Disney World for Almost Nothing

Yes, you read the title correctly. We are going to Disney World this March, for almost nothing. We will be spending one glorious week in the Florida sunshine and get to enjoy two days in the park with our Disney obsessed kids. Here is how we worked everything out financially.

Traveling Expenses: We are driving, mostly because we are not big plane people, but also because I find it to be cheaper. The drive is about 18 hours, and we are driving straight through, mostly at night, so that kids will be asleep for it. Some people don't like to put the miles on their cars, so renting would add extra expenses, but we are not one of those people. The last time we drove to Orlando, we had to stop only a total of 5 times to fill up gas (there and back). Including the initial fill up, it would be 6 times. Surprisingly enough gas is actually cheaper now than it was when we went 5 years ago, so we will be spending even less there. We are estimating that we will probably be spending less than $250 in gas. This will of course all be going on a rewards credit card where we get at least 2% back on gas purchases.

When to go: We are going this year with a 9 month old and 2.5 year old. Why you ask, especially considering they will not remember a thing? They are free. They are still old enough to enjoy the characters and some rides and they get to do it at no additional cost. Plus, we realized there are some things we want to do that we never experienced when we were ride obsessed kids ourselves. Since the kids are not tall enough to go on a lot of rides, we are skipping those experiences, this time around, to get to spend more time doing things that will entertain us more now, as adults. Take Epcot's world showcase for example.

Where we are staying: I am blessed to have grandparents with an awesome timeshare 5 minutes away from the parks. So our stay is free. I know this is not an option for many people, but staying with actual family members or friends may be. Even though the resorts are loads of fun, it is definitely worth staying anywhere for free when you are on a budget. Most likely you will still have access to swimming and all the other fun things that are non-park related.

Park tickets: We decided that the two-day park hopper was the best option for our family. We know we want to spend most of our time at Epcot and Magic Kingdom with no more than a few hours at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We also only really care to see Wishes and Fantasmic at night. So, it works out perfectly to split our time between Magic and Animal Kingdom one day and Epcot and Hollywood another. As much as the park hopper is more expensive, it saves us money on having to do more than two days.

Our ticket total came out to $515. Pretty pricey, especially considering it is only taking up 2 of our 7 days. Here is how we are ultimately getting the tickets for free:

• We signed up for the Disney credit card. Yes, yes they totally sold us on it. Even though there is a $49 yearly fee, I know we will use this card in the future as we are avid Disney store shoppers and we would like to do a Disney cruise in the near future. The credit card has great benefits for both. But most importantly, you also get a $200 credit when you spend $500 or more. Well, since our tickets cost $515, we qualified right away. Thanks to the credit card, our tickets now only cost us $315.
• To cover the rest, I used rewards that I had saved up from survey sites and cashback apps. I had well over $350 saved up in my Paypal account thanks to mostly Swagbucks and Ibotta, but a few other sites as well. The best part is, it was money earned within one month before our trip.

Food and the have to have merchandise: We know we are going to spend a lot here, as we already have two character meals planned and we will be Drinking/Snacking Around the World at Epcot. All of these extra expenses are going to be paid using a Disney Gift Card. We are loading up on gift cards from Target, because we are able to get the extra 5% from our Red Card. This essentially means we are saving an extra 5% on all purchases we make in the park.

Other considerations:

• If you are going around the time of a holiday or your birthday, request gift cards that can be used on your trip (think Disney or gas cards).
• Save your change. We have been saving change over the last year, which we plan to turn to dollar bills the week before we go.
• Eat out less. Eating out is expensive, end of story.
• Hit up the dollar store before you go. The dollar store has some of the most surprisingly useful things when you are going on a Disney trip. Stock up on everything from sunscreen to glow lights so the kids are not begging you to buy the over-priced ones at the park.