How this muggle used credit card benefits and other tricks to make a trip to the Universal theme park more affordable

I have never taken my family on a theme park vacation because they are just too expensive.

Other families go into debt to go to Disney World, but I don’t like the mouse enough to jeopardize my financial security. And while I’m privileged to have a vacation budget, many of our vacations involve driving to an Airbnb on a beach or in the mountains and doing cheap activities like hiking, swimming, and cooking dinner at the vacation rental.

Then my daughter fell in love with Harry Potter. And I knew it would rock their world if we could go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort.

Now when I pay attention to my budget, my husband is downright frugal. We weren’t going on a theme park vacation in Florida unless I could significantly reduce the cost.

I may be a Muggle, but I used all the money-saving magic I know and leaned on my knowledge of credit card benefits, points, and miles to come up with a cheaper plan for the Universal theme park.

Here’s what I did to save money – and get my husband on board – for three nights of Florida fun with our favorite Hogwarts wannabes.

I booked our flight with miles

Remember the famous Southwest Airlines collapse at Christmas 2022? We ran into trouble and our flights to Savannah were canceled at the last minute. We managed to salvage our vacation with a long road trip to Georgia, but Southwest still apologized with 25,000 Rapid Rewards miles for each of us.

A canceled flight deserves to be replaced with another, so I used 82,000 miles to fly from Washington, DC to Orlando with my family of four. The only catch was that Southwest let me put the kids’ miles into my account, but my husband’s miles into his. So we had to book our flights and then check in separately for the trip, which wasn’t a problem until he somehow ended up in the B boarding group and we were in the C group on the flight home.

I understand that most people don’t get excuse miles from airlines, but there are plenty of ways to earn points and miles for a free flight. Not only will you save on the miles you earn on other flights, but you can also apply for an airline credit card if they have a significant sign-up bonus that will help you earn miles faster.

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Likewise, a card that earns transferable points allows you to transfer points to different airlines. Make sure you earn extra miles on your purchases by using shopping portals or signing up for programs that allow you to earn miles for dining out.

If you can, book your flights early to get the best award seat availability, or look for transfer bonuses and award flight discounts to boost your points and miles even further.

I used credit card benefits to reduce hotel costs

I probably could have transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points to a hotel partner like Marriott or Hyatt to get free hotel nights. But after researching hotels in the area, I was convinced that we would have a much better experience if we could stay on-site at a Universal hotel and get early entry into the park. Staying at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort would also get us a free Express Unlimited Pass and free transportation to the park, saving us money on the expensive passes and car rental or Ubers.

Since I didn’t want to earn miles at a Loews hotel, I booked the stay through the Chase Travel℠ portal, which meant I could use my Chase Sapphire Preferred® card’s $50 hotel credit toward the Stay a bit to save and earn 5 points per dollar on the balance (over 6,000 points total) that I can use toward free travel on our next trip.

We booked two nights at the Royal Pacific, but to save money on our final night (since we weren’t going to the park the next day), I used the $300 travel credit available on my account Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card to book a night at Homewood Suites by Hilton Orlando-Nearest to Univ Studios through the Capital One Travel portal. We got a two-room suite including breakfast and didn’t even use up my travel credit.

I saved with a military park pass

My husband is a civilian employee of the US Navy and his Department of Defense ID gives us access to various travel discounts. This also makes him eligible for Universal’s Military Freedom Pass.

Active duty military members, veterans and other Department of Defense employees can purchase a special pass that gives them unlimited access to the parks from January through mid-December for approximately the price of a day at the parks. The more you use this pass, the more you save. We will only be visiting Universal once this year, but we visited the park for three days during our trip and saved hundreds.

Related: The Best Military Travel Discounts and Perks for Military Members

Universal regularly releases special offers available to all guests, including hotel and ticket discounts, as well as meal packages to cover meal costs during your stay.

I had groceries delivered to save on grocery costs

Everyone knows that food at theme parks is overpriced, and breakfast at hotels isn’t cheap either. I didn’t want to deny my kids Butterbeer and pub food at the Leaky Cauldron or ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlor in Diagon Alley, but we couldn’t eat out for every meal and snack.

I always travel with snacks from home, but this situation required next level grocery shopping.

That’s when my colleague Tarah Chieffi, a theme park expert, alerted me to a Shipt offer available to Visa cardholders. If I signed up with an eligible card, I could get a free three-month membership and free delivery on orders over $35.

My Chase Sapphire Preferred Card was actually eligible, so I signed up (with a calendar reminder to cancel immediately before Shipt starts charging). I downloaded the app and while we waited at the airport for our flight, I placed an order at the Publix supermarket for breakfast staples like Cheerios, pastries, and milk, as well as lunch items like bread, jam, and apples. I scheduled the delivery time when I knew we would be at the hotel and left a note for my buyer that we would be flying.

The app was easy to use; When I realized I would need some supplies, I was able to easily update the order. My buyer was communicative via text message; When she couldn’t find the scones I ordered, I was able to swap them for muffins. When she finished at Publix, I met her at the front entrance of the hotel and the handover went smoothly.

We ended up eating out three times (dinner at the hotel, lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and dinner at Finnegan’s Bar & Grill at Universal Studios) and bought a few snacks and some Butterbeer. But we managed to squeeze two breakfasts and three additional meals out of our $60 grocery stash. We could have easily spent the same amount on breakfast for four in the park.

I borrowed wands from another mother

When we travel somewhere special with our children, we often give them a souvenir budget (often around $20 or $25) to spend as they wish. This works surprisingly well and my kids accepted that they wouldn’t buy the $60 animatronic owls we saw on the shoulders of so many kids.

Related: Real-World Family Travel Tips That Actually Work

Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade each have designated “wand spots” where you can make something magical happen if you wave the right wand in the right way. I knew my kids would love this, but the interactive wands cost $65. That’s a lot for a toy that we wouldn’t use again after this park visit. (If you just want a costume accessory, you can buy non-interactive wands for much less money.)

So I called my local Buy Nothing group and a mom I know from our school answered. We borrowed a Harry Potter and a Hermione wand from her so each child could have their own. One of the wands was a little difficult to do magic with, so we took it to Ollivanders Wand Shop (there’s one in every park) where you can “re-magic” the wands for free.

Conclusion

A vacation to a major theme park like Disney or Universal will never be cheap—but you can find ways to cut costs by using credit cards, redeeming points and miles, and being smart about where you can save.

I could have reduced our profit even further if I had stayed at a budget hotel with free breakfast (or used hotel or credit card points for the stay) and not purchased an Express Pass, but then I would have had to incur the hassle of getting there and then Had a departure at the park and spent more time standing in line than enjoying rides.

At the end of the day, my kids enjoyed their first theme park vacation and this Muggle mom didn’t have to take out a loan from Gringotts to cover the cost. There’s a magical combination right there.

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