What part of your budget can be shaved?

[SandraC]

Hi all ~ when I add up my budget, the bottom line is astonishingly high. I can cut out some of the higher priced meals that we planned, but I really don't want to compromise on the resorts we are considering.

Where do you shave costs off your budget? S

 

[kinlaw6450]

Not a thing on mine. I have actually gotten 6 nights at Ft. Wildernss, seasonal passes (Florida Resident-I have two residences) and airfare for 1150. Can't do much better than that.

 

[Michelemouse]

I don't really shave things off of my budget, but I find creative ways to come up with the extra funds I need. For example...

Family members know to give us Disney Dollars for birthdays and other gift-giving occasions. This really can help with expenses and they feel like they've given us a "Vacation Gift Certificate".

I save all of my change. All of it. In fact, if I have a purchase that comes to $1.01 I will break another dollar and save the change. We manage to save about $500 per year this way without it affecting our daily life.

Hope these help.

 

[patsal]

I shave costs by switching some meals to late lunch rather than dinner, eat most breakfasts in the room, never use the resort phone, switch to moderate rather than deluxe for non-special occasion trips--we usually don't spend much time in the room, I never purchase a package since it is always less expensive to price everything out separate. I get the smallest car possible and try to keep it within $50 of a towncar. Grocery shop for staples and pack them so I can take advantage of BOGO at the grocery shops here--essentially all breakfast items except milk were free then! Kids pack a snack or two in their packs for the day, no more than one purchased snack about every two to three days--at 10-20 per day this can be a huge savings. Splitting counter service meals--double cheeseburgers= two servings except for the starch, but you make that up in french fries anyway! Set a budget for souvies too, the kids usually use thier own money more judiciously than they do mine! When it is gone it is gone! Never buy film or have developing done at the parks. I rarely get a ny souvies for myself since just being at the park and taking photos is enough for me.

 

[Julia M]

Well, for us, we look to buy cheaper airfare (although once it's booked, that's a fixed expenses) I also look for the cheapest car rental I can. I do the same for park passes.

Then you have to decide where you are staying. generally, for an equivalent sized room and amenities, off site is cheaper than on site. We have stayed both, and while I loved on site at DxL/PO, I needed the space at our timeshare. That's a decision you'll have to make, but it's once spot where you can make significant changes to your budget.

Once those are done, here are my others. We usually eat b'fast in our room (hotel or timeshare). I keep bagels/cream cheese, oatmeal, hot cocoa packets, fruit, cheese sticks, etc. Last time we did do characher b'fasts, but not too often. We also generally eat 2 meals a day at Disney, so b'fast in the room and then lunch and dinner, or big later b'fast and early dinner.

I bring snacks in our backpack.....generally some cheese and crackers like things, and some useless junk the kids will enjoy (like baby bottle pops, fun dips, etc....I buy at Smart and Final before we go) Snacks in the parks are rare for us, and a special treat. For our last 10 day trip, we had snacks twice....ice cream bars and popcorn. We carry water bottles in the parks, too. It sounds like we carry alot, but we don't.....either dh has one small backpack, or we each carry a fanny pack. For us, a family of five....snacks can run up alot of money, and I just don't think they are worth it. (That's just my opinion)

Also, we buy few souvenirs. While this is money saving, it's also a philosophical thing for me, so I strongly believe it. We tell our kids our vacation is not about shopping, it's about being together as a family. It's about doing fun stuff and getting to spend special time together. My boys spend special time with dad doing "scary" rides, and dd does shopping with me (but she knows I like to window ship, and don't want more "stuff") So, if we buy a souvenir, it's usually something special. My oldest ds bought a really nice Indiana Jones hat (about $50) we paid half and so did he. DD got a beautifal Jasmine costume (again we paid half)

So, snacks and souvenris save us money, too.

For meals, counter service and off site will save you money over nicer sit down meals. Having said that, we generally eat on site, and have one counter service and one sit down meal each day.

Truthfully, it's all about your priorities....what are "musts" for you, and what you can live without. I like to take two or three vacations a year (not Disney), so I won't spend alot of my vacation budget on upscale lodging. I don't need more "stuff", so spend little money on souvenirs, and snacks are overpriced (IMO) so I'd rather bring my own. But, I travel at busy season and value a PS in a restaurant to take me away from the crowds and crziness. Our last trip, the kids did the Pirate Cruise, and we did HDDR and took an Illuminations Cruise. (because of the fun time)

Hope this helps.

