What part of your budget can be shaved?

[off2disney]

I do the change jar thing

Bought my ticket in January (for my December trip)

Will buy Hopper passes in advance - don't do the plus - being solo I won't waste my time at the water parks

Made my reservations in March -put a fourth down as deposit, and will pay off the room a couple of $100 at a time so it is paid off before I leave

Going to start selling on ebay - got my account lined up, just have to get the pictures lined up to start selling - ALL of that will go into my Disney account.

Will use Disney transportation - probably do a towncar with a grocery stop for snacks, water,etc (not as cheap as Mears, but don't want to spend all that precious time going from hotel to hotel before we get to WL (and don't want to have to leave at the crack of dawn for a 12:00 noon flight).

Will do the less expensive counter lunches and dinners - but will splurge on a few of the special dinners.

Have picked up tons of great ideas, tips and suggestions -- now all I need is for December to hurry up and get here!

 

[Ratpack]

Definitely the meals are an area that can be slashed for us. We eat breakfast in the room and carry snacks to the parks. We then get a counter lunch in the park and DW and I split it. We usually go in summer so a lot of food makes park touring rough. Then we either do a early dinner or counter service at resort. Big sit down meals and character meals are so expensive. We do one or two while there just for the experience but I figure I can eat expensive meals back home.

Next, souvenirs, if you haven't been in awhile or at all, this one will be hard. But we were there last year so we can skip over most of the souvenirs this year. Once you have a monogramed set of Mickey ears you don't need another.

But the best thing to do before either of the other two is find the money to do what you want to do. A budgeted vacation, at least for me, is just that. I always feel that I wanted more. The change jar is great, usually a couple hundred bucks come from that. Put away any over budgeted items, such as if you budgeted $100 for groceries this week and only spent $90, then put $10 away. You will be surprised how fast it adds up.

Oh and one last thing, for birthdays and Christmas, have people get you Disney Dollars.

 

[laurabelle]

As soon as we know we're going I have my kids start saving their allowance money as their own spending money for Disney. We place a cap on how much they take, the rest gets saved. It's funny how fast and loose they are with mom & dad's $, and how tight they are with their own $. They know they have to stick to their budget, that's all they're gonna get!

 

[C.Ann]

Don't buy new outfits to wear while you're in Florida.. But if you MUST, then try to plan your trips for Sept - March and buy all the summer items you will need on clearance the July and August before.. This includes sun block, sun glasses, sandals, mister fans, - ANY "summer" item you might need for your trip..

Start a "Disney Tote" a year ahead of time and whatever can be purchased in advance, buy it and place it in the tote so that you'll be able to take advantage of sales AND know where the items ARE when it comes time to pack!!

Keep searching for the "cheapest" of everything - right up until you are ready to leave: airfare; hotels; rental cars; last-minute park ticket deals; etc.

Stay off-site.. The savings on that alone could extend your vacation by as much as an additional 7 to 10 days.. If you're going to travel all that distance, might as well stay awhile and do it up big!

Buy souveniers at the Disney Outlet stores.. We were able to purchase all kinds of neat things there for a fraction of the price of what they were charging in the parks.. Mickey Mouse safari hat was $16.99 in AK - $2.99 in the outlet.. Four-park large scrapbook was $25 in MK - $9.99 in the outlet. Post cards in the outlets were only 9 cents a piece!!

Eat breakfast in your room/suite before you go to the parks. Bring some munchies and something to drink.. Eat a big lunch as late in the day as possible.. If you're still hungry after you leave the parks, eat off-site at one of the gazillion inexpensive restaurants that are available to you..

Don't spend money on "plus" passes if you're not going to do any of the "plus" things..

If you take cameras with traditional film, look for deals to have it developed while you're still in Florida.. When we stayed at the Tropical Palms Fun Resort I could drop the film off right there in the office - have it back in 24 hours - and it was a quarter of the price it would have cost me to have it developed back here at home in Walmart or one of those places.. Also - you'll know ahead of time if some of your photo's didn't come out nice and you can take them over again.. Can you imagine getting all the way back home and finding out that the photo of your little one with Mickey giving him or her a big hug and a kiss didn't come out????????

Do the change jar thing - and don't forget the deposit you can get back on your soda bottles and things throughout the year..

Clean out your house and get the stuff up for auction on eBay!!!!!!! I've just started selling on eBay in the past 6 weeks and I have quite a nice stash of money already.. Just "stuff" I had laying around - nothing great..

It can be done - but it does take a lot of planning!

Good luck all!!!