was if they force you to pay cash for gift cards. If you charge it to your RedCard debit or credit the receipt will print out at the end and you'll see your 5% off. (I always recommend people buy a $25 gift card and then look at their receipt to verify it works for themselves before going all in.)
Gonna have to test this out...For next vacay I'm full up on gift cards currently :rolleyes1
 


The pop increase kills me and I could pay it but won’t. I buy pop at target for the room. Anyone who wants a lunch pop carries it in their self. When it’s gone it’s gone. Water at that point. DS 17 and I could of shared the Ham sandwich at BOG it was huge, I only ate half. I brought in PPand J for DD cause she didn’t want what BOG offered for lunch. Sometimes her stomach is not a happy traveler.
I buy DS his favorite snack(big box) and make a bag every night (cause he is lazy) and then he carries it in every day. I don’t like to stop all the time, times awastin’ :)
That being said I did buy 3 bottles of pop and 2 pretzels on tour day when we were not stopping for a meal shared by 4 peeps. And Ice cream. We ate supper late that day.
Heck DH got chicken fries at target and we wound up eating them once as a meal, I figured if we didn’t eat them $6 wasted and instead saved $.
And I say breakfast in room. I brought DS favorite cereal and mine from home and just needed milk to buy there. DD not a breakfast person. DH buys a box of jimmy dean something there.
Ah yes I always bring fruit snacks from home and each kid has one they carry in each day and they normal eat them while in line waiting for a ride.
I will happily trade a snack for water for everyone every day at Disney.
 
How large is your family? Depending on size of group, proximity of condo to the parks, and style of vacationing (are you going back to the hotel mid-day or staying from park open to park close), Uber/Lyft might actually save you money compared to paying for parking. Particularly if you can use a regular Uber and are only making one trip to/from per day.
 


my family drinks a lot of water, especially in Florida when it`s hot. We love using the Brita squeezable bottles. The bottles pay for themselves easily within a day of not buying drinks. You can refill at fountains or asking for water at any CS, whenever the water gets warm we can dump it and replace, as a bonus the filter helps remove the taste of the Florida water plus we don`t have to carry many bottles... just 2 for the 4 of us, attached to belt or bag with a carabiner clip.
 
my family drinks a lot of water, especially in Florida when it`s hot. We love using the Brita squeezable bottles. The bottles pay for themselves easily within a day of not buying drinks. You can refill at fountains or asking for water at any CS, whenever the water gets warm we can dump it and replace, as a bonus the filter helps remove the taste of the Florida water plus we don`t have to carry many bottles... just 2 for the 4 of us, attached to belt or bag with a carabiner clip.
Or just ask for a cup of ice at any counter service spot, in Florida it will turn into nice, cold water in a flash!
 
We bring our own water and some snacks - DH is low salt diet
We eat breakfast in our hotel room - eat lunch in WDW - dinner is either in our hotel room (we do tuna twice)
or a CS - best are in Disney Springs
So we may save more money staying at a DS hotel ;)
 
Random thoughts:
- Pack carry-ons only to avoid luggage fees. Do you have a washer/dryer at the condo?
- Bring everything you need (like first aid items and sunscreen) rather than buy these things at resort prices.
- Do not buy from eBay -- you won't know whether they have any park days left, and tickets aren't transferable. Chances are very good you'd lose your money.
- Save on tickets by skipping park admission on your first /last days -- that is, your travel days. Especially since you'd have to drive /pay to park, you're not likely to go to the parks those days. Look into non-park activities -- lots exist; for example, Disney Springs -- and choose them for your travel days.
- Someone else suggested Ubers to the parks. How far away is your condo? You can check online to see how much a one-way ride would cost.
- I would not haul backpacks of sandwiches around Disney. I'd say eat a big breakfast and choose snacks that you can carry in your pockets. Ask for free iced water throughout the day. What are your park habits? Will you go-go-go all day, or will you go back to the condo for lunch /come back for the evening? Kids' meals (which aren't just for kids) aren't budget breakers and often include small sodas; stock the condo refrigerator with quick-cook heavy snacks (like pizza) for after the parks.
- Skip souvenirs.
 
We often split CS meals, maybe 3 meals for the 4 of us, depending on what we get. We don't buy drinks, we bring hydroflask water bottles and refill them as needed.

We stayed offsite for the first time last June and a couple days we brought a cooler with deli ham, cheese, chicken salad, oranges, grapes, carrots and water and left it in the car. When we were ready for lunch, we walked out to the car, made sandwiches and had a quick lunch. I probably wouldn't do it at MK, we were at HS those days. We didn't do it every day.

If you are going back to the condo at any point during the day, eat then. You don't have to cook a big meal, just something easy. We did a frozen lasagna one night for dinner, and put buffalo chicken in the crockpot another day for a late lunch/early dinner. Even if you get a rotisserie chicken and some pre-made sides from the deli at the grocery store, it will be less expensive than park food.
 
love the idea of no ticket 1st and last day
We arrive in the evening - no need for a park
We leave in the early afternoon - we could always shop in Disney Springs and then go to MCO.
 
Incorrect - you cannot use Target Gift cards to purchase other gift cards, THAT is the change that was made. You can 100% use your red card to buy gift cards. I have purchased them several times over the last few weeks (since we booked our August vacation) at several different Target locations.
 
The ticket prices are the big expense, and there aren't a whole lot of ways to cut that cost. On some budget trips we have done, we have gotten a condo for a week and done three resort days and just three park days (do a park every other day). We always stay offsite and can find good condo deals. I realize that this would probably not be acceptable to most people, but we usually meet up with extended family and for us visiting and the kids playing together (tennis, swimming, family games, movies at the condo is a lot of fun and inexpensive). Sometimes too we have for two of the park days gotten the very economical SeaWorld/Aquatica combination ticket and forked over with an expensive one day ticket at the MK for the Disney fix (lower overall ticket cost pp than three Disney days and our family/extended family is in love with SeaWorld). We too on resort days sometimes go to Disney Springs to walk around, park at the Polynesian for three hours (free last time we did it - just said we were there for shopping and food) and rode the monorail around to look at the deluxe resorts and later had a Dole Whip at the Polynesian snack bar place.

If your goal is to hit all of or most of the lovely Disney parks (which I can totally understand), this obviously would not be something to even consider.
 
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we stay at hotels for about 30 a night . This time I did my homework.... I made my resavation on choicehotels.com then I found a lower price..( I found it before I made my resavation) filled out the form. The matched the price the hole etsy and gave me 50 giftcard. So my hotel cost is way down. Take an uber or Lyft to disney. They have a lot of credits for new accounts so make one for you and your husband. Take lunchables and we bought britta waterbottles for everyone a head of time
 

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