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

[lovin'fl]

One of my best friends is an actuary and I SWEAR she is taking a new test every other month.

Yeah, when DH was taking them it was 2 a year and his goal was to be done by 25, 26, 27 (something like that). I think he was done a year or two later than he wanted but that wasn't bad considering we were also raising three babies at the same time. Good luck to your friend. It's tough but the reward (salary) is pretty nice.

 

[KrazeeK120]

My husband is a web developer at a large insurance company and I’m a stay at home mom. However, prior to our son being born, I worked various jobs in the insurance industry (including both personal and commercial underwriting and business analysis) for over 10 years. So, we had substantial savings when our son was born. The only debt we carry is our house. We agreed to only buy cars every 15 years and we don’t buy a lot of stuff otherwise. I swear I wear the same 5 shirts and 3 pairs of shoes all the time, but I’m ok with that. We also often make the 16 hour drive to Disney, which saves a ton on airfare.

We don’t go every single year and we’ve stayed at all levels, but we do like the deluxe resorts. I’d never pay rack rate, though. I have gotten discounts through Disney in the past and this year am using a TA for a discount.

We could have nicer “stuff” in our everyday life, but we like to go on trips (we often do little side trips to other places as well). It’s just about where we put our money.

Lastly, I think family size and makeup has a lot to do with affordability. We are not planning to have more children. 1 child costs less than 2 children, which cost less than 3 children, etc. This is true everywhere, not just at Disney. Our dollars can stretch further based on our choice to have a small family. (Please note that I’m not in any way saying that large families are bad! Our family size is just what works best for us.) Also, our son is still under 3, so we don’t have to pay for a park ticket for him yet.

 

[Summer2018]

We find a good deal (read going in August!) and save in other areas to be able to go. We make OK money, but live in HCOL area. We also only go once every 3 years or so. I'd rather go less often and stay Deluxe than go every year and stay at a value, but we live in Southern California and can always get our Disney fix at Disneyland. We also skipped getting Disneyland APs this year to help pay for our WDW trip.

This trip we're staying WL, but when we go again in a few years (with or without hubby ) I want to stay at the Beach Club.

It’s a beautiful resort, and the best part is Stormalong Bay.

 

[SaintsManiac]

You bring up some good points. I too am not into expensive shoes or fancy cars or spend a ton at the beauty salon and the such. We buy used cars and drive them into the ground. We buy cheap furniture and wear that into the ground. I buy clothes at Target and Kohls. But we spend on our vacations. Growing up, both DH and I came from modest income families who didn't do many vacations and when they did it was in nasty cheapo hotels. So we wanted nicer vacations as adults.

You sound like me! I won't pay for salon hair color, fancy beauty products (except my Murad moisturizer as it's the only thing that works), I shop for almost ALL of my clothes at Target. We don't have expensive furniture, because our cats would ruin it lol.

I want to make memories for my daughter that she'll always look back on with love. My dad dragged us to the beach every year to stay in some crappy motel. He made us stay at the Ramada in Orlando when he took us to Disney. It was awful. He could have afforded better! He was just so cheap.

I'd rather be cheap in every other part of my life and then live it up on vacation!

 

[Shanti]

Growing up, both DH and I came from modest income families who didn't do many vacations and when they did it was in nasty cheapo hotels. So we wanted nicer vacations as adults.

Same here. I remember doing a lot of road trips in the back of a station wagon, and staying at cheap hotels/motels. We went to WDW once when I was growing up, and stayed offsite. I remember looking at the Grand Floridian during the boat ride from the TTC and wishing that we could have stayed there...

 

[a1tinkfans]

It’s always been about prioritizing for us. We took many steps along the way to provide the life we wanted ...for the long haul. Each (large) decision was discussed and dissected. Choices made at times, always with the future in mind.
Blessed!

 

[hereforthechurros]

We have been coming to Orlando for twenty years , the first time when our son was small and we stayed in the All Star Sports and loved it! We were the only people I knew who stayed in an actual Disney Resort! We have since stayed on I Drive, more recently at the Universal Onsite Deluxe hotels, Christmas gone we stayed at the Dolphin for two weeks and two years ago Club Level Theme Park View at the Poly( which was great but sooooo not worth the 800 dollars a night!)
This October we are back to the All Star Sports!
I am a retired Registered Nurse, my husband works in construction( not particularly well paid).
We know we are lucky to come a couple of times a year from the U.K., we could afford deluxe every time because we are pretty frugal in our day to day lives, but because of regional flights, ticket prices and the sterling rate, our holidays cost us around 10 000 USD each trip .
Granted it’s usually a two week trip, so having stayed Deluxe once, I don’t think I will bother again.
( might change my mind next year- who knows!)

