SAVING MONEY WHILE ON THE TRIP—Souvenirs and other things

SAVING MONEY WHILE ON THE TRIP—Souvenirs and other things

April 17, 2012

I cannot think of a trip we’ve made to WDW that it hasn’t rained at least one day, so I always purchase several disposable rain ponchos at the local $1 Tree before leaving home.  As I said before they never fit back into the original bag, so I always pack Ziplocs for the ones we think we can re-use in the future.

Rain ponchos are not just for rain, they are great for water type rides and for when you suddenly discover that the temperature is dropping.  Even the lightest of poncho will help keep body heat in and keep you far warmer than doing without. At $1 tree you can get these for 2/$1 FAR cheaper than purchasing a poncho at WDW, although they are lighter weight and don’t have the Mickey icon on them of course.

I also pick up other things while I’m at $1 Tree for the trip.  Often they have cookies or other snacks in Disney shapes.   I also pick up small folding umbrellas, mending kits and glow in the dark necklaces and other glow in the dark goodies.  The need for the umbrellas, mending kits and snacks is obvious. 

The reason for the glow in the dark items are for treats for children either your own or, as we do.  Toward dark in the parks we start watching for very well behaved children.  Once we spot the children we approach their parents and ask if we may give them the items because we want to thank them for being so well behaved.  We never speak to the children without the parents’ permission.   Once we get it we tell the child that we want to thank them for being so good and give them the treat.  Since my husband looks like Santa Claus and we are generally at the park during the holiday season this makes the child feel extra special.

Many a time we’ve seen the children on the next day still wearing their prize and beaming from ear to ear.  It’s a little thing, but those smiles are worth millions to us.

If you are at $1 Tree alone and are traveling with children keep your eye open for special “souvenirs” for the kids.  I know several families that will secretly pack coloring books, stuffed animals, t-shirts and small toys with the Disney Characters that they have purchased at home on sale or from $1 tree.  Then Tinkerbell or some other favorite Disney Character (actually a spouse or older child while the other parent keeps the younger ones entertained) will mysteriously leave the gifts on beds or elsewhere for the kids to discover later.  I personally pick up adult size t-shirts and jackets on sale at home to wear in the parks rather than pay amusement park prices for such items at the park.

Also purchase your bandaids, aspirin/Tylenol, cold medicines, vitamins, Immodium, sunblock, anti itch medication and other similar over the counter meds and first aid kit items.  While you can purchase these at the parks and various resorts if needed while there they are FAR cheaper to get at home, preferably on sale with a coupon.  Plus we’ve found that if we remember to pack them there is less likelihood we will need them.  Kind of like the old saying about it only rains when you don’t take an umbrella.

When you venture to your local Wal-Mart, especially during the spring and summer look for hand held mister bottles with a battery powered fan on those.  Often these are under $5 at the local Wally World.  At Disney World the price will make you gasp and if you are down there in the hot part of the year, well that mist and fan certainly feel good.

Of course you will want to purchase some souvenirs while at the parks, but even that can be kept under control.  Many families I know purchase Disney Dollars ahead of time and designate a certain amount for each person to spend for souvenirs by giving them their amount in the Disney Dollars.  These can only be used there.  It’s a lot easier for a child to see they only have so many of those dollars to purchase things with and when they are all gone, they are gone.

Others I know limit souvenir purchasing to one certain day, that is where we fall.  We generally do our souvenir shopping on the day we got to Downtown Disney and then do all our shopping at the World of Disney store, because the annual pass gets us a discount there.  Some items, however, are park exclusive so if we see something we really like that is a park exclusive we will make an exception to that rule.  Into this category falls passholder exclusives as well. But we do stick tightly to our budget for souvenirs because if we don’t it would be VERY easy to spend way too much on all the delightful merchandise that is available everywhere.

Any items that you purchase in the park can be sent to your room for free from the store you purchase them at on any day but your departure day.  This is an absolutely wonderful service and truly a major perk of staying on site.  In the past we have even sent back to our room our backpack after we emptied it by including it in a sack with something we purchased.  The items have to be purchased by a certain time to be back to your room the same day, but that is generally not a problem.

On the backpack day we would not be needing the backpack the next day, so even though it was late in the day it didn’t matter that it might be the next afternoon before we got the pack back.

A word to the wise here.  Hands free is wonderful.  While fanny packs and back packs aren’t a true fashion accessory I’d wear either one on any day before I’d carry a purse of any sort.  Purses get lost, and yes even at the happiest place on earth things get stolen.  So keep your traveling throughout the park easy.  If you plan on eating all your meals in park, as on the dining plan, then a fanny pack for bandaids, aspirin and sunblock, nothing else to mess with.  Even the fanny pack can be a bother on certain rides when you must fasten a seat belt.  Keep traveling easy and you will enjoy your trip more.

Do you notice I keep mentioning sunblock?  You will be walking all day on asphalt, which reflects the sunshine and the sun at WDW seems to be more intense.  So slather the stuff on daily, refresh as needed.  If you are wearing shorts and/or sandals be sure and do you legs and feet.  Many a person ends up with a heat rash or sunburn on their ankles and calves when they don’t do this.

The heat rash is very itchy and uncomfortable, so try to avoid it at all costs.

Now for a very important reminder.  Camera, spare chips/sticks for storing the hundreds of photos you want to take, and BATTERIES.  Get these at home on sale and pack them with you.  Put spare batteries and memory chip in your camera case, a hip pocket or wherever  you can easily carry them no matter how good you think the batteries are in your camera.  There are so many things to take photos of the batteries will run out a lot faster than you expect  and batteries are EXPENSIVE at the World.  They sell/rent all sorts of camera equipment at the parks, but bringing it all from home is so much cheaper.

So there you have it, a lot of info on how to save money while traveling to Walt Disney World or any other vacation destination.  I’m certain I’ve probably missed a lot of helpful hints so hopefully some of you will add helpful hints to share with others while reading these posts in the comment sections.

Jan who says she hopes you have a Magical Disney trip in OK

SAVING MONEY WHILE ON THE TRIP—At the parks!—Food, Glorious Food

SAVING MONEY WHILE  ON THE TRIP—At the parks!—Food, Glorious Food

April 17, 2012

There are literally hundreds of ways to save money once you get to WDW. There is no way I could ever post them all here, but I will post the main ones my family uses. 

Food and beverage are the two biggest ways we save money.  So let’s go with these first.

If you are going down in a camper or a tent then by all means eat at least part of your meals every day at the campsite.  We generally eat at the camper for breakfast, and then pack snacks or a sandwich and drinks in a back pack to help cut down the desire to purchase foods in the park.

You can easily pack these foods and keep them cold with the help of a blue ice pack and either some newspaper or a towel.  I put our sandwiches and chips in Ziploc containers to help prevent crushing.  These along with a beverage we have at least partially frozen in our camper freezer and a blue ice are wrapped in a towel or newspaper and placed in the camera back pack. 

Be prepared to have your back pack viewed when entering the park so I generally do not wrap the top of the bundle, but lay a separate small towel or wash cloth over the top that can easily be removed so the inspector can see into the clear containers to see what’s in the pack.  We have never had an issue with taking food in this way.

One note I’d like to make here.  Keep it simple.  Keep the pack be it back or fanny light and easy to handle.  If you don’t want to pack food, then consider fanny packs, if that, only.  You want to keep it as simple as possible.  You are there to have fun, not die of exhaustion.  We pack a very light lunch, and sometimes send the pack back to the camper/room at some point after the food is consumed.

