What are you best/silly $ saving tips for upcoming trip?

[Nick6300]

We're 2 super cheap adults on a budget trip this 8/24-8/31, so we're staying at All Star Sports for the first time since about 2007. This is Value Season 2... we typically like early Sept for the lighter crowds (kids only very recently went back to school and less likely to be pulled out that early), Disney food prices are lowered, hotel prices are cheaper, air fare is cheaper. There are some $30-40 motels in Kissimmee (all have hidden resort fees) but with the $20 daily park parking, lack of EMH, decided to stay on property. We don't have a travel trailer to camp and save more on trip. But I do miss Ft. Wilderness family camping trips. Hopefully in the future.

1. Flights for us are $900 direct to MCO. We unfortunately don't have a good airport. But used to buy $150 SW airlines cards for $142.95 at Sam's (and getting a new credit card bonus with the purchases). We're driving a fuel efficient car with estimated gas cost of $165 round trip from Central IL, which also allows us to drive to parks to save time, pack as much as we want, etc. Hoping to sleep in turns and nap at a rest stop and choose a water park first (and nap) to avoid the motel cost and time. Hopefully we fly next time.
2. Stopping for light groceries, packing all breakfast/snacks, refillable water bottle.
3. Buying $10 Disney shirts at Kissimmee Wal-Mart/several tourist stores to help avoid the temptation towards those $30 shirts at MK. We bought items like heavy ponchos at a flea mkt., knowing it rains a lot in the Fall.
4. Rec'd 20% room only discount for our stay $690 for 7 nights, paid for by credit card miles ($4k bonus requirements from 2 cards to get to $775 was reached while stacking discounts: 7-10% off gas cards, discounted Disney cards, etc., sometimes prepay a credit on cell phones, rent, utilities, car ins). Already have a Disney Visa.
5. While the free dining was what I was waiting for/dreaming about... Using an old 8 day PH+ and buying a matching one at Park Savers for $520 (maybe about $27 savings, charged as park of my credit card bonus requirement). Have to use that old ticket eventually. AMEX sometimes has Undercover Tourist x amount back on purchases that I missed out on (didn't know I was going at the time, there's now a ticket expiration policy).
6. A lot of us seem to use the Target Red card for a 5% discount (I think). I've never tried it. The $500 Disney card at Sam's is 5% off at $475, the $150 is 142.95, free shipping). Target always has a 10% offer for Black Fri to buy up to $300 in gift cards. They tell me I can use the Target gift cards to buy other gift cards (I'm hoping to use to buy Disney cards). Has anyone used Target gift cards to buy Disney gift cards to know for sure that it works? Be great to get 10% off. We ask for Disney gift cards for special occasions and buy them at discounts as our way to save for trips. Our Discover money market savings currently offers 1.01% to help save a little extra.
7. Silly thing we used to do without a car, when staying on property, was to walk to Hess station from Disney Springs, and buy a whole pizza, frozen drinks, fruit, chips, whatever else at a huge discount compared to Disney. Some people have said to use Garden Grocer (Amazon didn't deliver to All Star Sports) grocery delivery service (we looked, it was really expensive). With a car, we can (but won't) go to outside restaurants much. I have used online Orlando Coupons in the past for Disney Springs restaurants (i.e. 20% off). We plan on signing for the Earl of Sandwich e-club just before our trip for free triple brownies
8. I try to research Disney dining menus to save time/costs. It's just fun to plan if nothing else. Fries or frozen lemonade, for instance, is cheaper than another restaurant/vendor at the same park. We often split higher calorie meals (i.e. half chicken dinners at Cosmic Ray's, places with Fixins' Bar) because they're big enough, and ask for free ice waters. Back when Disney used to sell double cheeseburgers, we'd ask for an extra bun (sometimes free, sometimes like $0.30) and save. Since I'm so frugal, of course not going to more than a couple table service to save time/$. Verizon rewards advertised a Yak and Yeti gift card at 10% off, but I'm returning it since it came in as Landry's (works at T Rex and Rainforest Café) but have had conflicting report of whether it will work in AK.
9. Annual pass-holder discounts are pretty good for a limited time at select restaurants and stores. Seems like the Tables Wonderland cost to benefits are going the wrong way.
10. Think when we use up our other 2 old park tickets, we will be annual pass-holders, and try to go 1 week prior to expiration to make it worthwhile.

