How do you do it? Disney every year?

[ReneeA]

We've gone every year since 2005 (except the summer of 2009 - DH was laid off ). This is how we do it:
* put $30 a week into a separate savings account that's strictly for vacation ($1500 right there)
* stay at the mods - kids like the pool, we like the convienence of TS restaurant
* go the end of Aug for free dining (every year since that promo began). I don't like the idea of more than one TS meal a day, we aren't huge eaters, so regular DDP is way more than enough for us
* don't spend any money OOP once we get there - the kids don't need any more junk than they already have, I don't buy souvies while there
* we don't buy hopper passes because we go for long trips, just try to schedule it so we don't need them
* watch airfare very closely - we've never paid more than $130 RT from Detroit to MCO
* use the busses & use Magical Express - we've never had an issue with them, and it saves us the cost of renting a car

This is what our last trip cost - 9 days, 8 nights at CSR for 2a, 2c with free dining, 9 day park passes, and RT airfare from Detroit to MCO - $2285 (including the airfare). Tips, etc were another $200 that I paid using our Disney rewards.

Deluxe with deluxe dining would be nice, but I would sacrifice it in order to be able to continue our long trips annually.

 

[crisi]

Like many other's have said, its all about what YOU want to do and how you budget. Some people just have the disposable income in their budgets. Other's have to plan it in.

And some people just will never be able to afford it even if they plan it. There isn't disposable income to move around.

I think its important to be realistic about that. Some people have small incomes and/or big obligations - and Disney every year is going to be outside their reach unless significant changes happen in their life.

And that's ok, and they aren't to blame and they aren't doing anything 'wrong' or making bad choices (and in fact, may be doing a lot of things right, like not charging trips they can't really afford.)

Many of us have even been there - where splurging on a pack of gum was a treat.

 

[Mel6197]

We have the disney Visa, Thats usually about 250 dollars. Then we do a yard sale, usually about 200, sometimes more sometimes less. We return our cans, usually about 100 a year. Kids Birthday money, We used to get in disney Dollars, Easter Bunny Used to put a few disney dollars in the eggs (the kids dont need that much candy)

We go for Free Dining, We stay at vaules, Magical Express,
If theres a will theres a way..

With my family of 4 going for 14 days at All Star Music with 10day hopper plus pass that gives us 14 days of tickets, then free dining for all that was 3100 I belive..
THen its just airfare.. So for 2 full weeks for a family of 4..

 

[nicki.momof3]

How in the world do you afford $3,500+ each year to go to Disney (approx. cost for 2 people, DxDP, Park Hopper, 7 days/6 nights)!

We try to go on two - 1 week - vacations a year to WDW, universal, or a Disney Cruise. We are a family of 5 (3 kids ages 5,6,7). We like others treat vacations like another bill. We as a family would rather go on two vacations than go out to eat / order out on a regualr basis. We do not go crazy spending $ on other daily things so we can save for vacation. Not huge cloth shoppers and so on.

Now also you are choosing a high end vacation - DxDP, Poly, Hopper and so on. We could never afford 2 high end vacations a year. I think if you read these boards that many of the people that go 2+ times a year do so with budgets in place:value or moderate resort, AP discounts, travel during free dining, traveling during 4/3 deals, gift card deals, pin codes, off season. I know some people that have money to burn can afford 2+ high end vacations at rake rates but I am not one of them.

We do hopper but we always stay at a moderate. We also hate busses but if we want 2 vacations a year it is a sacerfice we are willing to make. We also only do the DDP - not DxDP. The DXDP is great but expensive.

We are going this Easter (5 people) staying at POR, 7 day hoppers for $4000. We are paying top price for everything Easter week (not a discount to be found) but if we are going to go back for a second trip this year (and we are planning to) we will do so with some sort of discount or we wil not go.

 

[Smile4Me]

I have really enjoyed reading this thread. Lots of good ideas and savings methods. We have waited on discounts and then divided how much we owed by months and paid it off like that. Plus we keep a change jar. If we want extras like park hoppers or waterparks we've added them if we had enough in the change jar to afford them. We've also used the change jar to pay for tips on the DDP, mousekeeping, and our parking at the airport-usually can save $200-$300 every 5 to 6 months. Don't do much for souvenirs (I like to get functional souvies like a piece of clothing , a mug, etc,,,though have treated myself to the pick a pearl if I have change money left to spend!)

Now we have some different priorities-getting cars completely paid off and saving for a house,,,so my boyfriend said we need to be able to have half of the total of a trip (we priced one out, no discounts, with airfare at every level, value, mod, and deluxe) from the change jar before we book again. I started taking out $100 a month, putting $50 toward a vacation fund and $50 toward our general savings...to jump start them both! Encourages me to sock away anything I'd save on extra stuff I can live without,,,especially when I know there is a vacation on the line!

