How do you afford multiple trips?

[bbak30]

I have 2 jobs. I’m a registered nurse any my full time check goes into our joint account and my other check goes into a separate account. I use that to fund all of our vacations. It pays really well. I also choose vacations over other gifts—I don’t ever want flowers or gifts for birthdays or anniversaries or even Christmas. We just like to travel. We don’t go to Disney every year, but we are always going somewhere! This year we will go to Destin, Gatlinburg and Breckinridge. Next year we do have another Disney trip planned. If it weren’t for my other job, we definitely wouldn’t t travel as much. We do pitch in from our joint account. For instance; I will usually be able to pay for lodging, flights, activities ahead of time and then we will pay for dining out of our joint account.

 

[NashvilleMama]

I have 2 jobs. I’m a registered nurse any my full time check goes into our joint account and my other check goes into a separate account. I use that to fund all of our vacations. It pays really well. I also choose vacations over other gifts—I don’t ever want flowers or gifts for birthdays or anniversaries or even Christmas. We just like to travel.

I feel like this is an underrated practice - DH and I almost never exchange gifts at holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. We put so much of our disposable income towards experiences/travel and don't "need" anything material at this point. It really, really adds up over the years.

 

[bcwife76]

You should post this over on the CDN disboard forums as some of these answers don't apply to us Canadians (for example, we can buy Disney gift cards but no where in Canada discounts them).
Also: increase your income, decease your discretionary spending, beef up your savings.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

I don't have many credit cards that earn me rewards points- I'm (still-ugh) in a rebuilding credit phase after graduate school debt and student loans put me off track before I even began my career.

I do a lot the "old fashioned" way. I have at least one big garage sale in the summer and I sell a lot on ebay and the FB marketplaces. Pre-covid I used to flip thrift store finds a lot on ebay. Im a single parent so all my kiddos outgrown toys/clothes/whatever that's worth something I sell and save all the money. All that money made from selling goes right in the Disney fund. I also work a second part-time freelance writing type job and all the money made from that goes to Disney. I find just little money making hacks and I have a separate savings for it all to go into.

I usually always save my tax refund (this may not apply in most cases) since I never owe and that goes to the vacation bucket.

To save money on flights we fly on the cheap (think Spirit or Frontier- I'm not picky) and I watch our dates like a hawk to find the best deals.

I feel like Disneyland is also much more cost effective and that's usually our go to park. Our second WDW trip since all this covid business is in June and we're so excited but when it comes to cost... it's a huge price jump because we love the bubble and want to stay on site. At Disneyland, no bubble so no emotional spending in that category for me haha. So many great and affordable hotels are within walking distance to Disneyland and some are dirt cheap (I love you Clarion.....) Maybe consider heading there instead of the World sometime?

 

[tigertides]

The real answer is that for many in the US, the upper classes have done REALLY well in the past 10 years.

many fields (IT, finance, banking, sales) have generously compensated their employees.
No doubt you can save some cash using points, packing meals, getting discounted gift cards, etc.


But those hacks wouldn’t work for a majority of the country who live in debt and have no savings at all.

Despite the pandemic, a few in US are building home extensions, buying 2nd homes, buying MORE DVC points, or using their parents DVC timeshares
And Get ready for the largest wealth transfer in history when the Baby Boomers gift their huge savings to their adult kids soon. You will see more posts like “

 

[npatellye]

We live pretty frugally. We bought a short sale, fixer upper that was 10 years old instead of the shiny, new homes most of our friends in the area were buying for more than double what we paid. We can afford the house on one income, which is very important to us. Yes, we qualified for a lot more mortgage than we used but we don’t believe in maxing out our limits on anything. We drive regular vehicles, usually for a very long time (over 150k miles). Our kids wear a mishmash of clothes from sales and clearances racks, as well as the outlet mall near where we live. We almost never buy things for ourselves that aren’t necessities but we spend that extra on our children. My husband and I don’t buy Christmas, birthday, etc. gifts for each other. We don’t eat out more than once a week unless it’s cheer or dance season (at which point all bets are off because we are almost never home).

