Going to Disney for Free!! A Disney Experiment!

[Corrine 1973]

Hi everyone!!

My name is Corrine and it has been a long time since I have been on the Dis but I am very excited about being back and being able to share the plans for my next trip.



As you can see that I am a mom with four kids but only one of them is going. That is right, only one. I have done this before. I took my eldest son in 2011 and my daughter in 2013. I was supposed to take my son in 2015 but I could not swing it financially. I couldn't swing it this year either but I have a plan in mind to go next May but more about that later.

So lets start with the cast of characters.

First of all there is me.



My name is Corrine and I am a 42 year old mom. I am currently between jobs but have a lead with helping a mom with her 2 disabled sons. I love reading, writing, singing, watching movies, and of course everything Disney. I have been a Disney fanatic for all my life but it really kicked in when I started planing our first trip in 2009 for my eldest sons Make a Wish trip. I also host a Disney facebook page and just started a blog.

Next is my son Aidan.





He is currently 8 but he will be 9 when we go. I love him very much but he is a handful. He had ADHD and sensory issues. I am a little worried about how he will be with all the stimulation the parks provide but I am sure we will figure it out before then. He loves Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, and all the Disney shows.

Right now we are planning on Going at the end of May in 2017. I am not sure where we will stay right now. Aidan would like to stay at the Pirate room but it depends on how much money I save. Just might end up staying at Pop. I would love to stay at AoA but I don't think he would be into staying in the Little Mermaid rooms.

So now that we have the basics down let me tell you a little about how I plan on paying for this trip. Not one cent is going to come out pocket. (or at least that is the plan). I plan on paying for the entire trip using apps, doing surveys, and selling items I make or don't need anymore. My goal is to save $3000. It is good stepping off point for a 7 day stay with base tickets, the regular dining plan, airplane tickets, spending money, and maybe a pirate make over if he wants one.

I even started a blog about my journey doing this. I got the idea when someone posted on a Facebook page about getting over $300 in Disney Gift Card with the Walmart Savings Catcher. I thought why not do a whole trip using these apps.

That is it for now. Until later stay kind and Dream Disney!!!

​

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Following along! More power to you on funding this trip with apps. I discovered Swagbucks through the Dis. I can't do it as actively as some, but even so I have earned over $200 for extra spending money on our trip.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Following along! More power to you on funding this trip with apps. I discovered Swagbucks through the Dis. I can't do it as actively as some, but even so I have earned over $200 for extra spending money on our trip.

Welcome
My first offical comment for my new PTR!!

That is great about the $200 dollars. Anything saved is a plus in my book. Can't wait to see how this experiment works and hope I can help a few people save some money.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Let me first apologize for my absence. My computer fell in a tub of water. It was my own fault for wanting to watch Netflix while taking a bath. The good news is that it was not on or plugged in and seems to be working fine. I did get a new computer with tax money though. Trying to get used to Windows 10.

Things have been trucking along. My two older children really want to accompany us on out Walt Disney Trip and I am going to try my hardest to accomidat them. My goal is to still earn the $3000 originally planned through the apps, surveys, and buying discounted Gift Cards. I hope to budget the rest with basic saving and Tax returns next year. I took my eldest son on his sister’s trip so I have promised my daughter that she will be the first added and her brother will only be added if I have the funds for us all.

So here is a little about our possible added cast of characters.

This is my only daughter Ameliya. She is currently 10 years old but she will be 11 (almost 12) during our planned trip. She has beet to Disney World 2 times. The last time was in 2012. She loves princesses but no longer wants to dress like one. She really likes my mini Tsum Tsum’s so I might have to buy her some for her birthday this year. Her favorite park is Magic Kingdom, her favorite attraction is Journey of the Little Mermaid, her favorite character is Tink, her favorite princess is Ariel, and her favorite color is blue.


My oldest is Liam. He is currently 13 years old but will be turning 15 during our trip. He has been to Disney 3 times. Matter of fact our first trip to Walt Disney World was all about him. He was granted a Make a Wish because he has Cystic Fibrosis. He is doing very well and just by looking at him you would not be able to tell he has this life threatening disease. He is currently very much into Anime and wants to go to Japan. He plays a lot of video games and games on my phone. Hope to be able to get him a phone for his birthday this year. His favorite park is Hollywood Studio’s, his favorite attraction is a toss up between Star Tours and Test Track, His favorite character is Donald Duck, he does not have a favorite princess, and his favorite color is Red.


So as I said on my original post I am planning on doing this trip with apps, surveys, selling stuff, and getting discounted gift cards. It has been about a month since I started and I am glad to say I have made a little bit of head way. I was able to get a $20 check from Shrink and someone gave me $5 for some old DVD’s I had so I turned around and purchased a $25 gift card. (I should have gotten it from Target but wasn’t thinking.) Yesterday I purchased another $25 gift card at Walmart using my Walmart Savings Catcher Money. Today I transferred $95 from my Ibotta app to Paypal and then sent that to my bank account. As soon as that clears I will purchase a $100 gift card with my red card.

