5. Bring key supplies and sundries (and leave behind non-essentials)

Image: André Köster, Flickr (license)

Just like Disney makes extra money off impulse buys for autograph books and snacks, they also make a huge amount of money selling basic sundries and incidentals in the park. It’s easy to forget basic supplies like sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, mosquito spray, moleskin, and especially rain ponchos. These little costs add up quickly and usually are not accounted for in budgets.

Instead of buying all these things in the parks at a markup, put together a Disney survival kit before you leave home. We detailed how to do this in our previous guide on the subject, but the basic gist is to purchase all these incidental supplies at home then bring them with you. Unless you’re buying all your sundries at Whole Foods, you’ll almost certainly save on what you would spend for the same items in the parks.

You can also save some money by realizing that you can get a number of “emergency” items in the parks for free at Disney First Aid. If you’re carrying over-the-counter medications, large supplies of band-aids, glasses repair kits, or even contact lens solution with you all over the parks, you can opt to leave these items out of your kit. If an emergency comes up, head to Disney parks First Aid to get all these incidentals for free. They even offer a full treatment for blisters. I’m not saying to go there to load up on drug store items like it's your personal cache, but don’t hesitate to stop by and pick these things up if you need them. You can also get mosquito repellent for free at mosquito control stations in the parks.

6. Stay hydrated for cheap

Image: Franck Michel, Flickr (license)

A final area where guest budgets often get wiped by unnecessary costs is staying hydrated. An average soda at Disney World costs $3-4. Bottled water isn’t much cheaper. A family of four may end up buying 12 drinks a day. Over the course of a five-day trip, this can amount to over $200!

You can stay hydrated for free by getting filtered water from any Disney restaurant or kiosk with a soda machine. Most of the time, this is satisfactory. If you are concerned about the occasional “swampy” flavor of Florida’s drinking water, you don’t have to lug a giant crate of bottled waters to solve the issue…

Instead, bring a Bobble or Brita filtered water bottle. You can fill up your water bottle every morning at your resort then refill it throughout the day at drinking fountains in the parks (or even by using the aforementioned free water from restaurants and kiosks). Be sure and check your bottle to make sure it doesn’t leak before your trip. If it does, take it back to the retailer where you purchased it to get one that stays watertight.

By sticking to water, you’ll both save money and stay healthier throughout your trip. If you then want to splurge on a LeFou’s Brew or Dole Whip float, you’ll have extra funds to do so!  

Looking for more hacks to save money on your next Walt Disney World vacation? Tune in next week for six more tricks to save even more!