Having a budget is just something that we live by. Of course, now we have found tricks and tips on how to budget wiser. However, we weren’t always this crafty and creative in our budget. We would save for silly stuff and then blow it all, well most of it at the retailers. Yes, we were consumers at heart!

If you’re like us, we always dreamed of going to Disney World and had the ideology that you needed to save your life’s savings in order to go. However, this vacation changed our entire perspective altogether!

Let’s begin!

It was there, on one cold, snowy winter day in New York when I received a phone call of hope. The person on the receiver told me, ‘we have a deal for you and your family”. A very skeptical me waited until the caller continued. The caller informed me that they had a deal for us to stay 4 days/3 nights in Orlando, Florida at Disney for just $199 for my family of five”. At that point, I really thought that it sounded too good to be true and didn’t want to get scammed. However, I didn’t want to lose out on such a great deal either. So, I took a chance and booked it!

Both a little nervous and anxious, I told Antwan about it. Very nonchalantly, he says, “when are we ever going to have time to go?” It was there at that time, that I realized that I had made yet another impulsive purchase on a vacation because it sounded too good to be true without thinking it through.

I thought about a million ways that I could take off from work and go.

It definitely was a bad time because both Antwan and I had just started our new jobs. However, the marketing agency that sold us the vacation told us that we had a certain amount of time before the deal expired. Therefore, I made the executive decision that I will go with our three children to Disney for the week of the 4th of July. I decided to take my mother since Antwan needed to stay back home for work. I was able to finagle my schedule a little bit to have a week off. So let the planning begin!

We went scrambling in our savings account, to pull out the money that we had saved for vacations.

Honestly, it was a little under $1500, however, I made it enough. Since we already book 4 days/3 nights in Orlando, I decided to stay 4 more nights extending our stay to a full week. I booked a suite at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Lake Buena Visita, Florida. The suite I booked was a two-room, two beds with a pull-out sofa for our accommodations.

Next, we needed to decide on our transportation. With a hefty family of 5 traveling from New York to Orlando, Florida flights were definitely out of the equation. We knew right away that we were going to drive down the 18 hours to Orlando, Florida. Both my mother and I were going to get ourselves prepared for the drive.

We went shopping atWe loaded a cooler full of snacks, juices, and sandwiches. We decided to leave late on a Saturday night so that we can get to Florida Sunday evening. We made it there right on time with very few stops, only for gas fill-ups and bathrooms breaks.

Upon checking into our hotel, the Hilton Orlando on International Drive in Orlando Florida, we valet our car while we checked in. We were booked into a 2-bed Studio Suite. They informed us that there was a resort fee that we had to pay nightly as well as a valet parking fee or self-parking fee. Immediately after checking in, we went to go see the concierge who gave us the information on our booked presentation tour.

After checking into our room, we realized that our room was too small for our accommodations.

We did inquire about upgrading our room at that point however, the hotel rooms were sold out due to full occupancy. Therefore, we decided to make it work. We went to the grocery store and brought microwavable foods, fruits, and snack foods for my children and cases of water and juices. We did this to budget our money and not purchase foods from the hotel.

The next morning, my children ate oatmeal and fruit in our room before we headed to the tour. We headed to the tour that was located at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club just about 10 minutes away from where we were staying in Orlando. The resort that we pulled up to was absolutely magnificent. It was gorgeous. They greeted us with great customer service. It was as if everything was laid out for us. At that point, it hadn’t dawned on me that I was at a timeshare presentation. We checked in, they gave us a spill on the idea of joining a vacation club and saving money on vacations. Then they took us on a beautiful tour, where we were able to do a walk-through of the property and rooms.

Lastly, they took us back to their meeting room, where they tried to negotiate membership prices. Not knowing what to expect, I definitely was not prepared for this timeshare presentation. Therefore, I decline and received my gift at the end which was equivalent to $100 MasterCard.

As we went back to the hotel in Orlando, I discussed the idea with my mother and she said it seemed like a good idea but just out of budget. I called my husband and discussed the details with him and he said the same thing. It never dawned on me that this will be something that I will actually consider in the future. We took our children to places like Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Senor frogs for us. After we stayed at the Hilton hotel in Orlando we went to Lake Buena Visita, where we stayed at the Embassy Suites.

Upon checking in at the Embassy Suites I approached the concierge, to inquire about Disney tickets.

Seeing the prices on Disney tickets compared to the prices that were online, I immediately noticed that online prices were cheaper. It was actually $50 cheaper. At that time, I decided to exit the concierge desk and enter my phone app to purchase the tickets myself. I purchased 4 Disney tickets that roughly cost me at the time $395.
The hotel was able to provide us with the shuttle to get to Disney. We decided that on the 4th of July we will go to Disney. Looking back, we realized that that was a big mistake!

Wanting to get a head start to the park, we headed to the park around 9 am.

Immediately arriving at the park we realized that the park was extremely crowded. Lines were long already! We were able to do the fast track on a couple of rides. However, the overall experience of Disney was not what we expected. Every single ride was crowded with long lines on average of 90 minutes or longer. My children were relatively young at the time and I assumed that the kiddie side with the kiddie rides would have shorter lines but they did not.

We walked around and we shopped in the gift shops. Of course, everything was extremely overpriced.

However, we did but some Disney bookbags that our children still have. We were able to participate in the parade. However, after about 2 hours in 105-degree humidity, we realize that we were exhausted. Yes, we did it! We left the park! Before leaving the park, I went and spoke to a manager in customer service and requested that I get a refund. They apologized for the inconvenience of the crowdedness and finally issued us a refund.

We went back to our hotel and enjoyed the rest of our vacation at the resort. We barbecued hamburgers and hotdogs and skewers on the grills that were provided. The resort also had a barbecue for the guest, games, and a watermelon contest. We had such a great time. Our overall time at Disney wasn’t the greatest however, the fact that they gave us a refund and offered us to come back at a different time is a great way to express customer service.

So overall, we managed to spend under $2,000 on this vacation to Disney and Orlando Florida for 7 nights. To recap, we spent $199 for 4 days 3 nights in Orlando Florida at the Hilton Hotel. We then spent an additional $580 for 4 nights at the Embassy Suites in  Lake Buena Vista. Our gas and tolls driving from New York to Florida round trip were approximately $300. Our tickets to Disney for one day were $395. We spent roughly about $200 on souvenirs and games in the arcade. We spent roughly about $400 on dining and grocery shopping for the week.

Of course, this was us going out to Disney on a frugal budget. We were able to do the things that we said we were going to do. We had a great time!

Don’t be discouraged to go to Disney because you think that you need to have thousands of dollars.

We had a family of five and we managed to go down there and have a blast. Tell me what you think and ask how I can help you get to Disney on your budget without breaking your budget.
Until next time, we love you guys!