We buy most groceries and paper goods in bulk from Costco, BJs, or Sam’s. I color my own roots at home and get it colored twice a year when I get it cut and styled: once at the start of the academic year and once in January. At most, we spend on home renovations or upgrades that are “wants” but only if we can pay cash and still have enough money for a nice vacation. Some renovations we do on our own because we know how to (like finishing our unfinished bonus room, building walkways, excavating and re-grading the yard, etc.).

We use everything we save to fund two larger vacations a year. Pre-Covid, it had been 7-10 days at WDW and then a 7-14 day trip elsewhere (Bermuda, Aruba, cruise, etc.). When I took a full-time job after being a SAHM and then only working part-time for a few years, we took that difference in salary and purchased (no financing) DVC points direct (just a couple of months before Covid). I used the direct benefits from that to buy gold passes for all of us weeks before the shutdown because we had planned for a May trip with a Disney cruise and then another trip in January 2021, so we would have hit over 10 days in the parks with separate sets of park hoppers for each trip.

With what I saved from not commuting during Covid last spring, not sending the kids to summer camp last summer, and my girls dropping competitive dance in favor of all star cheer, we saved enough extra to buy another set of DVC points to help cover more frequent trips in 1 and 2 bedroom villas. We had purchased enough points for us to do a week in a 1 bedroom and have a little extra but then Covid hit and changed our travel plans. My girls are too young to be vaccinated and I don’t see us, personally, returning to international travel or cruising any time soon so Disney will be two bigger trips a year for now.

We don’t work in fancy jobs. I work in public education and my husband is a frontline worker in the public sector.

 

[robinb]

We bought DVC over 20 years ago. We paid in cash and can sell it for what we paid for it. A 10 day stay in a studio villa costs us about $1000 in dues. In addition, we buy annual passes (when able) to cut the cost of passes. We keep our other park related spending to a minimum. We don’t buy souvenirs. We don’t eat at the sit down restaurants often and we rarely do the extras like tours or parties.

But, frankly we are like many others that can afford to go to WDW multiple times because we have disposable income to spend on vacations.

 

[HopperFan]

Up until COVID 4-6 weeks a year. Right now have week booked in July and October.

- Annual Pass (free parking)
- We drive (8 hours) gas less than $100 total
- Try to avoid peak season costs
- Shop DISCOUNTS for rooms
- When DH traveled sometimes used points to stay
- Avoid heavy resort fees since it's just our sleep place
- Rooms/Suites/Condos with kitchenettes or kitchens
- Offsite look for free breakfast
- After around 150 on property stays - now stay offsite to get more for less
- Eat breakfast in room
- Pack food for sandwiches etc and snacks
- Some days pack lunch to take in park
- Some days eat late dinner in room
- Often book lunch at TS around 2-3 pm, serves as lunch & dinner
- Used AP or TIW discounts for dining
- We don't buy snacks in parks
- We rarely buy souvenirs
- DS receives Disney Gift Cards for gifts he brings
- We drink water (free)
- Depending on menu we eat kids meals
- If we want a coke, we buy bottle in store using our AP discount
- We maximize the discounts offered with AP - when we used to stay on property we were able to save enough on room discounts to pay for at 1.5 APs.

 

[My Grandpa]

OK .... Back to constructive tips in addition to generating more income and moving to FLA. DW is from Winnipeg, I’m a You’all from New England we met at U of Guelph. Have you priced flights out of Fargo, or Detroit or Burlington or Albany? If that is a long drive, maybe with an inexpensive motel at what city you fly out of there might be a savings there. I just don’t know. If there is a Costco near you ... check out their WDW packages on their website. Well worth the Membership fee. DW and I spent 4 nights at Swan / Dolphin with Park Hoppers on a Costco deal and it was low cost for being “in the World.”

please ~ with kids ~ Stay in the Park. Yes those very inexpensive places off-site are a super savings ,,, but the on-site resorts are 24/7 Magic ~ not to mention easy access to all the parks.

