How can people ever afford Florida holidays??

[Button]

Uh mortgage we got 17 years to go.

Budget board has some good tips on saving.

 

[diddldonna]

The following is from Disney direct for 1st March 2013 for 14 nights:
2 adults and 1 child.
Virgin flights
14 day ticket
port orleans french
quick dining
Magic express transfers
$200 Disney Gift Card
Plus many others benefits.
Total price for your £3,985.00

OR why not go for 1st march for 10 nights:
virgin flights
tickets
port orleans
quick dining
magical express bus
$200 disney gift card,
Total price for your £3,469.00

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/

 

[bazzanoid]

A few years back(10?) we put an offer in on a big house, 5 bed, 1/2 acre land with orchard, double garage, stables etc. we offered £115k, they wouldn't drop below £120k, problem was it wanted another £40 on renovations. It would have meant our mortgage rising from £40k to £120k and no holidays for many years. We have since had many fantastic holidays and still in the same house for 22 years.

The house we almost bought came back on the market a couple of years ago, sold for £500k. Financially we probably made the wrong choice but holidays mean so much more to our family than a big house.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But then, as you say, "Yay i have a big house. No memories, no life, but a big house."

Back when I was younger i could have bought a 1 bed starter house for £30k. At the time, i had a deposit, and the mortgage would have been very little. I decided against it as i wasn't ready to move out of home. Little did I know then that was just as the housing boom started, and that same house 4 years later was £120k.... and i've been renting since

BUT, been to orlando 3 times since then, plus a trip on the orient express, italian lakes, numerous UK week trips... and have so many good memories as a result! Slogging my guts out to save for orlando next year again, and it's by cutting down on silly stuff like that extra meal out for the two of us each month (£30 x 12 = £360 = park tickets for one of us), that we manage to do it! Admittedly a little harder now as my recent sudden lack of employment has forced me into starting up my own business a couple of years earlier than expected

I know what i need to save each month between now and next october (£165 a month minimum, preferably nearer £200) to enable us to go. I've gone full geek planner and set up a disney fund tracker on my planning sheet, with multi coloured month traffic lights for bad, average and good savings. It also tracks what i have in physical cash on hand from cash jobs that i put to one side, so i know where the money is and how much is there at any given time.

That and i'm working hard to maximise deductions from my self employment tax return at the end of the year. I put a quarter of my earnings into an account specifically for tax, but i do it on my gross earnings rather than net, so when i do my self assessment at the end of the tax year and they calculate tax owed on my net profit earnings, i should have a nice lump left over to either bolster the florida fund or go towards that dSLR i've wanted for ages..... again, priorities - £1500 for a camera and lenses or florida...... and in my business a camera isn't an allowable deduction

 

[Booknut]

We see Florida like having another child - you'll never be able to afford it if you think about it too much so we just go for it anyway

Seriously though the prices seem to have shot up incredibly - both times we went in 2005 and 2006 we paid between £3k and £4k including spending money (and we brought back two full suitcases we didn't have with us when we went).

Next year's trip with our daughter (she'll be 5 and its her first trip) was meant to come in under £5k but to be honest it will probably cost around £7k which is like $11,000...i'm pretty sure we could buy a house in Detroit for that amount We can't really afford it, we're still paying a lot of money for DD's early intervention programme (she has Aspergers) but its so worth it to us. We love WDW and our daughter is a proper Disney fan - and Florida is such a beautiful place. We pay for everything in advance like the resort/villa, car rental and tickets. Spending money tends to come from our monthly budget and a credit card - I'm not saying everyone should do this but it works for us.

I agree with what everyone else said...save your money from DLP - go once by all means but its very expensive and I don't feel you get your money's worth, regardless of what class of hotel you stay in onsite or offsite.

