Ways to save money on Disney trip?

I once read a book at the library about tips for saving money at Disney. I'll do some research to find out the title of it.
The only tip I can think of off the top of my head is to bring your own autograph book.
It sounds like you are going to save money on camping so good job there. Can you bring coolers and stash stuff for sandwiches, juice boxes, etc?

We live in California so go to Disneyland often--just went on Christmas Eve in fact! I imagine they have much the same offerings at Disney World. Although you'll see signs restricting outside food in the park, I've never been turned away or asked to discard water bottles (I bring 2 per person), juice pouches (2 per kid), and multiple snack baggies with Goldfish, cheerios, trail mix, etc. I stash them in the stroller basket and my backpack--easy to snack while you're waiting in line for rides--I don't like wasting time waiting in line for food! If you buy meals in the park, buy kid's meals for everybody. They offer the same portion of chicken nuggets, same size hot dog, etc. and come with fresh fruit (or chips or fruit rollup) and milk (or soda or juice) and are usually a dollar or so less than the "adult" a la cart entree. If you're going for several days, you may be better off buying a year pass than a multi day park hopper, even if you won't be returning again that year--compare the prices. The year pass offers a 10% discount at many of the food vendors and restaurants. We also have a Chase Disney Rewards Visa that gets us 10% off at many food vendors, restaurants, and souvenier shops--between the year pass and the Disney Visa I got 10% off everywhere we went in Disneyland. Have fun!

We eat breakfast at our hotel, pack in lunch, water and snacks and only eat dinner where we have a coupon for a free kids meal (my dd is a grazer and eats small portions all day, she shared my dinner), so we only paid for 2 adult meals and we all drank water.
You can find disney tees at walmart, buy them ahead of time and give them to your kids when you get there.
Take your own pictures (ask someone to take a family photo) and don't buy the ones they take, they're very expensive.
If I think of anything else, I'll let you know!!
Enjoy!

Well, first off, if your son is 4, I would not do Epcot over MGM. He will love Playhouse Disney! Epcot is not that much fun for kids for a full days worth. My kids like it, but are over it in about 1/2 a day.

I have never camped at Fort Wilderness, but there is a lot to do there including a free (if I remember right) petting area in that area.

My biggest suggestion: take a small cooler into the park with water bottles and refill as needed. I also took all of our snacks and pack lunch. When we did buy lunch or dinner, I would go to the places that had the fixings bar such as the place in Tomorrowland across from the Grand Prix ride. (Go to the back of the restaurant outside and you will not only have a quieter place to eat, but a great view of the castle.) Also, I get kids meals there. They are less expensive and plenty of food - especially when you stock up on the veggies at the fixings bar.

I am sure I have other ideas that will come to me later.

I have a great hotel suggestion for anybody that wants one. (I know you said you were camping, but in case somebody else needs it.) We stay at Cypress Grand Villas that I book at hotelkingdom.com. It is not on Disney property, but we get a 1 bedroom villa for $70 a night!!! You have to pay $10 for parking, but it is worth it. There is a kitchen in it and you can take all your breakfast foods.

We stayed at Camp Wilderness when my son was in Boy Scouts. We had a great time. The part we stayed in had no electric except in the bathrooms. They did have a petting zoo and I believe a water slide park of some sort. They had a play area and watching the water parade at night was great. They also had a pool and at night they had a movie with Chip and Dale. We did have a great time.

Janice

there are many sites that offer "help". the big one is disboards.com. there are others but I forgot them. there are so many that I am getting burned out on disney and we haven;t even left for vacation yet.
Here is what I did:
traded for disney themed autograph books-a scrapbooker made some for me
loaded up on disney themed pens from target dollar spot
loaded up on stickers for a kids scrapbook from target dollar spot
asked relatives to give disney dollars for bday/xmas gifts
traded for disney raincoats( the ones that they sell at disney)
traded for disney clothing
walmart currently has disney girls 4-6x snow white and fairy dress up on sale for $11. I got one for dd that I will give to her there.
I also am bringing a backpack to carry the stuff around.
dh just brought some disney books, he may be willing to sell them after we come back from disney in 3 weeks.

We're going to Disneyland this year. Check out MouseSavers.com - Disney Discount Source - Disney World Discounts, Disneyland Discounts, Disney Cruise Discounts for a lot of helpful information.

Oooh, keep those tips coming. We're planning to go to Disney in Jan. or Feb. 2009. Ds will be three then.

One thing we did that kept everyone in a great mood was the late afternoon nap, which doesn't sound like a money-saver at first, but if you think about it - it is. When everyone was resting in the hottest part of the day, we were able to stay up late late late and really enjoy the parks at the less-crowded evening time/extra magic hours. And those fireworks! They are the best I've ever seen. By enjoying yourselves and not being too tired/stressed - you will have a great time and make great memories, which will be money well spent. We had park-hopper tickets, so we did one park in the morning and usually Magic Kingdom at night. One night - you have to do Epcot though, their fireworks are great too.

I feel like we saved a huge amount of money on the dining plan. Our youngest didn't require one - there was tons of food. Also, we traded each of our sit-down meals for a character meal, which was fabulous for our small children. I can see where older kids don't want to do them, but we had a blast. Over half of ours were used on character breakfasts, where my family can eat a lot. We stayed full until early afternoon, when we would have "large" snacks and then eat the quick service meal for dinner. I thought the meal plan was a great deal. Also - even though you buy the meal plan for a kid, you don't have to buy the "childs" meal - you can get anything. My kids aren't big fans of "kid" food and we had tons of food to share with the little one, and lots of veggies/fruit/healthy choices, which kept us happier.

We bought ears for the kids the first day or so, and then told the kids that if they would be good, we would go to the biggest Disney store they had ever seen at the end of the week. The last night or so, we went to Downtown Disney and they each picked out one thing that we can not get at home - and they had a blast.

Yes, the Disney trip was expensive, but we (DH and I) were shocked at how much fun we had and the kids ask every day when we are going back. Our trip was worth every penny!