337 days to go: BUDGET

337 days to go: Still on the topic of budgeting. Don't forget to budget in other activities you'd like to visit. Gatorland is a fun inexpensive park. It has gator shows, a water play ground, petting zoo area, and you get to feed a tortoise, which my kids loved. Food and drink are at a really fair price. You can take a train around the park or walk the observation walk way over a swampy alligator sanctuary. They also have a display of snakes native to Florida and a few albino gators. Also keep an eye out for Chester and read about this notorious gator. And, also don't forget to stop in at the gift shop and get some gator sticks (like beef sticks, but not beef) they are amazing.

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Countdown Day 339: BUDGET

Ahhhh Day 339...Today we are still on the subject of BUDGETING and we will talk about a FOOD BUDGET! Orlando is filled with many different places to eat! As are the Disney Parks! If you are on a budget then there are many places to eat that offer some pretty fair prices! First of all, there are quite a few buffets in that area! Sizzler, Pondarosa, Golden Corral, just to name a few! There was also an all you can eat lobster buffet for $19.99 on Orlo Bronson Hwy. There were also a ton of places that have "kids eat free" offers where you get a FREE kids meal with a paying adult! That could save some good money! I was also told that if you go to a counter service restaurant at the Disney Parks and order a burger they have a condiments bar where you can use the condiments to build a salad! Meaning when you go to build your burger you can add some extra lettuce and tomatoes to your plate and make a salad! I did this once while I was there! I was also told that you can go to any counter service restaurant at the Disney Parks and ask for an ice water and you get that for FREE also! I was also told that you can order a double cheeseburger and ask for an extra bun and then you can make 2 burgers out that! Disney also allows you to bring in your own food and drinks in a SOFT SIDED cooler! So to save money you can pack some sandwiches and chips for lunch! Or bring along some fruit for a snack! Don't forget that most hotels offer FREE breakfast as well! Another thing to remember are those Hess gas stations at the Disney Parks! Remember they have quite a few food and drink choices there that are only $1.00 each! Our next trip we plan to take advantage of this deal for lunch each day we are there to save a ton of money! Well I hope these tips and tricks have helped!
Please remember to leave any comments at the bottom!

Have a great day!!

340 days to go: BUDGET

340 days to go: Lets keep the budgeting tips going for the week shall we? If you haven't discovered the Hess gas station I highly suggest them! They can save you so much money and they are located practically right outside the gates of the Disney Parks! Their gas is usually about 10 cents cheaper per gallon than other gas stations in the area! The best part is their food. It can save you a fortune to leave the park and go to a Hess filling station. Their hot dogs, sausages, pizza slices and a good portion of fries (bigger than a Mcdonalds large) are only $1 each. That right there can cut your food budget in half if you planned to eat in the Disney parks! When you compare the price you would pay at Hess for a meal to the $8.95 burger meals at the Parks, you can literally save 1/2 the price! So for the people at Hess filling station I salute you! You're doing a great job!  I hope you enjoyed the BUDGETING tip for today! Please feel free to visit me and maybe even like my page on  facebook @
 http://www.facebook.com/pages/my-348-day-disney-countdown/194401127267636

I want to add also that when I started this blog countdown I thought for sure it may seem to drag out the time we have to wait until our vacation,  but really this last week that I have been blogging seems to have gone by faster than I would have thought! I want to thank any and all of my readers here so far and I hope to get more "Followers" soon! I also want to say that I hope this blog has or will soon help some of you out when it comes to planning your trip! Disney World is a VERY MAGICAL place for any family and if you plan right you can take a wonderful trip on probably any budget! I hope you enjoyed this post and if you are new here then please take a look at the older posts and feel free to leave any comments at the bottom! Have a great day!!

341 days to go: Still on BUDGETING...

