For Those On A Budget

[Jennasmomma]

I have a question for those of you that arent Rich (hahah who really is anymore). How are you able to go to WDW every year or every other? Im going in Dec and its my first trip ever. I know I'll want to go back but the only reason we are going now is from $$ from my grandmothers estate when she passed 2 yrs ago. Any tips? Thanks

 

[T. Lynn]

We can't afford to go every year either. I went every 3 years as a child.

My DD and DH's first trip was in 2003 and we were only able to go since our grandmother was paying for most of it as a family gift. That's right...went with 10 other family members. it was still fun (to a point) but very memorable for her and that's what's more important.

Our next trip is planned for 2008. I like going for 2 weeks and I'd rather go every 5 years to get to do that. This will be our first onsite trip so DD and & I are so excited. DH just sits back and watches us go crazy over commercials and things. I think he's understand it more if he went as a child. He laughed when we were there and said "gee, the castle is so big". Well, it is viewing it as a child. He never got to experience that. I get to relive those memories and see my DD having the same feelings as I did.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

A lot of people who go to WDW on a regular basis are Florida residents - who get discounted rooms and tickets, Disney Vacation Club (DVC) owners - who have "pre-paid" for their vacation thru their timeshare membership, people who live close enough to Disney to drive there - avoiding costly airfare or people who are extremely frugal in other areas of their lives in order to be able to afford their Disney vacations.

Any way that you look at it, a week at WDW can be costly. The best advise that I can give is to read these boards for discounts, advise on saving and hints on how to generate extra income that can be applied to your trip expenses.

 

[disnutt]

We focus our spending on our vacations. We drive used cars, we don't eat out much (1-2x mo and w/ coupons). We have basic cable and are thinking of cutting that out. The kids are in low cost activities like Girl Scouts and music lessons w/ an inexpensive (but good) teacher. My hubby works from home and wears jeans and my job requires clean but not trendy/expensive clothes. We prefer to spend on quality (fun vacations/family times) vs quantity (Starbucks, HBO, and clothes from the mall).

Also, we pick up part-time work when possible. I have mystery shopped, done marketing and my hubby picks up extra freelance work. All of these are minor sacrifices to enable us to get to spend time together at Disney or anywhere else we want to go.

 

[Zim]

I've been fortunate enough to have family with situations that allowed us to join them in the Orlando area the past few years. Four years ago we went down with my aunt's family - they had a timeshare and somehow were able to get two complete suites - so all we had to come up with were tickets.

Then in the fall of 2004 my parents started RVing permanently. When they got to the Orlando area we flew down and stayed in their RV with them. So again - only paid for tickets.

This time (November/December 2006) we're doing the whole thing ourselves - and it's probably going to set me back for vacations for the next couple years. We're doing everything, including the 3 night cruise. A full two weeks...

 

[btass]

I have to say that I have been very lucky.

The first family trip we took to Disney property was three years ago, a lady I work with let me know about the Dis and Mousesavers and I got in on a great discount time.

The second trip (two years ago) I got $49 each way on the airfare and $49 a night at the Pop Century. the Airfare was an Anniversary deal from Song and I think the $49 at the Pop was because it was really new.

This last year (in December) was because during a weak moment in the summer I promised DS we would go for his 7th Birthday and I paid for it with a bonus my DH got from work.

Now, this year my DH just won a trip from Commerce Bank. I think this will be the last year for a long time, my luck at discounts is running a bit thin I think.

 

[Jennasmomma]

Its really hard for us to save during the year. Im on SSI and so is my mom. We will try to save to go again in a few years Im sure. Maybe we'll have to stay off site to do it. This time we are going to stay at the cabins.

Im excited because I've wanted to go to wdw since I found it exsisted as a kid ahha. Just never had the $ to do so. So I get to experience everything right along with my 10 yr old dd for the first time.

My family of 6 is staying for a week. Hitting one park a day. We do realize you wont see it all in one trip though.