If you are traveling with a child that will fit in a stroller, by all means take your stroller.  Even consider purchasing a small cheap umbrella type stroller just for the trip.  A tired child is a cranky child, a cranky child makes for a cranky adult and then no one in your family, or in line with you is happy. 

This is considered the “happiest place on earth”, but it doesn’t mean it is immune from theft.  So NEVER leave anything of value hanging on your stroller while you go into a show or ride.  It just might not be there when you get back.  Security is great at WDW, lost and found is also REALLY good, but they see MILLIONS of guests a year and they can’t be everywhere at all times.  So be responsible for you and yours.

If you are flying down you can do something similar.  We generally fly Southwest Airlines and make one of our free  checked suitcases be one of those soft sided rolling ice chests.  On the trip to and from WDW the ice chest is packed with soft clothing such as socks or underwear inside clean plastic bags.  Once at the resort we unpack the ice chest and fill it with ice from the free ice machine and foods purchased at the gift shop.  Even though the foods at the gift shops can be a bit high, they are still cheaper than a meal in the park. 

One of our carryon bags for the flight down is generally a snack bag filled with goodies that will pass inspection by TSA that we’ve purchased ahead of time on sale.  No liquids of course, but things like raisins, candies (no chocolate as it melts so easily), cookies, snack crackers etc. 

This allows us to have a snack on the plane or while waiting for a layover on the flight each way if there is a delay as well as for the parks. 

We also pack a large assortment of Ziploc bags in all the sizes.  These come in handy for a huge variety of reasons that I’ll go into later.

Whether we stay in our camper or a resort we always pack Britta self-filtering water bottles for each person in our party.  Trust me this is something you really want to do.  While Walt Disney World is a wonderful place their water is HORRIBLE! The cost of a bottle of water, generally Dasani, is also quite high.  However, they will give you FREE ice water at all the concessions.  This we put in the water bottles and all is fine. 

You can also take packets of water flavorings with you for a variety of drinks.  Simply put the free water in your bottle, then filter it back into the cup and add the flavorings.  DON’T put the flavorings in your Britta.

We clearly label whose bottle is whose because if someone gets a cold or flu you don’t want to share the germs.  I also pack extra filters in case this happens so we don’t re-introduce then germs to ourselves once we are feeling better.

Carrying a water bottle can be made easier by planning ahead.  We have various bottle carriers we use.  My favorite is one that is on a swivel and slides either over a belt or into a pocket to hang from the pocket/belt.  It is basically a flat stick with a swivel clip on it.

Others we have are Epcot ones we purchased for our “souvenir” on one trip that adjust to any water bottle, narrow strapped ones that have a simple ring on it that only fit certain sizes and carbineer ones.  The only one we have been disappointed with was the carbineer one.  It seems to be that it is only for larger necked bottles.  Ones like Ozarka fall right out of it.  But it works fine for our Britta.

It’s only natural to want to try foods while in the park.  PB&J isn’t near as appetizing when you smell burgers frying. So scheduling your actual in park meals can become a real money saver.  We generally eat at least one meal a day in the parks or at a resort.

Lunches are cheaper than dinners and often they are the same foods.  So eating a late lunch might hold you until you get back to your camper or room to eat, especially if you have snacks in a back pack or fanny pack.  We eat our main in park sit down meal at the end of the lunch period.  That way a burger, hot dog, or salad, that stays the same in price throughout the day will do well for dinner much later in the day if we decide to eat two meals in the park that day.

Staying on site is great for going back to the room to rest, something I recommend if you are traveling with people of all ages who are use to a daily nap. If you do this you can actually schedule all your meals at your camper/room.  However, you will lose time due to the travel to and from the parks  so if you are very limited on time then you need to personally weigh the pros and cons of both.  Many a child has had a nap in a stroller in the parks.  If you are a nursing mother there are nursing stations, baby care locations and family restrooms throughout the parks.  I personally have sneaked in many a short nap in Carousel of Progress (hey, it’s a long slow dark ride in a comfortable seat  in the cool and it does not change from year to year.

Meals other than the buffets can be shared easily.  My husband and I split most of our meals, sometimes purchasing an extra side or a dessert or appetizer, but generally we simply split the meal. 

When considering a burger for lunch or dinner check out the burger places that have a relish bar to go with the burgers, chicken sandwiches and such.  Cosmic Rays is one such place, they have sautéed mushrooms, onions, pickles, lettuce and all the other fixings you can think of.  When sharing a burger meal you can easily cut the burger in half and build it the way you want on each half.  I for one put just about everything on a burger, so a half burger fully dressed is plenty of food to fill me up.  My husband just puts basics on his, but he eats fries and I don’t.  So splitting the meal works very well for us.

If eating at the buffets, which you cannot split,  consider going in at the end of the lunch time period, then you will end up being there as they are putting out the dinner foods and pay at the lunch price. 

Getting free water and filtering it through your Britta will save you considerably on the meal over getting a soda pop or tea, both contain ice made with their local water, which can really change the taste of a beverage.

If you really don’t want to pay the price for a meal at a restaurant, but really want to see the inside of the restaurant then consider going in for a shared appetizer or dessert.  There is no set rule that you have to get a full meal to go into the restaurant.  Trust me some of the restaurants are well worth making the reservations just to soak up the ambiance.

You can make your ADRs (advanced dining reservations) as much as something like 145 days prior to your visit.  Be aware that some restaurants will require a “charge card” number to make these reservations.  I have used a debit card for this on more than one occasion.  This is because they often have no shows, so you could be charged a small fee if you don’t show for your reservation.  If you call and cancel the reservation—free phones around for you to make/cancel reservations—scattered around, or you can do it from your cell. 

We seldom make dining reservations far in advance when it is just two or three of us.  Generally there are enough cancellations we can get any reservation we want a day or so ahead of time.  HOWEVER, if you are traveling with a large group, a single traveler OR MUST eat in a certain restaurant then I recommend making the reservations early. 

A tip to single travelers.  All the restaurants have a LIMITED number of tables for single diners.  If you call to get a reservation and can’t get one.  Hang up and call back and ask for a table for two, often you can get a table then.  They will not charge you for the “no show” of the second diner.   They will only charge you if you simply don’t show at all.,

Another way to save money is to purchase children’s meals at the fast food/counter locations.  Often the portion is plenty large enough for an adult.  There are also numerous snack food vendors all around the parks, a quick turkey leg or a churro will often be enough to take the edge off your hunger.  By all means try the Mickey Bars. A personal favorite.

There are other ways to get discounts on the meals as well.  One is the annual pass I previously mentioned.  Only one ADULT in your party needs to have the annual pass to get the discount for up to 10 people.  The annual pass discount percentage and the restaurants it is good at are all listed on the All Ears website I listed in a previous post.

They also have a dining card called “Tables in Wonderland”  This gets you a larger discount than the annual pass does and at more restaurants, during different time periods, however it has an automatic 15% gratuity added to it for every restaurant meal, I do not believe it charges it for the counter service meals.  This comes with a fee to purchase it, I believe the current purchase requires and annual pass and $75, but I could be very wrong about that. Again the complete info for this card is listed on All Ears. For two of us eating the way we do this card is a break even for us.  When there are three of us and/or we are traveling more than once in the year that it is good for then it can be a money saver.  For large parties it could be a good money saver, depending on where you eat and when.  You will need to do the math and look at your dining plans to see if it is a cost saver for you.

If you plan on eating at Rain Forest Café, Yak and Yetti table service and T-Rex then you might want to consider getting a Landry’s Select restaurant card, previously titled the “Safari Club”. The card comes with perks like immediate seating when you arrive at the restaurant and points to apply to future meals as well discounts in their gift shops. 

