Please help me save money!! Budget Experts come in!!

[agotta]

I don't know what else to do!! This was supposed to be an inexpensive trip and it's turning into a nightmare!! Here is what we have so far..


Airfare $350.00 (already paid for)
Car Rental (April 2-10) $240.00
Cruise $500.00 (Min DCL requires on Credit Card)
Budgeted for food (April 2-6)$375.00
Gas for rental car$40.00
Extras $200.00
Park Passes (2 3-day base tix, we already have 2 1-day PH)$364.24
Extra night at POFQ $113.00

Total $2,182.24

We are staying with DVC points so we don't have to pay for hotel. Please help me, we are even thinking about driving and cancelling our flights ($100). HELP ME!!

 

[cmrules]

You can probably do better on your car rental. Try Mousesavers.com for rental car codes. We were there in October and paid around $150 for a week in a full size car. How many people is this budget for? Is it just two? If so you probably don't need $375 for food. Since you are DVC you can easily do breakfast in the room. Stop at a grocery and pick up all your drinks too. Stick to some cheaper meals and I bet you could cut $100 off. You could also cut out the extras $$. If it is two adults, you could just forget the souveniers this time.

 

[agotta]

It is just 2 of us. I can't seem to get a better car deal. We are flying into Sanford/Orlando because of the great deal on airfare. Since it is April I think that the car rental is outrageous. We took out our spending money for extras and cut our food down to $300. Yikes!! We have never done this before!! We love to eat! I can't imagine only $300 for food

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

What kind of penalty would you pay for canceling a flight that has already been paid for? Many airline won't refund the money unless you purchased fully-refundable airfare. At best, they may allow you to apply the value of the tickets to another flight, at some other time and they will charge you a change fee for the privilege.

$240 seems like a lot to pay for a rental car for a week. Check the codes at Mousesavers. Look for a rental coupon for free upgrade or $$ off. Try some other agencies or a smaller vehicle. I have an intermediate reserved for 5 days in April that is less than half that price. A 5-day rental costs the same as a week's.

Just because DCL requires that you have $500 available on your credit card for onboard purchases, that doesn't mean you have to spend it. They simply put a hold on that amount when you check in. However, it's very easy to spend that and much more. Tips for the staff can be pretty expensive when you begin adding it all up.

Go easy on the food budget in WDW. Stop at a grocery on your way to your resort and buy breakfast items and snacks. Plan to do breakfast in your room each morning. Have cup 'o soup and cold sandwiches for dinner one or two evenings. Remember that you'll be eating tons of great food on the cruise. $50 per day is certainly not too low for two adults.

Switch to 2-day MYW base tickets and save almost $111. Spend the extra day poolside getting a head start on your tan.

Change the one night at POFQ to an offsite hotel. For half the price, you can still get a very nice resort.

Of course, these are only suggestions. You don't need to take all of them or any of them. But you could trim a couple hundred off of the total by trying them.

 

[agotta]

So I changed our car rental and got it down to $203. We got a smaller car and I am dropping it off before the cruise. Then I will pick it up for one day after the cruise. We got a great deal at POR with Cm discount and since we are already staying at 2 hotels, I really don't want to go offsite. I was aware of the $500 with the cruise, I posted that above, but I still need $500 available on the CC. I just have to figure out the park tickets thing. We wanted to get more than 2 day tix, but I will have to think about it. Thanks for all the help, keep it coming.

Amanda

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

You've got the car rental down to $203 but do you really need a car for a week at all? What would be the cost of transferring from Sanford to Disney versus renting a car with a drop/pick up in Disney for one day on each end? And unless you do a lot of driving why would you need $40 for gas? Seems to me $30 would cover it unless you are renting a gas hog.

The other place is food & extras...you have a total of $575 for that which is about $100 day (if I'm not mistaken)...does that include the cruise time or is this just Disney? If the park end of the trip is low budget then make use of your DVC unit to consume all of your breakfasts and one other meal each day. I'd suggest that one other meal to be dinner. You've got a car, do a little shopping for at least your starch & vegetables. Maybe a bottle of wine or two if you like that sort of thing. For the price of one Disney dinner you can do things up quite fancily in your studio or one bedroom. I like to combine take out and/or leftovers with food I purchased at the grocery store to make a nice dinner. You can also save money by having your big "out" meal at lunch time. Splitting meals works well also. If you don't like the idea of eating either lunch or dinner in the room then another suggestion is to make your meal from the appetizer menu. This is a good way to avoid being stuffed as well.

