How many steps will you take to save money?

[FLA]

Just wanted to comment on this, though. It is so true. Very often a "deal" turns out to cost you more than it's worth, especially if it makes you do something you weren't going to do.

Oh, I get this so well. He wanted Texas de Brazil for Father's Day after getting an email coupon that said if you go that day, Father's get a coupon for a free mail. This place is expensive, he acknowledges that so we only go if there is a deal like this. BUT we had to buy two meals full price on Father's Day, that bill was over $120. Then we have to go back and I spend all that money redeeming the coupon for the "free" meal. If it wasn't for my dad, I would not have done this for anyone else. He does so much for me, I can never pay him back. It's cute to see him so happy. He is a buffet man, you have to eat your money's worth. So while he loves this place, he is thrilled with Golden Corral. Gross but cheap and maybe next year's plan!

[FLA]

So the free cruise we had no plans to take ended up costing us about $3,000.

This stinks, that's a lot of money. Hope it was fun at least.

[disneysteve]

This stinks, that's a lot of money. Hope it was fun at least.

Absolutely. We had a ball. I'm not sorry we did it at all. And we could have done it much cheaper if we wanted to. My wife and I could have gone and left our daughter with grandmom or a friend. We chose to go during spring break, which made airfare more expensive. The shore excursions and other extras were done by choice and could have been trimmed back. We could have just done a barebones cruise and maybe spent $1,000 which would have been a great deal. We chose to make it cost what it did.

[bennkar]

What prompted this question is that for the first time in many years, we will be buying annual passes to Disney World this fall. Since that is about a $1,400 purchase, I started researching how I could save some money in the process. I know how to get discounted regular Disney passes but APs are harder since only Disney sells them, not the ticket discounters that I usually deal with.

Enter the disboards discussion forums. There are folks there who really could have their own TLC reality show along the lines of the extreme couponing show but for theme park passes. They have such involved methods for saving that basically involve buying a series of discounted gift cards online and from Target to ultimately save 10% or more on their passes, which is a nice deal.

I'm not going to go quite that crazy but I did come up with a relatively straightforward way to save 5% so about $70. Not bad. Worth the hassle in my opinion. That'll cover a few meals for my wife and I when we're on vacation.

OK, I plan on going to DW this fall, and I have to ask...

• I thought DW only sold annual passes to Florida residents. Was I wrong about that?
• How many passes does $1,400 cover? Three? Four? More?
• Are you using these passes for multiple visits to FL, or do you find them cost effective even for a once a year trip to FL?

My girlfriend can buy multi-day park hopper passes from a military base for a minor discount, so I'm curious how much better buying these yearly passes would be over what we can easily do already. Or should I just spend some time on DisBoards and get up to speed on this? Thanks for the info.

[safari]

I could save about $6 every time I fill up my tank, if I did that at Costco, but it's out of my way and there are always long lines at the pump, so I prefer the convenience of filling up at my local gas station. I only fill up once every three weeks, so it's not a big deal for me. If I were using more gas, I probably would have reconsidered it.

[MonkeyMama]

I could save about $6 every time I fill up my tank, if I did that at Costco, but it's out of my way and there are always long lines at the pump, so I prefer the convenience of filling up at my local gas station. I only fill up once every three weeks, so it's not a big deal for me. If I were using more gas, I probably would have reconsidered it.

Totally agreed. It seems to upset people that we don't have a Costco membership. Costco is just way too far out of the way and too crowded for my taste. Plus we get cheaper gas at the gas station closest to our house. So we kind of luck out with cheapest/most convenient/nicest/least crowded on the gas/grocery front. Definitely not going out of my way for cheap gas.

[FLA]

OK, I plan on going to DW this fall, and I have to ask...

[
My girlfriend can buy multi-day park hopper passes from a military base for a minor discount, so I'm curious how much better buying these yearly passes would be over what we can easily do already. Or should I just spend some time on DisBoards and get up to speed on this? Thanks for the info.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure anyone can buy season passes. If one of you is a veteran or in the military, you can stay at Shades of Green for a lot less than other choices

[disneysteve]

OK, I plan on going to DW this fall, and I have to ask...

• I thought DW only sold annual passes to Florida residents. Was I wrong about that?
• How many passes does $1,400 cover? Three? Four? More?
• Are you using these passes for multiple visits to FL, or do you find them cost effective even for a once a year trip to FL?

My girlfriend can buy multi-day park hopper passes from a military base for a minor discount, so I'm curious how much better buying these yearly passes would be over what we can easily do already. Or should I just spend some time on DisBoards and get up to speed on this? Thanks for the info.

Anyone can buy annual passes. Go to disney.com and navigate to the ticket page (Parks & Travel; Vacation Planning; Tickets).

$1,400 will get us 2 annual passes for my wife and I. We're not getting one for DD since we have 3 trips planned and she will only be on 1 of them. A 5-day pass is $382 so 6 of them (2 for each trip) would be $2,292. Two annual pass are $1,392 so we save $900 plus another $250 saved on parking which is included with the annual pass.

Annuals are not worth it for one visit.

Make sure your girlfriend checks on current military discounts from Disney. And FLA is correct that she is eligible to stay at Shades of Green so you might want to look into that. Currently, she can get a 4-day ticket for $177 which is a significant discount. Regular price is about $400.

[FLA]

Totally agreed. It seems to upset people that we don't have a Costco membership. Costco is just way too far out of the way and too crowded for my taste. Plus we get cheaper gas at the gas station closest to our house. So we kind of luck out with cheapest/most convenient/nicest/least crowded on the gas/grocery front. Definitely not going out of my way for cheap gas.