Good luck OP with making it work for you and yours!

 

[Miz Diz]

We have money put into a savings account every paycheck. This is strictly for vacation. We used to also get an annual pass and go twice on it - 2nd time right when it is about to expire. We used to always go in September. Disney Visa also ads up on the cash back.

Now, we can't go in Sept anymore because of school for the kids, but we do go to Disney at least 3 times a year and are now DVC members.

 

[Desnik]

We can afford to go to Disney every year because of a few reasons. We are DVC members. We are AP holders and get a great DVC discount on the purchase of the AP. We never use the dining plan. We eat breakfast in our room. We ship down snacks and water so we don't have to spend on those things. Since we go so often we spend very little on souvenirs, about $100. We fly on Jetblue and our airfare for 4 is never more than $800. We have a Jetblue Amex card(we charge some things just to earn the points then pay it off in full every month) and earn points for free flights, so that helps sometimes as well.

I think of a family vacation as a priority and we are very fortunate to be able to afford our Disney trips.

 

[czycropper]

Now here's another question (& please don't burn me or call me names since I love WDW) but, do you plan any other vacation other than Disney? or is Disney the only place that you go to on vacation?

 

[crisi]

Now here's another question (& please don't burn me or call me names since I love WDW) but, do you plan any other vacation other than Disney? or is Disney the only place that you go to on vacation?

We go to the North Shore of Lake Superior every summer with friends. We took the kids to Europe last summer, and Mexico this winter. We went to San Francisco and Monterrey a few years ago. We want to get them to Boston in the Spring....Don't know if that is going to happen though.

But we don't go to Disney every year. We are "biannuallers" at Disney. This year was no Disney, but Europe. Some of our vacations are work related.

 

[minnie1928]

Now here's another question (& please don't burn me or call me names since I love WDW) but, do you plan any other vacation other than Disney? or is Disney the only place that you go to on vacation?

We do disney at least once/year. But this year our best friends moved from PA to Seattle, so we're doing at least 2 trips to see them. Then they'll be meeting us in WDW for a week in July. All of these trips aren't terribly expensive. When we're in Seattle, we stay with them so the only thing we pay for is airfare and some meals. When we go to WDW we use our DVC points,drive instead of fly, annual passes (purchased w/ DVC discount, timed so that we get 2 annual trips out of them), eat in the room, and we really don't buy souvenirs. So, for 3 week long trips the total cost is less than $4000.

 

[dmank]

This is a great thread because I wonder when I'm at Disney with the mobs of people how they can all afford to be here!! Both my husband and I work, with 3 kids, so we don't have much leftover money after paying for daycare. But we do make Disney vacations a priority.

That said, if one of us loses our job, that's the end of the Disney vacations... they are just so expensive!!

 

[bettymae1121]

In the OP's case, deluxe was a bit of a need as her DH is in a wheelchair. Yes, plenty of people in WC's stay at value and mod's, but if I was in a WC, I'd spring extra for a monorail resort too, if at all possible. Getting to two of the parks at least is much, much easier I'd imagine, not to mention being able to get to the other monorail resorts for meals or just to see the sights.

DH and I also go deluxe when we go to Disney, that's 100% our choice. For us, part of the vacation is staying some place that is nicer than our own home! But of course, that increases the cost of us traveling (not just to Disney, we try to stay at nicer placer where ever we go) so extra planing is needed. Overall, we try to be at a place that we can spend just about whatever we want while in WDW and not really have to worry about overspending, whether that's fine dining or expensive souvineers. But, because that's how we like to vacation, we don't go every year (except 2004 and 2005, we did back to back that year because we wound up getting married in '05 and wanted to do our honeymoon in WDW). The last three years we've "vacationed" by visiting family in AZ and PA. We're doing that again this year, but only because my DB is getting married this April in AZ and I want to be there, otherwise I think this would be a WDW year!

Like others said, a lot of it has to do with how you spend in your day to day life. DH and I aren't perfect, but we own both our cars, do all our own house/yard work, do all our own home improvements, we don't shop at the mall as a hobby, we don't give elaborate gifts, and as of yet we dont' have kids (huge money save that! ). We also live in a modest and inexpensive house (well, it will be inexpensive when we stop spending $$$ to fix it up. It will be done one of these days!). Our biggest splurge is eating out, we go out at least once a week, usually 2x a week. We're trying to cut down on that this year, both to save money and our waist lines!

We also have one advantage. Because I work as a corporate travel agent, we usually fly for free. That saves $400 to $600 in airfare each trip, depending on going rates. Living in IL, flying is really the only option, otherwise we'd lose 4 days on the road round-trip.