That is already $150 dollars toward our Disney trip with out on cent coming out of my budget. It is a great feeling knowing that I will not have to go into debt to make this trip happen or do without things I may need. I have also decided to put away at least $10 aside a week and any change I might get to help bring the other 2 kids. I guess we will just have to see what happens.

Here is a link to the blog that I started. I have written about all the apps I am using.
I would love for you all to join me.
https://wordpress.com/posts/disneyforfreeblog.wordpress.com​

 

[Corrine 1973]

It's official. I have $150 on my Disney Vacation Account. Still a long way to go but it is a great start. Can't wait to add to it.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

$150 in a month is pretty fabulous. We just got enough to make ours $300, and should be able to earn another $50 before we go. Then we'll start accumulating for our 2019 trip to Disneyland!

 

[Corrine 1973]

$150 in a month is pretty fabulous. We just got enough to make ours $300, and should be able to earn another $50 before we go. Then we'll start accumulating for our 2019 trip to Disneyland!

That is fabulous. I hope you are able to reach your goal. You should be able to save a lot of money before your 2019 trip. If this all works out well I will start planning for a 2019 trip after this trip as well.

 

[Corrine 1973]

493 days until Disney!!​

With so many days still to go before out next Disney trip there is not much I can do but. . .plan!!
Scratch those plans and plan so more.
You know how it is. You everything wrapped up nice and neat on what you want and then. . .bam!!
Discounts come out and that Moderate resort ends up being cheaper than the Value at rack rate.
You have your Dining reservations all glued down and . . .Bam!!
Maybe we should try eating at Somewhere besides Boma this trip.
Nooooooo!! Anything but that.
And don't even get me started on Fastpass +. They didn't have that the last time I went so this will be a learning experience for me. Plus if I do bring my oldest son things will be a little diffrent with his DAS pass.

So here are my beginning plans, but do not take to much stock in them because they are bound to change.

I looked at my kids 2016-2017 school calander and there last day of school will be May 31, 2017. Right now I am thinking of the dates of June 1-7. That is a Thursday to Wednesday which might help me with my flights but I am not sure. I must admit that I am a little worried about going the day after the last day of school (especially if snow days are used next winter) and how tired they will all be. But then again the last day of school is a shorter day and I think it might be a good way to celebrate the end of school.

I used the current prices to get an idea of what everything will cost. I used rack rates anticipating the increase of package rates next year (it always happens right) and hopefully when the discounts come out I will be below the prices I am now getting. I have priced the package many different way. I have priced it with just me and my son and than added the other two kids. I have done it with Dining plan, with the Quick Service Plan, and without Dining Plan. I have also checked out prices at Pop Century and Port Orleans Riverside. In the end I have a headache.
But with all seriousness I have made a few decisions, so here they are.



June 1-7th, 2017
Disney's Pop Century Resort
1 Adult and 3 Kids 9, 11, and 15 at time of travel
Regular Dining Plan
Grand Total of $3773.06


I have also decided to add Memory maker if I can afford it. I might be the last thing I add but I really got my money's worth out of it last time and want to get it.



I also checked out flights for the same time this year to get an idea. The prices seem a little high to what I payed in the past but I hear that flights will be going down. Right now the flights would be $1369.84 but we have a lot of time to watch those prices. Not to mention the dates I want are not even released yet. Just makes me realize that I need to look into some Southwest discounts as well.
Always trying to save a buck.

So after reading a few PTR's last night the spreadsheet bug has hit me. I have made two of them. One is the Budget spreadsheet to keep track of how much money I have on my DSA, how I earned the money, and how much I actually spent compared to how much is on Disney Gift Cards. I also made a basic spread sheet with times and dates for the trip. Basically right now it just has which park I pan on going to each day which will probably change.

Well that is all my friends. Remember to live well and dream of Disney!!​

 

[twinsmama]

This is an excellent idea! I am considering using some of these sources to fund the next trip as well! Or well, to fund an upgrade to my dream resort--Poly!

 

[Corrine 1973]

This is an excellent idea! I am considering using some of these sources to fund the next trip as well! Or well, to fund an upgrade to my dream resort--Poly!

Welcome to my PTR!

Glad to have you here. I hope that my experiment helps you with your next Disney vacation. I don't know how well it will do yet but I am hoping for the best. I am so jealous that you are going to Disney Tomorrow. Hope you and the twincesses have a Magical time.

 

[allysetraskos]

Keep it up I am $300 since Dec by using apps & surveys!!!
I plan on doing a mom2mom sale & putting my profits in as well

 

[allysetraskos]

Another thing we have started is a change jar, every day we empty our change from our wallets into it.. So far its little but I'm hoping it will pile up! lol

 

[Paigevon]

You are amazing! I am going to have so much fun watching your progress! I wish I had thought of this and had longer to plan, we're using tax refund money and some savings to fund our trip in ~90 days but luckily my MIL/FIL are splitting the cost of the room, and we're 4 hours from Orlando so no flight. Best of luck to you, and I'm sure you've seen raise.com before but I leave it up on a tab and periodically refresh and have seen Disney gift cards (not Disney store!) for 5-6% off pop up occasionally!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Keep it up I am $300 since Dec by using apps & surveys!!!
I plan on doing a mom2mom sale & putting my profits in as well

Welcome to the thread.
That is amazing. Every cent counts right.

