EVERYONE knows that Walt Disney World is expensive.
Once the flights, hotel and park tickets have been paid for, families are often left with little to spend on snacks and souvenirs.
But there is an insider secret to get Disney gift cards for free if you stay in a Disney hotel.
The “Service Your Way” scheme is available in certain hotels on site and allows guests to opt out of housekeeping (or mousekeeping as it’s known at the Florida resort) in exchange for gift cards to spend anywhere in Disney World.
Guests will receive $10 (£7.70) per room for every night that they opt out, excluding the last day of your stay.
So for a two-week trip, you could receive a voucher worth $130 (£100.04).
By forgoing housekeeping, it means that your room will not be cleaned for the duration of your stay.
However, you are still able to request extra towels and sheets and other amenities such as shampoo and soap.
It just means that you would have to put on the sheets yourself.
You can’t choose which days you opt out for, but if you do decide halfway through your trip that your room could do with a good clean, this can be arranged for a small fee.
The Service Your Way scheme is available in all Disney value and moderate hotels.
All of the hotels below will give guests mousekeeping credits of $10 per room per night
Walt Disney World Moderate Resorts (3 – 4 stars)
Walt Disney World Value Resorts (2-3 stars)
Heidi Thompson, from near Lincoln, was one guest who decided to use the service on her trip last year while staying in a moderate resort, Disney’s Coronado Springs.
She told Sun Online Travel: “We stayed for three weeks and decided to opt out of mousekeeping.
“We don’t really make much mess and we received $200 (£153.91) for our stay, which we happily used on a meal at Planet Hollywood in Disney Springs.
“It was no problem not having mousekeeping as it was easy to request new towels and for them to take away the used ones and we requested fresh sheets and coffee and shampoo a couple of times.
“We still left a tip as they were so quick with fresh towels and sheets and will definitely opt out again when we come back in 2021.”
Marion Power, from Waterford, and Chantelle Kemp, from Essex, both opted out during their stay at the value resort, All Star Sports Resort.
Marion told Sun Online Travel: “Opting out of mousekeeping was brilliant. I received my voucher by email quickly for $80 (£61.56) and treated myself to some jewellery in Pandora.
“I have OCD and so always keep hotel rooms clean and tidy anyway so it was no problem for us to opt out.”
Chantelle told Sun Online Travel: “We barely spend any time in the room anyway so it didn’t need to be cleaned as we were rarely there.
“We got $90 (£69.26) via email with a code on it we just had to present when we wanted to use it.”
The Disney gift card will be sent to the guest’s email address within a couple of hours of check-in.
Guests staying in dog-friendly rooms can’t take part and the service may not be offered at all times.
Sun Online Travel previously revealed that there’s a secret spot in Disneyland Paris where you can meet the characters without the crowds.
And at Disney World, you can watch fireworks, meet the characters and enjoy free food without spending a penny – and you don’t even need park tickets.
For those looking for a bargain place to stay, a Disney resort hotel could be their best bet.
