Your Disney Vacation: What did you pay? vs. what was it worth?

[Marionnette]

I tried to PM you last night and Disboards wouldn't let me. I created an account for Perk and it asked if anyone had referred me. Since you've been so helpful I wanted to credit you for the referral (50 pts). If you have a referral code PM me and I'll add it.

Thank you, but referrals aren't allowed here. You couldn't PM me because I have it turned off.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Ooops, I see that now. I had read that warning a long time ago and thought it just meant promoting your own business.

 

[hsmamato2]

Everyone uses their own accounting system. But I choose to consider my rewards dollars to be "free money". We have "regular income" that could be used for paying off a vacation. It's just my hobby to see how much I can get through rewards programs. YMMV.

I feel the same way... calculating cost can be somewhat different depending on how you view each purchase,or savings. For instance that 'free' $80 in GC from the Sams club deal I will apply to my food budget for this tripThat said I have an outline or general plan for a Fl trip this upcoming year.........
my plans so far include airfare for 4 using SWA, points and companion pass
$44.80 for tax and fees (actual cost $1400.80)
5 nites at a FL beach on a gulf coast island, using points+cash $288.00
(actual rack rates incl. tax $1598.00)
Rental car for 5 days- (approx $200.00,it will be less later on)
7 nites at Dolphin hotel onsite-points plus cash including resort fees is $700.00(note this may drop by $75 before I go, we shall see)
(actual rack rates 2926.00 for my dates)
food budget is $100 per day ,so plan $1300 for food for 13 days, but this will likely be much less,and I plan to save at least 5% by using gift cards for food(and 480 gc cash card) so planning oop for food actual cost around $1100 overall(wish I qualified to TIW)
Tickets for 3 $840.00 (going with a group and special rate) for 7 day hopper plusWP tix
(actual full cost is 1357.89) (pps,4th person buys own ticket to park so not in my budget line)
So.....Full retail or Rack rate cost for my trip is 8782.69
Planned cost (some things will drop before I go)
2472.80 for 13 nights ! That's over 6300.00 saved!
(note...will continue to do erewards,etc for various savings till my trip to further reduce spending,but this is a rough outline for now)

 

[momto4obkids]

Here's our breakdown for 9 plus our 17 month old grandson. This is our 21st wedding anniversary celebration at my favorite place!! My daughters boyfriend paid for his tickets to US and Disney so that is excluded and my grandson is free, my favorite word! Sorry! I didn't intend for this to be so long!!

6 Day Base Tickets Disney Price 2340.00 paid 2340.00
US/IOA 2 Day Park 2 Park Reg. Price 1675.00 paid 1063.00 on USSSA
6nts. CBR two rooms Rack rate 2646.00 with discount 1984.00
1nt. 2 rooms Royal Pacific rack rate 684.00 booked on cheaptickets.com with 25% off 537.00
2nts. Holiday Inn Across from Universal rack rate $418.00 used friends & family link and paid 295.00
3 hotel rooms in GA on drive down, I used Priceline, rack rate 219.00 paid 157.00
3 hotel rooms in KY on drive home, I used Hotwire, rack raite 289.00 paid 148.00
2 rental vans for 2 days from MI before discount $237.00 paying 217.00 each
12 passanger van for 11 days driving it back to MI before discount $154.00 paying $114.00
Parking at RPR $20 no discount, I have to pay $20
Gas for the trip estimate $450.00

Food budget is 2500.00 For this I bought discounted Disney gift cards using the Target method and earned Target gc's with my rewards programs.
I also have 535.00 in restaurant gift cards I either earned through Mypoints or paid a very discounted rate for. So out of pocket for these was 105.00
Four of our group will be paying for their own snacks and some of their meals.

I also earned 115.00 in Gas cards through Mypoints, Speedy Rewards and a Rite Aid promotion.
DVA bonus was $80 which will go towards food.

I do swagbucks, mypoints, perk, gifthulk,ReceiptHog and do cashback programs like topcashback and ebates, I also get 1% cashback with my debit card and use that for everything, all of this went to buying discounted target cards to get the disney gift cards.examples of what I earned from the bigger earners are 1000.00 from Perk, 1370.00 from Swagbucks, 420.00 to Landry's and gas cards from MyPoints, 457.00 cashback sites, and 300.00 from GiftHulk

So total Rack rate
11,399.00

Discounted 10,042.00

Total I earned 4300.00 with all of my rewards programs/cashback and the discount on the Target gift cards I used to get Disney gift cards.

So 5,742.00 total OOP! I think that's pretty dang good!

 

[hsmamato2]

wow! now THIS is a Disney budget thread! I am seeing some amazing trips here!