I'd like to hear about the Target gift cards/Red card and any other potential ways to tune up my savings repertoire. As a frugal banker and Disney fanatic, it's just an interesting topic for me.

 

[mommajo143]

We buy disney GCs @ Sam's club; I also buy discounted gift cards through Groupon for Starbucks, Landrys & recently scored a GC for Yak & Yeti with a retry good discount. Otherwise I use walmarts savings catcher, Ibotta & Walgreens apps to accrue rewards that I flip for gift cards.
We fly and are sky miles members so luggage is free / since we don't actually need two huge suitcases we actually put a 1/2 case of water in a monster sized ziploc in one suitcase along with granola bars, non-chocolate snacks, 'water mix-ins' etc & check that bag - then we have plenty room for anything (souvenirs) we want to bring back home. Other than when our kids were in diapers the grocery delivery services never seemed very cost-effective for us.

 

[Nick6300]

We buy disney GCs @ Sam's club; I also buy discounted gift cards through Groupon for Starbucks, Landrys & recently scored a GC for Yak & Yeti with a retry good discount. Otherwise I use walmarts savings catcher, Ibotta & Walgreens apps to accrue rewards that I flip for gift cards.
We fly and are sky miles members so luggage is free / since we don't actually need two huge suitcases we actually put a 1/2 case of water in a monster sized ziploc in one suitcase along with granola bars, non-chocolate snacks, 'water mix-ins' etc & check that bag - then we have plenty room for anything (souvenirs) we want to bring back home. Other than when our kids were in diapers the grocery delivery services never seemed very cost-effective for us.

I'm going to have to look for Starbucks and yak and yeti cards. I like your extra suitcase use. I'm tempted to try the Southwest card, because the sign up bonus is like 2 round trips and 6000 anniversary to gain loyalty and keep paying annual fees. But we've only been flying about once per yr, do you think it's worth it to pay annual fee miles card like your delta sky card if only using once annually?

 

[razsav]

We're 2 super cheap adults on a budget trip this 8/24-8/31, so we're staying at All Star Sports for the first time since about 2007. This is Value Season 2... we typically like early Sept for the lighter crowds (kids only very recently went back to school and less likely to be pulled out that early), Disney food prices are lowered, hotel prices are cheaper, air fare is cheaper. There are some $30-40 motels in Kissimmee (all have hidden resort fees) but with the $20 daily park parking, lack of EMH, decided to stay on property. We don't have a travel trailer to camp and save more on trip. But I do miss Ft. Wilderness family camping trips. Hopefully in the future.

