As a Canadian Disney fan how do u save for your trip?

[sheboz]

Our last trip was march break 2011.
We flew from Detroit on Delta for $170.00 each... those days are gone.
I combined codes off of Mousesavers, car rental for 7 nights for a Nitro was $200.00.
Free stay at the Marriott Courtyard thanks to rewards....won't happen again.
All food out of pocket.
Learned many lessons on that trip.

Hoping to get free dining........or a condo with some YES tickets.

What would you budget for a family of four. Two adults two children.
Begining of March 2013
Lodging, food and park passes? Six nights , five days MYW. AoA LM if possible.
$3,000.00? More? Less?

 

[CanadianPaco]

Aeroplan for car rental.
We have a US bank account with our bank. Every week I put $25 or $50 into it all year round. This way we don't worry about exchange rates. It just happens.
We have a US credit card with our bank - saves on the exhcange charges.
Fly out of the states.
All loose change goes into the "change jar" - when filled, it can hold ~ $1000.

Any misc cheques that come in go to the "jar" - rebates on oil changes etc.

 

[michelle1]

We have a US bank account that I go online and transfer money each week or if the exchange is really good I will transfer a larger amount. We save loonies and toonies strictly for vacation and have been doing it since the loonies first came out. It's almost an obsession to the point where we won't spend them...if I had a loonie and a $20 bill in my purse I would spend the $20 for a 50 cent item. However, they do add up very fast..we collect around $100-$200/month in those coins.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I have Canada Savings Bonds taken directly off my cheque and that's our travel fund. It's all online, so if I need to cash in I can do it in a couple of minutes! Our next trip the bonds will pay for everything except airfare (which we have enough airmiles for.)

I save airmiles. Kids save extra $ they get for chores, etc. Usually we plan at least a year in advance, so kids put away b-day money, etc. My mom always gives me "travel dollars" for b-day and Christmas presents which I tuck away.

 

[RadioMom]

All of my freelancing money (I'm a copywriter) goes to pay for our trip. I book a year in advance when there's free dining. Then I budget the year out and pay through my Disney TA.
For flights, I budget $1800 and I save that up and I keep my eye out for cheap flights either out of Toronto or Detroit.
I also have a big jar for spare change. I've saved about $180 just in quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies. I don't miss it and it adds up quickly. That's going to be our "mad money" in August. For fun treats, silly souveniers I might normally say "get real" to, or whatever we like!
I book only during free dining time because I don't like to be nickled and dimed when I'm on vacation. I know it probably works out to about the same money with room rates being higher but for me, it's all about the convenience. When we have table service, I budget $20 each meal for tips. And I love being able to order anything off the menu without worrying that I've got enough cash or we're going to blow our food budget. This time we're just going with the counter-service free dining, which is just fine for us too. No extra money needed for tips!
We're also staying at a value resort this time, because it meant the difference between a 7 day trip and a 10 day trip in cost. We've stayed at mods before and we're excited to see what Pop Century has to offer!

 

[Evelyne]

Hi,
we have a Master Card Banque Nationale on wich we cumulate points, these points can be exchanged for trip rewards. I pay all are expenses of the month with it, so is my husband. When our son turned 18 I ordered a card for him (same account as ours, no extra cost) and he uses it to pay for his expenses related to scholl, mostly his gas, because he needs to travel about 40 km to go to school.
When we are ready for the trip, I book the reservation, call my credit card and they apply the credit to my account. I have no restriction on where to use that card, every purshuse counts.

1990 to 1992, off site with DB+ friends 1994 off site with DB+ family/
1995 off site DB, DS (2) and DD on the way 1998 off site DB, DS DD/
1999 off site DB, DS, DD, + family/ 2000 to 2003 DB, DS, DD All star Sports
2004 to 2008 Pop Century with DB
(after 20 years, let’s say DH), DS, DD and family
2008 to 2009 Pop Century DH, DS, DD/ 2010 and 2011 Pop DH, DD and her friend
September 2012 DH and me alone for the 1st time.
Can’t wait to check inn at the POP!!!



http://www.**************/id/1348729281.jpg

 

[Corbisblue]

Since I travel a lot I have my own savings account that is specifically for traveling. In a year I will go on about 2-3 trips. Bi-weekly I will put $200-300 into the account. I don't own a vehicle so this isn't too bad for me. Traveling is a passion and so it doing to Disney, so I make it a priorty to save money for these. Also don't buy anything I don't need, I've gotten pretty good at that in the past couple of years.

 

[kimmer]

We drive, but still with the 5 of us, our trips run about $4000, staying offsite. We stick that on our line of credit and pay it off with income tax.

Our kids also have disney piggy banks we make each year to save chore money, birthday money etc. Our last trip, last month, between my two girls, they had save $100. They got to spend that on their own shopping & souvenirs.

We also save our change over the year, and usually we get about $300-$400 from that.

 

[Stan Solo]

I use airmiles for the flights and charge the taxes and fees to my gold MasterCard. For the resort and tickets I charge that to my US MasterCard. One of these days I'll get around to pay one or both of these off, but who knows.

 

[Paulakoala]

We do a lot of the same things as previous posters. Change jar...daughter has weekly (small town) paper route that her little brothers help her with, that's a good chunk of their spending money...we have a US dollar account that gets regular contributions from paycheques...my kids are responsible for collecting and bagging the bottle recycling weekly, that goes into the travel fund...my husband does Canada Savings Bonds as payroll deductions, that goes towards the trip too...income tax returns are earmarked for the trip...we book early and then divide the amount due into equal installments...for a two-and-a-half week trip for six people this July, we won't be paying anything on credit, it's all accumulated already.

 

[sheboz]

We do a lot of the same things as previous posters. Change jar...daughter has weekly (small town) paper route that her little brothers help her with, that's a good chunk of their spending money...we have a US dollar account that gets regular contributions from paycheques...my kids are responsible for collecting and bagging the bottle recycling weekly, that goes into the travel fund...my husband does Canada Savings Bonds as payroll deductions, that goes towards the trip too...income tax returns are earmarked for the trip...we book early and then divide the amount due into equal installments...for a two-and-a-half week trip for six people this July, we won't be paying anything on credit, it's all accumulated already.

Great work!! I like how the entire family is involved. Congratulations. Where do you stay in Orlando? Have a safe trip!

 

[HelloMinnie]

Like others, we have a separate vacation savings account. A set amount is taken from our pay cheque and deposited and we look for deals every year for our one big vacation.

It has been Disney for several years now. Lol. How'd that happen? It is usually me who is in charge of vacation research so I usually tell my hubby "No good deals anywhere but Disney this year" Ha Ha Ha!