A HECK OF A TRIP-24 MONTH PRE TRIP REPORT UPDATE 4/19/16

Money for Nothing & Checks For Free…..

Yea I know that’s not how the lyrics really go but who thinks chicks are free …have they ever raised chickens they ain’t free. But I digress….:crazy:


Our budget is roughly somewhere around $4500 which includes a hotel stay on the way down and the way back, our package with 5 days of tickets, tickets to MVMCP, memory maker, gas, and all food. We had said we wanted the Disney Dining plan with the table service option we have pretty much nixed that. After deciding that might be too much sit down dining with an almost 3 year old we ran the numbers and all meals OOP based on our eating style would equal $886 which includes 5 table service meals (Crystal Palace, Prime Time Café, Garden Grill for the Candlelight processional package & Rainforest café, and dinner at 1900 Park Fare). Now of course this might change if the free dining plan comes to play but I’m looking at this as having no discounts at all

So starting in January I knew that we needed to get serious about saving. Since DH has gotten a better job and that will end with being more money we can really get to saving. But starting out I was trying to find extra money through selling extra junk on facebook, children’s consignment sale, tax refund and even started with Swagbucks to help fund the trip.

So far we are up $567 dollars in 4 ½ months which is great as we haven’t been overly serious yet about saving it. (Disclaimer $200 is a gift card we got for opening our Disney Visa card and $20 we have back in rewards points) It’s mainly me doing the saving but I’ve been talking to DH and he’s getting on board now too since he sees how much all the extras we want will cost.


We are hoping to save at least half of our budgeted amount this year through these methods. So far with Swagbucks I’ve gotten 1 $25 Target gift card which I will put with another one to get a $50 Disney gift card. I’m about 200 points or well Swagbucks away from hitting my goal for another $25 gift card. I haven’t been hitting as hard as I could and I mainly do surveys but I’m hoping at my rate I should get around $300 or roughly $25 every two months.

I also just signed up for mycokerewards and as much Coke product as we drink in our house I’m kicking myself for not doing this years ago. Figuring up our soda addictions and what the points are worth I figure we could add another $100 to the fund this way.

Lastly I have signed up for Ibotta and Checkout51 for the rebates from buying products. I doubt I will earn much that way as we don’t have many national stores out here in the sticks but so far I’m up $4…so maybe in 20 months time I might get $50 or so. With Ibotta you gotta get at least $20 to cash out so I’ve got a ways to go.

Through all of these methods being conservative we should save $2199, which isn’t quite half but I’m very proud of that. Plus I still have more stuff to sale on facebook and the consignment sale in August might net a nice little pay off. 584 days to go!
 
Hi!

I'm joining in because we're planning our first trip for around the sametime as you're going.

WELL WELCOME WELCOME! This will be about my 5th vacation trip but first with a child that is mine :) so it will be interesting to see what all happens!
Are you doing a Pre Trip Report? If so let me know I'd love to follow along as well!
 
WELL WELCOME WELCOME! This will be about my 5th vacation trip but first with a child that is mine :) so it will be interesting to see what all happens!
Are you doing a Pre Trip Report? If so let me know I'd love to follow along as well!

I think that I will be doing a pre-trip report. My daughters are both in their early 20's so it won't be quite the same. We've been going to Disneyland for years. We're actually just about 412 miles from there. We decided that we want to try the world. It's very exciting but, I feel like a fish out of water. :laughing:
 
I think that I will be doing a pre-trip report. My daughters are both in their early 20's so it won't be quite the same. We've been going to Disneyland for years. We're actually just about 412 miles from there. We decided that we want to try the world. It's very exciting but, I feel like a fish out of water. :laughing:

and I've never been to the Land I would be lost there but hope to visit one day when Babygirl gets older. Feel free to ask any questions you have about the World I help all of my family & friends plan so I know a good little bit and I think the more a person knows going in the more fun it is!
 
and I've never been to the Land I would be lost there but hope to visit one day when Babygirl gets older. Feel free to ask any questions you have about the World I help all of my family & friends plan so I know a good little bit and I think the more a person knows going in the more fun it is!

Disneyland has so much less planning to it. If you have any question about that I can definitely help. I've been going for many years. One thing that will be strange to me is that at Disneyland it's all within walking distance to everything. No buses, or boats to travel from location to location. We're looking at Poly to stay at. Is it as beautiful as it looks?
 
Disneyland has so much less planning to it. If you have any question about that I can definitely help. I've been going for many years. One thing that will be strange to me is that at Disneyland it's all within walking distance to everything. No buses, or boats to travel from location to location. We're looking at Poly to stay at. Is it as beautiful as it looks?

I have only visited Poly to eat and shop but it is very pretty grounds around it, especially considering the recent updates. I enjoy the food a lot and the whole beach/pool area is so nice. I'm not a big swimming pool person but just the feel of it is amazing. Plus love seeing the castle across the lake.
 
I have only visited Poly to eat and shop but it is very pretty grounds around it, especially considering the recent updates. I enjoy the food a lot and the whole beach/pool area is so nice. I'm not a big swimming pool person but just the feel of it is amazing. Plus love seeing the castle across the lake.

We figure that this is probably a once in a lifetime trip for us so we are shooting for Poly.
 
IMG_20160428_185232_187.jpg IMG_20160428_185249_759.jpg


Just a brief update while it's on my mind....calendar says 570 days to go....which techinally means 71 days until I could book a room only reservation at our hotel...but since 2017 packages should be out around that time then hopefully I can just book my full package.

