DBF and I are poor, poor college students, so here's a few tips we used when we went down in May:
-Like another poster said, the suveniers at
Walmart are fantastic! They're less than half the price, and they're great for friends or family at home. We limited ourselves to 1 or 2 unique souveniers in the parks.
-We just had cereal for breakfast.. we're not big breakfast people to begin with. We had a fridge in our room, but even if you don't you can get milk and put it in the ice bucket with lots of ice.
-We had a kitchen in our room, so we made spaghetti the night we went to AK. Afterwords, we just had a milkshake at Ghardelli's (sooooo good!).
-I love using ziploc bags when we go to the parks. I don't like to get a locker, so i usually bring either a large purse or a small backpack with me. On water rides (Splash Mtn, Kali Rapids) I put my camera, cell phone, park ticket, and money (or anything else you don't want getting wet) into a ziploc and even if i come out soaked, all my electronics are bone dry!
-Another thing DBF and I (well, just me. if it were up to him to plan, we'd be out there in our underwear and snow boots) did before we went to the parks: we got a 12 pack of diet coke and a 12 pack of those mini bottled waters (pepsi, sprite, lemonade.. whatever your pleasure!) and put 2 cans of pop in a ziploc bag with ice, and 2 bottles of mini water in another with ice, and viola! It kept the drinks cold and saved everything else in my bag from getting wet. It saved us A LOT because we only bought drinks at full service restaurants (we only went to one or two).
-A very common thing is to share counter service meals if you're not a huge eater. We went to Casey's for lunch at MK and got a hot dog, fries, and those mini corn dog pieces. Under $10 for 2 people for lunch!
-Limit sitdown meals. We only had 3 FS meals.. California Grill, Crystal Palace, and the Coral one at Living Seas. Everything else was CS, in the room, or off property.
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