How Do You Afford It?

[mjmoon]

I noticed a lot of people go to Disney yearly, often more often. How does one afford this? I guess what I am looking for is ways to cut corners and budget and save to make this a possibility for our family.

 

[medic9016]

I have a savings account, the money is deducted from my pay every two weeks. It is only used for vacations. It has no checking account or debit card attached to it. It is at a bank different than our regular bank.

 

[LONE-STAR]

We just treat it like a bill that has to be paid every month. So when its time for the trip the money is there.

 

[LarryJ]

I noticed a lot of people go to Disney yearly, often more often. How does one afford this? I guess what I am looking for is ways to cut corners and budget and save to make this a possibility for our family.

When I was working and the kids were home, we just planned and budgeted and w/o hurting the essentials cut back. Also, we never ate out that much and always tried to shop bargains, used coupons, etc. In fact we still do the same in retirement, but have an easier time budgeting since we don't have the unknown deltas in raising kids.

However, I have what I consider a distinct advantage in retirement since it's COLA adjusted, guaranteed as much as possible, and our health care costs are fixed at under $500/yr and even any inpatient is only $15.50/day (retired military). I was also fortunate in that by the time I was 45 our home was paid off, but there were some lean years (about 8) when I was carrying two mortgages with one having almost a 12% interest rate, thanks to Mr. Carter.

Larry

 

[Shan-man]

I try to buy as many days as I can possibly afford at once since the cost per day goes down when you get more and add the non-expiring option. If our passes were not already paid for on this trip, I would have had to cancel already, we'd simply not be able to afford it. I've been ferreting away money throughout the year to pay for the gas... I put it in a box under the passes so I am less tempted to raid the piggybank! So now I need enough to pay for site and dining and we are set.

 

[gmflanigan]

We buy annual passes. Then I put money away for gas, food, etc between trips--just another monthly bill. You don't miss it once you get used to it.

 

[Judy Judy Judy]

For us going on vacation requirers some planning, especially if I want a nice vacation...we have been planning our latest trip for over a year now and every week I have tryed to set aside some money, even if it's just a few dollars. But we are a family that likes long vacations versus having more shorter vacations so this works out for us.

I guess it's all in how you like to spend money, we don't eat out fancy places, we just taco bell or mcdonald it. Where as my sister would rather spend her money on big steak dinners at the Outback...so it's all up to how you spend your money, or for me lack of money..ha.

 

[LarryJ]

For us going on vacation requirers some planning, especially if I want a nice vacation...we have been planning our latest trip for over a year now and every week I have tryed to set aside some money, even if it's just a few dollars. But we are a family that likes long vacations versus having more shorter vacations so this works out for us.

I guess it's all in how you like to spend money, we don't eat out fancy places, we just taco bell or mcdonald it. Where as my sister would rather spend her money on big steak dinners at the Outback...so it's all up to how you spend your money, or for me lack of money..ha.

You comment on Taco Hut (a play on Taco Bell and Pizza Hut coined by our sons), McD's and Outback are right in line with what we do. We may do a BK about once a month for a dinner about $15 since they have ORs. Been to Outback once maybe 10 years ago, too expensive for what I can cook at home and I can't remember the last time we went to "Pizza Bell" since DW makes killler Mexican meals.

IMHO it's all about priorities, budgeting, planning and then sticking to it even when you don't want to cook or whatever. Up here in the D.C. with a lot of families being two wage earners that have to live in the overly large house that is only half furnished feel the need to eat out 5, 6 or even at least every day out including lunches that can be expensive over that P,B&J they could take from home, but that's not cool.

Larry

 

[MBMacs]

We have Annual passes, that helps a bunch. We are trying to get there 3 times during the life of the passes, if not 4. Fortunately, the summer trip gets Us a pass holder discount. We also pretty much do nothing during the year. Maybe, maybe, maybe dinner 1 time a month out, nothing fancy. I am self employed so when I know I have a trip coming up, I may take on extra work to help pay for it. We are also big believers in the old Irish Philosophy of "You can't take it with you when your dead." A few years from now, the kids won't want to hang out with Mom & Dad, so we are taking advantage of it now. Plus when we are there, we bring lots of food, still buy in th eparks, but makes Us feel a bit better. What else are we going do???? Put our $$$$$ in the stock market???????