Last week I went to our local thrift store and found a few goodies. 1 was a Doc McStuffins lunch bag (the kind that comes with a bookbag) it was brand new for 75 cents so I got that for DD to have in the car on the trip for colors, stickers etc. We will have an actually small cooler in the truck with us for drinks and cold snack items so she won't need it as an actual lunch bag.

Also check out the pics(don't know why they're posted above but whatever) I found a great park bag. I always carry a HUGE bag or backpack with me and it's such a pain in the rear because instead of being organized junk gets lost more then I get annoyed when I can't find what I need quick enough.

So I found this cute little cross body bag for $3 that perfectly fits the book I'm going to use for DD autograph book plus theres room for maps, cards and change for press pennies. DH will be assigned duties of taking a small backpack with us to carry small purchases and a spare set of clothes for DD. So excited about my bag!!!

Also in the thrifty field mother in law (RT) just gave me a pair of shoes she only wore for like a month and they are pretty much brand new. SCORE on that front I'm saving them til the trip and will have brand new walking shoes (Nike at that) I will just make sure to break them in prior to the trip but that helped take a good $50 out of my pre trip clothes budget.

Lastly Touring Plans...what are your thoughts I can usually plan a trip in my sleep I know the layouts that well in my head but I want to make sure I don't do a lot of backtracking and wear ourselves out plus with all the new FP+ stuff I want to make it the best trip possible. And I like that they have options for touring with the littles so thoughts? Is it worth it?
 
WE GET TO BOOK IN 21 DAYS!!!


SOOOOO EXCITED!!

but also slightly freaking out because now I'm waffling between Port Orleans and Art of Animation Little Mermaid for DD.

We had decided that Royal Rooms was not worth the extra cost and wanted a standard Port Orleans room but Little Mermaid will save is about $300 and it's Little Mermaid :fish:(that's supposed to be flounder) and that's one of my favorite princesses but then again I love the idea of Port Orleans I've never not stayed value and a moderate sounds sooo nice.

Too many choices!!! :charac2: Hopefully this weekend we can nail down a final decision!!

Also my parents and siblings are coming!!! Happy dance time! I'm soo thrilled that they want to come along with us that makes me soo happy. Mom will be using an ECV so I'm trying to research everything I can on it. I'm thrilled that all of the fun memories I had at Disney with my parents my DD and nephew will get to experience as well.

Ok I think that's it for this short and sweet update!
Keep you posted once we actually book!
 
OMG SO I haven't updated this thing in some time!! We are now 457 days out!!

I got us and dear in-laws booked back in July and after the first of the year we will start making payments. Mother in law really wants to do Free Dining so kinda waiting to see if A) It's offered during our visit time B) If it's offered would our hotel be included-usually Riverside is not.

SO before we put a ton of money into it we want to see what options are out there. But for now we are booked Nov 24th-Dec 2nd at Riverside Garden View and yes we added a day. We decided to skip Thanksgiving and leave on that day and arrive on Friday the 24th giving us an extra day to do whatever!

So there's the real world catch up. Now on to the fun stuff. I will try to post DD autograph book I've been making in Snapfish next
 
I actually have a few minutes now to actually comment!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who plans super far in the future! We have a 9 night trip planned for January 2017, and we've already started discussing hotels/where we want to eat/etc for a trip we plan on taking in January 2018 (which is still 16 months away...)

Great job with your savings so far! I'm Canadian, so we can't get the Disney Visa or the discounted gift cards from Target, or set up a Disney Savings Fund. It makes it a lot more difficult!

I love the autograph pages you've made! So cute!
 
I actually have a few minutes now to actually comment!


I love the autograph pages you've made! So cute!

Well pooey on the not getting discounts. I haven't been hitting it to hard as of lately but I've got a spreadsheet of ways to come up with funds and try to track progress. We just a local kids consignment sale and I made $250 so yay for that into the fund!

And the autograph book photos I used from searing tons of images on Google. Mainly Mickey Mouse Invites or Computer backgrounds etc. It's been a work in progress for about 6 months now but I only ever do 1-2 pages at a time that's why.
 
Well pooey on the not getting discounts. I haven't been hitting it to hard as of lately but I've got a spreadsheet of ways to come up with funds and try to track progress. We just a local kids consignment sale and I made $250 so yay for that into the fund!

I'm actually dropping off a few bins of my clothes I no longer wear to consignment tomorrow - I probably won't get as much as you've made from it, but every little bit helps! I've been making spreadsheets like crazy too, we even sat down and did a spreadsheet of what we might want to eat at all of our ADR's to give us an idea of how much money we need to save for food :thumbsup2
 
Coming over from the Nov. 2017 you started- followed your link here and just read through the thread. :) I think we'll be there at the same time- Thanksgiving week. I'm sooooo excited to start seriously planning... (always planning in my head, though...lol). As soon as I get our dates set and settle on resort- trying to decided between Poly (stayed there our 1st trip Nov 2013 and loved it) or possibly the GF / WL or a split stay. We stayed at the Beach Club last Thanksgiving & while it was a beautiful resort (the newly remodeled rooms are gorgeous!) we really found ourselves missing the MK area.
Love reading all of your plans and all of your crafty projects! Following along and looking forward to planning along as well! pixiedust:
 

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