What's the craziest frugal/budgeted minded thing you've done on your trip?

[gelatoni fan]

Just as an FYI, you can actually get some of those meds FOR FREE at the first aid stations. I have been going to disney for YEARS before I ever had a need to go in to First Aid and I didn't realize all of the services they offered.

It's not always convenient to walk all the way to first aid. I keep some Tylenol, Zyrtec and eye drops in my bag.

 

[Becca1007]

It's not always convenient to walk all the way to first aid. I keep a some Tylenol, Zyrtec and eye drops in my bag.

True, but I'd much rather walk then pay a LOT for the singles at the stores inside the park if I forgot something.

 

[Malcon10t]

Just as an FYI, you can actually get some of those meds FOR FREE at the first aid stations. I have been going to disney for YEARS before I ever had a need to go in to First Aid and I didn't realize all of the services they offered.

While I totally agree, be forewarned, they can only give you "normal amounts" and they log everything and watch you take it. An example, I am on 800 mg ibprofen (ie 4 200mg pills) and all they can give me is 2. I understand, but be aware if you normally take a larger dose, they can only give you minimum doses.

 

[PirateBrigade]

I guess the craziest thing I do is totally wean myself off coffee the week before our trip. This way, when I do get the overpriced Disney coffee, I get more Ooomphhh! per cup (I’ve also been known to carry Starbucks Via instant packets on me to be able to up the strength of the coffee that I do buy).

Caffeine pills. I'm not even joking!

 

[disneylover102]

DH and I were just talking about how we wanted to eat breakfast in our hotel room to save money and time. Throwing all crazy ideas out there I decided I'm going to take our little breakfast sandwich maker with us. We'll make our homemade egg mcmuffins each morning. My son rolled his eyes and thinks I'm crazy...don't care. lol

I thought it would be fun to find out what frugal things others have done. I know there are some people on this board that are way better at being creative when it comes to saving money. Would like to hear all the things you have done!

My travel home adventures the last 2 trips. Both nightmares.

November trip: Disneyland closed at 11. I had to get back home by the next morning to work at a football game at BYU so they would pay for my textbooks. My flight was at 6 AM and cheap transportation options to LAX are always limited but especially in the middle of the night. I couldn’t afford to spend $60 on an Uber all the way to LAX. So here’s what I did: after Disney closed I got an Uber to the Norwalk metro station. I caught the last green train of the day to the Aviation/LAX station. I went to get a bus to the airport but it wasn’t showing up and I didn’t have data at the time. So I had to walk closer to the airport to try to get Wi-Fi somewhere to catch an Uber the rest of the way to the airport. After walking about a mile on a sketchy road with no sidewalk with my heavy backpack I finally stumbled upon the Budget car rental place where I got a free shuttle to the airport. It was like 2 AM at this point and security wasn’t open and there were no chairs or anything so I slept on the hard cold floor for 2 hours until I was woken up by an angry airport lady telling me to get up. Security was open so I went through and slept another hour or two until it was time to board the plane. I slept the entire plane ride, got a ride to BYU and worked for an extremely unpleasant 7 hours.