 

[diddldonna]

I had a saving idea if anyone is interested?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45202048#post45202048

 

[queendisney]

my husband informed me the other night that our tv is older then some of the players in the England football team! We really could do with a new TV as it has a line flickering across the bottom of the screen...it would be great to watch the Disney Movies in HD etc but I'd rather be there in person!
My husbands car is old and we really could do with a little more money spent on the house but I really can't do without my WDW holidays and I am prepared to not be like mr and mrs jones and have all the latest items..
When I stand in front of that castle in MK and watch Wishes on my last evening with tears in my eyes the thought of never returning is horrific. People think we are well off because of all our long holidays there but we really do forfit a lot to go but thats our choice and we are willing to do it.

 

[consumermonkey]

Hiya, I have skipped a few posts so appologise if I am repeating.

I actually disagree with the posters who say dont do DLP.

My first experiences with Disney parks other than tv were at DLP and although I agree WDW is much better, after WDW EVERYTHING is never good enough.

I won't do DLP until prices there come down, BUT as an introduction and incentive there is little to better it. As far as the actual parks are concerned, the castle is much better at DLP and Pirates of the Carribean in WDW is very poor by DLP standards to name two, I could go on, but then again, many wil come bak with the negatives too.

I didnt visit WDW until I was 38, but made it back to Orlando at 40 and will be back at WDW at 41.

That first Orlando trip in 2009 was done on the cheap and a fortnight out there cost me a little more than a week in Bennidorm all inclusive (Orlando was room only) the point being it can be cheaper than you think.

Holidays are never cheap things, but sometimes the value is not about how much money it costs, but how much you get out of it. My family can be instantly be taken back to that first Orlando trip with a picture, smell, sound or even taste and that is priceless.

Times are difficult for most of us and we all cut our cloth according to what our needs are. That first trip will take what seems like forever to scrape the money together for, but don't give up.

 

[gemma85]

Hiya, I have skipped a few posts so appologise if I am repeating.

I actually disagree with the posters who say dont do DLP.

My first experiences with Disney parks other than tv were at DLP and although I agree WDW is much better, after WDW EVERYTHING is never good enough.

I won't do DLP until prices there come down, BUT as an introduction and incentive there is little to better it. As far as the actual parks are concerned, the castle is much better at DLP and Pirates of the Carribean in WDW is very poor by DLP standards to name two, I could go on, but then again, many wil come bak with the negatives too.

I didnt visit WDW until I was 38, but made it back to Orlando at 40 and will be back at WDW at 41.

That first Orlando trip in 2009 was done on the cheap and a fortnight out there cost me a little more than a week in Bennidorm all inclusive (Orlando was room only) the point being it can be cheaper than you think.

Holidays are never cheap things, but sometimes the value is not about how much money it costs, but how much you get out of it. My family can be instantly be taken back to that first Orlando trip with a picture, smell, sound or even taste and that is priceless.

Times are difficult for most of us and we all cut our cloth according to what our needs are. That first trip will take what seems like forever to scrape the money together for, but don't give up.

Well at moment my circumstances are against me as im a single mum, work part time with lot of debt but at moment I'm saving to clear debt so after I can put majority to wdw. I will still go dlp in between as u can get good deals ESP if u get food included. I'm 26 and when I was young I only ever had one or two holidays to Blackpool etc so want to give my son a varied set of holidays . I don't think I would be type to be Florida mad and go loads as there are to many other places around the world to visit, as long as I've gone once I would be happy

 

[Dimplenose]

We were very lucky and inhertied £5000 in 1997 which paid for our first trip in 1998.

Well I say "lucky" as I didn't know how much that inheritence would cost us in later years.

We've now been to WDW 4 times and DLP twice. And had cheaper (but not that cheap) holidays in between. I'd rather wait longer for WDW than not have an annual holiday.

Now my kids are of university age we're having a much longer break from WDW to help them as much as we can and are looking forward to cheaper 2 person trips to WDW in the future. (But still in school hols as I work in a school.)

I found it easiest to save to open a savings account with regular payments from my current account then the money had "gone" before I was tempted to spend it on something else.