I do not know the current cost of the card as I have had mine for numerous years, even though we have no Landry’s restaurant near where I live we always use it when visiting WDW and now when we go to Branson, MO.  There are Landry’s all over the US and the card is good at all of them.

If you are staying in a resort other than Ft. Wilderness they all have a food court of some sort.  At these food courts you can purchase a refillable mug good for that trip and that resort only.  If you drink a lot of soda pop, coffee or cocoa it is well worth the price to purchase one for each family member. 

It’s been a few years since we’ve been to WDW, but when we were last there the Animal Kingdom had a refillable one day only glass as well.  Travel note: in the past there have been no straws at the Animal Kingdom for the safety of the animals.

Remember those Ziplocs I mentioned packing.  Well one of the many uses for them is for the excess food you will find you have during the day, not from the buffets of course.  Remember I said the portions are large at Walt Disney World.  We often find we have something left over.  Carrot sticks, raisins, a roll, chips, something.  Into a Ziploc they go and we munch on them alter in the day.

While on the subject of Ziplocs now might be a good time to mention some of the other uses we take them for.

1.       To corral small souvenirs together to help prevent loss.

2.       Large ones work well to put cameras in to protect them (and other electronics) from rain or moisture on the water rides.  We’ve shot many a photo/movie through Ziplocs in our various trips to the World.

3.       Carrying first dry, then wet socks for the days it rains or you get wet on a water ride.  The fastest way to get blisters is to wear wet socks, avoid blisters at all costs. They can really put a bummer in your trip.

4.       For carrying spare clothing for small children.

5.       To pack snacks in a back pack or fanny pack.

6.       For a small first aid kit for the packs.

7.       To repackage a rain poncho after you use it—they NEVER fit back in the original package.

8.       To pack dirty clothing in for the trip home.

9.       To pack detergent in if you choose to do laundry while there, be prepared to have your detergent powder inspected at the airport if you take it with you.  Far cheaper than purchasing it from the vending machines at the laundry (available at all resorts and the campground). I always pack ours in an outside pocket that I’ve put a zip tie (we use a zip tie on all zippers on all luggage when flying—don’t forget to pack extras for the trip home AND to have some method to cut them open in one unsealed pocket on a checked bag) on that the TSA could easily remove to inspect the “white powder” in my checked luggage.

10.   We pack all liquids that travel in our checked luggage in double Ziplocs to prevent leakage in luggage.

11.   For placing foods in the ice chest in a hotel room.

12.   Food storage for things like donuts purchased in the gift shop.

13.   Homemade wet wipes for sticky fingers and faces throughout the day.  A damp paper towel or wash cloth in a Ziploc is very handy to have for those little oops in life.

These are just a few of the ideas we use them for, but you get the general idea.  Ziplocs are essential when traveling on any trip, and especially WDW.

Remember when planning your trip to do a price comparison from purchasing your meals a la carte and the complete dining packages, sometimes the complete package is far cheaper.

Remember, no one says you have to eat at a certain time while on vacation.  Make your meal times flexible and avoid long lines at the eating establishments. 

So now you are fed.  On to my next savings suggestions.

Jan who loves to try at least one new restaurant each trip to Walt Disney World in OK

SAVING MONEY WHILE ON THE TRIP, GETTING THERE

April 17, 2012

Sorry for the long delay in getting this post up life has been just that life. 

We generally drive to Walt Disney World from Oklahoma because we prefer our camper and staying in Ft. Wilderness.  We have found that the cost of driving, for two of us, is almost identical to the cost of flying two of down.  However, when my son travels with us it is definitely cheaper to drive, because of the way we do it.

There is a type of camping called “boondocking”  I’ve wrote about it in my travel blogs previously, but for those of you who haven’t read those blogs a brief description is you sleep in your camper in a Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel or other compatible parking lots for free.  These lots are generally well lit and have a security patrol.  Not to mention they are generally right at the exits from major highways and therefore give you easy on easy off access.

The companies benefit from your staying so it is the proverbial win-win for all involved.  How do the companies benefit?  You stop and sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot are you not going to go into the store to at least use the restroom, are you going to look around and maybe buy something?  You buy something they benefit. I often wait to purchase things like bread and other perishables for the trip until we stop at a Wal-Mart to boondock.  That way I’m not paying “extra” but they are benefitting from my sleeping in their parking lot. It is my way of saying thank you for the use of a safe place to sleep.

The main thing to do is check ahead of time if the store allows it.  Most 24 hour Wal-Marts do, but not all.  Some states prohibit it and of course stores near large amusement centers forbid it.  One Wal-Mart we generally stop at on our way to WDW does not allow overnight  camping in their parking lot, HOWEVER, the Sam’s Club next door does.  It all has to do parking space availability. There are lists on Wal-Mart RVing, boondocking and such on yahoogroups.  Many camping groups discuss this periodically too.  They will often have lists of where you can and can’t stay in their files.  If in doubt call the store ahead of time.  We’ve even stayed in lots that we’ve been previously been told weren’t available simply because I called and the manager agrees to let us do so that one night.  Helpful hint: if you purchase your Rand McNally large road atlas from Wal-Mart or Sam’s club they have a chart in them that show where the Wal-Mart’s and Sam’s are.  This chart has if they have fuel and if so what types, if they are open 24 hours and of course where they are located.  EXTREMELY helpful  when boondocking.

Please remember to not abuse this privilege.  This is strictly a pull in and sleep situation, not a camping location.  Don’t pull out the charcoal grill, set up the lawn chairs and run out the awnings.  It is for sleeping one night only. 

Also do not block any drives or delivery areas.  Note where the semis will be coming in to make their deliveries and do not cause them any problems.

We generally pull in just before dark and park on the outer rim of the lot.  Normally we don’t even run the slides out because we are just there to sleep.  But if there is a reason that we need to run the slides out we park where our slides are out over the grass at the edge of the lot, not into the lot.  Such times would be, someone forgot to plan their wardrobe for the trip down where they would not have to get into the drawers that are blocked when the slides are and suddenly find themselves in urgent need of clean underwear or socks.  Once the items are retrieved from the drawers we run the slides back in.  We want to cause as little chaos as possible for the stores that are so generous about letting us sleep there for free. We also seldom disconnect unless there is a reason we truly NEED the truck to be free and clear of the fifth wheel.

You can also sometimes pay a small fee to sleep in hospital parking lots.  One trip we slept at a fair grounds for next to nothing.  We’ve also slept at truck stops (very noisy with the semis there), rest areas on the highway (not recommended, but if you are very drowsy far better than having a wreck) and many other spots.  Safety is your first consideration, so we generally go with the Wal-Marts that we know have night time security patrol.

If you feel the need to camp in a real campground instead of boondocking then look into the National Parks pass to stay for half price in the National Parks and Corp of Engineer parks.  If someone in your party is over 62 this pass will cost you $10 for a lifetime.  If you are under 62 the price is much higher and an annual cost.  I’ve written more about this in previous posts. 

If the National Parks pass won’t work for you then look into acquiring a KOA or Good Sam’s (not Sam’s club) card for discounts at their campgrounds.  Both give discounts and/or free nights camping. 

Whether it is the Parks pass or the campground discount cards you need to weigh the price of the card against the savings you will reap for the trip both to and from the World.  Sometimes it will not pay for itself.

Camping not your cuppa?  Many hotels have discount/loyalty cards as well. Check those out.  Also many charge cards have discounts for certain hotels, as does AAA, AARP, and insurance cards.

Also check into discount websites like Expedia or Travelocity for discounts on hotels as well.

