Uncle Scrooge Would Be Proud

I appreciate it when the Travel Channel does their Season of Disney shows, especially when they show new ones. I was recently watching Disney on a Dime and couldn't help feeling that they missed a few things that would really have made the trip cheaper for the families.

Don't eat breakfast at the food court or restaurants if you are staying on-site. Character meals are the exception of course, but those get pricey and aren't conducive to being cheap at the parks. You'll save about $10 per person per day to bring breakfast items such as bagels or rolls with you. You can easily pack these items in your check-in luggage or if you are not using Disney's Magical Express pick them up en route to your resort.

Of course, you can't avoid eating in the parks or at your resort all the time and you may even want to splurge on a meal. Food is probably almost a third of the cost of a trip to Disney World. You may even be able to better afford your splurge if you cut costs during lunch and dinner. Portions are big. You can split them. The moderate and value resorts all have a whole pizza option in the food courts. For $16 you can feed up to five people, sometimes even six if some of them are kids with one of those pizzas. Which works out to be much cheaper than $11-$13 per person for a dinner in your resort's food court.

The refillable mug. A very big subject to broach on the Internet. You do so at your own risk. However, the gist of the refillable mug is that you buy it once for $12.99 (currently) and you get as many free refills at your resort for your length of stay. This is not only soft drinks, but includes tea, coffee and hot chocolate. At about $2 per drink purchased singly , this pays for itself and then some if you merely use it just twice during a three day-four night stay. The cups also become souvenirs that prove to be useful at home as they are very good insulated travel mugs. I also like to bring mine into the Parks themselves and fill them up with cold water at the drinking fountains. It saves me having to buy bottled water or having to suffer heat stroke plus dehydration at the same time.

Let's face it, if you are passed out from the heat or slowed down, you really aren't getting your admission's worth of the Park are you? The admission alone is another third of the cost and the one Disney doesn't usually discount. You want to try to milk that for all it's worth. Being ill is not the way to do it.