DISNEY World has been on our kids' minds this year, but it wasn't in our family budget. What's a parent to do?

With a disciplined approach to the Big Three expense categories - food, lodging and admission fees - it's possible to "do Disney" without piling up bills that are scarier than The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (a ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios that left my six-year-old screaming to do it again, and me searching for my stomach).

With a little extra effort and planning, you can even avoid a lot of the killer extras - like US$31 a day to rent a double stroller.

If the economic meltdown has a silver lining, it's evident in the deals to be found in resort areas like Orlando. Disney itself is laying on more discounts and specials for Mouseketeers than travel experts can recall in recent history.

"It's a great time to go," said Bob Sehlinger, author of "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World." "It couldn't be better."

But read no further if your Disney vacation musts include first-class meals, brand-name Mickey and Minnie souvenirs and staying in the closest hotel to the monorail. This is for penny-pinchers only.

Lodging: Figure out this piece of the puzzle first, since it will affect your strategy for the others.

Sehlinger's advice on this count is simple: "You're always going to save a lot of money if you stay in a non-Disney property outside of Disney World."

There are hotel discounts galore, thanks to the slow economy, and you can take your pick by shopping Websites like www.roomsaver.com. Simply by poking around the Web, our family of four booked five nights in a sprawling two-bedroom suite at a beautiful new resort for just over US$500.

There also is a plethora of fabulous private homes, often with private pools and amenities like home theaters, available to rent at tempting prices. Many are owned by Brits and other foreigners who fly in for weeks at a time and turn their vacation homes over to management companies when they're not around. Sehlinger cites www.allstarvacationhomes.com as one particularly user-friendly Website. Another site - www.vrbo.com - lists homes being offered directly by owners.

If you want to stay at one of the more than 20 Disney owned-and-operated resorts - and they do come with perks such as extended theme park hours, free parking, free airport shuttle and free luggage delivery service - a handful fall into the "value" category.

For most stays between August 16 and October 3, certain Disney resorts are offering a free Disney Dining Plan when you buy a five-night room and theme park package.

To find the latest deals, your best bet is to go to Disney World's Website (disneyworld.disney.go.com) and click on the "special offers" tab.

Food: Your lodging decision will have a big effect on your food bill: book a private home or a suite with a kitchen, and you can more easily avoid paying amusement-park prices for food. Even a cooler in your hotel room (or the mini-fridge at a discount hotel, where it won't be stocked with overpriced snacks) for OJ, milk and lunch meat can work wonders at cutting breakfast and lunch costs.

The bottom line from Sehlinger: "The more meals that you eat outside of Disney World, the better off you're going to be." Eat breakfast in your room, or snag one of the many hotel deals that include a continental breakfast.

Head into the theme park with a backpack stuffed with snacks, sandwiches and drinks, and you're good till dinner. It really can be done: we prowled five theme parks over four days, and spent exactly US$8.25 for three ice-cream sandwiches. Everything else came out of the backpack, which has the side benefit of allowing you to avoid those snaking food lines.

At dinner time, there are plenty of off-site restaurants to explore - and by then you may well be ready for a theme-park break anyway. If you're paying the US$12 a day to park at Disney World, you can leave for dinner and come back without an additional parking fee.

For people flying in to Orlando and debating whether to rent a car, said Sehlinger, "the savings that you'll obtain by eating outside of Walt Disney World will probably more than pay for the rental car."

If you do opt to eat at the theme parks, there are a range of restaurants that run the pricing gamut. And Sehlinger says the portions are generous enough that in some cases two people can share an entree and not go away hungry.

Admissions: This is the toughest nut to crack: nominal discounts are typically the best you can hope for on admission fees at Disney World. You can score a coup if you time your visit to coincide with someone's birthday: you get in free on your birthday throughout 2009.

If you're planning to hit some non-Disney attractions in the area, such as SeaWorld or Universal Orlando studios, discounts may be more plentiful.

The independent Website www.mousesavers.com compiles one of the best lists around for reputable deals at Disney and elsewhere because Disney offers all sorts of ticket options. In general, the longer you stay, the cheaper the tickets.

Extras: You can make all the right moves on big-ticket items and still spend a small fortune if you don't watch the extras.

Rides tend to dump you out in the middle of shops overflowing with tantalizing souvenirs. There's that pricey stroller rental fee, the refrigerator rental fee at Disney resorts, the locker fee at water parks. Think it all through, and you can limit the add-ons.

At www.DisneyWorldMoms.com, a panel of Disney-wise parents offer tips about budgeting and other matters. The unofficial Disney online guide at www.wdwinfo.com/ has good discussion boards.

The Bottomline: How did my family do with the Midas challenge?

We spent US$200 on gas to drive from Virginia, about US$510 on accommodation, and not much more on food than at home.

We'd paid for our no-expiration theme-park tickets five years ago (and got a AAA discount), so that was no hit. The kids both stuck within their US$20 budgets for souvenirs.

Ah, but there was that impulsive US$8.25 ice-cream binge.

Next time, I promise we'll do better.