We went last summer it was the greatest! I do recomend the meal plan but not sure if its avaliable to you with camping! We did quick breakfasts in our hotel room (stayed at Pop Century) had a lot of character lunchs and such.

We did all the parks with the hoppers and all of them have great fireworks at closing time except Animal Kingdom.I was super impressed with MGM late show.

As for saving money, we had the conversation with the kids that they dont get to purchase things after every ride or show.....Believe you me it was obvious there were kids that did get to do that A friend of mine was telling me a friend of hers that used one cc to buy souvineers ummmm her bill ended up being $1,000

Avoid the arcades if there is one at the campground that was a hard one with my boys, we gave in somewhat but again money goes quick.

Join a Disney forum. There are many great ones- one that I have used to get tips is The DIS Discussion Forums - DISboards.com - Powered by vBulletin there are MANY great tips for saving money there and you can ask questions about planning your days.
travel "helps" in general...
We have a vacation savings account. $20 from each (2 a month) of my DH's pay checks is directly deposited into that vacation account. We have never changed that amount and it's nice, because vacation costs don't take a huge blow to the finances when you purchase your vacation.
There are great vacation discounts out there if you spend the time to find them. Disney world online is a great place to book your Disney vacation, because they have the most up to date sales listed AND, in a package deal- it's much cheaper.
The Disney Dinning plan is very well worth the money! The one time we went there with out one (several years ago) we spent (ON AVERAGE) $40 per day on food PER ADULT!!! And now prices have even gone up.

As far as parks go- everyone has their "favorite"... and ours is DEFINATELY NOT Epcot (WITH KIDS!!!). Yes, it is a great park. DON'T get me wrong!!! BUT Animal Kingdom is by FAR MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better for families with children. It is our second fav. park because of how much they can do there. We find that going to Epcot my girls get "craby" very quickly, because they spend more time waiting around while DH or I goes on a ride. They do like Soarin' and the living seas pavilion- but after that they're ready to leave the park!
Our 3rd fav. park is MGM (now Hollywood Studios)...with Playhouse Disney, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and many other shows and a few rides. If you're looking for the "kids rides" experiance and the not so much running to the next show and sitting for the show, then running to the next show and sitting- then the best places are definately Magic Kingdom and Animal kingdom, IMO

Money saving tips for your vacation...well there are MANY on discussion boards. The big money saver for us this year (other than our trip being paid for as a gift from DH's consulting work, which is a HUGE thing!!) is that we actually bought our "Disney attire" before we are going there. Disney store and online has MANY great deals going on throughout the year to buy t-shirts, sweatshirts and things. Every year we've gone there we've always let each of the girls pick out a sweatshirt, T-shirt and a nice Toy. The sweatshirts there range from $25-$40 and T-shirts $15-$25...We bought them each their sweatshirts before Christmas for $9.99 on sale and they are GREAT quality from the Disney Store- their t-shirts from the disney store were $6.99. BIG money saver!
As far as eatting there goes. If you decide not to get the dinning plan...portion sizes are usually quite large at most of the sit down restaurants- DH and I usually split a meal, then DH usually eats what ever the girls don't want from their kids meals.
If a "quick service" kids meal includes a "collector box" ask to get it with out the collector box and you'll save anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 per kids meal.
With no dinning plan...eat your large meal for lunch. Prices run cheaper and you still get plenty of food! When you're on the dinning plan, eat your sit down meals for dinner- you get a little more food and get your $$$ worth...
Your resort hotel has a "gift shop" area that not only sells Disney items, but a few food items as well. When we are not on the dinning plan, we usually bring a toaster with us, buy bread from the "gift shop" and make peanut butter and Jelly on toast for breakfast. I also pack a box or two of cereal and buy milk at the gift shop each morning.
We will be on dinning plan this trip, which means that we definately do not need to eat breakfast in our hotel room, and we don't need to bring many snacks with.

__________________
One happy wife and mommy!!!

Join a Disney forum. There are many great ones- one that I have used to get tips is The DIS Discussion Forums - DISboards.com - Powered by vBulletin there are MANY great tips for saving money there and you can ask questions about planning your days.
travel "helps" in general...
We have a vacation savings account. $20 from each (2 a month) of my DH's pay checks is directly deposited into that vacation account. We have never changed that amount and it's nice, because vacation costs don't take a huge blow to the finances when you purchase your vacation.
There are great vacation discounts out there if you spend the time to find them. Disney world online is a great place to book your Disney vacation, because they have the most up to date sales listed AND, in a package deal- it's much cheaper.
The Disney Dinning plan is very well worth the money! The one time we went there with out one (several years ago) we spent (ON AVERAGE) $40 per day on food PER ADULT!!! And now prices have even gone up.

