Are You A Disney "Prepper"?

[BWV Dreamin]

Taking from the theme "Doomsday Preppers" , how do you prepare for Disney? Do you buy tickets years ahead of time to avert price increases? Do you rack up disney reward point? Airline reward miles? Do you wait for bounce backs or promos?

 

[gillenkl]

We don't get the meal plan unless it's included free in our pkg (I know it's not available for campsites) so I buy a $50 disney gift card every month prior to my trip which I use for counter service meals.

I buy Marriott GC from mypoints.com - usually they will have deals like buy a $75 GC and get 450 points. We stay at Marriott on the way/down and back. When I rack up enough MyPoints I trade it in for Rainforest Cafe GC.

I will use the Disney Chase visa or another points credit card (depending on which is a better deal at the time) and trade in those points for disney rewards card or cash (my other card gives cash back) and use those during our trip. The trick is to pay off the bill monthly so you don't have finance charges or that defeats the whole purpose.

When my kids were younger I'd go the disney store and get tshirts, glowsticks etc... for our trip. Now that I have teens we don't do that anymore.

 

[worm761]

I do some rewards programs that help pay for my trips with either cash or gift cards. I just started Quick Rewards and am hoping to make a bit there to help with costs. I shovel money into my savings account every chance that I get. Sometimes it is only a buck or two and others it is much more. But if it sits in the checking account or PayPal then it will get spent.

What I did was make a spreadsheet with my budget by line item. As I put money in my Disney fund, I subtract that from the line item I am working on. So gas is first since we have to get there. Then I will work on the room, food, tickets, photopass, etc until I have everything fully funded. I like seeing my numbers go down and I like seeing what I have already paid for. My gas is now over halfway paid for! So technically, I can drive to Disney I just can't drive home yet. LOL

I also make my family start taking walks before we go so they are used to all the walking.

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

We buy tickets in advance sometimes, I bought a ticket every other month or so leading up to our upcoming March trip, just got the last ticket in the mail Friday.

I also picked up Disney GCs at the grocery store when they had special promos or I had some extra money. We should have enough to pay for all the food we eat at Disney.

And we have a Disney bag in the storage closet that I keep our Disney stuff in lol. Like our Mickey Mouse ponchos and dollar store ponchos, reusable water bottles, small backpacks for the parks, small fans, glow sticks, etc.

I am ALWAYS ready for a Disney trip. I would never be ready for Doomsday lol.

 

[edk35]

Taking from the theme "Doomsday Preppers" , how do you prepare for Disney? Do you buy tickets years ahead of time to avert price increases? Do you rack up disney reward point? Airline reward miles? Do you wait for bounce backs or promos?

Well this next trip IN 3 1/2 weeks..DIDN'T HAVE MUCH PREP. Decided Friday that we wanted to go down to overlap Brittany's spring break with our youngest son's. THANK GOODNESS FOR DVC. By some miracle I was able to get 6 nights at SSR in a studio with our last two nights at Kidani. I even got DECENT AIRFARE. All the planets were in alignment. USUALLY we have months and months to PREP.

 

[edk35]

Hope...I do wish that DVC members could get the AP's with a payment plan. I think they do that for FL, GA and maybe MS or AL. That would be great!!!!!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I agree! Just too much money at once! Have a great trip!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I guess I would be a Disney prepper. I buy tickets in advance since I know we'll eventually go again (we've been going every year since 2004, but I think we're going to tone it down to every other year after this year; we used to go every 3 years when I was a kid) and most likely not do a package deal.

I stock up on Disney gift cards from Target at 5% off because I know good things never last.

We buy discount tickets to Universal from Costco (3 day park-to-park that don't expire for 3-4 years) and use 1-2 days a trip. I'm waiting for my Costco to take down the ski resort package tickets where the Universal tickets usually are so I can purchase them again, actually.

I also am trying to rent DVC points for almost every trip because I have a feeling at some point Disney is going to try to interfere with that (and try to get that money themselves) making it a better deal to go back to using room discounts and staying in regular Disney rooms.

We're always accumulating Southwest credit card points for flights, but we use them many other places, not just for Disney.

 

[DawnM]

I don't prep much at all.

We stay off-site so no waiting for promos or bounce backs.

We can't even buy tickets too far in advance because we have to wait for DH's work to confirm dates of his conference each year.

I rarely use my Disney Visa anymore as it only gives me 1% back. I use my Fidelity Amex as much as I can as it gives me a full 2% back on each purchase.

Dawn

Taking from the theme "Doomsday Preppers" , how do you prepare for Disney? Do you buy tickets years ahead of time to avert price increases? Do you rack up disney reward point? Airline reward miles? Do you wait for bounce backs or promos?

 

[dancin Disney style]

I guess I'm a prepper too. I have been saving and redeeming my airmiles for years for WDW park tickets. I always get the largest ticket that I have enough miles for and then after getting to WDW I upgrade it for a 10day no expire ticket that will then last through 3 trips. By the time the ticket is used up I have enough miles in my account to do it again.

