kymom99
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 24, 2008
Hello everyone! Last year I planned a trip for my family to Vegas, Grand Canyon, and Zion. I created a thread to share some of the ways I saved money and some unexpected costs that came up. It ended up being a fun discussion and I was able to share some ideas for others. Tomorrow we leave for Florida for a beach trip with a day at Magic Kingdom. I thought I would do the same type of thread to share my details for this trip. I always try to make every vacation as budget friendly as possible.
I am a retired teacher who has returned to work part time. I planned this vacation before the job came along and a condition of me accepting the job was that I be able to take off for my trips. (I have a friends trip planned for march.) My state is so desperate for teachers, it was no problem getting this approved.
There will be 3 of us on this trip. My son is in college and gets a 4 day weekend for a fall break. I found a good deal on a condo that sits right on the beach in Madeira Beach called Madeira Vista Condos. These are 2 bedroom, privately owned units with all the amenities. They have a fall offer of $750 per week. With taxes and cleaning fees I paid about $950. We will be driving down over 2 days so that we have half of Saturday to enjoy the beach. We will stop in Cordele, GA at Best Western Colonial Inn Friday evening. I found this hotel on TripAdvisor. It gets good reviews and is half the cost of the Hampton Inn nearby. Check in at Madeira Vista is normally 4:00 but the manager told me the unit we reserved was not being used this week so it will be ready after 12:00. Nice to have a little extra time on Saturday to settle in and hit Publix! I have reserved a pair of beach chairs from a beach service company. A little pricy at $125 for 6 days but pretty much a necessity for my husband and me.
On Sunday my son and I will go to Magic Kingdom! I haven't been since 2010, so I am so excited! The drive is about 90 minutes. My husband will stay at the condo because he wasn't excited about the drive, the cost, and the crowds. I bought the tickets from the Disney website. Since they are one day tickets there were no discounts. I believe they were $125 each for this particular date. This is my first time using MDE and the app. So far I have had no problems. We will have to pay for parking. One of the reasons I wanted to fit in a little Disney is because I want to get a feel for the changes that have been put in place since last time we were there. I want to plan a longer trip with some more family sometime in the near future. I think this mini visit will prepare me for planning another trip.
So far things have gone great from a planning perspective. I started off with FP+ for POC, BTMRR, and Space at 30 days out. I was able to change the POC to SDMT a few days later. I am super excited that we will get to ride 3 awesome rides with little wait! Then tonight, out of the blue I decided to look at dining availability. I really had no intention of making any dining reservations, but just thought I would check it out and see how that worked with the app. Can you believe there was an opening for 1:05 at BOG?? What are the chances I would have picked that time to look? Well, that actually doesn't help the budget, but whatever. I've never even seen the new fantasy land so how could I pass this up?
So briefly, Monday we will hang out at the beach and go to John's pass for the evening and a nice dinner out.
Tuesday my son flies home alone so that he can get back to school. One way flight booked using points. Cost was $5. Family member will pick him up at the airport.
I don't have firm plans the rest of the week but will look for free things to do. Saturday we leave and plan to stop in Savannah for the day, staying in another best western north of the city before heading home on Sunday. I had not stayed in a best western for a while but I'm interested to see what it takes to earn a free night.
I will update as things progress to give more firm costs and savings that I may find.
I am a retired teacher who has returned to work part time. I planned this vacation before the job came along and a condition of me accepting the job was that I be able to take off for my trips. (I have a friends trip planned for march.) My state is so desperate for teachers, it was no problem getting this approved.
There will be 3 of us on this trip. My son is in college and gets a 4 day weekend for a fall break. I found a good deal on a condo that sits right on the beach in Madeira Beach called Madeira Vista Condos. These are 2 bedroom, privately owned units with all the amenities. They have a fall offer of $750 per week. With taxes and cleaning fees I paid about $950. We will be driving down over 2 days so that we have half of Saturday to enjoy the beach. We will stop in Cordele, GA at Best Western Colonial Inn Friday evening. I found this hotel on TripAdvisor. It gets good reviews and is half the cost of the Hampton Inn nearby. Check in at Madeira Vista is normally 4:00 but the manager told me the unit we reserved was not being used this week so it will be ready after 12:00. Nice to have a little extra time on Saturday to settle in and hit Publix! I have reserved a pair of beach chairs from a beach service company. A little pricy at $125 for 6 days but pretty much a necessity for my husband and me.
On Sunday my son and I will go to Magic Kingdom! I haven't been since 2010, so I am so excited! The drive is about 90 minutes. My husband will stay at the condo because he wasn't excited about the drive, the cost, and the crowds. I bought the tickets from the Disney website. Since they are one day tickets there were no discounts. I believe they were $125 each for this particular date. This is my first time using MDE and the app. So far I have had no problems. We will have to pay for parking. One of the reasons I wanted to fit in a little Disney is because I want to get a feel for the changes that have been put in place since last time we were there. I want to plan a longer trip with some more family sometime in the near future. I think this mini visit will prepare me for planning another trip.
So far things have gone great from a planning perspective. I started off with FP+ for POC, BTMRR, and Space at 30 days out. I was able to change the POC to SDMT a few days later. I am super excited that we will get to ride 3 awesome rides with little wait! Then tonight, out of the blue I decided to look at dining availability. I really had no intention of making any dining reservations, but just thought I would check it out and see how that worked with the app. Can you believe there was an opening for 1:05 at BOG?? What are the chances I would have picked that time to look? Well, that actually doesn't help the budget, but whatever. I've never even seen the new fantasy land so how could I pass this up?
So briefly, Monday we will hang out at the beach and go to John's pass for the evening and a nice dinner out.
Tuesday my son flies home alone so that he can get back to school. One way flight booked using points. Cost was $5. Family member will pick him up at the airport.
I don't have firm plans the rest of the week but will look for free things to do. Saturday we leave and plan to stop in Savannah for the day, staying in another best western north of the city before heading home on Sunday. I had not stayed in a best western for a while but I'm interested to see what it takes to earn a free night.
I will update as things progress to give more firm costs and savings that I may find.