How I'm saving money before my disney trip

[a_m_79]

I'm a new member of this board and this is my first message.

Me and my friend are going to Orlando from Virginia. We will stay in Leaving on Friday evening (May 13) and coming back on Tuesday morning (May 17). I thought i would share some of my money saving methods with you all.

1. Travel -> We booked our tickets on Amtrak for $70 Roundtrip from virginia . As it would be too tedious to drive from virginia to orlando and also no airline can beat that price. We would travel overnight and reach orlando in the morning. The regular price tickets are $210 roundtrip. However, you can see real good deals under the "weekly special" in "hot deals" section in amtrak.com. It has savings upto 80% !!

2. Theme park tickets -> We bought 2 day park hopper plus tickets for only $130 per head from ebay. This also gives 1-day access to pleasure island/disney quest. Apart from this we got dinner show tickets for arabian nights for $23 (retail : $50) and pleasure island for $16 (retail : $23) both from ebay.

3. Hotels -> $29 per night for 3 night's at howard johnson hotel in kissimmee from expedia.com

4. Rental car -> $42 for 3 days. Enterprise has a $9.99 specials on the weekends for compact cars. The only con is that the mileage is limited (300 miles for the entire rental). Since we will live very close to disney, we won't even reach half that figure

5. Food and amenities -> We will buy cookies, cereal bars, etc for breakfast before we leave for orlando. That would save us a lot of money.

As of now, it seems that we can manage well in about $400 per person for full 3 days stay watching all the disney parks, pleasure island, disney quest and dinner show . Not bad !

 

[golfgal]

Sounds like a good trip. Just hope your ebay tickets are valid and not used tickets you won't be able to use!

 

[pklein09]

Best of luck with your trip!!! Just a word of caution....we've done Amtrak twice from Trenton, NJ to Orlando. We were late both times....the first by a hour (not bad), but the second time....we were over 4 hours late. That was just the trip south. The trip north the first time was over 2 hrs. late and we flew back the second time. We just couldn't bear the thought of the trip back on the train.

Oh yes....the way I save for our trips....I use my Christmas Club money for vacation. A little comes out each month and then the trip is paid in cash. Of course, I'm a compulsive planner and our trips are currently planned through 2008....

 

[karynnix]

You are one smart cookie!

 

[Toni300z]

Sounds like fun! We are leaving mext Friday too for 3days!

 

[youngdizluva18]

I guess you can't be too picky when you're trying to save money, but we stayed at Howard Johnson's recently and it was horrible. The bathrooms were disgusting, the carpets were stained, snd the service was bad as well. We only stayed there for 2 nights, but it was one of the worst hotels I have ever visited. Just a warning!

 

[disneyaggie]

I always get such a "high" when it comes to getting a deal, so I can dance with you on the savings.

I just got a deal for September that is "based on double occupancy" through Disney Travel. A friend of mine are having a "girl's only trip" so she and I will share a room. We each get 6 days of park hopper tickets (we upgraded from Park tickets to the Park Hoppers), travel insurance, 5 nights/6 days at a Disney Value Hotel (Yeah, POP!), 5 Table service meals, 5 Counter service meals, and 5 snacks for under $500 a piece!

The Table service meals include an appetizer, an entree, a dessert and a non-alcoholic beverage. The Counter service meal includes one entree, one dessert and one non-alcoholic beverage.

We also get the Magical Express, and our boarding passes for our airlines when we check out of the hotel. Too cool, huh?

I figured with the meals, room and those park hopper tickets . . . WHEW! This package sure saved my friend and I some money! Works for me!

Whhheee! I love saving money!

 

[a_m_79]

Oh no, I'm scared to hear this :-(. Was the howard johnson in kissimmee?

 

[a_m_79]

I guess you can't be too picky when you're trying to save money, but we stayed at Howard Johnson's recently and it was horrible. The bathrooms were disgusting, the carpets were stained, snd the service was bad as well. We only stayed there for 2 nights, but it was one of the worst hotels I have ever visited. Just a warning!

Oh no, I'm scared to hear this :-(. Was the howard johnson in kissimmee?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I admire your resourcefulness!!

 

[a_m_79]

Thanks

I think that the Amtrak deal is the best one i got. This deal is from Richmond, VA to Orlando for only $35 one way under hot deals in Amtrak.com (On train silver star).

Now, if someone is coming from NYC to Orlando in silver star i guess they can book the 2 tickets. One from NYC to RVR (Richmond) on regular price (coupon V626 will give 20% off on a regular ticket though ). Then from Richmond (RVR) to Orlando (ORL) from the hot deals section in amtrak.com. Just a thought, may or may not work.

 

[TimNDansMom]

a_m_79, there are a few different HoJo's in the Kissimmee area.

We stayed at the HoJo Main Gate East back in March 2001 and it was okay. It was a very basic hotel but I found it clean. We were gone all day so didn't use the pool. They had a scheduled free shuttle to WDW which worked great for me and my DSs while DH went off golfing.