 

[2goofycampers]

There is also a Budget Board on the Dis, there are some great threads on saving $ and cutting costs.

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22

 

[BradyBz12]

Even though we're only able to go once a year, we bought annual passes this year and have scheduled next year's trip so we can use them then also. A good chunk of $ up front, but when all is said and done, we'll end up getting almost 40 days total on each on our passes - which comes out to only $12 a day!

Depends on how many days you're going of course, but the AP also gets us discounts on food and merch., incl. the DDE card (now Tables in Wonderland) which will definitely pay for itself and then some.

For everything else we create a budget and put away a little money each week year round, like others have mentioned.

This year we also dropped the DDP and are planning to eat more meals at the camper to save some $, which actually allowed us to add a 3rd week.

And if the price of gas keeps coming down....
(hey, a girl can dream!)

Oh, and DH and I also made it a rule that our annual trip to WDW, which we take in Nov/Dec, is our Christmas and anniversary present to each other and no other gifts are allowed. Works for me!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

A direct quote from Killer Beez,

SAVE UP !!!







Have a nice day.

 

[bxtx]

DH is incented via work for any papers accepted at conferences. or articles printed in magazines. Heh, it focuses his attention! However it means he is away from our family quite often presenting the papers at the various conferences all over the world.

As he's missing time away from the kids, we take that little extra and sock it away in a ING Direct savings account so we can have a great family vacation. I also transfer money every pay day into the same account, like a bill.

Finally, because of this travel he has to have a credit card for his expenses so 2 years ago he got a Disney Chase card and we build up our Disney Rewards which is our spending money!

You find a way

Mind you once we have to start paying adult ticket prices for my eldest I might have auction off a kidney or something!

 

[Shan-man]

A direct quote from Killer Beez,

SAVE UP !!!

To do the type of vacation we like to do, which includes a lot of upscale dining, we need to set aside $50 per week for a year. That includes gas, site, tix, food and a modest souvenier budget for the two of us.

 

[mjmoon]

These are some great ideas! I especially like treating it like a monthly bill and stocking money away. I think that is definitely what we are going to start doing. Of course we're going to have to give up some other things along the way so there is money to stock away but I think it can be done.

 

[LONE-STAR]

These are some great ideas! I especially like treating it like a monthly bill and stocking money away. I think that is definitely what we are going to start doing. Of course we're going to have to give up some other things along the way so there is money to stock away but I think it can be done.

The only problem is the monthly bill gets higher every year.

 

[5stljayhawks]

My wife and I contribute to a day care fund, that get's us 5K tax free, but the only problem is that you have to front the cash. This more than covers our cost. If you have kids in daycare look into this program through work.

Go before the kid(s) turn 3. Otherwith you have to pay for them..

Today my DD wanted to eat at a resturent, I said we can do that or we can eat at home and you can have $15 or 17 for disney. Even at the age of 5.5 she deceide to eat at home and have money for disney.....

We don't go every year. We are looking at every three years or so. Maybe if we lived in FL, we would go multiple times a year, but even then I am not sure about that as you can stay outside the park for half the cost......

 

[PenskeSth1]

We use DD! For years we paid her way, Now it is her turn to repay!

 

[Take Your Pick]

This year we tried something different.

We bought annual passes to the Water Park and Disney Quest. We went at Christmas and Easter a weekend in July and now we're going for Halloween week. We've gotten our "fix" by not going to the regular parks and just adding on the special parties in the Magic Kingdom (MNSSHP) on our Visa which was $25 a person (compared to $75 per person to visit MK for one day).
So, for our four-day trips we:
Day One: Typhoon Lagoon
Day Two: Disney Quest/Downtown Disney
Day Three: Blizzard Bleach
Day Four: Fort Wilderness and visit the other resorts on the monorail/boat system.

Our October trip is in Value Season, which makes so much more sense than a holiday weekend like Easter if you're on a budget....you can essentially stay two nights for one!

When our Water Passes are up this year, we'll reevaluate and see if we'll do something different. But for folks who go more than once a year, it was worth it to us to change up our routine for one year and be more budget-conscience.

 

[wrongagain]

No more mortgage payments and never had kids.