1. Flights for us are $900 direct to MCO. We unfortunately don't have a good airport. But used to buy $150 SW airlines cards for $142.95 at Sam's (and getting a new credit card bonus with the purchases). We're driving a fuel efficient car with estimated gas cost of $165 round trip from Central IL, which also allows us to drive to parks to save time, pack as much as we want, etc. Hoping to sleep in turns and nap at a rest stop and choose a water park first (and nap) to avoid the motel cost and time. Hopefully we fly next time.
2. Stopping for light groceries, packing all breakfast/snacks, refillable water bottle.
3. Buying $10 Disney shirts at Kissimmee Wal-Mart/several tourist stores to help avoid the temptation towards those $30 shirts at MK. We bought items like heavy ponchos at a flea mkt., knowing it rains a lot in the Fall.
4. Rec'd 20% room only discount for our stay $690 for 7 nights, paid for by credit card miles ($4k bonus requirements from 2 cards to get to $775 was reached while stacking discounts: 7-10% off gas cards, discounted Disney cards, etc., sometimes prepay a credit on cell phones, rent, utilities, car ins). Already have a Disney Visa.
5. While the free dining was what I was waiting for/dreaming about... Using an old 8 day PH+ and buying a matching one at Park Savers for $520 (maybe about $27 savings, charged as park of my credit card bonus requirement). Have to use that old ticket eventually. AMEX sometimes has Undercover Tourist x amount back on purchases that I missed out on (didn't know I was going at the time, there's now a ticket expiration policy).
6. A lot of us seem to use the Target Red card for a 5% discount (I think). I've never tried it. The $500 Disney card at Sam's is 5% off at $475, the $150 is 142.95, free shipping). Target always has a 10% offer for Black Fri to buy up to $300 in gift cards. They tell me I can use the Target gift cards to buy other gift cards (I'm hoping to use to buy Disney cards). Has anyone used Target gift cards to buy Disney gift cards to know for sure that it works? Be great to get 10% off. We ask for Disney gift cards for special occasions and buy them at discounts as our way to save for trips. Our Discover money market savings currently offers 1.01% to help save a little extra.
7. Silly thing we used to do without a car, when staying on property, was to walk to Hess station from Disney Springs, and buy a whole pizza, frozen drinks, fruit, chips, whatever else at a huge discount compared to Disney. Some people have said to use Garden Grocer (Amazon didn't deliver to All Star Sports) grocery delivery service (we looked, it was really expensive). With a car, we can (but won't) go to outside restaurants much. I have used online Orlando Coupons in the past for Disney Springs restaurants (i.e. 20% off). We plan on signing for the Earl of Sandwich e-club just before our trip for free triple brownies
8. I try to research Disney dining menus to save time/costs. It's just fun to plan if nothing else. Fries or frozen lemonade, for instance, is cheaper than another restaurant/vendor at the same park. We often split higher calorie meals (i.e. half chicken dinners at Cosmic Ray's, places with Fixins' Bar) because they're big enough, and ask for free ice waters. Back when Disney used to sell double cheeseburgers, we'd ask for an extra bun (sometimes free, sometimes like $0.30) and save. Since I'm so frugal, of course not going to more than a couple table service to save time/$. Verizon rewards advertised a Yak and Yeti gift card at 10% off, but I'm returning it since it came in as Landry's (works at T Rex and Rainforest Café) but have had conflicting report of whether it will work in AK.
9. Annual pass-holder discounts are pretty good for a limited time at select restaurants and stores. Seems like the Tables Wonderland cost to benefits are going the wrong way.
10. Think when we use up our other 2 old park tickets, we will be annual pass-holders, and try to go 1 week prior to expiration to make it worthwhile.

I'd like to hear about the Target gift cards/Red card and any other potential ways to tune up my savings repertoire. As a frugal banker and Disney fanatic, it's just an interesting topic for me.

 

[razsav]

I've had success using a Target, Meijer, Best Buy, Walmart/Sam's Club gift card to purchase Disney gift cards. Right now Discover has 5% back at wholesale clubs. You can buy Disney gift cards for a 5% discount at B.J's Wholesale and you don't have to be a member. I buy Meijer and Best Buy gift cards online when there's discounts. Ebay has frequent discounts on new gift cards. I use by Chase Ink card to accrue Ultimate Rewards points that I convert to Southwest points and Hyatt points 1/1. You can also use the Chase Sapphire Reserve card to transfer points to SW. The Southwest card is great for the sign-up bonus, but not so great at earning points. Get it when it's at least 50,000 points. It has been up to 60,000 points. I didn't keep it after the first year. The AMEX Undercover Tourist offer is available for the next few days.

You can buy a case of water at the resort for $6. Sure, a bit higher than what we'd normally pay, but still a deal for Disney. We only drink filtered water at home, but we found the water from the counter service restaurants fine.

There's frequently discounts on Starbuck's gift cards. Groupon just had a targeted deal this week. Also, you can pack the Starbuck's instant coffee packets in your backpack, ask a counter service restaurant for a free hot water.

I purchased Panera bagels on their Tuesday deal, froze them for the trip, and that's what my kid's at for breakfast. Also, packed muffins. Just packed them in plastic containers so they wouldn't get crushed. We always pack a suitcase of snacks. We have two SW companion passes, so we always fly Southwest to Florida. So, of course no baggage fees.

We sometimes share meals, but often a counter service kid's meal is fine. The last time at BOG, we ordered the kid's pulled pork, and there was plenty of food. Sleepy Hollow is affordable for the ice cream sandwich, chicken sandwich, nutella sandwich. Those can easily be shared. The popcorn bucket was a good deal. pay $10 initially, then $1.50 for refills for the length of a trip.

