How do you do it? Disney every year?

[kellyg403]

The first WDW trip we took it was 8 of us..6 kiddos and 2 adults. From the minute we walked through DS and the Osbourne Lights we were hooked. We make Disney a priority trip in Dec during value season. We know each year we will be back and throughout the year we make it happen for our family. We are now down to 4 kiddos and 2 adults, still need two rooms but know that we can get by with things a little cheaper than those first few times. We have never stayed at any of the deluxe resorts...that will have to wait until there are only 2 adults!..always stay moderate, get the dining plan with 1 qs and 1 ts and very rarely buy souveniers any more. Though I will admit to purchasing lots of stuff for the christmas tree and for the grandbabies. Our trips have always been right around 3500. because of the number of people, though I think the first trip before a public discount code came out was close to 6k.

So, basically for us it is the knowledge that this is the one place we WILL be going every year. We wait for it. We coupon (or should I say 'I'), don't spend a lot on other things unless they are on sale etc.

This year, my grandbabies and their parents will be going with us on a 5 day magical vacation in December. I can not wait for it. I have been saving and saving so I can buy and buy some more for them. All of them are 3 this year and goodness they love them some Mickey Mouse and my grandd loves her 'Sleeping Booty'. So, I am having to budget a bit more this year. Picked up some extra hours at work etc.

I think going every year has a lot to do with knowing your going and setting aside that money to get there!


Kelly

 

[Mom2PrincessSavannah]

I think you have to be realisic and set a budget early on. We have a daycare flex spending account so I use that money to pay for our trip, we never stay at a deluxe hotel, always a moderate (I have never tried a value). We go during a good special, free dining, etc. We drive, bring snacks, drinks, etc. Never buy park hoppers or water park.
We probably shouldn't be going this year with the economy such as it is but since it doesn't seem to be getting better we may not be able to afford to go next year!
We also live in a modest house, and try to be frugal at home.
It is all about priorities and planning really.

 

[PigletsMommy]

This year I started asking for Disney Gift cards for birthday/holidays. I currently have $300 saved up with those and my birthday is tomorrow . Between our tax return, savings, and gift cards we will go back this October for our Anniversary & dd 1st bday.

For us it depends on the kind of trip we want. We did Deluxe hotel & basic dining for our honeymoon for 5 days. Then Deluxe hotel & deluxe dining for our family trip for 5 days. Last march was just a quick get away so value and quick service dining... I think our next one will be Moderate hotel & basic dining.

Originally we said we would come back every 2 years, then every 1 1 /2 years...now it will be twice this year!

Where there is a will there is a way. If you HAVE to have Deluxe dining & hotel...then you may not go every year. We have learned to comprimise. The parks are more important than the hotel for us anyways.

 

[tiggertabi]

We go on much shorter trips, we stay in value (which I see isn't an option for you), we only do the regular dining plan (or none at all, and just do counter services only). We use our Disney Visa all the time so we usually have a couple of hundred dollars in bonus bucks to apply to our room. We do only hopper passes, NOT waterparks/more.

I've never spent more than 1800 for a Disney trip though, and that's including my 7 day trip this summer. We transfer 50 dollars a week from our checking each payday into an ING account that is solely for our vacations

 

[ilovebassets]

How do you do it??
DH and I are late 20s/early 30s with no kids. We love going to WDW but sometimes the money just gets to me. I guess part of it is because I didn't go on "nice" vacations as a kid - my parents' idea of a vacation was going to Kings Dominion for 2 days....

Because DH uses an electric wheelchair, he prefers the Polynesian/monorail resorts. I don't care for the buses all that much, so I also prefer the Poly. 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)? Any suggestions would be much appreciated! We want to go every year, but I just have to figure out how to do it and still save money!

1. Don't get deluxe dining.
2. Don't stay at a deluxe resort.
3. Don't get park hoppers.

You've just cut the cost of the trip in half right there!

 

[silmarg]

personally, I cant see paying so much for a deluxe (just my preference).

that said, we have done offsite (it was free when my brother in law had a place on 192), shades of green (when traveling with my other brother in law), when shades was under construction they let us stay at Contemporary for $89/nt, values and moderates.

We only go during slow season for the best room rates (buy 4 get 7 or free dining being the latest examples).

I have gotten Annual Passes and done 2 trips 11 months apart and the 2nd trip I only have to pay for room, air and dining.

I get discount tickets to WDW from my employer (thought the discount is not as good as it used to be).

We have the Disney Visa card to get the rewards.

I am willing to be very flexible regarding airports I am flying into or out of (I have flown into Tampa and flown out of Baltimore on various trips - I live in NY).

Anyway to reduce the cost of a trip I will do. That way we can go more often.

kongaloosh!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We used to live in NC and would take short, long weekends a couple of times a year (always driving).

Now that we are in WA we do a big 9/10 day trip each year. We go value season, value resort, and try for a promotion (like free dining this year).

