Going to Disney for Free!! A Disney Experiment!

[ariane37]

Following! Love your plan, it sounds so interesting and it seems to be working great so far! I have a friend who's one of those crazy grocery store coupon ladies you see on the tv show "Extreme Couponing" lol. She gets like $500 worth of groceries for free using coupons. No idea how she does it, she tries explaining it to me and it goes right over my head
Good luck to you! Interested to see how each month goes

 

[Corrine 1973]

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

Glad you found me. I hope you enjoy my PTR. I am jealous that you have enough points to earns Delta tickets. I am not even close with my Southwest points. Hopefully someday. And after this trip we will be one step closer.

Following along!

Glad to have you along on this journey.

 

[Corrine 1973]

So lets see where we are in our savings goals. I always go through the weekly adds to see what is on sale that I might need in the next month to try to get back the most I can through Walmart Savings Catcher. I also go through all my adds and coupons (if I got them that week) and see what is available there. Especially if there are rebates for the same item on separate apps. I make a list of everything. I know the sales price of the items at other stores and compare to prices at Walmart (sometime Walmart prices are still cheaper) and what Rebates are offered for each app. This makes it a lot easier when I get home.

When I get to the store I pull out my phone to get my Shopkicks. I will also see what scans are available for Shopkicks and Checkpoints. When I get home I enter everything into my apps and take pictures of the receipts. I also take a picture of the receipt for Receipt hog and earn those points. Lastly I enter my receipt info into the savings catcher to get that money back.

I went shopping on Thursday. Aidan didn't feel good so I kept him home but he was felling good enough to go with me. But since he was sick earlier I didn't get my points from Shopkicks or Checkpoints except for my walk in kicks. I am kind made at Checkpoints right now anyway because they owe me a $100 Walmart gift card for about a month now. I would really like to turn it into a Disney Gift Card.

So here is my savings on Thursday:

Ibotta- I got $16.50 back through rebates, $2 for completing February level 2 bonus, and $3 for completing the Awards Night bonus. That is a grand total of $21.50. I currently have $39.15 on this app and will transfer the money to paypal when I get $95 to use at Target for another Disney Gift Card
Checkout51- I got back $4.50 with this app. If you use slimfast this is a great app to get back some extra cash. $1 for Slimfast Advanced shakes, powder, snacks, and bars. And you can get 2 of each a week. My current total on this app is $31. I will request a check when I reach at least $47.50.
Shopmium- This app is a little different because what ever rebate you receive goes directly back into your account so keep track. Right now they offering a rebate on Farmrich Smokehouse items. You can get $2.50 for 2 or $1 for one. I did just the one this week because I still have one from last week. So that is another $1 plus the $2.50 from last week is $3.50.
Walmart Savings Catcher- I don't yet what I am getting back there. According to my list about $10 but sometimes they find items I didn't see. I did find a receipt in the parking lot and that one and got $.51. Bonus to me. I always transfer the money to my bluebird card and when I get enough buy a Disney GC. I currently have $15.10 on my card. Not sure if I will wait until I get to $50 to get the gift card (they have them at my Walmart now) Or just get it when I reach $25. Decisions decisions.

I also got money from a friend for taking her to the gas station for some stuff and used that to buy a couple things at Goodwill. Several Disney items that I will share pics with you later and a couple of stuffed animals that I plan to sell on a facebook page for $5 each and then put in my Disney fund jar. I also got $50 from my friend for helping her get her son out of bed in the morning (he has CP). I asked my son what we should do with it and he said put it in the Disney Fund!!!!

That is it for now. Sorry this post has been really boring. I will post some pics from Disney on Ice that we were able to go to in January. Hope that will keep you all around longer. But for now here is a pretty picture from a very talented artist Quan Chung.