You might want to check Magical Vacations Travel for a better deal on your room.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I've tried various things but the 3 things that work out for me are:

1. Starbucks for breakfast. If I'm caffeinated and have a light snack early, I'm on the move and disinclined to do TS for brunch. I love brunch. It's never a planned thing, it's always a "hmm, that sounds awesome right now" thing.

2. Insulated water bottle: I really will spend a lot of money on beverages on a whim if I haven't got this. I will also spend more money on food. Because a lot of times when I'm hungry I'm really just dehydrated.

3. No park hopper. It's not the added expense of the ticket, it's that park hopper encourages hopping for booze or snacks or shopping that are spur of the moment. I'm way more likely to sit down and rest and people watch or use the pool without a park hopper.

 

[momto4obkids]

You can definitely use the Landry's gift card at Yak & Yeti. I've done it many times. I even emailed the restaurant a few years ago to make sure they took them. The manager called me and verified it.

 

[LovesTimone]

We're 2 super cheap adults on a budget trip this 8/24-8/31, so we're staying at All Star Sports for the first time since about 2007. This is Value Season 2... we typically like early Sept for the lighter crowds (kids only very recently went back to school and less likely to be pulled out that early), Disney food prices are lowered, hotel prices are cheaper, air fare is cheaper. There are some $30-40 motels in Kissimmee (all have hidden resort fees) but with the $20 daily park parking, lack of EMH, decided to stay on property. We don't have a travel trailer to camp and save more on trip. But I do miss Ft. Wilderness family camping trips. Hopefully in the future.

1. Flights for us are $900 direct to MCO. We unfortunately don't have a good airport. But used to buy $150 SW airlines cards for $142.95 at Sam's (and getting a new credit card bonus with the purchases). We're driving a fuel efficient car with estimated gas cost of $165 round trip from Central IL, which also allows us to drive to parks to save time, pack as much as we want, etc. Hoping to sleep in turns and nap at a rest stop and choose a water park first (and nap) to avoid the motel cost and time. Hopefully we fly next time. While driving straight thru cuts out the need/cost for 1 night each way, it might be better to just bite the bullet on this, and look for something cheap along the road. So that you are rested and aware while driving, then when you arrive you won't be as tired and ready to start your vacation. You could cut out the cost of the water park and just use the resort pool.

2. Stopping for light groceries, packing all breakfast/snacks, refillable water bottle. You also could check out Publix on line, sign up for their digital coupons, and you can bring paper ones to, they have really great bogo items. Some friends make this their 1st stop before checking in at the resort. They get what they need, along with some subs made at the deli, check in and enjoy the subs pools side, make sure to have your swim gear easy to get to if your room is not ready. With driving you can bring a lot to cut down on food cost, think outside of the box.

3. Buying $10 Disney shirts at Kissimmee Wal-Mart/several tourist stores to help avoid the temptation towards those $30 shirts at MK. We bought items like heavy ponchos at a flea mkt., knowing it rains a lot in the Fall. For me I would check out the Disney store online for T-shirts, they always have some deal going on. As far as ponchos we really don't like them, so we invested in a rain jackets, the kind that sorta pack into themselves, really light weight and also can be use for a jacket in the restaurants if you get cold. so 2 for one. We went with Columbia as it was the lightest weight we could find. I love that the hood zips into the collar, and the jacket comes down over my bottom. I bought men's jackets as they were the same as the ladies only about 20 dollar less per jacket, and they have more pockets. We did spend a bit more but we have used them a lot not only for traveling, but daily living. So they were an investment.

