I just wanted to throw out a HUGE "Thank You" to you folks here who have taken the time to explain these great deals.
I wanted to take a trip to WDW this fall and I had a VERY tight ($1000) budget to work with. That had to include my airfare, 1/2 lodging and a liberal food (and beverage
) allotment. I am pleased to say that I have purchased gift cards to cover all of it and saved a lot!
I had a budget of $300 for airfare, $300 for food and $350 for lodging, with the other $50 as "miscellaneous". The best fare I'd found was $318 from SWA (that has since dropped to $251
but I can't do anything about that now...) so I used the Target=>SWA gift card method and paid $278.77 for our airfare, saving $39.23. I have purchased $750 worth of Disney gift cards which cost me a total of $639.89, saving $110.11
. That $750 will cover my half of our room ($328.50) and leave me with over $400 for food and beverages
.
In total, I have spent $918.66 which has covered my lodging, airfare and food...with an extra $100 that I can use to splurge. I saved $149.34 on $1050 worth of gift cards...and that does not take into account the rebates I've earned through SR, TopCashBack and my PayPal debit card.
I also had to book a pre-flight hotel since our flight leaves at 7am from an airport 90 minutes from home. I used Hotwire and got a Wingate by Wyndham for about $70 (my half is $35.15) so I am still under my $1K limit
. This trip will be just me and my mom, but on the chance that there is any leftovers on the gift cards, we have another trip planned for next June so nothing will go to waste.