​

 

[Corrine 1973]

Following! Love your plan, it sounds so interesting and it seems to be working great so far! I have a friend who's one of those crazy grocery store coupon ladies you see on the tv show "Extreme Couponing" lol. She gets like $500 worth of groceries for free using coupons. No idea how she does it, she tries explaining it to me and it goes right over my head
Good luck to you! Interested to see how each month goes

Almost missed you. I have a cousin who does the couponing but I can't seem to get the hang of it. I have tried to do it but I honestly do not save much there but it is nice when I have a coupon for something I want to buy and save even more money. I think what I do takes less time then what they do every week. Plus I don't have room for 20 bottles of toothpaste in my house right now. lol I do know a girl on facebook who uses couponing to get shampoo and stuff like that. She buys a ton and then sells if for cheap on Facebook. That might be a good idea if I could figure it out.

 

[Corrine 1973]

It is official!! I currently have $250 in my Disney Savings Account!! I am about 1/16 of the way there.

 

[LindseyJo22]

It is official!! I currently have $250 in my Disney Savings Account!! I am about 1/16 of the way there.

Woo hoo!!

I'm pretty happy that I've got $50 in my Swagbucks account and am very close to another $25

I never was able to get much from ibotta and other apps, but I might have to check them out again Sounds like you're doing great so far!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Things have been crazy around here this last week and I have had this horrible cough for about a month now and it is kicking my butt. Been plugging away though and happy to say that my Disney Vacation Account has increased to $450.00.

I was finally able to cash in my Disney Change jar that was full of change and money from selling stuff around the house that I do not need. That got me to $95 which I used to buy a Disney Gift Card at Target yesterday. Today I finally got my $100 gift card for Walmart from Checkpoints. It has been over a month since I earned enough points for it but it seemed to get lost in my email because I never received it. I had to contact them to let them know that I didn't get it so they could send it again. I finally got it today and used it to get 2 $50 gift cards for Disney.

Sorry but that is it for now. Going to try to go to sleep early tonight to maybe finally get rid of this cold. I do promise to come back sometime this weekend for those Disney on Ice pics.

 

[LindseyJo22]

I finally got it today and used it to get 2 $50 gift cards for Disney

Woo hoo!! Seems like you're really making progress I love it! Hope the cough gets better though - I hate those lingering things :/

Disney on Ice sounds so fun! I need to keep a lookout for one near us

 

[Corrine 1973]

I basically stole this from my recent blog post but I wanted to share it here as well.


Disney Memories!!

As the years go by I have come to realize something. It is the things that we did as a family that we will remember and not the toys we received that we will remember most. I honestly can’t tell you what toys I got for my eighth birthday but I remember my dad had friends in town and took us to Great America and Chicago that summer. Even if we can’t remember specifics we pull out those pictures and the memories come flooding back.

My son proved this point just recently. He was only 2 when we went to Disney for the first time. Just the other day I was looking through the pictures and he started looking at them with me. “I remember that.” He said next to me and then proceeded to tell me what we were doing. He even admitted that he did not remember much until looking through those old pictures. Now he is even more excited than before.

Our first trip to Walt Disney World was through Make a Wish, so it was even more special. We were able to stay at Give Kids the World, received tickets to Disney, Universal, and Sea World. Make a Wish even let us chose one special event to go to and since we were going on September 13 we chose to go to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Our trip was filled with Pixie dust even before we left to go to Florida. Our family was chosen to participate in something called the Big Give. People who didn’t even know us sent my family treats, toys, and handmade outfits to make our trip even more special. I became good friends with a woman at the Disney Store who helped me make Dining reservations for our trip. She was awesome and I am so glad she helped me because at the time I was very overwhelmed.

The pixie dust continued at the airport. There was a long line at American Airlines to check in but as soon as an employee saw our Make a Wish t-shirt they pulled us to another line and opened it just for us. It was a good thing to because our limo got lost and we were running a little late.

Give Kids the World was incredible. If you have never heard of them I encourage you to check them out. It is a resort facility just for kids who make wishes to go to Walt Disney World, Universal, or Sea World and through them we received tickets to all three!!! They also have several parties throughout the week such as Christmas (with snow, presents, and of course Santa), the Candyland party, and lots more. The kids were also able to ride a horse, meet Characters from different parks in the morning, mini golf, and eat ice cream whenever they wanted. Yes, even for breakfast!!! When we got to the villa there were gifts waiting for us on the table and treats for us in the refrigerator. Plus, ever night we got back from the parks there was more gifts waiting for us on the table.