 

[DVC Sadie]

I have a question for those of you that arent Rich (hahah who really is anymore). How are you able to go to WDW every year or every other? Im going in Dec and its my first trip ever. I know I'll want to go back but the only reason we are going now is from $$ from my grandmothers estate when she passed 2 yrs ago. Any tips? Thanks

No we are not rich but I can afford nWDW trips at least 4 or 5 times a year.

 

[JKJK]

We have only been to WDW once, it was the Dec. after 9-11. There were so many deals that we were able to go for the first time. It was awesome and we would love to go back but I dont see that happening anytime soon. Living on the west coast, it is pretty pricey to fly anywhere. One day, we will go back. But for now, I just live through everyone elses trips! I hope you have a really wonderful time when you go.

 

[Hannathy]

Like Disnut we save other ways like used cars, 20 yr old living room furniture,I never pay 5 bucks for a cup of coffee,only go to the movies occasionally, only 1 cell phone even with a 14 yr old,etc We do splurge on the computer ! When we go we shop for aifare, have stayed off site every time - if we go this year it will be value season and we may stay at POP esp. with ME., do at most 1 sit down meal during the week. The kids get about $50. for souvenirs for the whole time not per day. My DD is 14 and has been there 3 times. We have been married 25 years and have been there a total of 5 times. we didn't go for a lot of years in the beginning. The in between years we don't go on a big vacation just visit relatives and side trips or maybe a long weekend. You can go to Disney very economically if you want or spend a fortune. I also agree most of the people who go multiple times a year live reasonably close, are "richer" than they think compared to the rest of us, or have very little savings and prefer to live now and hope for the best. (IMO)

 

[imamicki2]

I use my tax refund and if I need to - I will use Christmas Club money too. This of course depends on when I go thru the year. Don't worry, I have enough to get Christmas gifts too. I have just started going every year. It took a long time for this. I would go every 2-5 years before. I just love it so much now, I can't help myself. I also use the dis to find discounts, info. I never knew about room only rates and ap rates, etc until I found you guys. That has saved me so much.

 

[sandy6879]

We also do not drive new cars, nor do we eat out more than one time a week. And that is a $20 meal when we do it. We budget every way possible, and generally use at least part of our tax return in order to pay for the trip. I save money by the week for spending money down there, but again, we buy almost no souvenirs. My daughter's favorite thing is the pressed pennies, so she saves her allowance to be able to do that (hey, .51 for a souvenir works for me!). My grocery bill for the 3 of us is about $75 a week so I take the extra $25 I budget and sock it away. We don't buy DVDs or CDs and very infrequently do we shop for new clothes. I grew up in this type of household but my parents were never able to go on vacation. I put a vacation very high on my priority list for my family's sanity and togetherness time, so we are able to take the vacation because that's what we put our "extra" money toward.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

We are also going for our first trip ever! We are getting 3 of 4 MWY tickets for free using HH points, we got the DISNEY Visa card when it first came out and I put almost everything on it (BUT I pay off my balance every month) so we have enough points to pay for almost all of our food while on vacation, and I have a AAA discount on the room but am hoping for an AP rate to get a deeper discount and then the 4th tickt will be an AP instead of a regular MWY. We are hoping to have a "deluxe" vacation on a "value" budget. Wish me luck

 

[Cindi0511]

We are about 2.5 hours away from Disney, so that cuts a huge cost (flying or driving and hotels) out of the price. We do get price cuts on the Disney hotels as Florida residents, but I think someone told me the annual passholders get pretty much the same rates.

I do know that we make more money than many people do, and that is how we buy annual passes. We do go on weekends quite a bit, comparatively speaking. since individual tickets aren't a problem. (I just didn't want to sound like we do all of this on $40,000 a year).

