Disney Tip of the Week

So sorry this is late. Changes occurred at work that prevented me from writing this out.

Anyhoo......this one focuses on ways to save a bit. Not much and not too detailed right now but a little something to help you on your way.

I have to budget for my vacation. No surprise there since I'm a single mom with limited means.

However, it is possible to have a cheaper vacation at Disney then you think.

This first entry on savings will be about saving on food. You can save hundreds of dollars by bringing some of your own snacks to the park. Although Disney prohibits outside food in the park, they overlook snacks.

We always make sure we have enough money to get special treats like Dole Whips and Frozen Bananas but for the most part, it's easier to just grab something out of your backpack to eat. This not only saves money, but it saves time since you don't have to stand in line.

Recommended snacks are granola bars (for those of you that like 'em), fruit roll ups, Goldfish cracker packets, those individual Pringles packs, small bags of chips, grapes, slices of apple, carrot sticks, Combos, the list goes on and on.

I do not recommend you take anything that will melt. No chocolate, no melty candy (I don't even recommend lollipops since even they can get kinda melty in hot weather), yogurt covered anything, bananas (they get mushy and hot, gross) or anything sticky, period. It's more of a hassle than it's worth.

In addition, bring your own bottled water. Even if you can't carry more than a couple of bottles per person, that's at least $2 a bottle that you save. There are water fountains all over the place where you can fill up your bottles back up. Having lived in several states, I find Florida water tastier than some of the states I've been in.

If you don't like the taste of Florida water, you can always bring those flavored packets to put in your bottles.

If you don't want to carry around bottled water, take a canteen. Get one with a strap and you can hang it on the stroller or over your shoulder. We've done that before and it works out great.

Also, bring breakfast food with you. Unless you just have to have a full meal at breakfast, you can buy milk at the food court at your hotel and use that for cereal. I know you've all seen those packages of multiple cereal boxes at the store. Light of my life loves those. You don't even need a bowl. You can open them up on the side of the box and open up the little packaging inside and pour the milk right in. Either bring your own plastic spoons or pick some up in the food court. If you don't have to have your Pop-Tart toasted, bring Pop-Tarts. Breakfast bars are good, too.

I brought individual packages of granola that I got at Target and ate one of those for a couple of mornings. That and a cup of coffee and I was good to go.

Also, if you do any breakfasts, lunches or dinners in the parks, take some Ziploc bags along and if you had any biscuits, rolls or fruit with your meal, you can always store them away in your Ziploc bags for a snack later on. I know that sounds weird, but we did that with some leftover cinnamon rolls and fruit from the Princess Storybook Breakfast in Norway and by mid-morning, those cinnamon rolls never looked so good. We finished off the fruit as well. Saved $6 or so on snacks.

That's it for today. I'll be back next week for more.

Later,

Mama Dawg