Another thing we have started is a change jar, every day we empty our change from our wallets into it.. So far its little but I'm hoping it will pile up! lol

I have a Disney change jar as well. I even decorated it. I just started emptying my change in there. Though in my defense son just gave me a bunch of change to buy an app for him and a friend gave me about $8 in quarters so I have about $16 in change.

You are amazing! I am going to have so much fun watching your progress! I wish I had thought of this and had longer to plan, we're using tax refund money and some savings to fund our trip in ~90 days but luckily my MIL/FIL are splitting the cost of the room, and we're 4 hours from Orlando so no flight. Best of luck to you, and I'm sure you've seen raise.com before but I leave it up on a tab and periodically refresh and have seen Disney gift cards (not Disney store!) for 5-6% off pop up occasionally!

Welcome to my thread.. If my experiment helps at least one person save some money I will consider it successful. Of course saving as much as I can will be good too.
There is a link to my blog in the signature that you can follow to read about all the apps I am using to save money. The second and third are the ones that list the apps and sites. I also just did a post on the Disney Savings Account.

Savings of the day. I went to the store today using all my apps. Forgot to do Shopkick and Checkpoints though because me son was sick and came with me. WIll need to sit down and see how much I think I will get back on Walmart Savings Catcher and Ibotta.

I also sold 5 bags of cloths to someone for $50. I probably could have gotten more if I sold by item but I didn't want to deal with it. Plus as I said earlier I have about $16 in change, got $4.55 from the recycling center for cans, and a friend gave me $15 for a favor I did for her. That is a total of over $85 dollars. $10 more dollars and I will deposit it in my bank and get another $100 gift card from Target.

 

[LindseyJo22]

Wonderful! We currently use Swagbucks to supplement our Disney trips - this year for food since we got APs in September. But I'm going to work on trying to pay for my hopeful 2017 Princess Half Marathon trip with SB and gift cards as much as I can I'll be watching, reading, and trying to get some tips!

 

[crochetlady]

I do swagbuck for gift cards too. Last time it paid for 3 nights at CSR! I've already started for our next trip even though we aren't sure if it will be summer of '18 of '19.

Since I have a baby I also do the target diaper gift card deals a lot. If I have to buy them anyway they may as well help pay our way back to Mickey!

 

[yeheyprincex2]

hello,
Very interesting experiment you are conducting. I signed up fro swag buck last year but never made it far. I think I will look at your link to how you will have. My husband would love it if I was savvy with money, I really do try but man, it work
We have a trip planned for December 2016 and I would love a little extra spending money with out adding to our budget.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Wonderful! We currently use Swagbucks to supplement our Disney trips - this year for food since we got APs in September. But I'm going to work on trying to pay for my hopeful 2017 Princess Half Marathon trip with SB and gift cards as much as I can I'll be watching, reading, and trying to get some tips!

Welcome. So glad to have you here. I have had a Swagbucks account for a long time but I haven't honestly used it much in the last couple of years. I have only started using it again. I am thinking of using it for Southwest Gift Cards. The $15 ones are on sale right now so I am hoping to get one of those. Have almost 1000 points.

I do swagbuck for gift cards too. Last time it paid for 3 nights at CSR! I've already started for our next trip even though we aren't sure if it will be summer of '18 of '19.

Welcome How exciting. I am sure you will be able to save a ton of money before 2018. I am going to start saving for my next trip as soon as this trip is all done.

Since I have a baby I also do the target diaper gift card deals a lot. If I have to buy them anyway they may as well help pay our way back to Mickey!

hello,
Very interesting experiment you are conducting. I signed up fro swag buck last year but never made it far. I think I will look at your link to how you will have. My husband would love it if I was savvy with money, I really do try but man, it work
We have a trip planned for December 2016 and I would love a little extra spending money with out adding to our budget.

Welcome to my PTR . I know what you mean about Swagbucks. I signed up for Swagbucks a long time ago but never really got into it. I was using another survey page (forgot the name) and tried to pull out my $100 through paypal and it wouldn't let me. My account wasn't verified and for some reason no matter how many times I try to verify my account it doesn't go through. Very frustrating. I have transfered money from other pages to Paypal and than to my account many times with no problem but those verifying amounts never seem to show up.
Good luck saving money for your December trip.

 

[jmccoy18]

Following!!!! We are saving up to pay in full for our trip too. I'm not using apps, but we are trying to put away any extra money we get (gifts, side jobs, etc...) into our DIsney saving s account and we also have a Disney change jar that we empty our pockets into; my DD1 especially likes it. We are also not having to pay for airfare because I have been saving my Delta skymiles for YEARS so we could get 4 tickets to MCO for free.

Good luck on your saving adventure and I look forward to following along with your planning updates

 

[cbeeindisney]

Following along!