Free Disney Cruise & Parks Vacation Planning DVDs (+ Countdown to Disney Printable & Tips)
Headed on a Disney Cruise? If you’ve been considering an upcoming vacation on a Disney Cruise Ship, then you’ll definitely want to take advantage of this free DVD offer that I have posted about several times in the past. Just hop on over here to snag your FREE Disney Cruise Line Vacation Planning DVD!
Your FREE DVD will include:
* An overview of all of our Disney cruises. There is relaxing “me” time for adults, imaginative fun for kids and plenty of family dining and entertainment!
* A glimpse of their new ships!
* An in-depth look at all of their magical destinations, including Hawaii!
* Plus information on dining, entertainment, deck plans and much more.
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OR, headed to a Disney Park? Request your FREE Disney Parks Vacation Planning DVD – just click on the banner above and fill out the short form. Your FREE Vacation Planning DVD will include a complete tour of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and a tour of the Disneyland Resort in California, affordable ways to play and stay during your Disney vacation, planning tips and more!
Add some fun to the days/weeks leading up to your Disney trip! Head over here to print a free Countdown to Disney image (use cardstock paper if you have it on hand!). Then just cut the sides of the paper to fit into an 8×10 photo frame. Each day, use a white board marker and write on the glass frame to indicate the number of days left in your countdown.
Check out these Disney reader tips:
If you’re planning a Disney Cruise (which you should, they’re amazing), find out the day they release new itineraries and plan to book that day. Seriously! We booked a February 2017 cruise the day they released itineraries, and it was $1,200/per person for the week. Then 2 months later, other members of our party went to book and cabins were up to $1,400/pp. Another month and I went to check prices and now they’re $1,550/pp! Waiting 3 months would cost you an extra $700 per cabin!
Deposits are fully refundable until 100 days out; if the price happens to go down you can cancel and re-book, or if you change your mind about the trip entirely. But for the most part the interior cabins only increase in price because that’s what everyone wants to book – and apparently the prices increase fast!
We purchased the Memory Maker. It was so nice being able to take as many pictures as we wanted and to be able to download those pictures when we got home. I loved the Disney transportation, too. The one feature I purchased that I wish I hadn’t was the park-hopper option. I thought we would use it, but I think we only ended up using the park-hopper one time. If I’m blessed enough to be able to take another Disney vacation, I think I’ll save the $250.
For my family and me, the best decision we made was to purchase a Magic Your Way package, which included Disney Dining. We stayed on-site at Pop Century. Even though it is rated as a “value” resort, we thought it was great. The rooms were standard hotel rooms, which was fine for us. The grounds were lovely, and the hotel pools were nice. It was WONDERFUL to have our meals paid for in advance. It took the worry out of vacation and truly allowed me to enjoy myself. It felt luxurious to be able to tell my kids they could order a dessert if they wished and to choose whatever beverage they wanted.
If we had not purchased the Disney Dining Plan, I would have obsessed over how much I was spending at every meal. Also, we thought the character dining was fantastic.
I just got back from Disney World last night. Time to start planning my next trip!
There’s also an app for the older kids that counts down the days, my sons 19 year old girlfriend tells us everyday x number of days to go. 😀 (Universal for the older ones) It’s refreshing to see someone so excited. She’s never been there, my kids grew up doing Orlando every year, it’s more special for her.
How exciting! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
What’s the name of the app? Thanks
Countdown +
I took my kids for the first time in february. I hadn’t been since I was 10 years old. It was WONDERFUL! We were actually choosen as family of the day to help open the magic kingdom!
Lindsey, How do you get chosen for that?
So cool! Thanks for sharing your experience Lindsey!
It was totally luck of the draw. We were at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom super early. My husband, kids and I were wearing matching, homemade tee shirts. We walked up to one of cast members scanning magic bands and just started chatting with him and the cast member beside him. Our kids were quite chatty as well. One of the gentlemen disappeared and came back with a lady (who looked important) and they took us to a park bench to wait. Then, the “mayor” of magic kingdom came and took us in before everyone else. We had our own photographer and got to take pictures with the dancers that are in the welcome show before the show started. The mayor began his speech and introduced us. We got to stand up at the train station overlooking all the guests getting ready to enter the gates and wave with the dancers and characters who came in on the train. Next, they ushered us out and gave us a ride on the fire truck all the way to the castle. We also got 4 paper fast passes for any ride in the magic kingdom and a free 8×10 print off of a picture of our choice that the “private” photographer took. It was a once in a life time experience, for sure!
OMGosh, what an amazing experience!
That’s awesome! thanks for sharing
That is so awesome!!!! We do Disney World every September and I never knew they did this. Congrats! That sounds so exciting!
If your dates are flexible then it’s definitely worth checking into the free dining they offer a few times a year. We got it 2 years ago and it was amazing. You get different levels of it free depending on where you stay but can always pay a small fee to upgrade the level of dining. And the memory maker is wonderful because there is no worrying about carrying a camera everywhere and you get tons of great pictures you couldn’t capture yourself. No more missing people from those family photos. 🙂 we are already planning a trip for Dec. 2017 it will be my daughters first time. I grew up going every year as a kid and I can’t wait to share that with her.
