How do you save for your Disney trips?

[ogreenlee]

We travel a good bit. We put a lot of value on the family/travel experience. That being said, we've come a decent way salary-wise in the last 6-7 years. Sadly my mom died 5 years ago, and while I wasn't left with some huge inheritance, it did pay off all our debt (minus the house), and we were able to put a lot away in savings and retirement. All of that coming to fruition at the same time gave us the ability to propel our love of going places.

However, because we love traveling, we decided that instead of buying a new house, which we were in the market for, we decided that we'd spend a little on remodeling our current home instead of tripling our bill for the home we were going to buy. That extra money provides us the ability to take several trips a year. I may not live in my dream house and I still have to cook in my really tiny kitchen, but I get to go to some really nice places. I'll buy a nicer house when I'm unable to leave the house as often.


Oh, and to add.. we use a Delta Skymiles Amex. We have to pay an annual fee, of course, but we use this card for everything from a small convenience store purchase to every major purchase that allows Amex. We try to use only contractors that accept Amex. We buy our appliances at Home Depot where dollars are double miles. I use the Skymiles shopping portal to buy online to get double to even 5miles per dollar sometimes. Many restaurants double and triple your miles when you use the card as long as you're signed into the program. You don't have to do anything, it's automatic. We then use the miles to purchase airline tickets, and we've gone to Europe a couple of times using miles. They also give you a companion ticket each year to use domestically. This is worth the annual fee in itself. Of course, it helps to live in Atlanta for this, but other area hubs do the same thing, I believe.

 

[mommymanda]

For me this trip has been in the making 3years now. We are going early August 2014. Each time I prep myself to book and go something comes up that postpones it (baby, wedding, new house). We have no excuse for 2014 to take it.

DH and I both have the option at work to request specific amounts deducted from each paycheck and held in a savings, that we can than withdraw at any time. Between the two of us we are putting $300 a month directly into that account. Since it comes right off our pay I don't really notice it happening. We will use what has accumulated from Jan-Nov to book the trip, than what goes in from Dec-June to pay the flights. There should be a bit left over for spending. In case there is not I am also doing the savings countdown I found online. Each week I put a specific amount aside (week 1 $1, week 2 $2 week 25 $25 etc.) so that in a year I'll have over $1300 cash saved that we'll use for spending.

That's my determination this year, so I've got the savings planned, just hoping nothing jumps out to postpone again.

 

[lightningbolt658]

I do a lot of planning on how much money I think we'll need for each day. I don't like to plan each day by every minute, but when money planning I like to know if we plan on doing Quick Service for lunch or a character dining.

I'm in charge of the money/savings so each paycheck I say what we can spend then throw the rest into savings.


We also use camelbaks in the park to save money on drinks. I fill it up with water and ice at the beginning and just refill from water fountains when need be. We also prefer pepsi products so we pack 12 packs and other snacks for the hotel room and take a few in with us each day.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Every two weeks (pay days) I buy Disney gift cards from our kids' previous school, then call and apply it to the trip.

We're able to pay off resort and have spending money before we go, and the school gets a 2% rebate on the gift cards we buy. Win/win!

 

[k5thbeatle]

We tend to stuff extra in a savings we have just for vacations. We also cash in the deposits on our soda and water bottles. What do you and your family do to get that Disney vacation paid for? I am just seeing if anyone had good ideas to ponder as we have been going to WDW yearly and are always looking for new ways to save.

We found a pair of Mickey and Minnie banks and save all our change. You might be surprised at how much change can add up over a year.

We used to buy Disney Dollars a little at a time over the year and make a fun game out of it. I'd buy some and hide them in with my wife's lunch or around the house to make it fun. The idea being a little here and there would add up over a year. But when we lost our WDW store it kind of killed this idea. Same with Disney Gift Cards. We'd buy a little bit and add to the card until it was full which at that time was $1500. Just doing a little here and there made it fun and added up over time. But again, not as practical now with no local WDW store and a $500 maximum limit on cards.

I just think anything you can do that allows you to save a little each month is a good idea. So nice to go and have the entire trip paid for including spending money before you even leave! Makes it nice to return and no bills!

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi. We save our change, but have never used it. Is there a place they count coins and there is no charge? Some people say their banks will do this. I just hate giving a % to someone of your savings.

 

[fabulousfive]

Hi. We save our change, but have never used it. Is there a place they count coins and there is no charge? Some people say their banks will do this. I just hate giving a % to someone of your savings.

I know TD Bank offers this service and it's geared toward kids. You bring your change and turn it into dollars. First though your child can guess how much is in the jar & if they are close, they receive a prize. Cute!

 

[4luv2cdisney]

(((this is a copy and paste of a reply I made on the budget board)))

I just did the Disney math on our upcoming trip. We are only taking $1000 out of our vacation fund for 7 nights @ POR mostly because of credit card rewards / benefits.

Current rack rate: $4,180

Free Dining Pin rate: $2,500
Disney Rewards: $1,300

OOP cost of trip: $1,200 (almost $3K less than rack rate!!)

For the $200 deposit we used our Disney Visa and spread it out over 6 months (no finance charges) so it came out of our regular monthly budget, not our vacation fund.

The other $1,000 we will pay with Disney gift cards from Target costing $950 instead of $1000. The $50 will go towards spending cash while we are there.

We will use rewards from another card to buy gas cards for our transportation costs.

