PTR - How to (hopefully) make it to DLR on rewards

Hi folks! This is my first PTR, I did a small TR for a trip to San Diego a while back but nothing to DLR or WDW. I am not the most eloquent person but I will give it a go and hope to entertain and/or inform anyone trying to do DLR on a budget.

Eight months ago my hours at work got drastically reduced, and since the tips from that job were our vacation fund I had to figure something out! For the past couple of years I have been joining reward sites and half heartedly earning a gift card here and a gift card there. Since June I have been working on those sites to pay for our vacations (that and Ebay ). DD and I are going to WDW in May with my mom, so most of the rewards I have accumulated since June will go towards that trip.


But now I have to start working towards our trip to DLR

Last time we went to DLR it was in 2011. We did 2 days in each park and a day for the Halloween party.





Candy!


DD looks so small! She was supposed to be a smurf but at the last minute did not want to wear the costume. We saw Jack but she did not the Disney Jack, she liked a girl who was waiting for Jack behind us in line. She was super sweet and loved getting her picture taken with DD.

The original plan was to go to DLR in Oct for the anniversary and that would be our Disney trip of the year. But my mom, brother and DSiL (along with my 2 nieces) wanted to go to WDW and I was elected as travel planner/agent/guide. DH can't make it to WDW so it is just DD and I. Right away I told DH that we were still going to DLR since I wanted to see all of the anniversary celebrations and Halloween.

When I heard that ticket prices were going up in Feb I knew I had to act fast. I bought the tickets on Cheaptickets and got their buy 3 days get a 4th day free. The tickets for 3 adults/4 days came to $795, but going through Ebates got me $54.66 cashback (6.88%). Since I had to get the tickets right away I had to pay with our debit card. So the first $740 I make on my reward sites goes right back into our checking account.

So now I have the tickets, next is when and where. When is easier to plan - Oct. Love going to the parks (DLR and WDW) in Oct. DD usually gets a day off the 3rd week in Oct, it is a teacher's day, so she would not miss as many days. So I am thinking Oct 18-25th. We have been very lucky in that her teachers are awesome about us pulling DD out of school. DD has special needs and is non verbal but her teachers say that whenever we go on a trip she comes back like a little parrot and much more focused. I say it is the magic of Disney

For the where... last time we stayed at the HoJo on their amazing special rate of $59 a night (how I miss that discount!). But I am ok with trying a different place. So far it is between Desert Inn, Tropicana, and Del Sol. Right now booking directly through Desert Inn it would be 92 per night plus $9 a night parking. The others are a little bit more so I am leaning towards DI.

Today I made a list of all the restaurants around DLR for which I can get gift card rewards from the sites I use.

Ihop
Red Robin
Outback
Starbucks
Rainforest Cafe
Bucca di Peppo
Jack in the Box
Subway
California Pizza Kitchen

There are a bunch of others that give out freebies for signing up for their email newletters -

Denny's
Tony Roma's
Outback
Cold Stone Creamery
Jamba Juice
Quizno's
Mimi's - they send out tons of coupons!
Bucca di Peppo
Jack in the Box
Carl's Jr
Earl of Sandwich

I am also saving my rewards for SW gift cards and already have $300 so I only need another $100 card which I should have any day now

By using miles and buying discounted Target cards which then I turned into Southwest cards I was able to book our flights! I had enough miles for a one way ticket, the rest is reward money turned into gift cards. Not too hard to do since the flight was $86 each way and it was at a great time - get to SNA at 9:30am and arrive back home at 6pm.
So that is 6 nights (decided on Oct 18-24th) and we have 4 day PH plus we will do the Halloween party one night. Might add an extra day since we get into town so early

Ok, so I know I have been gone for a while but work has been crazy! I've been working 6 days a week and tons of OT - good for the bank account but I feel 100 years old .
One of my reward sites has a monthly bonus for hitting goals every day. For March I got enough for a $10 gift card!

So now we have the tickets, flights and I just booked Desert Inn for $753.60 (taxes, parking, fees included). I did not have to pre-pay the hotel so I can save up for that.

I just noticed that since I booked the prices at the Desert Inn have gone up almost $200 for our dates! Must tell DH since he was teasing me about booking so early

Following along!

You're rocking your rewards!

We do credit card hacking so I have our Southwest flights free, our 7 nights at the Fairfield Inn across the street free, and two of our 5-day park passes free (Cdn airmiles). So we just had to pay for 2 park tickets and food. Trying to see the best ways to save on food given that we want to stick to walking distance places.