Any Florida Residents with AP?

[jmkford4]

Hello everyone!

We are a large family that just moved to Jacksonville, FL from Chicago, IL. We just purchased our AP's and we want to be able to go as much as possible to WDW, ideally every two weeks. The drive is 2 hours and 20 minutes from our house.

I am frugal and hate wasting money, but I understand it is necessary for convenience. That being said, any Florida residents have great tips for saving? Last weekend we went Saturday and Sunday. Left early am and ate at home. Packed lunch and ate in the parks, and ate a CS dinner. ($35) Hungry when we got to the hotel (hotwire, $40 a night) so ordered pizza and it was $40. Next day ate leftover pizza for breakfast, brought water in the parks. Had snacks ($16) and ate McDonalds on the way home ($17). This was only for 4 of us as the others had a hockey tournament.

What I plan to do better is only go for one day. My kids were exhausted. Eat breakfast at home and pack a cooler with deli sandwiches and snacks, lenty of bottled water, bring a backpack for snacks. And plan to eat a snack at the park because that is part of the fun of Disney!

I would like to stay in a hotel sometimes though. Hotwire has been great for that, but you never know what you're going to get. We debated on getting a tent to stay at Fort Wilderness but the idea of purchasing all that equipment and not having AC terrifies me. Our black out dates are for the silver pass so we wouldn't go in the summer, but it is plenty hot most of the year.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[Random Ninja]

Welcome to Jax!

Fort Wilderness can be hard to get into a certain times of the year because it is so popular. We love to camp there but it can be hard to find a weekend with availability for a quick trip. It's often easier to book an overnight on Kayak or Hotel Tonight on the way down. Find a place that has a fridge and microwave and then you can bring breakfast foods and snacks for the room. We have a small fridge that plugs into the car and then we move everything into the fridge at the hotel when we get there.

As for saving on meals, I'm not going to be much help there as that's one of the reasons we go to Disney. I have multiple food allergies and Disney is one of the few places I can actually go to eat out. We don't go more then once every couple of months but that's more because my DH and I have different weekends and he's still in school. One thing that's good to know is that you can get a free cup of ice water at any QS restaurant, pour it into a water bottle to be able to carry it around longer. Popcorn is also a cheap snack once you get a souvenir bucket since they have discounted refills.

Oh, get gas before you head down as many of the places next to I95 and I10 can be expensive. Also, get gas in Orlando before you come back as it's usually 5-10 cents cheaper then in Jax. Avoid rush hour times so you're not just sitting in traffic. We like to leave around 7pm so we avoid traffic in Jax and in Orlando.

 

[jmkford4]

Thanks for the tips! I am going to check out Kayak and Hotel tonight.

 

[meghanb133]

We live close by in the Tampa area. We got at least once a month. With your AP you can get some pretty great deals at the All Star resorts and then you’ll get to use the perks of the resort transportation, pools, etc. maybe only choose once or twice to stay overnight, not every single time.

We usually go for the day, eat a filling breakfast on the way there, bring our popcorn bucket for the refills(pack some pretzels/applesauce pouches as well) and then get one CS meal, maybe a snack on the way out for the drive home.

If you aren’t careful things can add up quick but the more you go, you’ll find more ways to save.

 

[iluveeyore]

You are a trooper doing this every two weeks with such a large group! We live approximately 45 minutes away from Disney and have the Silver weekday passes. We go at least twice a year for a week and stay onsite. This saves us gas, tolls, as well as makes it more enjoyable for a middle-aged couple with an empty nest since we don't have to fit everything into a day or two and then make a trip back home after a long day (keeps my husband much happier). He says (and I agree with him) that he prefers to keep Disney like a vacation, even though we live close by, rather than just pop in and out all the time. We do go sometimes for a day or two if it's a special occasion (birthday/anniversary/holiday weekend/Flower and Garden/Food and Wine), but keep that to a minimum. We feel we get more than our money's worth for the passes we have doing it this way.

But each to his own - welcome to Florida, and glad you get to enjoy your passes so often!

 

[wgeo]

We do a lot of the same things that you do in regards to bringing lunch and water in on your own. Since you already have the tickets its the food/lodging/gas that gets ya. I would price out how much your gas costs are and see if doing 2 days with an overnight once a month is less expensive that 2 one day trips. We did a lot of day trips but we're only 1 hour 45 minutes away, but we've found that we like to rent a townhome/condo or something offsite and relax for a few days during the summer. Having space and access to a kitchen makes things very enjoyable to us, but we've gotten past the commando stage that we were in when we first got our passes and started going.