Vacation Savings - Finding ways to save at Theme Parks

I have to admit, I haven't yet found a way to visit a theme park cheaply. Theme Parks can get very expensive. The price to get in alone is costly, then add in the cost of food & souvenirs! Theme parks are a lot of fun & a family favorite. However, there are some ways to find savings.

Getting in -

• Again, the cost of just getting in can be costly. Be sure to be on the lookout for discounts. Many products tie in with theme parks & you can often find discounts on these products. I've seen discounts on products ranging from soda cans to bread wrappers!
• Wholesale clubs, grocery stores, & banks often offer discounted tickets. Just call & ask at customer service to see if your local store or bank offers discounts.
• Many theme parks offer discounts to members of the military.
• Are you a member of AARP or AAA? They also offer discounts!

Once you're in -

• Food is expensive in theme parks. Be sure to check out the park's policies on their website before you leave home. Many parks will let you bring your own food & drink in. If you can't bring your food in, what about packing a meal & eating it in the parking lot before you go in?
• I believe nearly all theme parks now offer some sort of "souvenir cup". You can then get free refills or discounted refills throughout the day.
• If you aren't able to bring in your own drinks, try this. Purchase just 1 or 2 bottles of water. Once the water bottles are gone, refill them at drinking fountains. Don't like the taste of theme park water? Bring along some packets of drink mix to mix in!
• As for food, purchase just a couple adult meals to split between everyone. Don't skip by the food carts, many of them offer great snacks for not much money.
• For kids, purchase a double cheeseburger & ask for an extra bun. An extra bun costs less than $1, a lot less than purchasing a 2nd cheeseburger!
• You can often find vending machines in out of the way places, sometimes near restrooms. You can get a drink here much cheaper than at the food counter.
• We very rarely buy souvenirs at the park. When we visited Disney, I had an entire year to plan, that is an entire year to find Disney t-shirts & other things on clearance. So, I brought the souvenirs with us!
• If you really like to purchase souvenirs in the park, be sure to give your kids a limit. Maybe have them earn their souvenir money at home days leading up to the theme park.
• The pressed pennies are an inexpensive souvenir.

Share your ideas on how you've saved!

Vacation Savings - inexpensive weekend vacations

Last week I shared how I always use Priceline when we stay in a hotel & a great resource on using Priceline, if you missed it be sure to check it out here.

I love staying in a hotel. That is a special treat to me! I will never forget the year that for my birthday, my aunt took me to stay at Embassy Suites, we just watched movies & ordered room service. And as I've grown, there is something about not having to take out the trash or make your bed! Therefore, for me, just staying in a hotel is a vacation. However, my kids, they need something to do.

We live less than an hour from St. Louis & there is a ton of free stuff to do in St. Louis. We will get a 4 star hotel using Priceline for around $50 a night & just spend our weekend visiting the free sites in St. Louis. We alot of times try to find the "non-touristy" free things as well. And we of course, order room service! One way to save on room service, order from the kids menu. The kids meals are generally huge. At one hotel, we ordered a $1 piece of chocolate cake for a late night snack, it was the biggest piece of cake I've ever seen, you can be sure every time we go back to that hotel, it is always on our order!

Staycations are also hugely popular right now. Get a hotel room in your own hometown & visit the sites that you never visit.

Go just a town or 2 over, get a hotel room at a hotel with an indoor pool. Order pizza to your room & spend the evening enjoying the pool.

The best thing about a weekend vacation close to home is that there is very little planning & packing!

Vacation Savings - Using Priceline

I believe that the best way to save on a vacation is research & planning. I love to research & plan, so for me this is part of my vacation! However, I know some that don't enjoy the planning or just don't have the time to do so. Hopefully, over the course of my Vacation Savings series, I can do some of that research & planning for you. I will share some inexpensive vacation spots I have found, some tips I have found at cutting costs, & just some tips I have found to make traveling easier.

Let me begin today by saying, that to our family a vacation is a relaxing time away from the house, something that takes us out of our ordinary. It doesn't have to be a week long venture, in our case, it is usually only a couple of days.

One of our biggest savers in hotel fares is by using Priceline. We have saved 75% off a hotel room before! However, there is a trick to Priceline, in order to save much you need to know what you are doing. Priceline is a website where you can name your own price for a hotel (I have never used any of the other services on Priceline, such as the airfare or rental car, so I can't tell you anything about those.). You are not guaranteed a certain hotel, however you are able to choose your star level & area. Once your bid is accepted it is charged to your credit card right away, it is non-refundable.

