That $200 will buy his family a day's worth of meals at a Disney park.

@flyingphotog: if you only eat one meal a day

@snowburnt: That's how we do it. Breakfast cooked at the campground (or room with a kitchenette), lunch is just granola bars and snack-y type stuff carried in with us, then we can afford a nice dinner at one of their restaurants.

@flyingphotog:
They'll save even more if they learn the phrase: "Hey, ya gonna finish that?"

My fiance just did the same thing with our honeymoon. We booked it awhile ago when they were having a deal on the flight and recently we saw an ad where they were having a deal on the room. She emailed them and they adjusted the price. Saved us a little over 200 bux also. It never hurts to ask.

@cabjf: i'm a former walt disney world employee and i can tell you some people stretch it farther [ok, i watched my mom do it]
eat breakfast before you go and then have lunch at a buffet, take your own ziplocs.
dinner is then a leftovers picnic.
especially effective because the lunch buffet is mostly the same food as dinner [germany at EPCOT was a big favorite] and it's usually about 30% less than the dinner price.

I've found Disney CSRs to be for the most part very helpful, if not a bit on the chatty side. I've got the gift of the gab, so it doesn't bother me to swap personal stories with perfect strangers, but some might find that off-putting. As with all customer calls, it's important to be respectful, patient, and clear with the other party. In my experience that kind of attitude goes a very long way with Disney in general.

For as long as I can remember I and my family have compared everything to the "Disney Training" standard. If we're staying at a really nice resort and an employee is rude to us we might comment "They need to send these employees to Disney Training". Same goes for a positive experience.

In the long run that $200 probably cost Disney $50 (room cleaning and what have you, not counting that these people are going to the parks). But what the gain is a life long happy customer.

Right now, in this economy, they are happy to get anyone at any price.

@novacthall: I love chatting with the Cast Members (CMs). Even when just calling to get dining reservations I've chatted up with them about the restaurants and things.

I think probably the best CM I had the pleasure of talking with was a supervisor for the Disney Cruise Line. We got to talking about which location on the ship is best in terms of having your stateroom. During the conversation I told her to stick us in stateroom 8030. She laughed (8030 is the Walt Disney Suite), and said, "Well, it's available for your cruise!" I chuckled as well, but then I asked "Just wondering.. but how much would that cost?" I can't remember exactly how much it was, but lets just say you could buy yourself a small car for the price. We talked a bit about the amenities and then finished the business for our cruise.

Disney CMs are some of the nicest, best customer service reps I've had the pleasure of dealing with.