We spent Saturday, July 6 to Friday, July 12 in Pigeon Forge, TN for the Applause Dance Nationals.
As a frugal blogger and Travel Advisor, I thought it might be fun to share how we saved money while traveling.
We stayed at a condo owned by the same owner as last year's condo. This year we were on the 7th floor (vs 1st floor last year) in a condo with two bedrooms (one king and two doubles), two bathrooms, living room, dining room, and kitchen. This set up works really well for us as we work/do school from the condo, have both a boy and a girl and we feel they are too old to share a bed anymore, and we prefer to cook most of our meals vs eating out. We did spend about $500 more than we would have in a hotel room but the pros outweigh the cons for us. Our complex had a walking trail, playground, and two pools so it provided a lot of the recreation for the week.
What a gorgeous mountain view!
This is from our condo balcony looking towards Gatlingburg
Here's what we spent and how we saved money in Pigeon Forge!
Day One: Travel Day from Indiana to Pigeon Forge
We left after breakfast, ate packed lunches on the road, and got into our condo around 5 PM. I made a quick run to Walmart for our groceries for the week. We let the kids pick the dinner menu and they chose: pizza rolls, vacation pasta, black bean tacos, and chicken nuggets + Mac and cheese. I also grabbed breakfast sandwiches - a vacation favorite because we don't have a microwave at home and ice cream. Unfortunately the store was really crowded, many items were unavailable or only the name brand was available, so I did spend more than we wanted - $130 for the week.
Day Two: Duet Day
Annabeth had her duet on this morning. She and Soph rocked it and earned a Double Platinum. Mark did splurge on coffees at the convention center - $18
We had our one eat out meal of the trip. The kids chose to eat at Big Daddy's Pizzeria. It's part of the Johnson Family of Restaurants that are AMAZING with food allergies and this store is completely peanut and treenut free!! - $50+tip
Day Three: Free Day
The kids each had an activity they really wanted to do this year and they happened to be different. We split up for the morning to make everyone happy.
Annabeth and I hit the outlet mall. She loves Simply Southern and I was amazed with their outlet deal! She got four shirts for $25! We also hit up the Lululemon where she got a dance top at 50% off retail. We typically buy a new outfit for dance auditions and she was excited to pick her own. Spent $34
While we shopped at the outlet mall, the boys went to Smoky Mountain Knifeworks. Owen had taken along some spending money and bought himself a knife. Mark also purchased an Eagle gift for an upcoming Eagle Award recepient. I won't include those totals here as they came from Owen's piggy bank and our seperate gift budget.
In the afternoon, Owen and I went out to a couple of silly souvenier shops. We had passed them many times last year but Mark hates them and never wants to stop. O and I went also and checked out the live sharks and alligators. We did find him the perfect souvenier - a hide-and-seek champion shirt with a Big Foot. Spent $10
While out at the stores, we found a Great American Cookie Company. This is my absolute favorite cookie place, and they aren't near us, so we grabbed cookies for the week. Spent $25
For dinner, we headed over to a friend's pool for a birthday party. The kids and I had pizza there and they loved swimming with so many dance friends.
Day Four: Dance Day
The kids had three of their group dances. All had their best performances of the season! They all earned Double Platinums. We did not spend any money this day as we packed in lunch and had dinner at the condo.
Day Five: Dance Day
We had another long dance day. The kids had their final two group dances, both earned Elite Platinums, and were both 1st Overall in their categories!
We were wiped after a long day and Mark surprised us with a trip to Publix for Pub Subs! IYKYK. Spent - $50
Day Six: Best of the Best
The kids got to recompete for Best of the Best with "Oceans" and "Disco Style." This is really the big finish on the dance year and we are so proud of them for each having a dance to make it to Best of the Best.
While every dance convention and competition have merch, we only buy the kids ONE shirt each year. They always get to pick at Nationals and can choose a Nationals shirt early in the week or wait and see if they make it to Best of the Best and they can choose that one. We do not set a price limit on this since we only buy one all year. Since they both made it to Best of the Best, they both chose those shirts. - $50
Day Seven: The Drive Home
We had originally planned a long drive home through West Virginia stopping at a special museum along the way. The drive was going to round out at about 8.5 hours total with the museum stop at over $100. In the end, we decided to save the time, gas, and money and to do that trip another time.
We did make a stop just off the interstate in Kentucky, about halfway, at Fort Boonesborough. It was $26 for us to get in and we spent $15 at the gift shop. The kids loved seeing the fort and we appreciated that it was staffed with reinactors really educating about the time period. We really loved that the cabins all have AC which was wonderful on a 95 degree day. We did grab a bit of a gas station lunch for $22.
Total Spent (excluding the condo cost and 2.5 tanks of gas): $440
Overall, I think we did a good job managing our budget. Here are some closing thoughts...
Frugal Win: We did hire a dog/house sitter for the week BUT Mark and I have been doing some chores for a neighbor this summer. We had not planned on being paid/did not ask to be paid but twice they have left money for us. This covered our dog sitter fee and allowed us to even pay her more than usual!
We definitely went over budget at the grocery (we typically only spend $80-90/week at home) but we ate everything perishable and brought back the pantry goods to eat here. Our pizza meal and Pub Subs were nearly the cost of a whole week of food for those two meals so it's obvious it was worth it to cook at the condo the rest of the trip!
If you have been to PF or Gatlinburg, you know they are both very very very expensive. Last year, we did one eat out meal and one tourist stop that the kids both agreed on. We had planned to do that this year but there just wasn't one thing they had to do. As we drove along the main drag, they commented that everything looked "cool" but forgot about it as soon as they saw the next fancy building. In the end, it was nice to take them shopping for items they will use or wear all year vs a one time, overpriced, experience.
It did help that we were there last year for Nationals and we will be back next year for Nationals. Knowing we are going to return helped us feel like we could put some things back for next year.
For Mark and I, the main goal this year was to allow the kids to have some fun, get away, enjoy the dance experience, but to stay around $500 in expenses outside of the condo. We have a big, fun trip planned for early 2025 and that's where we really want to put our vacation savings. The kids are soooo excited for that trip, have been saving their own money, and have been making their own plans. In order to travel outside of the dance year, we have to be frugal about how we travel during the dance year.
Lastly, I've often been asked if we shared vacation budgets with our kids. While we never say numbers, but we do say things like "That's outside of our budget" or "Let's put that on next year's list." For us, these dance trips are very fun but our focus is really on the kids' performances! We put them to bed on time, they eat meals similar to what they eat at home, we get good rest leading up to dance time, because our kids need those things to perform well. They understand that competitive dance is expensive and that we all make sacrifices of finances, time, energy, etc to help them achieve their goals. We can't wait to see where their passions take us next and by budgeting carefully we know we can make it all happen!