4. Rec'd 20% room only discount for our stay $690 for 7 nights, paid for by credit card miles ($4k bonus requirements from 2 cards to get to $775 was reached while stacking discounts: 7-10% off gas cards, discounted Disney cards, etc., sometimes prepay a credit on cell phones, rent, utilities, car ins). Already have a Disney Visa.
5. While the free dining was what I was waiting for/dreaming about... Using an old 8 day PH+ and buying a matching one at Park Savers for $520 (maybe about $27 savings, charged as park of my credit card bonus requirement). Have to use that old ticket eventually. AMEX sometimes has Undercover Tourist x amount back on purchases that I missed out on (didn't know I was going at the time, there's now a ticket expiration policy).
6. A lot of us seem to use the Target Red card for a 5% discount (I think). I've never tried it. The $500 Disney card at Sam's is 5% off at $475, the $150 is 142.95, free shipping). Target always has a 10% offer for Black Fri to buy up to $300 in gift cards. They tell me I can use the Target gift cards to buy other gift cards (I'm hoping to use to buy Disney cards). Has anyone used Target gift cards to buy Disney gift cards to know for sure that it works? Be great to get 10% off. We ask for Disney gift cards for special occasions and buy them at discounts as our way to save for trips. Our Discover money market savings currently offers 1.01% to help save a little extra.
7. Silly thing we used to do without a car, when staying on property, was to walk to Hess station from Disney Springs, and buy a whole pizza, frozen drinks, fruit, chips, whatever else at a huge discount compared to Disney. Some people have said to use Garden Grocer (Amazon didn't deliver to All Star Sports) grocery delivery service (we looked, it was really expensive). With a car, we can (but won't) go to outside restaurants much. I have used online Orlando Coupons in the past for Disney Springs restaurants (i.e. 20% off). We plan on signing for the Earl of Sandwich e-club just before our trip for free triple brownies With this make sure you can use it the Disney Spring location, some friends tried to use it at Disney Spring and they declined the coupon.

8. I try to research Disney dining menus to save time/costs. It's just fun to plan if nothing else. Fries or frozen lemonade, for instance, is cheaper than another restaurant/vendor at the same park. We often split higher calorie meals (i.e. half chicken dinners at Cosmic Ray's, places with Fixins' Bar) because they're big enough, and ask for free ice waters. Back when Disney used to sell double cheeseburgers, we'd ask for an extra bun (sometimes free, sometimes like $0.30) and save. Since I'm so frugal, of course not going to more than a couple table service to save time/$. Verizon rewards advertised a Yak and Yeti gift card at 10% off, but I'm returning it since it came in as Landry's (works at T Rex and Rainforest Café) but have had conflicting report of whether it will work in AK. Do you have a Landry's card? if not get one, its 25 dollars to get... then you get a 25 dollar credit, and 25 on your birthday, we have used our Landry's points and gift cards, at AK there is a rainforest just outside the gate, and I think you can use them at Y&Y. We enjoy sharing some appetizers or a meal at either Rainforest or T-Rex portions are huge, and theming is so fun. Check out Groupon for Starbucks and other deals. As far as TS you can share meals in most of them, a lot will split the meal in the kitchen if not will bring you a extra plate so you can do it yourself.

9. Annual pass-holder discounts are pretty good for a limited time at select restaurants and stores. Seems like the Tables Wonderland cost to benefits are going the wrong way. So agreeing with you on this with TIW. We have both AP's and TIW...and the AP's have been giving us a better discount consistently.

10. Think when we use up our other 2 old park tickets, we will be annual pass-holders, and try to go 1 week prior to expiration to make it worthwhile. When we renew our AP's we got 13 months, I don't know if that offer is still good.

I'd like to hear about the Target gift cards/Red card and any other potential ways to tune up my savings repertoire. As a frugal banker and Disney fanatic, it's just an interesting topic for me.

 

[Nick6300]

You can definitely use the Landry's gift card at Yak & Yeti. I've done it many times. I even emailed the restaurant a few years ago to make sure they took them. The manager called me and verified it.

Thanks! I'm not sure why CM and Landry's both said they don't work at Yak/Yeti's Local Cafe. It would be nice if the Landry's card from Groupon had Yak Yeti directly listed so it wasn't up to whomever mgr. you see at the time.

 

[momto4obkids]

Thanks! I'm not sure why CM and Landry's both said they don't work at Yak/Yeti's Local Cafe. It would be nice if the Landry's card from Groupon had Yak Yeti directly listed so it wasn't up to whomever mgr. you see at the time.

I'm sorry, I thought you were referring to the sit down restaurant because you were saying you only do a few of those, and then started discussing the Yak & Yeti. You are correct, the counter service doesn't take them, they do take the Disney gift cards. The sit down Yak & Yeti takes the Landry's cards.