 

[kayeandjim00]

I also just try to get more creative with accumulating money for the trip as opposed to cutting our budget. One thing we did this year as we wanted to spend a little less was staying at All Star Sports as opposed to CBR as we had originally planned since it was a good bit cheaper and we really liked staying there the last time. Our souvenier budget is pretty big as we both love to buy tons of stuff at WDW but if it was a matter of not buying stuff or not going we would definitley go and cut back on souveniers. I also shop around for the BEST rental car and air prices I can possibly get and keep checking the car right up until we leave for any specials that would shave money off the total. We also buy the Park Hoppers even if we will only be at the parks a couple of days as that is an expense that we won't have to think about the next time and that's always nice. We do the same at Universal, buy the 2 Day 2 Park pass, even if we are only going to one park and then next year we won't have to buy those. It's the little things that add up for us. We also have a disney box (I bought it at Hallmark last year they had some 100 years stuff and the box has the old mickey and minnie on the front and the new one on the inside) that we stick money in. All of our tax refunds go in this box as it's "found" money anyway that we weren't planning on. We aren't big savers but when it comes to Disney we can see beyond the present and think about how much fun we are going to have with the money at WDW. Sorry this is so long, just my two cents!

 

[tink2dw]

I studied this website!! And learned how to cut the cost of WDW rooms costs,how to cut ticket costs,and how to take a budget trip to WDW.

I found this website, it has a great budget planner that is really realistic!!
Vacation Travel Planner
http://63.123.153.232/tribune/budgetapplication/page1.asp

 

[JetMom]

We drive from NY instead of fly. It takes longer, but we save about $800. That is including extra meals and "motel 6" on the road.

We also look for lodging discounts/code and limit the number of pricey meals.

 

[disneysteve]

We drive down - no airfare or rental car fees. We eat breakfast in the room - cereal, pop-tarts, juice, coffee, etc. We drink only tap water and carry a refillable insulated bottle with us - we get ice throughout the park when we need more.

Airfare and accomodations are probably the two biggest expenses (except for admission which you can't do much about). Driving eliminates the airfare and also allows us to pack food rather than buying it there. And staying offsite minimizes the accomodations. We have stayed in standard hotel rooms for as little as $23/nite and in a suite for as little as $39/nite. Plenty of people spend more for 1 nite than we spend for the whole week.

We often share meals. For example, we will get one combo meal (sandwich, drink and fries) and 2 of us will just get sandwiches. Then we all share the drink and fries. Saves money and reduces our junk food intake.

We generally avoid character meals (except for Crystal Palace because we love the food). Characters are plentiful enough - we don't need to spend extra to have them bug us while we're eating and pay a premium in the process. We also eat several meals off-site where prices are not nearly as high.

Steve

 

[mad4themouse]

I'm also one of those who will not compromise on the room choice. I realize that we could get a very nice room offsite for a lot less than what we'll pay for a Disney resort but it won't have that certain Disney je ne sais quoi. So, I make small sacrifices at home in order to afford the onsite hotel. However, if I find that my sacrificing still is not enough, here are my ways to get around it.

If I need to shave anything from the vacation budget, I can lop off a day from the length of our visit. One or two less hotels nights = $$$.

If I have to, I'll get a towncar instead of renting a car for the 10-14 days that I have planned.

I'll get park hoppers passes instead of the APs that I anticipate buying.

We'll forego a trip to DQ and/or Fantasia Gardens.

We'll skip the expensive restaurants (like Brown Derby) in favor of an equally-filling moderately priced meal. I'll pack breakfast snacks and eat in the room more.

I'll get my in-laws to dog-sit instead of kenneling him while we're away. The dog would be happier with that setup anyway. He adores my FIL.

I'll also ask FIL to drive us to the airport and pick us up instead of paying for long term parking. He lives about 15 minutes from PHL.

I'll stay in a budget airport hotel on the night we arrive and on the evening before we leave. We usually fly using Frequent Flier miles and the easier flights to get are later in the evening for the trip down and for very early morning on the way home.

 

[crazelion]

Be cheap. Stay offsite to save money. Eat at offsite buffet food places. Stay at hotel that have a Continental Breakfast that will save on breakfest. Shop for soverers at Wal-Mart or so place cheap that offering T-shirts for 5 for 20.00.

