first timer tips

[Canuck Disney Fan]

my husband and I are planning our first trip - we are coming from Canada and staying at the All Star Movies Resort - this site has been amazing and has given me some great ideas. Are there any tips for eating to keep the costs down - this is our once in a lifetime trip but don't want to waste money... I heard all the horror stories of the costs once we get there.

Also I have been told by a number of people that there are some good tip books on the market - does anyone have any suggestions?????

[Zimkeeper]

Welcome to Intercot. You sure can find some great tips here.
We find the food courts to be a very resonable choice for some meals. We have not stayed at the All Stars, but the food court at POR is quite good. Also, we usually eat our main meal during lunch hours (11:30 till about 3:00)and save a bundle because the prices at most sit-down restaurants are cheaper during this time. Then we do counter service or food court for dinner.

Our all time favorite place for lunch and dinner is Le Cellier in Canada.

Have a great trip and enjoy Intercot.

[wdw538884]

:D There are several books with tips, Birnbuams book on Disney World is probably one of the best.
Intercot, however, is MUCH better. You will get a quick response here to virtually every question.
Intercot is also going to tell the truth, good bad or indefferent, where the books sometimes skimcoat a topic. My best bit or tip is to take your time. Plan what you want to see, but set sometime aside to just explore, you will be suprised that some things you think will not be interesting. are some of the things that you will enjoy the most. Best tip I can give is wear comfortable shoes, or sneakers. Nothing worse than sore feet at Disney. So go ahead and let the Intercot experts answer your questions ;)

[Digger]

the ASMo food court isn't that badly priced, in mu opinion. the food is pretty good, I'd stay away from the in-room delivery pizzas. actually, we didn't think diznee food to be as outrageous as we had originally thought. portiona are large, and we constantly fed a family of 3 with 2 meals for lunch. if you're renting a car, there are restaurants everywhere not far from any of the gates. resort dinners can be on the costly side. intercot has park menus and prices, I believe. it'll help you budget. my favorite guide was the Unofficial Guide to DizneeWorld. I thought the birnbaum was ok, but you have to question any guide being sold in the diznee store. it reads as a giant commercial, but it has some good pictures. just my opinion.

[Wiggum]

I've done two things to save a few bucks on dining.

First, when ordering from a counter-service place for DW & I, we get one sandwich w/ fries and one w/out fries, then we split the one order of fries. Neither of us will drink a whole soda, so we split one, too.

Next, when having a sit-down meal, we'll order one appetizer and one meal and split both of 'em.

Either way, it has been enough to fill us up.

[nat]

I shipped a box down ahead of time full of grocery items, snacks, cereal, peanut butter, ect. It was well worth it, I know you are in Canada but check into shipping. I shipped P.Mail and it was worth every cent!!! Good Luck!

[Jillpie]

I have a budget tip that has worked perfectly for us each trip. We take travelers checques and decide ahead of time how much to divide up for each day. For our family of five, it is 200.00. That includes meals, souviners, snacks. When I get the checques at the bank, I also grab approx. 10 envelopes there (or how many days you will be there) and put 200.00 in each envelope. I then label each envelope Mon., Tues. etc. till the end of the week. If you don't spend that amount on any given day, the rest goes into the next day as a bonus. This way, you will have an equal amount of money to spend even up until your very last day. This is a worry free way of managing spending money. I can't tell you how wonderful it works.
In addition, I also have seperate envelopes for the towncar driver in Boston, one for the driver in Fla. etc and then its easy to just hand it over to him after the ride.

[ December 11, 2003, 10:10 PM: Message edited by: Jillpie ]

[goofyrocks]

My tip will probably not be too helpful since you are traveling from Canada. But we drove from Texas last July with 6 kids and a set of grandparents. To save money on food, we purchased a small dorm sized microwave oven. We planned meals for each day and prepared them ahead of time. Things like baked potatoes with chili and cheese, stew, spagetti,hotdogs, . . . things you would cook if you went camping. We froze everything we could and wrapped it in newspaper. Then put it in a plastic bag and then into the ice chest. It was still frozen 4 and 5 days later. We just heated everything up in the microwave in the room. Disney never said a word about it. I know it sounds crazy, but it worked. We were taking our four kids and their two cousins which had never been and would never have the chance to go if we hadn't taken them. So it was what we had to do to afford a special trip for two deserving children. It was a trip of a lifetime for them.

Another thing we do is purchase the turkey legs at MK for a meal. One will feed two people. It isn't a gourmet meal but a tasty one anyway.

Do splurge a little on a few nice meals. The restaurants at WDW are the best!

[Canuck Disney Fan]

the money in the envelopes is an amazing idea.... there is just the two of us - I am trying to buy a few food vouchers on ebay - hopefully if we budget right we can have enough for a special dinner on the last full night. :D

[lovetheprincesses]

If you can ship or pack bottled water, that will help, because the water and coffee are bad at WDW. We froze water in our frig and it stayed cool most of the day...

[faline]

Originally posted by Canuck Disney Fan:
I am trying to buy a few food vouchers on ebay I would be very careful with purchasing passes, etc. on e-bay. Many people have purchased such items to find out later they weren't valid.

[AndrewJackson]

You may want to consider going off property to eat in the evening. We have done this on a few trips. The days we are in the theme parks we eat there, but the days we are relaxing by the pool, we will head off property to eat dinner. There are several nice restaraunts over by Downtown Disney. If you are flying, and will not have a vehicle, then this will not be worth it if you have to add the cost of a cab.