But flying for free isn't beyond people that don't work in the travel industry. Even though we get free tickets, I still have a airline credit card so we can earn miles so we can upgrade to 1st class. By charging every thing we buy, I earn enough miles for one free ticket a year. So by going every other year, we'd still be able to fly for free, even if I didn't get free tickets from work. Other people earn money for WDW by using the Disney credit card, or using a hotel credit card and using points to stay off site for free, giving them more money to spend on park tickets, meals, etc.

 

[Desnik]

Now here's another question (& please don't burn me or call me names since I love WDW) but, do you plan any other vacation other than Disney? or is Disney the only place that you go to on vacation?

Yes we do plan other vacations, but they are usually closer to home and long weekend trips. For example DH and I go away together without the kids for 3 days every year.(Newport, RI or Cape May) We also take the kids to the beach, like Cape May or Rehoboth Beach, DE(my mom has a house there). Usually about 3-4 days on those trips. Sometimes we go to Hershey Park for 2-3 days. This year we are planning Boston with the kids and possibly Washington DC. 2011 we plan on a Cali/Hawaii trip so we will probably skip Disney that year.

 

[deerhart]

Now here's another question (& please don't burn me or call me names since I love WDW) but, do you plan any other vacation other than Disney? or is Disney the only place that you go to on vacation?

Sometimes, it depends upon schedules. Last year we spent Memorial Day weekend hitting the museums in Chicago. We are talking another roadtrip this year in addition to our WDW vacation (and perhaps a graduation vacation for just DH and I at the end of the year)

 

[Planogirl]

Now here's another question (& please don't burn me or call me names since I love WDW) but, do you plan any other vacation other than Disney? or is Disney the only place that you go to on vacation?

We do but they tend to be close for us too. We like San Antonio and the Ozarks.

We would head to Europe and such places if we could but there's the cost and that flying thing...

 

[scootch]

We do 10 days at beach each summer(driving 8 hours) and WDW each year. We don't go to movies or out to eat much during the rest of the year, an occasional play or something mainly as we like to cook and enjoy having fun with our kids. Main things we save at WDW is we rent DVC points for the rooms.... we eat lightly... and we don't spned much time in the gift shops. We usually stay 6 nights each time, enough to fully enjoy and be able to go every year. The major thing is we have zero debt... house is paid off, car paid off, no credit card debt whatsoever. Makes life much easier.

 

[sbelyo]

We go every year. We haven't paid rack rate in 8 or 9 years and don't plan to either. The key is the discounts. I just booked the GF for 5 nights room only for a little over $1500 with a pin. Rack rate is $3200. The killer things are park tickets and airfare. Basically our tax refund covers it almost every year. It also depends on your eating and spending habits as well. We limit the kids to one item per day under $30. We are also not big eaters so the dining plans haven't saved us any money in the last few years. We usually can feed the four of us for under $150 a day with one sit down meal, a counter service, and a snack for each of us.

When you spread that all out over time and add in the tax refund it's doable. Now, that's just what we do. I've seen people get second jobs throughout the year just to pay for disney and then they quit when they have enough. Or people stop giving large gifts for the Holidays. This year we only got each other small gifts, and the usual for the kids and nothing over $25 for 4 other relatives. That's it, Christmas was done for 8 people under 1000.00 If you could do that alone it may pay for a Disney vacation by itself. God knows I've spent triple that in years past.

There has been 1 year in the past 10 where we didn't go due to unplanned medical expenses with pets and a bad car insurance market in Jersey. So just plan based on what you can save and have fun. I don't need to stay in the GF, but I do because I work hard to get my family there. If I really had to go, it would be the POP

 

[southtexasmom]

We are a family of 6, we've been to WDW every year starting in 2004. The best investment we ever made was DVC. We eat breakfast and a few suppers in our villa every trip, having a washer and dryer in the room is priceless.

 

[DVCmom1960]

I agree w/ PP we LOVE LOVE LOVE DVC you can get APs for a reduced rate and set up your visits so you only have to buy passes every other year BLT is on the timeshare store too!!! So there is your monorail. We think of WDW as our home away from home

 

[Disney-Kim]

We have been 15 times in as many years....we owned DVC for 6 yrs but had to sell it last year...

DVC made a huge difference but that was only 7-8 of our trips...the rest were all reg disney hotels and mainly...

we buy annual passes - you get 2 trips this way (saves over hoppers)
get ap rates at hotels - the first few trips we split between mods/dlxs to save money
- never have done the dining...we budget for our meals
- airfare is always a big expense not much you can do about that

we save, save, save. We sell stuff on ebay to save, use any extra monthly money to save, tax return money.

$3500 seems really high...I would go with a moderate resort....we have been lucky enough to stay at the Poly a few times but overall we stay at mods.
We could NOT afford full deluxes every year...just too much