As much as we all love Disney, it’s nice to remember you have options, when it comes to theme parks! Often times those options are a fraction of what Disney is. If you are on a tight budget and still want the dream theme park vacation check out Universal! It is an amazing experience and often times costs about half of what Disney does.
You can read Brandy’s previous posts by clicking here!
I have a secret! Well sorta, if you shop Lularoe Everafter by Kristin Cooper with us, and watch the lives you already know. I spilled the T on a live while at the Cooper’s! We decided to skip MNSSHP (Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party) this year and go to Universal during spring break 2020! There was a few huge factors that helped us make this decision.
The main reason was we can spend 3 days and 4 nights at Universal for almost the same thing as it would cost just to go MNSSHP and spent 1 day at a Disney park and stay at the Cooper’s house. That is right now with no discounts. Why not get double the fun for the same price? I have said it before and will say it again. If you want to do a theme park vacation, without the huge price tag, but still have just as good of a time Universal is the way to go. It is about half the cost of Disney and just as fun. Its different but equally as amazing!
The next big thing that helped us decide was that going to MNSSHP mean’t we would have to fly out late on a Friday and fly back on a Sunday afternoon. At first we where thinking to have my husband and kids miss a day of school. Then we found out that next semester my husband can’t miss. Most of his classes track attendance down to the minute. Grades are based off attendance mainly with it weighing as 60% of his grade. They do allow you to miss 2 days per class for the whole semester. We didn’t want to waste his days on a vacation. You just never know what will happen. Going to Universal during spring break meant we have more time. They have a week. Because of that we can drive 4 hours away to a huge airport. Flights from the bigger airports to Orlando are about half what they are from my smaller local airport.
Right now I had Erin book 6 nights. Erin is one of the travel agents that works exclusively with Kristin’s blog readers. We will probably not stay all those nights. I am thinking 4 days tops. If they do another buy 2 days get 3 free promo well then we would just go ahead and stay all 6 nights. I just wanted to make sure I had the room already booked just in case. Since I am going during spring break I didn’t want to risk not being able adding a night or 2 on later. Or get stuck paying for the pricier hotels to be able to add on.
Currently, we are booked 6 nights in a family suite at Cabana Bay. I can’t wait to experience it! The Cooper’s say so many great things about it. It is their favorite Universal hotel. Since I bought a pass in March. Erin told me it is cheaper to book the room only to get a pass holder discount when its announced. Right now I booked rack rate with no discount. Then later on when the pass holder discount on rooms is announced Erin will apply that. I am hoping a deal comes out for the tickets as well. Worst case scenario I pay regular price for them. I really appreciated her taking extra time to save me more money. She could of very easily just booked us a vacation package and been done with it. Instead she went the extra mile to save me more money!
Here is my current projected budget for Universal. Things might change when ticket promotions and room pass-holder discounts are announced. I would rather over budget then under budget. That is why I am basing it off non discounted prices.
Cabana Bay 6 nights – $1826.34
Universal 4 day tickets – $1200.00 or ($300.00 each person)
Airplane tickets-$1125.00 or ($225.00 each person)
Food – $1250.00
Souvenirs – $200.00 (My older kids will save their own money for souvenirs.)
Total – $4351.34
We already have $1761.44 in my fund before today’s addition.
7/17 – 7/30
My Swagbucks – $55.00
Mystery Shopping – $9.00
Total to date – $2068.44
Gift cards, and cash balances:
Southwest Gift Card – $358. 27 for a $400.00 balance
Universal annual pass and two 5 day tickets – $643.00 – Already spent!
Cash Remaining in my Universal fund – $1425.44
(Thanks, Brandy)
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Linda says
This is an eye opener. Thanks for sharing