We have been on a very good budget the past 5 months (paid off van 9 months early), so we wanted to keep that up with our yearly summer trip to WDW. My DH is an emotional spender and struggles greatly, but he has been doing very well with our new budget - I am very proud of him!
So, this trip we have implemented several tips and strategies to save money, so I wanted to share in the hopes that they might help others.
Here they are:
DVC - We go for long trips (11-13 nights) as it's cheaper on gas and hotels on way down, to go for 1 trip. We get DVC APs and use them for 2 trips - great savings! As DVC members, we get discounts for dining, shopping and recreation, that we haven't really utilized before. This trip, we are doing so, and this will save a bit of money on food. We also didn't fall victim to the summer room only rates, and used our points to book our extra night - we figured that we already have given Disney enough money, so why give them more? We just adjusted our nights accordingly, and no extra cash out of our pocket!
Food - This is a biggie for us - we have literally a million spreadsheets! We usually eat 2 TS meals per day as we have low blood sugar, plus, we don't eat fast food, nor snack on junk foods or drink pop. We can't drink Orlando water, so we need to drink bottled/filtered water. So, since we are taking scheduled midday breaks, we will be bringing frozen water/juice boxes with us throughout the day, and this will save on buying water.
This year, we gave a really good attempt at trying to make eating/cooking in our villa work, but since we love to do split stays, we forsee problems. We've dealt with food wastage and food storage issues before, so while the kids are younger, it's easier, believe it or not to eat out. Plus, our baby is free, and our DD is still a child, so for now, we are doing it this way. We are giving the QS plan a good try this trip, as it's cheaper for us to use a CS for breakfast and dinner, and then pay out of pocket with our discounts, for a TS meal for lunch. We have also added the Deluxe Dining Plan for our 2 night weekend stay at BCV and spread that out over 3 days - this takes care of our character meals! This new plan of QS, DxDP, OOP and a few breakfasts in our room, is our cheapest plan yet! We are excited to give the better CS places a try, as our baby does not sit very long (our DD can sit for hours in restaurants). We only order what we can eat, and drink mostly water, with some juice or milk. We usually share desserts as well, or get fruit. This new plan will give us all of the snacks, water and meals we need, while saving us a bunch of money over using TIW or DxDP. So, for those who are interested, look at QS plan, and supplement that with OOP or eating in room, and the savings are there as you'll have all of the snacks and beverages you'll need too! Both our kids are very good eaters, so we need to have lots of snacks and beverages for hot Orlando July!
Photopass - We used Photopass last year for the CD and the photo session, but we weren't that impressed. We are amateur photographers and I'm a scrapbooker, so we have excellent cameras and take better photos than the Photopass photogs. It did allow me to be in photos, but we can work that out for this year. Photopass prices have gone up to ridiculous amounts this year, so that is another savings for us in not buying it this year.
Gift Baskets - We always get Disney Florist baskets of some type, as it's a tradition for us. Again, prices have gone up, and the selection is not that great. We have purchased a lot of Disney Florist merchandise over the past 6 years, so we are not doing that anymore. Instead, we got a bunch of merchandise for sale on DisneyShopping.com and we will put together in our own baskets for kids, once they are asleep, and leave them out for a morning surprise!
Souveniers - Much of Disney's products are not good quality at all anymore. So, we have told our DD (our baby is too young to understand as he's just turning 2), that she has earned a Disney Gift Card and she can choose some items to purchase. Last trip, we hardly purchased anything, so this won't be that hard. Plus, the kids are getting some great stuff in their baskets from Disney Shopping - beach towels, short sets, shirts, toys and books. Both DH and I are on the same page here, so that's a relief!
Transportation - We always drive down, so we have our own van, but this trip, just like last, we have carefully chosen our resorts to be near the parks - Boardwalk and Beach Club will allow us to park our car for 8 nights, and take Disney transport to 3 parks. The last 5 nights, we'll be at Old Key West and we will then visit Downtown Disney (ferry boat) and drive to AK - which you have to drive to no matter where you stay. We don't go offsite for shopping or eating, as we find this wastes time, money and energy, so not much extra gas for us.
Basically, we have cut out several things that we always do, tried some new things, and modified others. We are also using the AP Pass Along Savings Card and free birthday gift card for DH's birthday. More savings!
To all those going on trips, I wish you a good and healthy budget. We have opened our eyes up to new possibilities this year, in order to save money, after many trips of doing the same old, same old, and so we are excited to see how it all will work out! Lots of good tips on here too, so good luck to all!
