2021 - 2022 Saving Up For Disneyland Thread

[ColoradoLime]

Anyone want to join me in tracking saving up for a Disney trip? I'm headed there in Oct 2022 and don't want to use any of current money for the trip so I'll work to save everything I can to pay for it.

Would be fun to have others join so you can track your savings along with me!

I've created my own spreadsheet for my tracking and put it out on Google Docs if anyone else wants to use it. I'll also be posting here as I work through the budgeting and savings.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WtqNaySfy-vPnfmH9Np1XRo6cmKeI1At5E01IKJ0rsY/edit?usp=sharing

 

[ColoradoLime]

Details of my trip:
3 adults, 1 kid
10/18/22 - 10/22/21 (4 nights) - May adjust dates based on airfare
Flying from Denver to Orange County (a LOT cheaper to LAX, but worried about traffic frustration)
Staying off site - Prefer BW Park Place Inn or Park Vue Inn
Total target budget for trip: $5,000

-----------------------------------------------------

I'm starting from zero on this trip. Savings will come from savings from paycheck, selling random old stuff around the house, side hustle, stimulus child credit, and annual bonus.

Progress so far:

Found $40 in my wallet, leftover cash from a road trip earlier in the month.
Had $45 from selling some old clothes

I'm going to track my savings against individuals costs of the trip. Starting with airfare.

Airfare budget is $1,200/$85. 7% there!

 

[DLgal]

Make sure your food budget is realistic. We have spent 7 days in the parks since May and our average daily spend on food for 2A, 2K has been around $250 It adds up REALLY fast, especially if you are buying alcoholic drinks. Beers are about $12 each now. All the prices have shot up significantly since they reopened. Expect each meal to cost about $18pp.

 

[ColoradoLime]

Yep, we’ve been before so I have that laid out.

 

[kirstyfly]

Can't stress enough how easy it is to make Disney money if you sell off all the unwanted clutter around your home and put it into a special Disney account.

I am hoping we can get there for October next year. We were going Oct of 2019 but well we all know what happened there.

 

[Tasscrapper]

Pretty cool spreadsheet! I'm tagging along to watch your progress.

 

[CO2CA]

I like your spreadsheet - very organized! We budget, but are never this organized lol

We also fly out of DEN and you can probably find the flight a lot cheaper into SNA than $1200 total. We booked for late October this year on Southwest for $165 rt/pp. The prices can definitely get really outrageous for SNA, but we've been able to book a couple trips recently where we've found decent deals. You should be able to get something under $200 rt/pp if you wait for a sale. Just wanted to share a tip!

 

[ColoradoLime]

I like your spreadsheet - very organized! We budget, but are never this organized lol

We also fly out of DEN and you can probably find the flight a lot cheaper into SNA than $1200 total. We booked for late October this year on Southwest for $165 rt/pp. The prices can definitely get really outrageous for SNA, but we've been able to book a couple trips recently where we've found decent deals. You should be able to get something under $200 rt/pp if you wait for a sale. Just wanted to share a tip!

Thanks definitely watching. It's certaininly hard to predict flight costs a year out. We've flown out before I don't remember it being very much. I've got a calendar reminder set up to let me check when Oct flights should be released.

 

[ColoradoLime]

Can't stress enough how easy it is to make Disney money if you sell off all the unwanted clutter around your home and put it into a special Disney account.

Right? I learned a long time ago that little bit really truly add up when you allow them to. And right now I have so much kid's stuff that needs to find a new home.

 

[Funtimeswithteenagers]

We pack in food to save money. We would eat in line, which made the line not as bad. We are a family of 5. 6 years ago a corn dog was $8 each. That adds up fast. And we didn’t want to waste time finding food, especially food everyone liked.
We stayed at desert inn and had Denny’s or McDonald’s for dinner or would head to hotel and eat.

