How do people do it?

[minnie1928]

Bottom line, it's really not about how much money people make; it's about how they choose to spend it.

Short, sweet and to the point! Couldn't have said it better myself!

 

[HappyLawyer]

you can actually go if you find good deals, like the air and the tickets would be what is the most expensive, you can just search around, for me it is too muc especially since i my head tells me to go and visit other places bt my heart is excited about disney all the time, i had to make a deal so we do a long stinch at disney like 3 weeks every other year, i just grit my teeth and wait,

 

[marty0518]

So far I'm going twice this year (May and July) and I may sneak in a few days late this fall. I usually stay deluxe but sometimes moderate depending who travelling with me.

The only reason I can go this often is becuase of my cast member discounts (great perk!!) As long as I can get a decent airfare (I fly Southwest most of the time due to great schedules and fares out of Hartford) it's a great deal for me.

:thewave:

 

[EsmeraldaX]

You pay that much for your dogs to stay in kennels? I always leave my dogs with friends or pay the kids across the street to come feed/play with them, so I had no idea.

I think I'm off to start a new career. How much do you think it would cost to build a kennel? I have lots of land . . .

I know! It's ridiculous how much kennels cost now! They seem okay but they add in hidden costs for actually walking the dogs, taking them out for playtime, feeding them the food you choose etc. I wish we had someone nearby who would come to let them out and play with them a little bit but unfortunately, we don't. My family all lives on the other side of the state and his hates dogs. We had a friend who was an awesome dog sitter but sadly he moved too far away. So for now, we're stuck kenneling.

If I ever move somewhere where I have lots of land...I swear, I'm opening a kennel too!

 

[elf]

I didn't get to read this whole post but we used to go that many times and I found the more times you go the cheaper it gets.
We used to drive or go when flights were $120 or less RT. We had an AP that made a big difference. We also stayed at the S&D which always gave points and lots of special deals. Once or twice a years we would go with extended family and friends. I would book the rooms under my name and pay for them then they would pay me back. I would get points for those stays as well. We had many free nights and discounts.
Now that we only get to go once a year it's so much more money, can't afford S&D anymore (even though still have one free night left), have to buy park tickets each trip.

 

[hannahouse]

This is an interesting thread - while I don't take several trips to Orlando a year, we do travel a lot. With resources like priceline, skyauction, etc. it's possible to take vacations which may seem extravagent to some, but in reality are quite cheap. I literally winch when I read posts by people saying they are staying at el dumpo in the bad part of town because the rate was only $39. Right now you can stay at a marriot resort in orlando, and they'll give you 2 free disney tickets. Buick will give you a $100 marriott bonus buck certificate for taking a test drive. With those 2 little deals, you could stay at a great resort, with a free day at disney, for about $300 a week, plus spending money and transportation costs. It's fairly easy to get free seaworld tickets by attending a time share presentation, so now you have entertainment for 2 days. bring your clubs, and book your tee times through ezlinks.com, and you can play a fabulous course for a heavily discounted rate. The list goes on and on... I guess what I'm trying to say is don't assume what someone's vacation is costing them - you might be very suprised. Most people with 'money coming out the wazoo' got there by being frugal. My family is very fortunate, we have worked hard and at this point have a comfortable salary, but we are always very careful about getting the best value we can. Sorry for the rant - some of these comments just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess.

 

[skiwee1]

They have APs, live within reasonable driving distance and are either loaded or very careful with their money. I think it's very doable depending on your situation (kids vs no kids, car pymt vs no car pymt, living below your means vs living beyond your means, etc.).

'Course there is also the possibility that they can't actually afford it and simply charge it!

Well we don't live nearby, have 3 kids, and have been flying. We stay deluxe at 14 days at a clip and go twice a year. We also don't charge it. There are plenty on this board that make Disney a priority and don't need to go into debt to do it. It 's all in what you want and how bad you want it.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I have been lurking a lot on these boards and I want to know how do people manage to go to WDW 4 times a year and stay at a deluxe resort almost every time.