As far as parks go- everyone has their "favorite"... and ours is DEFINATELY NOT Epcot (WITH KIDS!!!). Yes, it is a great park. DON'T get me wrong!!! BUT Animal Kingdom is by FAR MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better for families with children. It is our second fav. park because of how much they can do there. We find that going to Epcot my girls get "craby" very quickly, because they spend more time waiting around while DH or I goes on a ride. They do like Soarin' and the living seas pavilion- but after that they're ready to leave the park!
Our 3rd fav. park is MGM (now Hollywood Studios)...with Playhouse Disney, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and many other shows and a few rides. If you're looking for the "kids rides" experiance and the not so much running to the next show and sitting for the show, then running to the next show and sitting- then the best places are definately Magic Kingdom and Animal kingdom, IMO

Money saving tips for your vacation...well there are MANY on discussion boards. The big money saver for us this year (other than our trip being paid for as a gift from DH's consulting work, which is a HUGE thing!!) is that we actually bought our "Disney attire" before we are going there. Disney store and online has MANY great deals going on throughout the year to buy t-shirts, sweatshirts and things. Every year we've gone there we've always let each of the girls pick out a sweatshirt, T-shirt and a nice Toy. The sweatshirts there range from $25-$40 and T-shirts $15-$25...We bought them each their sweatshirts before Christmas for $9.99 on sale and they are GREAT quality from the Disney Store- their t-shirts from the disney store were $6.99. BIG money saver!
As far as eatting there goes. If you decide not to get the dinning plan...portion sizes are usually quite large at most of the sit down restaurants- DH and I usually split a meal, then DH usually eats what ever the girls don't want from their kids meals.
If a "quick service" kids meal includes a "collector box" ask to get it with out the collector box and you'll save anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 per kids meal.
With no dinning plan...eat your large meal for lunch. Prices run cheaper and you still get plenty of food! When you're on the dinning plan, eat your sit down meals for dinner- you get a little more food and get your $$$ worth...
Your resort hotel has a "gift shop" area that not only sells Disney items, but a few food items as well. When we are not on the dinning plan, we usually bring a toaster with us, buy bread from the "gift shop" and make peanut butter and Jelly on toast for breakfast. I also pack a box or two of cereal and buy milk at the gift shop each morning.
We will be on dinning plan this trip, which means that we definately do not need to eat breakfast in our hotel room, and we don't need to bring many snacks with.

__________________
One happy wife and mommy!!!

Are you going Feb school vacation week? That is when we are going to be there. We will also be doing Disney World and Animal Kingdom this year!

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Married to DH since 2003, Mom to Tanner (3) and
Braden (2) Baby #3 due 3/13/09

Like other posters have said, bring your own autograph book and purchase any Disney type attire at discount stores. You may also want to remember to bring some rain ponchos or an umbrella (those are not cheap inside the parks). We made our kids save their birthday money (plus we gave them $30 each) for Disney World, and then when they wanted something, they had to decide if it was worth spending their money on. We stayed in one of Disney's All Star Resorts (wasn't as cheap as the campground, but it was a lower cost place), and it was really nice. It was nice to be able to ride the bus to the parks and not have to worry about parking (plus you are are able to spend more time at various parks--check their schedule). Next time (when the little one is older), I will purchase the meal plan with our vacation package. We would have saved more by doing that.

OMG. Im just now checking into prices for Disney. We want to go in October - the kids have a 3 day school week, figured that'd be better than a week. I cant believe the prices! We're a family of 5 - which makes things difficult because most quotes are only up to 4 people. Any ideas? Is it cheaper in Nov or Dec than Oct? DH thinks so, but doesnt look that way to me. I just quoted a week for 4 people (wouldnt give me 5) with the meal plan and airfare -- over $5,000!!! We'll never afford that, and with 5 people - no way!

I wouldn't go through the website for quotes.. I did mine separate and it saved me alot..
Airfare was the biggest.. Call the hotel direct the prices were cheaper..

Did you know disney offers military familys a discount too?? From what I have heard it is great!!

we are a family of 5, with youngest being 4. The cheapest place to stay with 5 is Port Orleans. It is a moderate price hotel but the cheapest for a family of 5. I don't know what we are paying ut dh is cheaper than me so I know it is a good deal. If your youngest is less than 3(could be 2) they will let u stay in a 4 bedroom, but I would double check. Another thing to check is if anything will be closed when u are there or if they have any large groups staying when u want to go. One of the places dh wanted to stay at the large hotel pool is closed during the time we wanted to go.

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

My daughter and I went to Disneyworld for her cheer competition about 12 years ago. We stayed at the Port Orleans also. It was very nice and clean. It has a great dining area for take out or sit down dinner. You can purchase a nice reusable cup for refillable drinks. It also has a very nice pool area. The tram picks you up and drops you off at the parks so you dont have to worry about transportation. You can take a shuttle to and from the airport if your flying. We also enjoyed the Animal Kingdom the best. Downtown Disney at night is also a lot of fun and you dont HAVE to spend money there.

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One of the things dh was trying to avoid was the cheer competition. Thanks, about disney downtown, we were wondering what to do our first day since we get in just after lunch and will have to eat and get settled.

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls