...................

[zurgswife]

Not Us....we put it on the credit card and pay any remaining debt off after we get home....life is to short not to enjoy..

 

[fredonna]

We, too, have a Visa debit card but I would NEVER consider going on a vacation without a CREDIT card and use it strictly for ALL purchases at WDW. The protections (and sometimes benefits like rewards) afforded to consumers are too valuable to go to waste.

HOWEVER, the cash is always in the bank long before the trip begins and the budget is absolute!!

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

I'm thinking about pre-paying the credit card so I don't have to face THE BILL. Has anyone done that? Do you worry about getting it stolen?

But no you are obviously not alone. If we don't have the money saved up then we don't go. It is that simple.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says............................We prepay our credit cards before the trip, toss in an extra grand depending on what needs funding. The people who go once are the ones who pay for it for years. It's really odd though that our secret stash for vacations always seems to have just enough to go on the next vacation!!!
Everytime!

 

[Poohnatic]

CAnn,

The only plastic DH and I have are our debit cards (by choice)... the money has to be there, or we can't go. We do go, twice a year

The things we do to make it easier to go:

We book the ressie, then pay off a night of the bill each month prior to getting there.

I have a savings account direct deposited from my pay check. That is strictly "WDW money". When I get a raise, the amount deposited does, too.
I buy Disney Dollars every week (sometimes only 5, but the goal is $20 every week). Then the spending money is already there. Three times now, some of the DD money became wedding gift money--love when someone is going to WDW for their honeymoon!

We get a tax refund every year. Off the top, we pay ourselves with a trip to the world. We just did this in Feb, and since we don't really buy that many souveniers (less than $30 the whole trip), we splurged on food. We still came away spending about $1000. for our family of 4 on everything but park passes.

I have a sister who can't understand why we spend so much to go to Disney twice a year, and when she found out how much is actually spent, she realized that we spend less than she does on vacations elsewhere.

I need the trips for my mental health, lol. Just wish I could find a way to be able to write them off!

Suzanne

 

[skiwee1]

We pay everything by credit card and pay it off each month. I couldn't imagine taking a vacation if I couldn't afford it. It would not be any fun knowing that I was still going to be paying on months later!

 

[timbud1]

Absolutely cash all the way!! We'll use our debit for hotel and food. The girls have been given lots of Dosney Dollars so their spending stash is taken care of. We've actually put this trip off twice due to lack of funds. We've done the debt thing...still finishing paying it off actually. NEVER AGAIN!!

Headed down May 3rd!!! My girls - 9 and 7 - are so excited that it's worth every single penny.

 

[LvsTnk]

I put airfare on CC (we pay it off) because I usually get that off the internet. We use the tax return for AP's, and I have a special checking account (love my Disney checks) my small check goes into every week for the room and car. I also save change.

Next trip the 2 older kids are responsible for thier own spending money. DS has started saving change and DD put some of her birthday money to the side. Thank goodness our 16 yo and 14 yo love Disney as much as we do!!

 

[Boo'sMom]

This last trip was a "cash" trip, and I used our Visa debit card instead of our regular credit card...we didn't come home with any extra money....but it was nice not waiting for the huge CC bill to come the following month.
I made installment payments on our room too...whenever I had an extra $100 or so, I sent it to WDWTC....

The only way to do it IMHO

 

[Ron from Michigan]

We never take a trip to WDW unless we have the money saved up ahead of time. We are planing two trips this year and we will not go unless we have the money saved up ahead of time.

 

[TiggerInNY]

Ron,

How do you afford to do 2 trips in a year? Where do you stay and for how long? My budget for this trip in October is betwen $4,000-5,000. I can't figure it out how people can take multiple trips in one year. Either you live in FLA or are pretty well off.

Just curious.

Maria

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by TiggerInNY
Ron,

How do you afford to do 2 trips in a year? Where do you stay and for how long? My budget for this trip in October is betwen $4,000-5,000. I can't figure it out how people can take multiple trips in one year. Either you live in FLA or are pretty well off.

Just curious.

Maria

After next month we will have made 3 trips within the last 12 months for a total of 30 days at WDW. We do not live in Florida but drive or fly down from Maryland. We too make sure we have the money before taking any vacation. I can't see having to pay for something after it's over.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I don't consider us "well off". We've certainly been blessed this year to have some discretionary income to play around with though.

We bought AP's last Sept and that was the best thing we could have done. Because, quite frankly, if you don't have to pay for tickets, it's not that expensive. That being said, we don't stay in deluxe resorts. I am a bargain queen and do my best to be able to find the best deal.

We also live close enough to drive in a day. That helps too.

 

[PoohBear68]

We are a family of 6 and visit Disneyworld at least 2 times a year, sometimes 3 and we are NOT rich! My husband and I both work. I have $125.00 a week taken out of my check and placed in our vacation fund. That comes to $6500 a year. I have been lucky to always get a discount on our rooms. We buy AP's every year (using our tax check if we are lucky to get some money back). The $6500 has to cover the new AP's, the room, food and gas down. We are going 3/30-4/5 and our room at CBR only costs $729.00.

The kids save all their money for any possible trips we take. They are very good at saving and must spend THEIR money on THEIR souveniors.

We go to Publix when we arrive and get breakfast items and eat one sit down meal a day (about 2 character meals each trip).

We stop at the Disney outlet when we arrive in ORlando and buy some souveniors... they are a lot cheaper than in the parks.

There are a few other little things we do.. but I won't bore you! Plus, I need to go pack..LOL!

 

[mad4themouse]

Originally posted by TiggerInNY
Ron,

How do you afford to do 2 trips in a year? Where do you stay and for how long? My budget for this trip in October is betwen $4,000-5,000. I can't figure it out how people can take multiple trips in one year. Either you live in FLA or are pretty well off.

Just curious.

Maria

Maria,
I think you'll find that most of us are neither from FL nor are we well-off. Hey, this is a Budget Board, after all.

Instead, most of us have found ways to put $$ aside, cut costs at home and seek out bargains before we go. Stick around this board and you'll find out all kinds of ways to get back to WDW!

PS- $4,000 to $5,000 for a trip is pretty hefty, IMHO. How many of you are there and where will you be staying? Sometimes the expense of a trip is determined by those factors as well as when you go and whether you purchased a package vs. à la carte.

 

[abeyst]

Maria,
If you post a little background to your family, your trip plans, and what you want to do on vacation I'm sure we all could come up with some savings for you. You can also read some older threads back through last year. I got some good ideas that way.

We go twice a year (me, DH, DS(4) and now DD(1)), and we budget quite a bit. It helps being DVC members, but I still pay $175 a month for our loan and dues, so it's costing me monthly instead of one lump sum. We are FAR from well off, but I do everything I can to keep our vacation as my goal through the year so we have enough money to travel without "plastic".

Let us know if we can help you out!