 

[GreyTami]

Details of my trip:
3 adults, 1 kid
10/18/22 - 10/22/21 (4 nights) - May adjust dates based on airfare
Flying from Denver to Orange County (a LOT cheaper to LAX, but worried about traffic frustration)
Staying off site - Prefer BW Park Place Inn or Park Vue Inn
Total target budget for trip: $5,000

-----------------------------------------------------

I'm starting from zero on this trip. Savings will come from savings from paycheck, selling random old stuff around the house, side hustle, stimulus child credit, and annual bonus.

Progress so far:

Found $40 in my wallet, leftover cash from a road trip earlier in the month.
Had $45 from selling some old clothes

I'm going to track my savings against individuals costs of the trip. Starting with airfare.

Airfare budget is $1,200/$85. 7% there!

For what it’s worth, I just got airfare from DEN - SNA on Frontier for an unbelievable rate thanks to Kids Fly Free, like $68 round trip for two tickets!

 

[ColoradoLime]

For what it’s worth, I just got airfare from DEN - SNA on Frontier for an unbelievable rate thanks to Kids Fly Free, like $68 round trip for two tickets!

That's a great price. It has to be killer deal for me to book them with all the add-ons they charge. I LOATHE Frontier overall but I definitely check them comparison.

 

[ColoradoLime]

Gathered up all the change I could find in the house- old purses, junk drawer, car cup holders, etc. Found $6.72.
Now I’m at $91.72 towards air fare.

This weekend I’m committed to gathering up all the kids toys that need to be sold. Our neighborhood has a community garage sale coming up and the mountains of toys and stuffed animals need to go!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

This is such a great idea! Thank you for sharing! I am also saving right now for a DLR trip in 2022 (already nearly fully funded, but unsure because we don't know prices for sure yet), and a WDW trip in 2023 (will roll any excess from DLR2022 into our WDW2023 budget). We are a family of 7, so I'm always looking for deals and savings!

 

[ColoradoLime]

This is such a great idea! Thank you for sharing! I am also saving right now for a DLR trip in 2022 (already nearly fully funded, but unsure because we don't know prices for sure yet), and a WDW trip in 2023 (will roll any excess from DLR2022 into our WDW2023 budget). We are a family of 7, so I'm always looking for deals and savings!

Join me in tracking here!!

 

[chickapin parterre]

We pack in food to save money. We would eat in line, which made the line not as bad. We are a family of 5. 6 years ago a corn dog was $8 each. That adds up fast. And we didn’t want to waste time finding food, especially food everyone liked.
We stayed at desert inn and had Denny’s or McDonald’s for dinner or would head to hotel and eat.

tortilia wraps with cheese and lunch meat slices from the wal-mart neigbhorhood store. west of disneyland. we eat the carls and pack in the last heavy meal of the visit.

 

[chickapin parterre]

I will see your $40.00 in the wallet with a sorority pin of 24k gold in a bag of buttons at Goodwill. Wife says my December 2021 visit will only be possible if I use my goodwill budget to find items for resale to pay for the trip 4 hours away. ...budget because i am really addicted to Goodwill surfing for treasures.

 

[debdreamsofdis]

Awesome thread! We're driving from AZ in August, so no airfare, but I'll use Fry's Food store fuel rewards to fill up our tank before we leave. I just purchased 4 two day park tickets completely using my Disney rewards from my Disney Visa. We'll be staying 1 night at Staybridge Suites using a free night reward from my IHG credit card and 2 nights at the GC using our DVC membership. We'll probably bring some snacks and breakfast items with us, but thinking about splurging on a meal at Storyteller's which I would use gift cards bought at Sam's Club to pay for.

 

[ColoradoLime]

I will see your $40.00 in the wallet with a sorority pin of 24k gold in a bag of buttons at Goodwill.

Wishing you luck in finding the funds to go this year. I’ve always wanted to go during Christmas.

 

[chickapin parterre]

wednesday after Candlelight....don't go, you will become jaded about the other 45 days of the year