For those of you that stay deluxe - what do you do for a living?

[lbus42]

I bought a Boardwalk Villa DVC at a resale site. Purchased 130 points which gives me almost 2 weeks a year in a studio or a week in a one bedroom during low season times. It’s nice to go stay at a Deluxe and only have to worry about park tickets, food, travel, and souvenirs.

 

[Anniefrances]

We start our vacation at a value for the first 5-6 days while we are hitting the parks heavily, meaning we are using the room mostly just to shower and sleep. Then we switch over to a deluxe so that we are able to relax, enjoy the pool, and jump into the parks just for FP use and occasional meals. We do purchase APs, and tend to make 1-2 short trips, during which time I book bouncebacks to lock in discounts (usually 30% for deluxe). And to be able to afford all this on a single parent professor's salary, we don't spend much money on other activities. So little to no movies, waterparks, local amusement parks, high end restaurant eating, etc. My kids know this is a trade off and they are happy to eschew those things in order to maximize our days and ability to upgrade to deluxe at WDW. Also, once there, I tend to eat kid's meals and pack a ton of snacks, plus lately we've also been booking CL, all which reduces our food costs.

 

[Aliceacc]

We don't go "all the time." We tend to go maybe every other year. Last year we didn't go on vacation at all.

We're both teachers in Catholic Schools, and we have 3 high school/ college age kids.

Our niece works with Disney Imagineering and this year shared her Friends and Family discount with us.

 

[Shanti]

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, i wasn't really sure where to put it. I'm also sorry if this is an uncouth thing to discuss, but I thought it would be interesting!

I've always dreamed of taking future kids (getting married next spring) to Disney and staying at GF every time (it's my favorite!). However, I know it's incredibly expensive and can't fathom how people afford to take their kids and stay deluxe all the time! So I'm curious, if you love to stay deluxe with the kiddos, what do you do for a living? Or do you have any other secrets to how you afford to stay deluxe?

I'm a schoolteacher. I'm also in my 40's (I never could afford to travel to WDW at all in my 20's...) Now that I'm at a place in life where I have no debt besides my mortgage, I have decent employer-paid health insurance, and my ex actually has to help pay a significant share of my son's major expenses, I can afford to travel.

I'm too old (to my mind) to do bare-bones backpacking type or Motel 6 travel. I want comfort and to be treated as a valued customer. Deluxe stays are as expensive as you make them. There are times of year that are cheaper than others, there are standard rooms, there are resort discounts & travel agency deals, and because we are very efficient at touring, we don't feel the need for long stays. So those factors cut down on the cost. I also have only one child, not a brood. That helps.

I'm not at chic boutiques buying designer shoes and handbags, and I drive a (very nice) used car. I live in an affordable part of town, and am not the home-remodeling type. My priorities right now are getting my son the best education for him (he's autistic and at a private school), and building memories with him via great vacations. Works for us.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, i wasn't really sure where to put it. I'm also sorry if this is an uncouth thing to discuss, but I thought it would be interesting!

I've always dreamed of taking future kids (getting married next spring) to Disney and staying at GF every time (it's my favorite!). However, I know it's incredibly expensive and can't fathom how people afford to take their kids and stay deluxe all the time! So I'm curious, if you love to stay deluxe with the kiddos, what do you do for a living? Or do you have any other secrets to how you afford to stay deluxe?

I would rather stay deluxe or DVC. So we only go every few years. We have stayed off site and to me it is just not the same. My husband is an Engineer. I am a stay at home mom but two of our adult children, 23 and 31 are special needs. I like my creature comforts and like enough room to move around in.

 

[Shanti]

The cheapest way to stay at a Deluxe resort is to rent DVC points. There are DVC villas at almost every Deluxe resort, including the Grand Floridian. You do need to plan in advance (6-11 months) and usually pay in full.

I get travel-agency exclusive rates from my travel agent that are at least as good at renting points. The agency reserves blocks of rooms at convention rates, then passes on the savings to clients. It's a great deal, and we get to stay at Disney hotels with two real beds and daily housekeeping, rather than in the Disney timeshare units.

 

[verleniahall]

my husband is in the military so we get 40% off per night at deluxes

 

[SaintsManiac]

I'm in customer service. My husband is in networking/IT stuff I don't completely understand.

We book with discounts. We do not pay rack rate for deluxe. For shorter trips we stay at POP.

We put money into savings every week. We pack lunches for work and school. We don't eat out or take out more than once a week. A majority of our purchases are items that are on sale. We borrow books from the library. I could go on and on.

 

[BingoJoe]

We come from England and stay every year for two weeks in a deluxe, doing Polynesian CL this August.

I own a software company and the cost isn't an issue for us.

I would say that a two weeks at a Disney Deluxe with the park tickets and dining plan etc is actually pretty good value compared to other holidays you can take. For example two weeks at a five star hotel in the Caribbean can be up to twice as much, and you only get a tiny fraction of what you get for your money at WDW.

