We are leaving for our trip in couple of weeks and these are the ways we have saved money:
1) We rented a 2 bedroom condo off-site. We will be there for 8 days and this was way cheaper for us than staying on-site. We also have 2 small children, so it gives us a lot more space. Another perk is we can put them to bed and go to another room without disturbing them. Doesn't sound like you will have this issue, but we saved quite a bit going this route.
2) We fly down because we live in IL. My husband is opposed to roadtrips that last more than 5 hours, lol. I stalk the sales for Southwest to book our tickets and usually do it during their birthday sale. If something cheaper comes along, we just get the credit because we go on a yearly vacation anyway.
3) I search for rental car codes when we book our rental car. There are TONS for FL because of the many tourists. Even the few rare times that we have only done Disney, we like having a rental car because we like to explore. We don't want to be "stuck" at the resort or depend on limited transportation. It all boils down to what is important to you.
4) As I mentioned before, when we go to FL we rarely ONLY do Disney. We try to make the most of our time out there and go to other parks. To help me keep track of the cost of tickets, I created a spreadsheet that allowed me to see the different options that I had to purchase the tickets. This helped us save hundreds because it highlighted the areas where we were spending quite a bit on a particular ticket, which allowed me to look for ways to save (for instance, we bought our tickets to Universal through USSSA because it was cheaper than any other site and it is legit).
5) Quite a few people on the board mention the Disney Visa Rewards card, but I use PNC points. I get 4 points for every $1 I spend. I accumulated enough points to get my son a 2-day Universal park-to-park pass and Target gift cards to pay for a Disney gift card. They also had Disney World and Disneyland ticket options, but it worked out better for us to go with Universal (this is where my spreadsheet came in handy). The Target gift cards allowed us to purchase "free" money to use in the parks.
6) To save cash, my husband stops at the bank every week to take $100 out. He prefers this method over just transferring to another account (which I prefer). He does this with every vacation and it always works out. Right before we leave, he converts the money to big bills with a few smaller bills for tips (he leaves the cash in a safe and only takes a certain amount every day so that he doesn't have all of it on him at one time). This way, we always pay cash and never come back home with debt. Again, you don't have to go this route. You could easily do the same thing by transferring funds to another account.
Lastly, it helps to have a sibling that works for Disney, but I know everyone doesn't have this perk