Start a change jar.

Stop for coupons at Tourist Center to save on cheap enternainment. Sometimes you can found buy for get one free offers.

Use Roomsaver.com for the hotel room coupon.

Do free enternainment in your city.

That's have save money.

 

[bunnyfoo]

I think this year we're going to cut back on some of the souveniers ... well we're going to try anyway I know we can cut back on some of the food expenses, we're doing a grocery stop and we're going to buy lots of little snacks and definetley bottled water. I'm still trying to debate whether I should bring down my Brita bottle...

 

[Debbie]

bunnyfoo, will you have a car? We always do our souvenir shopping at Belz before we check in. That way, the kids can get some value for their money, and we don't spend a lot of time in the stores actually buying. Love to window shop, though!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Pins -- But that doesn't mean I will!
I can QUIT anytime I want!

 

[kwnancy]

best budget and time saver ---- breakfast in the room!!! gets everyone up and moving, we've taken poptarts and juice boxes to the busstop to save a little bit more time.

 

[bunnyfoo]

Originally posted by Debbie
bunnyfoo, will you have a car? We always do our souvenir shopping at Belz before we check in. That way, the kids can get some value for their money, and we don't spend a lot of time in the stores actually buying. Love to window shop, though!

Hey Debbie! No, neither of us wants to drive so we're just using towncars and taxis We are going to visit one of the outlet malls though. I think it will likely be the Premium Outlets. I bought a bunch of stuff for my friends there last year at the Character Warehouse (?) ... I also found a Mickey camera strap there for $0.99 which was one of my favourite souveniers!

I've also got a bunch of TDS pins that I will likely use for trading so I'm hoping not to buy many. Is Belz better than the Premium Outlets? Which one do you prefer?

 

[Snow Brite]

One I thought of but didn't see was staying at a motel the first and/or last nights of your stay. This way you would still get the nice Disney hotels while you were at Disney, but could stay at a much cheaper motel type place close to the airport on the first and last night, shaving a little off your overall costs. This is also practical if you are not arriving first thing in the morning and heading right to the parks, as it allows you to crash and rest, adjust to the time difference if you need to and then head out the next morning ready to roll. The same with the last night, it would allow you to checkout of the "nice" hotel, play in the parks that day (if that is your plan) and then head to the "cheap" motel for the night before getting on the plane the next day. I doubt you would feel you missed much, and if you packed so you had your jammies and a change of clothes in your carryon, you wouldn't even have to bring the suitcases in from the car.

Another place I saved money was being really careful with our "park days" versus "plus days". I planned very carefully, to make sure that we had one or the other, but not both on the same day. This was I was able to get 6 day hoppers instead of 7 day ones and we all still came home with one plus left, during our 10 day stay. It also scheduled in some down time for us that was a good energy boost.

Have a great trip! Your trip reports from last year really helped me figure some things out before we went in May!

Jennifer

 

[Cindy B]

Driving down.

Offsite hotel

Offsite restaurants


Souvenier shopping at Belz

Breakfast in room, even better the $39 Hampton Inn rate had breakfast included..


Do the "already included in the price" things... Ie Belles Story time, EE days (get done a good hunk of park ), and go off season.

I have kids in school, and I work at a school district. So it is the hot summers for us.. fine by me!

 

[Jomrog]

We split our stay between moderate & deluxe resort. Even considering splitting between value & deluxe next time around.
We bring a cooler & buy milk to have breakfast in the room. We bring lots of snacks & water bottles into the parks. We try to eat 1 big meal & split it between the kids and/or adults. We don't spend too much on souveniers. We buy park hoppers prior to price increases when possible. We eat dinner at an offsite restaurant.

Most of all, I read this board all the time because there are some awesome ideas.! Thanks to everyone here!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Well, this is our first trip. I've been planning since December and just booked two rooms at CBR even though the rates aren't out yet. This way I can apply any discount codes later on and pay it off in advance. Next I'll be setting aside money for airfare which I'll also be purchasing in ahead of time too. I keep an eye on the increases and decreases in price so that I'll know a good deal when I see it. I'm budgeting about $1000 for the plane tickets for five of us based on the prices I've seen so far. After I purchase those, I'll be setting aside the money for our theme park tickets and will purchase them in advance as well. Then all I have to do is set aside money each pay period for our spending.