What's the craziest frugal/budgeted minded thing you've done on your trip?

[julesann]

Don't know if it works anymore, but I would use the Target red card to get 5% off Disney gift cards. I would purchase several thousand in cards to pay for the room, tickets, and have them on hand to purchase food/gifts in the park. Combined with the good old AP discount, could save a chunck of money.

This still works. I like to buy them through the year kind of like a DLR savings account.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

My mom and I always share food (we can't finish a lot of food anyway so it saves on having to buy two meals) and then we are able to get a dessert if we so choose. If we are staying at a hotel we try to make coffee before we go so we don't need to stop at Starbucks.

 

[twodogs]

Craziest thing we ever did was make a huge batch of spaghetti at home before we left. And we froze it for the drive to Anaheim (live in NorCal). We had dinner 3 or 4 nights from that. My kids were toddlers at the time. Plus we brought soup and instant Mac n cheese and breakfast items too. We also packed PBJs a lot for lunch too. We saved a ton of money on food that trip. Now that kids are older, we like to bring our own breakfast if we can. And prefer a room with a microwave if possible for that reason. (We usually pre-make breakfast sandwiches at home and then reheat at the hotel)

Once we stayed at paradise pier and someone on our floor was making food in a crock pot. The entire floor smelled like their food!

Crystal, this is brilliant!!! I never thought about this but I could make breakfast tacos here and transport them with ice packs on the flight. Then could microwave at the hotel or in the food area (is there a microwave at the GCH in the QS?). My people get hangray in the morning but I don’t like to stop for breakfast because it takes away ride time!!

 

[MissBritt]

We went when I was about 12 and my mom had us girls take turns wearing a backpack full of frozen plastic water bottles. It was awful even in July because we all just stayed wet as they melted and water is free.

 

[crystal1313]

Crystal, this is brilliant!!! I never thought about this but I could make breakfast tacos here and transport them with ice packs on the flight. Then could microwave at the hotel or in the food area (is there a microwave at the GCH in the QS?). My people get hangray in the morning but I don’t like to stop for breakfast because it takes away ride time!!

I’m not sure! I thought the old whitewater snacks had a microwave for use….not sure if they still do. I know for sure that PPH used to have a microwave in the lobby for use and the DLH also did in the vending machine rooms (but both were pre Covid.)

we noticed if we eat something with protein in the morning, we have a better start to our days in the parks. Breakfast costs add up quick, so we always bring something from home now.

 

[Lynzer Torte]

Crystal, this is brilliant!!! I never thought about this but I could make breakfast tacos here and transport them with ice packs on the flight. Then could microwave at the hotel or in the food area (is there a microwave at the GCH in the QS?). My people get hangray in the morning but I don’t like to stop for breakfast because it takes away ride time!!

You can request a microwave at GCH.

 

[PirateBrigade]

I haven't done it, but I know someone who would leave the park for lunch and go to Costco to get $1.50 hot dogs.

That's such a waste of time!

Call it $200/day at Disneyland (1d PH tix is $209), that's $14.28 per hour of operating time (14 hour day).

You'd probably waste like two hours walking to car, going to Costco, getting a hot dog, and coming back. So that's like... a $28.56 + $1.50 = $30.06 hot dog. That's not even counting gas, and the amount of grey hair gained navigating the Costco parking lot.

Don't waste dollars to save pennies!

 

[gelatoni fan]

That's such a waste of time!

Call it $200/day at Disneyland (1d PH tix is $209), that's $14.28 per hour of operating time (14 hour day).

You'd probably waste like two hours walking to car, going to Costco, getting a hot dog, and coming back. So that's like... a $28.56 + $1.50 = $30.06 hot dog. That's not even counting gas, and the amount of grey hair gained navigating the Costco parking lot.

Don't waste dollars to save pennies!

That depends on what else you'd want to use those particular hours for. My first visit as a Keyholder, my main objectives were to ride Web Slingers and see the fireworks. Every other ride was just a bonus. Since I was flying in that morning, I did a Disneyland start to grab the Virtual Queue for Rise of the Resistance and after doing that ride, I left the park for lunch with my friend. I had nothing in particular I wanted to do until later that afternoon until my Web Slingers boarding group so if she wasn't available to have lunch with me, I would have gone even further to save money on lunch.

Each hour at Disneyland is not worth the same. If I can get 6 rides in Fantasyland done during rope drop vs. only 2 to 3 an hour in the mid afternoon, using an hour in the afternoon to eat costs less than wasting that rope drop hour. What if it was super hot out and my legs were tired so I didn't want to stand in line? Spending extra money on food to spend more time waiting in line for a ride could seem a whole lot less appealing than leaving the park for a bit and saving money on lunch.

