DisneyMandC
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2015
So I wanted to write this post as a thank you to the Budget Board for so many amazing tips and tricks. I hope that no one will consider me to be "bragging" about this as I just wanted to share how helpful this board has been in helping me take my first trip to Disneyland!
In July 2015, I really started checking out the Budget Board and getting tips on Swagbucks (which I had been casually using, but not hitting any goals), and learning the "Disney Gift Card Algorithm," as I like to call it. I got a Target Redcard in August, which has turned out to also be immensely helpful in purchasing items for our new home as well, and started the process of collecting Target gift cards to buy Disney gift cards with my Redcard discount. I didn't have any particular Disney vacation planned, but I knew DH and I would likely want to go back late 2016/early 2017, and figured I'd start saving. I started upping my Swagbucks usage to cash out for Target gift cards as often as possible. I also used Shopkicks and mPoints to earn Target gift cards. Swagbucks was my most lucrative by far though. Whenever I had enough saved up for a $50 gift card, I would cash out and then go on Target's website and by a Disney gift card with my discount, then save the remaining balance of the gift card to roll over onto the next gift card purchase. Is it timely and confusing to explain to people? Yes. Is it worth it to me? Yes. I'm basically getting free money and funding our next vacation while allocating my income to more useful necessities.
So by the time mid-December rolled around, I had accumulated $500 in Disney gift cards! And that's when I got the great news- DH had an upcoming business trip to Los Angeles, and I fortunately had a four day weekend from work that fell during the same time, allowing me to fly out and see him for a mini-vacation. And of course, where do you think I wanted to go? DISNEYLAND! And thanks to our $500 gift card, we could do it! I purchased two one-day non-parkhopper tickets online, and our parking in advance, a total of $216 dollars. Since we had our gift card and love to eat, we decided on a lunch at Blue Bayou. We also picked up some souvenirs for family and pins for ourselves, since we are big pin traders. All of our snacks and our dinner was also put onto our gift card. At the end of the night, we still had a little bit left on the card and decided to just go ahead and finish it off since we didn't have another trip planned any time soon. After purchasing our last souvenirs, we spent $6 out of pocket!
While yes, we did have the expenses of flight, hotel, and rental car, I am not including those in this cost since this wasn't a "Disney vacation" so much as a California vacation that happened to get a day of Disney included (for those of you who are wondering though, the hotel was free with points, rental car was $13 and points, and flight from the east coast small airport to LAX was $240 with points). And that day of Disney would not have happened if I hadn't earned gift cards from everyone's help on this board! The $216 for tickets and parking would have likely been too much for us to do if we were just paying out of pocket, but fortunately we got our "free" day! So just remember that if that Disney gift card algorithm sometimes feels frustrating or you're reading to smack Swagbucks upside the head, it will pay off eventually! Thank you so much to everyone on the DIS!!!
In July 2015, I really started checking out the Budget Board and getting tips on Swagbucks (which I had been casually using, but not hitting any goals), and learning the "Disney Gift Card Algorithm," as I like to call it. I got a Target Redcard in August, which has turned out to also be immensely helpful in purchasing items for our new home as well, and started the process of collecting Target gift cards to buy Disney gift cards with my Redcard discount. I didn't have any particular Disney vacation planned, but I knew DH and I would likely want to go back late 2016/early 2017, and figured I'd start saving. I started upping my Swagbucks usage to cash out for Target gift cards as often as possible. I also used Shopkicks and mPoints to earn Target gift cards. Swagbucks was my most lucrative by far though. Whenever I had enough saved up for a $50 gift card, I would cash out and then go on Target's website and by a Disney gift card with my discount, then save the remaining balance of the gift card to roll over onto the next gift card purchase. Is it timely and confusing to explain to people? Yes. Is it worth it to me? Yes. I'm basically getting free money and funding our next vacation while allocating my income to more useful necessities.
So by the time mid-December rolled around, I had accumulated $500 in Disney gift cards! And that's when I got the great news- DH had an upcoming business trip to Los Angeles, and I fortunately had a four day weekend from work that fell during the same time, allowing me to fly out and see him for a mini-vacation. And of course, where do you think I wanted to go? DISNEYLAND! And thanks to our $500 gift card, we could do it! I purchased two one-day non-parkhopper tickets online, and our parking in advance, a total of $216 dollars. Since we had our gift card and love to eat, we decided on a lunch at Blue Bayou. We also picked up some souvenirs for family and pins for ourselves, since we are big pin traders. All of our snacks and our dinner was also put onto our gift card. At the end of the night, we still had a little bit left on the card and decided to just go ahead and finish it off since we didn't have another trip planned any time soon. After purchasing our last souvenirs, we spent $6 out of pocket!
While yes, we did have the expenses of flight, hotel, and rental car, I am not including those in this cost since this wasn't a "Disney vacation" so much as a California vacation that happened to get a day of Disney included (for those of you who are wondering though, the hotel was free with points, rental car was $13 and points, and flight from the east coast small airport to LAX was $240 with points). And that day of Disney would not have happened if I hadn't earned gift cards from everyone's help on this board! The $216 for tickets and parking would have likely been too much for us to do if we were just paying out of pocket, but fortunately we got our "free" day! So just remember that if that Disney gift card algorithm sometimes feels frustrating or you're reading to smack Swagbucks upside the head, it will pay off eventually! Thank you so much to everyone on the DIS!!!
I love reading stories like this! 
It's a good reminder to me to keep on keeping on when earnings from rewards programs slow down a bit. 