Flying?  If you can’t get someone to take you the airport, then check the yellow pages, your insurance company and all the organizations like AAA you belong to for discounted airport parking. 

When we are driving down we also travel with X amount of cash with us, because there are many fuel stations that have gas as much as $.12 a gallon cheaper if you pay cash.  Since we do not use charge cards any longer it’s not a problem for us.  Some stations will consider a debit card cash, others consider them a credit card.  Most places, in the past, considered travelers checks cash, but now many places will not even accept them.  So cash in hand is the best option for us.  We divide the cash up to avoid a major loss/theft in various places.  We use the debit card on the special travel checking account we have when we can and still get the cash discount, but otherwise we pay with cash. By a special account I mean that is all we use this account for.  We put the vacation money in that account prior to leaving and that’s all that ever goes into this account.  It is at an entirely different bank than our household budget account, so if some evil person steals that card, or hacks into the account they will not be able to access ALL our money.

As we travel we eat a lot of cold meals at the camper in parking lots and rest areas.  We will generally, however, have one hot meal a day at a fast food place that has a very large parking lot nearby that we can park the fifth wheel  in and walk to the food establishment.  This has been included in our trip food budget.  I’ve also been know in the past to heat foods in the sun on the dashboard in a food saver vacuum sealed bag, or wrapped in foil placed on the hot truck engine.  Whether we dine out or heat in this manner we have at least one hot meal a day while traveling.  It just boosts the morale.

Remember the mypoints I mentioned in the last post on this subject?  Those gift cards you get from mypoints can be used to pay for your fuel or for that hot meal each day.  That’s free money for your trip.

If you are traveling with children another thing to consider is the “are we there yet?” syndrome.  Kids get bored quickly.  Download audiobooks from the library for free for them to listen to, if you have a travel dvd player record movies for it long before leaving, also free from the library—I recommend Disney movies to set the mood.

Various travel games, a road map they can write on and follow the route on that is all their own is good as well. You can get free maps from AAA if you belong to them.

My son recently told me one of his favorite things while traveling on the long trips as a kid was “the rest area box”.  This was a box that contained things like jump ropes, Frisbies, balls, sidewalk chalk for hop scotch and such.  It only came out of the trunk when we stopped at rest areas.  The kids were REQUIRED to choose an activity from the box and do it. Like jump rope all the way around the picnic area, play a game of hop scotch or something similar while I laid out the lunch stuff.  Afterwards Mom and Dad would play catch or throw the Frisbie with them for awhile.  While this adds a bit of time to the length of the trip, it adds a LOT of quiet to the car/truck as you get back on the road.  Quiet is PRICELESS!

We also schedule stops along the way both to and from the resorts, especially on the way home.  It helps to ease the let down of the trip of a lifetime being over. Of course we watch for discounts for these stops as well. 

One of our constant travel companions is the AAA Tourbooks for the areas we are traveling through.  Often there are free or nearly free sites listed in the books that can be truly interesting.  On our Mt. Rushmore trip we found many interesting FREE sites.  I was always a “Little House on the Prairie” books/tv show fan so discovering I could visit reconstructed locations where the books took place was fun for me.  Large sculptures along the roadside were another favorite, as was Walls Drug.  If you do not belong to AAA, which I highly recommend you do if you travel any at all, then perhaps you have a friend or family member that could pick these up for you for free.

On the Disney trips we stop at the beach where Jaws was filmed, Civil War battle fields and graveyards to research the family genealogy.  These are generally free or we find discounts (like the National Parks Pass) for the places we stop.  Even driving out over the ocean on a very long bridge just to see what we could see is fun.  If the budget allows we might stop in Gulfport, MS and go on a submarine tour.  Whatever we do, we always include these stops to help break the travel up.

I am certain there are more ways to save on the travel part.  I’m definitely open for suggestions from all you kind folks.  Thanks for your continued reading.

Jan who can’t wait to be back on the road to Walt Disney World from OK.

MENUS WEEK #3 VISITING WITH OLD FRIENDS, COOKBOOKS

February 1, 2012

Last night I went with a friend to a free herb growing seminar. The evening was pleasant and I learned a few new things. When she brought me home we sat and talked awhile about menu planning and Master Mixes. I drug out my stack of make it from scratch cookbooks that I start many of my recipes from. I of course tweak all the recipes to meet my family needs and personal tastes.

That is the great thing about making all your own mixes. It allows you to adjust for allergies and intolerances, special medical needs, taste preferences and much more.

Going through the cookbooks as we talked I saw many delicious and useful recipes I had forgotten all about due to being in a rut of cooking the same few meals over and over.

That is one of the great things about long term menu planning. You can climb out of the rut because with long term planning you can see very quickly what rut you are falling into.

Take cookies, those of us who bake cookies tend to make the same one or two over and over. Chocolate chip, sugar, Snickerdoodles, repeat. But my family loves all sorts of wonderful cookies. It’s just so easy to stick with the same three or so and repeat making them. But with menu planning and striving to stay out of the rut each week is different. In fact I’m trying to see how long I can go without repeating too much. Already in the first weeks Coconut Macaroons have reappeared. My husband dearly loves macaroons, but I very seldom make them. They aren’t hard, it’s just they aren’t part of my basic rut. In the weeks to come expect to see gingersnaps, refrigerator nut cookies and many, many more.

While I do tend repeat the sides of meals often I’m even going to try and switch those up. Instead of plain corn watch for corn relish, corn fritters, Mexicorn, corn on the cob, fried corn, corn nuggets, corn chowder and much more. I will also be working at breaking from the norm on what sides go with what meals.

My mother in law once went on a trip to Walt Disney World with us, during the trip I made meatloaf. She became upset because the vegetable of the night was green beans instead of peas. She said she could not eat the meat loaf without peas. I didn’t have a single can of peas in the camper so she had to muddle through. It’s not that she was being difficult it was she was so set in her rut that meatloaf required peas that she simply couldn’t be satisfied with the meal. I refuse to be in that rut. That’s where long term menu planning can be a tremendous help to get out of the rut and stay out of it.

So here’s the menu plan and recipes for week #3.

WEEK #3: BREAKFAST OPPORTUNITES

Waffles: leftover from the double batch cooking on Sunday

Serve with syrup, molasses, honey, butter etc.

Spread with peanut butter, chop a banana and add cinnamon sugar

Spread with other nut butters

Top with fruit in simple syrup

Hot Cereal:

Rice, reheat leftover rice from the previous dinner menus

Farina

Multigrain packets

Cold Cereal:

Corn Pops (store brand, but a guilty pleasure of mine)

Corn flakes

Fruit:

Kiwi

Dried fruits, bulk purchased or home dried—great in the cereals

Beverages:

Apple juice, from frozen concentrate

Milk

Hot tea

Hot cocoa, from homemade mix

LUNCH OPPORTUNITIES: WEEK #3

Sandwiches:

Egg salad, made from our farm fresh eggs

Toasted raisin bread with cream cheese

Deli ham

Salad ingredients:

Spring salad mix: bulk purchased

Feta cheese

Bacon bits, homemade or freeze dried

Shredded carrots

Red onion

Salad dressing:

Pecan vinegrette, homemade

French, homemade

Soups:

Navy bean, from making the Navy bean master mix

Gumbo

Pasta Fagoli

Fruits:

Kiwi

Assorted dried fruits

WEEK 3 DINNER MENUS—GROUND BEEF WEEK

Monday 1/23/2012

Bacon Cheeseburgers—on homemade buns

French fries , frozen—bought on sale

Sweet Potato Fries, frozen—bought on sale

Chocolate Pudding—made from Master Mix recipe

Pepsi—bought on sale

Tuesday 1/24/2012

Pioneer Woman Chili—use leftovers later in the week

Tortilla chips or Crackers—either homemade crackers, or on sale chips

Cheddar cheese—grate from the bulk purchase block

Onions—from the root cellar

Lime wedges—from the root cellar (bulk purchase)

Milk—bought at Sam’s to save $.50 per gallon

Coconut macaroons--homemade

Wednesday 1/25/2012

Hot dogs—wieners bulk purchased on sale and frozen, homemade buns

Baked beans—homemade from dried beans

Corn on the cob—frozen bought with coupon on sale

Pepsi—bought on sale

Leftover desserts

Thursday 1/26/2012

Sausage Rolls with Marinara—homemade, bulk purchase sausage and homemade marinara

Garlic noodles—homemade noodles from bulk cooking last week.