We spent the first day just hanging out at the resort and relaxing. The next day we headed to Hollywood Studio’s. My son really wanted to fight Darth Vader. Now this was not planned and it wasn’t part of his wish but he had been talking about for months. So when my brother (who went with us) took him on Star Tours I asked a CM how to get my son picked for the Jedi Training. At the time they chose from the audience and it was hit or miss if he would get picked. When she saw my Make a Wish pin she asked me to wait for a second and went back stage to talk to someone. More pixie dust!! He would be able to go on stage to fight Darth Vader!!



Later that night we left Hollywood Studio’s to head to Magic Kingdom only to see Spectromagic. It was the only time during our trip that we would be able to see it and I wanted to see it. It is a good thing to since it is the only time I have been able to see it. My favorite memory is when the float with Mickey came around the corner and Aidan (who was 2 at the time) started screaming “Mickey!!” It brought tears to my eyes.

The next day was the Halloween party so we decided to go to Sea World in the morning, go back to the resort for a rest, and then head to the party. We only stayed at Sea World for a little bit. We were able to touch the dolphins and feed them. We also saw the sting rays and one jumped out of the water thinking we were going to feed them. The Shamu show was amazing though the long bridge in the sun was not.



We went back to the resort and while my brother stayed with my napping 2-year-old, me and the two older kids went to play mini-golf and ride their kiddie train. It was then back to Magic Kingdom wearing their costumes for the Halloween Party. It was amazing!!! Boo to You parade and Hallowishes would be well worth the extra cost in my opinion and I would love to go again. I also heard from a friend that the Jack Sparrow on the float was played by none other than Johnny Depp himself. My picture is too small for me to verify it though. Wiped out we headed back to the resort for a good rest.



The next day we headed back to Magic Kingdom and soaked in as much magic as we could. We first ate breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and took the monorail over to Magic Kingdom. I honestly do not remember much from that day. We had a lot of fun and rode on a lot of rides. We ended up going back to the resort early because we were tired from the day before.


On Thursday we headed to Universal Studios. Fist let me tell you that the walk from the parking lot to City Walk is looooong. There are several trams but it still seemed to take forever. We mainly went to Dr Seuss land because we had the young kids but was able to do on the Jurassic Park ride and a few others. At one point we did the Spiderman ride and I thought we would have to baby pass it but they let my 2 year on. In hindsight they should not have. We headed back to the park early to enjoy the Christmas Party at Give Kids the World that night.



We had an early flight on Saturday so Friday was the last day at the parks. I didn’t want to miss any of the parks so we went to Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon. Some magic at Animal Kingdom was my son was chosen to be the animal sound at the beginning of the trip. All three of the kids were chosen to be in parade during the show.



We had lunch reservations at Akurshas Story Book Dining so we then headed there. My daughter was tired and had a meltdown waiting for our reservation. Belle was very patient with her when it was our turn and even helped her put the shoes on that she had kicked off. She loved seeing all the princess but I think my son was less than impressed and my brother decided to be the photographer. After lunch we went on Soarin’ and were about to leave when I convinced my brother to sit with my 2-year-old so me and the two older once could find some characters in World Showcase. We were only supposed to be gone about 30 minutes but about an hour later we found our way back. Oops. But we had some great memories. Especially with Belle and my daughter.

The next morning, we sadly packed our bags and headed back to the airport for our flight home. We were sad but tired. The last bit of pixie dust was that they gave my kids wing pins. The trip was amazing and no matter how many time I go to Disney World it will never compare to that trip.

Thank you for joining me on my trip down memory lane. I hope you enjoyed it.

Savings updated:

Goal: $3000.00

On Gift Cards: $450.00

One Apps: $138.20

Remaining: $2550.00​

 

[Corrine 1973]

First of all I am very excited because my youngest son turned 6 on Saturday. It seems like just yesterday that he entered this world.