I got a $100 rebate on some contacts I bought for DD and my husband is going to cash in his scrap metal he's been saving up. That should give us the rest of our spending cash we need. The kids have their own spending $ saved. So, we only really need $ for tips and any extra activities we decide to do.

We are planning a trip to SoCal / DL in the Spring so the budget for this one was small. I think we did well. We are going to sign up for Southwest rewards credit card for the CA trip. Hoping to keep that one to $3K OOP.
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[saier1999]

For the Resort portion of our vacation, we have couponed our way there each of the last 3 years. We have a set budget every week for groceries and other needs, and anything we find coupons for it's just puts more $$ into the Disney fund. We save over $4K last year which paid for our entire resort stay, and have already put $500 into the fund for next August. We will book that vacation shortly.

As for the airfare, I am fortunate enough to have an incentive program at work, and have been able to earn enough there to have the airfare paid for the last 3 years as well.

For spending $$ we tell anyone who plans on buying us any give to go to the supermarket, or Lowes, etc to get us Disney Gift Cards. This year we went with $500 in gift cards.

These are the reasons we go every year. We truly don't sacrifice our livelyhood just to go to WDW. It's worked out well, and we will continue to finance our trips in this way going forward.

Good Luck

 

[luvdisney87]

I work an extra job (about 8 hours a week) to pay for our trips. In the past I've used my reward points from Disney Visa to pay for extras like souvenirs and MNSSHP and MVMCP. For our next trip we have frequent flyer miles form our Delta American Express and I am trying to save my coins to see how much I can get!

 

[babydoll65]

most experts would tell you it's the worst thing to do

we set it up so that a healthy refund is due us each year on our tax return and it is designated as travel funds for our 'habit' for that year.

For some reason if the money is saved every paycheck during the year and co-mingled with other savings I feel guilty spending it, not sure whyTook to this system of forced savings after traditional short-term interest rates dropped like a rock. Once the refund is received, the funds do sit in an interest bearing account until utilized for various trips that calendar year.

Also, took advantage of opening SWA Chase card to earn bunch of points which I've stockpiled, making sure to pay off the purchases. Same card is used for most travel expenses and the above account's proceeds are used to pay it off. Always buy $1,000 or so of Disney gift cards using same CC @ our local grocery store Giant Eagle when they have double fuel perks on GCs.

This is exactly what we do too. Many years ago my husband was laid off and when he set up for unemployment benefits he forgot to have them take out the taxes so I raised the amount of my federal to 15$ per week then when he got his new job I had him take out an additional 10$ in federal. So we get a good amount back but I still only go every other year.

 

[wendybeth75]

We pay on our Vacay as if it were a "bill" every month. I am a therapist, so I pick up a few extra hours at work to help pay "extras" closer to time. Also we don't eat out at work. My DH and I both take our lunch, I cannot even begin to tell you how much that adds up! I do most of my shopping online through the Southwest site. I get rapid rewards for my purchases and use that to purchase a portion of our airfare.

 

[OurLittleFamily]

My husband is paid every 2 weeks (26 paychecks a year instead of my 24 paychecks, which are 2x a month on the 1st and 15th) Since we base all of our bills and savings on being paid twice a month, we use the two "extra" pay checks to pay for our vacations.

 

[KeriWDE]

I just hung up with Disney Reservations, and while I'm not doubting what any previous posters have said, I got some different information.

As of today, there have been no PINs released for 2014 yet.

An offer expired on 09-15, so they are hoping that a new offer for 2014 will be released between now and 11-3 (when the current offer expires.)

I understand that not every reservation fairy shares the same information, but this is what I was told just 5 minutes ago.

So, I will be checking back in two weeks.

Go have a great weekend people.

 

[JandLsMom]

This past spring, my daughter had to do an at-home project, recycling something to make it into something new. On Pinterest, I found a 2 liter pop bottle made into a makeshift bank. We decorated it, and put a title on it, "Dimes for Disney." The hole at the top is a perfect size for dimes, and now everytime we see a dime anywhere (pockets, wallet, extra coin jar, piggy banks, etc), we put it in the bottle. Just for kicks, we emptied it the other day and counted...we have $81 so far! Not much as of yet, but that money will be the kids' spending money while we are on vacation for "extras" that we might normally not want to spend extra cash on.

 

[littlejewel]

I'm a hoarder!lol Husband gets paid bi-monthly, so every month I put $200 ($100/pay) in a vacation fund. Then, when I know we have a trip coming up, I book about four months out and just hoard whatever I can. When hubby's check is more, I put extra in the fund. When I get paid from my photography, I put a portion in the fund. On top of that, I use the Disney Visa and pay for it for six months, no interest. I am also going to be buying the Sam's Club gift cards.

 

[Kari0180]

we save our change, but the main thing we do is we automatically deposit money from our checks into a checking account, we leave the cards in our safe so we can't touch them unless we are booking our trip and then that is how we pay for everything when we go. It works well for us, we don't miss the money and by leaving the cards at home, we avoid temptation

 

[black562]

I have a few friends and acquaintances that go to therapy and take anti-depressants. I do neither, but I do one thing they don't, which is take vacations. I've told them a few times that a trip to Disney may cost the same as therapy, but it's a whole lot more fun.

Now if I could only get the insurance company to believe that...

 

[laceyinwonderland]

Im sure there is a thread or two about this somewhere else, but I just wanted to add, I had a regular Disney visa, and switched to the Premier. WOW!!! Seriously folks, dont let that annual fee scare you away. I made that money back in no time, and the rewards just keep rolling in. I really wish I had made the switch sooner!!!!