Green beans—home canned

Iced tea

Apple Crisp—homemade from food storage

Friday 1/27/2012

Indian tacos—use Pioneer Woman leftover chili and sopapilla Master Mix to make shells

Mexicorn—bought on sale

Green Beans--leftover

Flan—food storage from the gift given us by a friend

Tea

Saturday 1/28/2012

Italian Sausage Pizza—more bulk purchase sausage from previous menus, homemade crust and sauce, grated mozzarella from bulk purchase

Jarred Salad—vacuum sealed homemade salad mix to preserve freshness, and homemade dressing

Cheese bread sticks—made with some of the pizza crust dough and bulk purchase cheeses.

Pepsi

Leftover desserts

Sunday 1/29/2012

Pasta Fagioli Soup

French bread, homemade

Snickerdoodles

tea

SNACKING OPPORTUNITIES: WEEK #3

Salty:

Popcorn

Soft baked pretzels

Sweet:

Chocolate pudding

Coconut Macaroons after Tuesday

Apple Crisp after Thursday

Fruit:

Kiwis

Dried fruits

Veggies:

Celery with peanut butter or other nut butters

Carrot sticks

So now the menus are up let’s see what recipes I can share today. The hamburger/hot dog bun recipe can be viewed elsewhere in my blog at:

http://cjpattersonontheranch.blogspot.com/2011/05/playing-catch-up-on-garden-and-house.html

I use the same dough, for the sausage rolls, cheese bread sticks and pizza crust as well. It’s truly a versatile Master Mix.

When I speak of the Pioneer Woman Recipes these are recipes from Ree Drummond’s tv show or website. The chili recipe and those in the future can be viewed on her website at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-pioneer-woman/index.html

Last week and this both I used the Sopapilla Master Mix. Recipe can be viewed at:

http://cjpattersonontheranch.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-12-years-later.html

So on to the Navy Bean Soup for lunches, Molasses Baked Beans and Pasta Fagoili Soup. All are made using the

Navy Bean Soup Master Mix.

Yield: 12 cups

2 pounds dried navy beans, or other small white beans

10 cups water

1 large onion, diced

2 tablespoons butter, optional

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Wash and sort beans. Place in a large pot and cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes.



2. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour.



3. Drain and discard water. Rinse beans and return pot. Add 10 c water and remaining ingredients.



4. Bring to a boil.



5. Simmer for 2 hours.



6. Freeze or can leftovers in 3 to 4 cup containers label and store appropriately.

Once the beans are tender you can eat this as Navy Bean Soup.

Molasses Baked Beans

Servings: 8

1/2 pound bacon, diced

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

4 cups Navy Bean Mix

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 F.



2. In large skillet fry bacon until almost crips. Drain and discard all but 1 tbl of drippings. Put bacon in a lidded 2 qt cassrole dish



3. Saute onions and celery in bacon drippings Add to casserole dish.



4. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.



5. Bake for 2 hours until all moisture is absorbed.

Pasta Fagoili Soup

Servings: 8

1 large onion, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

3 large carrots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, Minced OR 1 tsp garlic powder

73 ounces chicken broth

3 cups Navy Bean Soup Mix

14 ounces tomatoes, canned, dieced and peeled, undrained

8 ounces tomato sauce

1 teaspoon oregano leaves, dried

1 teaspoon basil leaves, dried

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 whole bay leaves

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

1 cup shell pasta

salt, to taste

Parmesan cheese, fresh, optional

1. Spray large pan with non-stick cooking spray. Add onions, celery, carrots and garlic. Cook about 4 or 5 minutes until partially tender, stirring occasionally.



2. Add Broth, Mix, tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, basil, pepper, bay leaves, parsley flakes and salt. Bring to a boil.



3. Add macaroni. Reduce to medium heat and cook 15 minutes until macaroni and vegetables are tender.



4. Remove bay leaves. Sprinkle with cheese.

Food Storage add ons for this week is the remainder of the 10#’s was used to brown with celery, onion, garlic and seasonings for future casseroles and soup add ins. Then canned.

The additional Navy Bean Master Mix can either be canned or frozen for future meals.

On a side note: You can make all your Hot Roll mix items up at once and then after the first rise freeze the doughs to use later in the week. I have in the past also held it in the refrigerator for a few days. It did develop a slight sourdough taste, which is not a bad thing.

Jan who is all about doing bulk cooking to save time and money in OK

PAYING FOR YOUR MAGICAL TRIP

January 31, 2012

So now you’ve got a rough idea of how much this trip will cost you and maybe a little bit of panic is setting in. Maybe the total was more than you thought it would be, but you REALLY want to take this trip, or a trip to anywhere, or maybe you just want to get debt free (just had to slip in a plug for that, because once you live debt free then you can travel all you want) but you don’t want to take out a loan or use charge cards for the dream trip (especially not if you want to live debt free). HOW in the world are you going to pay for this trip, because boy would it be fun to go!

The answer is simple. Two ways, cut the costs and save for it and pay cash for the entire trip. This post is about paying for it. The ideas here will work not only work for playing for a vacation, but for getting debt free, or buying any number of things. My next post(s) will be about ways to cut costs. There are hundreds of ways to do both ways, both on the trip and at home. First the cash, because the sooner you start on it the faster you will reach your goal.

You can start right now. Find a solid heavy jar, or that cutesy bank you picked up somewhere, a tin can whatever and put it where you can easily get to it. Maybe you would want to decorate it, or let the kids if you are letting them help you plan right now, Do something to remind you that any money that goes in this is for the trip (or debt reduction).

Now go to your purse, shake your pants pocket, dig in the sofa cushions, dump the coins out of the car ash tray, frisk the washing machine, look in your coat pockets, look everywhere you know you usually deposit pocket change and put it in the container. The clinking of those coins hitting the once empty container is Tinkerbell’s twinkle sound, do you hear Walt Disney World calling you?

While that doesn’t look like much right now it will grow and grow and you will soon be off on your trip of a lifetime. But just like those of us that are on the Dave Ramsey plan talk about feeding the gazelles, you need to feed Tinkerbell too.

You’ve done the first step, now start paying for everything you can in cash, dollar bills to be exact. No coins, because every coin is going to go into your vacation fund. I’ll call it Tink’s fund for now. Each night, drop all your coins into that bank and listen for Tink telling you thank you. You will be surprised how fast that fund is going to grow as time goes on.

Our first trip to Walt Disney World we paid cash for the trip for four of us, so have a few of the trips between then and the one we are currently saving for now using the methods I’ll be telling you. It took us exactly 9 months to save for the trip just out of pocket change and coupon money for the four of us. The more you do to feed Tink the faster you can get there.

