DisneyMandC
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2015
Money-Saving Tips!
So, as I mentioned, we were trying to make this trip fairly budget-friendly, while still being able to enjoy ourselves. The trip was obviously sort of a last minute decision, so I can't see I really had a lot of money put away in my vacation. Or any money...
Ok, not actually, but you get the picture.
I checked out options like MouseSavers and Undercover Tourist to see what our best ticket-buying options would be, but there aren't really any savings for two-day tickets during peak season (surprise, surprise). We were also obviously way too close to our trip for any Disney Savings Account advantages. As a result, I just booked our whole package through Disney. We have a Disney Visa, so I put the required $200 deposit on the card and then set to work to pay the remainder of the balance through discounted means. Our total for our trip (without airfare) was $990.34 for two nights at Pop, two days of tickets for two adults, and the Disney Dining Plan for two adults.
Pictured, me.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I spend a lot of my time over on the Budget Board where I've gotten a lot of great money saving tips. Even before that, I've been using Swagbucks, Bing Rewards, Shopkicks, and basically any other money saving app/website I can think of to try to rack up some extra dollars. Swagbucks has been my biggest moneymaker though- I paid for our tickets, parking, meals, and all souvenirs at Disneyland last year with gift cards earned through Swagbucks!
So once I booked this trip, I knew I wanted to up my Swagbucks earnings. I follow the method many people use- earn swagbucks points through watching videos/surveys/online purchases, cash out for Target gift cards, put the Target gift card towards Disney gift cards in-store and combine with my Redcard for a 5% discount. I also used Shopkicks and Bing Rewards to accumulate more points towards Target Gift Cards. I know a lot of people consider this too much work for too little reward, but I really enjoy it and like to save money however I can.
Pictured, not me.
I won't get into all the nitty-gritty math here, but suffice to say I worked pretty hard on getting my Swagbucks up so I could cash out more frequently! Basically every time I had enough for at least a $5 gift card, I would cash out and head to Target to pick up another Disney gift card. So usually my purchase would look something like I would use $10 worth of Target gift cards towards a $100 Disney gift card, then use my Redcard for the leftover amount. This meant I would pay $85.50 for a $100 Disney gift card!
I repeated this process multiple times, ultimately paying the entire remaining balance of my vacation with Disney gift cards! So my grand total out of pocket for my vacation, after paying with discounted gift cards, ended up being $880.85!
I saved $109.49 through this process!!
The best part is, I have since saved up another $25 Target gift card since the final payment due date, and used that yesterday to purchase another $100 Disney gift card for $71.25! We will use this gift card towards gratuities and souvenirs on our trip too, so we'll continue to pay a discounted amount on our out of pocket expenses in the park!
While I know this process isn't for everyone, I am fortunate that I had the time to use this earning means in order to help with the budget for our trip. A savings of just over $100 may not seem like a lot to some people, but I like to look at as one of us is getting a day in the park for free. Or almost one night of our hotel stay ($119/night) is free!
And yes, in case you were wondering, I will continue this process for future vacations and plan to continue working hard to save for another vacation in 2019!
So, as I mentioned, we were trying to make this trip fairly budget-friendly, while still being able to enjoy ourselves. The trip was obviously sort of a last minute decision, so I can't see I really had a lot of money put away in my vacation. Or any money...
Ok, not actually, but you get the picture.
I checked out options like MouseSavers and Undercover Tourist to see what our best ticket-buying options would be, but there aren't really any savings for two-day tickets during peak season (surprise, surprise). We were also obviously way too close to our trip for any Disney Savings Account advantages. As a result, I just booked our whole package through Disney. We have a Disney Visa, so I put the required $200 deposit on the card and then set to work to pay the remainder of the balance through discounted means. Our total for our trip (without airfare) was $990.34 for two nights at Pop, two days of tickets for two adults, and the Disney Dining Plan for two adults.
Pictured, me.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I spend a lot of my time over on the Budget Board where I've gotten a lot of great money saving tips. Even before that, I've been using Swagbucks, Bing Rewards, Shopkicks, and basically any other money saving app/website I can think of to try to rack up some extra dollars. Swagbucks has been my biggest moneymaker though- I paid for our tickets, parking, meals, and all souvenirs at Disneyland last year with gift cards earned through Swagbucks!
So once I booked this trip, I knew I wanted to up my Swagbucks earnings. I follow the method many people use- earn swagbucks points through watching videos/surveys/online purchases, cash out for Target gift cards, put the Target gift card towards Disney gift cards in-store and combine with my Redcard for a 5% discount. I also used Shopkicks and Bing Rewards to accumulate more points towards Target Gift Cards. I know a lot of people consider this too much work for too little reward, but I really enjoy it and like to save money however I can.
Pictured, not me.
I won't get into all the nitty-gritty math here, but suffice to say I worked pretty hard on getting my Swagbucks up so I could cash out more frequently! Basically every time I had enough for at least a $5 gift card, I would cash out and head to Target to pick up another Disney gift card. So usually my purchase would look something like I would use $10 worth of Target gift cards towards a $100 Disney gift card, then use my Redcard for the leftover amount. This meant I would pay $85.50 for a $100 Disney gift card!
I repeated this process multiple times, ultimately paying the entire remaining balance of my vacation with Disney gift cards! So my grand total out of pocket for my vacation, after paying with discounted gift cards, ended up being $880.85!
I saved $109.49 through this process!!
The best part is, I have since saved up another $25 Target gift card since the final payment due date, and used that yesterday to purchase another $100 Disney gift card for $71.25! We will use this gift card towards gratuities and souvenirs on our trip too, so we'll continue to pay a discounted amount on our out of pocket expenses in the park!
While I know this process isn't for everyone, I am fortunate that I had the time to use this earning means in order to help with the budget for our trip. A savings of just over $100 may not seem like a lot to some people, but I like to look at as one of us is getting a day in the park for free. Or almost one night of our hotel stay ($119/night) is free!
And yes, in case you were wondering, I will continue this process for future vacations and plan to continue working hard to save for another vacation in 2019!