 

[Julia Ann]

we are saving for 2015 also, since having dd we are down to 1 wage (DH is full time dad) so it's been ok but no holiday since 2006. in 2015 DD will be 7 which will be a good age. and like others we don't smoke/drink but enjoy family life. saving little by little, we will get there....also i won't do DLP, apart from not thinking it will be the same, it will put a dent in the florida savings. you will get there, you just have to be a good saver and we have a completely separate disney world savings account and like the other post we pop bits and bobs in there and don't touch it, it soon mounts up.

 

[kevin harrison]

Here's a story...

Before our kids came along we visited twice, the first time was at the age of 28 and the first time I had had a holiday in 13 years! always staying in cheap locations, took us ages to save.

Then my daughter came along and we scrimped and saved to go again.

Then my son came along and he became very sick and still is suffering to this day. We lost very penny we had ever saved or inherited looking after him. If we had known this was going to happen, we would never have gone to Florida - but we were not clairvoyants!

We were under severe stress and luckily a friend at the HRH gave us a severely discounted rate twice and a family member paid for flights for us.

I started to raise funding for specialist treatment abroad for my son and sadly - someone on this site (I think i know who - when my solicitor gets the IP address from the newspaper in question, the person will be sued - a little warning ) , posted a terrible message on a newspaper website running our story claiming I had spent £10,000 a time on holidays and had been for 10 years in a row ! - a complete lie. This stopped someone who wanted to help my son helping him...

We have no chance of going again at this point.

So my point is, people should not judge, as we have seen, many of us have given up a great deal to have a family holiday.

 

[BlondeViki]

I save. I give up other things.

As with all things in life, it's a matter of prioritising. Our coming trip in September will be only the second time OH and I have been abroad together, and only the second time I've been abroad in 10 years. What with education, moving to live in London, repairs to an old house (that was in worse condition than our survey revealed!) and all the little things that crop up and need to be paid for in life - other things have always been clamouring for money louder than a holiday!

But, things are finally settling down financially for OH and I (apart from our recent leaking roof but fingers crossed the quote to fix that won't be too bad!) and we hope to be in a position to have holidays more regularly. It won't be every year to Disney, but maybe every 2-3 years we can have an amazing trip

ITA. I'm a lawyer and work my butt off2

Me too Though only 4 years qualified!

 

[CAROLINE4]

Here's a story...

Before our kids came along we visited twice, the first time was at the age of 28 and the first time I had had a holiday in 13 years! always staying in cheap locations, took us ages to save.

Then my daughter came along and we scrimped and saved to go again.

Then my son came along and he became very sick and still is suffering to this day. We lost very penny we had ever saved or inherited looking after him. If we had known this was going to happen, we would never have gone to Florida - but we were not clairvoyants!

We were under severe stress and luckily a friend at the HRH gave us a severely discounted rate twice and a family member paid for flights for us.

I started to raise funding for specialist treatment abroad for my son and sadly - someone on this site (I think i know who - when my solicitor gets the IP address from the newspaper in question, the person will be sued - a little warning ) , posted a terrible message on a newspaper website running our story claiming I had spent £10,000 a time on holidays and had been for 10 years in a row ! - a complete lie. This stopped someone who wanted to help my son helping him...

We have no chance of going again at this point.

So my point is, people should not judge, as we have seen, many of us have given up a great deal to have a family holiday.

That's so sad nobody knows anyone else's family situation!

As other have said it really is a sacrifice. We are a family of 6 so everything costs a lot! We go to Florida by going out of school time, so two weeks in october one over half term one not. This year we went in may, the children missed two weeks of school. We got last minute flights for £1300 for all 6 of us (a tip wayneg posted on here ) so with flights, villa, wdw tickets 14 days, car hire and spends all 6 of us went for £4900!!!! While I completely understand why people choose not to do this it is a choice I make for my family.
I am a full time student and my dh works 6 nights a week. We don't go out for meals or go on expensive days out (usually to our local park/ beach in the summer) we live in our ex council house in a not very glamourously area! But we make memories at Disney my children will never forget! We never moved further than Wales when we were children so I want to give my children experiences and holidays they will never forget! X

 

[zippy99]

We managed to save £1000 a month so we could go this August. Simple things like halving the shopping bill, walking to work, drinking (less) wine - saved us £100 a week, we also are careful in what we spend.