So where are you going to get the cash to feed Tink? Let’s start with a simple one. Coupons. Don’t go running screaming into the woods at the sound of that. I’m not telling you to become an extreme couponer , although that wouldn’t hurt, I’m saying just incorporate a few coupons and discounts into your life. It doesn’t have to be a major production like you see on tv, it can be just one or two here or there. The volume you do is up to you.

Think outside the box, need an oil change, check the yellow pages of your phone book, often there is a coupon there for oil changes. Do you eat out often (we’ll discuss this more later)? Check to see if your favorite places you eat at have an online club or a loyalty card. Because if they do you should sign up for them, and net the benefits from them.

If you read my Week #1 post on menus you will see we went to Ghengis Mongolian Grill for my birthday meal. I belong to both their online club and have a loyalty card. As a result the three of us ate for 1/3 of what the bill would have been normally. I got a free meal because it was my birthday, and we’d eaten there enough that we’d earned another free meal. So our nearly $50 meal cost us $16 including the tip (we paid our server a tip based on the $50 because we had extremely good service). The difference went into the trip bank that night.

Every way you can save with a coupon OR a discount of any type, use the money you saved to “feed Tink”. Save $.10 with a grocery coupon, put it in that bank. Get a discount because of a loyalty card, a student or senior citizen discount, put it in that bank. You will be amazed at how fast that money will add up.

Then once a month, or when you mystery shop your personal bank (I’ll explain this in a minute) deposit all but a few coins from your Tink fund into a regular bank into an interest bearing account. Even if it’s just $10 put it in the real bank. Because the sooner you do the more you will earn in interest and every penny interest is that much closer to your dream trip. The reason I say leave a few coins in the Tink fund bank is because I consider it “seed money” If it’s empty it’s too easy to leave it empty, but if you see coins in there it’s a lot easier to add a few. It’s a mental thing.

Now let’s look at cutting expenses. You saw how much we saved on that birthday meal, but what if we’d all drank water with lemon, which is free, instead of three $2 each drinks? At that one meal it would have been a savings of $6 plus tax for the three of us. That’s roughly $6.50 more to feed Tink with. Or if we hadn’t eaten out at all that night…you get the idea.

Do you REALLY need that double low fat whatever latte on the way to/from work? Could you make it yourself at home, or skip it one day a week even?

Of course coupons are a big saver on groceries too. So is the menu planning I write about in other posts. Don’t forget to mail in your rebates. All that cash goes into the fund. As the fund grows you will find more and more ways to save because you WANT that trip!

Around here when we are saving for a big trip we often equate what we are saving by eithernot buying something, using a coupon or getting a discount with what it will buy at WDW. One of us will often say “that’s a coke at Disney World.” Or if it’s a bigger savings “That’s a burger, a one day ticket, a night’s stay etc at Disney World.” And it all adds up.

My granny always said “mind your pennies and your dollars will mind themselves.” You see a penny in a parking lot, pick it up and feed it to Tink, it only takes 10 pennies to make a dime and 10 dimes to make a dollar. So don’t pass up that penny.

While we no longer use charge cards due to our personal decision to follow Dave Ramsey’s path to Financial Freedom, when we did we had one that paid a cash back bonus. We paid this card off pretty religiously so using it was another way we earned cash for our trips. We paid for everything with that card and then as soon as we had enough “cash back” built up we could withdraw it that money went into the Tink fund as well.

When it came time to take the trip we made certain we had enough money in the savings account to pay off the charge card when the bills from the trip started rolling in and then used that card exclusively for the trip-so we earned cash back for those expenses as well, for the next trip. The Tink’s fund stayed in the bank earning interest until the bill hit, but the minute the bill hit we withdrew from the bank enough to cover the bill in full and paid it off.

This plan works well as long as you don’t get a Murphy hit and can’t pay off the charge card. Then the interest will eat your lunch and you will have the stress of an additional bill. We made the conscious decision to do without the charge card at all. Because we learned the hard way that Murphy is just one knock at the door away at all times. But if you choose to use charge cards that is your personal decision and you can use it to your advantage to pay for the trip IF you pay the bill off in full each month.

A note about using a charge or debit card while at WDW or any out of town trip. Notify the company the card is issued from ahead of time when you are traveling, because if you don’t you might find your purchases denied, even when you have the cash there to cover it.

In this day and age of identity theft many companies will shut a card down if they see it being used outside its normal travel area. We had that happen once while at WDW and it was VERY embarrassing. A simple phone call straightened it out, but that was time away from our vacation and a bit of embarrassment we could do without.

Also, one of my bank debit cards will not let purchases from certain states go through on the debit card because of identity theft period. It’s a small local bank and there is no discussing it with them. Certain states are on their no go list. Another debit card has a daily limit of $1,000 they will let go through, unless you make prior arrangements before your trip or large purchase. So it’s better to find out BEFORE you go if you have a similar situation rather than get several states away and find you don’t have access to your cash. Be sure and check on that daily limit because when staying at the WDW resorts you will be issued a “room key” that will be used like a credit/debit card in the park and resort area and they will run a large total through on your account at once. You can tell them ahead of time how much you to allow at a time and then they will need to notify you of when they are running the amount through.

Due to the problems of identity theft and theft in general we actually have an electronic use only free checking account with a Visa debit at a bank other than our main bank set up. We use this account strictly for our online purchases and travel. Only the exact amount of money we need for the purchase/trip is put in this account prior to the purchase/trip. That way if theft does happened our main accounts are safe and our liability is limited. We keep the account open with just a required small amount in there at other times.

Another big fund raiser is sell stuff. Run a garage sale, list on ebay, sell media items on half.com or amazon.com, Craig’s list, upillar.com, your local cheap cycle the list goes on and on of places to sell things. Someone recently said they “only got $.75” for a book they had purchased years ago. I responded “that’s $.75 more than you would have had otherwise and now your bookshelf is cleaner and you aren’t paying to heat/cool that book. “ If I’d been talking to a family member I would have said “That’s almost half of a Mickey Ears ice cream bar at WDW.”

Older kids often can earn their own vacation souvenir/spending money by babysitting, doing yard work and similar jobs for others. Whatever you do the more you do the more you can save.

Consider mystery shopping and saving all of the income from that, above your expenses of doing so, for your trip. For more on mystery shopping use the search feature on the left here on my blog (between the pictures) and put in mystery shopping. A lot of info I have previously posted on the ins and outs of mystery shopping and merchandising can be found in that way. Remember me saying that I put the Tink Fund money in a bank I mystery shop at. Well I make that deposit when I do a teller shop and use their coin counting machine to count the Tink Fund then make the deposit, as required by the mystery shop. File my paperwork and I make anywhere from $5 to $25 depending on the bank and the time of the month for making that deposit. Then the money I make from that shop goes directly into the bank via direct deposit when I get paid for the shop.

Because I schedule my mystery shops to coincide with my errands I’m not out any extra expenses for fuel to do the shop so the whole amount goes into the Tink Fund. If it was a mystery shop that I had to make a reimbursable purchase, like a nice meal out, for I deduct how much I spent for that meal from the check and only the profit goes into the Tink fund.

Make gift giving time part of preparing for the trip time. It might be the perfect way to tell family members about the trip. Disney or other gift cards, Disney cash, tickets for the parks (you can buy them ahead of time because the time on them doesn’t start until you actually use them). Special clothing for the trip, stuffed animals, Disney movies (often have rebates on them) reservations etc all make good gifts. Plus they are part of your trip budget so you kill two birds with one stone.