Yes ,,, as others have said get an airline credit card and a Chase Disney Visa card. Have Fun / Keep Saving / with kids age5 and older that first Disney trip is a lifetime of memories.

 

[TheEvilQueen24]

I live about three hours away. I do a seven day trip in the fall and then do 4-5 weekend trips each year. With the annual pass and Florida resident discounts I am able to stay on property.

It’s still pricey but I use rebate apps to pay for my trips. I use shopkick for Disney gift cards. I’ve made about $850. I also use fetch, receipt hog and Ibotta. I’m a Kindergarten teacher so all these ways to save money!

 

[Shughart]

A mixture of a lot of things mentioned here. Disposable income (working in one of those sectors that have boomed in the last 10 years and raises/bonuses reflect that). Taking on some debt. Using a CC that gives us higher cash back when spent at say Sam's Club, to buy discounted Disney gift cards, gives us an even deeper discount on those cards, that we can use on Disney dining and souvenirs (I wait until we have a lump sum of $$ to pay for that though so as not to add too much debt). Our dining is low key, usually snack on the go, or quick service. We only do 2-3 ADR in a 7 day ticketed trip. Kids have their own souvenir money. I get us a new photo album each time, a new Christmas ornament, myself a new mug and we get a mickey balloon. I have dubbed us December Disneyers because I love the feel and I love MVMCP. We make room for that extra. I don't consider us to go often because I hang out here and see how frequently people go. But in real life with people around us, we are considered people who go often because we went in 2016 and then 2019 and then I got my husband to agree to 2022. Will be go in 2025? Hard to tell. I'll have a 16/19 yo. Maybe we'll still be doing family Disney trips. I hope so. I also hope to go alone with my husband at some point.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Everyone on the boards seems to go to Disney almost yearly, how do you all afford it? We are from Canada and I feel like we've been saving forever!! I would love to be able to go yearly but it's so expensive! last time I was at Disney was in 2011 with my then boyfriend now husband, since then we've bought a house got married and had 2 kids and are only just now getting to a place where Disney is a financial possibility (then covid came along ) I've been pricing things out and once you factor in the exchange rate we are already pushing $5K not including flights food or souvenirs.

savings tips from frequent visitors would be great

I'm a FL resident. That makes it easy. We don't go every year, but every 3-4. Works out quite nicely that way for us! My last trip only cost us $1800 for two. That was hotel, tickets, memory maker, food, and souvenirs. Our last trip was 2019. Our next will be 2022. We were quite blessed to get a trip in before Covid came along. I'm hoping in 2022, Disney is back to some type of normalcy.

 

[SimonSez]

Everyone on the boards seems to go to Disney almost yearly, how do you all afford it? We are from Canada and I feel like we've been saving forever!! I would love to be able to go yearly but it's so expensive! last time I was at Disney was in 2011 with my then boyfriend now husband, since then we've bought a house got married and had 2 kids and are only just now getting to a place where Disney is a financial possibility (then covid came along ) I've been pricing things out and once you factor in the exchange rate we are already pushing $5K not including flights food or souvenirs.

savings tips from frequent visitors would be great

We haven't been since 2017 and are lucky if we get to go every three years or so. We always stay on property, either at a deluxe or a moderate hotel. The deluxe is an option since we don't go that frequently, however we are pretty much priced out of the Poly We get Disney points/dollars through credit cards. Next trip we will use those points on meals. I know what you mean about multiple trips a year. I see someone with about three trip tickers for one calendar year, and I always wonder how they pull it off. No I'm not envious at all But like people are saying, its credit card points, debt and budgeting, and some people have well-paying jobs and can afford it. We are still debating going this year, and are ready for it. Hope you enjoy your stay, whatever it costs in the end

Edit to add-- we don't tend to eat big sit down meals, we opt for counter service most of the time. We usually reserve 1-2 table meals a trip. The price of food really adds up in the end.

