Category — e. What to Budget for Walt Disney World

I recently did a guest post on Steve’s MilitaryDisneyTips.com blog.

The post was aimed at military families planning how they might save money while waiting to find out whether or not there will be a Disney military discount in 2011.*

However, it’s relevant to any family looking to save some money on their Disney World trip!

You can find it on Steve’s site here.

*Since I wrote it, a 2011 Disney military resort hotel discount of up to 40% has been confirmed, and a heavily discounted ticket deal for military families has been officially announced. See this for more.

DISNEY MILITARY DISCOUNT 2011

Update: the new deeply discounted ticket offer for military families has been officially announced. See this for more.

Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com has confirmed here that not only will there be a new military discount for 2011, but also that it has already begun, and that 2010 dates are available!

The 2011 Disney military deal will cover 10/3/2010 through 10/1/2011.  Blackout dates are likely to be announced shortly.

Details are still emerging, but here’s Steve’s key message about the new 2010 and 2011 Disney military discounts:

“This year’s offer like the previous two includes both steeply discounted theme park tickets and outstanding discounts on Disney Resorts for Military Members and their families.”

“As in the past details of this offer are slowly surfacing only after the offer has already started. This year’s offer began on 3 October 2010.”

Military resort hotel discounts of up to 4o% are being offered.

Block out dates known so far include 11/24-11/26/2010, 12/26-12/31/2010, and 4/17-4/30/2011.

Update: the new deeply discounted ticket offer for military families has been officially announced. See this for more.

See this for more of Steve’s reporting.

THE TIGHTWAD’S GUIDE TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

I’ve been publishing material in the series The Tightwad’s Guide to Walt Disney World for months now–giving alternatives to this site’s main guidance on key topics such as when to go, how long to stay, where to stay, how to eat, etc.

But I’ve never properly introduced this series.

So here’s the formal introduction!  [Read more →]

A DISNEY MILITARY DISCOUNT IN 2011?

Disney has not yet announced any Disney World military discounts for 2011.

Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com reminds me that each of the last two years the Disney military discount has been announced at the end of December/beginning of January.

He also reminds me that more years don’t have a Disney World military discount than do. [Read more →]

SHADES OF GREEN OCTOBER DISCOUNT

Steve at Militarydisneytips.com has some news about a new discount at Shades of Green! His material follows:

[Read more →]

This is the second page on this topic.  For the first page, click here.

GOING TO HESS, ESPECIALLY FOR BEER AND SNACKS

Even well-stocked Disney stores have a very limited selection. Moreover, as noted above, beer and smokes will kill your budget.

So the answer—especially if you are looking for beer and smokes—Mickey would not approve, but Donald would—is to find your way to getting at least some of your supplies outside of your resort.

There are three Hess stores on property—one of which is accessible to all Disney World resort guests, and another to those staying at a deluxe Epcot resort.

Hess isn’t going to solve “food” problems—e.g. you can get bread there, but not butter—but is great for snacks and other convenience store items.

Note also that you can’t get hard liquor in the Hess stores noted below—for these you’ll need to find your way to one of the two grocery stores listed after them, each of which is accompanied by a liquor store. Hard liquor savings can repay the cost of a cab.

Two of these Hess stores are easily reachable to Walt Disney World resort hotel guests without cars—one near the BoardWalk Inn, best for those at one of the Epcot deluxe resorts, and one near Downtown Disney, best for everyone else. [Read more →]