Looking for your best money saving ideas...

[lcubed001]

My family of 4 will be travelling to US for the first time in July, and I have been reading through the boards looking for money saving ideas. We will be staying onsite and was wondering what types of items do you bring to eat for breakfast in the room? I was thinking maybe oatmeal. I can get hot water from the coffee maker(hopefully), but really dont want oatmeal 5 days in a row. I would love some more suggestions.
--I have already bought a collapsable cooler for the room for drinks & such.
--If I cannot get AAA rates on a room, would I still save enough on food & shops at US to make it worthwile to buy the membership just for the trip?
--Any suggestions for snacks that travel well to keep in the room to bring to the parks & pool.
Thats it for now, but I am sure I will have more questions before long.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rpbert1]

be sure to print of coupons for most Citywalk restaurants, i print of orlandocoupons .com, and usually 20% discount.

 

[damo]

The Keurig coffee maker will give you hot water, so anything that you just need to add hot water to would work well. Instant oatmeal, any kind of breakfast bars, fruit, yogurt with fruit and granola mixed in, dry cereal with milk. I find breakfast at the parks to actually be cheaper than lunch. You can get a yummy breakfast croissant with egg, cheese and breakfast meat, with a side of fruit for $4.99.

Volcana nachos at Margaritaville will easily feed most of you for lunch for under $15. Sal's pizza at Portofino has excellent pizza for under $20.

AAA does add up quickly.

 

[humphreydog]

Walk over to walgreens, from pbh, and buy all the stuff you need.

Orlando ale house is right next door....double check it but i think kids eat free there on tuesdays

 

[okiedokieartichoke]

Like everyone else said, bring your own food in any way that you can. I don't know if you will have your car with you, but either bring with you or stop at the nearby Walmart and pick up some breakfast-y items. It costs extra to have a fridge in your room so anything that you can have without needing refrigeration. when I travel I like to get the bags of mini muffins, granola bars, maybe some fruit (apples and bananas are good and don't need refrigeration). Bring your own bottled water package. The water in the room is really expensive, as well as the water they sell in the hotels and at US. Bring your own snacks to the park like fruit snacks or anything like that. Bringing your own food for breakfast and for snacks will save you SOO much money!!

 

[ToyStory]

We will have our rental car will be bringing in some of these items with us. We will have a small collapsable cooler. We are only staying two or three nights (still debating on the third night if we are staying at RPR or moving offsite for a night due to our flight home is much earlier now then orginally booked)

Fruit
Granola Bars
Fruit snack (for the parks)
Pop Tarts
Juice Boxes
Fiber Plus Bars
Oatmeal Breakfast squares
Bagels
Cream Cheese (will have a cooler)
Choclate Milk
OJ
Water
Carnation instant breakfast (in the bottle) ???

Don't bring anything with chocolate (ie chocolate chip granola bars) with you into the parks in July. From experience it was a mess. Fruit snacks and peanuts or some trail mix (minus the chocolate) will be snacks in the park for some quick pick me ups when needed.

 

[lcubed001]

be sure to print of coupons for most Citywalk restaurants, i print of orlandocoupons .com, and usually 20% discount.

I will definately be printing coupons as I get closer, thanks for the link.

 

[lcubed001]

The Keurig coffee maker will give you hot water, so anything that you just need to add hot water to would work well. Instant oatmeal, any kind of breakfast bars, fruit, yogurt with fruit and granola mixed in, dry cereal with milk. I find breakfast at the parks to actually be cheaper than lunch. You can get a yummy breakfast croissant with egg, cheese and breakfast meat, with a side of fruit for $4.99.

Volcana nachos at Margaritaville will easily feed most of you for lunch for under $15. Sal's pizza at Portofino has excellent pizza for under $20.

AAA does add up quickly.

These are some good ideas. I just signed up for AAA to use at the parks!

 

[lcubed001]

Walk over to walgreens, from pbh, and buy all the stuff you need.

Orlando ale house is right next door....double check it but i think kids eat free there on tuesdays

I'm glad you said, that.. I was going to ask if there was somewhere within walking distance to the hotels, we will not have a car with us this trip, so getitng around is limited.

 

[lcubed001]

Like everyone else said, bring your own food in any way that you can. I don't know if you will have your car with you, but either bring with you or stop at the nearby Walmart and pick up some breakfast-y items. It costs extra to have a fridge in your room so anything that you can have without needing refrigeration. when I travel I like to get the bags of mini muffins, granola bars, maybe some fruit (apples and bananas are good and don't need refrigeration). Bring your own bottled water package. The water in the room is really expensive, as well as the water they sell in the hotels and at US. Bring your own snacks to the park like fruit snacks or anything like that. Bringing your own food for breakfast and for snacks will save you SOO much money!!

We wont have a car, but I am going to a conference & hoping I can meet up with someone from the conference with a car & we can take a Wal-Mart trip together...

 

[lcubed001]

We will have our rental car will be bringing in some of these items with us. We will have a small collapsable cooler. We are only staying two or three nights (still debating on the third night if we are staying at RPR or moving offsite for a night due to our flight home is much earlier now then orginally booked)

Fruit
Granola Bars
Fruit snack (for the parks)
Pop Tarts
Juice Boxes
Fiber Plus Bars
Oatmeal Breakfast squares
Bagels
Cream Cheese (will have a cooler)
Choclate Milk
OJ
Water
Carnation instant breakfast (in the bottle) ???

Don't bring anything with chocolate (ie chocolate chip granola bars) with you into the parks in July. From experience it was a mess. Fruit snacks and peanuts or some trail mix (minus the chocolate) will be snacks in the park for some quick pick me ups when needed.

This is a great list! Thanks! Oh, and the tip about chocolate... I never would have thought about it until it was melted all over my bag....

 

[Melanie230]

Honestly what we do to save $$$...is just pay for the buffet breakfast at the Kitchen at HRH. We eat a HUGE breakfast and that keeps us all really full. We always bring in our own snacks and waters to the parks just in case the kiddos need a little snack. We then usually hit CityWalk for dinner early to beat the dinner rush (usually around 5pm). It eliminates buying a lunch in the park, and the breakfast is delicious!

 

[dlberney]

I just went to the website that someone else posted (www.orlandocoupons.com) and under the "hotels" section, there were coupons for the restaurants at all three Universal hotels! They were for $10 off two lunch or dinner entrees. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up and thank the OP for the website!!

 

[maggiew]

I just went to the website that someone else posted (www.orlandocoupons.com) and under the "hotels" section, there were coupons for the restaurants at all three Universal hotels! They were for $10 off two lunch or dinner entrees. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up and thank the OP for the website!!

Has anyone successfully used these coupons? They look a little homemade?

Maggie