 

[jorbrenner]

Learn to maximize credit cards. Very easy to be able to fly for free every single year a a minimum simply from credit cards

 

[Turn the Page]

I feel like this is an underrated practice - DH and I almost never exchange gifts at holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. We put so much of our disposable income towards experiences/travel and don't "need" anything material at this point. It really, really adds up over the years.

This. We don't do much in the way of presents for each other and when we do they are pretty small like a book I wanted or dinner out or something.

 

[Captain Masamune]

I’m a private school teacher and hubby is a nurse, so I hear ya. I save and save. We’re staying off property at a place that has a kitchen, so many meals will be at our home base. Park at hotels instead of resorts. Wait for deals (But compare them to make sure they’re “deals”). Dining plan! Make sure your flight itinerary is flexible (try Google Flights) and find the cheapest days.

 

[Heather07438]

Try not to waste money at home so we can waste it all in1 week at WDW.

Save money by grocery shopping things on sale before you need them. Not buying clothes or household goods just for the heck of it. Hosting most of our own celebrations or get togethers. Don’t order out stuff we can easily and cheaply make ourselves.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We go budget minded. Knowing most of our expense is food and tickets. We only do one really nice dinner or Lunch and we bring food into the parks. We normally get a locker and we leave lunchmeat chips and extra water bottles in there, our backpack has disposable water bottles and a few snacks. We buy some snacks like Mickey pops, pretzels, french fries and nachos. If we are staying on site ( I will get to that in a min) we order pizza or get something from the food court. My DH likes to eat cereal for Dinner.
We order food from Walmart curbside and pick it up on the first day. .. remembering the fridge is small we normally get a foam cooler or two as well they are only $2 at walmart. One for drinks one for lunch meat etc.
The tickets....
I work Doordash at home my goal is one a day or $10-$20 this money buys Disney giftcards and then pays towards the trip. My DH says he will buy the gas just let it deposit right to savings.
We only buy 3 day tickets. The other days we have a resort day or DS day. Our trips are only 5 days.
Our airfare comes from Credit card points. Buy everything on your CC and write one check so you never have a balance or interest just free money back.
Staying at a DIsney resort. I make my resavations through Disney so I can pay tickets off, but 30 days out I get my resort rooms on hotwire in October and January I got Pop for about $120 a night. Its slightly higher now that ASM is open and you can get ASM for about the same or less. Then drop the rooms off my package.
There were times we stayed off site and we got our rooms/ timeshares off skyauction.com it's an amazing site.

We are now FL residents so the tickets are much cheaper but the park is still 3 driving hours away so we have to stay overnight.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Everyone on the boards seems to go to Disney almost yearly, how do you all afford it? We are from Canada and I feel like we've been saving forever!! I would love to be able to go yearly but it's so expensive! last time I was at Disney was in 2011 with my then boyfriend now husband, since then we've bought a house got married and had 2 kids and are only just now getting to a place where Disney is a financial possibility (then covid came along ) I've been pricing things out and once you factor in the exchange rate we are already pushing $5K not including flights food or souvenirs.

savings tips from frequent visitors would be great

Travel off season if possible.
Stay offsite.
Eat most meals offsite.
When eating onsite, eat a very late big lunch to act as dinner then have light snacks in evening.
Bring in your own water bottles or refillable one.
Bring in snacks and limit to purchasing one fun Disney snack a day.
Buy your Disney shirts/items ahead of time on sale and when there shop at outlet for take home goodies.

 

[leannak]

Our kids (ages 14 & under) don't have phones, so the amount of money we'd spend on the devices and phone plans and apps etc. is probably enough to justify our trips. : )