[Canuck Disney Fan]

Thanks for the tip on the vouchers on ebay - I have heard some mixed reaction on these - including someone on ebay emailing me warning me about them - I think we are going to stick with the budget ideas from everyone here and play it by ear - we are planning on eating breakfast in our room (pack some breakfast basics), having a smaller lunch and having a couple of nice dinners -

[disney2003]

We travelled from Canada last April/May, staying at All Star Music. For the most part, food at Disney is very reasonable. It is on par with what we would pay here, the only problem is that our dollar is not strong against the American one.

A few of pieces of advise:

1)Either bring some breakfast foods with you or shop for them when you get to Kissimmee. Cereal bars etc were great for us because we are not big breakfast eaters.

2) Go to a Wal-Mart or some type of store before you get to Disney and pick up 2 styrofoam coolers (2 just in case one leaks/ or breaks - that's what happened to us). BUY BOTTLE WATER at the store. The most expensive thing at Disney is the Water.

3) Get the refillable mugs at the Foodcourt. If you are a coffee drinker or even if you like hot chocolate, pop. They make great souveniers and if you are there for even a minimal amount of time, the mugs will pay for themselves.

I hope this helps you. Enjoy your planning and have a great trip!

[TheRustyScupper]

Food Economizing:
1) Eat in room or take breakfast bars to parks.
2) Sometimes, the food court is almost as cheap.
3) Take a few snacks into the parks.
4) Eat lunch instead of dinner, as items are cheaper then. Lunch time menus and prices go through 2:00-4:00, based upon eatery.

General Economizing and Hints Books:
1) Buy up to three guide books
2) They each have a slant and good info.
3) This is cheap insurance for such an expensive vacation.
4) I recommend the guide books
... Official Guide (Birnbaum)
... Unofficial Guide (Sehlinger)
... WDW with Kids (Wiley)

NOTE: Although we go frequently, I always buy at least one new guidebook. There are just too many things to se and do, and guidebooks tell me what is new as well as remind me of existing attractions. For people who don't go often or this is their first trip, I always recommend at buying 2-3 books and planning your days so you don't miss attractions that might be important to you.

Enjoy your trip. I still remember my first time ...

[Chickie]

Shipping water bottles sounds like a wonderful idea. I agree that the water doesn't taste the best. How do you go about doing that (how far in advance, etc)?

[faline]

From a couple of other recent posts, it looks like Disney will no longer accept packages for guests who have not yet registered. In this case, I would try to time your package to arrive the day after you check in.

[rt207]

Definitely take water/drinks into the park with you. Also, you can take sandwiches in with you (I don't know if you'd want to do this every day though-it gets old quick). If you're not really big eaters, split some meals because the servings are large (as, I believe, someone already said). A lot of our savings came from staying offsite which offered a free cooked-to-order breakfast every day and having a refrigerator and microwave in our suite. I don't know if All Stars has either of those, but if so, definitely make use of them.

The idea of the envelopes is great and I used a variation of that idea when we went (thanks Jillpie ;) ) .

Have a great trip graemlins/clappy.gif graemlins/clappy.gif !!

[ December 18, 2003, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: rt207 ]

[Poohbear Fan]

Here are some of my money-saving tips:

</font> Go to WalMart and buy the cheapest cooler you can find...not the styrofoam ones, which ALWAYS crack. We got one for about $10-15</font> We always buy a large container of drinking water and 2-3 smaller bottles to carry. We then wash out and refill the smaller bottles each night.</font> Foodcourts are good ways to save money, especially if you're eating your main meal in the parks at lunch. CB is one of my favorites. Eating a few meals offsite will also help save money.</font> Look for any coupons or discounts you can use for restaurants in the parks or resorts. For example, APs offer discounts for many restaurants, especially when used at lunchtime.</font> Don't buy your groceries at Goodings, if you can help it! We bought ours at a SuperWalMart on our last trip and probably spent about half of what we normally spend at Goodings. It's convenient, but many items are way overpriced.</font>
Hope these help! Have a great trip!! graemlins/mickey.gif

Poohbear

[nat]

Water Bottles, I bought Brita water bottles with filters $6.99 (Walmart, Target,) any store like that! Because we went when it was warm I bought jackets for the bottles and the water stayed cold and tasted great. I would fill with ice and water before we left the resort and as the day went on we would just ask for ice anywhere on property and refill! I also filtered the water threw the bottle to make ice cubes for drinks and coffee!!
By the way I got this great tip right here on INTERCOT! graemlins/muscles.gif

[AvaNellMouse]

Breakfast in the room is an absolute must. We stopped by Walmart and picked up:
Fruit (bananas & apples)
Water (get a case)
Granola Bars
Juice (Orange & Grapefruit)
Beer & a Bottle of Wine

We saved a bundle on water & breakfast. It was great to be able to eat while we were getting ready in the morning instead of having to leave the room and find something elsewhere.

I also bring coffee from home & all of the fixin's to go with it. Our hotel had styrofoam cups for us to take coffee with us to the parks in the morning so we didn't buy those.

[Debbiedana]

Along the lines of the daily budget envelopes (which I use are they are GREAT), I also make 'Mousekeeping' envelopes and put our tips in them BEFORE we leave so I'm not searching for singles or stuck tipping $10 when I usually tip $3.

[IDreamofEeyore]

My biggest single piece of advice is to be proactive about working in breaks during the day. During our first trip in 1984, we were so overwhelmed by all of the excitement that we wore ourselves out on the first day!

There is A LOT to see and experience at WDW. It is generally impossible to do it all in one trip. So, use the guidebooks and Intercot to help you identify your priorities and then take your time and soak it all in. You don't have to attack the parks commando-style to have a wonderful time!!