Frugal Friday - Disney Couple's Trip Edition

 Happy Frugal Friday!

I've been away from the blog for two weeks as Mark and I took a 15th Anniverasry Trip to Walt Disney World. I firmly believe that vacation is possible for most any budget with careful planning and saving. As a travel advisor, I LOVE making trips happen for families with budgets of any size. I thought it might be helpful for people to see how we saved money for our 5 day Disney Vacation. 

Thanks to Kristi, Luke, and Cass for our matching shirts. 

It was my dream come true to match! 

Here's how we saved money...

- We booked our trip early. We booked our 2024 trip the first day that the year opened last May 2023. By booking early, we ensured we had the resorts and rooms we wanted. I was able to adjust our prices as the rooms went on sale closer to our actual travel dates. We saved over $400 with the sale!

- Before we booked, we decided that we wanted more downtime at the resort pools than park days. We purchased just two days of park tickets and had three pool days. As park days are generally more expensive than resort days we saved money this way. This was perfect for a kid free trip! 

- We did a split-stay meaning that we booked two different hotels. We stayed Monday-Wednesday nights at All Star Music Resort. This value resort was the best deal for our dates and was the perfect landing spot for days when we were out resort hopping and at the parks. We were just at the hotel for a quick swim and to sleep so we didn't need a huge, luxury room or many ammenties. We had two pools to choose from, two restaurants, and on site shopping for an item we forgot at home. I always tell clients who love open to close park days that the value resorts are a great choice for them!

We booked the most affordable room at the most affordable hotel

and it was GREAT! We loved the over the top, colorful Disney themeing! 

- We stayed Thursday night at Wilderness Lodge Resort in a Fireworks View Room. This was a HUGE splurge and one of the most expensive rooms we've ever booked at Disney. I knew I wanted to marry Mark during a 2006 fireworks show and got engaged during a 2007 fireworks show. Each year we go to the lake for a Fireworks show so they are kind of "our thing." Wilderness Lodge was at the top of Mark's resort wishlist as well. It was 100% worth the splurge as Wilderness Lodge is now our new favorite resort! It's on a lake, it had gorgeous views from every single area, the pools are the pools of dreams, and our room view was gorgeous at day, sunset, and fireworks! 

Sunset view from our room.

We looked out over the bay, the Contemporary Resort, and Magic Kingdom

Castle Firework Views with Zero Crowds!

- We purchased airline tickets about the time they released for our dates. We did pay quite a bit and, unfortunately, they went on sale three times between when we purchased and when we traveled. We knew we wanted the very first flight out Monday morning and the last one back Friday night so it was worth it to book early. By using these flights we had five full days of magic with only four paid hotel nights. We flew Southwest as I had a travel voucher from them (saving us $100) and was able to adjust our prices with the sale. I had the cheapest tickets so they didn't refund us the difference but we now have a lot of flight credit for the next time we fly. 

- We purchased giftcards to help pay for parts of our trip. There are generally Giftcard deals at Sam's Club, Costco, and Target (with a Target Red card). We purchased ours at Meijer and made sure to do so during a 10% Cashback deal. We were able to use that account credit on our next week of groceries.

- We have a Disney Visa Credit Card. Some Walt Disney World Resort locations offer a 10% discount with our Disney Visa. I made sure to note ahead of time what locations did and which didn't. We used the Disney Visa to save when we could and checked out with the giftcards at the locations that didn't. 

- We chose to book two dining reservations (neither had the Disney Visa discount so we made sure to prepurchase giftcards to cover the cost of those) and enjoyed quick service the rest of the trip. Quick service for the two of us was around $25-30 for each meal. We drank water, refilling water bottles for most of the trip. Mark did get a resort cup ($22) which he refilled with his coffee and Coke Zero for free for the rest of the week. 

- On Monday, I knew I wanted to visit the Boardwalk area. We hadn't been to those hotels before and I wanted to check them out for clients. I received an e-mail on our arrival day about touring with DVC (Disney Vacation Club). Since we were kid free, we took the 30 minute tour, didn't purchase a membership, but they still gifted us $200 in Disney Giftcards as a thank you. This was perfect as it purchased three meals and the kids' souveniers for us.  

We loved resort hopping!

It's fun to feel like you're staying deluxe by enjoying the ambience, 

shopping, and dining without paying the nightly fee!

- We went into the trip with a firm budget and we stuck to it. By having giftcards, it was very helpful to save across the past year towards the trip and we paid very little out of pocket while actually there. While we could have spent more, we saved as much as we could as we surprised the kids when we got home with the dates of our next family trip. They had been very sad about not being with us this time and we were excited to surprise them! 

I hope some of these ideas are helpful for you as you look at planning a Disney vacation or a trip anywhere else! If you'd ever like to talk travel - I'd love to be your advisor! 

Happy Travels!