Disney World Coupons- What They Are, What They Do, and Where To Find Them

Disney World coupons seem to be the holy grail of the coupon clipping world. People search for printable Walt Disney World coupons, Disney World tickets discounts, hotel discount codes, and any other offers that they think may be or simply hope to find online.

It’s not so easy though- there are no printable Disney World coupons or coupon codes. What would they be for anyway? A Disney World vacation package discount? 20% off Disney World tickets? A free sunday at the Plaza on Main Street?

Usually when people search for these terms, however, what they really want is a way to save money on Disney World vacations. It doesn’t matter what part they’re saving on- the tickets, the hotel, the airfare- as long as the total price comes down. That is much easier to do and can be found almost anywhere if you know how and where to look.

Where To Find Disney World Coupons

Believe me, I’ve spent much time searching for Disney World coupons myself- both for use and in trying to help others save money on their Florida vacations (not all Disney World visitors stick exclusively to WDW property- Universal Studios is very popular, and so are the beaches!). Our next WDW vacation will be my 7th visit, and my husband’s 11th. Can you believe that? Neither of us went as children, so this is all adult-only-no-children trips. Yes, adults can love Disney too, and it only feels weird on Goofy’s Barnstormer to be without little ones (and Barnstormer is closing soon for renovation into Goofy’s Flying Academy, so that’s no longer an issue).

But, in several years of searching, the only actual Disney World coupons that I’ve found have been in the back of Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World guide book, and as a perk from Walt Disney World after you book your vacation. If you do tours or stay at Hilton Head or Vero Beach, then the book will more than pay for itself. There is also a coupon for mini-golf, and a coupon for DisneyQuest at Downtown Disney. Would I buy it for the coupons? No. But my husband and I buy a copy every year, even during those odd years where we don’t go. It’s a little like a memory, and a chronological score keeper (“Babe, when did this ride come out?” “1997- it’s not listed in ’96″), there’s something comforting in reading the guidebook from front to back. It’s the official guidebook of Walt Disney World, which is why it’s the only one to offer coupons. Note that while I don’t find Birnbaum’s guidebook to be the end all be all of Disney World guides, if this is your first trip, I recommend buying it in conjunction with another guidebook such as PassPorter’s, The Unofficial Guide, or similar.

As far as I know, and I have looked, that is the only place to find actual Disney World coupons.

So How Do I Save Money At Disney World Without Disney World Coupons?

Discounted Disney World Tickets

Well, the great thing is that you don’t need coupons to save money on a trip to Walt Disney World. Depending on how much money you want to save, you may not need to do anything special at all.

If you choose to book your Walt Disney World vacation online, through the Walt Disney World website, and you choose the package that includes tickets, you’ll automatically save about $20 per ticket over the cost of purchasing Disney World tickets at Disney World. This is the quickest and easiest way to save money while booking your vacation, but the savings are minimal (unless you have a very large group that you’re buying tickets for- $20 x 10 people is a lot of savings).

Another great option for saving money on tickets is to purchase them through a Disney World discount ticket broker such as Maple Leaf or UnderCover Tourist, which currently offers free shipping in addition to the ticket discount. The key here, though is to do your research to be absolutely certain that whoever you choose to buy your tickets through is certified to sell them. Do not pull off the road on your way to the parks to buy discounted tickets at random stands and stores- many of these are not legit, and while the Disney company wants you to be happy with your vacation insurance, they will deny you entry if your ticket isn’t a real, active, legit ticket! The last thing you want is to spend double on your tickets because you “saved” a few bucks at the wrong joint.

Also along these lines, you can buy Disney World tickets via auction sites such as eBay or listings on Craigslist, but it’s absolutely buyer beware. Many of these tickets are expired, fully or partially used, or may not exist at all! Disney uses finger scan technology at the turn styles, and the first time you use your ticket, it will scan in your finger print. If your print doesn’t match your ticket print, you will have to show ID, and if your ID doesn’t match up to your ticket, you’ll either have to leave or buy brand new tickets. There are a lot of shady characters out there that will happily sell you a 10 day ticket with 7 days left on it (that you can’t use!), but that really won’t help you at all. Some sellers are legit, and you could get great deals this way, not to mention that several certified ticket resellers sell on eBay and Craigslist- but you have to do your homework, or have incredible luck on your side.