He was almost 14 weeks premature and was only 2lbs 4oz when he was born. He was in the hospital for exactly 14 weeks and fought the entire time he was there. He has come a long way in his 6 years. Unfortunately he will not be able to go with us this trip but we are already talking about his trip in 2019!!


In planning news I have picked out the basic Table service restaurants for our trip. Of course they will probably change several times between now and June 2017 but this is what we got so far.

Day One
Arrival Day
Early flight and check into resort
Some pool time
Early Dinner at Boma
Than head to Hollywood Studios


Day Two:
Head to Magic Kingdom
Dinner at Be Our Guest


Day Three:
Back to Hollywood Studio's
Dinner at Mama Melrose
I asked him if he wanted to try 50's Prime Time Cafe but he is scared of it.


Day Four:
Animal Kingdom
Breakfast at Tusker House


Day Five:
Epcot
Dinner a Teppan Edo
this will be a first for the family


Day Six:
Magic Kingdom
Breakfast at Crystal Palace


Day Seven:
Epcot
breakfast at O'hana
though I am thinking of changing to Kona
​

 

[jmccoy18]

Those table meals sound yummy! I have never eaten at any of them, but for our upcoming trip we are planning on Tusker House and O'hana.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

We switched our ADR from 'Ohana to Kona, too! Last time we went to to 'Ohana, it was a delicious breakfast and we had excellent character interactions, but it took about 40 minutes past our reservation time to be seated. I am quite sure that's because people want to enjoy all that yummy food and play with Stitch and Lilo! I haven't tried Tonga Toast yet, so we are going to try there instead.

 

[cajunfan]

I remember that Wish Trip! I made some tshirts...and if I am not mistaken, I think I made my very first pair of easy fit shorts for Liam...in a red mickey head print. (I think it was for him) Anyway, can't believe it has been that long ago!

Great job in the savings!

 

[lbuzz52]

I am really impressed with you totals so far. I need to do this! We do a couple of similar things for our trips but no where near what you are doing. I put up money from garage sales or selling outgrown clothing. I ask for a Disney gift card anytime someone asks what I want for a gift. And I save my money from ebates and those sorts of sites.
Keep up your good work!

 

[johnaalexis]

Officially following along!!! I am completely captivated and inspired by this PTR and I can't wait to see it play out!!! You've inspired me to open up my own Disney savings account for a September 2017 trip with my family and taking my fiancé who HAS NEVER BEEN!!! He is so excited since he recently got bitten by this Disney bug! We are going to Universal this fall and when he does research about Universal, he often finds Disney things and gets heartbroken when I tell him that isn't where we are going... this year!

Can't wait to see what your next update!!!

 

[Corrine 1973]

So let me apologize to anyone who might have been following along. I have fallen a little of the edges of the world this last year. Things were really bad for a while. My roommate was not paying the house taxes and I suddenly found myself with no where to live. It was a hard couple of months but as of September my kids and I are in our own place and are slowly getting back on track. I believe I have about $900 on gift cards but I need to look through it all and get back into to grove. It did look like I would have to postpone for a year but I am thinking I will be OK. All the money I had saved was already on GC's and while that would have been nice to use for Christmas I am glad I still have it for Disney. (kids will remember a trip much more than another toy). Plus a good friend of mine is going with us. She works for Disney and is able to get a discount on the rooms. Only thing is the date is changing from May until probably August. Not officially booked yet but soon. Hoping to go for my birthday on August 13. Will do a better update tomorrow (or later today). Until then. . .I am going to Walt Disney World this year!!!

I remember that Wish Trip! I made some tshirts...and if I am not mistaken, I think I made my very first pair of easy fit shorts for Liam...in a red mickey head print. (I think it was for him) Anyway, can't believe it has been that long ago!

Great job in the savings!

Hey cajunfan, good to see you. Sorry it took so long to respond. I remember the cloths you made. I need to review the pics but I think the shorts were for Aidan. (could be wrong) If it was the ones I am thinking of my youngest Rylan still wears them. He is almost 7 but is tiny enough to still fit.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Good afternoon my Disney Peeps a welcome to another addition to our Disney 2017 vacation.

