budget saving tips

[bubba's mom]

also, pins are kewl to collect. i buy them and wear them on my hat.

care to post a picture of that??

 

[macraven]

i don't have a digital camera.............heavy sigh.............wish i did as i would post a pic of everything....





yea, my hat is kewl with the pins. i lost some pins last year on the dueling dragon ride though. i was stupid.........

 

[bubba's mom]

i don't have a digital camera

Hint, hint......

 

[Seahag]

ok, I skimmed thru & didn't see this ~ Wendy's had cups that offer $20.00 off an annual power pass ( the one with no discounts & blackout dates)
It's good for florida & georgia residents ~ Sorry, I didn't look closely at the details (we already have AP's)


HTH!

 

[wdwnut61]

Great advice

As a Universal newbie, I appreciate all the helpful hints.

 

[macraven]

This is the website http://www.orlandoinfo.com/magicard/index.cfm?act=home

I got one years ago and never used it

Just checked it out and dont see any discounts using Magic Card for Universal or City Walk. There was a $5.00 of $20.00 for Hard Rock Cafe. Maybe I'm just missing it.

thanks for posting the link. i just cruised thru it and see they no longer have the discounts at UO or city walk. some years back they had it but no more.

if you eat off site, there are discounts with the card. i just saw planet hollywood discount on the site. that one suprised me.

 

[Ragman]

Well so far this is what we are planning to do to save some money.

We will be buying drinks with the refillable cups and cary the cups in our backpack.

We have already accumulated 6 movie and meal pass coupons from entertainment books.

We are buying a foam cooler and sandwich meats, bread,chips and sodas for lunches and snacks.

We have a fan club card which should get us some discounts in some of the shops.

We were thinking about AAA but wondering if they need to see ID with it cause my brother is a member and has AAA and said I could use his card while I'm there.

The Wendy's cups...ahh I remember that....people were selling them on ebay. Something was wrong with them though, I dont remember what. I'll have to ask my G/F I'm sure she remembers.

 

[macraven]

ragman, when i used my AAA card last year at circus mcgurkus resturant, all they did was punch in some numbers off my card. there did not ask for any id from me.

some places do ask to see your AAA card. at those places all they wanted to see is if you have it.

at 2 places (circus and capt america) they wrote down some number. i think it was the branch number from the card.

 

[Ragman]

So far we have found 6 coupons for the free movie and meal deal.

We picked up another passenger - My G/F's niece who would probably never get a chance to go to Universal without us. So I'm not stopping till I find 10 coupons so we can get two dinners for free.

 

[Eastbay]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned staying off site as a cost savings.

I always rent a house as opposed to a hotel, on or off site. Go with at least one other family and split the cost of the house.
I have went with as many as four other familes, split the cost of the house and have never paid more than $400 U.S. dollars. That's for seven days in a beautiful private home, with game room, pool & sauna. A bedroom for everyone and room for the kids to move - unlike in a hotel room. The usual distance from the MK is two to five miles.
Go to the grocery on your first day. Eat a big brekfast and take snacks for the day.

 

[macraven]

off site is an option but many of the universal groupies lean towards the on site hotels

when i go on vacation, i don't drive unless i am forced to.
staying off site requires renting a car if you fly to orlando and fighting the traffic.

sometimes it is a trade off for what is important to you.

for me, no driving, no traffic, and not getting lost in the city.

 

[tricky1]

I know what your saying macraven, onsite at universal is addictive once you try it its like finding a hidden treasure over and over again.
I'm only a 6 hour drive away so I have a car when we stay, but not having
to drive is just great and as for getting lost...I've never been lost there
I always know I am in Orlando


It did take me about an hour once to go to publix and back

 

[bubba's mom]

off site is an option but many of the universal groupies lean towards the on site hotels

....for me, no driving, no traffic, and not getting lost in the city.

 

[RevBob]

5. Order pizza in from Flippers if you don't have a rental car.

Will be our first time to Universal. Maybe this was answered allready, but I couldn't find it. Where is and what is Flippers? What are their prices? How do you find out about their menu choices, etc? Thanks.

 

[macraven]

flippers is a resturant that has great pizza.

one of the guys that posts a lot has a great deal of info on it.

it might be robiva that has the 411 on it.

he will clue you in if he is the dude i am thinking of that has the info.

i don't live in the area but found flippers thru one of the posts on the forum some years ago.


they deliver to the hotel lobbies.

 

[bkw86]

I'm just moving this so its on this thread.

I have gotten lots of tips here. I have several of the movie and meal deal coupons, since i will be there 9 days I think I will use them 1 per day maybe if i can get away with it. Robvia's site has lots of tips, using cooler etc. One I plan to use for sure is ordering pizza from Flippers (I had not known you could do this, always just ordered in the hotel before.) Since we are taking 3 boys (12,12 and14) I think we will be doing this a LOT! Another one someone posted on here was the tickets thru costco.com. I was nervous about it , but ordered them. 3 month passes for 84.99$!!! I got 4 of those and I also ordered the annual pass thru them as it was a 15 month pass instaed of just 12 (same price as website 179.99$) shipping was only 12$, which is less than universal web site. (no option to pick these up at the kiosk tho, have to have them delivered, so you need several weeks lead time). It took 8 days for them to arrive and I was sweating it a bit. I am checking regularly (actually daily LOL) to see if the AP rates go down for my dates. I am going in June so I'm not sure if it will happen as its such a popular time, but I'm hopeful. I think I can save the cost of the pass (diff in cost would be 95$) in t-shirt discounts and food alone probably, (5 of us, I'm sure we'll each get at LEAST 2) even if I dont get a lower rate. One of the best tips is to be sure to take your AAA card or AP in the parks with you every time, since you get discounts with these for food almost everywhere. I carry mine in my lanyard with my ticket and room key. Another kind of basic but handy tip is to split meals, I know I never really eat an entire meal at lunchtime so I figure I will split with my BF instead of wasting $$$ on that. Thats all I can think of right now!

Thanks for the tips. Do you have to be a member of Costco to buy the tickets. I'm a member of SAM's club. Also, you mentioned carrying your tickets and AAA card in a lanyard. Where is a good place to purchase the lanyards?

 

[tcoy67]

what is an AP card?
Thanks
Tracey

 

[Sylvester McBean]

what is an AP card?
Thanks
Tracey

AP = Annual Pass. it's good for resort, food and beverage, merchandise discounts. it also gives you free parking in the deck and unlimited access to the parks, plus other perks.

 

[macraven]

Thanks for the tips. Do you have to be a member of Costco to buy the tickets. I'm a member of SAM's club. Also, you mentioned carrying your tickets and AAA card in a lanyard. Where is a good place to purchase the lanyards?

1. do not have to be a member of costco to buy their tickets. you do pay a surcharge if not a member though.

2. i have 3 lanyards.
bought one in the fishing department at walmart. very efficient and cost .99
bought one in walmart that has velcro to close the clear plastic case.
bought one while at universal park. got it last hhn for $3.50 in the big store there. this one is more like a wallet, velcro fastening and holds more.

 

[rcraw45425]

I just found this thread while searching "refillable mugs" and now have a lot more useful info. Thanks guys, I concider myself a WDW expert but a US/IOA rookie. After all this new info, my family is beginning to feel a lot better about US/IOA. I feel the lure of the "Dark Side"