Pre-Disneyworld Fun on a Budget- Reports/ideas

[JDarling]

Okay fellow budget warriors! Chime in! What do you do to prepare for Disneyworld on a shoestring?

We host Walt Disney World Magical Racing Quest game nights at our house. It's a Playstation game (I think there is a version out for sega Dreamcast as well) where players can race through Disneyworld attractions like Dinosaur, Pirates of the Carribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Test Track, and a couple of the water parks. It's great fun! And free (aside from the $6 investment we made months ago in the game).

But last night, here's my report:
Peter Pan Movie Marathon - Darling style!
We both wanted to go out to dinner SOOO badly! Instead, we cashed in our change jar ($50) and decided to save 1/2 of it for a Disneyland day this weekend (using our gift annual passes, so that will cover gasoline and ice cream - we can pack the rest of our food, my folks offered to watch the dog for the day so we don't have to pay the $15 kennel fee). So we spent $10 on a hot air popcorn popper, $1.50 on some kernals (that will last us MONTHS probably), and $3 on candy (that will last us for a couple weeks as well). For dinner, we had some salad left over from a BBQ we went to on Sunday (friends know we're strapped right now so they are trying to help us out by feeding us even if we do have a full fridge, thankfully, for the rest of the month, I appericiate the help!), and since we didn't feel like cooking, one of the 2 microwaveable pizza's we got on sale ($1.50 Tony's pizza at Albertson's). The movie rental of "Return to Neverland" was free (w/ a coupon I had for 1 non-new-release at Blockbuster). We had some free champagne to drink (from a free bottle my brother gave me as a thank you for helping him clean up after he had a party in our parent's house while they were on vacation )
Total cost of the evening:
$16.00

Between movies, we visited our condo complex's jacuzzi (a near nightly activity for us - hey! We're paying for in our HOA fees - might as well make use of it!) for a little break.

It was great!
So what Disney fun do you have on a shoestring? Maybe we can swap some ideas!

 

[kjs1976]

WOW! That sounds like so much fun! I would rank you as a definite #1 Disney-Nut!

DH and I don't go too all out. We watch the planning videos a few times, like when we get real anxious as our trip nears. We have similar Disney movie nights...just the video and whatever snacks are in the house.

We have these Mc Donald's Disney glasses that represent each park we got in 2002. Last night I said we're using our Disney wear and I got out the glasses and napkins from WDW that I bring back from each trip. Inexpensive thrills!

 

[JDarling]

WOW! That sounds like so much fun! I would rank you as a definite #1 Disney-Nut!

DH and I don't go too all out. We watch the planning videos a few times, like when we get real anxious as our trip nears. We have similar Disney movie nights...just the video and whatever snacks are in the house.

We have these Mc Donald's Disney glasses that represent each park we got in 2002. Last night I said we're using our Disney wear and I got out the glasses and napkins from WDW that I bring back from each trip. Inexpensive thrills!

We do things like that too. It's fun to make an "event" out of it! We also have a couple WDW cook books, so we sometimes will make an "event" out of cooking up an appetizer (sometimes adjusting the recipe for whatever is in the house).

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

We don't eat out much anymore with a toddler, but when we order pizza we almost always get it from Papa Murphy's, our franchised take-and-bake, rather than have it delivered, and that saves us roughly half. On Fridays, our pizza night, DH stops and picks up a large or family-sized pepperoni pizza for, depending on specials, $5.99 - $7.99. I heat up the oven to 425F and by the time he gets home, it's preheated. I pop it in for 16 minutes, and we have the absolutely BEST pizza (I can say that ––*I work for a national pizza magazine!!).

Last Friday, PM's ran a special for $9.99 that included a large cheese pizza, cookie dough and a two-liter for $9.99. We saved a bundle by not going out, and DD 20mos. loooovvveeesss pizza.

If you're not familiar with take-and-bake, many don't charge tax because they don't have the capability to bake in-house and the pizzas are assembled like a sandwich at Subway.

 

[JDarling]

Two thumbs up here! I love those pizza's! I don't eat pizza often, but I ADORE thier gourmet Veggie. Yum yum! They have great sales and there are almost always coupons floating around. We've served them when we've had company over and they LOVE it too.

 

[speedyf]

Thanks for the heads up on that Magical Quest racing game.

We have a gamecube and my DS5 and I love to play Mario Cart & Crash Bandicoot Racing.

Last year...I brought my laptop for the plane ride to WDW (only about 1.5 hrs for us) and we played an old NCAA Football 99 game that I had. I was looking for something Disney related to play on this trip.

I was able to find the Windows version of Magical Racing Quest Tour on Amazon for $2.25+shipping...total of about $5.75.

I will load it and test it out and surprise him with the game during our plane ride this June.

Thanks for the heads up.....
Speed

 

[JDarling]

Thanks for the heads up on that Magical Quest racing game.

We have a gamecube and my DS5 and I love to play Mario Cart & Crash Bandicoot Racing.

Last year...I brought my laptop for the plane ride to WDW (only about 1.5 hrs for us) and we played an old NCAA Football 99 game that I had. I was looking for something Disney related to play on this trip.

I was able to find the Windows version of Magical Racing Quest Tour on Amazon for $2.25+shipping...total of about $5.75.

I will load it and test it out and surprise him with the game during our plane ride this June.

Thanks for the heads up.....
Speed

It's fairly tough, but.. Happy racing! XUD is my personal favorite. It's an "unlocking" racing game. Meaning you have to beat it 105% to get all the characters/tracks unlocked!

 

[Colinsmom]

Don't forget your library as a good source of Disney movies and books!! It helps to plan ahead a little and reserve things as the "good" movies tend to move quickly through our library!

 

[pjlla]

We have Disney night a few times a month. We watch a Disney movie and/or play the Disney Scene It game and/or play the Disney Music game. We usually try to have one "Disney" movie night each week for a few months before a trip to WDW... gets us geared up for the characters and music!! Or sometimes we will watch video from our trips! I always chuckle at those!

When we have Disney movie night we usually make microwave popcorn (the days of DH's GREAT homemade popcorn with real butter have gone the way of the dinosaur, thanks to DH being on the Atkins diet!! ) and the kids usually have candy from whatever holiday was most recent (Easter, Valentine's, Christmas, b.day parties). We each get a few M&Ms or Junior Mints... just enough to make it a treat!

A few years back when life wasn't so hectic, we had a "themed" family night each Friday. Some of our themes were "Jungle Night" (I cut down saplings in the woods behind the house and put them all over the dining room to look like a jungle), "Blue Night" (blue tablecloth, blue paper plates/napkins /cups/flatware, colored all the food blue with food coloring), "Africa Night", "Luau Night", "Outer Space Night". The kids always had fun planning these with me. They took some extra work, but they make great memories!...........P

 

[Princess Glenda]

We enjoy watching the Disney Specials that are shown on the Travel Channel and older shows like Full House, Step by Step, and Family Matters when they went to WDW. We also enjoy playing the Magic Kingdom game that we got for Christmas from Toys R Us. We have a Mickey Waffle maker and enjoy Mickey waffles at least once each week.