 

[Nick6300]

I've tried various things but the 3 things that work out for me are:

1. Starbucks for breakfast. If I'm caffeinated and have a light snack early, I'm on the move and disinclined to do TS for brunch. I love brunch. It's never a planned thing, it's always a "hmm, that sounds awesome right now" thing.

2. Insulated water bottle: I really will spend a lot of money on beverages on a whim if I haven't got this. I will also spend more money on food. Because a lot of times when I'm hungry I'm really just dehydrated.

3. No park hopper. It's not the added expense of the ticket, it's that park hopper encourages hopping for booze or snacks or shopping that are spur of the moment. I'm way more likely to sit down and rest and people watch or use the pool without a park hopper.

We're fortunately not big pop or alcohol drinkers. A lot of people don't like the water at Disney, but we're fine with it and just get free ice waters and bring a water bottle for our bag. I like your beat your craving tendencies system!

I'm also wondering why I got park hopper plus fun visits on 8 day tickets. With that length of stay, you can go to ea. park twice. The original thought was probably to go to water park mid-day and different park with late hours after. We then thought about the new express transportation plan for $29 ea. to skip baggage, security, and be inside the park when hopping. But again, you can just go to 1 park per day, save that time and extra costs for the add on's. The only downfall is that without PH, you tend to go and stay at EMH park and it's busier or MK may be closed at 7 for the 1st Halloween party 8/24 (but has early EMH) and you can't hop to another park.

 

[Nick6300]

I'm sorry, I thought you were referring to the sit down restaurant because you were saying you only do a few of those, and then started discussing the Yak & Yeti. You are correct, the counter service doesn't take them, they do take the Disney gift cards. The sit down Yak & Yeti takes the Landry's cards.

That's good to know. But I may still get a Landry's because it's good at Yak, Rainforest, and T-Rex... some flexibility for a 10% off card via Verizon Rewards gift cards.

 

[Nick6300]

I've had success using a Target, Meijer, Best Buy, Walmart/Sam's Club gift card to purchase Disney gift cards. Right now Discover has 5% back at wholesale clubs. You can buy Disney gift cards for a 5% discount at B.J's Wholesale and you don't have to be a member. I buy Meijer and Best Buy gift cards online when there's discounts. Ebay has frequent discounts on new gift cards. I use by Chase Ink card to accrue Ultimate Rewards points that I convert to Southwest points and Hyatt points 1/1. You can also use the Chase Sapphire Reserve card to transfer points to SW. The Southwest card is great for the sign-up bonus, but not so great at earning points. Get it when it's at least 50,000 points. It has been up to 60,000 points. I didn't keep it after the first year. The AMEX Undercover Tourist offer is available for the next few days.

You can buy a case of water at the resort for $6. Sure, a bit higher than what we'd normally pay, but still a deal for Disney. We only drink filtered water at home, but we found the water from the counter service restaurants fine.

There's frequently discounts on Starbuck's gift cards. Groupon just had a targeted deal this week. Also, you can pack the Starbuck's instant coffee packets in your backpack, ask a counter service restaurant for a free hot water.

I purchased Panera bagels on their Tuesday deal, froze them for the trip, and that's what my kid's at for breakfast. Also, packed muffins. Just packed them in plastic containers so they wouldn't get crushed. We always pack a suitcase of snacks. We have two SW companion passes, so we always fly Southwest to Florida. So, of course no baggage fees.

We sometimes share meals, but often a counter service kid's meal is fine. The last time at BOG, we ordered the kid's pulled pork, and there was plenty of food. Sleepy Hollow is affordable for the ice cream sandwich, chicken sandwich, nutella sandwich. Those can easily be shared. The popcorn bucket was a good deal. pay $10 initially, then $1.50 for refills for the length of a trip.

You might want to check Magical Vacations Travel for a better deal on your room.