January trip: long story short I had a St George Shuttle voucher and a Flixbus voucher from changed plans a few months prior. I figured I might as well use them. So Disneyland closed at 9 and I got an Uber to the Anaheim transportation center. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me where Flixbus was supposed to be because instructions were vague and there was no Flixbus signage whatsoever. Eventually I found it. There was a tiny little sign that said “Flixbus.” You couldn’t see it unless you were right there. The bus was a few minutes late which helped I guess. The tracking on the app didn’t work though so I had no idea how close it was. The bus driver was rude and let a bunch of other people bring their backpack on the bus but when I tried to he yelled “HEY!” and made me put it with the luggage under the bus. Then I slept on the bus to Los Angeles. I thought I’d have an indoor bus stop to go in like Greyhound. Nope, Flixbus was in an extremely sketchy parking lot in downtown LA and I had to be there for an hour and a half. And it was cold. So I walked across the street to the LA Union Station to be safer and warm. It was warmer but it smelled terrible and it wasn’t safer. There were homeless people everywhere, some of whom were muttering random things… I couldn’t find anywhere to sit in there and when I went to use the bathroom, there were three stalls: one of them was being lived in, one of them didn’t have a door but someone was doing their business anyway (), and one of them was available to use. There were urinals but I’m uncomfortable using them anyway, let alone here… when I got out and was washing my hands this homeless guy was begging me to pay him to get a drink… obviously no. He followed me out of the bathroom and kept asking. This is when I bailed and left the station; I felt safer in the parking lot cause most homeless people were in the indoor Union Station. And at least there were other tourists like me waiting for the bus. I actually passed the time by writing one of my genie+ reviews on another thread lol. I got safely on the bus eventually. Which is good because my dad saw on the news that a lady was attacked by a homeless man at a bus stop near Union Station 4 hours later and died a few days later. Yikes. Anyway I rode the bus to Vegas and the bus wasn’t heated. I was cold anyway and then the bus got to Vegas an hour early before 5 AM. It was even colder there and it dropped me off at the strip. I had to get to the airport for my shuttle. So I walked to a bus stop where I barely missed the bus because it was confusing. I waited another half hour for the bus and it didn’t show up. In the meantime I was trying to help a lady who had been on the Flixbus who barely spoke English and was trying to figure out how to get to a casino her friend was at. I couldn’t get her to understand that she was supposed to catch the bus on the other side of the street. Poor woman. I hope she figured it out quickly after I was gone. I figured out another bus going directly to the airport a 15 minute walk away. I barely caught that bus and the bus driver was rude because the thing that scans your mobile pass wasn’t working and my phone kept changing to “pay with visa” which was really annoying. Anyway I got to the airport and was relieved to find there were a lot of empty chairs pre-security. I slept there for like 3 hours. Then I caught my shuttle to St. George, Utah. I had a layover there for 5 hours. I was supposed to hang out with a friend who lives there during that time but I think she forgot because she was ironically at Disneyland that day (and we actually rode Incredicoaster the day before lol but didn’t do anything else because I had genie+ and she didn’t). So I mostly just sat around inside the shuttle stop for 5 hours except for when I went to eat somewhere. I finally got on the shuttle back home but they left someone behind and had to turn around after 10 or 15 minutes to get her. A few hours later I FINALLY got home. What a nightmare. Actually the cost between the Flixbus, St. George Shuttle, etc was actually more expensive than a flight would’ve been but they were vouchers from earlier separate travel plans that didn’t work out. So do I recommend traveling home this way? NOOOOOPEEEEE. Honestly I should’ve just wasted those vouchers and paid for a flight home.

 

[ColoradoLime]

Oh man, sorry these were so horrific!! Not the budget friendly type of fun anyone wants! lol

My travel home adventures the last 2 trips. Both nightmares.

 

[StormyCA]

Caffeine pills. I'm not even joking!

Hahahaha! 'NoDoz' got me and my friends through Grad Nite many, many, many years ago. Same in 1985 for the 30th Celebration all-nighter.

 

[NorthernCalMom]

Caffeine pills. I'm not even joking!

The nice thing about weaning myself off the week before and then having my patented go-go juice (hotel pod coffee plus Starbucks Via instant powder plus peanut butter for extra protein—I actually bring a purée stick just for that) on the first day in the early morning has been known to turn me into the rope drop energizer bunny…

 

[Piglet99645]

Don't know if it works anymore, but I would use the Target red card to get 5% off Disney gift cards. I would purchase several thousand in cards to pay for the room, tickets, and have them on hand to purchase food/gifts in the park. Combined with the good old AP discount, could save a chunck of money.

I still do this. I buy a Disney gift card almost every trip to Target. I spend almost no cash on vacation!

 

[Simba001]

So while many talk about bringing bottled water with you into the Parks to save money, we went one step further.
Since we fly down and rarely rent a car, we don’t typically stop to pick up extras between the airport and hotel. We decided to take advantage of the non-existent baggage fees (obviously this was a long time ago….). We purchased a case of water, in its cardboard tray and we’ll wrapped in plastic, and packed it away in a perfectly sized duffle bag. Our precious water became one of our checked pieces of luggage. When we arrived at the hotel bell service assisted us with our luggage. He stated ‘ You do know we have water here, right?”. I proceeded to tell him , “ Yes, but for the price of two bottles here, I have 24 ”.

