Crazy ideas to save money at WDW

[duchy]

Surely the crazy idea is paying for a hire car *and* resort parking when you could use Disney transportation with the odd Lyft/Uber thrown in for offsite trips instead for a fraction of the cost ?
Daily cost of car hire say £30 a day , fuel, tolls, daily resort parking on top. Even if you hire a car to do KSC or the coast for a few days you still come out vastly ahead .
Depending on where you stay, the numbers often work for offsite and Lyft too.

[YLL]

Originally Posted by katiec68

I thought they'd stopped them going straight from "downtown" to stop this kind of thing happening?

I know they go to the parks but they go via the hotels so its a more difficult journey.

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Buses travel from all 4 parks to Disney Springs from 4pm daily.

Buses go park to park without going via the hotels.

[stanleycamel]

Originally Posted by wombat girl

Have any of your OH had what you think as a crazy idea to save money on your WDW trip?

This started when I told my DH that the car hire had got expensive and we would now have to pay around $140 to park the hire car at our onsite hotel.

His reply was as Disney Springs is free - can we just leave the car at Disney springs as we wont use it every day.

Technically it might be possible - but not practical.

I replied the free giftcard could be used to pay the parking fee ( still not happy about this new rule).


Any other similar stories?

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Disney Springs have signs in the car parks to say that cars left overnight would be towed. So I don't think that idea would work - I am sure Disney would view it as a security risk. The WDW website states that the car parks open at 10am and close at 2am but I thought the signs I saw recently said 3am.

[sdrfish]

Originally Posted by duchy

Surely the crazy idea is paying for a hire car *and* resort parking when you could use Disney transportation with the odd Lyft/Uber thrown in for offsite trips instead for a fraction of the cost ?
Daily cost of car hire say £30 a day , fuel, tolls, daily resort parking on top. Even if you hire a car to do KSC or the coast for a few days you still come out vastly ahead .
Depending on where you stay, the numbers often work for offsite and Lyft too.

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I would say the crazy idea is paying to stay on site at ridiculous rates, then paying stupid money for average quality food for staying on-site and then having to stand on overcrowded buses next to other hot sweaty people at the end of a park day.

You know what staying offsite and having a car and being able to do things when you want instead of sticking to a rigid schedule and at a much cheaper cost compared to onsite sounds like a preferable idea.

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by sdrfish

I would say the crazy idea is paying to stay on site at ridiculous rates, then paying stupid money for average quality food for staying on-site and then having to stand on overcrowded buses next to other hot sweaty people at the end of a park day.

You know what staying offsite and having a car and being able to do things when you want instead of sticking to a rigid schedule and at a much cheaper cost compared to onsite sounds like a preferable idea.

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When you are staying onsite and have the free dining plan it doesn't make that much difference in cost and some of the benefits (if you are only doing Disney) out weigh the little bit of extra.

We chose not to drive when we go that is our preference and the Disney transport even if overcrowded is a great way to get around.

We all do things differently and it works for each individual.

Would I stay offsite again...Yes but was the holiday more special onsite and without worrying about the cost of food yes and for very little price difference. I wouldn't stay onsite if the dining plan went as it wouldn't make it worthwhile.



OP if you are onsite I would consider not having a car and just getting an uber to anywhere else as long as you aren't commuting anywhere long distance.

[YLL]

Originally Posted by sdrfish

I would say the crazy idea is paying to stay on site at ridiculous rates, then paying stupid money for average quality food for staying on-site and then having to stand on overcrowded buses next to other hot sweaty people at the end of a park day.

You know what staying offsite and having a car and being able to do things when you want instead of sticking to a rigid schedule and at a much cheaper cost compared to onsite sounds like a preferable idea.

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Is it that crazy though? I don't want to rent a car. I don't want to pay parking fees at the parks and the resorts. I don't want to go off property each time I want to eat something. I want to be able to have a few drinks without having to worry about driving later.

I much prefer to stay on property for all these reasons!

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by wombat girl

His reply was as Disney Springs is free - can we just leave the car at Disney springs as we wont use it every day.

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well tell him that going to the impound yard on the morning he needs the car, and needing to pay around $250 to get the car back will make disney resort parking fees look like a bargain :p

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by sdrfish

I would say the crazy idea is paying to stay on site at ridiculous rates, then paying stupid money for average quality food for staying on-site and then having to stand on overcrowded buses next to other hot sweaty people at the end of a park day.

You know what staying offsite and having a car and being able to do things when you want instead of sticking to a rigid schedule and at a much cheaper cost compared to onsite sounds like a preferable idea.

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See I agree with you as that is how I feel that “ stay on site at ridiculous rates, then paying stupid money for average quality food for staying on-site and then having to stand on overcrowded buses next to other hot sweaty people at the end of a park day”
But that is my opinion and perception. In reality I have never been onsite so cannot actually compare. I just know what works for my family.
Same as some people love that kid of thing going to all those restaurants that’s food that they would probably say is nice and that buses are helpful cos they don’t wanna drive.
It’s each their own. Neither one is crazy onsite or off site. We are probably all crazy for paying Disney ticket prices which are really pricey but we do the crazy stuff cos we enjoy it and it makes us happy.

Back to the OP. No I don’t think you could park at Disney springs. I think it’s a case of have a car and pay or use Disney transport. I wouldn’t have said there is any other way round it.

Can’t really think of anything crazy.
Although I don’t get taking sandwich’s and things into the park. Just cos 1. I couldn’t be bothered to carry it around. 2. I feel they wouldn’t be as nice.
But again, that’s just something as a family we wouldn’t do it a park but would for seaside.

[vampiress88]

Decided to have a nosy on prices for onsite. For my current dates villa,flights,car spent £4280 then £1880 on food and petrol. Disney would be £5727 for flight,hotel. Dunno if they price would have increased when the free dining was available. But quick service is about £2435 so I suppose it depends a lot on free dining and whether or not Disney but the price up to offset those.

[loves2plan]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

Decided to have a nosy on prices for onsite. For my current dates villa,flights,car spent £4280 then £1880 on food and petrol. Disney would be £5727 for flight,hotel. Dunno if they price would have increased when the free dining was available. But quick service is about £2435 so I suppose it depends a lot on free dining and whether or not Disney but the price up to offset those.

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The prices you see for Disney now are the same as the prices were during free dining, so the offsite holiday actually works out to be more expensive (not sure if you've included parking in those figures). Disney don't put the prices up to offset free dining. They have 3 rates (for the UK):
Rack rate (what you currently see and what you see before free dining is released)
Rack rate with free dining and a gift card
Rack rate with a room discount/free nights offer - that offer should be coming soon based on previous years

I don't think staying onsite is crazy at all as it depends on what sort of holiday you want. For us, the idea of driving everywhere, dealing with traffic, paying parking fees etc, having to drive out to eat every time we're hungry, being conscious of menu prices and how much money we're spending is not appealing at all and not what we like to do.

I also completely disagree with the previous poster who said an onsite holiday is rigid. It's as rigid as you make it. I actually find our holidays very relaxing and not restricted at all. Plus, you're not trapped onsite, you can leave whether that be via your own car, Uber, Lyft, bus etc.

As you said previously, different holidays suit different people, and neither style of holiday is more right or sensible or less crazy than the other