A Sunny Florida Vacation is Less Expensive Than You Think

Whether your family is saving up for next year’s vacation or interested in exploring North America sooner, it helps to learn how our neighbors are managing to travel and keep their spending low.  Mr. S. Singh recently took his family to central Florida in the United States and explained how they saved about one-third of what a typical vacationing family would spend. 

Singh’s family spent a week in the Orlando, Florida, area of the United States.  The family consists of two adults and two children, and they are used to camping on vacations, so they have no concerns about all staying together, even in a crowded room.  

Before traveling, he looked up some old friends and discovered he and his wife know quite a few people in central Florida: an old university classmate, a flatmate from his post-uni days, his wife’s cousin, and more.  He reached out to each and in the course of honest catching up, each offered, “If you’re ever in the area, we’d love to have you stay with us.”  Not to be a burden, the Singhs stayed the night with each friend for just one night.  Not paying for hotels greatly reduced their vacation spending.  And, Mr. Singh reported it led to other unexpected savings.

Many of the friends insisted on feeding his family the night they stayed over, breakfast the next morning, and snacks to take with them the next day.  American-sized portions meant his family was not actually hungry during their excursions, and those American “snacks” became light lunches.  

Also, his hosts enjoyed asking about the family’s plans and often made local-knowledge suggestions.  For example, the night before going to Orlando’s LEGOland, he learned of three different ways to buy the tickets at a discount.  The family intended to only spend one day at LEGOland.  The LEGOland website said it would cost $89.99 (£75) online or $104.99 (£87) at the admissions gate.  

His local hosts told Singh many other discounts exist.  Since his family had flown to Orlando, they had no way of seeing the billboards along US Interstate 75 advertising $39 (£29) tickets in exchange for a few hours of participating in a time-share presentation.

There are also military discounts, with tickets as low as $67.60 (£56) on the site.  In the end, he used a coupon app his hosts recommended, VIP Perks, giving 30% off LEGOland tickets, bringing them down to $63 (£52).  The app cost $10 (£8) for one month, and his family saved over $100 (£83) in that first transaction, so it more than paid for the app’s cost.  The VIP Perks coupon app is often offered at a discount; Singh used the code “JustVisiting” (and we checked, this discount still works!) and received 10% off his membership.

Over the course of a week, the Singh family mixed big-name theme parks and educational outings.  The same coupon app provided discounts at Universal Orlando Resort’s three theme parks, the Disney parks, the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum, and the Kennedy Space Center.  In many cases, their hosts also knew about local discounts, often advertised in the local newspapers and coupon books, targeting local residents.  They also learned that many local stores and even national retailers carry Disney merchandise.  Even the Dollar Tree, where each item costs $1.25 (£1), had Mickey and Frozen headbands, beakers, sticker packs, balloons, bag clips, and figurines.  One host proudly displayed his wife’s Mickey Mouse t-shirt she bought at a Target store for $15 (£13), though their family saw almost identical shirts in a Disney store for $32 (£27).

In addition to the usual big name attractions, Singh’s children wanted to try paddleboarding.  Browsing the app, he found a coupon for 50% off paddleboard lessons and rentals in Sarasota, Florida, and 20% off paddleboarding in Fort Myers, Florida.  His hosts pointed out three more coupons in their local newspapers and paper coupon books, including America’s Favorite Coupon Book (across central Florida), Clip Save Coupons (Ft. Myers), and others they picked up for free in stores.

Comparing their vacation budget with their actual spending, the Singhs were happy to see they spent nothing on hotels or accommodations, saved about 25% on tickets to theme parks, museums, and activities, and only spent about a third their planned budget for food.  In fact, the only area where they paid full price was transportation, because their trip was planned only a week before they left home.  They booked the flights and a rental car at the best prices they found, which so close to the trip was close to full price.

The Singh family’s experience shows that cutting costs on vacationing highlights the importance of creative thinking and looking for ways to cut costs.

First, write a budget of what the vacation would cost you at full price.

Second, research each area—transportation, accommodations, admissions prices, and dining—to see how you can reduce it.  If you don’t have a swarm of old university classmates, former flatmates, and family living near your destination, use the coupon apps to pull up discounted prices.

Third, spend time researching your discount options before you decide your exact schedule—and keep it flexible.