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341 days to go: Ahh so many days left of waiting...LOL! Well this week we are on the subject of BUDGETING so tonight I will talk about shopping! We all know that shopping at the Parks of Disney can get pretty expensive! Especially if you are a shop-a-holic! Some don't even know they are shop-a-holics until they get to Disney World lol! There are so many shops in the Parks and also outside of the Parks that it's very hard to NOT want to stop and shop! Last year when we went we ended up stopping at probably every gift shop in the Orlando/Kissimmee area and spent a pretty good amount of money! This next year when we go we are taking a different approach! We think a good idea this time would be to buy Disney themed gifts elsewhere and save them up for when we get there and then disperse them from there! Here is the idea...We search for all things "Disney" on Ebay, Craigslist, department stores, etc while we're still in our home area and buy things that are cheap here but would otherwise probably cost double the price in Florida! Then we save them all up and hide them from the kids of course! We will wrap them up and take them along with us on our trip! Once we get there we will give the kids each a gift every day that we are there! They will love it and this will save us a ton of money because since they would have already gotten a gift for the day then we can go cheap while at the Parks and save money that way! Ebay is a great place to shop for Disney items! We got Mickey Shaped balloons like the ones sold at the Parks for a whopping $4/4 from Ebay! They are around $11 each at the Parks so we already saved a ton of money there! We pretty much paid $1 each so that saved $10 for each balloon and we have 3 kids so thats a quick $30 savings! We will probably buy a cheap helium tank and fill them up ourselves! These are probably the biggest shopping tips I can give! I hope you enjoyed and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below!!  

342 Days to go! Topic this week is "Working with a BUDGET!

342 days to go: Yes, I said it... BUDGET! I would say the most important thing about planning a Disney vacation would probably be the BUDGET! You have to find ways to shave the prices from one area of your trip to put towards the other parts of your trip. For instance, evaluate how important a Disney Resort Hotel is to you. Or will a Best Western, Comfort Inn, or a Baymont Suite work from you? Right there will save you hundreds! On top of that, if you book a package deal (Disney hotel and Disney tickets) through Disney you seem to pay about $200 more than what you would pay if you booked your tickets and hotel separately!  My personal opinion... you are on vacation! Go do something! Don't hang around the hotel. I'm fine staying at an "economy" hotel as long as they have a pool and I don't have to worry about bugs crawling on me while I sleep and house keeping stealing my belongings. We spent maybe only an hour and a half in our room with our eyes open (not sleeping)! An expensive hotel isn't important to me. This is a good way to shave costs from lodging to add to amusement park tickets, souvenirs, food, and other activities. I'm sure there are some good packages out there but most that I seen seem to cost more than when I book my hotel and tickets separately!  To break it down, if you book separately you could potentially save "hundreds" of dollars on your  BUDGET to put towards FUN activities for your family! By the way, that handsome little fella in the photo above is my son! If you are new to this blog be sure to start from the beginning and look around! If you have any questions or comments please feel free to shoot them my way! Hope you are enjoying the blog so far!
 

344 days to go: BUDGET

344 days to go: The free thing to do for today is what I'm gonna call blind sight seeing. That means shut your gps off and put the maps under the car seat. Drive around and look for something to do with an open mind. You can discover all kinds of activities. If you enjoy an evening walk walking from gift shop to gift shop in irlo bronson memorial hwy (192) is quite fun and relaxing. most the gift shops carry the same merchandise, but its still fun. You can also drive down 192 and check out the flea markets there are a few right outside Kissimmee. The flea markets have a pretty wide selection on goods and they aren't as ran down as most flea markets. They also have the cheapest beer you'll find in the area being only $1 (you'll pay $7.50 for the same beer at any disney establishment) for domestic bottles.

345 days to go: BUDGET

345 days to go: The topic is still free stuff do to in the Orlando and kissimmee area. There are all kinds of beaches within an hour or so of driving. We went to cocoa beach the last time we visited. It was an easy driving and pretty shot from kissimmee. They have loads of gift shops including the famous Ron kind surf shop. It's not to far from cape canaveral, plus the to get to cocoa beach you cross a pretty nice size bridge and almost all kids love bridges. The beach itself it pretty clean. The shore is remotely shallow, going about 100 yards out in the water it was about 4 feet deep and some waves going over my head and im 5' 9". It was perfect for body surfing. Closer to the shore the waves have broke and are really mild which are perfect for the younger kids. Last but not least it was not over crowded and we were there over spring break. So that's a huge plus. It was very kid friendly for being a Florida beach over spring break.

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