We did the count down picture frame and love it! My son loves changing it every morning 😀
one word. dolewhip
If anyone has any questions or needs any help I am Disney Vacation planner. My services are completely FREE. I have helped and am currently helping fellow Hip2Save followers plan their vacations. I was able to save one guest over $1,500 this fall!mandy@lovethemousetravel.com
If you need any help booking your next Disney vacation (or any vacation for that matter!) feel free to message me:
facebook.com/EnchantedMemoriesByLaura
My services are free to you and I have helped several hip2savers book vacations and save money on their next trip!
We went to Disney a few years ago. My best suggestion, if you are going to Orlando, is buy Disney themed stuff like shirts, souvenirs, etc. at the Walmart before going to the park. Sooo much less expensive for similar items that are sold inside the parks. We also got glow in the dark necklaces/bracelets for the kids to wear at night from the Dollar Tree which is a fun touch and helps avoid buying some of the pricy light up toys. Walmart is fun itself because it has a “Disney” feel to it. The battery operated spray fans to keep you cool are very expensive at Disney and they sell them at Walmart for around $10. Also, plain old spray bottles filled with water work well too.One thing about Disney that surprised me was the water parks have sorta wonky hours. I would have thought they would be open daylight till dark or after. But in June they were not so plan accordingly. We were dressed out in swimsuits, got to the Disney water park, it was closing in 30min. We went to Wet’n Wild nearby and it was a blast and refreshingly cool. Another tip,that was a lifesaver, was to put frozen water bottles in a bag or under the stroller.Throughout the day they thaw and are perfect. You can add flavor packets if you like, like Gatorade. Also, put some weather tolerant snacks in there along with sunscreen and Advil. Nothing worse than a severe headache or severe sunburn at Disney. You will soon figure out that most of the food at Disney is expensive so any drink/snack you can take from home will save $$ and my family seemed to drink a lot more because it was so hot.Lots of people aren’t used to how oppressively hot Orlando gets. A little preparation can save you from so many small issues that can ruin your trip.Another issue my daughter had was riding wet rides then getting severely chaffed in between her thighs then having to continue to walk around everywhere. Maybe put on the anti chaffing stuff or wear clothes to prevent this. I guess I sound like a Debbie downer but these are things that I found very helpful. And yes, Florida Disney is magical…and very hot in June!!
Collin please make a post about saving money for Disney and at Disney please. I see alot on pinterest but I’d like to see your advice.
Hi Ana! Check out this post as well as the suggested posts listed at bottom of post! 😉 https://hip2save.com/2015/03/28/free-disney-parks-vacation-planning-dvd-tips-to-save-on-disney-more-10/
Just search hip2save “saving at Disney” and a bunch of previous posts on this topic comes up
One of the best ways to save is by getting discounted gift cards. There are SO many ways to get discounted Disney gift cards but one of my personal favorites are to buy target gift cards (at a discount) and use those to purchase disney gift cards at a discount (thank you Target Red Card!). This way, I save AT LEAST 5% (but it’s usually closer to 10% with the 2 savings). Feel free to contact me if you need any help saving money on a Disney vacation! http://www.facebook.com/EnchantedMemoriesByLaura/
Also don’t forget about the raise deal going on right now! Buy either disney gift cards (NOT DISNEY STORE) OR Target (which you would then use to purchase disney gift cards) and get an extra $10 off a $100 purchase!
I save all my target gift cards, from promos (like get a $10 gc if you buy xx items) or gifts from friends and relatives and then I use them to buy Disney Gift cards with the 5% discount with the Target red card ( you can get the %5 with target gift cards if you buy online and have your red card saves to you account) and I get a great deal on tickets and spending money
Sorry, I’m a little confused. If you use the target gift card to buy the Disney gift card, how do you use the target red card for the 5% off?
Carla, as long as your red card is added to your target account, you’ll get the 5% even if you’re actually paying for the card with a gift card.
Just got back from Disneyland with my 2 girls and it was so much fun. Thankfully we were able to use military discount so it wasn’t too expensive for us. Planning to do Christmas there in 2017 and taking my best friend on a Disney cruise when she graduates from pharmacy school.
I have a question about using the Target gift cards to buy Disney gift cards. Can the Disney gift cards sold at Target be used to purchase Disney tickets or just merch, food and such at the park? That seems like such a great idea! Thanks for the tip.
The Disney gift cards can be used on anything at Disney- tickets, items, food, hotel, cruise, etc. As long as you DON’T purchase the Disney store ones, you can use the other kind on literally anything Disney. I’ve had clients pay for every part of their cruise (including gratuities!) with gift cards. Make sure you hold on to them until after you’ve travelled because if you change your mind & decide to cancel your reservation, you’ll be refunded back on the gift card you used. Feel free to contact me if you need more clarification!