 

[Tardisblue]

A travel agency that can't be named on the DIS buys rooms at a convention rate and passes it on to their clients.

It's the "magical Labor Day deal" that's been mentioned. It's only for certain dates in mid-late August and early September.

I believe I have located the site after reading through the cryptic descriptions. Sounds like a great deal. I'll keep it in mind the next time we book.

 

[ajwolfe]

I believe I have located the site after reading through the cryptic descriptions. Sounds like a great deal. I'll keep it in mind the next time we book.

I located it as well after some looking..Curious if everyone has been happy with these "deals" and their experience in the past.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I located it as well after some looking..Curious if everyone has been happy with these "deals" and their experience in the past.

I thought it had to be too good to be true but there was a thread a while back with lots of people who had used them multiple times. All good experiences.

 

[la la limon]

This is fun! Here's my plan for our future trip:

Air for 4=$1300 OOP=0 (using miles)
Universal Hotel for 2 nights=$500 OOP=0 (using credit card points)
2-day Universal tickets for 4=$750 OOP=0 (using Barclay miles)
7 days at Beach Club, 6 day WP and More tix, $1200 food budget=$4680 OOP=3220 (using DVA discount, target gc discount and Barclay miles)

9 day trip value is $7230 but OOP will be around $3220

 

[JennysSeven]

Wow, you guys are inspiring! I haven't gotten any discounts yet, but after reading these boards I'm aiming to earn swagbucks for Target cards and then get the discounted Disney cards. I'm still hoping there might be a room discount offered later...not sure if that's likely or not. Right now we're looking at just over $12K total, so any savings I can find will be helpful!

 

[Xennia]

Exactly what the title says. How much is your vacation "worth" compared to what you're actually paying OOP?

• For instance, we get to stay 5 nights at the GF in an outer building/garden view room for much less than the $3700 price tag (rack rate) because we have a convention rate. We're actually paying $1232!
  
• We have a companion pass for my husband on Southwest and I'm flying on points. The fares were $128 each way pp at the time that I booked (total of $532 for 2 people) but we're only paying the 9/11 fees which totaled $22.40.
• I have 5-day hoppers that we purchased last spring, before the price hike and when eBates had an awesome cash back. Current value is $807 for 2 adults but after the ebates discount, I paid $547 (plus I got 5X "travel" points on my Chase Sapphire for the full $684 I paid Orbitz).
  
• We have a budget of $1200 for food & beverages and souvenirs, which will be paid for using Disney GCs. The Disney GCs were purchased online using Target GCs that were obtained from various rewards programs (over $1000 earned from Perk alone since December). We also will buy a TiW card for 20% off at the TS locations. I'll pay for it with discounted Disney GCs that I had obtained back when both the Pharma 5% and REDCard 5% worked in stores. Price of TiW card is $100. My OOP was $90.25 for $100 in Disney GCs back.

Total value of the trip = $6341

Total OOP cost = $1891 (will actually be lower once I redeem for more Target GCs on my rewards sites and purchase additional Disney GCs to cover the cost of the room).

So, what are you spending OOP for your trip vs. the suggested retail price for the same trip?

I have Florida rates. Not sure how this is different.

 

[Dacky619]

Owning DVC makes this very nice if you want to buy into that whole savings thing.

9 night BLT standard view studio:
Rack Rate $4959
Annual dues plus 1/50th purchase price: $1200

Flights:
3 r/t tickets: $780
Paid $30 in security fees, the rest covered in points

Tickets:
9 day park hoppers x2: $890
prorated cost of DVC AP x2: $460
* We are actually upgrading undercover tourist tickets from 5 years ago

Food:
We have $1500 in Disney gift cards/rewards dollars that cost us a little less than 1k. We are TIW users as well but that is a nice discount to figure out after the trip.

Total rack rate: $8129
Total out of pocket: $2690

As much as we love Disney, I don't think anyone in their right mind would pay 8k plus for this trip though. Looking at these numbers makes me think of those Kohl's receipts where you buy 3 items but somehow saved $120.

 

[deide71]

Totally agree Dacky, "worth" is a fuzzy number...however...
Airfare for 5 on southwest using points and companion pass: $60
7 nights in Garden view room at POR w 5 day WPF&M tix &free dining: 3550 (real cost $3000 in discounted Disney gift cards after Top Cash Back, Raise, Target Red Card and DVA finagling).
Tips and souvenirs $250 in credit card points (plus approximately $150 in "real" money.

Total OOP cost$3210 for about $7400 vacation. Not bad.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

following

 

[ibob52]

2-day Universal tickets for 4=$750 OOP=0 (using Barclay miles)
7 days at Beach Club, 6 day WP and More tix, $1200 food budget=$4680 OOP=3220 (using DVA discount, target gc discount and Barclay miles)

May I ask ... which BARCLAYS credit card ?

