How do you save while on vacation?

[martinolichfamily]

We saved change in a jar from vacation to vacation. We cash in the change and split it between the girls for spending $.

We do the same and put on gift cards for the kids spending $...once it's gone, it's gone! We also are staying at desert palms to have a hot breakfast each morning so that we just have to worry about lunch and dinner. We also will be taking snacks and water or gatorades in the parks with us too.

 

[Malcon10t]

We usually work on budgeting before the vacation to figure out what we will want, then save on things at home to make sure we have that in our budget. We do stay offsite, simply because we prefer our hotel. When my kids were little, I used to ask them where they wanted to stay, DLH or one of the offsite hotels. Their answer was always the same, and made me realize what they wanted. "Where ever we can stay and spend more time in the park, and eating park food."

We do share meals, more because we like to graze when we eat. We will get a salad, bread, and chicken fusilli and 3 of us share. We also get a hot breakfast at the hotel, so that usually takes care of one meal a day, but once a trip, we do love Carnation Cafe.

 

[azdisneylover]

We are staying onsite at the DLH and our vacation will last from June 9th - 17th (w/2 of those days spent in SD).
We are willing to splurge a bit as we are celebrating DD2's 4th bday during this trip. I do want to try to be as practical as possible (as I DO need to pay off all the expenses charged to my cc ONE of these days!) , and was curious as to the tips/tricks you seasoned travellers may have. Would appreciate any advice, TIA!

If your family eats a hearty breakfast every morning, you may want to consider checking out allears.net for the menus with prices for various places in the parks and DTD that would fit your needs and budget. If your family is more of a quick bowl of cereal, a yogurt and fruit, bring that and check the menus for a big lunch instead. Same with dinner. Since your hotel room will not have a microwave, you may want to take that into consideration when you decide to bring food with you and when you bring any left overs back to your room. We bring Gogurts and keep them in the freezer part of the fridge, cereal, milk, Sunny Ds in sports bottles, case of water, granola bars, fruit, trail mix, basically, healthy snacks, especially fresh fruit to help keep hydrated. To curb the 'buy me this' chants, we tell our children to look and on the last day, we buy what they truly want. (That is from the Lego store!) Let the kids know way before you leave for your trip what the trip entails, including purchases. They will go along with it. Be prepared to remind them occasionally (in a nice way) about the spending plan. A positive attitude goes a long way in anything, especially at Disneyland! When my kids start to beg for a lot if items, I tell my kids, they can have xxx or they can have nothing, which one would they prefer. Reality check! LOL

 

[Brady's Mom]

We budget for food this way -

DH - $15 per meal in DLR (mainly CS)
Me - $15 per meal
DS 15 - $15 per meal
DS 9 - $8 per meal
DS 7 - $8 per meal

Why? - most CS meals (and a lot of TS) per allears and this site are $15 and under. We plan a little more on the day we would do BTR.

We have our favorite places and usually go back there, but since there are some new restaurants in DLR since we were there last, we would add them to our list to try. But, I always, always look at menus and prices before we go to adjust our budget.

DH and I usually share our food since we don't like to be stuffed or drag extra food around with us. If we share we add a side salad and share the entree. It works great for us and gives us a little extra for a snack if we're hungry.

I find my kids like to pick up the little bags of shaped pretzels in the shops sometimes, because they like pretzels and they're cute!

We don't deprive ourselves when we are there, but we plan well and it takes the stress out of the trip for us.

 

[kats6776]

This perk was worth roughly $150 for our family of four and even included the tip.

So when we redeem the character meal through Costco, we don't leave a tip?

 

[awdsmama]

Print off dining coupons from this site (you can print multiples of each, for example I printed off 3 McD's and 3 Subway)

http://anaheimoc.org/coupons?coupon_category=275&homepage=

The 10% off ones basically counteract the sales tax probably but hey a savings is a savings.

 

[californiamomof4grls]

Print off dining coupons from this site (you can print multiples of each, for example I printed off 3 McD's and 3 Subway)

http://anaheimoc.org/coupons?coupon_category=275&homepage=

The 10% off ones basically counteract the sales tax probably but hey a savings is a savings.

What a bummer!! They expire before we go! : (

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

So when we redeem the character meal through Costco, we don't leave a tip?

Correct. Tip is included in the voucher.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Stay offsite.

Eat breakfast at the hotel.

Eat an occasional meal outside the park.

Eat your biggest meal at lunch time when the prices are generally lower.

Buy the t-shirts before your trip at places like Walmart and Target.

Bring glow sticks and light up things from home.

Eat at the more affordable table service locations...Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, Carnation Cafe, and Cafe Orleans are our top choices.

Share appetizers...One of our family's favorite eatery is Cafe Orleans. The kids each order a soup or salad. We share a couple orders of Pomme Fries and have beignets for dessert.

We purchase gift cards for each of our children with their budget amount for souvenoirs and snacks.

Order ice water at any counter service or table service. California water tastes fine. No problems like Florida water.

Go to counter service places that have large quanities to share. The Plaza Inn has a chicken dinner that two adults could split.

Do the special things at the park that don't cost extra to enhance your experience. Don't skip the shows! They are usually the highlights of our trip. Go to animator's studio, take a ride on the Lillybelle, watch the flag ceramony, etc

 

[Halloweenqueen]

What a bummer!! They expire before we go! : (

Most hotels, especially on Harbor have coupons available at the front desk or in room. We always use coupons for meals outside the parks. McD's on Harbor has a standing 15% off as long as we have been going to DL. Just ask for a coupon at check in.