 

[Goofyzgurl]

We're DVC members, so our room is already taken care of. When we go, we don't go to the parks every day, maybe 2 to 3 days, spend the rest of the time at the resort or around town. We don't have to fly b/c we live several hours away. So basically it's the cost of a tank of gas to get down there. Plus we don't live in a mini mansion, watch our spending during the year, don't eat out a lot, etc. We also don't have hobbies that take away money like other ppl do. Our hobby is traveling. For example, one of our friends is an avid hunter, this month alone, he paid $1400 for a new tractor that he drags behind his atv, food plots for the area he hunts at, $600 for his hunting club, and he's about to buy a new atv, and some other doodads.

 

[G's mommy]

Consider renting points from a DVC member at the new Bay Lake Towers next trip. Still on the monorail and you can stay Sun-Fri nights much cheaper than paying for deluxe even with discounts. I have rented on several occasions with no problems. We are staying at the AKV coming up next week. Check out the DVC rent/trade board.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We never pay rack rate. There's always some kind of discount out there! Also, we don't buy any souvenirs (or really any snacks, maybe 1 or 2 the whole week). We don't do DP (we usually eat one or two TS meals a day as eating is an important thing to us at WDW but when doing the numbers have found the DP not to work for us). Also, I use my Disney Visa for EVERYTHING, gas, taxes, anything and everything I can and pay it off every month. We usually have a couple hundred dollars doing this. Also, we always drive and most of the time drive straight through (or we'll stop if I can get a good deal on a hotel room). Also, after going several times, we've done a lot of the things we would rather not spend money on again, like MVMCP. Last year we got 7 nights Courtyard view (it was the best room I'd ever had at WL, top floor overlooking the pool area) at WL for $205 (inlcuding taxes/fees) a night. So $1,435 (the last time I stayed at the Poly, although not 2008 as we stayed in an MK view concierge level room, we got a garden view room for $275 a night including tax). I also buy 10 day non-expiry hopper passes through the mousesavers.com link to undercovertourist.com. Disney passes CONSTANTLY go up in price and, if you're not planning on doing Disney packages, you can get good deals. I bought two last trip (this time with the extras on them as DBF loves golf and I love water parks and since we used 5 days on them we can use the other 5 days next time and have things to do on our non-park days) for $480 a piece (including tax and free shipping) and they'll last us two trips. So $960. Food costs us about $800-$1,000, depending on where we eat. We've gotten into eating more CS during our last trip so we only spent about $600 for the week. So usually a trip total for the two of us is about $3k (but we get two trips out of the tickets). We're now spreading our trips out as I want to visit some other places and I want to miss Disney (which I wasn't, going every year, and it also gives me more time to save up some Disney Rewards dollars!). Staying at the Poly is great and now I think my DBF is spoiled as that's the only place he wants to stay (he wasn't a huge fan of the decor of WL)!

Oh, so another thing I did was to figure out how much at max the trip was going to cost, divide it by however many paychecks I got between then and the time I wanted to go to Disney and have my ING savings account automatically take the money out from each paycheck. I do this for all vacations (even mini-weekend ones). So the $3-3,500 that seems overwhelming turns into $145 (or less if we already have tickets and plan on eating more CS meals) a paycheck. Plus you're getting interest! (not a lot these days)

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We drive down. Airfare is outrageous for all four of us. and if you add up wait times in airports and on the runway, it's probably the same as driving if you live in a 10 hour radius.

So true. We flew once, in 2005, and between having to be at the resort 2 hours early for Magical Express and the time we arrived home it took us 11 hours. It takes 10-12 for us to drive and is a lot less stressful (to us anyways! ).

 

[DisneyMomma81]

We recently returned from our 2nd trip to DLR this year (we're AP holders)! We plan to visit again in mid Sept. and our 1st WDW trip is this Oct!

$50 from each pay check goes into a Disney Savings Fund.

Our trip this Oct. is for my kids and I & my mom. We're staying at Pop for 9 nights, 8 day tix & free dining! Our total is $1900 ~ not too bad. My mom & DS already have their airfare ($10 each! Delta Skymiles ~ thanks Gma) so now I just need to purchase airfare for DD & I. My mom and I will split the cost of the hotel in half (kids are free) and she'll pay for her ticket, I'll pay for my kids and I. I've already purchased tix for MNSSHP!

My rent is low (I'm working on buying a home and my payment will go up a bit ~ but we'll go from 2 BRs to 4!) My car payment is $85 a month. I'd say we live within our means very well. This summer I plan to work a lot of overtime ~ I work 30 hour weeks but while my kids are out of school and spending time with Great Grandma I'll work quite a bit extra for some extra $$$

 

[buckirj1]

It sounds like you feel like your situation pretty much demands a monorail resort. Fair enough. Ways to save money on the trip:

1. Join AAA, carefully compare package price vs. room only, remembering to factor in payments and cancellations. You'll probably find room only with a AAA discount the most cost-effective overall for 2 people. It goes without saying to stay at the cheapest monorail resort available when you go (and you should go during Value season)

2. Buy your tickets at the local Disney store, DON'T do hoppers.

3. While you're at the Disney store, buy yourself a gift card to use for dining. DON'T do any kind of dining plan, which rarely pays for itself with 2 people unless you eat yourselves silly. Prepare to eat a lot of counter service meals, which ain't gonna hurt you.

