Essential Wellness Ottawa: Disney World: Money Saving Tips for travelling to Disney

So we have been back from Disney World for a bit over a week so I have had some time to reflect and put together so of my saving tips and Disney Hacks for travelling to Disney with preschoolers (on a budget). This first post will focus on my money saving tips and the next post will be my Disney Hacks.

A bit of background, we have a timeshare in Orlando that we got around 2012 but we have never actually been to Disney until this trip December 2018. That being said, we intend to go back at least a couple times while my son is young. On the other hand, if you are planning to only go once with your kids, you may have the "go big or go home" mentality and some of these tips may not appeal to you. However, if you are looking for a fun yet frugal trip, read on.

Don't stay on Disney property - we stayed in our timeshare which is a 2 bedroom condo and it was about a 15 minute drive from Magic Kingdom. There are so many great value hotels between a 10 -20 minute drive from the hotel and are way cheaper than staying in a Disney property.
Rent a condo style room - a room that has a kitchen will save you a lot of money because the restaurants at Disney can be pricey. Even the casual restaurants add up so we went grocery shopping and stocked our hotel' s fridge. We planned to eat breakfast at the hotel and only eat one meal at the parks and then cook at least a few dinners at the hotel or get cheap takeout.
Bring food and Water in a backpack to the parks - we brought water in our backpacks with us each of the 5 days at the park but I didn't realize you CAN BRING YOUR OWN FOOD. A friend who had been to Disney stated she didn't think food was allowed so I just took her word for it but according to their FAQ you can bring any food that doesn't need to be heated. At the very least bring some granola bars or other snacks. We brought snacks the last few days after realized it was allowed.
Use a shuttle - most hotels, even those that are not "Disney" hotels, offer FREE shuttles to at least a couple parks. At the very minimum, they offer free shuttles to Magic Kingdom which drop you off right at the gate. When you drive yourself, it costs you $25 US which was $34 CAD given the current exchange rate. Also, when driving yourself, you need to take a tram from the parking lot to the gate, which adds an extra 7-10 minutes. So the shuttle can save you money and time. We opted to drive the first couple times because we didn't know about the free shuttle but then decided to take the shuttle the last few days once we discovered our hotel's shuttle.
Buy Disney Gear prior to the parks - They have some really cute Disney gear at the parks but if you are looking to save buy them elsewhere. We got really fun Disney gear at Target (the targets in Orlando are filled with cool stuff) and a nice autograph book at the local grocery store.
Take a break from the Park - enjoy your hotel's amenities and take a break from the parks. We were there for 3 weeks so we invested in the 5 day pass but if you are there for shorter time period, don't fill each day with a park. Most hotels have great pools and even free planned activities (especially over the summer and school holidays) so take advantage. We all needed a day or two of rest after a couple days at the park.
Take advantage of the Canadian discounts - we got a great Canadian discount on our 5 day pass directly from the Disney Website (almost 2 days free compare to the regular price) so keep your eye out and buy your passes then instead of at the gate. I think we bought ours 4 months before travelling but they were good for a year after purchase. We needed to show our Canadian ID at the gate when we arrived so make sure you bring that with you.
Attend a Timeshare presentation - you can find these at a lot of malls, or hotels and they usually offer you at least 2 free park tickets or visa gift cards for just watching the presentations.
Use the website Under Cover Tourist for discounts and all the current deals! However check Disney too because sometimes Disney has better deals especially if you are buying for multiple days like our 5 day pass. However 1 day passes are usually cheaper on Under Cover Tourist.
Skip the Park Hopping option - it can be pricey and is REALLY NOT NEEDED especially with small children. We took 2 days to see Magic Kingdom so just get the 1 park per day option because there is more than enough to see in each park especially if its your first time.
Consolidate your trips - This is a big one for us. If you usually take more than 1 trip per year (a trip to anywhere not just Disney) than consider taking one longer trip. Last year we did 6 weeks in Hawaii and this year 3 weeks in FL. It saves a lot of money because the flights are generally the same price if you go for 1 week or 3 weeks and hotels usually give a discount if you stay for a longer period (especially if you rent a private condo or timeshare). Also additional days for tickets is cheaper too. We got our 5 day Disney pass for the price of 3 days....
Use points to Fly - we have a WestJet credit card and usually get 1 free flight for the entire family each year and free checked bags so that saves a lot right there.
Consider Driving - We live in Canada so the drive is 24 hours (long but doable). This is a tip we have considered but yet to do. However it would save us a ton because a big portion of our costs this year was our car rental and parking at Disney. If we drive our own car we save on the rental. Our rental was more because it was over xmas and the exchange rate was high at the time so we would have to do the math the next time we go next but if you don't get free flights, this tip will save you a ton of money!
Use the Disney photographers for your own pics - they will take pics with your own camera which will save you from buying the memory maker (a pricey add-on) - we didn't know this at the time of our trip. We didn't purchase the memory maker but a lot of our pictures are just of Cooper because I was taking the pictures. I wish I knew this from the beginning so we could have more family pictures.