Extremely budget trip ~ anyone else?

[FayeW]

Oh man, I forgot about Harry Potter opening! We are huge fans of HP, but aren't planning any trips in the near future. I would totally ditch one day at MK to spend 7 days at the Universal Parks for the same price, especially if you have a chance to do HP!

We've been doing 3-5 days at US/IOA since our first trip in '03. Our kids were 7 & 9 at the time and they loved it. The shows (Horror Make-Up Show & Beetlejuice Revue) are great. Oddly enough, our worst day of vacation always seems to be at DHS, and our best day is always at Universal. Have a great time no matter what you choose.

 

[KellyNY]

Last trip we used double burger trick. When you buy double burger and extra bun then split it all and add all the free toppings you want. It is much cheaper then 2 burgers. BTW, you can always make a salad out of toppings but they do not have it in every park/place.
We also bring lots of granolla(SP?) bars.
We also get cup-a-soup and instant oatmeal. They are pretty small and fit in bags perfectly. Then we use coffemaker to boil the water and have our breakfast and midnight snack.
We also refill water from water fountains.
I do not see any need in spending more when you can spend less.


and I have a question, what are e-points?

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Just a suggestion on 192. You might want to stick to the area where Westgate Vacation Villas, Orange Lake and all that is. You are right next to WDW so the drive isn't significantly longer than staying at some in park locations. IMHO Medieval Times is quite a haul from Disney.

When you look up a hotel on mapquest see where it is relative to the park. Entry Point Blvd/Sherberth Rd which is a back way to Animal Kingdom so being in this area isn't such a bad thing. Overall I'd start with mapquest first and figure out where you want to drive from. S. Apopka-Vineland & Hotel Plaza and the Lake Bryan area is also a good close spot to look. Now getting into that area at $199 for a week...that I can't say. Hotel board is a good place to see what's good.

The suggestion to do Universal is a good one. If you pick a hotel/resort with a good pool you can get Universal tickets for $99. If you haven't been there before there should be more than five things you enjoy seeing in each park. Just like Disney there are other things to see besides the headline attractions. And there is CityWalk at the end of the day. If you can come up with more money between now and your trip you can still go into WDW for one day (that is how you planned to work it?) as well as Universal instead of Typhoon/Blizzard.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Oh I forgot one of your questions!!!

We all enjoy shopping so there is always an outlet day/mall day in our trip. There are three areas that we hit...one VF outlet that has a Disney outlet store in it (or had...I haven't been to Orlando in quite a while), another at the end of I-drive over by Universal and then of course the Prime outlets near Disney. We also visit the regular mall since we find that different areas put different things on sale. You can get some really good deals on winter stuff in the south before the winter is over in the north (for example). And for some strange reason southern stores put fall merchandise in the stores in late July...so that means the summer stuff has to get cleared out.

 

[MagiKitty]

edandcolleen, we may have a bit of a mix-up here. I was the poster on the first page who recommended joining TGIFriday's club for coupons for free apps or meals. There is no cost to join these clubs, and they just send out coupons. For example, yesterday's coupon is B1G1 entree. It has nothing to do with point accumulation.

You do however, earn points everytime you eat a meal at Fridays. After earning 100 points, you get something free, I'm not sure of what. I haven't gotten to 100 yet!

Outback Steakhouse has a similar club. Just for joining, they sent me a coupon for a free appetizer. On my birthday, I also got another coupon. Just for joining, no strings.

Also, for example, there is an online site called MyPoints. They send you lots of email offers, and every one you click through you get 5 points. If you shop online, various websites through MyPoints, you get additional points. Like recently, if I boughts something from Lancome, I earned 500 points. After a certain accumulation, you can cash those points for gift cards at various restaurants, like Landrys, which I think that someone mentioned here.

MyPoints gift cards are not limited to restaurants, there are tons of other options. Depending on your usage, its pretty easy to get points quickly. I don't do that much online shopping, but just by clicking through emails I get about four to five $25 gift cards a year.

Hope this helped out your question.

 

[edandcolleen1995]

edandcolleen, we may have a bit of a mix-up here. I was the poster on the first page who recommended joining TGIFriday's club for coupons for free apps or meals. There is no cost to join these clubs, and they just send out coupons. For example, yesterday's coupon is B1G1 entree. It has nothing to do with point accumulation.

You do however, earn points everytime you eat a meal at Fridays. After earning 100 points, you get something free, I'm not sure of what. I haven't gotten to 100 yet!

Outback Steakhouse has a similar club. Just for joining, they sent me a coupon for a free appetizer. On my birthday, I also got another coupon. Just for joining, no strings.

Also, for example, there is an online site called MyPoints. They send you lots of email offers, and every one you click through you get 5 points. If you shop online, various websites through MyPoints, you get additional points. Like recently, if I boughts something from Lancome, I earned 500 points. After a certain accumulation, you can cash those points for gift cards at various restaurants, like Landrys, which I think that someone mentioned here.

MyPoints gift cards are not limited to restaurants, there are tons of other options. Depending on your usage, its pretty easy to get points quickly. I don't do that much online shopping, but just by clicking through emails I get about four to five $25 gift cards a year.

Hope this helped out your question.

Ahhhh that clears it up a bunch.. Thank you very much for the information.

 

[stacy347]

We have finally settled on dates (it's in May now) and an itinerary.
We have decided to stay at the Regal Sun in DTD ~ the benefits of being so close outweigh the $100-150 we'd save going further offsite for the week and we are still saving a huge amount over POR which is where our group of 5 would have ended up. I know it isn't the favorite DTD hotel of many but it will work for us.

So here is a breakdown of our plans for the week (I think we'll be quite busy and have a really good time for about 1/2 the cost of a normal trip).

Day 1 ~ we get to Florida, dinner (Rainforest Cafe GC from Mypoints) and maybe a show (AMC tickets from Coke Rewards) at Downtown Disney and go swimming

Day 2 ~ we're spending this day at DisneyQuest (we've all been dying to try this place, looks like a blast), the kids swear they want to stay here all day but if they get bored we'll head over to FW to check things out there

Day 3 ~ this day we're going to tour Animal Kingdom Lodge and their viewing area and we're having lunch there, back to Regal Sun for a swim and after that we're spending the evening at Disney's Boardwalk checking out the entertainment and shopping

Day 4 ~ this is DD's b-day and we're spending the day at Magic Kingdom (probably do the Plaza or Crystal Palace for lunch or dinner so I can order her a b-day cake)

Day 5 ~ spending this day at Blizzard Beach and then going over to the Polynesian to have a late dinner at Captain Cook's and watch the water parade and fireworks from the beach

Day 6 ~ breakfast and swimming, going to the Disney Character Outlet, then we have to hit the road


There are a few more things we want to do while we're there but we have to see if we have enough time ~ we want to try things on this trip that we haven't done before so we're trying to squeeze in a lot!

Once I started reading all the budget ideas on this board and a couple other places, I realized how much we could actually do for very little extra money.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and if anyone has anything to add to my itinerary, please feel free!

 

[edandcolleen1995]

Pm sent with idea