Often it can be surprising how much disposable income you flitter away coffees, buying chips and ice cream at our beach - all adds up. I now have an account that manages our food and bills then one for day to day spends - anything left gets paid straight into the holiday fund/balance. We are content knowing we have food, our bills are paid and you do live to your means.

I actually find the saving quite addictive now!

 

[queendisney]

I don't think I would be type to be Florida mad and go loads as there are to many other places around the world to visit, as long as I've gone once I would be happy

I think most people have said that But the Disney bug is a VERY VERY persuasive bug We tried that way of thinking a couple of times and it just wasn't the same. That mouse grabbed us back big time...
The thought of going anyway just to sit on a beach/by a pool is a total waste of money in my eyes and a city break is just that a break but not an annual holiday.
People seem to fall in to two types...first is 'I've been it was good/bad but I've done it (can't possibly on one trip by the way) and don't want to go back' or secondly 'omg that was so brilliant and I can't wait to go back again'...

 

[BlondeViki]

drinking (less) wine

 

[catherine]

I have a WDW savings account, which I put a set amount of money in every month whether we have a trip planned or not. If I or DH work any overtime or get extra money for being on call that also goes into the WDW fund. We also have a change jar that we put any extra money into. We also don't really drink. we don't smoke and prefer to save our money for our WDW trips!

 

[Jordanblackpool]

I think it's all about saving and sacrificing too be honest.

I'm quite fortunate that I have a good job, but I have still had to sacrifice nights out and weekends away so I can pay for my holiday in August. The best thing to do is set yourself a financial goal you want to achieve and just save your 'Bottom' off!

 

[katytrott]

Have a Disneyworld fund (an account which is just for Disneyworld), Put money into it each month, have carboots, sell stuff on ebay. Put in some money that you get from birthdays, dont go on holidays for a while and save what you would normally spend on a holiday in your account. Have a tin which you put loose change in and put that in your account, spend less on family at christmas/birthdays, spend a little less on shopping each week. The amount soon counts up. You can do it if you really try. Thats what i am doing so we can do it together Also keep close eye out for deals and spend lots of time searching for them.

I know what i need to save each month between now and next october (£165 a month minimum, preferably nearer £200) to enable us to go. I've gone full geek planner and set up a disney fund tracker on my planning sheet, with multi coloured month traffic lights for bad, average and good savings. It also tracks what i have in physical cash on hand from cash jobs that i put to one side, so i know where the money is and how much is there at any given time.

Would love to know more about how this works and maybe see an example if you wouldn't mind - obviously without your figures!

We managed to save £1000 a month so we could go this August. Simple things like halving the shopping bill, walking to work, drinking (less) wine - saved us £100 a week, we also are careful in what we spend.

Often it can be surprising how much disposable income you flitter away coffees, buying chips and ice cream at our beach - all adds up. I now have an account that manages our food and bills then one for day to day spends - anything left gets paid straight into the holiday fund/balance. We are content knowing we have food, our bills are paid and you do live to your means.

I have a WDW savings account, which I put a set amount of money in every month whether we have a trip planned or not. If I or DH work any overtime or get extra money for being on call that also goes into the WDW fund. We also have a change jar that we put any extra money into. We also don't really drink. we don't smoke and prefer to save our money for our WDW trips!

Some really great advice here and inspired me to get going with this - after all, It's not stuff I didn't already know!

 

[dixonsontour]

Me too Though only 4 years qualified!

DH and I are lawyers aswell - must be some link between having a serious day job and the escapism of disney (Most people at work are at my disney love )