My savings so far....

[Sarahsmom85]

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with this trip but I am.

Leaving in May, for 14 days--- plenty of time to save.

DH, DD18 and her BF 18 and myself. ... my brother if he can get time off -- but for the time being we won't count him.

Rented a 3 bedroom villa offsite with private pool. $640 14 days
no tax no fees rented directly from the owner. $45 per day

Saving a lot of $ by eating breakfast at villa.

Rented a wheelchair minivan for 14 days Regular price $80 day got promo special of $500 per week saving $120 plus tax.


Ordered---- Fun in the Sun tickets -- 30 day consecutive pass use all parks, plus DQ, water parks, DWWS and PI also a charater breakfast included also includes Kennedy Space Center which we are doing.
a 7 day + is 307 and DQ is 31 breakfast is say 20

we paid $311 ea $15 shipping total $1259



Ordered--- 5 day consecutive Universal passes $89 ea. Used mastercard and bought 4 got 1 free. Which I will sell to brother or ebay it. So i will make up to $89 on this deal.

Got 4 Q&C vouchers from Connections, which we plan to share lunch.

Rewards
My points for $25 Rainforest GC.
Milesource for a $50 Olive Garden
RewardTv for
(3) $5 gas cards, $5 Pizza Hut, $5 Dennys
(2) $10 Pizzara Uno
And 5 months to get more.

Surveys
$7 -$3 - $5 = this months so far

bottle return --5 cent a bottle
$6.45

One Stratophere (Las Vegas) drink bottle 20" tall 3/4 full of change.

I haven't gotten Air fare yet. Waiting for Southwest to start bookings for May hoping to get $79 each way non stop.

If anyone can figure out how to save more let me know.

 

[Hygiene99]

love southwest even thoougth we did not get in on the 79.00
flight we did get the next price up and got rt. from manchester to mco. for 255.00 per person ...... witch 2 trips ago we got bumped from a very full flight and got $850.00 voucher from them .. so used that to get 3 of 6 tickets......and paid 700.00
for other 3 peter oh yea.. after this flight in JAN. we will have enough rewards for a free ticket.....

peter

 

[pjlla]

Go see the "Ebay your way to Disney" thread.... REALLY long, but interesting.... I have cleared about $300 (including my auctions that end tonight) since the second week of November doing this. Nice to have a little extra $$ for our trip!! I was fortunately, however, that I already had "inventory" on hand. I have collected Barbies for years and was ready to pare down my collection. Although I must say, they are not selling nearly as well as I had hoped!! But every little bit helps......P

 

[disneysteve]

Sarahsmom85 - I'm extremly curious about your villa rental. $45/nite for a 3-bedroom house is outrageously cheap! I don't want to sound overly cynical but 3-br homes usually rent for upwards of $100/nite. The cheapest I've seen a 2-br condo is $55/nite. There are always bargains to be found, but you need to be a little extra-cautious when a deal is that good.

Some suggestions if you haven't done these things already:

Find out what development the home is in so you can see how far from Disney it is.

Get the name of the local management company. I can't give you specifics, but there are ways to check them out - Better Business Bureau, professional assocations, etc.

Be sure you see photos and/or video of the actual home you are renting. Also, get a list of what supplies and features are in the house - how many tvs, vcr, stereo, kitchen stuff, etc. Frequently the cheaper homes are pretty sparsely equipped. That's perfectly fine as long as you know that upfront.

Have the owner give you references for guests who have stayed there recently so you can contact them and find out how things were.

If you've done all that and everything sounds legit, you've got a great bargain lined up. Where did you find the place?

Steve

P.S. We spent half our summer vacation in Springfield (other half in Boston). Great town. We had a fun time. Loved the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden. Also, drove up to S. Deerfield for the butterfly conservatory - wow!!

 

[Sarahsmom85]

The Villa is in what is called Lindfield, it is right off 192 10 minutes from Disney.
I've seen photo, I have talked to people from this forum who have rented villa's at Lindfield. I have talked to the lady at the management company. He does have references and I have talk to one couple who lives here in Westfield,
I also had a friend who is a travel agent in Florida check it out or me. They all have given glowing account of the villa. This is a whole development that was marketed to the UK. The owner is renting it himself and I guess he would rather have a someone rent it that it stay empty. The deposit was paid to the managent company. I checked it out pretty good.
Website said he was renting it for $640 a week so I was surprised when he told me $640 for 14 days. I have no idea if it was a mistake or not but he's sticking to it. Of course the time we are going is not a very busy.

Hope you visited the basketball hall of fame.

 

[disneysteve]

Lindfields is a very nice development. We've rented homes there several times.

It sounds like you've done all the background work and you've stumbled onto quite a bargain. Where did you find the place?

There was recently a rather long discussion here about which is better: leaving your rental home empty or renting it out at a ridiculous rate. It seems most owners here on DIS agreed that its better to leave it empty. At the rate you are paying, the owner is most likely losing money on the deal. That's what made me suspicious. Also, the fact that you are not being charged sales tax. Sales tax is required to be paid if the owner is properly licensed and following the law. Some folks here are of the opinion that they don't care if the owner is operating a legal business or not. Others (myself included) recognize that various problems could arise if the owner is not operating legally.

It sounds like the owner you are dealing with is just not doing the math (or has no mortgage) if he’s willing to rent that cheap. But it also sounds like you did your homework and checked it out pretty thouroughly. So have a great trip and enjoy the bargain. Be sure and post when you get back.

Steve

And yes, we did the Hall of Fame. Very nice. Also did Yankee Candle, Amherst and some other stuff. Great place to vacation.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

My email from owner said tax included so he is paying tax but $640 what I'm paying. I guess I say no tax because I'm paying the price I was quoted. I also payed the management company the down payment. I don't know that if he lives in the UK it makes a difference.

Same thing when I rented a condo last time I just payed the condo price no extra's.
Not like when you go in to get a hotel room and they quote you $89 and when you get the bill it is loaded with sales tax, florida tax, luxuiry tax, sheets on the bed tax...ect. and you final total is $129 for a $89 room.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by Sarahsmom85
Not like when you go in to get a hotel room and they quote you $89 and when you get the bill it is loaded with sales tax, florida tax, luxuiry tax, sheets on the bed tax...ect. and you final total is $129 for a $89 room.

Absolutely! I learned a long time ago to ask the TOTAL cost when I'm comparing rates. Some hotels tack on a charge for the in-room safe (which you get whether you want it or not), phone service, etc. We even had one hotel try to charge us an "energy surcharge" last year when electricity costs had climbed. We had made the reservation 2 days earlier and they never mentioned it - of course, I didn't pay it.

As for the tax situation, that makes your deal even more incredible. If $45/nite includes tax, then your actual nitely rate is in the upper $30's. From that, the owner needs to pay a cleaning fee of about $75 when you leave, a management company fee for handling the rental, possibly a commission to whatever website you saw the place advertised, income tax on the money collected, utilities used during your stay, and account for wear and tear on the property and its furnishings. Chances are he's not even breaking even on the deal.

Again, you've got quite a bargain so enjoy.

Steve