If you're a regular follower, you know we love to go to Disney, and we go A LOT! Definitely more than the average person. We are not millionaires (far from it); we have a mortgage, a car payment, and all those other pesky bills, just like everyone else. We think, though, that we also do a pretty good job of keeping our travel expenses down, which affords us the opportunity to see the world (in this case, the Disney World). We try to take advantage of every deal possible, and we're always looking for more ways to save.
I finally sat down and started to look at how we are saving money on our upcoming November trip. I hope this gives you some ideas to spark your own savings and make your family's Disney dreams come true!
FLIGHTS
We are flying from our small, local airport to Orlando. This definitely is a huge benefit for convenience, since we can have family easily drop us off, saving on parking. The flights cost us $41.60 for taxes that cannot be waived. We paid the rest with airline points. We also upgraded our seats to the extra leg room seats for free. Now that we are flying with 4 paid seats (Ryan is 2), we opted for coach, but we do get to fly first class often for free, as well. We saved over a thousand dollars on our flights.
How to save: Bill is an Executive Platinum level frequent flyer with American Airlines. We also have the AA credit card. We use this card strategically, since it actually has the least "value" when it comes to points, but we work with what gives the most points. American Airlines also recently partnered with Jet Blue, so we are looking forward to more affordable flight options, should we need to pay for some with points and some with cash. This is definitely one place that knowing your brands and being brand loyal pays off.
HOTEL
For this trip, we are staying at the Hilton in Disney Springs. It is right across the street from the Marketplace, and has a fairly nice pool, free transportation to Disney parks, restaurants on site, and even a character breakfast option on Sundays. (Note, as of now, character breakfast is suspended, as are all character meetups due to Covid-19) For this trip, we are paying $0 for the hotel, which saved us over a thousand dollars!
How to save: We are Hilton Honors rewards memebers and have a Hilton American Express credit card. We are fortunate that Bill travels a lot for work, so he amasses a large number of points for being brand loyal when traveling. For example, he gets 8x points on any Hilton stay. He is also a Diamond member, which further benefits us with free breakfast daily, bottled water, and free upgrades when they are available. We always book the cheapest room, but almost always get some sort of upgrade when we check in.
TICKETS
Getting a deal on Disney tickets is tricky, but this year we opted to get annual passes. We have 7 trips planned, so this was definitely the way to go. We have had passes in the past, and usually opt to take a few years off in between. We stack as many trips as possible into the pass year to get our Disney fix, then take a little time away from the parks. The whole year would have been before Ryan turned 3, thus giving us his trips for free, but thanks to Covid, we will have to get him a ticket for our last 2 trips.
How to save: Being part of Disney groups on social media saved us big on this one! The day Disney increased their annual pass prices last year, Sam's Club had a limited amount of passes at the old price. We saved $808.38 on the 3 passes. As an added bonus, I also got our Sam's Club membership for free by redeeming an offer for free food coupons and a gift card after joining. Always search for coupon codes! Don't forget that having a pass also gives us Memory Maker for free. That's another $169 saved on this trip (and each trip we go on this year).
FOOD & SOUVENIERS
I will definitely update this part when our trip is over, but our plan is simple: use our Disney Chase Visa and Annual Pass discounts as much as possible and pay using Disney Gift Cards and Chase Rewards. The discount is generally 10% at any eatery that offers a discount (and I always ask). We are heading down with over $1300 in gift cards and points. Most of that amount is "free money" for us, but we do occassionally purchase discounted gift cards when the deal is good to save a little more.
How to save: Let's start simple--the Disney Chase Visa is a great card if you are a Disney lover and use it right! Like I said above, I take the time to read the fine print and find a balance of getting the most rewards from each card. I always check for offers on the Visa, for example this month and next, we are getting 5% back on gas and groceries. That's way more than any other card, so Disney it is! There are also a few extra perks, like special photo opportunities, discounts, and exclusive events. I always check right before our trip and note what special things we can do.
Disney gift cards can be a little trickier. First and foremost, we always ask family for gift cards for gifts. It makes it easy on them, and they know we love it! I also use a free survey/ad app called Dabbl. When you earn points, you can redeem them for Disney gift cards (they have other brands as well, but I always get Disney). I've earned over $50 through Dabbl-ing when I'm waiting around, in the car (as a passenger), or just scrolling on my phone. You can download the app HERE, and we both get extra points! This isn't life changing money, but I figure it's one more meal that's covered.
Most people know the Sam's Club/Costco/Target hack of buying gift cards at a discount. You can save 3-5% everyday. I actually have never done that, because it just didn't seem worth it. Instead, I wait until Christmas shopping season. Target always has one weekend where gift cards are 10% off with your red card, including Disney. I scoop those up! Our local grocery store (ShopRite if you're in the NY/NJ area) also does great gift card deals around the holidays. I can usually get a couple hundred in gift cards at 20% off. Stack on some credit card rewards and you really save a good amount!
As I post this, we still need to decide on transportation. We are leaning towards renting a car for the trip. Of course, we will save as much as possible, but we are budgeting a few hundred for that purpose. With Covid concerns and convenience, renting a car feels the most comfortable at the moment (and bonus, we have free parking with our annual passes). I will also be sure to track our spending during the trip to get a final number.
At this point, we have saved OVER $4,500 on this trip! The nerd in me really wants to figure out the exact number, so stay tuned for part 2 coming in November.
I'd love to hear how you save on Disney! What hacks do you use?
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