[gingles]

Hey to you!

[Erin]

We miss you around here!

[Kippage]

And I feel so bad - he was online last night when I was. But apparently I didn't see him, and signed off. Only to find a PM this morning from him. I missed it! Now he probably won't be online for another 4 months!

[gingles]

Hey guys, I've missed ya'll too! Just been busy like the rest of you. I'll definitely be back on more often even if it's only a few minutes sometimes. After all I've got to start planning that '07 or '08 trip!

[mild expletive!], I threadjacked myself!

[gingles]

Originally Posted by Kippage

And I feel so bad - he was online last night when I was. But apparently I didn't see him, and signed off. Only to find a PM this morning from him. I missed it! Now he probably won't be online for another 4 months!

Thanks for missing me, you too Erin!

[Screever]

Cheapskate IS kind of harsh, hehe. Myfamily is quite the blend of spenders.

My pops will spend just about anything if it will make someone in the family happy, bills and college tuition forgotten. Disney eg. he would take us to all the really nice resturants around WDW almost everynight. (Fultons, Cali Grill etc) That is, if I let him.

My mom brags about how much money she saves at the grocery store with all her coupons. Disney eg. she used to pack us sandwiches juice boxes and such for trips when we were kids. Of course it still makes sense to smuggle in water bottles.

I'm the worst; I'm beyond frugal, I'm just plain cheap. Since I was 12 I always felt a little uneasy at taking money from my folks without paying them back...i guess I value the dollar. Although I don't really obsess to the point of driving myself crazy; it's just my own personal ideals of common sense now that drives me to save like I do, its innate. I've definitely got the bare necesities mindset, buying food at parks when I'm hungry or getting gifts for Disney-less friends back home. That doesn't mean I don't do a little pleasure spending on the side now and then, but then again I'm pretty much jobless until summer and I hate borrowing cash, so...

Call me Mrs. Scrooge, why doncha, lol!

[Fykes]

My first post is in a cheapskate forum... what does that say about me???

I have found one we will be trying out when we go down in December... house rental.
We always go with my best friend, his wife and kids. his wife is a college program alum (just like me) and so we know our way around pretty well. we have found a few 4 and 5 bedroom houses that will accomidate our clan (4 adults, 2 toddlers, and by then one 7month old and a 9 month old). most are in the $1000 range for a week, are close by (the one we are considering is 3.5 miles from Maingate), and have private screened in pools. it will be nice to retreat to somewhere where we can swim while the babies nap, we'll have a washer and dryer to help with laundry, a dishwasher that can be run while we are at the parks, a full sized refrigerator will hold more milk, juice and sodas. oh yeah, and beer is much cheaper at the local liquor stores than at either the pool bars OR gift shops!!!

we usually also only eat breakfast and dinner. we hit a buffet or eat a large breakfast EARLY in the day, have a cool snack in the mid day before we go back to the room (I gotta get used to saying "the house") by cool snack, we find the most unusual thing in the park to much on. Cotton Candy, Popcorn, Mickey ice cream bars, Pretzels, Dole whips, Turkey legs (yes, they taste like ham... who doesn't like ham? and I should hate these darn things, I had to prepare them when I worked there!). we used to like to get the fried BeaverTails in Canada, but they stopped making those. then we fill up at the end of the day at one of the resort Buffets or AYCE's. there are 5 that i can think of off the top of my head, Whispering Canyons @ WL, Trails End @ FW, 1900 Park Fare @ GF, and Cape May Cafe @ BC, Chef Mickey's @ CR. Make priority seatings though, they fill up fast. 1900 PF and Chef Mickeys are also Charachter meals too... an added bonus. we also go to Beaches and Cream at least once for grilled cheeses and a Kitchen Sink (basically a single serving AYCE ice cream. im a big guy and my DW, baby daughter and i couldnt finish one back in Sept.)

a trick for saving money on souvenirs i heard about recently if you have a Camera cell phone (you could also use your digital camera)- if you see something you want to buy, take a picture of the item, then go out side and take a picture of the sign of the shop. that way, on the night before your last day, you can decide on what things you REALLY want and go get them before you go home. if you run out of park entries, dont worry. just go to the gate of the park that you need to get something from, tell them you want to go in and get something from a gift shop. they will hold a CC number and allow you 1 hour to run in and get what you need. if you spend more than an hour though, they will charge you with a days admission, and they only allow 1 person from your party at a time. you can also do disney souv. by mail order too... i cant remember the phone number, but i saw it on allearsnet.com, so you can find it there for sure.

My last tip isnt available to everybody, but you never know... I still have lots of friends that still work down there. i take one of my friends out for dinner on one of the last few nights, then have them go over to a park or the WoD and use thier discount. this is why we go at Christmastime also, our friend's CM discount is doubled then. we do some of our christmas shopping then too. he's happy to do it, he likes to "stick it to the mouse" when he can. he loves his job and the guests... but thinks things are too expensive.

our trip in December is the first where were going to have to be really serious about being frugal, with the two kids, there's a lot less $$$ to go around.

[hrbib21]

I agree with what some have said: Saving money is fine, but I'm not going to worry about it on a vacation. I go away so that I don't have to think about things like that. Worse comes to worse, I pay with credit cards and pay them off later. No big deal.

[gingles]

Originally Posted by Fykes

My first post is in a cheapskate forum... what does that say about me???

Don't feel bad, I think this might have been the first thread I was brave enough to start after joining...so what does that say about me?

Hey great tips! Didn't know about the shopping excursion.

[Boss Mouse]

"Stick it to the mouse" ,,,,,,,,,,,,, that's funny ............

[krixiedust1977]

We save on drinks in the park. We pack Iced Tea mix or Lemonade mix in those new strick form. We just ask for a glass of water which is free. We saved 50.00 a person just on drinks last November. Also you can save on meals too. If you get a double cheeseburger meal just ask for another roll which they didn't charge us for at the liberty inn in epcot and now you have 2 sandwhiches. You just share the fries!!!

[Lefty]

Originally Posted by krixiedust1977

We save on drinks in the park. We pack Iced Tea mix or Lemonade mix in those new strick form. We just ask for a glass of water which is free. We saved 50.00 a person just on drinks last November. Also you can save on meals too. If you get a double cheeseburger meal just ask for another roll which they didn't charge us for at the liberty inn in epcot and now you have 2 sandwhiches. You just share the fries!!!

Wow, that is seriously cheap.

[iluvwdw]

Originally Posted by Lefty

Wow, that is seriously cheap.

It's cheap, and so easy to do! The CS meals are pretty big...especially the DOUBLE burgers!!!!!!! Two adults can EASILY share!!!! And the extra bun is only like 35-50 cents!!!

[Lefty]

Well I would adhere any cheapskate tactics if I could magically be at WDW right now.

[gingles]

Originally Posted by krixiedust1977

We save on drinks in the park. We pack Iced Tea mix or Lemonade mix in those new strick form. We just ask for a glass of water which is free. We saved 50.00 a person just on drinks last November.

This is great. I use those things at work but hadn't thought about them for travel.