You spend $20000 grand a year traveling to WDW, am I reading that correctly?

 

[CGB]

Retired military/civil servant and teacher. We probably did it wrong... but we started staying at deluxe resorts first. After staying at the Poly (2007), we wanted to go back again the next year. That "want" forced me to look hard at our finances and spending. And believe me.... it needed attention in the worst way. The advice I read in this forum 11 years ago (especially from MrsPete - thank you!) changed our financial outlook. Fortunately, the military discounts on resorts were introduced. The 40% discount for deluxes is incredible and we've used it a lot. Although, while our kids were in college, we skipped a couple of years and stayed off-property to direct money toward their tuition.

Now that our "kids" are adults, we prefer to get two rooms at a value (twice the beds, twice the space, two bathrooms) for roughly the same amount or cheaper than we'd pay for one deluxe room. Considering that Disney charges $35 each for extra adults in a deluxe room, it really makes two value rooms more attractive to us.

 

[Wubar]

Finances, of course, are the ultimate factor, but depending on other priorities and lifestyle, there are ways to try and make it work, and saving when you can and doing without things while keeping eyes on the prize.

Reminds me of the various articles that came out during the recession (like around 2009), when families making $300k insisted they weren't middle class or rich, and had barely any savings after each paycheck. Of course, then the article drilled down into their monthly expenses, which included a pricey mortgage, multiple expensive car lease payments, cleaning services, country club memberships, private school payments, nanny fees, daycare, 3 week long vacations to exotic places, etc etc etc. Wonder what other families making minimum wage thought of their "awful" situation.

 

[Shanti]

Finances, of course, are the ultimate factor, but depending on other priorities and lifestyle, there are ways to try and make it work, and saving when you can and doing without things while keeping eyes on the prize.

Reminds me of the various articles that came out during the recession (like around 2009), when families making $300k insisted they weren't middle class or rich, and had barely any savings after each paycheck. Of course, then the article drilled down into their monthly expenses, which included a pricey mortgage, multiple expensive car lease payments, cleaning services, country club memberships, private school payments, nanny fees, daycare, 3 week long vacations to exotic places, etc etc etc. Wonder what other families making minimum wage thought of their "awful" situation.

So true. I agree with them that $300,000 per year isn't "rich", but it is definitely upper middle class, and it's enough to provide a very comfortable life.

Those people need some perspective. I lived off of less than $30,000 per year for years, early in my teaching career. That was tight.

Some people choose to live above their means no matter how much money they make, and that leaves them feeling poor.

 

[StageTek]

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.

An excellent point. Reading here is does seem as if people are taking long expensive vacations at WDW several times a year. They are the very rare. Most people save and scrimp and go once every five or so years or once on their life.

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?

An excellent question and now is the time to start the saving. That's how most people afford to stay deluxe. Conservatively you have 8 years before your family is ready to take this deluxe vacation. Start a WDW Vacation saving account together today. If between you and your husband you can manage to drop $50 a week into that account in 8 years you will have $19,000 for that amazing Disney trip. Somewhere along that journey you might be able to up that to $75/week or even $100. Most couples easily spend $50 on Starbucks - two coffees per day is $10. If you don't go to Starbucks look into your daily spending habits and see what you can cut to drop that $25 (each) into a saving account each week.

That's how people who do not earn big money can afford a deluxe Disney trip. You should be able to be one of those families by the time your kids are 6 and 8.

 

[greg9x]

So true. I agree with them that $300,000 per year isn't "rich", but it is definitely upper middle class, and it's enough to provide a very comfortable life.

Those people need some perspective. I lived off of less than $30,000 per year for years, early in my teaching career. That was tight.

Some people choose to live above their means no matter how much money they make, and that leaves them feeling poor.

Funny how peoples perspective changes the more they make... $300K is pretty well off.

Median household income in U.S. is just under $60K. There was a recent survey showing that over 1/2 of Americans did not have $1K in the bank for an emergency.

If your going to Disney at all, your in the upper %'s no matter how long you saved for it. If your always staying Deluxe your in the upper %'s of that.

If you make over $32.4K/year you are in the top 1% of the world ! That is probably 99% of everyone here.

Not dissing anyone.. just keeping the perspective of how well off you are if you can afford Deluxe .

 

[Hisgirl]

Hahaha, I totally understand you asking this question. We love to go to Seaside on the Florida gulf and the little pastel cottages sell for over $1M each and I always wonder just what 'does' everyone do for a living that affords this kind of luxury!