 

[PirateBrigade]

That depends on what else you'd want to use those particular hours for. My first visit as a Keyholder, my main objectives were to ride Web Slingers and see the fireworks. Every other ride was just a bonus. Since I was flying in that morning, I did a Disneyland start to grab the Virtual Queue for Rise of the Resistance and after doing that ride, I left the park for lunch with my friend. I had nothing in particular I wanted to do until later that afternoon until my Web Slingers boarding group so if she wasn't available to have lunch with me, I would have gone even further to save money on lunch.

Each hour at Disneyland is not worth the same. If I can get 6 rides in Fantasyland done during rope drop vs. only 2 to 3 an hour in the mid afternoon, using an hour in the afternoon to eat costs less than wasting that rope drop hour. What if it was super hot out and my legs were tired so I didn't want to stand in line? Spending extra money on food to spend more time waiting in line for a ride could seem a whole lot less appealing than leaving the park for a bit and saving money on lunch.

Oh APs for sure have a different cost per hour basis when visiting the parks. Plus the sheer quantity of available visits over the year will dwarf the full priced/ticket only visitor... I still think it's a bit of a slog to leave the park for a Costco hot dog and come back, regardless of ticket media. At least... geez, pick up that hot dog on the way in, or on the way out.

I gotta say, too, I enjoy the in-park corndogs (I know, not a hot dog)...I'd be disappointed passing those up to save some dough.

 

[DizMe]

Oh APs for sure have a different cost per hour basis when visiting the parks. Plus the sheer quantity of available visits over the year will dwarf the full priced/ticket only visitor... I still think it's a bit of a slog to leave the park for a Costco hot dog and come back, regardless of ticket media. At least... geez, pick up that hot dog on the way in, or on the way out.

I gotta say, too, I enjoy the in-park corndogs (I know, not a hot dog)...I'd be disappointed passing those up to save some dough.

I'd happily pay a few bucks more to save myself all that hassle. I mean, if you were that concerned with the money, why not just walk over to McDonald's or something? We all have our priorities, though, and I guess it must have seemed worth it to that person. To me, it just seems crazy

 

[serenitynow]

When we stayed at Paradise Pier in 2018 kids had leftovers that would taste better hot. They did not want to eat french fries or grilled cheese cold, but I didn't want to waste it so I used the hot setting on the hair dryer to heat their food. They laughed at me, but it worked

I do believe you invented the air fryer!

 

[sheilafri]

We usually stay off-site as I hate paying much for a hotel room we don’t intend to use much. My biggest frugality was to stay one night at a Disney value so that DS could use ME as he was flying in and getting there hours before us and we got complimentary MBs which we still use. Those days are gone, as the song says.

 

[808blessing]

I kept thinking on this one because I swear I’m frugal! Lol
Main one is we only do water and on the last trip I started drinking tap water!
I did order a mint julep this past trip tho!
Before DVC we did value or off site hotels with points, scraping all year for that.
I asked my husband this and he said no souvenirs, budgeted food, and no desserts but that is normally me, not so crazy and not always.
Ok but here is my crazy…the first time we switched to on-site start at a value, DH rented a car (always very cheaply) and DD and I rode the DME separately cause I just wanted to get a free ride on the magic bus. I only did it one way but I was thrilled. It was more the experience than the cost but I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t free.

 

[disneychrista]

Growing up we always had dinner in the parking lot (now DCA). One trip, for Main Street Electrical parades “farewell” season we brought a cooler of food, microwave,etc. Had breakfast in the room, brought snacks/food into the park, etc.

 

[808blessing]

Breakfast in room-yes. Man, microwave popcorn just doesn’t hit it like the park stuff.

 

[whoever]

Stayed offsite.... 4 times (2 were solo trips, one was only going to use the hotel room for 4-5 hours, the other, we tried offsite). NEVER again.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

We usually stay somewhere that has breakfast/where we can get supplies for breakfast

 

[808blessing]

Once we stayed a little further from Disneyland and had to catch the shuttle instead of walk. The wait was horrors!

 

[starlite_]

Back when the McDonald's fries cart was in Frontierland. My friends' group meals consisted of candy bars brought from home and a couple of fries' packs xD But it was mostly to save time cause we hated sitting down to eat when we could be making a line.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

We went when I was about 12 and my mom had us girls take turns wearing a backpack full of frozen plastic water bottles. It was awful even in July because we all just stayed wet as they melted and water is free.

I can't stop laughing at this! Thank you! I did it myself, one time. Nope. Free water everywhere!