PS... If you are in a one bedroom there is no need to eat out unless you want to.

 

[agotta]

We brought the food budget down to $300, we love to eat out. And we will eat at least breakfast in our room. The first 3 days though, we will be at POFQ. The cost of getting from Sanford to Disney is just as expensive as renting a car. The car is only $167 from Sat -Thur morn. Then we are renting it again for the day we get back to the cruise. You guys make a lot of great suggestions. I guess this trip I am just being cheap. I am really stuck on the park tickets, and I know there are not really a lot of options since all vendors sell them for relatively the same amount. The only discount I have seen anywhere was for only about $1.12 We are still working on it...

Amanda

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

It looks like you've trimmed it down as much as you can without compromising what you expect from a vacation.

You're pretty much stuck with the ground transportation costs due to the higher rates for driving out of Sanford. One-way rentals can be expensive, too. Have you checked both onsite and remote locations for the best deals? A one-week rental could end up being cheaper, even if you have to let it sit in the parking lot at the port during your cruise. Who are you renting from? Perhaps one of us might have a coupon that we can offer you.

3-day MYW base passes aren't much of a bargain when purchased from the vendors. The real savings are when you get tickets for more days and more options. The only thing less expensive than the 3-day MYW base would be convention tickets. But even if you qualified for those, they would still cost you around $335 for a pair of 3-day hoppers.

I'm not sure that there are any other ways to trim the budget back without giving up something. However, if there is a way, someone on this board will know how. Good luck.

 

[agotta]

I had been renting from Budget, they were the cheapest I could find. I am now looking into National, this will be a hassle but will save us about $70. I am going to pick it up and just have it for the day we arrive, dropping it off at the dolphin. Again picking it up just to drive to the port, and then picking a 3rd up the day the cruise gets back. For around $130 is still seems cheaper than Disney transp for the cruise, and def for getting from Sanford to Disney. What a hassle!! Maybe it won't be too bad. Thanks for all the help!!

Amanda

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Why not rent your points out and stay on cash only? It wouldn't be DVC but at $10 per point you might come up cheaper overall... You could still do breakfast in...just bring a hotpot with you.

Renting points isn't that hard although there is a risk associated with it. I chose to minimize the risk on both sides when I did it by renting to people who wanted to go sooner than later.

Reducing the MYW tickets to 2 days isn't a bad idea. That gives you 3 days total with one of them being a hopper day. Since its April you can do your two favorite parks (other than AK) all day on the MYW...if you can coordinate them with the late extended hours feature so much the better. Then on the third day you can park hop starting with AK and then the other park you haven't done. If you have a plus feature left on your hopper you could also do a water park on the off day or if you don't have the plus you can explore WDW...drive over to WL and take the walk over to Ft. Wilderness...there is enough to see over there for free to occupy a morning (assuming you like farm animals). Ride the resort launches and have a leisurely tea at GF.

Aside from that...it IS a vacation...maybe you can find a little money somewhere else? You've got two months...a bit of pennypinching between now and then could get you $100 extra on your trip. Something simple like throwing your change nightly into a jar, giving up coffee if you buy it daily, bringing your lunch, driving less, turning your heat down a couple of degrees, eating cheaper foods.

 

[agotta]

We thought about renting our points, but some of them are restricted to non-dvc resorts due to a cancelled cruise. We figured we would just use them ourselves. We were going to stay in a hotel in Cocoa beach the night before the cruise, but insted we are getting pts from my FIL to stay at SSR one more night, no cost, I will just give him the points back next year. We are trying to save some extra $$. I was out of work for 2 months though and we are still playing catch up!!! I am trying really hard not to use our tax refund . I think we may end up going with a 2 day myw pass as much as I hate to. We don't have any plus options because our 1 day PH were CM tix from the good ole' days!! I think I will just have to be careful, no souvies this trip Thanks for the help!!

Amanda

 

[fourfoxesinpa]

Did you open up an ING account for you and DH? That would give you $60 in enrollment and referral bonuses that you could use? Maybe even refer some other friends and family members to get $10 for each one of them that sign up?