My FAVORITE Way to Save Money on a Walt Disney World Vacation

There are COUNTLESS ways you can budget for and save money on a Walt Disney World vacation, but today I am going to share my favorite method with you!

Saving Extra Funds with Disney Gift Cards

A Disney World vacation can cost you THOUSANDS depending on your travel party size, length of stay, and on/off property needs.  This leaves many people wondering, “Where am I going to get this money from?!”  One of the easiest ways to save up for a Disney vacation is to start stashing extra funds on Disney gift cards.  You received $100 from a family member for your birthday? Put it on a gift card!  You can spare an extra $20 on this week’s grocery run? Put it on a gift card!  It’s a savings account specifically for Disney that you can keep adding to over the course of months or even YEARS if that’s what it takes.  Disney gift cards have NO FEES and NEVER EXPIRE. 

When I get asked if I have any birthday or Christmas wishes…Disney gift card, please! Trust me, those funds will add up over time.  Before you know it, you have hundreds or even THOUSANDS of dollars to put towards your next family vacation.  It’s an easy way to budget for your vacation at your own pace.

“What can I purchase with Disney gift cards at Disney” you ask?  Well let me tell you…EVERYTHING.  Disney gift cards can be used to purchase park tickets, resort stays, Memory Maker photos, meals and souvenirs.  There is no reason you shouldn’t be able to pay off your entire trip with Disney gift cards, just hand those gift card numbers over to Disney or your travel agent and they will take care of it all.

Saving 5% of Disney Vacation Costs – With Target RedCard

Now for the savings aspect…sign up for a Target RedCard, right now!  You can choose to get the credit card or the debit card, whatever suits your needs better.  The Target RedCard offers 5% savings on ALL purchases, including gift card purchases.  And guess what gift cards Target sells…DISNEY!  If you are looking at a $5000 family vacation and are able to score that amount in discounted target gift cards, you are actually paying $4750 for your trip.  This means $250 in savings, just for buying and saving gift cards!  Think of all the extra snacks or souvenirs you could purchase with those savings!

I signed up for a Target Redcard for this very reason before my last trip, and I don’t regret it at all!  Considering we were also paying for a small Disney wedding service (using Disney gift cards), we were able to save over $500 on our Walt Disney World vacation for our family of four! I also shop at Target pretty regularly, and the savings I have been able to take advantage of make this card worth it for my family and myself!

The Target RedCard can be used in-store or online to purchase Disney Gift Cards.  When purchasing online, you can order Disney Gift Card amounts up to $500.  This is nice if you aren’t necessarily looking to slowly save over time, but want to quickly transfer your extra funds to gift cards to get that 5% discount before paying off a trip.  While in Disney, we decided we wanted a little extra spending cash and ordered an additional gift card to be sent to my e-mail.  That way, we could continue to save 5% on all of our purchases made at Disney during our vacation.

Managing Your Disney Gift Cards

Now you may be wondering, “how the heck am I going to keep track of THOUSANDS of dollars’ worth of gift cards?!”  I am happy to tell you that Disney has made this INCREDIBLY EASY.  Disneygiftcard.com is a website that lets you add, transfer, and combine gift card balances, all in one place.  You can store up to 5 cards with balances up to $1000 each.  Just make sure you are keeping track of the five physical cards you are transferring balances to.  You will use those cards when calling to make trip payments or shopping around the parks.  Misplace one of your physical cards?  No problem!  Just add a new card to your account (as long as there are less than 5) and transfer those funds to the new one.  The website is very user friendly and convenient for keeping track of your cards and balances.

Hopefully this info makes budgeting for Disney a little less daunting of a task, especially when you can save while you do it! 

Interested in other trip planning articles? Check out my post for what to pack for Disney HERE!

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