The best way to learn about Priceline is to visit BiddingForTravel. BiddingForTravel is a message board that shows you all the ins & outs of Priceline, the best place to start on BiddingForTravel is in the Hotel FAQ. Especially the section about free re-bidding, as this is how you save! BiddingForTravel also lists how much Hotels in certain areas are going for, so that when you bid you can have a better idea of how much to bid & what hotel you are likely to get (notice I say likely, as you are not guaranteed a particular hotel).

By using BiddingForTravel, I have stayed at the Hyatt Regency at Union Station in St. Louis several times for as low as $41 a night. BiddingForTravel goes into much more detail about how to get the best prices on the best hotels, however I will outline for you a few basics, on how I have gotten such a great deal on the Hyatt Regency.

• I always go to BiddingForTravel first.
• You must always use the Name Your Own Price section on Priceline's website to get the kind of savings I am referring to.
• Currently Downtown St. Louis has 4 - 4 star hotels, all of which I am okay with getting. Therefore by researching BiddingForTravel, I see what each of the hotels are currently "going for".
• I then begin my bidding, I usually start with $5-$10 less than what prices are posted on BiddingForTravel. Even though Priceline limits the number of times you can bid in a 24 hour period, I use free re-bidding.
• Re-bidding - You are allowed to rebid, as long as you change something in your original bid (the star level or add location). I never change my star level, as I like to stay in the 4-star hotels! I then find out what locations do NOT offer 4-star level hotels & add one of those locations to my bid & then up my bid $3-$5. If my bid is still not accepted, I do the same thing again, add a location that does NOT offer a 4-star level hotel & up my bid.

Priceline is not for everybody & all of this can seem quite confusing! However, much more of this can be explained by visiting BiddingForTravel & checking out Priceline's website.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me & I can walk you through it!

Vacation Savings - new weekly series!

We love to vacation! I love the memories that a vacation can create. I love seeing & showing my children something other than our own backyard, for them to experience new things.

Living in a family of 6 on one income, vacations always come last and we just don't get to take them very often. Since Jay & I have been married we have been blessed to have taken a few "big" vacations. On the years we have not been able to take a big vacation we try to do something little.

In order to afford our vacations, I have had to be very creative in some of our "little" vacations, to make them a vacation. On our big vacations, I have had to be creative in cutting here & there, without feeling like we have cut anything out. When we went to Disney World I studied & searched for months on different ways to save, I then put all of those tips into a file. After sharing that file with friends & family, it became so wanted I had complete strangers asking me for a copy!

I'm going to start a new weekly series on vacation savings. If you have any tips or a favorite inexpensive vacation destination, please share it with me, so that I can pass it on!

One of our family's favorite things to do in summer is camping. We used to do tent camping, however it just became easier with the little ones to get a camper. We started out with a 1978 pop-up camper. After a weekend of one of the kids having diarrhea, we decided it was best for our family to have a bathroom! We then upgraded to a 1982 pull behind camper trailer. It is small, but plenty of room for all of us, as we spend 95% of our time outside of the camper. One thing about having a camper, it makes camping so much easier. I know alot of people who just don't like the work that goes into camping, packing everything up to go & unpacking everything when you get home. That is another we reason we love having a camper, everything is always packed up & ready to go! It sure makes going away for the weekend tons easier.

If you are looking for an inexpensive getaway, I highly suggest camping! I have a couple of friends who always insisted they "were not campers". After some persueding from their husbands, they went for a weekend & ended up loving it. They now have their own campers & go camping almost every weekend of the summer. Even if you aren't a camper, most campgrounds have cabins that are just as nice & much cheaper than a hotel room.

If you are starting out camping, some items I suggest to make your weekend easier -

1. Obviously, you need a tent
2. air mattresses - it sure makes your nights sleep better!
3. If tent camping - a fan, again, makes a hot nights sleep better!
4. small grill
5. lanterns or flashlights
6. cooler

For those just starting out, you can borrow equipment or check out yard sales.

Anyone can get electric sites, even tent campers. When we did tent camp, we still got electric sites, it just made our weekend easier to have a fan & a mini fridge.

Where to camp? You can start at looking at local campgrounds or State Parks. Order your states recreational guide. They always have campgrounds listed. You can also visit Reserve America to search for campgrounds in your area.