I've been to Disney 32 times & leave kids & hubby at home for solo trips…save £2,000 per visit with my cash-saving tips
You'd be forgiven for thinking I'm a young girl, preparing for my first trip – but I'm 41 and a married mum with three children and by then it will be my 34th trip to a Disney Park.
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What's more I'm leaving the kids - Autumn, 12, Ashton, six, and Blake, three - behind with my husband Davin, 42, and doing a solo trip, so I don't have to think of anyone else when I plan which rides I want to do and what characters to meet. It's my idea of heaven.
I don't even feel guilty about going solo – I will tie it in with seeing my sister Tara, 54, a retail worker, who lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, about a three-hour drive from Disney World, though I hope no one asks whether I'm more excited about seeing Disney or her.
I've been obsessed with Disney ever since I can remember. My first visit was back in 1995 at the age of 11 with my family. I can still remember the excitement of my mum telling me we were going.
I've been regularly ever since. In my 20s I went at any excuse – the end of a brief relationship was a favourite one or if a friend hadn't been I'd suggest saving up. And 'seeing my sister' was always an excuse to cross the Atlantic.
There's no feeling on earth like being there. When I get home I always have the 'Disney blues' people liken it to the emotions some brides get once their wedding is over – you feel very flat.
I'm far from alone when it comes to loving Disney.
It's estimated that between 40 and 50 per cent of visitors to Disney on any given day are adults without children.
And a January 2024 survey of self-identified Disney adults found that 71 per cent were aged between 25 and 44, and 80 per cent were female. A huge 91 per cent expected to remain a "Disney adult" for the rest of their lives
To me, it's the happiest place on earth, but experiencing that joy comes at a price, and it's not cheap.
You can easily spend £10,000 just on flights, accommodation and passes for a family of five like mine, and then another £5,000 on food and tips and merchandise once you're there, if you're not careful.
Davin works as an electrical engineer and I'm a content creator so we're by no means wealthy. I always shop around for bargains and use cashback sites and any vouchers I can find to pay for everything - from our supermarket shop to B&Q supplies, and I even use Tesco Clubcard vouchers to get money off Eurostar tickets.
I buy clothes on Vinted and rarely go out – if I do, it will be to a friend's house rather than going out on the town.
We watch every penny we spend. The children don't have birthday parties – we have cake at home or maybe take a couple of friends bowling, which costs around £30. And we rarely get take-out food, they have a McDonalds once a month at the most.
I try and set aside £600 each month in a separate Disney account, but sometimes it's less. The minimum I'll save each month is £100.
I keep selling things on Vinted, everything from unwanted gifts to toys that the kids have grown out of. And I will always ask for money rather than gifts if I'm given it as an option! It's surprising how it can add up.
Thankfully, I've got visiting cheaply down to a fine art. On this most recent trip to Paris in May, I didn't have the kids, so I wasn't tied to going in term time.
TEARS OF HAPPINESS
I managed to do it for £500 for three days, including tickets, accommodation, petrol and the ferry and all my food, though that was mostly pot noodles.
And on other solo trips to Florida I could go last minute if there was a deal on flights – often it is cheaper to fly to Miami and then drive.
And I didn't mind where I slept, so I rented a grim motel room by the hour nearby as I barely spent any time there and would buy food from Walmart, which is the equivalent of Asda.
I'd be at the park as the ropes went up and be the last to leave – I didn't care about anything other than the Disney experience.
Now we've got three children we can't go to the US as often. We took Autumn when she was one but then had a gap, where I went alone while visiting my sister who still lives in West Palm Beach.
But last year in January I took Autumn for the first time to Paris as a mum and daughter experience. She burst into tears of happiness when she saw it – it was a huge success. So in October 2024 we went as a family taking the kids with us too.
That first trip we did our meals there. One breakfast alone cost 40 euros each, for us it was a waste of money. There's an amazing spread for breakfast, but our kids only eat a croissant.
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And I knew to take merchandise like ears and costumes, which I buy online, so we didn't need to buy it for inflated prices once we arrived.
We've since been again in April this year, then I went with a friend in May, and we're booked for Christmas too.
And when we're there, we're careful too. We stay in AirBnbs near the park, we buy all of our own food – and nothing fancy. If the kids live on croissants and pot noodles for a few days it won't kill them. We drive and take the channel tunnel – it's the cheapest way for us to do it and more convenient.
Depending on how often you go it might be worth buying an annual pass. We are planning on buying them – they start at £193.41 for the children and include free parking and free entry at certain times of the year.
GOLD PASS
We're going to buy the gold pass, it's all year round and gives us exclusive early access, fast passes, free parking and discounts.
It's a big outlay, £452 per child, but we get a 25 per cent disability discount for each child as they are all autistic so it will be £339. And we can spread the cost over the year with interest free monthly instalments.
Look at Facebook groups such as Disneyland Paris planning tips and tricks for ideas - they often have information about special one-off deals.
Going to Disney is all about that escapism back to your childhood, where life isn't a round of bills and worries. Other people escape with wine or drugs, Disney is my treat and I'm not hurting anyone, though people try to shame adult Disney fans.
I get comments on my social media reels saying things like 'yet another Disney adult' or that I should 'sort myself up' and grow up'. But I don't care.
But my kids absolutely love it, and I'm so glad – it's a truly magical and happy place.
To anyone who worries their partner may not enjoy Disney, I'd urge them to surprise them with a trip. It's what I did.
When I met Davin in December 2008, I warned him I was a Disney fanatic early on – he told me he had no interest.
But 18 months after we started going out, in June 2010, we went to New York. And then I surprised him with a four-day trip to Disney, while we were there.
Thankfully he loved it and got as swept up in the magic as me.
We got married a year later and had our three-week honeymoon there.
We laugh about the saying 'happy wife, happy life'. Fortunately Davin believes in it and as long as I've got a trip to Disney planned I'm definitely a happy wife.
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