For those who have gone more then 1 time to WDW

[myasmum]

How do you guys do it? This is our 1st trip ever to WDW and I know I am going to love it YEAH YEAH so will my kids

SO I was wondering those Canadians how can you afford to go every year or even 2 tims a year, etc? Is there something that makes it easier to afford to go??

I know people WORK hard out there BUT I see there are people on budgets but they get to go time after time and stupid question I know but just curious as after this time I know I will probably have WDW Withdrawl so how do people do it??

Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

What we've done to enable us to take more than one trip per year is:

1) Invest in an Annual Pass - if you are able to do this, it could save you money in the long run, especially if you take more than one trip per year. Depending on the number of days you go each trip, it may work out to be cheaper to buy an annual pass. Plus, the Annual Pass gives you discounts on merchandise, etc.

2) Watch for airline seat sales - however this may mean you will need to be a little flexible with your travel dates and times to get good fares. As an example, we flew from Edmonton to Orlando in May for $245 CAD per person return because we flew out on a weekday at 2:00 pm and arrived in Orlando at 11:30 pm. Also depending on where you are in Canada (your profile doesn't say) you can also look for flights out of the the US (i.e., rather than flying out of Toronto, you could fly out of Buffalo or Detroit).

3) Go during off peak times if you are able and stay at a value resort - value season can save you tons of money on your room alone, plus if you have an Annual Pass, you can potentially save even more money on discounted rooms.

4) Sometimes staying off site can save you money over staying on site at WDW, even with the cost of renting a car, especially if you belong to CAA or are eligible for other discounts. We've found you don't really lose any of the "Disney Magic" by staying off site.

 

[disyady]

How do you guys do it? This is our 1st trip ever to WDW and I know I am going to love it YEAH YEAH so will my kids

SO I was wondering those Canadians how can you afford to go every year or even 2 tims a year, etc? Is there something that makes it easier to afford to go??

I know people WORK hard out there BUT I see there are people on budgets but they get to go time after time and stupid question I know but just curious as after this time I know I will probably have WDW Withdrawl so how do people do it??

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Congrats on your first trip. You're right - you will love it. What makes it easier is exactly what you're doing - reading these boards and asking questions (which are never stupid!). My husband and I have been to Disney every year since we were married 24 years ago with only 2 exceptions and that is because we make it one of our highest priorities. Our three daughters give up many other things (and so do we) in order to visit Disney every year because it is so important to all of us. Each family decides their priorities and if that's where their energy goes they will achieve it. These boards are a wealth of budget and tip info so be sure to check them all out. Most importantly - have a magical first visit to our favorite place on earth!

 

[SandraC]

Congrats on your trip!

Like other posters, we monitor the boards for tips and deals. We go in regular or high season and still manage deals.

March 2007 was a particularly good deal trip.

1. $59 Southwest airfare
2. $250 Budget car rental for 10 days [Have to do the ocean!]
3. Left over WDW tickets...still have left over WDW tickets
4. CAA discount to stay at CBR
5. Learned the best meal value for my family. We buy groceries and eat breakky in the room, saves time and money, some lunches are groceries too, picnic by the pool [fajitas ~ homemade with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, bag of lettuce, bag of shredded cheese OR sandwiches OR cheese, fruit and veggies] I find we eat a little healthier when we do the grocery thing for some meals. We found a few off-site restaurants we like too, Olive Garden, Sweet Tomates & Sizzler....good food and value. We don't mind WDW counter service meals and tend to share since WDW gives outrages portions. We like character meals so saving $$$$$ and eating healthier works for us.

 

[digskat]

As previous posters have said, off-season equals great savings, $37 less per night at an Allstar Resort. Buy your tickets in bulk, with the non-expiry option, the more days you buy, the less it is per day (as little as $2-3 per person per day from day 9-10). Other options:

Cheap flights (if avail) from Detroit/Buffalo or driving. For a family of 4, a flight from TO costs $2240 can, from Buffalo $630 USD on US Air, from Detroit $565 USD. We have driven for $500 Canadian including hotels and meals each way.