As for having enough money to do this in the first place....that's a whole different post, which basically comes down to: DON'T SPEND!!!

 

[mng1310]

As other posters said, it's all about your other priorities and expenses outside of vacations. You didn't say whether you own a home or not, but if you do not own a home yet you may want to consider that as an expense when figuring out what you can afford.

When we shopped for our house, we qualified for a $550,000 loan, but bought a cheaper, older house and took out a loan for only $200,000 instead. Yeah, it was kind of a letdown after looking at all those beautiful McMansions, but we wanted the freedom of taking vacations when we wanted, where we wanted. We also drive our cars into the ground -- my minivan is 10 years old and I don't plan on getting rid of it until it dies.

 

[CLR4321]

For me, I am fine with staying at a moderate or if needed, a value resort. We (me, DS and my boyfriend) went for the 4/3 deal the first week of March staying at POR and will be taking a 5 nighter (just me and my boyfriend this time) at Pop for free dining in mid-September.
I used part of my tax refund to pay for the 4/3 trip. The 2nd trip was originally going to be for me and my best friend, but she just lost her job, so my boyfriend is going instead and we bumped the date back 1 week so we can be there for his birthday. I did put the FD trip on my Disney card, but my DS is starting kindergarten in August, so that will be $200 a month saved in childcare expenses to cover part of it, plus sold some stuff online that I made about $500 on.
I would love to stay at Poly, we are thinking of doing it with my tax refund next year, especially if they have the 4/3 deal again!

 

[TnTWalter]

Magical Vacations [Tikiman's travel company] is offering October rates of $200 per night. CRAZY GOOD.

Buy non expire tickets and divide over 2-3 trips. Spend 2 days enjoying various resorts or lounging, etc.

Hang out on Codes & Rates Boards and don't pay rack rate. Sign up for everything so you can get a pin code although deal above is better than our 40% pin code last year.

We did have 40% off room last year but we spent for family of 5 dining 2 A and 3 Kids just under $3500 last year 6 days 5 nights.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Many of the same ideas as others:

-buy 10 day non expiration passes and stretch them over 2-3 visits.
-stay offsite-we have never paid over $250 for a week in a condo for our trips
-stay onsite in a value with free dining
-drive
-credit card rewards-we max out at $600 a year and never pay interest
-fuel rewards programs if available
-if paid every 2 weeks, you have 26 pays a year. We take the 2 "extra" pays for vacation.
-money from recycling cans and papers is our child's spending money, he had over $175 last trip.

-We don't do the tax return savings as I can invest the money better over the year than the government.

 

[bennyrn12]

We have gone to disney every year since my first trip in 2004 for my honeymoon. We have stayed at GF, POR and WL. To us disney is a priority. We figure we work hard we need to have our 10 days in "The bubble" (where the outside world cant get in) to destress and enjoy the magic. This sept we are staying at WL only because we got a bounceback of 40% off when we were at POR in december. It is going to be 3500 for my DH and our 2 girls (both under 3). I know most people would think that way too much but when you break it down its really not. We got the deluxe dining (we like to eat at 2 credit places on our vacation.... im not a fancy cook!) and we also got park hoppers since we like to start at one parkand usually end the day at MK no matter what. We start saving for the next trip during the current trip! I have jars throughout the house that i call "mouse monies" All of our spare change goes in there (includung all the change from the last disney trip) Last time I had 300 dollars from 10 months of spare change! I also have the disney visa that i use rewards for spending cash. We also buy a ton of pins off ebay for usually 1.25/pin. Then we trade like mad! Its free (since we paid before the trip) and it is fun for us hunting for a certain pin. We just bought into DVC BLT last week to help make our yearly disney trips more affordable!

 

[toledo13]

well most ppl don't take a deluxe vacation every year. They take budget-moderate vacations. Our family of 6 doesn't cost $3500 for 10days at WDW so it's all about where you choose to spend your dollars and whether you are willing to find a good deal or not.

You don't need to do deluxe dining. You don't need to be on the monorail. You don't need to stay at a deluxe hotel or at least get some discounted rooms if you do want to stay there. You can price out better ticket ticket options. Etc...

Agree. We stay at the values, don't do ddp (we pack in our suitcases as much food as we can), and only stay for 4 nights. With airfare, we can generally be under $1200. That said, we're switching to every other year now.

 

[AshtonsMom99]

as you can see from my siggy I don't go every year, but from this year on I will be....We decided as a family that this is something worth doing so we budget accordingly and use tax returns to pay for some of it to. I have never even stayed at a moderate, let alone a deluxe...doing so provides us with the opportunity to get the deluxe dining which we love. We do go in peak season, but next year we are starting the value season...that way it will be less strict on our budgets...

All-Stars, and Pop are just as wheelchair accesible as the other resorts.....