Speaking of gift cards it’s time to speak about mypoints and similar programs. These are programs where you click on emails or ads and you get points. These points are saved until you have enough to redeem them. While mypoints does not have Disney gift cards that you can redeem for they do have Wal-Mart cards, fuel cards, restaurant gift cards and various other gift cards that you could use while vacationing OR to use at home and put the cash you saved by using them in your Tink Fund. They are basically free money you can earn in just a few clicks. I personally use the mypoints tool bar and get bonus points every month by using it to do the numerous google searches I do each month anyway. No extra effort on my part once I installed the tool bar (which I got bonus points for doing) and it’s free money. Oh if you shop online you can also get bonus points from the various places by doing the shopping through the mypoints (or similar websites). Not a member of mypoints? I’d love to refer you, I get points for referrals too. Just e me privately and I’ll refer you.

Blogging is another way to earn bits of cash here and there. See the ads in and around my blog? Every time you or anyone else clicks on one I get a penny. (all clicks appreciated) and that goes into my Tink Fund.

The whole idea is to save for the trip, so every penny you save or earn it goes into your Tink Fund. Our first trip cost right at $3,000 and that was when there were four of us going, now I only pay for two as my son always pays for his own expenses if he joins us. We still pay right around $3,000 thirty years later for our first trip of the year from OK when we purchase our annual pass, and then far less for the remaining 1-3 trips for the year.

That first trip there was one park, the Magic Kingdom, there are now 4 parks, 2 water parks and a large shopping complex. Plus to us the campground, called Ft. Wilderness, is an adventure in itself. There is a lot to do at each of the resorts as well. You can spend a whole day easily just going from resort to resort to see the differences and enjoy the ambiance of each resort. While pool hopping is frowned upon there is a lot to see as each resort is done in a different theme. We particularly like doing this during the various holiday seasons to enjoy the decorations on a “crash and burn” day.

One other thing to consider is what we did one trip we went down. A dear friend had moved from Oklahoma to Mississippi and had left a lot of their stuff in storage here. They paid for our fuel and the trailer rental for us to bring a trailer load of their items from OK to Gulfport, MS. This gave us not only fuel for those first several miles, but a place to stay one night and a nice home cooked meal. This was of course a big savings for all involved. So if you have a similar situation, or you do animal rescue transports on a regular basis you might try to schedule one for part of your journey to help cover the transportation costs. Or plan your trip when a family member has to travel that direction for business and just journey on from their first destination to WDW at a discounted rate.

We did this last one a few years ago when my husband was sent to AutoCad University in Las Vegas, NV in December. We combined the travel time with vacation time and used his travel expense account for paying for the part to and from Las Vegas, as well as lodging and meals while we were there. That left the rest of our nearly four week trip to travel parts of the western US on our private money. Since Vegas was our furthest point west on that trip it covered a good deal of our fuel consumption. If we’d had the time we would have gone on over to Disneyland from there, but alas we didn’t have the time.

Other ideas for saving money, or earning additional income can be found in the Tightwad Gazette books (I, II & III) by Amy Dacyzn, The Total Money Makeover book by Dave Ramsey, various yahoogroups, and various frugal websites. For legit work at home jobs consider checking out ratracerebellion.com and volition.com websites as well.

Whatever you do save your profits and you will have a vacation that you can be proud of without going into debt. Speaking of debt, consider all these ideas and more for becoming debt free because then as Dave Ramsey says if you “Live like no one else now, later you can LIVE like no one else.”

Jan who is using all these ideas and more to not only become debt free, but to take a celebration vacation trip to Walt Disney World when she is debt free in OK

HOW TO PLAN A FRUGAL TRIP TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

January 27, 2012

This time of year I often get a lot of inquiries about how in the world does my family afford to go to Walt Disney World so often when they know I work on a shoestring budget. Everyone is in vacation planning mode and the “world’ beckons. So I’ve decided it’s time for a blog post on the ins and outs of vacation planning, not just for the “world” but for any vacation.

The main thing is to remember it IS a vacation, don’t over plan your trip. Allow for down time in your schedule. Many a vacation has been ruined because someone in the family is determined they must “do it all.” And that makes for cranky folks old and young alike. Remember, you can always go back and do what you missed this trip next trip.

I am a big believer in pre-planning trips. I feel that half the fun in the trip is the planning, just not going overboard about it. That being said I will admit one of our most favorite trips to WDW was a spur of the moment trip we planned on the fly on one Monday and we left that Thursday.

Another non-WDW trip was a penny hike trip we took to Mt. Rushmore. On that trip we literally flipped a penny each night to see which way we would go and to decide what we would do each day. So there is a lot to be said for not planning as well. It’s just a lot riskier.

But this blog is about planning and doing the WDW trip on a shoestring.

First pick your dates, but be a little flexible on those dates. Often a lot can be saved on the accommodations and transportation by moving your dates one way or another just a few days.

I know on many airlines if you fly out on Tuesday-Thursday the airfare is cheaper than if you fly the other days of the week. WDW resort rooms and campsites are also generally cheaper Monday-Thursday than on the weekend. So if you can be flexible, then by all means be so.

Gasoline and diesel are generally cheaper during the winter months than summer months as well.

WDW also has “off season” discounts on their resort rooms, so if you home school, year round school, or for other reasons can travel during the non-summer and peak season months to WDW I highly recommend it.

Here are the historical peak season dates. Of course, as with all things it all depends on what is going on in the world as to how busy the parks will be on these dates. These dates were supplied by The Mouse For Less website (a great planning tool location for certain) www.themouseforless.com

• Heaviest: Presidents' week in February

-Mid-March through Late April ("Spring Break"); Easter

-Memorial Day weekend

-June through mid-August

-Thanksgiving Day and weekend

-Christmas week through New Year's Day

• Moderate: After Presidents' week in February through early March

-Late April through early June (except Memorial Day weekend)

-The first part of Thanksgiving week

• Lightest: Mid-January until Presidents' week in February (expect attraction & pool closures & refurbishments)

-The week following Labor Day until Thanksgiving week

-The week following Thanksgiving until the week before Christmas

The Walt Disney World travel guides by Steve Birnbaum usually also have peak season dates listed in them. This information seldom changes much, so you could look at a library copy of it for free to get that information.

The Birnbaum books are great for info about the parks and are updated often. Older versions are good for general info, but will often be outdated for the current rides, shops, restaurants and meal prices. So if you are going to use them for your ultimate planning book spring for the issue for the year you are going. However, since they are put together a year ahead of time know that some of the info even in those most current issues may be out of date.

The best price planning info is the free DVDs and info you can get from WDW yourself. If you use mypoints (more on this later in the how to pay for it post) then by all means order it through there and get the points for doing so.

You can also get a lot of the prices from the following websites:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/

http://allears.net/index.html

The first is the official Disney website and the second is an unofficial one. I really like both sites. The Disney one gives you all the basic planning costs but the All Ears site gives you so much more. Right down to individual meal prices, no estimates, the actual cost.

All Ears also gives many helpful hints and lists current available discounts. A major plus when you are planning your trip on a shoestring. Two other sites that are great for helping you plan out your vacation are The Mouse for Less, which I previously mentioned and The Magic For Less. www.themagicforless.com

If you like discussion groups then I highly recommend themouseforless@yahoogroups.com I have learned much of what I know on vacationing on a shoestring from the folks on that list. The rest of my knowledge comes from my natural tightwad instincts. Be sure to check out all the files and links at the yahoogroups site. There is a wealth of information there.

A word of warning about the mouse for less group. It is a VERY active group and so if you don’t want to get 100 or more emails in a day I suggest you either read it from the web or go on digest for that particular group. It is well worth wading through all the emails to glean a lot of information from that group though.

Once you get all your research info together and you’ve chosen your time frame then it’s time to pick your resort, your tickets and whether or not a water park is in your future.