There is a ton of good stuff here, I love it! So for us with only 1 annual flight... it sounds like you would get the SW card, use the pts. (I think it may be more than the 2 round trips however so we're probably having to keep it for more than the 1 yr) and then cancel once you've used the pts. I wonder what the length of time has to be after cancelation where you can get back in for the bonus (18 mo's?). Maybe we should just fly for free and forget the driving. Free hotel and flights for this trip would be pretty nifty. Chase Ink and Sapphire: which do you prefer, and they must be worth the annual fee for you to keep them. I'm interested in the ability to transfer pts to SW. I'm sort of annual fee adverse like most people, although I realize that with the much larger perks it can be worth it. I have a BOA travel rewards card that earns 2.65% on everything without a fee because I have my accts with BOA/Merrill. I did like the Barclays Arrival Plus that got us $575 after just a little more than initial $3k charges (Christmas special offer for higher initial miles). But I'm probably canceling it since it gets 2% plus 5% redemption, but I have a lot of cards that have 2% or better perks and don't want the annual fee. The only issue I have with the Chase cards is that with my obtaining a new card 4x/yr., I never qualify. I think Chase has it to where you have to have not had new credit for a certain period.

Between Undercover Tourist, Park Savers, a couple of the other auth. Disney ticket sellers, Park Savers was the biggest savings for our trip but I wonder if it's worth it to keep an Amex for the UT discounts, if they freq. have that. I had an AMEX but canceled because of the annual fee. This is the 1st time trusting to use an auth. seller of Disney tickets. I know there's a little bit more savings at UT with the email registration/newsletter, but the ticket savings seemed real minimal ($10 off an 8day PH+). I will have to look into Magical Vacations Travel.

That's great that the retail gift cards worked on buying Disney cards. I'm going to continue buying the 10% off Target $300 on Black Fri. There are new Meijer cards for 6% off very frequently by an ebay seller I use. I think I may have seen 10% off Best Buy on Verizon before. Rarely see walmart/sams at much discount.

Do you tend to prefer 2 kids meals over sharing 1 adult meal? That's funny. I'll have to try the kids pulled pork at BOG. Thanks for your post!

 

[loves to dive]

I buy gift cards at Sam's. My cc is a cash back cc and I use it to buy everything then pay it off every month, just before the trip I'll get all my cash back so I have some extra cash. I'm not a big eater, prefer lots of small meals throughout the day but don't really "snack". If I'm eating at QS, I get a kids meal, most of the time without the drink and just get a glass of water (I don't really do this to save money but because water is all I drink other than a refreshing adult beverage and even the kid's meals are too much food for me). Lots of time if we eat at a TS we will just order a couple of appetizers and a salad and share the appetizers (again not to save money but the whole I don't eat big meals thing, bonus is that it saves money). We don't ever get any of the snack type items in the parks like popcorn or mickey bars, again not really a money saving thing but we just tend to not really eat between meals, if we do it's usually fruit. I get free water all day long from the QS locations.

 

[Nick6300]

1. Definitely agree that it's counterproductive to arrive exhausted. Our prob. is that we ran out of vacation and we have to leave the night before our check in. We're good car napping people but yes, we may have to stop for a bit. Or bag it all together and fly. The return trip we have a lot more time and thinking of staying with family in TN (half way from IL). Free dinner and lodging, right?
2. That's great thinking on the swim gear - I actually thought the same thing yesterday vs. potentially changing in a restroom stall. Don't love the food delivery service prices, but I get that it's better than Disney prices if you don't have a car. But almost worth it to even uber to a store instead. I used to freq. Publix when I was a Tampa res. It's a bit pricey, but good deli/better quality goods. Great idea on the subs, I was thinking sandwiches too since we get a small frig in our rooms.
3. great idea on the rain coats... We've only gone with the ponchos for the fold-ability and being able to be big enough to cover the back pack. But I'd like to find a dual purpose light rain coat - like you suggested that you can reuse. We used umbrellas and it those are just not good with Disney crowds.
8. will look into the Landry's card, thanks! Our birthday's don't fall during our Fall stays, you must be able to use the birthday credit later.
10. we miss our AP's for this trip. they are really trying to direct people to them lately.

 

[Nick6300]

I buy gift cards at Sam's. My cc is a cash back cc and I use it to buy everything then pay it off every month, just before the trip I'll get all my cash back so I have some extra cash. I'm not a big eater, prefer lots of small meals throughout the day but don't really "snack". If I'm eating at QS, I get a kids meal, most of the time without the drink and just get a glass of water (I don't really do this to save money but because water is all I drink other than a refreshing adult beverage and even the kid's meals are too much food for me). Lots of time if we eat at a TS we will just order a couple of appetizers and a salad and share the appetizers (again not to save money but the whole I don't eat big meals thing, bonus is that it saves money). We don't ever get any of the snack type items in the parks like popcorn or mickey bars, again not really a money saving thing but we just tend to not really eat between meals, if we do it's usually fruit. I get free water all day long from the QS locations.

