How are you saving money for your trip to WDW? Any tips or tricks to recommend?

Here are six ways I am saving for my family’s trip to WDW this summer:

1. Pay for all purchases on our credit cards. I do this for everything! I even pay for my morning coffee with a credit card, to get the extra points. But we always pay the bill in full each month. So far we have earned over $1,200 in credit card points to help offset the cost of our trip.

2. Use ebates.com and ebates.ca for online shopping - I do this for almost anything I can buy online (e.g., Amazon, Expedia, GAP etc). I recently got a cheque for over $100 for the things I bought in the last 3 months. You get a percentage of your purchases back in cash.

3. Always wait for a sale and look for coupon codes for online purchases - Before I buy something online I check ebates and other sites for coupon codes. I always wait for a sale and use online coupon codes when I buy something.

4. Buy for quality not quantity - I like to shop and have found that it’s better to buy less quality items than lots of cheap items that break down quickly. In the long run, this strategy has saved me money.

5. Spread your purchases out over a few months - This year and last year, I spread my vacation purchases over a few months, so I wouldn’t have to pay for everything at once (e.g., I paid for flights in January, got Disney tickets in February).

6. Join dinning clubs - I joined a few dinning clubs online so I’d be rewarded for eating at the same restaurants a few times.

How are you saving money for your trip to WDW? Do yo you have any tips or tricks to recommend?

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I wrote a post with a deep dive on using multiple Barclaycard Arrival Rewards and Disney Visa cards with my wife and I to amass Disney rewards and travel reimbursements.

I plan to do it again for our next trip, likely using the Chase Sapphire along with new Arrival and Visa cards…

Long story short: You can get Chase sign on bonuses every 24 months (from earning the reward), plus my wife3 and I refer each other to get more bonuses. Barclay doesn’t have a time frame I know of, but there are reports that bonus can be had multiple times as well…

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Thanks. I also looked into credit card options. But I live in Canada, so the offers are different.

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I opened a Disney Visa card, got a $200 gift card. Had my husband open one with my referral, he also got $200 and I got a $100 statement credit. It saved us $500 on our $1500 WDW vacation package

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I travel occasionally for work and have been collecting hotel, airline miles, and rental car points over the years. It’s not likely that I’ll use the airline miles to book airfare for our family because we are a family of 6 and drive almost everywhere (and if we fly it’s allegiant/spirit), but I recently realized that I can use my AA miles for some DISNEY hotels. Art of Animation is one of them. I can roll my hertz points into my marriot points, my marriot points into AA, and apply for AA credit card for bonus miles and I should have enough for a week’s stay in AoA next year (it’;s 65,000 miles per night). In addition, I have Hilton points that I will convert to AA miles or use for the DS Hilton if I need extra nights. I love the idea of booking our hotel stay all on these points I’ve accumulated from work travel because it makes the travel worth it.

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Any time I wanted to save money, I focused on not buying “wants” (stay away from stores) and lived out of our pantry. We can do this for some time, as we have a large deep freezer and 2-3 ample storage areas for dry goods. I tend to stock up when I find really good prices. If you lack ideas, just Google “pantry meals.” But just switching to meals/ coffee at home and packing lunches can yield a very good savings.

As an example, last month’s credit card had $300 in meals out and $600 in supermarket charges. I could easily save $500/month for a couple of months if I put my mind to it.

If you honestly track your expenses you may find a good amount of “optional” things you can cut out. The key is to make it fun, not deprivation.

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It is too bad so many of these high bonus cards are not available in Canada.

FWIW, When I was researching my cards I happened to see a few sites that listed Canada deals…

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I agree. I researched this last year and the deals in the US are a lot better.

We don’t get any Disney related c/c deals in the UK and obviously a trip to Orlando for us is crazy expensive during school holidays (our only option) with flights alone costing over 3200usd for four of us.
We’ve stopped eating out when we’re not celebrating, started being much more meal prep orientated, packed lunches for work and school.
I’m trying to save £500+ a month. I’m on a healthier diet to lose thirty pounds so I’ve stopped buying alcohol, and DH doesn’t drink, this helps a lot it seems - whoops!
Luckily, eldest DD is studying for high school exams this summer so other trips and expensive days out are few and far between. I’m also encouraging both DD’s to babysit and earn money for themselves for spending money :+1:

Good luck!

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I also spread purchases out. I used one card to get airlines miles and purchase when I have a good amount. Make my reservations a year in advance and pay throughout that time a little a month. Use my Disney Visa to get money for our trip. Also, this may sound weird, but I save my change from one trip to the next and ultimately have at least $300 cash for pocket change during our vacation.

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Disney Visa card, other cash back Visa card, saving and not eating out as much, and I use cash back apps for things I normally buy anyway such as Ibotta, shopkicks, fetch, and Swagbucks…every little thing helps and the savings add up quickly over the course of a year.

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Discover card offered 5% cash back at Amazon during the 4th quarter of 2018. I bought a lot of Christmas presents off Amazon during that time. Those points will be used to buy Disney gift cards.

I buy only what I need and keep splurging to a minimum. We try to eat at home as much as possible.

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Not specifically saving for Disney, but I pack my lunches almost every day and we never order in. If we are going out, it is a big deal. If we are in, we can cook.

Recently I also started walking to work. 2.3 miles, so good exercise. I take the subway home because I want to get home quickly and am tired by then, but I am saving $50/month on subway fare by walking every morning.

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Our family budget already has about $1,000/mo savings built into it for big ticket travel. If we save that up for a few months and cut a little bit in some of our other categories (home improvement, eating out, birthday and Xmas presents), we’re good to go.

I’m another one who spreads things out. I will also start stocking up on toiletries, disney clothes, etc. throughout the year so that I’m not buying it all at the end (and at full price).

This is more of a savings during the trip rather than before, I buy each kid a gift card to use at WDW to buy souvenirs. This easily limits the amount of “stuff” we buy in the parks. Of course, I buy the CGs online with my Target card and get 5% off so a tiny savings there.

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A budget.

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I set up a separate bank account just for trips and have money automatically transferred in with each paycheck - (dont miss what i dont see) - any tax refunds, extra cash goes into this account.

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We’re all about the budget. I find that with a budget, I am much more driven to reach the goals I set and it’s rewarding when I can see the results every month!! :slight_smile:

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I churn credit cards.
I have earned $1250 already for 2019 and am in my way to another $800 by June. I also hope to have another $800 one by August. :+1:

(I’ve been doing since 2005, and no, our credit score has never taken a hit.)

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I’ve used many of the ways already mentioned (Disney Visa, discounted gift cards, packing own food, etc.) thru the years. All save real dollars. Why I even pack my Sawyer mini filter that fits on the end of plastic water bottles so I can refill them with that yucky WDW drinking fountain water and drink decent tasting water. This year I am taking a different credit card approach and using the IHG MasterCard offer (i.e.: Holiday Inn). This is a unique travel credit card approach and definitely not for everyone. Depending on location, reward points earned cover anywhere from 4 to 8 free nights. The free hotel stays save more money for us than any other approach we’ve used for WDW before. Not only does save money traveling to or staying offsite at WDW, but also fits our travel plans elsewhere.

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