 

[californiamomof4grls]

Most hotels, especially on Harbor have coupons available at the front desk or in room. We always use coupons for meals outside the parks. McD's on Harbor has a standing 15% off as long as we have been going to DL. Just ask for a coupon at check in.

I didn't know you could ask the front desk for coupons! Love Coupons! Great idea!
So are you saying that as long as you have been in the park you get 15% off or that's the coupon the hotel should have?

 

[DizMe]

*I tell everyone who asks what I want for Christmas/birthday/whatever that I'd really like a Disney gift card!!

*I have a vacation wallet in a special drawer. Spare bills go into it along with rebates, windfalls (rare!), my gift cards, my ap, coupons, etc.

*My bank has a program--can't remember what it's called--that you can sign up for that will round up to the next dollar when you make a debit card purchase and the spare change goes into your savings account. Amazing how that adds up!

*I joined a rewards program. There are many to choose from but the one that works for me is MyPoints. I always have enough points for all of us (5) to eat at Rainforest Cafe, or to pay for lodging at a Marriott hotel (we used it for Fairfield Inn), but there are lots of other things you can use it for. I do wish you could redeem points for Disney cards, though! Mainly, you earn points by visiting websites of their partners which are sent to you via email, taking surveys (I rarely do that), using their search tool for online searches, and making purchases through them. I don't buy anything I wouldn't have gotten anyway and I get points for it. For instance, I ordered a book for my mom yesterday from Barnes and Noble and got 175 points just for going through the mypoints website to get to B&N. It's easy to rack up points and even if you don't use it for Disney, you can still use it for lots of other stuff.

*I scour the DISboard for good tips. I learned about the Hojo entertainment/retro rate, advantages of an ap, many discounts and coupons etc here.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I didn't know you could ask the front desk for coupons! Love Coupons! Great idea!
So are you saying that as long as you have been in the park you get 15% off or that's the coupon the hotel should have?

The hotel. Plus there are several places that have those travel pamplet kiosks that have coupons. I've seen them at many gift shops on Harbour.

 

[californiamomof4grls]

The hotel. Plus there are several places that have those travel pamplet kiosks that have coupons. I've seen them at many gift shops on Harbour.

Good tips! Thank you!!

 

[theokris]

lots of great tips!, we have a disney jug where all change and one dollar bills go into adds up very quick ! maybe cut some costs at home months prior to your trip saveing the difference for more room to spend while at the parks, have a good trip and get that jug started ! it will really help!

 

[kkmcan]

We dont really save change but we've got a dollar jar for Disney/vacations. Its amazing how quickly it adds up.

We got $166 back from our mortgage co for an overage on escrow.
$25 rebate
$70 returned sports fee from school when my dd didn't make the team
$150 from my birthday

Thats just in the last month too.

Whenever I happen to have some $$ in my wallet, I stash it in the jar. Thats pretty much how I bought our AP's + $500 in Disney reward money I have saved up.

 

[CandMmommy]

We cashed in our change yesterday and it was $177! This will cover the
2 character meals we wanted to do (we have a child under 3)

Sign up for Mimi's I did and got a free breakfast upon sign up and just got a printable free lunch or dinner entree coupon. Thats big savings. 1 adult meal for free at breakfast AND lunch or dinner!

My parents spoil my kids and usually get them something for every occasion, valentines, easter, etc. This year I told them not to buy all the little junk and just put it on a disney gift card have 100 each to spend on a gift card for souviniers. Im also bringing in snacks, and have some breakfasty stuff for my kids to eat and fruit and water to take into the parks.

I will budget for 1 snack a day b/c it is their FIRST DL trip.

 

[nannyz]

I have a completely different take on this.
I save all year long so that when we go, we can do what we want, stay where we want, eat where we want, etc. We have never spent more than we saved. You would be amazed how much you can save over a year's time. I am a homemaker, so when I am on vacation I do not want to prepare meals, clean up afterward, etc., so eating meals in our room is something I do not care to do.
We always spend 6 days in DL so that we can take it slow and enjoy sit-down meals, watch shows, etc. This also cuts back on the stress of waiting in long lines for a ride because we know that we have plenty of time to do everything.
I do admire all of your saving ideas, though. They're great!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I have a completely different take on this.
I save all year long so that when we go, we can do what we want, stay where we want, eat where we want, etc. We have never spent more than we saved. You would be amazed how much you can save over a year's time. I am a homemaker, so when I am on vacation I do not want to prepare meals, clean up afterward, etc., so eating meals in our room is something I do not care to do.
We always spend 6 days in DL so that we can take it slow and enjoy sit-down meals, watch shows, etc. This also cuts back on the stress of waiting in long lines for a ride because we know that we have plenty of time to do everything.
I do admire all of your saving ideas, though. They're great!

I totally get this....by meals in the room I mean instant oatmeal or cereal, uncrustable sandwiches, etc. Though one trip we brought the sandwich maker and made pizza pockets in it....but wouldn't do that again unless we were going on a loooooong trip.

 

[californiamomof4grls]

I totally get this....by meals in the room I mean instant oatmeal or cereal, uncrustable sandwiches, etc. Though one trip we brought the sandwich maker and made pizza pockets in it....but wouldn't do that again unless we were going on a loooooong trip.

That's exactly what we do too! If I stopped every time some one wanted a snack we would never get on any rides! We do it to save money and as much to save time. My girls eat their instant oatmeal or cereal while I get the other girls dressed and braid their hair (I have 5 girls) We toss the prepackaged snacks and uncrustables under the stroller and we're off. So it is as much about multi tasking as it is about saving money.