I don't manage to do it and I'm a FL resident. The last time DH and I were in Disney was back in 2001 and we were able to do so because we came into some money that my father left me after he died. This next trip is happening because I'm saving for it and have it budgeted very well! DH and I will stay in values all the time, unless we win a trip or something like that. I don't think I would want to go to Disney every year let alone 3 or 4 times a year. I enjoy the times I do go because I don't go a lot and something is ALWAYS different when we arrive.

 

[Jamesbyr]

My sister-in-law runs a kennel near Middletown NY, and she picks up her "clients" in Manhattan. Their "humans" are on vacation. It ain't cheap.

Kennel care for pets is part of the cost of a vacation for those who need it. The expenses involved with caring for small children are also part of the cost of a vacation. People should have a realistic idea of all these things before they set out. The fact that 90% don't have to deal with pet boarding and most people don't have their flights paid for by some delightlul slip-up doesn't mean that someone can post a low trip estimate and leave the rest of us wondering what we did wrong.

I try to post realistic estimates, based on real experiences. I will try to deal with the $100 per day food challenge with some statistics. Give me a few days, or I will report back after our late April trip.

 

[firetaz]

I never thought that I would ever be able to take three vacations in year, but it is becoming true. We went down to WDW Dec.04 with both sets of parents, DD 13, DS 9, DD 7 stayed at the POP for 7 nights for $507 for three rooms in a perferred building. Had previously bought 5 day PH passes before the trip. While we were down there we upgraded to AP for $683 for five of us. Found airfare for $136 RT per person. Shared a $90 towncar (van) transfer for nine of us. Ate on $100 per day for the five us, shared many entrees.

In Jan 05, wife and I went down for our 15th anniversary for 4 days, stayed at POP in preferred building for $220. Airfare for $148 RT per person. Ate for $100 day (at many sit downs). Did we have the money to go yes and no. We paid necessaries, house food, lights etc. Slid on other bills.

Currently planning for a trip in Nov 05 for DD7 birthday. Hope to get discounts on room, but if not oh well. Airfare around $200 RT per person. Still planning $100 per day for food for the five of us.

Are we rich? No. DW doesn't work due to complications of cancer treatments. I am a firefighter for the city I live in, and make ok money, not great money. We just decided that family time is more important now, bills will always be there (especially the medical bills). We make the payments, and live paycheck to paycheck. And sometimes it not enough. Can I put my money to better use getting out of debt? Yes. But we almost lost my wife, and there is very good possibility that the cancer will come back. So we concentrate on spending time as a family. And I can't think of a better palce to do it.

As I said family time is more important.

 

[krissynkayla]

I never thought that I would ever be able to take three vacations in year, but it is becoming true. We went down to WDW Dec.04 with both sets of parents, DD 13, DS 9, DD 7 stayed at the POP for 7 nights for $507 for three rooms in a perferred building. Had previously bought 5 day PH passes before the trip. While we were down there we upgraded to AP for $683 for five of us. Found airfare for $136 RT per person. Shared a $90 towncar (van) transfer for nine of us. Ate on $100 per day for the five us, shared many entrees.

In Jan 05, wife and I went down for our 15th anniversary for 4 days, stayed at POP in preferred building for $220. Airfare for $148 RT per person. Ate for $100 day (at many sit downs). Did we have the money to go yes and no. We paid necessaries, house food, lights etc. Slid on other bills.

Currently planning for a trip in Nov 05 for DD7 birthday. Hope to get discounts on room, but if not oh well. Airfare around $200 RT per person. Still planning $100 per day for food for the five of us.

Are we rich? No. DW doesn't work due to complications of cancer treatments. I am a firefighter for the city I live in, and make ok money, not great money. We just decided that family time is more important now, bills will always be there (especially the medical bills). We make the payments, and live paycheck to paycheck. And sometimes it not enough. Can I put my money to better use getting out of debt? Yes. But we almost lost my wife, and there is very good possibility that the cancer will come back. So we concentrate on spending time as a family. And I can't think of a better palce to do it.

As I said family time is more important.

I so agree, materalistic items are not impoortant. Family Is the Most Important....

 

[macfamily]

Regarding the dog kenneling thing...