Discounted Disney World Hotels

Here’s another option that will save you a lot of money, and may not take any more work than asking a simple question when booking on the phone, or a few clicks when booking online. Disney World offers discounts on their hotels on their own website. If you visit DisneyWorld.com, right on the home page, usually at the bottom, they have one or two special offers listed. If you click one of the offers, it will either take you directly to details on that offer, or to a list of offers (when you work it out, the various offers usually work out to about even with each other- such as the $500 gift card vs. a 35% discount- it runs about the same for a week long vacation). And if you book the entire package through Disney, you will receive the same ticket discount as listed above, and often (ding ding ding!) Disney World coupons (these won’t be listed as a perk, but the one time that we booked a full vacation instead of just the hotel and buying the tickets separately, they sent us a book of coupons with our info packet).

Dedicated Walt Disney World travel agents often won’t be able to get you a further discount (beyond what Disney itself offers), but they can often offer bonuses for booking through them.

AAA offers approximately 10% off on Walt Disney World hotel rates to its members. In many cases, the savings can more than cover the AAA sign up fee, which you’ll get to keep for a year. Save money, and in theory get free auto coverage? Does it really get any better? You can book your vacation straight through AAA, or book your reservations through Disney directly and let them know that you’re a AAA member and let them know that you want the AAA Disney World hotel discount.

If you’re a veteran, you can get reservations at Shades of Green, which is a lovely resort on Walt Disney World property with some great amenities not found in other resorts at the same price. Also, there are a number of hotels on Walt Disney World property that are not owned by Disney but which have many of the same amenities, and they offer coupons and discount codes for the hotel stays.

Of course, if you’re willing to sacrifice some convenience and a lot of magic, you can save a lot of money by staying off property in Orlando or Kissimmee. If you plan on visiting Universal Orlando, Sea World, The Holy Land Experience, Gatorland, Kennedy Space Center, or other area attractions more than once or twice during your visit, staying off property really might be the best choice for you.

Save Money With Disney Dining

While not a coupon, you can save a lot of money while dining at Walt Disney World by using their Disney Dining option. To get Disney Dining, you have to book you’re whole vacation package at once. You can’t combine just a hotel with DD, and you can’t just buy park tickets and get Disney Dining.

Disney Dining doesn’t save everyone a lot of money, and going into the specifics would take up an entire post on its own. The best way to know if Disney Dining will be a good fit for you is to look up the current cost of Disney Dining (there are two packages- one is two counter service/fast food meals and a snack, and the other is one table service, one counter service, and a snack) and choose which package is a better fit for your group. Write down what price you would pay for that dining package, and then visit AllEars.net, choose Walt Disney World, then Dining, then The Menus!. Look around in the menus and jot down the prices of likely meals that your group would choose, then add up the total. If it comes out about the same or cheaper to just buy your meals, then don’t get the dining plan. If it comes out more expensive than the dining plan, then choose the dining plan.

Why do I say to avoid the Dining Plan if the totals come out about the same? Especially if this is your first trip? Well, as convenient as it may be on your first trip to not have to worry about money for food, you do lose a lot of flexibility, and if you don’t understand the complexities of the dining plan, you can really slow down the check out lines and annoy your fellow vacationers. While meals in general are nice and simple, it’s the snacks that will get you! On our most recent vacation I witnessed one man trying to buy a cookie with his snack points- and he was told that that cookie wasn’t covered under the plan, but these cookies were. There was also another couple who spent several (long) minutes trying to figure out which chips were covered and which weren’t. Every time they’d made a choice, they were told that “no, these aren’t covered”. While they were very good natured about it, this kind of thing is precisely what made so many lines so long! However, if the price comes out in favor of the dining plan, or if Disney does one of their “free Disney Dining Plan” offers, take it! You’ll save money, and you’ll know on your next trip whether it’s worth paying for up front or not.

And to bring us back to Disney World coupons and Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World guide book, in the back of the book with all of the coupons is usually a coupon for DownTown Disney’s House of Blues.

As you can see, with the ample Disney World discounts, you may not even need coupons for Walt Disney World!