How I Saved Over $1,200 on Vacation

I'm back!  I had to take a few weeks off because life got a little crazy!  Thank you so much for all the emails and encouragement!  While I was on down time we went on vacation.  Timing was a little off, but the reservations had already been made.  Last year I signed us up for a discounted vacation at a nice hotel in Orlando.  We planned it over Memorial Day weekend so my hubby wouldn't miss any work.  We got four day tickets with park hopper to Disney World, but only used two days.  They have a good deal for military members.  We plan on making another trip down there before our tickets expire on September 30th.  We also went to Sea World for a day.  We got in free there because Anheuser Busch is the bomb.

Ok, now how I saved money on our vacation.  First, it took some planning ahead.  I researched restaurants, deals and bought things ahead of time.  I knew that the prices of drinks and food was going to be nuts inside the parks so I bought us all reusable water bottles because water is free!  I kept track of each time we filled our water bottles.  If we had bought a soda from a vender it would have cost at least $3.  So, I'm multiplying that by how many times we filled our bottles to come up with the drink savings.

Savings:

• Sea World tickets - got in FREE - saved $311.96
• Disney World tickets - paid $138 each person at Shades of Green Resort for 4 day tickets with park hopper (Conner gets in free) - saved $621
• Motel Room (Wyndham Grand) paid $159 for 3 nights (discount package) - saved $228
• Drink Savings $3 X 16 minus the cost of bottles ($5) - saved $43
• Restaurant.com gift certificate for Beef O'Brady's - paid $2 for a $25 gift certificate - saved $23
• Used the Kids Eat Free option at two restaurants - saved $21.96
• Didn't use Valet - saved $30 (at least)

Total:  $1,278.92

This doesn't include the money saved by bringing our own snacks and such.