Electric coolers- snacks save meals on way, and allow for breakfast foods while there. Table service is costly, counter service is more reasonable, and in most cases easily shared.

As far as raising the money, we have extra income tax taken off each pay, and use the $3000+ we get back to pay for our tickets, accomodations and transportation. Spending money is saved from pocket change. Instead of using the loonies and twonies for coffee, it goes into a jar. We average about $175/month in change.

 

[connorsmom911]

We follow a lot of the same suggestions above, but we also go for shorter trips more often. Instead of a week, we have gone our last 3 times staying 3 or 4 nights. Not too much, but of course never enough! We bought 10 day tickets that were on a deal with hopper and water parks for free, so we made them non-expiring. We still have 5 days left and all the plusses. With those tickets burning a hole in our pocket, it's really easy to plan future trips, because that expense is taken care of. We look for cheap airfare out of Buffalo (love SW!), stay at value resorts, travel at off times of the year, and try to get the best deals on rental cars. Mousesavers.com is a really good resource for that.

Our next trip we are blowing the budget to go on our first DCL cruise, but it's a special trip with 4 generations that will probably never be repeated, and it's only a 4 night cruise. We were going to do 4 nights in WDW before, but we're cutting it back to 2 nights. We're saving spare change, I've joined online rewards programs for Disney gift cards (see the rewards board for more info), and cutting WAY back on xmas this year.

Luckily dh and I both work jobs where we have the opportunity to not only work OT, but rearrange schedules with time off or day trades. The last few trips a lot of them haven't even been on vacation time, but rearranging shifts. Now that I'm on mat leave we'll be tightening our financial reigns a lot, so there probably won't be much in the way of spending on this upcoming trip, and the next vacation will be at least a year after I return to work. But then again, kids are free until they're 3, so that's always incentive for another trip to be squeezed in!!

 

[myasmum]

WOW thanks for ALL that great info. I truly appreciate it, thats why I love it so much here everyone is SOOOOOOOOOOOO helpful

I will definatly look into alot of things even IF we cant go back next year I will be making sure we go again and longer next time.

Thanks again
Robyn

 

[amw]

Saving points in whatever programs you have helps too.

My husband travels every week for work. We have enough points on aeroplan to "purchase" airfaire annually (still have to pay the Pearson tolls ). Sometimes there's enough points to get a pass or two.

We also collect airmiles - you would be surprised how much you can collect in a year (or credit card is an airmiles one). You can use these points for flights, passes to WDW, Seaworld, and other attractions.

Sometimes you can get passes through hotel points, Diner's Club, etc.

We've also never stayed on-property yet to keep the cost low. Hoping to change that next time

 

[tracyvansmith]

All the child tax credit we get we use for travel. I save it each month in its own savings account. This year we are going in Sep. with Disney’s free dinning. I am hoping Disney offers this next year so we can go then too, and maybe even fit in a 5 day Disney cruise.

 

[MECH8T7]

1. Even if you only go for a week long trip once a year, time your trips so that one annual pass will be good for two trips. e.g. take the first trip during March break one year and return the following year on the week before the annual pass expires.

(BTW, I think you can upgrade MYW passes to APs for an additional cost if you do it within 14 days of the first day that you use your MYW pass.)

2. Use the annual pass to get an AP discount on a room only reservation. (However, this means that you would not be going during periods when AP discounts are not available - e.g. Christmas week, Easter)

3. Buy a Disney Dining Experience card (approx. $60 per year?) -- available to AP holders -- to get 20% discount on most food and beverage (incl. alcohol) at WDW table service restaurants (and food courts in WDW resorts where there is no TS restaurant).

4. If living in GTA, fly via Southwest and try to book the flights as soon as the booking window opens.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We go more than once a year but do like a lot of people have stated.

1. We are very flexible about when we go to take advantage of great airfares on Southwest from Buffalo.

2. We have annual passes so don't need to worry about tickets.

3. We don't go for a week at a time -- actually this August is the first time this year that we'll stay for a week.

4. We use Magical Express and don't rent a car.

5. We stay value. With only the two of us this is possible as room size really doesn't matter. (Although this August since we are traveling with DS and his girlfriend we are staying moderate but it's free dining so there's the tradeoff). We like to stay onsite so that we can take advantage of Magical Express, the buses and the dining plan and extra magic hours.