 

[deide71]

May I ask ... which BARCLAYS credit card ?

Gonna guess Barclays Arrival Plus MasterCard. It pays 2.2% back to travel.

 

[la la limon]

The Barclay Arrival card. Perfect for a vacation like Disney because you can use miles to negate travel purchases from your statement. You earn 2% on everything, then get a bonus of 10% of your miles redeemed (so you earn 2.2%). I'm putting a lot of spending on this card so that I should have at least $1500 worth of miles by the time our trip rolls around.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Trip length: January 20th - February 2nd 2016

3 nights in a 2 bedroom villa at Old Key West (surprise for my parents; rented points):
Cost: $1,175
"Value" (rack rate): $2,301.75

7 nights in a Savanna view studio at AKV Kidani (rented points):
Cost: $1,277.50
"Value" (rack rate): $3,150 (rate taken off of lowest cost of a Savanna view studio at AKV on allears; would be higher with taxes/fees, but to be honest I would never stay here if I paid full price)

2 nights in a standard view club level room at the Polynesian (haven't booked yet):
Cost: $702 (hopeful for a 30% AP discount; remainder will be paid with 5% off Disney gift cards purchased at Target)
"Value" (rack rate): $1,232 (taken off allears since I can't book it online yet)
*both of these may be a little more with taxes/fees

2 annual passes:
Cost: Free with Disney Visa Rewards and Swagbucks
Value: $1,393.02

Two Roundtrip tickets from Norfolk, VA:
Cost: $23 (free with Southwest points, less fees)
Value: $500 (it's been years since we've paid for flights so I'm assuming this is about what we'd pay)

TIW card:
Cost: $95 with two $50 Disney gift cards purchased at Target at 5% off
Value: $100

Food for 13 days (two table service meals a day and snacks/drinks; budgeting $100 per day some days will be more, some days will be less. We usually end up coming home with a couple hundred dollars):
Cost: $1,035 purchased with 5% discounted gift cards and a $200 Disney gift card we received from opening my husband's Disney Visa account
Value: $1,300

One day two park passes to Universal for two adults:
Cost: $313.12 I'm always hopeful something will come out where I can save money when we go to Universal for the day, but the discounts seem to be only for multiple days.
Value: $313.12

Wild Africa Trek in Animal Kingdom for two adults:
Cost: $378 I'm not really sure where I can save money on this. Possibly use one or two $50 Disney gift cards from Target at 5% off, but I know there's generally a limit to how many forms of payment you can use to purchase tickets over the phone so I'm assuming the same is true with tours. I can't remember if I used more than 2 to book the railroad tour in MK last time.
Value: $378

Possibly SeaWorld or Busch Gardens:
Cost: Free with our platinum passes
Value: $90 for two one day admissions

One day at Discovery Cove
Cost: $215 for two admissions with no dolphin swim with our Busch/SeaWorld pass discount
Value: $350

Transportation:
Cost: Free (my parents are driving and staying at VWL so we'll either ride with them to places or borrow their car when we separate)
Value: $50 (we typically ride public transportation when we don't have a car to places outside of Disney)

Total trip cost: $5,213.62
Value: $11,157.89 (it's funny that this number is so greatly inflated by the rack rate of rooms I would never pay rack rate to stay at)

 

[momto4obkids]

Trip length: January 20th - February 2nd 2016

One day two park passes to Universal for two adults:
Cost: $313.12 I'm always hopeful something will come out where I can save money when we go to Universal for the day, but the discounts seem to be only for multiple days.
Value: $313.12

Check out this site for the Universal tickets! They are legitimate tickets. I bought ours from here and many people have used them on the DISBoards if you do a search. Just keep an eye out on when they extend the expiration dates to the dates you need.

http://store.usssa.com/Products/122-universal-orlando-park-tickets.aspx

 

[SnowWhite112]

6 on-site trips with a total of 27 park days for two adults cost us about $6,000 last year. (We live within driving distance, but sometimes decide to fly because we get $40 plane tickets on Spirit! We also bought the FL Res seasonal pass and use 10% AP Discount on most TS meals. ) Paying rack rate without all discounts I'm sure was at least 8k.

This year, we have 4 trips planned so far, and are budgeting about $4000 for them including tickets travel food & hotel. All deluxe, because we are renting DVC points. All are coming out to under $200 a night, a huge savings there. When there's a will, there's a way!

I am very thankful to live within driving distance. We are trying to plan a trip to Disneyland but airfare is making that reeeeeal hard