Firstly, we went to ShopAtHome and signed up, then took their shopping link to Southwest Vacations and got a 3% kickback on the whole purchase. That works out to something like $60 that we can consider savings on the whole trip. (We also got $5 for signing up for ShopAtHome!)
Then, when we got to the Southwest Vacations site (through ShopAtHome), we used the code "SUMMERTVL" and that generated an additional $125 off the cost of the trip! (It started out with $75 off just the transportation and lodging, then as we added more dollars with the park tickets and insurance, it took more and more off the total.)
We knew we wanted to go mid-September, but then we checked the dates that had the flights we wanted with no additional fees, and worked the trip around those dates. Also, we made sure the trip started on a date Southwest Vacations showed a room category as "SALE". (Don't be fooled when it just says "Free Dining" in red. If it doesn't show a "SALE" category when you get to choose your room type it will not give you the free dining. More on this in an upcoming post.)
Here's the deal we were able to work out for the two of us...
- Flying from BWI round trip on Southwest (our favorite airline)
- Staying on the Disney property at their All Star Sports Resort for nine nights
- Ten day Park Hopper tickets
- Both Cancellation and Travel Protection insurance
- Getting a 20-page Photo Book made afterwards
- Getting the Quick Serve Dining plan FREE
- Disney's Magical Transportation to and from the Airport and, of course, around the parks
We've saved so much, we're thinking about adding the Park2Park with transportation for a visit to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
We love your blog! We really want your help in figuring out the most inexpensive way for all of us to go to Disney. We don't know weather we should drive or fly, we don't know if we should rent a house or stay on Disney property we need a lot of help. Good luck with the blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie & Bill! I'll have to put on my thinking cap for you - with a big family group you may need to do some things different than a twosome would do. With the free Disney Dining plan, the promotional code, the cashback from ShopAtHome, and the specials currently running with Southwest Vacations, this was the "Perfect Storm" for us and we grabbed it.
ReplyDeleteSome people don't find the Dining Plan to be a big savings for them because they wouldn't have bought the amount of food they get with it normally. We compared the amount we could save on the room if we didn't get the Dining Plan to the money we estimated we would save on what we would want to eat when we made our choices.
I hope we come up with some tips and tricks that will make a Disney trip a reality for you soon!