 

[mich311e]

My son and I went last week and stayed at the Comfort Inn (300 E. Katella). It was about a 1.2-mile walk to the park. I got a great rate of just $210 after taxes and fees for 2 nights. That was about half of what I would have paid on Harbor Blvd with parking fees!

We only had 2 nights and checked in before noon on Tuesday (it was nice - off-season & mid-week, I didn't expect our room to be ready but it was!) and walked to the park. We stayed at DTD after closing so we were able to easily take a Toy Story Shuttle back which made our walk home only .6 mile. We walked on Wednesday morning but left right after park closing at 8 pm. The Toy Story shuttle lines were really long, it was cold and we'd been at the park for 12 hours so I got a Lyft at just $10. (Totally worth it!) Then on our check-out day, Thursday, we walked to the park and left at noon taking the Toy Story Shuttle back. I logged 30K steps on Tuesday and 34K steps on Wednesday!

But I was pleased with my $210 hotel bill for a quick Disneyland trip. We normally stay on Harbor (Desert Inn or Grand Legacy) but with shortened park hours it was fine to be farther away and walk.

 

[Lisa24jks]

My son and I went last week and stayed at the Comfort Inn (300 E. Katella). It was about a 1.2-mile walk to the park. I got a great rate of just $210 after taxes and fees for 2 nights. That was about half of what I would have paid on Harbor Blvd with parking fees!

We only had 2 nights and checked in before noon on Tuesday (it was nice - off-season & mid-week, I didn't expect our room to be ready but it was!) and walked to the park. We stayed at DTD after closing so we were able to easily take a Toy Story Shuttle back which made our walk home only .6 mile. We walked on Wednesday morning but left right after park closing at 8 pm. The Toy Story shuttle lines were really long, it was cold and we'd been at the park for 12 hours so I got a Lyft at just $10. (Totally worth it!) Then on our check-out day, Thursday, we walked to the park and left at noon taking the Toy Story Shuttle back. I logged 30K steps on Tuesday and 34K steps on Wednesday!

But I was pleased with my $210 hotel bill for a quick Disneyland trip. We normally stay on Harbor (Desert Inn or Grand Legacy) but with shortened park hours it was fine to be farther away and walk.

We've stayed at that hotel a lot too! (One time, back in like 2012, it was even $55 a night base fee, which is UNREAL.) It's clean and safe and the free parking is great. The walk is too long for us when we are trying to save our feet for the park, but the Uber/Lyft ride is cheap enough that is still cheaper than parking a car at the parks or at one of the more expensive hotels.

(We do miss the Del Taco that used to be across the street because it was great for late night snack when coming back from the park. And the new Cambria hotel really blocks the Fireworks view, but ah well, can't win 'em all.)

 

[mich311e]

We've stayed at that hotel a lot too! (One time, back in like 2012, it was even $55 a night base fee, which is UNREAL.) It's clean and safe and the free parking is great. The walk is too long for us when we are trying to save our feet for the park, but the Uber/Lyft ride is cheap enough that is still cheaper than parking a car at the parks or at one of the more expensive hotels.

(We do miss the Del Taco that used to be across the street because it was great for late night snack when coming back from the park. And the new Cambria hotel really blocks the Fireworks view, but ah well, can't win 'em all.)

Wow, that sounds like a great deal! Yes, the Comfort Inn was definitely clean and our room faced the freeway entrance but I didn't find it noisy at all. Walking in the morning and doing an Uber/Lyft does seem like a good plan if you don't need a mid-day break!

We stayed at the Cambria in October 2021 because we had 4 of us, it's very nice. Bummer about the Del Taco! We appreciated the close Starbucks and when we stayed in October my husband ate at the Mediterranean restaurant in that plaza and said it was amazing! The boys ate at The Habit Burger, we had only come for the Oogie Boogie Bash so we didn't have full park days.

 

[Banzai]

Well, we always stay off site. This is Disneyland. Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotel are...fine. They're nothing special at all. The Fairfield Inn is just as close. GC is amazing, but its still not worth the price of a St Regis.
I usually stay at Fairfield Inn or the JW. I get free breakfast with Marriott Platinum, so that saves us money. Usually, we can get by splitting meals though the day at QC, but I had gastric bypass and dont eat much.