Do you incur debt to go to Disney?

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I'm just curious how many people incur debt to visit Disney World or Disneyland?

And if you don't, how does your Disney trip get prioritized in your budget? After your other financial goals are met, or as part of your yearly budget regardless of your other goals?

I know I might get different answers on this based on which board it is posted on...but I'm curious what people do to get to Disney.

 

[laliwalden]

We do not go into debt to go to WDW. We do try to book way ahead, that gives us more time to pay it off!!

 

[DawnM]

We will not go if it involves debt.

We are frugal Disney goers though so that we can go more often! If you have a budget, you need to have a line item for vacations.

Dawn

 

[crisi]

I'm just curious how many people incur debt to visit Disney World or Disneyland?

And if you don't, how does your Disney trip get prioritized in your budget? After your other financial goals are met, or as part of your yearly budget regardless of your other goals?

I know I might get different answers on this based on which board it is posted on...but I'm curious what people do to get to Disney.

My first marriage, yes. That was long ago.

We don't really budget. We save. When we have a lot of money saved, we decide what to do with it. Sometimes our savings are directed (I know right now my husband wants a new car in the next two years, so more is sitting in the savings account for that. Sometimes we move the money into longer term savings (kids college funds, investment accounts), sometimes we decide to go on vacation.

Sometimes things hit all at once and my husband wants a new car when we want to go on vacation and we have Christmas spending. Then I sell some stock if the market is good. Sometimes, if I like my investments where I have them, I use a line of credit and pay that off. That would be debt, but its an odd debt since it COULD be paid off pretty easily, we just feel that at that moment there is a better place for our cash than paying off low interest debt. (My dividends pay better than my interest rate on my line of credit....).

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

We would never go into debt for any vacation and that includes Disney.

We spend alot on vacations per year.

When we budgeted our money and how much of a house we could afford to buy our vacations were budgeted right in. They are something I look forward to, Disney or otherwise.

 

[tweedlemom]

We only go every 2 or 3 years. We plan that far ahead so we can start saving. We always go during free dining and stay at a value resort. We don't rent a car. We do fly down, so airfare is a big chunk. We put away $20 cash every week the year before we travel, so that come vacation week, we have over $1000 in spending money. If we can't pay it outright, we don't go. That's just us. I have never taken a Disney cruise or stayed at a Deluxe resort or stayed longer than 9 days, so I'm sure those options would entail either more saving or taking more time to pay it off. People on these boards have very creative ways of saving. I always enjoy hearing how others budget.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm just curious how many people incur debt to visit Disney World or Disneyland?

And if you don't, how does your Disney trip get prioritized in your budget? After your other financial goals are met, or as part of your yearly budget regardless of your other goals?

I know I might get different answers on this based on which board it is posted on...but I'm curious what people do to get to Disney.

We try to take advantage of frequent buyer bonuses and other rewards programs to pay for our travel. I have over $700 in disney gift cards saved by cashing in points from various rewards programs and disney visa. We also use other credit card points to pay for airfare and restaurant gift cards. And travel is also a line item in our budget. While it doesnt have the same priority as retirement savings or education accounts, it is right up there with home improvements and gifts to family.

 

[MommyBryn]

Oh heeeck no. It wouldn't be a vacation to us if it put us into debt.

We don't put money into ouf vacation fun unless it's extra money. This time I was determined to pay as little OOP as possible so I earned the majority of it online doing surveys and with Disney Visa Rewards (we just put all of our expenses on the card and treat it like a debit card, taking it immediately out of our balance, so we have NEVER carried a balance and only reap the rewards. Works very well. For example, my total final payment OOP- though I had paid a couple small amts OOP prior- was only $85, and this was for 9days/8nights at CBR with dining I think I paid for about 15% of it OOP.

 

[cheshireqt]

We do not incur debt when we go on vacation to Disney or anywhere else. I do look for codes and deals such as free dining, and this does sway me toward a Disney vacation some years.

