How do you afford frequent trips 'back home'?

[bxccah]

Maybe it's cause we live in England and its only really worth it for 14 days, but people here seem to hit WDW once every 4-5 years or so. I don't know many people who are loaded, though. My father actually paid for our last trip, hence why we stayed at Saratoga for three weeks- it'll be All Star Sports this time around! It came to 2.5grand- over £800 for the dining plan! I'm still scratching my head over that one, but I eat loads, so I suppose I'll need it.

I'm envious of those who can afford trips annually, even if only 3-5 days! Flights cost around 300-700 return depending on when we go and it always works out cheaper to go for three weeks rather than two (or maybe that's just my disney brain! )

 

[Darcy03231]

I usually go annually (or every two years) although we did take a 6 year break once.

I economize on everything else to be able to travel. I don't buy new clothes until I have to. I drive cars until the wheels fall off. We don't buy the latest/greatest of all of the electronic gadgets. I don't have a smart phone. We rarely eat out and when we do, its usually take out.

We live in Southern NH so our travel costs aren't quite as expensive as yours are coming from England. I just priced out airfare with today's Southwest Sale and a non-stop roundtrip flight from our home airport is $170.

I don't get the dining plan as it's just too much food for us. We get breakfast items to eat in the room and then tend to share a lot of meals. That helps to keep the food costs down.

 

[SC Minnie]

We are DVC members and live less than 500 miles away so we drive. We usually get an annual pass so after the first week trip we only have to pay for food.

 

[tasha99]

I can't, and it's due to airfare, which is $600 off season and outrageous when I can actually fly. Generally, my tickets to visit family have been about $1000 minimum per person, up to about $1400 pp. I'll pay that for a family Christmas, but not for Disneyworld. I'm moving back down to the rest of the US, though, and hope I can step my visits up to once a year.

 

[smcabee]

We are DVC members and live less than 500 miles away so we drive. We usually get an annual pass so after the first week trip we only have to pay for food.

As a fellow SC resident, Dvcer, annual pass holder and also living less than 500 miles away and . I totally agree with this statement. All these factors are the only way I can afford to go multiple times a year. Usually do a week to 10 days for food and wine and then several small trips over the rest of the year.

 

[mistysue]

The airfare is really high for you, but many of us can drive or have cheaper airfare. If I went to a board for England travel and wondered how everybody could go to London so often when my flight there is $1500 alone, it would be a similar question to you asking people from the US how we go to Disney so often. (assuming the hypothetical people are all from the UK)

If it helps you feel any better, Disney gives you better discounts and stacks promos for you that they will not give to US residents. I've been trying to figure out how to get my family to anywhere in Europe for years and nobody is offering me the types of discounts you get for Disney just because my airfare is higher.

 

[pocomom]

We also hunt for bargains, but for our family of five a trip for 10 days-2weeks normally costs around 3,000-3,500 total. We do not eat at the parks except maybe one or two meals but rely on coupons, restaurant.com, cheaper restaurants and mostly groceries and cooking (although we tend to do more packaged foods then we do at home).
Like pp said, travel is a priority for us, so some other things are not. We don't have cable now, we shop really smart, rarely eat out, and normally when we do it is just dh and I on a date with a coupon or some other deal, we drive practical cars, and generally live below our means in other areas, and I do extra work on the side to put in our vacation fund (stay- at- home mom) . We go to Disney yearly or every other, and normally take at least one or two other out-of-state trips a year as well as smaller weekend trips. In this year we went to Disney and Southern Florida, Colorado, New England primarily Boston area, and long weekends in Conneticut, Long Island, New York City, Baltimore and Washington DC., but we haven't paid full price for a movie in a theater, or spent all day at the mall in years!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I live 8 hours away. I have been going solo twice a year for the past 3 years usually for 4 nights/ 5 days.
I don't spend money on alot of stuff. I coupon and get to keep the money saved from that although the coupons haven't been too great since the extreme couponing show started and I get so much fun money per week that I usually save for my trips because those are more important to me than more stuff or seeing the latest movie.

In 2014 though my solo trips are going to have to be reduced. My oldest will be starting college that fall so I won't have the funds.
I'm going to have to go only once a year solo at the most. I'm going to miss it.

 

[Marionnette]

Maybe it's cause we live in England and its only really worth it for 14 days, but people here seem to hit WDW once every 4-5 years or so. I don't know many people who are loaded, though. My father actually paid for our last trip, hence why we stayed at Saratoga for three weeks- it'll be All Star Sports this time around! It came to 2.5grand- over £800 for the dining plan! I'm still scratching my head over that one, but I eat loads, so I suppose I'll need it.

I'm envious of those who can afford trips annually, even if only 3-5 days! Flights cost around 300-700 return depending on when we go and it always works out cheaper to go for three weeks rather than two (or maybe that's just my disney brain! )

I'm envious of people who can take trips for 3 weeks at a time! We own a business and we have never had the luxury of being able to spend that much time away!

Not considering the airfare difference, you Brits get pretty good deals on Disney vacations. Let's start with the 14-day and 21-day Ultimate passes that we Americans can't buy. Those things are like short-term Premium annual passes and they include EVERYTHING! I've seen people post that they've gotten 40%+ discounts off of rack rate PLUS Free Dining! You would never see that here. Those awesome discounts are meant to make up for the unpredictable and sometimes outrageous airfare costs. If Disney wants visitors from the UK, this is how they lure them in!

I'm sure that you really don't want to know how we can afford our trips. I'm guessing that maybe you just wanted to vent a little bit? That's okay if you do. We all have a need to complain a little bit to people whom we know will understand our frustrations. But if you were really looking for ideas on how to better fund your trips, I'm afraid that many things that work for people in the U.S. are not going to be a consideration for U.K. visitors.

 

[worm761]

We live 8 hours away and can drive. But we are also Florida residents so our tickets are a bit cheaper and there is usually a resort discount to be had.

What I do to save for trips is I have a change jar. I throw any change I have in my cups. I have it separated by coin. I also have a jar for random bills. I don't usually have cash so if I have cash in my wallet and haven't used it within a month, it goes in my bills cup. Any extra money in my checking account immediately gets transferred to my savings. If it is in the checking account it will be spent. It is sometimes only a dollar or two. But they add up.

I also do a few rewards programs that I know you can do in the UK for a little bit extra. ClixSense and Swagbucks are two. Not sure about Quick Rewards.