Wow, I guess it really depends on where you live about the kenneling thing! I just got my dog out of the kennel last night (when we finally made it home from Florida between snowstorms!) and it ended up costing a total of $88 including food and playtime; this is one of the better kennels in the area, too. I was shocked and amazed that it was so reasonable!

 

[Ariel Wanna-be]

We do not buy new clothes or shoes unless we really need to.

Every time I complain about not being able to afford Disney more than once a year, my DH tells me that all I have to do is give up my shoe addiction, lol.

 

[MEM]

I know! It's ridiculous how much kennels cost now! They seem okay but they add in hidden costs for actually walking the dogs, taking them out for playtime, feeding them the food you choose etc. I wish we had someone nearby who would come to let them out and play with them a little bit but unfortunately, we don't. My family all lives on the other side of the state and his hates dogs. We had a friend who was an awesome dog sitter but sadly he moved too far away. So for now, we're stuck kenneling.

If I ever move somewhere where I have lots of land...I swear, I'm opening a kennel too!

I pay $30 a day in the Greater Boston area to board my 16 year old dachsie with her veterinarian. Its worth it to me knowing she is safe and that if she needs medical attention, her vet is right there. They also spoil her rotten there, and have her in the front office with them for most of the day. That is one expense I will not compromise on.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I pay $30 a day in the Greater Boston area to board my 16 year old dachsie with her veterinarian. Its worth it to me knowing she is safe and that if she needs medical attention, her vet is right there. They also spoil her rotten there, and have her in the front office with them for most of the day. That is one expense I will not compromise on.

Me too. We won't compromise on our dogs safety.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

For the last 3 days, this has sparked several conversations between myself and my SO and neither of us can wrap our mind around it. How does one spend $100 per person, per day at WDW every day of your trip? You'd have to be eating 3 full course meals a day (with appetizers and dessert), or doing dinner shows every night. I mean, I'm sure it CAN be done, but how? You'd be spending the whole time eating. Well for adults I'm sure it can be done if you really try, but this poster also implied that it was per day per person so I assume he was assuming children spend that much each day as well. I've traveled to WDW with a child and she could not eat that much food. She'd explode. (So would I, actually and most of the adults I know).

This is not a slam on this poster, but I honestly can not even imagine spending that much on food at WDW per person every day.

Let's look at the menus on www.wdwig.com

Breakfast - let's splurge and say we go to Crystal Palace $17.99 per person
Lunch - Let's splurge and say we do LTT and each get the pot roast - $13.79 per person
Dinner - We'll be wicked splurgy and go to CRT and have the prime rib $23 for the queen cut
Oh heck, let's toss in dessert - $6 (pretty much anything on the menu)

This brings us to $60 + whatever tax and tip are. (divide per person)

If I ate like this every day, I'd be sick. There is absolutely no way I could eat that much each day 3X a day. Not to mention I'd be spending my whole vacation in restaurants!

More typical for my group (2 adults) :
Breakfast - we can't really eat a lot in the am so we just grab a snack we bring from home. Usually granola or cereal bars. This keeps us going until lunch. If we do have a charcater breakfast, we aren't hungry again until dinner so we maybe have the granola as a snack during the day...

Lunch - We do our big meal for lunch. Let's pretend we're in Epcot shall we? Chicken Kebabs & rice from Marrakesh $14.95. We'll be all crazy and get a couple of Marrakesh Expresses (alcholic beverages) about $8 each. There is no way we could eat an appetizer and dessert.
So that's about $22.95 per person + tax & tip

Dinner - still stuffed from Marrakesh, we decide to take it light and do Biergarten for dinner. $20.99 per person. (plus tax/tip)

We're at $42.95 per person now. Toss in a Mickey Bar in the middle of the day for a snack...$2.50 per person more.

I'm sorry but I really do not think I could ever spend $100 for food at WDW.

I think I am going to go make this it's own thread because I really am curious as to others thoughts on this...