We are not budget-ers, per se, but do put a set amount each month and any windfall $ into our savings account. I pull from this account for large purchases like vacation, furniture, house expenses, etc. Never allow this account to be raided past our set $ cushion for emergencies.

I usually start dreaming about where we want to go and what we want to do in January, by February I am in full swing of planning and usually book by late February. This is how I keep the winter doldrums at bay. Most years we plan a mini and a large vacation. One is to see family and the other is usually for ourselves. For example if we are spending a week at the beach with the entire family I will look into a 4 or 5 day vacation just for us.

 

[pigletto]

No we don't. We saved for the last trip for almost 2 years. When we wanted to eat out, or buy something shiny that we didn't need we usually put it in the Disney fund. Any bonuses or unexpected savings went in there too.
This trip came out of savings, but only because financially things have improved and we were able to go sooner.
To each their own, I just know that post vacation let down is bad enough without a big fat bill adding to it.

 

[gillenkl]

We don't go into debt for any vacation - disney or otherwise. I have some accounts that accrue interest and we use that for all our vacations. When the money is there, it's time to go. I also keep an envelope where I put "extra" money from selling things, etc... and we use that to pay for food and souvenirs.

 

[CleoPahd]

We don't go in debt for our trips either. We plan our vacations a couple of different ways. We are savers, and try to meet personal savings goals...when we do, we feel we can splurge a little more, not just on vacation, but on things in general. We also like to budget money for vacation so we don't feel any pinch. We build up rewards points and put money little by little on gift cards so that by the time we go there is no real out of pocket expense. I don't think I could go and really enjoy myself if I knew when I got home I couldn't afford to pay my bills...but that's just me.

 

[racechick8293]

I won't incur debt for a vacation. If I can't pay for it outright, I won't go.

 

[julirina]

We would not go into debt for a vacation. We're terrible budgeters and have had our share of financial difficulties over the years, but the thought of borrowing money for a vacation and having to pay it back (with interest!) long after that vacation is over...no way.

That being said, we live paycheck to paycheck and there's never much extra for regular savings, let alone a vacation fund. So Disney for us is typically dependent on the size of our income tax refund and whether or not that's already been earmarked for other things. (2008 brought us that lovely "stimulus check" that paid our way to Disney!) This year we're anticipating a little extra and we've already made a WDW trip a priority, but if that would change, we would definitely cancel without a second thought.

 

[branv]

We don't, but we also seldom plan a trip less than six months out. It's usually closer to a year, and this trip...the big anniversary splurge..was planned 1.5 years out (well, mostly because we wanted to sail on the Dream).

But since this is the budget board, you'll see a lot more people saying they don't go into debt for the trip. I can guarantee you'll get a whole different variety of answers if you post it on the community board (if you are brave enough to, anyway ).

 

[disneychrista]

Absolutely NOT. Vacataions are line item on the budget just like everything else. The money comes automatically out of my checking into my ING savings account each month.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We used to.

Then I got smart. Now we have a vacation fund that so much money per month goes into. It's for any vacation we take - beach, WDW, travel to visit relatives.

When we want to go to WDW, we usually have the money or close to it now. It's been working great.

Really I should be using that vacation savings to pay down our debt faster but I love having a decent vacation once a year so that's not going to happen.

 

[Colleen27]

No, we don't incur debt for Disney. Travel is a regular part of our budget, independent of whether our financial/savings goals are met, and we've basically structured our lives around travel as a priority (in terms of what other obligations we take on, how much house we decided we could afford, etc.). I know that doesn't go over real well on the budget board, but we try to balance living for today with saving for tomorrow and sometimes that means we take a vacation even though we fall short of maxing out our retirement or college savings opportunities.

 

[RachaelA]

Nope. We have a general travel savings fund. And we usually use our tax refund to pay for trips as well.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I defintely don't go into debt for our trips. We save for it as a priority budget item along with retirement, college, and emergency savings.