It's all relative. For us, spending $450 a night on a hotel room (booked during 25% off times, add on 20% off travelocity or orbitz coupon and add on 2% cash back credit card, and add on 1-4% cash back ebates cash) isn't that big of a deal due to our yearly salaries, bonuses, combined with our choices of frugal living. For another, this price per night is INSANE and would eat up a month's worth of grocery money because they make less per month.

It's all about education, choices, skills, abilities, what you choose to buy and not buy, what you choose to focus your work ethic on, what career path, what your vacation priorities are etc etc etc and add it all up into an algorithm and there ya have it.

 

[Shaun176]

We go every year and stay at a deluxe epcot resort. We live close enough to drive in one day, so we pay the same for our vacation staying at a deluxe as people who fly pay to stay at a moderate or value. We live and save off our salaries and vacation off our bonuses. We are both midcareer professionals with advanced degrees. We could not afford Disney when we were starting out.

 

[kandb]

It really matters where you live also to say that $300K year is a lot of money. Probably anywhere in the US, $300K is a comfortable salary, HOWEVER, if you live where we do where the expenses are a lot higher, the $300K does not go as far. Our property taxes are considered cheap here in northern NJ $12K a year, my sister who lives 15 minutes from me pays $22K a year. An average house in our town is $700K. Our car insurance is very high also.

 

[Soarin4us]

Some of the young 20’s adults in our lives were surprised to add the cost of things they regularly spend money on:
Manicures
Coffee
Buying lunch daily
Netflix etc
Take-in/eating out

Eliminating or cutting back on those types of expenses creates huge savings. Many of us forego the small daily/weekly expenses, preferring to save for vacations or college or whatever.

 

[Firsttimer15]

So true. I agree with them that $300,000 per year isn't "rich", but it is definitely upper middle class, and it's enough to provide a very comfortable life.

300k is definitely not middle class anymore by definition.

But with more money more desires start to appear. People are never satisfied. When you make 30k you dream of a used car when you make 300k you dream of a Porsche ie
I read a study once, that after 300k you don’t gain anymore happiness from more money.

I’d also rather have parents that take cheap vacations and help their kids through college rather than take Disney vacations above their means.

Disney is very good at marketing and instilling the wish to go keep going to wdw over and over or even once in a lifetime and spend a lot of Money there that people don’t have.
Americans in general tend to overspend a lot on silly things in my opinion with multiple credit cards, mortgages on houses, even refinancing houses and expensive car leases. 50$ for Starbucks every week ?

I would never take a vacation if I couldn’t pay cash for it. I would never take out a loan for it or charge it on a credit card and I save for retirement, kids education, new car, house improvements first then comes the vacation savings. Disney is awesome and deluxe resorts are too but it’s not a top priority for me.
My parents never took me and we vacationed in cheap places still I have the fondest memories of that. I am greatful for everything they did for me.
They definitely had the money but chose not to, their money their choice.

I keep taking my kids bc my money my choice

 

[Shanti]

It really matters where you live also to say that $300K year is a lot of money. Probably anywhere in the US, $300K is a comfortable salary, HOWEVER, if you live where we do where the expenses are a lot higher, the $300K does not go as far. Our property taxes are considered cheap here in northern NJ $12K a year, my sister who lives 15 minutes from me pays $22K a year. An average house in our town is $700K. Our car insurance is very high also.

True, but you can still live comfortably on that in any city in America. Not in the ritzy neighborhoods in cities like NYC or L.A., but you can still live comfortably even in NYC or L.A. with that income.

 

[bluejasmine]

Im a dispatcher hubby works in the delivery business, I always use a discount and I book like a year in advance and slowly pay It off. We are saving up to buy DVC and will buy it early next yr so that will help cut costs down too

 

[Summer2018]

Funny how peoples perspective changes the more they make... $300K is pretty well off.

Median household income in U.S. is just under $60K. There was a recent survey showing that over 1/2 of Americans did not have $1K in the bank for an emergency.

If your going to Disney at all, your in the upper %'s no matter how long you saved for it. If your always staying Deluxe your in the upper %'s of that.

If you make over $32.4K/year you are in the top 1% of the world ! That is probably 99% of everyone here.

Not dissing anyone.. just keeping the perspective of how well off you are if you can afford Deluxe .

You have to consider cost of living. My friend was a nurse in the NICU at Greenwich Hospital in CT. She made double what I made as a teacher in CT. She lived in a beautiful house on an average sized lot. Her husband was an athletic director for a private school.

When she moved to Tennessee, she got a nursing position in a big city hospital in the NICU for a much smaller salary. She bought a gigantic house on acres and acres of land in TN. Her husband didn’t find a job right away and her job with a considerable cut in pay was enough to support them both in a mansion with enough land for horses.

It’s all relative.