So as I said in my last post things have been difficult since about May of last year and my Disney planning took a back burner to figuring that out. But it being a new year we are going to put that in the past and move forward.

I just checked my spread sheet (yes I already have spread sheets for about everything!!!) And according to my data I have $900 in gift cards already saved!! I don't know about you that is a huge number for me. I still have some money to save but I am very close to where I want to be even after taking a few months off.

I have a little on Ibotta right now but am going to start using it more that things are not so stressful. I am almost to enough points for a $30 paypal withdrawl for ReceiptHog (not a lot of work with that one but dang it takes forever for a pay out) and need to start entering my receipts on Savings Catcher. Come on Corrine it is not like you are there almost ever day. (oh wait I am. But only because I work there. ) I also have $40 on Gift Cards for Target and am seriously thinking of using that with Ibotta money to get my next $100 Disney Gift Card. So before you know it I will have $1000 saved. Well at least hopefully by the end of the month at least.

So now talk about the elephant in the room. No not Dumbo, but our vacation changes. There was a very real time last summer when I thought I would have to post pone my trip a year. I was trying to stay positive but things looked grim that I would be able to save enough money to go. But then my guardian angel walked in. I meet her while planning our first trip to Disney. I had no clue what I was doing and she helped my make Dining reservations. We have been friends ever since. I received a PM from her on facebook saying that she wanted to go to Disney World with us. OK, great. The more the merrier but that is when she gave the best early Christmas gift ever. As a cast member at the local Disney Outlet she gets a discount on up to two rooms as long as she is one of the party. So I will already be saving hundreds right there. But she didn't stop there. She also gets 3 people in for free to the parks as long as we all stay together. And also has additional tickets so I will not have to buy any park tickets all. We are still trying to figure out the food situation. We might add it closer to the trip or just do OOP. She might even get a discount there but I don't want to be greedy. She is helping more than she can imagine already.

So the only problem (and it is a tiny one) is that cast members are only allowed to use their discounts at certain times of the year. So while the trip has not been officially booked (I hope we can do it soon. This one face is driving me crazy!!!) We are looking at late July or early August. I suggested sometime around August 13 since it is my birthday so we are going for around that date. I will probably change my signature to a more accurate countdown but it will change again one I have exact dates.

I am doing laundry at the Laundromat right now so I will do a more in depth savings goal when I get home. Until then

It is just a Plan. A Disney Plan

(sorry I have been watching a lot of game/film theory on YouTube)
Talk to you all later.​

 

[MK2010]

So I popped over after seeing your comment on my PTR. OH MY GOSH! I AM IN LOVE!. I love this whole idea! I love how dedicated you are to it! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. So I'm definitely following along I'm rooting for you AND I think its GREAT that your friend is going along and sharing her discounts. Pixie dust before you even arrive!

 

[Corrine 1973]

So I popped over after seeing your comment on my PTR. OH MY GOSH! I AM IN LOVE!. I love this whole idea! I love how dedicated you are to it! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. So I'm definitely following along I'm rooting for you AND I think its GREAT that your friend is going along and sharing her discounts. Pixie dust before you even arrive!

Welcome MK2010

So glad you can join us here. Thank you for rooting for my family and I agree. I have the best Disney friend ever. She is awesome and I can't wait to go to Disney with her.

 

[Corrine 1973]

So looking at my budget this is what I came up with:

Pop Century room August for August 11-17th is $960.78. So just to be safe we will say $500 for the Room.
I am saying about $1500 for food for the 4 of us but we can play around with that and do more quick services if we need to. I love my Table services though so I will see what I can do. So the grand total to save is $2000 for the trip and any extra for some goodies. I just priced out flights. Prices are looking better but they do not have these dates available so I am not sure yet. It looks like 4 adult round trip tickets out of Chicago on Southwest will cost me about $1000. I will use my tax money to pay for this one. So this is what we have now.

Disney Budget- $2000
On gift cards- $900
On Apps- $103.76
Target Gift Card- $40
Amount left to save- $966.24