Discount Travel Secrets: Save On A Florida Vacation

Hi Reader,

I just spent 2 weeks in Florida and my grand total of spending was $389.78!

Here's the breakdown by sector of the tourism industry:

Transportation = $190.42

• I drove my own car, so no rental costs or airfare costs
• I spent $190.42 on gas and drove about 2,500 miles round trip
• Toll expenses are still TBD

I did get an oil change before the trip, which was like $70, but that's something I would have had to regardless, so I don't consider it as part of the trip cost.

For gas, I used Gas Buddy to plan my stops to save on gas as much as possible.

Kentucky and Tennessee gas costs are considerably less than in Ohio and Florida, so on the way down and on the way back up I made sure to fill up there.

I used rewards programs for Pilot/Flying J, Love's Travel Stop, and Speedway to get a few cents off per gallon as well.

While in Orlando, my dad topped off my gas tank, which was still half full, so that was about $25 in free gas that I got.

On the drive home, my grandma paid for the gas, so that was probably about $80-$85 in free gas.

That's the beauty of traveling with others, where you can help split the costs!

It makes it more affordable for everybody.

Lodging = $85.23

• I used timeshare points for the entire time, plus one night at my grandma's house, so there were no out of pocket expenses for those stays
• I did stay in a hotel for 1 night in Georgia on the way home, using the Hilton Friends & Family discount, so the total for the stay was $85.23 at a Hampton Inn
• Parking was free everywhere I stayed and there were no additional resort fees either

If you want the full cost breakdown of what the timeshare points actually cost, since that did require money to be spent at some point, it came out to $1,772.91 for 11 nights of lodging (9 nights were in a 2 bedroom and 2 nights were in a studio).

This comes out to about $161 per night, which is above our average for sure, but it included 4 weekend nights, which are always more expensive, and we had 2 bedrooms with full kitchens and in-unit laundry, which is going to cost a little more than a stay at a Hampton Inn usually.

Again, if you travel with others and split that cost since there are 2 bedrooms, you could be paying $80 a night instead!

I could've just stayed at my dad's house for free the entire time as well, but I had timeshare points to burn and I wanted to check out some of the resorts I hadn't stayed in before, so I splurged a little on the points for the experience.

Entertainment/Attractions = $0

• Long story, short - I spent $0 in this area

While I was in Florida, I went to Disney World parks on 4 different days.

Two of them were cast preview days for new attractions (Soarin' Across America at Epcot and Rock n Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets at Hollywood Studios), those were extra free tickets given to cast members.

The other two days were just regular sign in days that my dad and my sister used their free tickets to get me in.

We didn't buy Lightning Lane or anything like that because it's just not necessary, especially during this time of year.

We did Top Golf for my sister's birthday and JP had a gift card from Christmas which paid for that, so there was no out of pocket cost for that.

We also played mini golf at the Winter Summerland course at Blizzard Beach and my sister had free cast member tickets for that as well.

The rest of the time, I entertained myself at Disney Springs and resort hopping around the different Disney World resorts, which is completely free (including the parking and transportation).

Dining = $114.13

• used my Disney Rewards Dollars from my Disney Visa for most of my dining
• for the days where I just stayed at my resort, I brought some non-perishable foods to cook since I had a full kitchen and didn't buy anything extra on those days
• several of the days at Disney we did table service dining with cast coupons or used regular cast discounts (which are 40% off at many places), and my dad paid for those
• everything else was the $114.13 I spent
• when I worked at Starbucks at Disney Springs, I used my free Starbucks gift cards that I cash in for doing surveys

The perks of having a Disney Visa is that you earn free money for Disney World!

I used my rewards for my snacks at Magic Kingdom and Flower and Garden Festival food and drinks.

At my resort, I made tuna and noodles and chili spaghetti so that I wouldn't have to spend money or go anywhere on the couple of days where I was just staying at the resort and working.

Tuna and noodles is just egg noodles, cream of celery, and a bag of tuna.

Chili spaghetti is just a can of Skyline Chili and a box of spaghetti.

It's nice to have a real meal that doesn't require refrigeration to transport the ingredients.

My dad would come to the parks with us some of the days and stay for a few hours so we usually got 1 free meal a day, which definitely helps with costs!

I do surveys through E-Rewards, Nielsen, NBC/Peacock, and Wyndham Rewards and usually twice a year I have enough points to cash in a $10 or $25 Starbucks gift card, which is even good at the Starbucks locations inside the Disney Parks.

I literally only go to Starbucks when I'm working on the road and I don't think I've ever spent my own money there before.

My go-to order is a Tall Iced Shaken Espresso.

In the Spring I'm able to get Lavender Powder added to it.

In the Fall, I do the apple one.

For the milk, lately I've liked the fat free milk.

For some reason, the oatmilk and the almondmilk were just inconsistent and would sometimes make my stomach hurt and sometimes not, so I decided to start doing something different.

So that's how I went to Florida for 2 weeks and only spent $389.78 out of pocket!

I would say the main take aways that you can use for your next trip would be:

• Gas Buddy to find the cheaper gas stations
• Rewards programs for gas, lodging, dining, activities, etc.
• Ask for gift cards for birthdays and holidays that you can later use for your vacations
• Travel with others you can split costs with
• Travel during non-peak season
• Join survey programs or other similar things where you can cash in gift cards
• Rewards credit cards (as long as you're responsible and can pay them off!)
• Bring some of your own food
• Visit your parents/grandparents who will gladly foot the bill on occasion 😉

See you next week with our regular content,

Eva and JP 💎

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