Believe me: you can take that long-awaited trip to Orlando on a budget. Much less than you imagine. To do this, you need planning and a willingness to research all stages of the trip. Just by doing this, you will already save a lot on accommodation, transport and food, but there are some tips that can take your savings to another level. If you would love to visit Scrooge McDuck’s land, but need to do it on the cheap, check out our tips that will make this trip possible.
Read too: How much does a trip to Disney cost?
1. Always low season! – Avoid the busiest times of the year and you will be able to save on almost everything – from airfare to accommodation and car rental. High seasons in Orlando include summer (June and July), year-end holidays (December and January) and spring break (March or April).
A good time to plan your trip is between April (after spring break) and May, when the weather is already good, but the hordes of tourists have not yet invaded the park. I went in May and I recommend it. In addition to making the trip cheaper, you can enjoy emptier parks with very few queues. To do this, schedule your visits for the middle of the week.
2. Airline tickets – There is only one thing that helps us find cheap airline tickets: research. As soon as you start thinking about a trip, put ticket price monitoring on your radar. Subscribe to alerts! Sites like Skyscanner have a great system for notifying you of changes in fares.
And if research will help you find the best ticket, flexibility will increase your chances. Search for different dates and on different days of the week. Try flights leaving on Wednesday or Thursday and avoid weekends, which tend to be more expensive.
The good thing about Orlando is that, in general, people always combine their trip with a visit to Miami. Therefore, you can include the airports of both cities in your search. And there’s also Fort Lauderdale airport, a city right next to Miami that already had its glory days with incredible deals from Brazil to there.
3. Accommodation – If you want to spend little, forget about staying inside the Disney complex. If you’re still confused about how accommodation in Orlando works, know that Disney has a complex of super cool hotels, decorated with characters and with several exclusive benefits, including free transportation to the parks (only for Disney, Universal and Sea World does not). However, to stay in a place like this, you pay a price. And it’s not the coolest price.
If your goal is to spend little, it is much more worthwhile to look for hotels on International Drive, an important highway in the city that is close to the Universal parks, or in the Lake Buena Vista region, which is close to the Disney complex. Now, the good news: outside the park complex, accommodation in Orlando is very cheap! You can find very good rooms for less than USD 80, and that’s for two or three people!
Another possibility is to stay in Kissimee, a town so close to Orlando that you won’t even feel like you’re in another city. This is a good area for those who prefer to rent a house instead of a hotel room. The area is close to Disney and also not far from Universal (assuming you are renting a car).
The type of accommodation will largely depend on your travel profile and the size of your group. To find the one that best fits these criteria, do some research on sites like Booking.com before hitting the nail on the head.
Also read: Where to stay in Orlando
4. Food – If you choose to stay in a rented house or in a hotel with a kitchen, you can always have dinner at home and save on food without having to resort to the horrible trash food that is so popular there. Restaurants inside the parks are expensive, so try to avoid them.
To satisfy your hunger in the middle of the day, carry snacks in your backpack. Yes, you can enter the complexes with them, as long as it is not alcoholic at all. If you are already planning your sandwich menu, be careful with Sea World, which only allows processed food in closed bags. No bread with ham wrapped in aluminum foil in this park.
Oh, and never pay for water! Carry your bottle in your backpack and fill it up at the drinking fountains throughout the parks (usually close to the bathrooms).
5. Park tickets – Before you go out and buy the most complete park pass, calculate how many days you will have and which parks you will want to visit. I recommend one park a day, especially if it’s your first time there. Otherwise, you might not see anything properly and have to skip a cool attraction because the line was too long.
Also, set aside days to visit the outlets if you are shopping. After that, go to the Disney and Universal websites, carefully read all the ticket options available and choose the one that is most cost-effective for your schedule.
Be careful not to be convinced by the progressive discounts they give to those who buy tickets for more days and more parks. Buy exactly what you will use. And remember: the cheapest way to get tickets is to buy them on the official websites, linked above.
Also read: How to buy Disney park tickets
Also read: How to buy tickets to Universal parks
6. Car – Unfortunately, this is an expense that there is little way to avoid. Even if you chose to splurge and stay at one of the Disney Complex hotels, which offer free transportation to their parks, you would have extremely limited mobility without a car. I would have difficulty visiting non-Disney parks, going to outlets and shopping malls, finding a restaurant…
However, you can try to minimize this expense a little. To begin with, book in advance, before leaving Brazil. Look on sites like Rental Cars, which offers a search for cars from different companies. The earlier you book, the greater your chances of finding a good price.
If you’re not going to do a lot of shopping, plan to go light. So you can rent cars in the cheapest categories, which are economical and compact. These are smaller cars with little luggage space, so think carefully about whether they suit your trip.
Also read: How to drive in the United States
7. Shopping – Avoid buying things inside the parks. As you can imagine, prices inside are inflated. If you can’t give up returning home with a suitcase full of Disney souvenirs, do some research in other stores in the city first. Places like Wallmart often sell the same stuffed animals, dolls, and other trinkets for much lower prices.
Another smart tip in this regard is to pay attention to discount coupons. Whenever you pick up a flyer, see if it offers a discount at a store or restaurant. These coupons are an absolute rage in the United States and are published daily in newspapers, magazines and brochures. If you prefer not to rely so much on luck, search the internet for the outlets and stores you intend to visit and see if you can’t find a coupon to print. (Search like this: STORE NAME + COUPON)
8. Money – Bring cash. With the current IOF rates for debit cards and the uncertainty of the credit card exchange rate, this is the cheapest way to carry foreign currency. So buy all – or a large part – of the money you will need here and use money changers and hotel safes to protect your wealth. I KNOW THIS WAY IS THE MOST UNSAFE, so think carefully if you want to take this risk.
On my trip, I stayed in the States for 17 days and I took all the money. The only thing I paid for on my card was a New York subway pass, as it was the only payment method the machine accepted. As I have heard of some cases of people having their room broken into in Florida, I always left with all my fortune tied around my waist (in a money changer) and I had no problems. However, I can’t guarantee that you won’t either. Neither with this nor with other methods, after all there are also several cases of cards that were cloned there.
Attention: It is not a good idea to travel to the United States without international health insurance, as hospital costs there are very high. Read here how to find cost-effective insurance.