Thanks, Tiger
So, this trip we have implemented several tips and strategies to save money, so I wanted to share in the hopes that they might help others.
Here they are:
DVC - We go for long trips (11-13 nights) as it's cheaper on gas and hotels on way down, to go for 1 trip. We get DVC APs and use them for 2 trips - great savings! As DVC members, we get discounts for dining, shopping and recreation, that we haven't really utilized before. This trip, we are doing so, and this will save a bit of money on food. We also didn't fall victim to the summer room only rates, and used our points to book our extra night - we figured that we already have given Disney enough money, so why give them more? We just adjusted our nights accordingly, and no extra cash out of our pocket!
Food - This is a biggie for us - we have literally a million spreadsheets! We usually eat 2 TS meals per day as we have low blood sugar, plus, we don't eat fast food, nor snack on junk foods or drink pop. We can't drink Orlando water, so we need to drink bottled/filtered water. So, since we are taking scheduled midday breaks, we will be bringing frozen water/juice boxes with us throughout the day, and this will save on buying water.
This year, we gave a really good attempt at trying to make eating/cooking in our villa work, but since we love to do split stays, we forsee problems. We've dealt with food wastage and food storage issues before, so while the kids are younger, it's easier, believe it or not to eat out. Plus, our baby is free, and our DD is still a child, so for now, we are doing it this way. We are giving the QS plan a good try this trip, as it's cheaper for us to use a CS for breakfast and dinner, and then pay out of pocket with our discounts, for a TS meal for lunch. We have also added the Deluxe Dining Plan for our 2 night weekend stay at BCV and spread that out over 3 days - this takes care of our character meals! This new plan of QS, DxDP, OOP and a few breakfasts in our room, is our cheapest plan yet! We are excited to give the better CS places a try, as our baby does not sit very long (our DD can sit for hours in restaurants). We only order what we can eat, and drink mostly water, with some juice or milk. We usually share desserts as well, or get fruit. This new plan will give us all of the snacks, water and meals we need, while saving us a bunch of money over using TIW or DxDP. So, for those who are interested, look at QS plan, and supplement that with OOP or eating in room, and the savings are there as you'll have all of the snacks and beverages you'll need too! Both our kids are very good eaters, so we need to have lots of snacks and beverages for hot Orlando July!
Photopass - We used Photopass last year for the CD and the photo session, but we weren't that impressed. We are amateur photographers and I'm a scrapbooker, so we have excellent cameras and take better photos than the Photopass photogs. It did allow me to be in photos, but we can work that out for this year. Photopass prices have gone up to ridiculous amounts this year, so that is another savings for us in not buying it this year.
Gift Baskets - We always get Disney Florist baskets of some type, as it's a tradition for us. Again, prices have gone up, and the selection is not that great. We have purchased a lot of Disney Florist merchandise over the past 6 years, so we are not doing that anymore. Instead, we got a bunch of merchandise for sale on DisneyShopping.com and we will put together in our own baskets for kids, once they are asleep, and leave them out for a morning surprise!
Souveniers - Much of Disney's products are not good quality at all anymore. So, we have told our DD (our baby is too young to understand as he's just turning 2), that she has earned a Disney Gift Card and she can choose some items to purchase. Last trip, we hardly purchased anything, so this won't be that hard. Plus, the kids are getting some great stuff in their baskets from Disney Shopping - beach towels, short sets, shirts, toys and books. Both DH and I are on the same page here, so that's a relief!
Transportation - We always drive down, so we have our own van, but this trip, just like last, we have carefully chosen our resorts to be near the parks - Boardwalk and Beach Club will allow us to park our car for 8 nights, and take Disney transport to 3 parks. The last 5 nights, we'll be at Old Key West and we will then visit Downtown Disney (ferry boat) and drive to AK - which you have to drive to no matter where you stay. We don't go offsite for shopping or eating, as we find this wastes time, money and energy, so not much extra gas for us.
Basically, we have cut out several things that we always do, tried some new things, and modified others. We are also using the AP Pass Along Savings Card and free birthday gift card for DH's birthday. More savings!
To all those going on trips, I wish you a good and healthy budget. We have opened our eyes up to new possibilities this year, in order to save money, after many trips of doing the same old, same old, and so we are excited to see how it all will work out! Lots of good tips on here too, so good luck to all!
Thanks, Tiger
That is a budget success, as far as I'm concerned!