However, I grew up with much, much less than I have now, and I know my parents really worked to take us from Ohio to Orlando two or three times. I have still sometimes scrimped on grocery money and saved the overage in my sock drawer just so we wouldn't have to come up with a ton of extra cash for food. Plus, Animal Kingdom used to have some kind of voucher for lunch, a drink and a snack for pretty much the same price as just the lunch, so we'd make ice cream lunch and space a drink inbetween that and the meal that we'd eat at the end of the lunch timetable. Snacks at the hotel and water bottles carried in.

And, in my humble opinion, you will have just as much fun and probably appreciate your time at Disney more than those who don't have to sacrifice to get there -- and that is not a slam on anyone!!!!!!

Hope you have a fabulous time! It will create incredible memories. Let us know how those trips go. Those reports are so much fun to read.

 

[tinkerbellmom31]

Taxes is the #one for us. Any extra we may need comes from DH saving, my aunt giving us cash for our anniversary ect. (I am a SAHM.) We go every other year so we save change and the kids save special money they get so they have there own spending money. Our kids are 11, 6 and soon to be 4 we try to keep what they have even and they have a certain amount they spend each day. If they have extra left from one day it carries to the next. One rule I try to encourage is if the can get the item at home at walmart or the Disney store to not get it until we are home or REALLY think it over. The dining plan was a HUGE money saver for us this past August. I generally make ALL the arrangements myself and watch for discounts. We stay at the cheapest place available to us (on property) with AAA discounts. I want to add it is possible we are a family of 5 that makes about 50 grand a year,we just live within our means, budget and have one credit card for emergencies, we have one vechicle that is used and paid in full. We see no need for a brand new car with a huge payment our mortgage is plenty lol.

 

[madge]

Here are some things we do:
- kick-start our vacation fund each year with roughly half of our income tax return.
- put a set amount into an ING savings account each week
- sell gently worn children's clothing on ebay, resale shops, etc
- found money goes to the vacation fund
- save change
- Starwood Amex, use points for free upgrades or nights
- maximize ticket use. we can get 2 trips out of a 10-day MYW pass with the no expiration option. Really... we could probably get 3 trips out of the pass.
- If there's the possibility of a discount, we ask.
- stay offsite through www.afvclub.com
- we drive if it will save us money
- generous relatives give our children spending $$ for souvenirs.

 

[robinb]

We go often because my DH went to college, got 2 master's degrees and works for a Fortune 500 company. I also went to college, got my BS and we were DINKS for many years saving $$ and buying into DVC before we had our DD. I now work from home selling used books on Amazon.com and I also sell on eBay. The vast majority of our "Mouse Money" comes from my book sales.

 

[kimbac3]

I don't know if this will help you or not but my DH has an "extra" paycheck about 4 times a year. I budget based on 4 pays per month so in those rare months when we have an extra pay week I only take food money out for that week, the rest goes towards vacation.
Kimba

 

[HaleyB]

We didn't go at all for many, many years . We lived near DL and went there often with local discounts. But that was over 10 years ago, now.

We really have only gone 3 times in the last 18 years (although we went for 18 days one time, so maybe that counts double). In my first 18 years I went twice (with my parents). So that works out to less than once every 7 years... although I admit the last two trips were rather close together.

 

[azgal81]

We go to disneyland once a year sometimes twice a year if I can talk my boyfriend into it. Save a small amount each month (I only save $30) it doesn't have to be alot if you don't know you won't go every year but that money in a high earning savings account (my disney fund is at emigrant direct earning 4.25% interest which is basically free money). Spare change adds up get a jar. Disney visa but pay it off each month, interest rate is very hight every $100 dollars you spend you will get $1 reward money. Charge everything to that card and you will have a good amount of reward money so for making everyday purchases. Do reward sites online for gift cards or disney dollars. Take online surveys for cash or gift cards and put that money in your disney fund to gain interest. I hope to have the majority of my trip paid for with free money (interest, disney visa rewards, reward sites and surveys and the cans we get cash for with recycling).