Picking the resort is strictly a thing of personal preference. Some folks prefer to stay off site because often at first glance the price is cheaper. There are numerous great hotels and condos for rent in the area and if that is your preference than you are on your own for the planning of that part, or check with the Magic for Less travel agency, more about these wonderful folks in a bit.

You see we have only stayed off site once in over 30 trips to the world and swore we’d never do it again. But that is OUR personal preference I know a lot of people who never stay on site and prefer it that way.

While our room off site was cheaper what it cost us in other ways was so much more expensive. Staying onsite comes with numerous perks. Here’s a list of some for you to consider when making this decision:

1. Once you arrive, if you are not leaving the resort area then you never need your car again until you leave. They transport you everywhere for free, even to their shopping complex called Downtown Disney. If you decide to leave the resort they do have a car rental spot onsite, where they will bring the car to your hotel room for you and you can rent the car for just the days you need it. Oh and by the way, it’s generally a cheaper rate if you rent it at the resort than at the airport due to airport usage taxes and such. Say for going to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure or Sea World one day. More on these two another time.

2. If you are flying in they pick you up for free at the airport with the Magical Express, collect your luggage for you and deliver it to your room. When you leave they pick your luggage up at your resort and check it in for you at the airport. This leaves you free to go directly to the parks or wherever once you have checked in and to visit the parks on your last day if your tickets are all inclusive. A big plus. It also means you do not need a rental car to get to the resort, pay turnpike fees (which are hefty) or pay for an airport shuttle. Nor do you have the delay and hassle at the airport. While you make a quick potty run after you get off the plane a Cast Member from WDW is collecting your luggage for you. How great is that? The transport is a large comfortable bus that shows Disney commercials and such on tvs to start your Disney experience immediately.

3. Extra Magic Hours are a wonderful plus for resort guests. This is an extra 1-3 hours a day at a different park every day either in the morning before the park opens or after the park closes at night. Only resort guests are allowed in the parks during Extra Magic Hours so the lines are much shorter then. It’s a great way to get to ride the most popular rides without using a Fastpass or waiting in a long line. It’s also a great time to collect a Fastpass for a special ride later in the day.

4. If you are staying OFF site you must pay for parking at the parks that can add up quick on a multi-day trip. However, once you pay for teach day that is all you pay. The current rates are: Automobile, taxi, limo or motorcycle $14, camper, trailer or RV $15 and Bus or tractor trailer $18. There are ways to get discounts like owning an annual pass—we’ll get into this more later or being a member of AAA.

5. If staying off site you must also consider the driving time and gas each day both to and from the parks and possible turnpike fees. If you have little ones, or a person who simply needs to rest occasionally it is far easier to go back to your hotel room/campsite by staying onsite than off site.

6. Amenities, the resorts at WDW have a LOT of them. From swimming pools, to tennis courts, hot tubs and a petting zoo at the campground. And you don’t even have to be staying at the campground to enjoy the petting zoo, just take the free ground transportation over and while you are there consider the walking trails, or rent a bicycle or water craft for a fun afternoon. At night time the campground has free Disney movies and campfire sing-a-long or you can take a special nighttime canoe trip. Don’t forget to watch the Electric Water Parade on the bay while visiting the campground after dark as well, or maybe pay for a carriage ride. At the Animal Kingdom Lodge they have free use of night vision binoculars for you to watch the animals on the savannah after dark. That is always fun to do.

7. Each resort has a place to grab a bite to eat and you can purchase a refillable beverage cup that is good for your entire stay at your resort and it more than pays for itself during any trip. To date there are no refillable cups at the parks, except I know that for awhile the AK did have one that was for the day of purchase only. There is generally pizza delivery available to your room as well.

8. Disney character wake-up calls. If you are staying in the resort, alas not the campground, then you can be awakened each morning with a wake-up call by a Disney character. It’s part of the magic and many an adult likes it as much as the younger set.

9. Entertainment, many of the resorts have free entertainment going on at various times. One night at the Port ‘o Orleans, back when it was Dixie Landings, we stumbled into a live show at one of the clubs. It was a very good show. This was our one spur of the moment trip to WDW and everything was just perfect that trip. Just the two of us and all the pieces fell together just right.

10. Resort guests get first pick at dining reservations.

There are more pluses, but you get the idea.

Next you need to decide on package, or non-package deal. Again this is a personal decision. We seldom go with the packages because we generally take our own food with us for at least part of the meals and we most often purchase an annual pass. So the non-package generally works out cheaper for us. However, that being said, Disney has been running some pretty sweet deals this last couple of years that include free meals. I recently priced out a trip for the two of us to take a long weekend down and found out that the package that included length of stay tickets and meals was only $50 more than without meals. I would have had to pay far more than that for a la carte meals for five days for two! if we had decided to make that trip, it would have been well worth that $50 for the quick service meal plan, or even to pay the additional for the upper meal plans difference. So check your prices closely, sometimes the packages are much cheaper, depending on what you choose to include.

Tickets are another consideration. Our big trip for each year is generally 14 days and we go into the parks for 10 of those days. The other 4 days we go shopping, visit the water parks, go to another park (generally US/IOA) or simply crash and burn for a day. Our shorter trips are generally 4-5 days and we hit the parks all of those days. You can purchase plain tickets that are good for one park per day, Park Hopper Tickets or never expiring tickets. Each ticket has it’s pros and cons. That is a decision you will have to decide.

If purchasing tickets for just that particular trip we choose the Park Hopper, because we won’t stay in an overly crowded park. We have learned if one park is really crowded then another one is probably nearly empty. Certain parks on certain days are crowded, (see the Birnbaum books to determine the days). Or we will want to go to a park for a certain show on a certain day and maybe not want to spend the entire day in that park. But that is our preference, again you have to decide.

Generally we plan on going more than once in a year so we will purchase an annual pass. When I list how to get discounts and such I’ll go into all the pros of having the annual pass. It is the most expensive of the tickets at first glance, generally about $50 more per person than a 10 day pass, but it is good for 366 days from the day of FIRST USE! First use, not January 1 to January 1, not the day you buy it, but when you first enter a park using it for the first time. It also comes with some major discounts for lodging, food, shopping, special events and special products that you can’t get otherwise.

Once you’ve made all the decisions and decided whether or not you are going to other attractions in the area then you will need to figure out your budget and how to pay for it all. Don’t forget to add in meals, snacks and souvenirs at the parks. Plus you need to remember the “other” expenses like pet sitters at home, transportation there, if you are traveling by car are you stopping along the way? Will you visit attractions, where will you sleep each night. There are ways to cut all these costs (well maybe not the pet sitter) and a later post will go into this in detail. As well as a post on where to get the money to pay for it all.

But first, now that I have scared you with all this “planning” part I’d like to suggest a way around a lot of this first step. While I’ve never used their service and have no connection what so ever to the folks there I have heard nothing but rave reviews about The Magic For Less Travel Agency. These are the folks that help with the yahoogroups I mentioned earlier and they work VERY hard to make certain you get the best possible vacation at the lowest possible price. Even after you have booked with them, they keep looking for better deals for you and make certain you get the BEST possible price. If you are from the Dave Ramsey list then you know Jeannette is with The Magic For Less and she’d be more than happy to help you with your vacation planning. She can be reached at:

JConaLarock@themagicforless.com or follow her on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/themagicforless



I suggest you shoot her an email and allow her to run some comparisons for you.

In a later post I’ll go more into what has to be paid when, refund policies and much more.

Next post: So now you’ve planned it how are you going to pay for it?

Jan who can’t wait to go again in OK