My Budget Items - last week's trip

[Catrin]

Hi Everyone,

I don't think any of these are new ideas.... but I wanted to share with you all the things I had on hand last week - things that saved me money on our 4 night trip.

1) Water Misting Fans - Walmart $4.97, WDW $17.00. I could not believe how many people were dishing out the 17 bucks. My Walmart one was exactly the same, without the Disney logo.

2) Ponchos - Walmart 87cents (camping section) - WDW $7.00(??). I bought four for our trip..... they worked perfectly, and we threw them away after a couple of uses. (Ziploc bags from home to store once opened).

3) Britta water bottle - used all week. We always requested Ice Water and just filled up the water everywhere. Saved lots of money in Bottled Water.

4) Pins from Ebay. I bought 20 pins from ebay for 50.00. This was perfect. Kyle traded all weekend, and then bought just one pin. He could have easily spent 50.00 on just a few pins. BTW, I am going to sell some back on Ebay - keeping only the ones he loves.

5) Ziploc Bags - able to take our deserts (Cinnamon Buns from Breakfast) and eat them for snack sometimes.

6) Lightup sticks - 97cents Walmart - ?? Disney - this was a great "toy" for Kyle at night in the parks. He is old enough that he does not want a spinning toy, but these light up sticks are "cool".

I know everyone is on vacation.... and in many cases Money flows freely. BUT I think it is so important to try to save on those easy things. Hope that gives you all some simple ideas!
Catrin

 

[Cheshire Figment]

4) Pins from Ebay. I bought 20 pins from ebay for 50.00. This was perfect. Kyle traded all weekend, and then bought just one pin. He could have easily spent 50.00 on just a few pins. BTW, I am going to sell some back on Ebay - keeping only the ones he loves.

Why not hold on to the others for future trips?

 

[Catrin]

Why not hold on to the others for future trips?

Great point! I will do just that... for my trip with my second son. I will be taking him when he is 9, in Dec '07.
Catrin

 

[JodyLynC]

Great Tips!!

Thanks for posting!!

 

[Third times a charm]

They are all excellent tips!!! Thanks, I will be taking my 12 Girl Scouts in March and we could easily blow the budget on those things. Will be stocking up at WalMart before our trip.

 

[momxx5]

I have done many of the same things you did. Aren't we so smart

The misting fans are great for the hot summer days at Disney. There is no way we would be able to buy one at $17.99 a piece. I bought 2 of them for $5 each and the kids took turns with them.

The glow sticks, necklaces, etc are so much fun at night. Many people asked us where we got them from hoping to buy some. For a few $$ we shared with others, rather than buy the spinners for close to $20 a piece.

We stayed at the Ft. W cabins, so we had a fridge and did a grocery run. We bought 2 cases of water. Target had the water holders with freezer ice-things. We would freeze the cooly things each night, in child had their own water bottle with holder for the day - cut way down on purchasing drinks.

I also was able to buy t-shirts and toys at the Disney Store. I let each child get a toy for Once Upon A Toy at Downtown Disney, but little DD didn't know the difference. She got a PollyPocket type Cinderella with carriage - I purchased for $4.99 on Disney Direct - saved almost $15.

While we are not super thrifty on vacation...we eat what we want, buy the pictures we want, each get a special ride t-shirt, etc....it is so nice to be able to save some money on the simple things.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[disneymom3]

1) Water Misting Fans - Walmart $4.97, WDW $17.00. I could not believe how many people were dishing out the 17 bucks. My Walmart one was exactly the same, without the Disney logo..

Aha! But if you buy blue or red ones, just get a Mickey sticker and place it on the bottle. Tada!! Mickey Mouse water misters! I got mine on clearance for like $2, put on the stickers and the kids think they are the coolest thing.

 

[Soupermom]

I wanted to second the idea of using Mickey and friends stickers on everything before you go, to make it "DISNEY". I bought some of the glow sticks at Wal-Mart last year...these came on a break-away lanyard and looked kind of like a pocket flashlight...and then personalized them for my kids with stickers of different characters before we left. I gave them the first night and with the HUGE storm that blew through, DS lost his in the craziness! He was heartbroken and wanted to buy a new one, only problem is that there wasn't a Wal-mart in the MK! Poor Guy. Luckily I was able to find another when we returned home and he was thrilled with that.

Such happiness for $1! I plan to do the same for our trip next year.

 

[StephMK]

Great tips! Love the idea of personalizing too. We will definitely try the bottle idea when we go in November. I didn't do so well last time planning that part last time & blew a lot of money on extra water.

 

[lorli]

All these are wonderful ideas and I plan to utilize many of them. In addition, I like to make autograph books. I get a generic one from the dollar store, then go to a craft store and buy scrapbooking paper and stickers and make an individualized book for my dd. She loved it. Then when we got home I printed and added pictures to the autographs so at 3 she knew each signature. It was a hit!

 

[smfritz03]

Ok--Ive walked up and down 3 different Walmarts looking for these fans---what aisle are they usually found in? Where can I find the Brita Water bottle or something comparable?

 

[Soupermom]

The fans are sometimes with the summer/pool items; I found mine last year near the regular fans, near paint/hardware. We had one of these and personally...it was a pain in the neck and we only used it one day! This was in June when it was really hot. Wasn't worth the hassle of carrying it though; we won't take it next time. I think it would be better if you had a stoller and the kids were sitting with it...that would be great!

I think the Brita bottle have been discontinued and I'm not sure if anyone else makes some. I'm sure someone will be able to guide you though! Good luck!

 

[princessh]

Most people have been able to find the brita fill n go bottles at CVS. They still had some a few weeks ago at the one near us. Good luck. We love ours!

 

[ElizaB39]

Ok--Ive walked up and down 3 different Walmarts looking for these fans---what aisle are they usually found in? Where can I find the Brita Water bottle or something comparable?

In our Walmart the misters were at the end of a checkout aisle, or at the beginning depending on how you look at it. They were on and endcap before you got to the checkout counter.

I think the Britta water bottles are at CVS.

 

[Pixie]

I found our fan-misters in the summer picnic section at WalMart.

 

[oregonmousefan]

I'm totally kidding.

Great tips. Thanks.

 

[babytrees]

There are also misting fans at target....they look to be easier to get the water into than previous years...smaller too. We have a full year to plan so we can wait until they go on clearance at the end of the season...I believe they were only 4.99 here anyway.
Disney store has little light up fans on clearance for 4 right now....snuck two into our bag for "surprises" for our girls.

 

[mum of two pirates]

Our Doller tree has the small hand hels fans as you know for a buck, but they are red, white, and blue and have light up strands on the two blades they have. So when they spin around they are lit up also. I think the blades are white and the light up "cord" on them is red and then they have a blue stipe also on the blade. the light up cord is about the size of a pen line all the way from one end to the other of it. My kids thought they were cool. I'm going to go snag one today before I head back out to the lake. Oh and can you beleave they also come with batteries. have a great time everyone.