It’s time for part two of our Budget Disney Vacation blog series! A couple weeks ago, we covered the first big expense in any Disney vacation: the trip. In that post, we talked about how to save money by choosing the right travel option, searching for deals and being prepared. Once the trip is over though, you have to stay somewhere, right? Well today’s post is going to walk you through the best ways to save money on lodging once you’re here in Orlando!

When it comes to lodging, there’s really only one money saving tactic we can honestly get behind. Sure, you can find hotel deals if you look hard enough, but nine times out of ten, when you’re traveling with a family the surest way to save money and realize your dream budget Disney vacation is choosing a vacation rental over a hotel. Here’s why.

They’re just flat out cheaper.

You can save 40-60% easily, just by choosing a vacation rental over comparable hotel rooms. Depending on the type of home you choose and how long you stay, you can save hundreds or thousands of dollars that can be put towards dining, entertainment or transportation.

Let’s look at a real world example. If you’re booking two hotel rooms at an average 3 star hotel in the Orlando area, a great rate could be $89 per night for each room. That makes $178 a night. Include standard taxes and fees, and that bill could be close to $1700 for the week!

Choose a vacation rental though, and you could book a 3-bedroom home for that very same week. Only instead of paying $1700, you’d be looking at an average bill of around $800, even after adding in the taxes and fees. That’s an over 50% savings, and you’re enjoying more space, more privacy, and most times, more creature comforts. Plus, many Orlando vacation rentals are located in resort communities, so you’re not missing out on any of those luxury amenities like resort pools, fitness centers and saunas. This is a budget Disney vacation only in name in savings, because many vacation rentals are anything but budget as far as luxuries go.

You can eat in more often.

Eating out is easily one of the biggest expenses during any vacation. Three meals a day over the course of 7 days for the average family of four averages out to 84 meals. 84! At a conservative cost of 8-10 dollars per person, that comes out to anywhere from $650-$840 just on food!

Vacation rentals feature full-size kitchens, and grabbing a few groceries and cooking in for just a couple meals throughout the week can result in huge savings. No one wants to cook every day during their vacation, we get that. So go out, splurge a bit, but for the more expensive meals during the day, eat in! Doing that for just a few days will leave your wallet or purse significantly heavier.

You can have fun without leaving home (some nights!).

The point of going on vacation is to get out and have fun with your family, of course. But after a long day at Disney, Mom and Dad might want to relax while the kids are still brimming with energy. That’s where some vacation rentals really start to shine. Even in many affordable homes, you’ll find game rooms and spacious movie rooms, so the whole family can have fun without leaving the house to spend even more money when they’re tired!

That’s it for part two! In a couple weeks, you’ll be able catch A Budget Disney Vacation Part 3: The Park, where we’ll go over how you can stretch your dollar furthest once you’re inside the Magic Kingdom!!