There are a lot of people on a budget who avoids TS meals like the plague. But even signature dining places such as EP's Le Cellier in Canada has large cheddar soup and the bacon cheese fries apps that are around $10-15 ea., easily shareable for a meal. You just have do a little research ahead of time... which is fun. I love that with our 8/24-8/31 stay, the last day will be an EP day for the 1st day at F&W Fest.

 

[danielocha30]

we are in Florida and get a lot of discount for it, besides annual pass and the room discount, we always keep singles when we get change and as soon as we hit $50 we buy GC from disney, we drive so we take advantage of WinnDixie fuel perks to get Shell gas discounts, Shopkicks is the app we use to get $ and all goes toward our trip, we do share at table services when possible not only for the sake of saving money, realistically is too much food and I love to snack around the park, we never order soda not at Disney or anywhere.

 

[Nick6300]

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2014/12/07/how-to-get-the-sign-up-bonus-again-for-southwest-cards/
Found this article (bit dated 12/2014) but it states that you can get the SW plus card for a potential 50k miles and then either get SW Premier for another 50k miles 24 mo's after initial bonus or cancel the SW plus and reapply to time the bonus after 24 mo's. It seems like you could alternate years between your spouse and potentially get 50k miles every yr. Sometimes the bonus fluctuates. And again, this is a Chase card which has regularly turned me down if I've had recent new credit, despite my 800+ credit. I'd have to lay off new credit for a while. Believe wife priced a round trip from IL to FL to be 12k SW miles.

I've also requested a quote from Magical Vacations Travel... like most of these, it's a free service, so I guess no harm in checking. Also some Travelocity ads for $77/night All Stars and $90 for Pop. Must not include the resort taxes but still sounds cheap. I used to also see Orbitz offering discount codes to use on top of sale Disney resorts from time to time.

 

[Nick6300]

we are in Florida and get a lot of discount for it, besides annual pass and the room discount, we always keep singles when we get change and as soon as we hit $50 we buy GC from disney, we drive so we take advantage of WinnDixie fuel perks to get Shell gas discounts, Shopkicks is the app we use to get $ and all goes toward our trip, we do share at table services when possible not only for the sake of saving money, realistically is too much food and I love to snack around the park, we never order soda not at Disney or anywhere.

Super jealous of FL residents! Yes, that FL annual pass is a great deal. I think we would have gone with the Silver if we were still living in Tampa. But I think for FL peeps who didn't frequently go and take advantage of the AP, they tend to offer discounted tickets (and resort discounts). Because we went every weekend during our short 11 month stay in FL, we ended up doing the cheap $20-40/night Kissimmee hotels to crash (figured out which ones were acceptable and not super scary/run down). We used hotels.com to get our free 10th night, and got the hotels.com giftcards at 10% off on ebay. Also packed food. Later on, we just went on single opening to close Sat's. It was super neat to be 1st in line at Toy Story Mania week after week to try to beat 300k points. We went so frequently that I knew which bathroom faucets were the strongest stream and water fountains were the coldest.

 

[Westcoastwild]

We're fortunately not big pop or alcohol drinkers. A lot of people don't like the water at Disney, but we're fine with it and just get free ice waters and bring a water bottle for our bag. I like your beat your craving tendencies system!

I'm also wondering why I got park hopper plus fun visits on 8 day tickets. With that length of stay, you can go to ea. park twice. The original thought was probably to go to water park mid-day and different park with late hours after. We then thought about the new express transportation plan for $29 ea. to skip baggage, security, and be inside the park when hopping. But again, you can just go to 1 park per day, save that time and extra costs for the add on's. The only downfall is that without PH, you tend to go and stay at EMH park and it's busier or MK may be closed at 7 for the 1st Halloween party 8/24 (but has early EMH) and you can't hop to another park.

I honestly do use Park hopper a lot. Mostly because I travel in the summer, and your point about EMH is a good one. Just saying that I know if I have PH, Epcot, here I come!