Stay on property in a Value resort. I know this isn’t some 5 star place with a suite with a water slide, but if you are travelling with children they will love the themed sections and pools. Plus you are not going there to stay in your room, you will be in the parks all day (at least that’s what my family did). All you need is a shower and a bed.

Take advantage of the E.M.H. you are already paying quite a bit for your park ticket so you might as well use them.

GET A PARK HOPPER TICKET! You get bored in the same park all day and it makes the trip more enjoyable because you won’t have to worry about picking one park to stay in all day.
Go for at least a week. We fly out on a Wednesday (it’s cheaper!) and come back the following Wednesday. If you only go for a few days you won’t get to see everything. If you live far away like I do (Michigan) splurge and fly out. Honestly you’ll be exhausted by the end of the trip, the last thing you will want to do is drive all the way home.

Make reservations 6 months in advance. Get a guide for Disney from your library and check out where you will want to eat. Look online at Disney World.com and read reservations! Read a lot of them because you will either have the people who have too high of expectations or people who exaggerate. The last time my family went we only had 4 reservations and that was a mistake. Make a breakfast and dinner one for each day, and you can get a snack in the afternoon. You will get so sick of the fast food. If you cannot afford to make many reservations I recommend the Patissierie (bakery) in Epcot, it has a lot of sandwiches and pastries which are to die for. My sister and I begged to go back every time we went to Epcot. Pick a couple of character meals especially if you are bringing kids, they will love it! I know parents may not love the price tag, but honestly it is a vacation and if you pinch every penny you have you will stress out and not enjoy yourself, a lesson my mom has learned.

Get a Disney Visa. My grandpa gave my mom $1,000 Disney Dollars for our trip which paid for all but 2 of our meals, because we had to get souvenirs for other family members. For every 100 you spend you get 1 DD. I know that seems unfair, but use it once and you get about 250 for free. My mom was sent a lot of applications for them and she has 3 now. I think if you use the credit card on your trip you get a discount anyway.

Things to bring: ponchos (dollar store), cloth laundry bags to sort out what is clean and dirty (dollar store), your own soap (there’s is gross), your own shampoo and conditioner, blow dryer, enough clothes so you won’t have to do laundry while your there, sunscreen, GOOD WALKING SHOES! I recommend Sperry’s if you hate regular tennis shoes and they are water proof. Bring at least 2 pairs of good walking shoes because if they get soaked you will want back up.

Meals to look into: Boma Flavors of Africa. My family is going there on our trip and we have heard great things about it. It has African and American food so if you don’t want to be adventurous you will be fine. Also ask for the Jungle Juice, it is served at all African themed restaurants and I swear it is my mom’s highlight of the whole trip.
Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada, Epcot. Go there for lunch because dinner is the same thing except higher prices. The pretzel bread was my favorite. If you like burgers order one of theirs, best burger I ever had. If you want dessert try their chocolate moose or their maple creme brulee.

If you want to do meals your way and not be stuck to a dining plan do not get it. My family switches things up and we find that there isn’t a specific dining plan we really want. We don’t want to spend money on meals or snacks we won’t eat.

Last thing is enjoy yourself! Have a positive outlook and stay out of Magic Kingdom around 3 or 4 PM because it turns into melt down hour and it becomes Tragic Kingdom as my sister fondly called it.

ALSO…along with the fireworks over the castle at night, the magic kingdom has an electrical parade that if I remember happens every night that is absolutely amazing and gorgeous. When I was in high school ( I know I went to Disney with my parents and my best friend and her parents for a vaca) we went to the electrical parade 5 nights out of the 7 nights that we were there. It is amazing and definitely something families should attend more than once!

Disney is amazing, but I have to agree with you FrugalDad it is a money trap for fun. Everything that you want to do has money involved so dont think that you can go to Disney and be frugal. Get ready to spend on all tourist attractions.

Also…for any one in the military (retired or present) they have a hotel strictly for military called Shades of Green and its on the property and a very descent price! Also make sure you always ask for military discount when you are there, they honor it in so many places!!

Have fun and make sure you see the Mouse

1)Moderate resorts offer a great value. Value resorts are less expensive, but noisier (in our experience) and you run the risk that some national group will be meeting there (Pop Warner group and cheerleaders are LOUD). Try to go during the value season. My best tip for booking at Disney is use a travel agent that is a Disney specialist! They don’t charge anything, and our agent has saved us hundreds of dollars on each trip. They know when special rates are coming, and automatically get you the discount.
2)The Dining Plan is definitely worth it. As far as we were concerned, the counter service meals were all HUGE, so we split them. We bought two full breakfasts every day and divided them up along with a couple of fruit bowls (snack credits), shared 3 counter service meals between us for either lunch or dinner, and then had our own restaurant meals. We shared snacks, and always had snack credits left over at the end of our trip which we used to by some treats to take home. My only complaint about the meal plan is that your day can end up revolving around when you can get a reservation at a particular restaurant. The next time we go we are going to go with the counter-service only plan for more flexibility. BTW, if you use a travel agent, they can make all the meal reservations for you, but we have done it ourselves. Our agent got our girls into the princess breakfast when they were little, something we had never been able to do on our own.
3)Lots of good advice about Fastpasses, but the best advice is go into a park each day with a plan. Also, if your children are old enough, consider using the single-rider option on rides like Test Track and Expedition Everest. 90%+ of the time our kids rode together anyway, but this really cut down on our wait time. One time our 8 year-old got in by herself with another family on Test Track (I was in the car right behind her). They watched her very carefully and she had a blast, but that only happened to us the one time. We talk to each other while we wait in line, or talk with other guests-it’s fun to find out where people come from, what they know, etc. We have picked up some fabulous tips from others waiting with us.
4)Our kids were given some spending money from us upfront with the rule that they could not ask us the entire time we were there to buy them anything, period. They got to decide how and when to spend their money, and once it was gone, it was gone. They all did well with this, and were VERY thoughtful and careful with how they spent their money. Two of them came home with money. We split their money between Disney gift cards and cash.
5)Our Disney trips have given us all great memories. We go knowing that Disney is Disney, with no other expectations other than we are going on some great rides, and will get to spend a lot of time together. My husband enjoys not having to drive anywhere. They pick us up at the airport, transport us around the parks, and take us back to the airport. I like that Disney World is clean and kept clean, and that the workers are friendly and helpful. I grew up near Disneyland in CA, and loved it as a kid, and still enjoy it today.

We’re looking forward to going back in another couple of years!

We did the extra magic hours in the morning. We were up that early anyways, it was cooler and the crowds were way less. We would get there before it opened and watch the show they have going on to open the park.

We didn’t plan on having our son remember it. We don’t watch the Disney channel or Disney movies or anything like that. Every time he sees a picture of Mickey, he gets all excited now though.

I know people are giving you a hard time for not being frugal and going to such an awful place. In my opinion, I am frugal in other places of our life so we can have big experiences like this. It’s all about what you choose to spend your money on.