I also like to have the DDP but would never pay for it (we just wouldn't spend that much on food OOP) so I plan our trips around free dining. In general this works in our favour all the way around as crowds arre lower and airfare is usually very good.

 

[Readerbug]

Interesting theme for a thread. Surprised more folks aren't chiming in with their Mickey stockpile. I bet some do!

When I had only young kids and we went to DL a bunch, Whether or not a trip was eminent, I would go yardsaling with thoughts of matching clothes for Disney pics in the back of my mind...cute navy and white sailor stuff, red and white polka dots...

So instead of useful, but worry-based piles, (like Sandwhich supplies, bottled water, charcoal and toilet paper that I prepped for the last big snow storm( yep, iced up and iced in), it's o nice to think of stockpiling with positive, hopeful expectations of more Disney serendipity coming our way...
That's it!
"This expense? Honey, it's essential (instead of emergency) preparedness."
You know, I do need to prepare for that pincode that will be hitting my email....

 

[wiigirl]

I try to prep, but I usually throw everything together last minute.

 

[Marionnette]

We almost always plan our trips months in advance. So I'm almost always gathering tickets, saving rewards points and putting money aside for travel. I have several unused tickets and partially-used no-expiry passes that I either bought right before a price increase or I got with free dining when I already had multi-day passes to use. I even bought PAP vouchers with the DVC discount last fall because they weren't much more than buying 10-day hoppers with WPF&M.

I don't know if this would qualify me or anyone else as a "prepper". I see preppers as people who are getting themselves ready to face the worst possible situation. People who are planning for a Disney vacation are preparing for something positive.

 

[nhmommy]

I don;t start to prep until after we have booked our trip but once we do I spend hours scouring the clearance racks for trinkets and toys so they don't need to be purchased at Disney price in the world.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I'm a total Disney prepper

Every month, I buy either a $50 or $100 gift card at Target with the red card discount to save up for buying park tickets, meals, and such. I also wait for really good sales at the Disney Store to stock up on pins, park t-shirts, and such to get a discount and no sales tax instead of buying in Florida. I use my Disney Visa for the rewards points also towards tickets or meals. I do a lot with MyPoints, and cash out for a WalMart card for food for our room. I do another survey site that cashes out for airline miles to put towards plane tickets

Since we go every other year, it gives me quite a bit of time between trips to save up for the next one.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I'm not a prepper. I throw change into a change jar, that's about it.

 

[edk35]

I guess I would be a Disney prepper. I buy tickets in advance since I know we'll eventually go again (we've been going every year since 2004, but I think we're going to tone it down to every other year after this year; we used to go every 3 years when I was a kid) and most likely not do a package deal.

I stock up on Disney gift cards from Target at 5% off because I know good things never last.

We buy discount tickets to Universal from Costco (3 day park-to-park that don't expire for 3-4 years) and use 1-2 days a trip. I'm waiting for my Costco to take down the ski resort package tickets where the Universal tickets usually are so I can purchase them again, actually.

I also am trying to rent DVC points for almost every trip because I have a feeling at some point Disney is going to try to interfere with that (and try to get that money themselves) making it a better deal to go back to using room discounts and staying in regular Disney rooms.

We're always accumulating Southwest credit card points for flights, but we use them many other places, not just for Disney.

How do you get 5% off Disney Gift Cards at Target???

 

[edk35]

I guess I would be a Disney prepper. I buy tickets in advance since I know we'll eventually go again (we've been going every year since 2004, but I think we're going to tone it down to every other year after this year; we used to go every 3 years when I was a kid) and most likely not do a package deal.

I stock up on Disney gift cards from Target at 5% off because I know good things never last.

We buy discount tickets to Universal from Costco (3 day park-to-park that don't expire for 3-4 years) and use 1-2 days a trip. I'm waiting for my Costco to take down the ski resort package tickets where the Universal tickets usually are so I can purchase them again, actually.

I also am trying to rent DVC points for almost every trip because I have a feeling at some point Disney is going to try to interfere with that (and try to get that money themselves) making it a better deal to go back to using room discounts and staying in regular Disney rooms.

We're always accumulating Southwest credit card points for flights, but we use them many other places, not just for Disney.

WOW I didn't know you could get those type Universal Tickets at Costco. I have seen the but just assumed that you had to use them within 14 days or something. I might have to do this for our Aug. trip.

 

[edk35]

I'm a total Disney prepper

Every month, I buy either a $50 or $100 gift card at Target with the red card discount to save up for buying park tickets, meals, and such. I also wait for really good sales at the Disney Store to stock up on pins, park t-shirts, and such to get a discount and no sales tax instead of buying in Florida. I use my Disney Visa for the rewards points also towards tickets or meals. I do a lot with MyPoints, and cash out for a WalMart card for food for our room. I do another survey site that cashes out for airline miles to put towards plane tickets

Since we go every other year, it gives me quite a bit of time between trips to save up for the next one.

What is the Target red card? IS that a credit card?

 

[edk35]

I'm not a prepper. I throw change into a change jar, that's about it.

I wish I was better at Disney prepping. LOL We just decide to book and we go. I need to work on this. We do have a change charge that we throw change in...have never really used it for Disney though.