When you actually think about the amount of content you get for your cash at WDW I think it is great value for money.

 

[JerseyJanice]

It sounds like you have your heart set on the Grand Floridian, but if you’re interested in the Swan or Dolphin, you can get some amazing deals there. Everything about the resort is deluxe except the price.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

I’m a small business owner. I budget very, very carefully. We stay deluxe for 3-4 nights twice a year. I never pay rack rate for a deluxe stay. All of mine are booked with a discount either as a bounce back or through my TA. We usually do a split stay to make our vacations more affordable. The first 5 nights we stay at a value resort.

 

[Magical2017]

When we stay deluxe, it is always with a discount or renting points. I have never paid rack at Disney. Heck, I even found a deal for our honeymoon in Maui and Kauai (although we loved our resorts). I teach at a university and my spouse is in upper management for a company. All our money goes into our retirement, investments, college savings for two boys, and home renovations. We try not to accumulate cc debt, and definitely not for trips. We love to vacation but there is only so much left after we "pay" ourselves. If we had unlimited funds, we would travel more often. I would love to do a three week trip to Australia and New Zealand. I am paying for braces, though, lol.

 

[hereforthechurros]

This is a topic that fascinates me. I thought WDW was a special once or twice in a lifetime thing but from reading these boards it feels like some people live there or travel there every few weeks. Baffling, but to each their own. We’ve been lucky enough to visit WDW in February of this year, then Disneyland in April and going to WDW again in two weeks.

To us, time is money at WDW and staying deluxe is worth it for that factor. Staying deluxes can mean less travel time, less crowding at the resort, and more access to amenities. But beyond that it’s peace and quiet. We love going hard at the parks then completely winding down at the resort afterwards. Staying at a value was just exhausting for us and not what we want to spend our vacation dollars doing.

FWIW I own a small business and my husband is a senior economist. We make good money but also rent points and use a TA to get heavy discounts. We travel quite a bit, at least once a month, so not all of our vacation dollars go to WDW.

 

[verleniahall]

This is a topic that fascinates me. I thought WDW was a special once or twice in a lifetime thing but from reading these boards it feels like some people live there or travel there every few weeks. Baffling, but to each their own.

We go once a year to WDW - it doesn’t ha e t9 be a once in a lifetime trip

 

[hereforthechurros]

We go once a year to WDW - it doesn’t ha e t9 be a once in a lifetime trip

Oh I’m aware now. We are going three times in 14 months! I was just saying before joining this community I truly didn’t realize how common it was for people to travel there so often.

 

[lovin'fl]

We are DVC. Best way to do deluxe. Most affordable. We do 2-3 trips a year. We have 3 older kids, in college. And I have been a stay at home mom. But DH worked really hard, passed a bunch of exams while we were raising little babies, continued to work hard at a very demanding career. He chose a career that was in high demand and there have been jobs all over the place and he's been able to take his pick. It's not been a "fun" job and he'd rather do something else but it pays very well and has afforded us a good life. But he works on vacation and weekends and holidays. I have had to take care of all things domestic because, aside from his work, he wanted to be involved with the kids activities as they grew up and didn't have time for things like bill paying or landscaping or car maintenance and the such. I did everything. So with some sacrifice and a lot of hard work you [anyone] too can enjoy annual deluxe resort trips.
DH is an actuary.

Oh, and finances weren't always good. We struggled early on as we were raising 3 littles on a single salary which DH was just starting (we had kids right out of college which wasn't necessarily the plan. But that's another topic). Our first WDW trip was when kids were 4, 4 and 6 and we stayed in a dive in Kissemmee and ate all meals at fast food and the like (no meals on WDW property...I think I even packed sandwiches for lunches). Three years later we bought our first DVC contract.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Oh I’m aware now. We are going three times in 14 months! I was just saying before joining this community I truly didn’t realize how common it was for people to travel there so often.

It's contagious!!

 

[Shanti]

Oh I’m aware now. We are going three times in 14 months! I was just saying before joining this community I truly didn’t realize how common it was for people to travel there so often.

I see WDW (and even Disney Cruise Line) as a resort in the traditional sense. It's a go-to vacation spot for us.

We do some non-Disney travel, as well, but Disney resorts & cruises are sort of our vacation home.

 

[bwang123]

My husband is in networking/IT stuff I don't completely understand.

Hah... you sound like my wife

So I'm curious, if you love to stay deluxe with the kiddos, what do you do for a living? Or do you have any other secrets to how you afford to stay deluxe?

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We bought DVC in our early 30's and have stayed in deluxe even treating our friends and family. Probably would have never paid rack or discounted rates for this level of room. Hard to beat coming back from the park, cracking open a beer and watching giraffes outside your balcony.

 

[monica9]

Not to change the subject but I’ve read a couple of these posts saying they get discounts with TA’s. Do TA’s get better discounts than we can get buy stalking the Disney website? I never thought there were other discounts besides the ones Disney puts out, bounce backs and personal pin codes!