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Yikes those kennel costs are high! Depending on your dogs, you might want to consider a dogsitter. For us, with three dogs, the dogsitter makes more sense. Choose one who is insured and bonded (a good one will show you their policy). Then you don't have to worry about kennel cough. You don't have to worry about the dropoff/pick-up either. After a long trip, the last thing I want to do is drive over to the kennel. I think it is less stressful for the dogs as well. Mine are 14, so less stress is good. Around us, for three dogs, they charge $20 a visit. On your coming and going days, you only pay for each visit, not a flat fee. The dogs seem really well cared for. Also, in an emergency, I know I could just call the dogsitter to come over.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

One year we actually stayed at the poly 3 times. This was due to dh having to do some business in fl. . The co. paid for some of it, we bought ap's, got to take some of it off our taxes due to dh consulting business, so it worked out really well that year. Now I am always looking for the cheapest airfare, just got ap room rate, buying the ap's again, so we can go again. Bringing snacks from home etc. This year we will again do probably 3 trips, this first one ap at the poly, in december dh has a conference at the swan, so that room and his airfare will be paid for, we will try to get another ap rate for a deluxe when we are there and then we will stay have the ap's valid for 2006, so that will cover a trip for 3 ds mid winter break, feb, or spring break which we dont know either march or april. I also plan on getting the dde card to save on food. My dh has a very good job, we have a budget and stick to it. This time I was not able to get the govt. disc. for our trip, only 3 days at the swan, then the ap rates came out and the poly was only a few hundred more, so its well worth it to us with the easier mug refills, captain cooks, mouseboat rental etc. Since we dont have any real family, we put a big emphasis on a nice vacation. If we couldnt afford to go, then we wouldnt. We are not of the mindset to have fun and pay later.

 

[skiwee1]

When we go to WD W there are 2 adults and one child. Breakfast usually runs us $15 unless we are eating at sitdown. If that is the case then it is around $50. Gotta have the presspot! Lunch is usually counter service. We pay around $25 for that. Dinner is around $60 or so. That would either be a character meal or a nice sitdown. So for about $100 a day we all eat. More if the breakfast is a sitdown. Our bil goes up a lot if we do roomservice which is a couple times a trip. I do not budget anything either. We eat whatever we want, where ever we want. I never realized we ate so cheap until I just wrote this out. I always thought we ate at least $100 an adult but we don't do half of that on a normal day. Snacks set us back probably close to $25 a day.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Are we rich? No. DW doesn't work due to complications of cancer treatments. I am a firefighter for the city I live in, and make ok money, not great money. We just decided that family time is more important now, bills will always be there (especially the medical bills). We make the payments, and live paycheck to paycheck. And sometimes it not enough. Can I put my money to better use getting out of debt? Yes. But we almost lost my wife, and there is very good possibility that the cancer will come back. So we concentrate on spending time as a family. And I can't think of a better palce to do it.

As I said family time is more important.

As a cancer survivor, I wholeheartedly agree. My best to your wife.

Re: food at WDW. We got the dining plan last trip and I was stuffed to the gills with all that food. I agree it's not absolutely necessary to spend large sums of money on food when portions are huge and you can easily "graze" while you're walking through the parks.

Re: kenneling expenses. Since there are so many on this thread who are pet lovers and also posed with the dilemma of how to care for their pets while they're on vacation, I just wanted to tell you about the incredible pet sitter I found for our last trip. She was a vet tech (but also has degrees in nursing and physical therapy) and charged $10 per visit; I paid $20/day since I had her come twice a day (my mother also lives here with us so she fed my dogs and watched over them).

I hired a sitter because one of my dogs is 13 and has lost the ability to use his rear legs due to spinal arthritis and nerve compression. He needs meds and help getting outside. We had a blizzard here in MA while we were gone and she still came to do her job (even though there was a state of emergency in effect). She shoveled a pathway for my older dog so he could get out. Best of all, she made a suggestion that he might do well on a wheeled cart so we looked into it and ordered him one. He now takes a walk daily on his "wheels" and can even run a bit now that he's strengthened his front legs again. I don't know how much longer he's got left but I am indebted to her not only for her great care but also for the fact she's given my beloved Cody some joy back in his final days. What a find she was!