We don't have a Costco, we have BJs, the gas seems a few cents cheaper, we go by it often so we get gas there but it would never save us enough to cover a membership. I've been to other peoples' Costcos and I want one! I love the generics there, it just seems like better deals and options than BJs.

We have a Trader Joe's- do people find good deals there? I was so excited to get one but I have never been there, even in the middle of the day, when people weren't circling and cutting people off to get a parking spot. You literally cannot go because there isn't even another parking lot for some other store and you could walk over. My brother gets almost all his groceries there. I got sick of the parking nonsense but now where will I get my dark chocolate salted caramels, the real reason I was going there? lol

[safari]

We don't have a Costco, we have BJs, the gas seems a few cents cheaper, we go by it often so we get gas there but it would never save us enough to cover a membership. I've been to other peoples' Costcos and I want one! I love the generics there, it just seems like better deals and options than BJs.

We have a Trader Joe's- do people find good deals there? I was so excited to get one but I have never been there, even in the middle of the day, when people weren't circling and cutting people off to get a parking spot. You literally cannot go because there isn't even another parking lot for some other store and you could walk over. My brother gets almost all his groceries there. I got sick of the parking nonsense but now where will I get my dark chocolate salted caramels, the real reason I was going there? lol

I've been to several Trader Joe's stores in Southern California, and they all have tiny parking lots. They've got a special parking attendant whose job is to direct the traffic.

[Like2Plan]

OK, I plan on going to DW this fall, and I have to ask...

• I thought DW only sold annual passes to Florida residents. Was I wrong about that?
• How many passes does $1,400 cover? Three? Four? More?
• Are you using these passes for multiple visits to FL, or do you find them cost effective even for a once a year trip to FL?

My girlfriend can buy multi-day park hopper passes from a military base for a minor discount, so I'm curious how much better buying these yearly passes would be over what we can easily do already. Or should I just spend some time on DisBoards and get up to speed on this? Thanks for the info.

Here is a link to Deb Wills AllEarsNet http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm with the ticket prices for annual passes. It looks like the SOG (military) regular annual pass is $619.00 In the past, the break even point was if you could get 10 days out of the AP. But, the Salute to the Military pass that Disney Steve mentioned blows that out of the water. Here is a link to the Disney Military Promotional Tickets (There are some block out dates with these tickets.)

We get a little price break on the DVC annual passes that we buy, but I tell you they have really gone up in price the past couple of years. I expect to get 22-26 days of use out of my current AP (over several visits) before it expires in Dec. I'm thinking we might not get another AP for a while. In a way it is nice to have the AP, I don't stress about whether I get to see something. We'll see.

[FLA]

sign up for the Mousesavers email, it comes once a month and often has great codes for getting cars, etc. If you've never been, I would seriously suggest you get Unofficial Guide to WDW from the library, there is a lot to know to make your experience the best, instead of standing in hour long lines. The book gives you a "secret code", you go to their website, enter the code, you get a discount on their app. I liked their app better than the WDW one. The app will tell you ride wait times in real time. They have touring plans for all the parks, if you find yourself there during a popular time, you'll be happy to have touring plans and real time help in changing your plan. It also tells you which park will have the least attendance that day so go there, of course. If you're just going to stroll around, do a few rides, eat at the restaurants then don't get this book or bother with Disboards.

If you want the most for your money and the best experience, then use the book and Disboards. No matter how small your question is, post it on Disboards, you'll get tons of help. I'm the type who hates to stand in unnecessary lines for over an hour, when I could be zipping along doing a bunch of other rides. I won't go without a plan because just "taking it easy", hopping in lines while doing a circle of the park, you will be in long lines during peak season. To truly have the Disney experience as much as you can afford , plan a lot before you go. It's time consuming but worth it, IMHO.

[Like2Plan]

To truly have the Disney experience as much as you can afford , plan a lot before you go. It's time consuming but worth it, IMHO.

I totally agree. This is good advice even for experienced Disney goers.

[Singuy]

Anyone can buy annual passes. Go to disney.com and navigate to the ticket page (Parks & Travel; Vacation Planning; Tickets).

$1,400 will get us 2 annual passes for my wife and I. We're not getting one for DD since we have 3 trips planned and she will only be on 1 of them. A 5-day pass is $382 so 6 of them (2 for each trip) would be $2,292. Two annual pass are $1,392 so we save $900 plus another $250 saved on parking which is included with the annual pass.

Annuals are not worth it for one visit.

Make sure your girlfriend checks on current military discounts from Disney. And FLA is correct that she is eligible to stay at Shades of Green so you might want to look into that. Currently, she can get a 4-day ticket for $177 which is a significant discount. Regular price is about $400.

My wife and I go out of our way to get free parking at Disney. Sometimes it can take a hour to get to our destination(due to all the bus swaps). We also get the tap water(free) and most of the time eat outside of Disney. It's kind of different since Disney is 15 mins away from our house so we can afford to take our time with things.

Disneysteve, ever thought about moving to Orlando since you love Disney so much? Wife and I get the seasonal pass(so around 750 for 2). Also the Disney cruises are just a short drive away. Being FL resident, I was able to get on Disney cruises for 340/pp for a Balcony on the 4 nights Disney Dream. You can't even get a cheaper cruise ticket if you went Carnival!

[disneysteve]

My wife and I go out of our way to get free parking at Disney. Sometimes it can take a hour to get to our destination(due to all the bus swaps).

We would never use Disney buses to get around. We drive where we want to go. It takes 10 minutes to do what it takes an hour to do by bus.

Disneysteve, ever thought about moving to Orlando since you love Disney so much?

Many times. If we were up to my wife, we would have moved a long time ago. I'm sure we'll end up there after I retire. I just hate the idea of starting over again at this point in my life so I want to wait until I don't need to work.