First trip in 2 years and we are going FREE!!

[MAGICX2]

I just had to share this!! This will be the first trip we have taken with the kids (DS9, DD6) to WDW in two years and it is costing us NOTHING!!
We are going Dec.10 thru Dec.19. We are staying 1 night at CBR in a Pirate Room, then moving to OKW Studio Dec. 11-14, then BWV 1 Bedrm Dec.14-16. Then we are leaving on a 3 night Disney Cruise on Dec. 16 returning on Dec. 19. Here is the budget breakdown:

We cashed in all of DH's Priority Club points for $100 Walgreen's giftcards.
Then we took the Walgreen's cards and purchased Disney gift cards. We bought enough Disney cards to completely pay for:
the room at CBR
the 3 night cruise (including our tips)
and the Deluxe Dining Plan!!
We also saved up our Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards flights and we are all flying free!

Now, I realize we pay for our DVC stay, but it is nothing out of pocket for us right now. SO....the only thing we will need money for is incidentals and souveniers AND we still have time to cash in Priority Club points for a few more gift cards! I am so super excited that we were able to do it this way. It is the first time I will be able to vacation with the kids without having to say "No you can't have that." every time I turn around because we are pinching pennies just to be there.

 

[Micday]

Wow!!

I'm impressed, you guys did a great job!

I hope you have a great time. We did a 7-night in 08, LOVED IT!!

Have fun............


Michelle

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

That's amazing!

 

[Green Tea]

that is very cool. How many points did you have????? I have a ton of Marriott points and can't ever seem to use them for Marriotts. I should see if I can finagle something like this. Very very cool.

 

[KJay]

Wow! I didn't think you could use giftcards to purchase other giftcards. That's amazing! Congrats on your deal.

 

[MAGICX2]

Well, we didn't cash in all at once, but it took about 700,000 points for the cruise. My DH travels all over the country and always stays at HI Express or HI so the points rack up fast. The points we used for the cruise, the first night stay and the Deluxe Dining Plan have only been earned since the beginning of 2010. So, in about 9 months we accumulated 1,000.000 points! We also have cashed in for $600 in Sunshine Rewards Disney Gift Cards and had $100 Disney Visa Rewards. Walgreen's cards are 38,000 points for a $100 card. We needed 19 for the cruise, 1.5 for the CBR stay, and 9 for the dining plan.

 

[MAGICX2]

Wow! I didn't think you could use giftcards to purchase other giftcards. That's amazing! Congrats on your deal.

You can at Walgreen's, but it has to be for the exact amount. Can't buy a $500 gift card with 5 $100 cards, but you can buy 5 $100 cards with 5 $100 cards. Hope that makes sense.

 

[swilshire]

I have a ton of Marriott points and can't ever seem to use them for Marriotts.

I love to use Marriott points when we travel for stop over nights. Used one last weekend and three nights back in June when we went to Nova Scotia.

My only problem is that travel has been mostly cut out at work and I'm going to run out of points.

Sheila

 

[Green Tea]

I love to use Marriott points when we travel for stop over nights. Used one last weekend and three nights back in June when we went to Nova Scotia.

My only problem is that travel has been mostly cut out at work and I'm going to run out of points.

Sheila

I saved a ton to use for full vacation club stays but they never allow the use then. They may say no blackout days, but they sure have black out days.

 

[MEM]

I just had to share this!! This will be the first trip we have taken with the kids (DS9, DD6) to WDW in two years and it is costing us NOTHING!!
We are going Dec.10 thru Dec.19. We are staying 1 night at CBR in a Pirate Room, then moving to OKW Studio Dec. 11-14, then BWV 1 Bedrm Dec.14-16. Then we are leaving on a 3 night Disney Cruise on Dec. 16 returning on Dec. 19. Here is the budget breakdown:

We cashed in all of DH's Priority Club points for $100 Walgreen's giftcards.
Then we took the Walgreen's cards and purchased Disney gift cards. We bought enough Disney cards to completely pay for:
the room at CBR
the 3 night cruise (including our tips)
and the Deluxe Dining Plan!!
We also saved up our Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards flights and we are all flying free!

Now, I realize we pay for our DVC stay, but it is nothing out of pocket for us right now. SO....the only thing we will need money for is incidentals and souveniers AND we still have time to cash in Priority Club points for a few more gift cards! I am so super excited that we were able to do it this way. It is the first time I will be able to vacation with the kids without having to say "No you can't have that." every time I turn around because we are pinching pennies just to be there.

What sort of park tix did you buy? I don't see them on your list?

 

[cepmom]

Awesome! I never would have thought of cashing in for the Walgreen's cards! Genius! DH travels a lot for work as well, but stays mostly at Choice hotels. I have cashed in for Southwest points before and used some of the points for hotel stays here and there. I just checked to see what stores I could cash out for to see if I could do the samething but they do not offer Walgreens. they do offer Kmart though so I am going to look into Kmart to see if they sell Disney gift cards...if they do that would be awesome!

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

That's great!

For nearly 13 years DH traveled and stayed at Marriott 3 nights a week (he's Platinum for life-lol.) We converted Marriott Rewards to cruise certificates and that is how we are doing our DCL Dream cruise in Feb. I also have a timeshare I bought for cheap in the Pocono's that used to be my Nana's- annual fees are low and I exchange it for a 2 br villa at Marriott Harbour Lake and split all the expenses (Interval membership and exchange fee) with my parents. That is the ONLY way I can do Disney as often as I can!

 

[MAGICX2]

What sort of park tix did you buy? I don't see them on your list?

Sorry, Forgot to mention the park tix. We each have a park ticket that has 4 days of PH left on them from a previous trip and we all have Give a Day, Get a Day tickets to make up the 5th day. We were moving when I found them. I thought I had lost them and was about to purchase tickets when I found them in a binder of info I stashed away for the scrapbook!

 

[In Love with Grumpy]

WOW. Way to go on the savings!!!!

That is so awesome. You should do a pre-trip report (if you haven't yet). I'm sure you'll get a lot of followers.

 

[Marionnette]

Congratulations. Im kinda jealous of you and of 29apr00 (the poster who had a ton of disney gift cards from a rewards program). I always wondered whether I could do a "free" trip but I dont think I could pool enough of them together.

 

[beaucoup]

Not only did I not know about this, I probably wouldn't have even thought of it had I known. WOW. Nice job!