6. We don't buy a lot of souvenirs so our spending $$ is kept low.

 

[eleanor]

I'm rich We are retired and there are so many things that we don't need to buy now{dress clothes,etc.} Those govt.cheques add up quickly also.We go every year for about 10 days.We also buy points from a friend and AP's to get a good deal for the weekend at a resort.I don't buy souvenirs or too many gifts and we share a lot of meals.

 

[who's ur daddy?]

I seriously could not make the numbers work by buying into Disney's timeshare if we had to fly out of Toronto Pearson all the time. But once I found out about flying Southwest Airlines out of Buffalo, that changed everything! US$630 for a family of 4 flying out of Buffalo vs. Cdn.$1700 flying out of Pearson. Lotsa money to be saved by investing in a 2 hour drive to Buffalo.

We bought a 200 point contract, but if we stay in Studios, if you plan it right and use your points wisely, you could go down for two full weeks or have 3 or 4 four-day trips.

 

[bababear_50]

Robyn spend some time learning about Disney's Vacation Club (DVC)
you can buy a small point contract resale and bank and borrow enough to go once a year,or every other year. A studio is big enough for a family of four .
Go to the DVC section of this board and lurk --read- read -read and ask questions. The people there are very helpful.
IMHO it's one of the best ways for a family to afford a yearly or bi-yearly vacation.
Hugs Mel

 

[Reese]

We all deliver papers. All the money from all the paper routes we do go into our vacation fund. Since the kids are helping us deliver we can't really use the money for household expenses (it just wouldn't seem fair).

Also we shop for the deals. We couldn't pass up free dining. We fly southwest out of Buffalo and travel during value season.

 

[dsneygirl]

1. We have very flexible jobs and can travel at off peak times and even mid week for low fares.

2. For another year DS flies free and 2 more years of free theme park admission.

3. Fly from Buffalo

4. We are DVC members with APs and the DDE card, we're getting 4 trips out of our AP this year.

5. Vacation and Travel is a HUGE priority for us. We'd rather spend money on travel than pretty much anything else. Also DH will sell on ebay and any extra money goes towards vacations.

 

[myasmum]

Hi I am sorry LoL I am not use to these short for terms DDE card and other things LoL I am just getting use to the lingo here

Thanks again everyone for the help

 

[NARM Forever]

I'm with dsneygirl. I still need a carpet for my hallway, its been waiting for the last few years Travel is hugely important to us too. I occassionally think about a bigger house but then I think of the bigger mortgage, property taxes etc and less holidays - No Thanks!!

DS8 & DS6 are in school full-time so we are almost bound to school holidays but we will take the week before Christmas and the week after March Break (Easter week) next year.

We drove down in March and bought APs (annual passes), we're travelling on our Aeroplan points in December. March 2008 we will drive down again and stay for almost two weeks to make the most of our APs and DDE (Disney Dining Experience - discount card). We're DVC members so we're borrowing 2009 points for our 2008 trip, we'll probably go back to Europe in 2009 and come back to Disney in 2010.

Its always so much fun when there's a trip to plan

NARM

 

[wdwmike59]

A studio is big enough for a family of four .

I have to disagree with you here. This really only works if a) your kids are younger and b) the same sex. We looked at the DVC very seriously but decided against it when looking at the DVC resort rooms. With two teenagers of different gender, we need three beds and the DVC just doesn't do it. Maybe when it's down to just the two of us, we will invest because I really would like the flexibility.

 

[myasmum]

Hi well I guess a stuido wouldnt be big enough for us as we are a family of 5, my kids ages are 4, 5 and 8yrs old 2 girls and 1 boy.

Thats the problem things cost us more as its 5 I see alot of things you can get cheaper if its a family of 4 or less.

But thanks for this info I will still be listening to everyone who has comments as it is great info for me